Highs and Devastating Lows

Well last weekend I stayed in Chuncheon like a good girl cause of North Korea being a brat. I hung out with Kelly but mostly went stir crazy in my apartment and studied Korean and Korea. When I say "study Korea" I mean watch popular TV dramas that really only teach me G rated slang. AIGOO! haha. Okay, also dear family everything is fine. I am fine and I registered with the Embassy and all that good responsible stuff.

Oh first! I tried a new item this week! corn ice cream! it was sooo great! Not joking.




On to this weekend. I had plans with Joe to go to the market however he was not awake and the market is no longer in season. WHOOPS. So I walked around. I have this theory that things aren't that far in Seoul. I was half right? It isn't really worth it to take the subway for one stop but anything more than that unless you have mass amounts of time (which I did) just spend the 90 cents. So I walked from Yangjae to coex mall. Here was the view.



Then I passed a giant Mirae building. This is where I imagine Chang Ryul works! He is the handsome bad guy in the show "Personal Taste". I like him the best. I just looked up other pictures and not so much but then I found this! Bummer.



It got a little frustrating because I couldn't find the mall cause it is underground.
But then I did and here is a picture of it and the beautiful christmas display.



I met up with Cassandra and Alex, to watch "The Social Network". It was good, people hyped it too much. Not great. More importantly Alex and I became friends forever. He bought a pair of earrings one with a boy and the other a girl and I have the girl obv. Here is a picture.



Then I had to leave to go to Hongdae and meet up with Joe, Ashton and Russ then Ki. I drank an energy drink but it only made me tired. So I just couldn't really think but couldn't sleep. Whoops. I had several Korean questions for Ki which I all forgot but I got this birthday thing down and some new sayings. Walking back to meet up with Russ and co. a black cat crossed my path and I got a serious text. Stephen, one of the teachers I work with was riding his bike and got hit by a car. His femur is fractured and his hip is broken. He has to be in the hospital for a month. He said "Everything happens for a reason" but I find that so hard to swallow when it happens to one of the best people I know. This shouldn't have happened and it is heartbreaking. I feel uncomfortable even moving on with the rest of the night but I made the best of it, as always.

We went to not one but two Hookah bars. The first looked like that weird lounge from Starwars (I researched, mos eisley cantina). Yeah. I also talked about videogames and anime this weekend. I am cool. Russ has never seen Star Wars.



Then another with this nice lighting and chandelier.



Hongdae was kinda dead so we went to a special area of Itaewon where mostly men go that have no interest in me. You could say I was probably the only straight, sober person to be found in said area. It was dancing on the tables topless kind of fun. Super packed and sweaty. I danced really hard to a spice girls song and then an eastern looking man tried to get close to me. I didn't like it. Eventually we left and went to another bar where this was taken and we parted from the lovely Russ. Joe and I.



Then we went to bed here.



I like sleeping at the spa. You know you are waking up to a nice soak in a hot tub. Plus I have earplugs and a eye-cover. I was supposed to go shopping with Joe and Ashton but I was too impatient so I had this breakfast



and then went to the flea market in Dongdaemun where I got a winter jacket for $10. Then I walked around for hours. Here is a picture of a street of just pets.



I visited several areas. Including the market in the old stadium where I know a certain gentleman that would have lost his mind Anthony Bourdain style. I passed several rows of unidentifiable meats, even a couple trays of snouts. But I don't care about food too much and just walked though. Here is a peek.





I have nothing left to buy! I even found glasses on Saturday night. Oh just a bathing suit.

I am so tired. I have been mostly been living off of caffeine the last two days. Sleep is going to be soo cooooool. night night.

I was exhausted and as a result missed some things. Also I am fully aware that I am queen of typos. I do not re-read my work. Sorry. I'll try.

Hardcore Art Dancing

Not real. But I did enjoy all three and more.

Okay there are some things I missed last blog like that I went to a skit thing at Kelly's school and it was fun and the song digital bounce is cool. Also she and I started a boxing class. It is alright, but a little frustrating because they don't speak English and I don't speak Korean so instruction is limited to visuals. It gets me active though and everyone is nice, even if they pick on me a bit and mention my name then all start laughing.

Last weekend I went all out in Seoul. First I met up with Russ and his friend Hyunsik (or Joe). Here is the art.




