April 2011
I finally found a perfect theme...
well, almost. I really like this theme so I’ll overlook the fact that it stretches and distorts some of the pictures on the main page. If you click on the heading for each entry, you can go to a new page with bigger, non-distorted pictures. I don’t have the time, energy, or knowledge to mess around with html.
It’s ugly and confusing and poorly organized but I like it.
Seoul Photo and Imaging Showcase 2011
Tony’s Korean friend was working at the Seoul Photo and Imaging Showcase for school (I think she is an art student) and gave us free tickets. It was really awesome! The exhibit was at Coex Exhibition Hall B. Half the exhibit was international photography, with special emphasis on Korean, Czech, and Slovak (Slovakian?) photographers. The other half was a camera and equipment expo, complete...
What the heck should I do with my hair?
Magic Straight…
or perm?
Magic Straight would be a nice change. I straightened my hair today, for the first time since Halloween, and I’m loving how shiny and swishy it is. However, a perm would be cheaper and would hold up better in Korea’s intense summer humidity… any suggestions? I’ve never done ANYTHING with my hair, but I need to do something! It has...
1 tag
Big Bang Special Edition Fourth Album
OK, so actually, Big Bang’s fourth album came out awhile ago, and the special edition came out a few weeks ago, but I just decided to write about it now. The best thing about Korean CDs is the packaging. Even a four-song mini album will come in an awesome plastic case with a huge book and a free poster. Tony thinks it’s to boost album sales since most people in Korea can just as easily...
Random Pictures: March/April
What have I been up to in the past two months? 마싰눈 부대찌개. Budaejjigae, which translates as “troops’ stew,” is one of my favorite Korean foods. It originated during the Korean war when Korean people made stew out of hot dogs that US troops gave them to eat. So delicious and spicy!
Skypeing with Jae Hyun… being very mature.
여의도 cherry blossom festival
Shopping at...
여의도 Cherry Blossom Festival- April 16
Every year there is a cherry blossom festival in Yeouido, a beautiful island in the Han River that is connected to Seoul by roads and subway. It provides gorgeous views of the river and has probably hundreds of cherry blossom trees lining the street closest to the waterfront. There were musicians and a fireworks festival. Families, couples, and groups of friends crowded every inch of the place and...
G-Market
I could only bring three suitcases to Korea so I was very limited in the amount of shoes I could bring. I think I brought ten pairs. I definitely have at least 60 at home (I have a problem…) Anyway I am a 9.5/10 in US sizes and a 260/265 in Korean sizes (which are measured by centimeters.) The average Korean store only has up to a size 250. So it was really torture for me to walk by...
White Day cards made by my students
I did a White Day lesson at the start of the new semester and one activity was for my students to write and decorate teddy bear White Day cards. Most students made cards for their mothers and best friends, but some students really surprised me and made cards for me! Here are some pictures I took of their cards. I got 5 but only photographed the 2 cutest ones. Click to make them better! They are...
White Day- March 14
Jae Hyun and I did a lot of cute stuff for White Day, which was March 14th. In Korea, White Day is when men give presents to women, and Valentine’s Day is when women give presents to men. Valentine’s Day presents are usually chocolate, and Chupa-Chup lollipops seem like the most popular gift for White Day. Some things I did for White Day: I went to Everland!!!! I went to the Han...
Korea is going to kill us!
Before I moved to Korea the only danger I was worried about was Kim Jong Il launching nuclear missiles at me and vaporizing my skin from my bones and wiping out all human life in South Korea. Luckily KJI and his chubby son have been keeping a low profile lately (planning for the earth-ending bomb, I guess), but there are plenty of things happening in Korea now that are causing me to huddle in bed...
Some random thins I like about Seoul
Seeing ten cell phone stores on one city block, each one playing really loud GD & TOP songs to compete for your attention. Also: the big dancing animatronic animals. Going into a restaurant at 4 AM and it’s completely packed with a long line outside. Gorgeous, beautiful clothes from independent designers in shopping malls and small stores (assuming you are small enough to fit into the...
New School Year!
A new school year started March 2nd in Korea, and as much as I’m leaning towards a different job for next year, I have to say I am really, really enjoying this semester so far! Maybe it was I started teaching in September, near the end of the Korean school year, and students were too bored or comfortable or tired to make much of an effort in my classes. But I’m seeing a lot of...
Cooking Korean Food
When I came to Korea in August the only thing I knew how to cook for myself was a Pop Tart and instant ramen. Yes, I am fully aware that putting a toaster pastry in a microwave does not truly qualify as “cooking.” I had lived at home all my life and the food at Bryn Mawr was always great, so cooking was never really an option. I knew some people liked to cook for fun, but spending an...
