i must have missed this Mexican traditional song..

I ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant today. Mid-meal, I was delighted to hear a remix of Hava Nagila blare throughout. I guess there are Mexican Jews in Korea. That is all.

weekend of big buildings and bigger views

This weekend was Isaac's last (at least for this trip) in Korea. We decided, of course, to pack as much touristy stuff as possible into it. On Saturday, we hit up 63 City, a 63-story building on the Han River, and today, we checked out Seoul Tower. I can't do much other than show the pictures. Even they won't be able to capture what you can see from these towers. We went to 63 Building at night so the lights of the city were just incredible.

View from the top

Today, I finally met my aunt and uncle who were in Hawaii when I met the rest of the family. Isaac and I met them and my cousin Sean in Namsan at Seoul Club for an incredible buffet. They were great. Even though I had never met my uncle before, he had a lot of similarities to other uncle's in my family. One of the first things he did was offer Isaac a beer (at noon).

After lunch, just Isaac, Sean and I went to Namsangol, a traditional Korean folk village. It was cool to see the traditional houses and kimchi pots (see above pic of Isaac). They had a place where people could try on traditional hanboks and participate in a fake Korean wedding. This was pretty hilarious, especially since we only watched and took pictures of the people in the ceremony. There was also a giant time capsule in the middle of the park at Namsangol. It was made in 1994 and will be opened in 2394. We were imagining what was put in there back in 1994. I was guessing some H.O.T. cd's and hair dye until I realized that the group didn't form until 1996. Maybe some 1988 Olympic games t-shirts. I guess I'll never get to find out. Here are a couple pics.

Cousin Sean and I peacin' it up through a traditional room.

The three of us at the entrance. The girl that took this pic for us was hilarious! I have never seen a stranger care so much about the picture they were taking. She waited for the coast to be clear, and snapped, but still Isaac had to crop out part of the pic.

Sean had to leave us after Namsangol, but he dropped us off at the bus stop for Seoul Tower.

This place was pretty awesome. It's right on a mountain so you can see ALL of Seoul from the top. On all of the windows, the had landmarks that you could see from each, as well as how far other cities are from that point.
It's amazing to think how far I am from home. Oddly enough, Seoul really isn't that different from other places I have lived. I am loving the subtle differences, however (great food, constant people watching, etc).

Finally, March is over!

My month of torture is finally over. I finished my substitution duties on Friday, and it was just about time. I had been working far too much, getting up far too early, and going to bed far too late. That alone can do some wear and tear to the body, but add in a bunch of screaming kindergarten kids and first graders that I had to yell over, and you'll realize why I'm so happy for it to be over with. Although, I'd have to say the overtime paycheck was well worth losing my voice a couple times.

I got the opportunity to spend it yesterday when Isaac and I went to Yongsan I-Park Electronics Mall to buy some toys. Side note: I haven't even written about Isaac! My travel buddy and fellow Korean classmate came to Korea the second week of March. Anywho, I ended up buying an External HD and wireless router, two games for my PSP (Virtua Tennis probably the greatest game ever made), and an English / Korean Conversation book that provided much fun later in the night when we took it to the bar and actually tried using some words. So my nerdiness has carried on to Korea, and I don't care. My new toys rock!

Back to the visit of Isaac. He came in two weeks ago, right before St. Patrick's Day. Doesn't sound like such a big to come then, does it? Well, you're wrong. We still celebrated. There was a decent sized festival and parade in Seoul that we decided to check out. Isaac, fellow teachers Eric, Patrick, ex fellow teacher and irishman Brian, and I made the trek to Daehangno for the festivities. We got to the park, or what we thought was the park, as we saw the parade people preparing to go. A lot of people were just standing around, drinking Guinness, and not doing much. We just thought the festival was really small or was already over so we didn't think much of hanging out waiting for them to go. That was until some guy throws a banner in front of Eric and Brian and tells them, "Hey, you guys can be in the parade, right?" So I join along, to hold the middle of the banner. Yep, I somehow was IN a St. Patrick's Day parade in Seoul. Strange. But it was a lot of fun. We were right in front of the band, so there were so many people just taking pictures of us. I felt like a celebrity and was waving and posting the peace sign for everyone.

The festival was actually at another park, where it was packed. This was mainly due to free Guinness, Bailey's, and food. Who could resist? I feel like everyone in Korea will stand in line for something free, even if they don't know what it is.



Us in the parade.


