Kayla's South Korean Adventure

My Bags are Packed

2014-02-19T16:22:00.000+09:00

Today is my last day in America, so if course I spent it cleaning and packing. I also ran several different errands around town as well, but mostly I stayed home. The day started out kind of dreary; the rain was pouring. This made me sad because I needed to run some stuff to a storage unit and I didn't really want to do it in the rain. So in order to just get it over with, I moved bins of stuff to my car in the pouring rain and took it to the storage unit. Several hours later, it was blue skies and sunny out.
Just my luck. In the morning I had also done my laundry and as soon as it was done in the dryer, all of the clothes went right into my suitcase. Packing was not fun at all. I had to make sure each suitcase weighed less than 50lbs. After an hour or so of moving stuff back and forth between the suitcases, I finally finished. Throughout the night, I kept finding random things around my room that I forgot to pack, and so I need to squeeze it into the already stuffed cases. But in the end, I finally managed to get everything all packed, I just hope I'm not forgetting anything. Also, might I mention how colorful my suitcases are, it's like I'm collect all of the Skittle colors.

All the colors!

My last week in the states, on the other hand, has been quite eventful. I have been going back and forth around the Puget Sound visiting friends and also running errands. I had had to go to Seattle twice for my visa paperwork and I also rented camera equipment around the same time, so I needed to get that as well. I also had to go to the other side of the water for the wedding that I shot. This last week, I was mainly traveling for fun and saying goodbye to my friends. On Wednesday, I went up to Bellingham for the day for one last visit with my best friend and my little nephew Nathan. I am going to miss both of them dearly. By the time I'm back, Nathan will be so big and probably walking. Emily has promised me plenty of Skype time so hopefully I will still be able to see him.

Me and lil' man!

One last hug!

Then on Friday, I met up for lunch in Lakewood with Jessica. She is actually the one that came to visit me in Korea. She lives down in Vancouver, so we meet up every once in awhile in Lakewood because it is somewhat in between for us to drive to. We also meet up for lunch at a Korean BBQ restaurant called Cham Korean BBQ Buffet. It is really good especially because you are able to cook your own meat, like you can in Korea. It was a short meeting but it was still fun because it was the last one for awhile. Hopefully she'll be able to visit me again in Korea, especially because she wants to.

On Saturday, my mom and I had a mother-daughter day. We went out to breakfast at a local diner. I was hoping to get dome chicken fried steak but the cook who normally prepped for it was sick, so I wasn't able to have any. Sad day! Then afterwards, we went downtown to a place called Dancing Brush, where you are able to paint your own pottery. I won't be able to see the finish product because it takes a week for them to fire it and what not. But that is okay, I painted it mainly for my mom to use. We also did a little shopping downtown. There is a shoe store called Indigo Plum that was having a huge sale. I was able to purchase a pair of Toms for $25. Such a good deal. We also went to my favorite bakery, Sluys. It was a good day.

Painting some pottery

Then on Monday, I went over to Seattle again to go to the EMP Museum. (EMP stands to Experience Music Project). The museum isn't just music though, it also is sci-fi, fantasy, and pop culture, which is what I am more interested in. I met up with another friend who also came to Korea, Tom. We went to the museum as well as walked around Seattle Center and had lunch. It was a beautiful day in Seattle, which is rare in February.

Overall, I feel like my last week in the states was a good one. I said my goodbyes and had a little fun as well. I explored new places and saw some old ones. I will miss the beautiful Pacific Northwest and am sad to day goodbye. I know it won't be forever but the Pacific Northwest is a place that I hold dear to my heart.

Seattle Skyline

Becoming a Wedding Photographer

2014-02-14T14:26:00.002+09:00

I am less than a week away from going back to Korea. I have my visa and my plane ticket is purchased. All I have to do now is pack my bags. I also had one big event that I was committed to before going back to Korea, and on Sunday that event finally came.

Several months back, one of my classmates asked my if I could do her wedding invited photos after she found out I do a bit of photography. After the photo session and she saw the photos, she really liked them and had asked if I could also do the photos at her wedding.
I was very reluctant to say yes. I had never done the photos for a wedding. I was very nervous and wouldn't want to mess up the most important day for the couple by not being able to capture the day with photos. After some thought, and understand on both sides that I am an amateur, I agreed to do it.

The day was very nerve racking. I wanted to make sure to capture each moment. My best friend, Emily, came down to help me, which made me a little less nervous. It had also snowed several inches the night before which made me nervous driving to the venue. But the snow made the venue beautiful and it made my shots beautiful as well. Anyway, I can now say that I succeed in doing photography for a wedding. I have one under my belt and if anyone asks me to do their wedding, I can feel confident when I do.