BIG BANG BIG SHOW 2011
I went to Big Bang’s Big Show Concert on Sunday and it was amazing (of course!) This is the second time I’ve seen them perform together as a group. I’ve seen GD & TOP solo and Taeyang twice (once solo, and once in a car leaving Inkigayo… haha.) I will write more details and share the pictures and videos I took later. Actually, going to Big Show was the #1 thing I wanted...
Tokyo trip- the details
Here is a detailed textual account of the recent week-long trip I took to Tokyo with my friend Tony, who is also an English teacher in Seoul. Enjoy! Day 1: We took the brand new (well, like, one-month-old) airport subway line from Seoul Station to Incheon (please remind me to fly out of Gimpo next time… it’s about 45 minutes closer to Seoul!) Our flight was with All Nippon Airways and...
Tokyo Photos
Oh my God. Tokyo was… amazing.
Pictures on my old blog: http://partyintherok.blogspot.com/2011/02/tokyo-was.html
Leeum Samsung Museum of Art
Two weeks ago on one of my many vacations (my job is so easy!) I went to the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art in Itaewon with Jae Hyun and my friend Josh. For 14,000 won we got into all three exhibits. The museum was really nice and had some interesting work by a lot of artists I had never heard of, including many famous Korean artists, and also easily identifiable works by some really world-famous...
Going to the gym in Korea
Going to the gym in Korea is a TERRIFYING AND FRIGHTENING EXPERIENCE if you are a foreigner and you go to a very small gym in an area where there are not many (or any) other foreigners. Let me tell you my story. Realizing around December that I had been subsisting almost entirely on deep fried pork belly and Baskin Robbins ice cream and minimal exercise, I decided that joining a gym would make me...
So much to do... so little time!
I’ve lived in Seoul for almost 6 MONTHS (whoa) and there are still so many things I haven’t gotten a chance to do. Here’s my current list of places I need to go: Shopping in Apgujeong and Chungdam (the Rodeo Drive of Seoul)The Hello Kitty Cafe (in Myeongdong or Hongdae… I forget! Maybe both)The 63 Building (I haven’t been yet… it’s kind of far from my...
Cute Baby in Hanbok
I went to Namsangol Hanok Village (Hanok are traditional Korean buildings) on Thursday because it was the Lunar New Year and almost everything was closed that day and also we felt like we should do something cultural. The village was actually really crowded, and not just with foreigners, as I had expected, but lots of Korean people. The best part of the day was watching the adorable Korean babies...
Tokyo in 10 Days!
I’ve wanted to go to Japan since I was in middle school and I can’t believe I’m finally going to go! Japan is like a magical place in my mind where all my wildest dreams will come true. Also some of my nightmares. Cosplayers in the park! Maid cafes! Toilet, prison, and vampire restaurants! 48-member girl band concerts! Insane shopping! TOKYO! I’m going on this trip with my...
English Winter Camp
At first, I was dreaming “English Winter Camp”, which all public school English teachers must do in Korea. Then they knocked back my hours from 5 to 2 hours and told me I would be working from 1-3 and didn’t need to come in to school before that or stay after (actually… no one ever said I couldn’t stay after, but no one has said anything yet! Plus I did all my lesson...
Public Transportation in Korea
I came here 5 months ago. 1 month ago a teacher at the school kindly asked me if I had ever taken the subway before. Uh, what? What do they think I do? Sit at home every day? That I have never been anywhere but my apartment, school, and presumably a grocery store? I think they also think I have no friends. Whenever I tell a story, like “I was in Hongdae this weekend…”, someone...
Buying Groceries in Korea
Going to the grocery store in Korea the second day I had moved into my apartment was a really overwhelming experience. I knew where the grocery store was, because my nice neighbors had given me a quick tour of the neighborhood my first evening there. Since I live in a huge apartment complex where probably several hundred families also reside, everything I could possibly need is close by. I turn...
T-Social Christmas Party at Heaven in Gangnam with...
One day my good friend Tony sent me a Facebook chat littered with exclamation points about an ad he had seen in Korean on Facebook for entering a contest to win tickets to a Christmas party hosted by SK Telecom, Facebook, and Twitter, featuring live music by a lot of Korean hip-hop bands and pop singers, including Se7en and G-Dragon and TOP! You could win tickets by joining the page and leveling...