Check out the awesome Guinness pint people!

quick observation

I have always wondered where my amazing sleeping skills come from. Most people know that I can sleep pretty much anywhere, at any time, for any given amount of time. My question has been answered here in Seoul. The other day, I was standing, waiting for the subway to roll through so I could catch a movie at the World Cup Stadium mall, when I turn my head and catch a glimpse of a great scene. The girl standing slightly behind me and to my left had her eyes closed. She could have been giving them a rest but she was also doing the head nod thing that I used to do while watching boring history movies in high school. She was asleep, STANDING.

I had seen plenty of Koreans snoozing on the subway, but this girl was just a perfect sight. I wish my sleeping skills were so good that I'd be able to sleep the 4 minutes before the train pulled in, let alone standing. So, I guess my ability to sleep is genetic. And now I have new skill to work on. God bless the Seoul subway system.

a korean family follow-up

This really should have been written 3 weeks ago. However, my month has been hectic. I have been substituting for a teacher who went home to South Africa for the month of March so I have been working 10 hour days. Somehow, I wasn't feeling too up to updating my blog. But, I had such a good time with my family who lives in Korea! Although we met at the beginning of March, here's a little summary of our meeting.

I met my great aunt Kyung Sook or Karen as she likes to be called, my second cousin Sean, and my Great Grandmother for a Saturday afternoon lunch in Itaewon. We met at a hotel that has a few restaurants inside, and Aunt Karen suggested this Indian restaurant. I have never really eaten Indian food. I love Naan bread but never really endeavored into all of different curries and other dishes, so I was willing to try it. It ended up being this huge buffet of amazing food! I have all of a sudden grown to love spicy food, and Indian does not hold back on its spices. I don't even know what I was eating half the time, but it tasted great as well as the naan bread. It has even gotten me to go to a couple other Indian restaurants in the area since then. I've started to need my Indian fix once a week, but that's another story for another day.

My Aunt Karen is great, and her English is really pretty perfect. She spent a fair amount of time in the States, living in Chicago in the 70's and LA in the 80's i believe. Anyways, she had no problem telling me a lot about her life. Her husband is a top architect in Korea and she pretty much ran his company for many years. This enabled her to travel a ton. Her daughter also lives and works in the US as an event planner and was even in Santa Barbara last year for business. She seems really interesting, well-traveled and in general, she is just beautiful. Even when I talked to my mom after the meeting, she asked me "Is my aunt Kyung Sook as beautiful as always?" She definitely is.

My cousin Sean's English was really good too! This was pretty cool, since he is only 26 in Korean years which translates to 24 in western age, so he's just a year older than me. He'll be done with his university degree next year, since he's taken this semester off to study for the TOEFL and GRE. The TOEFL exam is the English exam that you have to take to be able to go to grad school in the US. He's studying computer science/ business and wants to go to grad school/ work in somewhere in America. It's funny because he was asking me "why did you want to come to Korea? It's boring here, I want to go to the US." It's funny how wherever you grow up, there's somewhere else you want to be.

I can't believe how cute my Great Grandmother is! She's 94 years old and doing really well. We had our communication problems though, as I hardly speak any Korean and her as well in English. She was so sweet though and it was great to meet her. My mom thinks I should go hang out with her more often so I will be forced to learn Korean.

After lunch, Sean, my Great Grandmother and I went to their house in Seoul. It was a great place, a really new condo near Gangnam. It was the first time I've been in a real home in Korea, as my friends and I all have these little studio apartments. I think Sean's room was the size of my entire apt. After some fruit and ginger tea, Sean took me into Gangnam to set up my cell phone, thank goodness. It's so nice to have a mobile, and decently cheap. I have a pre-paid phone, and it doesn't even charge me when people call. I don't think I'll go too overboard with the cell phone calls anyway since my house phone is unlimited and cheap. Sean thought I should get a new phone because the one I got, although free of charge, is all in Korean and doesn't even have caller ID. I guess its a crappy phone compared to his, which has this swivel screen that you can watch TV on.

I really hope to spend more time with my family. They were all so nice and I feel like I'm now a little more Korean just spending the day with them.

I have a cousin!

And other family to go with him in Korea. Since arriving in Seoul(about a month ago), I have received random information from my mother through e-mail and g chat pertaining to family here in Korea. I had known of family in Korea but thought they were all pretty distant relatives and much much older than me. About a week after I arrive, my mom informs me that I might possibly have a cousin around my age. I had no prior knowledge of this! How couldn't I be informed of this before I had left? So about a week into Korea, I have knowledge of a cousin, but no contact has been made. My mom tells me she'll try to contact her uncle.