Please check out the other photos on my Flickr account.

Going Back to Korea!!!

2014-02-06T14:30:00.001+09:00

I have been thinking about this decision for several months now and started the process to go back to Korea back in November. I am happy to say now, that I am going back to Korea in two weeks! I have missed all of my students and the culture I had grown to love. So when I made my decision, I decided I would finish my master's online and teach in Korea at the same time. I transferred to Concordia University and will be getting my Master's of Education in ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages).

Since I am going back to Korea, that means I wills start working on this blog again. I hope everyone will enjoy my journey as I travel back to Korea.

Photo A Day: Aug 22-31

2012-09-03T14:02:00.002+09:00

Aug 22 - Today was my last day at A-Class. I had a fun day with all my younger kids. I will definitely miss all of them! ᅲ_ᅲ

Aug 23 - My big brother and I at the airport. It was a very long day today!

Aug 24 - Reunited with my best friend after more than a year.

Aug 25 - I missed the sunsets in Bellingham. Bellingham has the best sunsets I have ever seen.

Aug 26 - Went hiking up on Baker with some friends. We got to play in the snow in August!

Aug 27 - Headed back home after an awesome weekend in Bellingham. It was a gorgeous day on the ferry!

Aug 28 - I got my haircut today. It was the first time I cut my hair in over a year.

Aug 29 - I was walking in downtown Poulsbo and found this new tea shop that opened a couple days ago. It is called Sugar & Spice Tea Company and it sells loose leaf tea. I bought an oz of 4 different teas. I will be a frequent customer here.

Aug 30 - I got a new pair of boots for the winter to come. My other pair got damaged in Korea, so I needed a new pair for this winter.

Aug 31 - Jamie and I had a pho date today. We always try to get together and get lunch whenever we are in Poulsbo together. I has been over a year since we went and even the workers who always sees us said long time no see to us.

Heading Home!

2012-08-23T11:42:00.001+09:00

I am sitting in the airport waiting for my flight to leave Korea. As I sit here waiting, I still haven't really processed that I am leaving Korea and might never come back. It is a very surreal feeling. This place had become my home for the past year and now I am leaving it. It is a strange felling but I haven't gotten sad about it. I know that once I get home that I will start becoming sad and missing the home I made for myself in Korea. I also feel bad that I'm not more sad. I am about to board my plane so this will be all for now. See you back in the states.

Photo A Day: Aug 15-21

2012-08-22T02:16:00.002+09:00

Aug 15 - Today has been a very weird day. It is a national holiday here in Korea, and so me and a couple of co-workers spent most of the day together. First we got together for lunch, then headed to Starbucks for coffee while Jihyeon had to do some work. While at Starbucks, Monica gave me and Alison a Korean writing test. Then afterwards we went to see the movie Total Recall. After the movie when I got home, I turned on the TV and the original Total Recall had just started. Haha, what a weird but good day off.

Aug 16 - I cashed in all my coins today. I had about W80,000, which is about $80.

Aug 17 - Today was John's last day at A-Class. He will be going back to America on Tuesday and then I will be going back on Thursday.

Aug 18 - I went to the Hello Kitty Cafe, again, in Hongdae with Alison, Jihyeon, Caitlin, and Shirley! Everything is so pink there and there is so much Hello Kitty!

Aug 19 - Spent my last time in Seoul by going to Lotte World. Lotte World is the biggest indoor amusement park in the world. They also have a portion outside as well.

Aug 20 - I made little goodbye gifts for my kids. The owls have little chocolates in them. I also wrote their names in Korean to make it extra special for the kids.

Aug 21 - I made sugar cookies for my last day at work tomorrow. It will be the last time my co-workers and students can taste my baking.

Lotte World

2012-08-19T19:49:00.000+09:00

I finally made it to Lotte World. I have been wanting to go there for a long time now. Lotte World is the biggest indoor amusement park in the world according to Guinness World Records. There is also a portion of the park outside, too. The park consists of two parts: Lotte World Adventure which is the indoors part and Magic Island which is located outside. The park is also easy to get to because it is in Seoul and it's connected to the subway line.