Lee Rim


Hong Young In (embroidery)


Park Eun Young


We ate at Buddha's Belly, then we went shopping kinda uneventful but I got thinking about the things I wanted and needed. It is hard though cause they are just stalls in a huge building so it is really hard to come back to find something.

Then Russ went off to the Flaming Lips and Joe and I to find a hotel. Then we went to a show in Hongdae. Super great. Shellback and the Geeks played some covers that I really like and I may or may not have gotten into it and sang along. You will never know cause you are not here. Here is a real punk.



Met back up with Russ and a new friend named Ashton. Several other drunk friends were also supposed to meet us but had been at an all you can drink event and thought it was still 9 when it was actually 10:30.

We went to a lovely place called Museum bar which is my new favorite. I had a single glass of wine. I'm fancy like that. Here is Joe having a fun time there.



Then I braved the crowded streets alone to find Cassandra and her friends to bring them to Go-go's where we would all rendezvous later. However there was all you can drink at Club FF so they went there which had a $10 cover. So we never saw each other again that weekend. We finally danced it up (poles included) at Go-go's, lost interest and went to a Hookah bar. I liked the taste a lot. Here's how it looked to us.



Here's how we looked!



I hadn't eaten since 2pm so we went to Lotteria for a snack. They have a shrimp and a squid burger. The shrimp burger is alright HOWEVER on special right now called the red and white. It is the best. It is 2 shrimp patties, with one thousand island dressing then the other with sweet chili sauce. I always flip the bun around so the 2 sauces mix up it is the best. I hope it is on special forever. I had one yesterday. Some guy with another blog took this! He feels the same way about it!



We slept, then we were woken up by the phone ringing. Russ unplugged it but then somehow it kept ringing. Then he unplugged it more. Still rang. Then he answered and the receiver was unplugged but he plugged it back in and just said random things to her. We had some serious laughs, got ready and met up with some ladies he knows for brunch. Here was the view.



It was really, really good and french. We then looked at books and a foreign food store then I split off to shop. I got serious about it and got some much needed items. There are more things to buy here than in all of Winnipeg.



Then I went home.

November thus far...

First week, Friday I took it easy on Friday and Saturday. Visited Kelly at work, watched movies with snacks on my computer, etc. Sunday I met up with Cassandra and we went shopping with a new friend named Mae who was on here way to Japan. I spent about $80 CDN got 2 shirts, a dress, a skirt and most importantly a winter jacket. It is really great.

Last week, I didn't do anything on Friday but I climbed a mountain with Stephen that is 10 minutes from my house. Here is the view.



Then he went to dinner with a man he met on the bus but I went home then we went out to try to find more foreigners. We started near the university. Hard Rock there was one guy but he didn't talk to us. We left and walked around and we met a lovely couple from Seoul here to mountain bike. Then we went to a place called New World with said couple. They wouldn't let us in. So the couple left. But then we said we had to us the bathroom and we partied for some time. It was a giant lounge with a dance floor. Smokey and red. Also whenever we sat down guards pulled us out of the booths but then didn't kick us out. It was weird, Stephen stole beers and we made lots of Korean friends.

crying children and really bad sleeps

First of all I ate this ice cream sandwich at some point. It was good, though it's message creepy.



Halloween is not really a big deal here. No trick or treating. Except at an English School! It was a day of fun all day Friday which meant I had to be there from 9:30am to 8:40pm, no break! However it was just a day of fun, 11 hours or not.

Here are my little monsters. I was not in the "scary room" but Stephen was and they made all of them cry super bad and drink/eat weird things.



I had no costume they were lost or something, so I had to wear a traditional Korean dress. Typically these are worn to weddings and special events and made of silk. Me in this just really confused the kids. Stephen talked about how great I looked in it and one of my other co-workers told me it was magic because it made me look skinnier. Then Stephen started laughing said that was not a compliment and looked at me and said "Yeah cause your other clothes make you look fat" I laughed and told them I was working on it.



Then I slept and headed over to Hongdae. I was really excited because it was the Korean finals for Battle of the Year. Battle of the Year is the biggest break dancing competition in the world and Korea wins most years so it was going to be so awesome. However I left late I got a nice skype call and had to pick up my wallet at work cause a man found it on the bus for me. I also decided to check out the hostel we reserved and then head out. I then got lost and never found Battle of the Year. Sad.