One Night at the Jimjilbang 찜질방
I recently did something totally weird and crazy that could only happen in Korea (or maybe another Asian country.) I spent the night at a Korean jimjilbang (sauna.)
It was about 1 AM and I had spent all day out with my Korean boyfriend Jae Hyun. We were about a 20,000 won cab ride from my apartment (about $18) and the bus to his town had stopped running long ago. Luckily, because Jae Hyun is...
Almost every foreign English teacher in school will tell you that they have some communication issues with their teachers. I have good relationships with all my co-teachers, and the other subject teachers in the school (I guess- we all smile and bow and sometimes random candy and fruit and rice cakes appear on my desk) but I still feel like I have no idea what is going on. Just this past week, a...
The National Museum of Korea
One day a month, Korean middle schools close, and no one has to come to school! It’s awesome. On my day off in November, I went to the National Museum of Korea at Ichon Station. I really love museums and can’t believe it’s taken me so long to go to one here. I guess I feel like I’m constantly busy, and time goes so fast for me. My weekend is over before I know it, and I...
Techno Mart
I recently went on a date with Korean taekwondo master/police officer to Tech Mart (sometimes called Techno Mart). There are two locations in Seoul. We went to the one right by the river. This place is amazing- it’s 9 floors of electronics. Different sellers have their own section. You can buy computers, video games, CDs, toasters, and curling irons. In fact, I bought a Vidal Sassoon curling...
Deoksugung Palace
A few weekends ago Sonya and I managed to do something productive on a Saturday afternoon that was not shopping. We went to Deoksugong Palace in Seoul which is by City Hall Station. We actually thought we were going to Gyeongbokgung Palace, which is the biggest in the city, but ended up at Deoksugong instead. Oh well! The pictures look nice because the foliage was really colorful. Unfortunately...
School English Contest
My school had an English speech contest about a month or two ago (I know, I am really behind on updating this!) First, every group auditioned, and the English teachers, myself included, chose the best groups to perform in the actual contest. Unfortunately this meant that all of the Grade 1 groups got cut. Some of the students were really great, and I was really surprised at how good some of them...
Some Notable Cultural Differences
think that Seoul is a lot like any city in the US in a lot of ways. But there are some big and even very small noticeable differences between our two cultures. Here’s a list I’ve been writing in my head for awhile. 1. Korean people don’t drink water during meals. They drink water after. I am the only person in the school lunchroom who drinks while I eat. I think at first...
Happy Halloween from Seoul!
Love, A cupcake CL from 2NE1 Psy (Korean rapper) See the resemblance?! Tony, Sonya, and I went to Halloween Gamble Night at the Sheraton Grande Walkerhill hotel and Casino. It was such a nice hotel! We were basically the only foreigners there, which was nice. Definitely didn’t want to go to Itaewon, drunk obnoxious foreigner central, on Halloween night. Unfortunately Korean people just...
School Sports Day
There are too many pictures to transfer so I’ll just link you to the entry in my older Blogger account: http://partyintherok.blogspot.com/2010/11/sports-day.html
Seoul Soul Festival Part 2: OMGTAEYANG
I LOVE TAEYANG. He is so handsome, but also really cute and goofy. He is also a super-talented singer and dancer. So I went a little overboard with pictures and videos for his concert. I will be seeing him in one month and 5 days performing with his group Big Bang (my favorite K-Pop group!) at the YG Family 2010 Concert (with 2NE1 and Se7en, again!) So excited! Taeyang’s Entrance
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Seoul Soul Festival
Seoul Soul Festival
I went to the Seoul Soul Festival at the Korean War Memorial on October 9 with my friend Tony. I met him very randomly but we have become really great friends because we like shopping, kpop, and geeky things. I was really upset that I missed Taeyang’s Solar solo concert a few weekends before at Kyung Hee University, which is about 10 minutes from my apartment. Tony...
Fairy Tales Written by my Grade 3 Students^^
Two weeks ago our lesson was about fairy tales and I asked my grade 3 students (US grade 9) to write their own fairy tale beginning with “Once upon a time” and ending with “They lived happily ever after.” They were also supposed to write one line and then fold the paper so they would only be able to see the previous line. Well in true teaching fashion most of them failed to...
LOTTE WORLD!
On Friday I went with some of my friends to Lotte World, which, besides Nam San Tower, is the number one place in Seoul I have wanted to go to. It was even better than I could have imagined! I took so many pictures and videos. The place is HUGE. Despite all the people there, we never had to wait more than 40 minutes for a ride (most waits were like 15 minutes; the longest was for Atlantis...