Lotte World Adventure

We wanted to get there early before it started to get crowded. We ended up leaving Sanbon around 9am and getting to the park at 10am, 30 min after they opened. One day passes are W40,000 for adults but foreigner receive a 15% discount so we only paid W34,000. This gave us access to all of the rides. We first headed to Magic Island first. The weather today was supposed to be rain, so we wanted to do the outside rides first before the rain came down.

Magic Island

Alison and I

Our first ride was the Gyro Drop. It takes you up 70 meters (~230 ft) and then it just drops you. It goes 100 kph (~62 mph). It gave me that same feeling in my stomach I got when I went skydiving.

It's coming down!

We then went on the Gyro Swing. It spins around and as it is spinning around it also swings back and forth. It also goes very high when it swings.

Another outdoor ride we went on was called Atlantis. It is one of Lotte World's roller coasters. It was so fun. We didn't want to wait in line, so what we ended up doing was a thing called Magic Pass. It's where you can get a reservation time to come back later and not have to wait in line. It is really nice thing to have. So we came back later and only had to wait in line for like 10 min as opposed to over an hour. The cars for the roller coaster are shaped like boats and it races through the tracks at 72 kph (~45 mph). And the thing with this roller coaster is it goes fast for most of the ride. It doesn't inch its way up the up-slopes, it goes fast up them. This was our favorite ride.

Atlantis ride. The roller coaster swerves through this structure.

We then went inside and did the most popular ride at the park. It's called Pharaoh's Fury. This ride was hilarious. We were cracking up laughing the whole time. The entrance part, before we got to the loading area, was really cool. We walked through twists and turns of relics and artifacts from Egypt. Of course all of them were fake, but it was still cool. We walked through tombs walls covered with hieroglyphs, until we finally got to the loading zone. We sat inside old style jeeps, that took us on a hunt for the pharaoh's hidden treasure.

We're just laughing along. The people in the front aren't having a good time though.

Another roller coaster we went on was called French Revolution. It is an intense high speed train that makes 360-540 degree twists and turns. This ride rattles the brain but the coaster does a loop around a sky bridge at the park. I remember when we went over it, I was looking down and there were people looking up and taking photos.

I also took a picture of Alison standing underneath it.

We also went on a whole bunch of different rides, but all of these were our favorites. Amusement parks are always tiring, but it was fun. I am happy I was able to go before I leave Korea.

Top Rides (according to me):

Atlantis
Gyro Swing
Gyro Drop
Pharaoh's Fury
French Revolution
The Conquistador
Giant Loop
The Adventures of Sindbad
Jungle Adventure
Fantastic Odyssey

We weren't able to go on some of them because we didn't want to wait and we were also getting tired. I am happy with what we did go on though.

Be sure to also check out the Lotte World website to find out more information.

K-Pop: PSY - GANGNAM STYLE (강남스타일)

2012-08-18T22:11:00.002+09:00

K-Pop is an interesting style of music. There are so many groups out there that all look and sound the same, but recently a new song came out that is both funny and has a good beat to it. I first heard it when I went to Norebang with some co-workers and they sang this song. I now hear it everywhere I go. I only understand a few of the Korean words but it is funny. "Oppa" means older brother if a girl is saying it but it is also something girls call there boyfriends. And Gangnam is a district in Seoul. Here is the music video from YouTube.

Also, I frequently go on to a website called Eat Your Kimchi and they do K-Pop Music Mondays and they had reviewed this video. If you want to get more insight on what this video is about as well as K-Pop in general, you should watch it.

Video Credit: eatyourkimchi.com

My co-workers now say "Unnie Sanbon Style" to me. "Unnie" is older sister when a girl says it. Girls can also say it to an older girl that they are friends with. And Sanbon is the neighborhood I live in.

Photo A Day: Aug 8-14

2012-08-15T19:54:00.001+09:00

Aug 8 - I bought some new shoes on G-market a couple days ago for W12,000 and I got them in the mail today. Yay, I like them and they fit!

Aug 9 - Today is Alyssa's birthday, the teacher who is replacing me when I go back to America. I took her to Umaru, my favorite restaurant, for dinner.

Aug 10 - Today was the end of the level, so that means FUN DAY!!! My kids and I played a variety of games, including hang man.

Aug 11 - There are always bands playing on this stage right outside of my apartments. I heard them warming up from my apartment and decided to head down and listen to them.

Aug 12 - We went to see Wicked today in Seoul. OMG, I loved it. I have been wanting to see it for a long time now. I bought the book when I first got to Korea and haven't read it yet. I guess I have some reading material for the plane ride home.