Skip ahead to about 3 weeks in. My mom catches me on g chat and says she's made contact with her uncle. Apparently he is out of town but tells her that his son is attending Sogang University in Mapo-gu and is 24 years old. I teach across the street from Sogang University at Sogang University Language Program! She tells me that I should call my uncle after March 20th, when he arrives back in Seoul. I end my day ecstatic that I actually have a cousin but with kind of a strange feeling that I can't contact him for another month. I am left curious as to if we could even communicate when we do meet, as I speak hardly any Korean and I am unaware if he speaks any English.

Just a few days later, yesterday, my mom catches me online again. This time with even greater news! She has contacted her aunt, who is the sister of her uncle and also aunt to my cousin, and also her step-grandmother who is 95 years old. They are in Seoul and my great aunt would like to take me and my cousin out to lunch. Sweet! I'm given her cell phone number.

Later that day, after buying my new guitar for only 75.000 won, I decide to give my aunt a call. No answer. I jam for an hour or so and try again. Success. She tells me that she would like to set up an appointment (as that is how it is done in Korea) for Thursday, the national holiday, or for Saturday. She will call my cousin and then I should call her back later that night.

I call her back around 9 when I get back from eating Greek food. She tells me we will meet in Itaewon for lunch on Saturday. ( i still have to figure out how to get there). Lunch will be with my Great Aunt, my Great Grandmother (who knew I had a great grandmother, its amazing), and my cousin. My cousin goes by the English name of Sean and she tells me his cell number. I try calling him at night but no answer.

Today, after a couple hours of laundry, some jamming, and lots of chatting on the internet, I get a phone call. It's my cousin! Whoo-hoo. I am pleasantly surprised to hear that his English is very good and understandable. I'm highly impressed. I tell him how good it is and that my Korean is very bad. He says not to worry and he'll teach me Korean. YAY! I have found my Korean saviour. haha. He has been studying at Sogang and also at a Hagwon for his TOEFL exam, which will allow him to apply to grad school in the States. He studied Computer Science and would like to go to school and work in America. I tell him he'll have no problem, as there are so many schools and job opportunities for computer science. He's happy to hear that. My cousin rocks! He briefly explains how to get to the restaurant but I still don't quite grasp it. I'll figure it out somehow.

More to come soon about the adventures with my newfound family.

Sound Day

Sound Day ended up being pretty awesome. Cecilia, Hanna Lee, Patrick and me were the group for the music extravaganza last Friday. Every third Friday of each month, about 10 different live venues for music in Hongdae open up and charge one flat entrance price. So we each paid 15,000 won or 15 bucks and got to go into each club and a free drink voucher. We decided to start at a jazz club first. There were two on the list, but for some reason "Watercock" seemed to be more interesting of a club than "Evans" so we checked it out. It was pretty awesome music but the loungy sit down place was too packed, and standing in the back was only fun for about 3 songs.
We decided to leave and headed to a punk club next. It was Club Spot and the band playing was called "Suck Stuff". It was really awesome. There were a good amount of punks dancing around and pushing each other in the "mosh pit" although it hardly compared to some I've seen in the states. One of the craziest guys rocked a mohawk and a kilt! I think he's the first true Korean punk I've seen since I've been here. The band only played for a few songs before they got off stage, so we enjoyed a beer and headed onto the next place.

Drug was the next spot on our agenda. (Notice the very interesting choice of names for places and bands) As we entered the place, that went underground, there was a balcony where you could look down at the band. There was a band finishing up that drew a huge crowd. I only got to hear one song, oh but it was worth it. The lead singer had this crazy high voice. I don't even know what it reminded me of. But it was just great to see a Korean rock out like that.

Here's a short video I was able to catch of them:



We waited around for the next band. They ended up being really cool. They were this rock/rap group. Two guys were rapping... It kind of reminded us of Linkin Park or Limp Bizkit. It's also interesting to look at the crowd at a time like this. Some were just the average Korean, some were foreign, some rockers, etc. But, the sparking standout fan of this club was the girl rocking the face mask. Sidenote: Koreans like to wear face masks outside to avoid cold air / pollution / just to look hilarious. I'm guessing this girl was sick, but I couldn't pass up attempting to take a picture of her.

Next stop, Freebird to catch a wannabe 80's hairband and be singled out as the only foreigners in the club. Kind of embarrassing but check out the lead singer's hair:

After that, Club Funky Funky for some funky music and lots of dancing. This was probably the highlight club of the night. I don't know if it's because of the music or because of all the alcohol I consumed. You be the judge.



One stop later was Club Unit... This was a major letdown. No one was there and the so-called live music DJ simply played all of the regular hit music any DJ at a club would play. But, we got to dance in front of the club's pretty lights.

That was about the end of Sound Day for us. There were some post- Sound Day festivities, but I cannot remember all of what had happened. All in all, it was a great outing and I will for sure partake in a few more in the upcoming months.