I met up with Cassandra we ate and then we went and got Kelly. On our way to find her we passed these bears dancing in unison.



Then on the way to the hostel we saw this "Silent Disco". We walked around drank soju and saw the disco again which is a bunch of people with headphones tuned to the same thing walking around with balloons. Then we went to a punk show that had an hour of free drinking. Then we went to ting tings again where "who let the dogs out" was playing and we met up with Kristin who was the 3rd friend made at the Korean Consulate.





then to soundholic however it was a little trying to find. However I didn't want to go in because it was $15 and after 1am but then this girl just made us touch her butt and she gave us a stamp. Mostly only foreigners in the entire bar. I drank some of this before I went in.



I got this food item. It was too much perilla leaf.



Then we went back to the hostel. It smelled really badly like dude but aside from that at about 7am two english idiots came in and wouldn't shut their mouths and one got into bed with me two times both times I asked he leave and he did immediately. They then proceeded to show each other pictures of girls they had been intimate with and rate them then move on to Kelly and ask her very inappropriate questions. We then woke up and went to a breakfast buffet with was super awesome the best. Free bloody mary too!

Chungju Scavenging

Several weekends ago I was invited to Chungju to participate in a scavenger list. Examples of things that we needed on the list included get a piercing, take a shot of soju with a Korea, get 100% in a noraebong, shotgun a beer etc.

Here is the list!



Then I ate a octopus tentacle for points!



It was this guys birthday. He pierced Mark's ear for $7 and we gave him all of our octopus.



The cruelest karaoke joke of all time.



Here is something nice. Here in Korea it is totally acceptable to show your love for your significant other by dressing in the same clothes. This would never fly back home. It is not cool to be in love. Sad.



It is pretty easy to do shots with strangers. Then one fed Cassandra.



Trying to find bondaegi (sp? also it is gross, cooked silkworm larva) and squatters. No luck.



We ate pizza then we drank in a park for a long time and it was nice. Then we played a naughty game.



We went to several pub type bars after and ate various fried potato items. Then we slept at Brock and Brittany's because they are nice!

In the morning I lost $10 in the cab then I ate a double shrimp burger called the red and white burger. I liked the white better than the red and this was the first week since I got here I gained weight.

I rerouted through Seoul instead of Wonju to do some shopping. Traffic was horrible due to the max exodus to the mountains for fall. I got lost but then ended up at a big flea market. However after that I lost my wallet in the bus. Bummer, especially since I went grocery shopping and didn't find out until the checkout. Whoops!

Seoraksan Wrapup

We woke up semi-early and headed off to the mountains. I got a snack for energy and Russ got cigarettes. My snack tasted like Captain Crunch. Then we walked in the general direction of the park caught a bus and were on our way. We locked up our stuff and entree to the park was whopping $2.50. So far best experience in Korea. It was stunning from start to end. Here is a taste.


Seoraksan Park
Uploaded by melaniereimer. - Exotic and entertaining travel videos.

We went through the waterfalls first. It was good but reminded me of the lake which made me sad because I will not get to see mine this year.

Here's Russ!



The pool was so deep it was black!



Pretty view.



The main event.



Something happened to my camera. Maybe the altitude maybe a button was pushed in error. who knows! some of them look cool though.







We had potato pancakes, then to the next. There was a giant statue then some temples and then we headed up the mountain. First stop was a giant rock that is on a cliff that is a bit wobbly but you can never push it over. Then we stood on some very steep stairs for hours to get to this.


Top of the Mountain
Uploaded by melaniereimer. - Explore new destinations and travel videos.

My camera then died. When we got back down the line up for the bus was incredibly large. I got street treats and a man let us cut him in line. I got there just in time to catch the bus back home, sadly I had to leave Russ. There was a traffic jam because apparently people flock to the mountains in the fall to see the leaves change. I saw a bus filled with middle aged hikers dancing with disco lights and loud music and had a nap. I really respect that Koreans don't take these things for granted and exploit the beauty of their country to the fullest.

Here are some better pictures by Russ.

http://russless.blogspot.com/2010/10/rush-of-water-and-other-nature-lateness.html