Aug 13 - Monica and Jihyeon bought me goodbye presents and made me some cards. They bought me shoes and a tassel for my hanbok. I love the cards, too! Thanks guys, I'll miss you!

Aug 14 - Monica, Alison, and Jihyeon took me out for a "good bye" dinner.

Wicked

2012-08-12T23:21:00.000+09:00

I have been wanting to see the musical Wicked for a long time. I knew that it was showing somewhere in Seoul, but I though, like a lot of there other plays/musicals, that it would be in Korea. Then I found out, nope, it's in English. It is an Australian cast that is on tour that is putting the production on. I was like, I have to go. We ended up going the following weekend.
The play had Korean subtitles on screens to the side of the stage while the musical was in English. It was pretty awesome. I am so excited I saw it. I had bought the book awhile back at an English bookstore in Seoul to read, but I haven't been able to yet. I plan on starting to read it on my journey home in a couple weeks. I heard it is darker then the musical, but whatever.

The Blue Square Theater in Seoul

A map of Oz on the stage

If you want to find out more about the Wicked production in Seoul, check out their website.

1 YEAR!!!

2012-08-08T01:04:00.000+09:00

I can't believe it has been one year since I came to Korea. It has been quite a journey. It went by very fast. I am happy that I will be going home in 16 days. Ever since my plane ticket was purchase, I have been very homesick and so I am excited that I am almost there. There were many things that I did here that I didn't expect I would do, and there are things that I wish I could have done. As the day I go back to America approaches, I have been mentally making a list of things I will and will not miss about Korea. So here it is.

Things I Will Miss

My kids
Korean food
How cheap everything is
Co-workers
Having my own apartment

Things I Will Not Miss

Angry Ahjummas
Unflushed toilets (I know it sounds gross but it happens all the time in Korea
Soap and toilet paper in bathrooms
Public drunkenness
Getting bumped into all the time
Not knowing what anybody is saying
The heat in the summer and the cold in the winter

This is all I can think of right now, but I will add to it as I think of more things.

Photo A Day: August 1-7

2012-08-08T00:34:00.003+09:00

Aug 1 - Yay, August has finally come. I will be heading home in less than a month!

Aug 2 - Korean snacks are weird. These are the more friendly ones.

Aug 3 - In this update of funny shirts not suited for children, one of the kids wore this shirt today. Again, they usually don't know what it means but just that it has English on it.

Aug 4 - We went to the aquarium today. It wasn't worth the cost but the manatees were super cute!

Aug 5 - On a very crowded subway in very hot and humid weather where the air conditioner doesn't work very well = good times....NOT!

Aug 6 - Kate is a crazy little monkey!

Aug 7 - Today is my 1 year anniversary being in Korea. This is my cork board, that was empty when I came, and I have filled it with random things I have gotten since being here. There are also a couple things from home.

Coex Aquarium

2012-08-04T22:18:00.000+09:00

I went to the Aquarium in Seoul for the first time. It wasn't all that exciting and it was set up more as a tour then what I am used to. It was also very crowded which was annoying. My favorite part were all the sharks and the manatees.

Photo A Day: July 22-31

2012-08-02T00:01:00.000+09:00

July 22 - I finally got a new battery for my watch. I have been meaning to do that for a while now. I have just been walking around wearing a dead watch for the past several months.

July 23 - New semester at school means new schedule. I will only teach it for a couple weeks though.

July 24 - Bane should be scared of The MONICA! Haha, this is what we do at work.

July 24 - I mailed a large package of clothes home today. I am trying to make sure I will have plenty of room in my suit cases when for when I go home.

July 26 - I found this in one of the English books we use at school. This book is able to predict the future of two of my friends.

July 27 - It's the first day of the Olympic Games! Even though technically with the time difference, they don't start until the early morning tomorrow.

July 28 - I got my wisdom tooth taken out today. I have lots of medicine for my recovering mouth.

July 29 - My face is huge. Today is the second day of my recovery from getting my wisdom tooth yanked out of my mouth.

July 30 - Alison brought me some twinberry cheesecake ice cream for my recovering mouth. You rock!

July 31 - I headed out to Myeong-dong today. I needed to get out of the house for a bit.

Korean Army Base Stew (Budaechigae)

2012-07-26T22:55:00.000+09:00

One of my favorite soups in Korea is called the Korean Army Base Stew or Johnson's Soup. I finally found a recipe for it so that I am able to make it at home.

Following the Korean war, American army bases became a permanent fixture in South Korea, to assist the South against any possible skirmishes with the North.

The Americans brought a number of foods that had never been seen in Korea such as Spam, frankfurter sausages and baked beans to name a few. In true Korean Fashion, they took these ingredients and mixed with their own to make a spicy stew named Budae Jjigae which literally translates as the 'army stew'

Its a spicy dish, normally cooked in a big pan and served from the middle of the table, containing noodles, western ingredients and plenty of vegetables Budae Jjigae is a great example of Koreans putting their own mark on foods.

Prep Time: 10 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups meat in small chunks (Spam, hot dogs, ham, small meatballs, or a combination)

1 1/2 cups sliced vegetables (combination of any: mushrooms, bean sprouts, chrysanthemum leaves)

1/2 an onion, sliced

1 cup of tofu

2 1/3 cups of water with 4 cubes of chicken stock

1 package ramen noodles (just noodles, not spice packets)

Kimchi (optional)

Sliced rice cakes (optional)

Canned baked beans (optional topping)

Sliced American cheese (optional topping)

Sauce:

1-3 Tbsp kochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)

1 Tbsp Red Pepper Powder

2 cloves of crushed garlic

2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce

1 Tbsp of Sugar

1 Tbsp of Sesame Oil

Preparation:

Start by putting water in a pan, add to this about 4 cubes or 2 tablespoons of chicken stock and mix well. Cut the Spam, sausages and tofu in to slices and cut all the vegetables. In a bowl add all the ingredients for the sauce and mix well, Place the sauce in to the pan and add the other ingredients around it, keep the noodles to on side for now.

Bring the entire mix to boil and cook well, this should take about 15 minutes, the easiest way to check is to see if the onion is soft. At this point add some noodles it is common to use some instant noodles like shin Ramyun, you could though use any supermarket noodle. This will take a further 3-5 minutes to cook.

Serve in a bowl and enjoy, there should be plenty for up to 5 people and you could serve with rice and some side dishes if you like, however with the noodles there is enough to fill you up.

Photo A Day: July 15-21

2012-07-21T17:32:00.000+09:00

July 15 - We went to the National Museum of Korea today, on this very rainy day, and Jess made a friend!

July 16 - Jessica made us crepes for breakfast with the crepe mix she bought for me from France! They were delicious!

July 17 - Getting bibimbap for lunch with Jessica before I see her for the last time, until November.

July 18 - Did a bit of shopping at E-Mart and saw this product. It's called "Family Sucker." I'm not exactly sure what this product is or what it does. Those two things are connected too.

Jul 19 - I went to see the new Batman movie, but you won't get any spoilers from!

July 20 - Today was my last day teaching two of my favorite students. I will miss teaching these girls. I am happy that it is not goodbye yet.

July 21 - One of my favorite stores in Korea had a sale for today only. Crap, I love and hate sales. I end up spending too much money.

Day 9 of The JK Epic Korean Adventure: National Museum of Korea

2012-07-15T22:35:00.000+09:00

Today was our last full day together. She isn't leaving until Tuesday, but tomorrow I have to work. It was also a very rainy day. I decided to take her to the National Museum of Korea. It is indoors, so we can not be in the rain. I went to the museum once before, but was only able to explore a little bit of it. Jess and I were there basically all day and were able to see the entire museum, except the outdoor exhibit, but it was raining. It was fun seeing the Joseon dynasty part of the exhibit, but they didn't have anything after 1910's. I'm pretty sure something big happened in that missing 100 years they don't have at the museum. We probably would have to go to the Korean War Museum to get that part. It was still fun looking around. It also kept us out of the rain and the museum was free. Yay!

Jessica and I both found this interesting, especially because everywhere else in the world it was the exact opposite.

Jess found a friend

There were a lot of Buddha statues

After we were finished looking around the museum, we decided to head outside and have fun taking random photos. We love to take random photos, especially jumping photos!

When we got back to Sanbon, I took Jess to a really good Indian Restaurant near my apartment. It is really good. We both enjoyed the food a lot!

Photo A Day: July 8-14

2012-07-14T23:36:00.000+09:00

July 8 - I finally went to N Seoul Tower on top of Namsam Park. It was a good day to go. We were able to get up to the top fairly quickly!

July 9 - Went to the 2012 Yeosu Expo Worlds Fair. It was really fun but the day was very long. Had to wake up at 4 am to take the train and then we didn't get back home until 11:30 pm.

July 10 - I took Jessica to a photo sticker store. It was fun making fun poses and then decorating the photo.

July 11 - I took Jess to my favorite Korean restaurant called Umaru. She really liked the food there. YAY!

July 12 - We saw a locust on the door at a nearby coffee shop. Apparently it is very rare to see them in such an urban area. Sandy named him Lo the Locust. It was her friend.

July 13 - Took Jessica to a norebang for the first time. In this picture she doesn't look like she is having fun, but don't worry she is. It was a fun night.

July 14 - We wanted to do another photo sticker booth...they are so fun. We want to do it again before she leaves. Also, in the "Korean" photo, we are channeling the Emily and in the "Adventure" photo, we are channeling the Angie! That's how we roll!

Day 8 of The JK Epic Korean Adventure: Photo Sticker Booths

2012-07-14T20:48:00.000+09:00

Today, was a very rainy day. We didn't really want to go out and do much. So we decided to partake in out favorite new addiction. I love doing the sticker photo booths here in Korea. They are so much fun. We take several poses and then we pick out favorite four poses. After that, we go to another part of the booth and we get to decorate the photo. These booths are super addicting. In the 10 days that Jessica was in Korea, we did it three different times. We had an awesome time doing them. We also did a better job and making them, especially because the entire booth is in Korean. America needs to get these because they are super fun.

Day 7 of The JK Epic Korean Adventure: Norebang

2012-07-14T11:22:00.000+09:00

Today was a Friday, and I had to work today. But after work, my co-workers and I took Jess to her first norebang. A norebang is a singing room, so basically karaoke. But the karaoke here in Korea is in private rooms and not on a stage in front of complete strangers. They are very fun. You can sing for as long as you want and be as crazy as you want. Both Jess and I aren't very good singers, but that's okay, there was only one of the people in the group who could sing super well. I didn't take very many photos while there, I mainly did video. Here is a quick montage of what a norebang is like.

Happy Birthday Angie!

2012-07-12T23:30:00.000+09:00

It was mine and Jessica's friends birthday, and we were both in Korea, so Jessica had the idea of making a birthday video for her. Since Jessica has been here, we have been filming us randomly dancing and what not. I think she did an awesome job making the video. Here it is, enjoy!

Day 4 of The JK Epic Adventure: Hongdae

2012-07-11T01:17:00.000+09:00

On the fourth day of Jessica visiting me, I took her to Hongdae. Hongdae is a neighborhood in Seoul that is known for its urban arts and indie music culture, clubs and entertainments. We went there for a couple reasons. First, I wanted to show her a different type of Korea; this was they type that young people our age would hang out at, especially because it is near Hongik University. Second, I wanted to take her to two different cafes that were right near each other.

Just one of the many clubs in Hongdae. This one made Jess happy!

First we went to the best cafe ever, the Hello Kitty Cafe. This is the second Hello Kitty Cafe I have visited, the first one was in Taipei, Taiwan. I was super excited to go. I love all things Hello Kitty, and this place was definitely that. Everything was so PINK! Even when I was trying to take pictures in the cafe, it gave the pictures a bit of a pink hue to them. I tried to edit the photos to fix the coloring, but it was difficult. I order an iced latte and Jessica got a waffle. Both of which were decorated with Hello Kitty on them.

HELLO KITTY!

Hello Kitty shaped waffle!

Hello Kitty cinnamon decoration on top of my latte

After the Hello Kitty Cafe, we headed up the road about 100 ft, it was very close to the Hello Kitty Cafe, to a Cat Cafe. "What is a Cat Cafe?" you may ask. Well, it is the best thing ever! Basically you either have to purchase something at the cafe or you pay an entrance fee and get a free drink. We paid W8,000 and got a free drink as well. Then, we get to play with cats that are everywhere. I was watching an Eat Your Kimchi video, and they actually went to this place, and I noticed it was near the Hello Kitty Cafe, so I planned for us to go here. This place had about 24 cats wondering all around the cafe. They were all super cute. I am a little allergic to cats, which caused me to have a sneezing attack and itchy eyes after we left, but it was so worth it. I love playing with cats.

A sign just outside, the place was called Catsliving.

Jessica having way too much fun!

Kitty! This cat had really short front legs.

After the cafes, we wondered around Hongdae a bit. There are a lot of place to buy clothes and accessories, so we browsed around for some Engrish shirts. Instead, we found some cute kitty shirts. Then we got some delicious Mexican food and headed back to my town. It was a good thing we left when we did because it started pouting down with rain when we left.

Day 3 of The JK Epic Adventure: Yeosu 2012 World's Fair

2012-07-10T13:11:00.000+09:00

On our third day, we headed south to Yeosu for the World's Fair Expo. I took a tourism class for my anthropology senior seminar last year, and one of the other students did a project on mass tourism. Mass tourism is when one place recieves a large amount of tourist at one time for a specific event. So the Olympics would be part of that category, but she also talked about World's Fair. People don't really talk about those anymore. People, or at least I did, thought of them as things that happened in the past. In her presentation she had mentioned that they are still going on, that they still occur today. She also mentioned that the next one would occur in Korea. By this time, I had already known that I would be coming to Korea. So, I was super excited and had decided right there in class that I would go to it no matter what. Then, when I told Jessica that there would be a world's fair, she also wanted to go. So, we both planned on going when she would be in Korea.

We both stayed at a hostel near the Seoul train station. Then we had to wake up at around 4:10 am. We had to walk to the train station for our 5:10 am train to Yeosu. We took one of the KTX bullet trains, so it took about 3 1/2 hours to get to Yeosu. I think the fastest speed we got was around 294 kph (~182 mph). The distance between Seoul and Yeosu is bout 377 km (~234 miles).

Route map from Seoul to Yeosu, the purple route. Taken from the KTX website.

On the train!

We arrived at Yeosu just before 8:30 am. We got our tickets, which were niffty, little cards and waited in line to go inside. They started letting people in at round the same time, so we got in without a problem. The only thing was, nothing inside the expo opened until 9 am, which was fine because we had no idea where to begin. It was so big and there were so many things to go see. We ended just walking in one direction and if we saw something cool, we stopped and got in line for it. The theme for the Expo was "The Living Ocean and Coast."

Our tickets

What we saw when we first walked in. A giant screen on the ceiling of this building.

We decided to head into the Lotte Pavilion first. If you know anything about Korea, you'll know that Lotte is this huge conglomerate company. They have movie theaters, theme parks, food, shopping malls, and hotels. At their pavillion, their theme was "An Incredible Enchanting World." They had this giant hot air balloon in the middle of the room, which we would eventually end up inside. But before that, they had a little performance for us to watch in their "Fantasy Garden." It was a cute little show. Then once we got inside of the hot air balloon, we had to hold onto some handlebars that were lined up inside. There was a screen all around us, and then we proceeded to go on a hot air balloon. It was actually kind of fun. There entire room was moving as well, and then we had a video all around us to take us on out journey.

In the fantasy garden watching the performance

There were smaller hot air balloons everywhere, as well as the big one one on the left.

We went to some of the other pavilions as well, such as the LG Pavilion, GS Caltex Energy Field, and the POSCO Pavilion but they weren't as exciting as the Lotte one. After we did the individual company pavilion, we headed over to the Marine Civilization & City Pavilion. It's theme was "Humankind's Challenges and Achievements with the Sea". At this pavilion they had a depiction of a realistic marine environment including a wrecked ship and models of future cities based entirely from the ocean. They also showed us legends and life arising from the sea as well as new uses of the sea and aquatic areas.

A model of a futuristic city or home (I can't remember which) that will be based on the ocean.

After this pavilion, we headed to the Internal Pavilion, where countries from all over the world were able to present how they are involved with the future of our oceans. This was my favorite part of the whole expo. We were able to tour all around the world without going to far. I only wish we could of gone to every single county, but we didn't have time. There were so many countries there.

All of the countries I was able to take a picture of

We also explored the Theme Pavilion as well. I had made reservations for it, which is a good thing too, the line was very long for it. The Theme Pavilion was about "The Co-existence Between the Sea and the Human." There were a couple movies based on a story of the sea being under threat of losing life due to global warming and maritime wastes, which poses a threat to human beings as well. It wasn't super exciting, mainly because it was all in Korean. Some of the movies we had seen before had English as well, but this was all in Korea.

After this, we headed over to the Big-O for the Ocean Show. We weren't able to get very good seats, and then when we did sit down, several ahjummas nudged there way to sit in front of us and even almost on us. They were very rude. So we weren't able to see a lot of the show because of them. But there were many beautifully dressed people. The show was a bit interesting as well, even if we had no idea what was going on most of the time.

After this we headed back over to the International Pavilion, where all the different countries were. It was a good but long day. I wish we had more time to explore everywhere, but we couldn't. We did see a robot band, that was pretty cool.

The day was beautiful as it progressed. When we first got there it was cloudy and hot, but as we were heading back to the train station, the clouds went away and the sun came out, but it was still hot.

The Theme Pavilion with Odong Island in the back

That was our day. There will be more pictures on my Flickr account.

Day 2 of The JK Epic Adventure: Namsan Park and Namdaemun

2012-07-10T00:18:00.000+09:00

On the second day, we decided to head out to Namsan Park. It is one of the largest parks in Seoul. Namsan means "South Mountain" in Korea. It is 262 meter (859 ft), at its highest point. Also at the top is N Seoul Tower, one of Seoul most recognizable landmarks. You can see the tower from almost any part of the city. I have also been putting off going there because I have heard that it is always super busy and crowded and that it also takes for ever to actually get to the top.

For me, I actually did not have that problem. We decided the we would take the cable car to the top because it was too hot to actually wall up to the top, and then we would walk down it. So we got off the subway, and headed towards the inclined elevator which would take us to the cable car. The elevator was going uphill at about a 45 degree slope that could take people up and down. We then walked to the ticket office to go to the cable car. We waited in line for only a couple minutes to get the ticket, then headed to another line to actually get on the cable car. We weren't in line for very long. We only waited for about 15 minutes. Then we got into the crowded cable car and headed up to the top. The cable car ride was about 3 minutes long. It also gave us our first view of Seoul, and what we would expect once we reached the top.

The inclined elevator

I was unable to get a pic from the bottom, but here it is going down

We decided we would head to the top of the Tower before exploring the bottom area. We went and got our tickets, and again we did not wait very long at all before we were able to get into the elevator to go to the top. While we were in the elevator, they had a television at the top, which was making us feel that we were actually flying into space, and again when we were coming back down, we were coming back to earth. We saw a 360° view of Seoul. We took our pictures, and spent about 30 min to 45 min at the top, then decided to head back down.

One of the many views of Seoul

Jess and I at the top

At the bottom of the tower, they have areas were couples can lock a lock to the fence. It seems like there is at least one place like this in every major city in the world. I just like taking pictures of them. It looks cool when they are all together like this.

Namsan Locks of Love

After we headed to the bottom, we decided to head to our hostel. We were going to stay in a hostel this night because the next day we would head down to Yeosu, in the southern part of Korea, for the Worlds Fair. Our train was very early the next day and we wanted to be close to the station. We stayed in a hostel called Yoon & Jin. We were only there for like 10 hours. It is located near Namsan. We wanted to cool ourselves off before heading out to the market. So we rested for an hour and headed back out. What was nice about this place though, was later that night, the owners brought us some watermelon to eat. It was very good and it was very nice of them to do that.

We then headed to Namdaemun Market, so that Jess could get the feel of a Korean market. What sucked was, a lot of the placed were closed. We went on a Sunday at around 6:30ish. So I'm unsure if that is how it is normally or what. We didn't spend too much time there. We explored for a tiny bit and then left.

This is the end of our second day of our adventure. Out third day will be spend in a different part of Korea.

Day 1 of The JK Epic Adventure: Gyeongbokgung, Cheonggycheon, and Insadong

2012-07-07T23:53:00.000+09:00

On Jessica's first day in Korea, I took her to see some of old Korean and new. We first went to Gyeongbokgung. It is one of the largest palaces in Korea that was not fully destroyed by the Japanese during there occupation. I had gone to the palace during the winter time, so it was good to go again during the summer when it is greener. The palace is so large as well, so I was able to see some new things that I didn't see before. The only thing is, it was very hot and humid so the was not very fun walking around with.

Jessica in front of the palace

Hyangwonjwong Pavilion

Jess and I!

Korean love there umbrellas rain and shine!

After we were finished at the palace, we walked to the Cheonggyecheon. It is a stream in the downtown area of Seoul. It is also about a half of a mile away from the palace, so were were able to just walk there. I had gone here once before during the Seoul Lantern Festival. The stream is 5.2 miles long, so we definitely did not walk along the whole thing. In 2003, the stream went under a massive restoration that cost $900 million. It was fun going there. We were able to dip our feet into the stream and cool off a bit. We also met a few friends who were going around preaching the gospel to foreigners.

Cooling off!

We then walked to Insadong, a neighborhood near the stream. Insadong is well known as a traditional street to both locals and foreigners. While in Insadong, we went to Jogyesa, one of the most significant Korean Buddhist temples. We also went to the Beautiful Tea Museum, which was a cafe, as well a history of how Korean's have used flowers in there tea. It was a bit interesting. I kind of having been wanting to go there for a while, just because I like tea. And it was interesting learning about it.

Jogyesa

This was only the first day, we still have many days to come.