Don't tell anyone I listen to country...

"I hope the days come easy and the moments come slow
and each road leads you where you want to go
And if you're faced with the choice and you have to chose
I hope you chose the one that means the most to you

And if one door opens to another door closed
I hope you keep on walking till you find the window
If it's cold outside show the world the warmth in your smile"
- Rascal Flatts

Gangnam: Sorry for partying

I love a good dive bar, and don't mind throwing darts, but let's not kid overselves. I love to get dressed up and go out. I like to dance. I like to be taller than everyone else. My friends always tell me that my hair gets drunk before I do, like it gets bigger and a little outta control. Sorry for partying. Just a few pics from a night out with friends and coworkers~

Squeezing in with the Koreans at Noise Basement.

Fay and I dancing at Harlem...not a fan of this bar. Fay obviously is.

Sweaty mist hovering above the crowd at NB

James outside of Club Mass.

Looking forward to another 3 day weekend. Looks like we'll be taking a shuttle to a ski park for the last weekend of the season before it warms up. The sun has been out and the weather is starting to turn in a good direction. Can't wait for warmth! So many trips to come I can't even wrap my brain around it. Life can be so good :)

-C

Seoul Dreaming

I had a short week at work this week, thanks to the previous long weekend. I wish I only had to work 3 days every week. Sigh. Decided to visit Seoul Tower, finally. It's been on the "to do" list for quite some time, but things always seem to come up and it gets pushed back. After a hard night out on Friday, me, B, and Jamie Lynn (James) hit the subway.

We hiked up to the tram entrance, and I had to admit, it was a beautiful day. Not too cold, the sun was bright in the sky, a coffee in hand, friends to make me laugh...I don't need much more. I'm scared of heights so a tram up a mountain isn't exactly soothing. B kept saying if we fell we'd probably live. I think he changed his mind 10 seconds in. And imagine that, we didn't die. Always a plus.

boarding the tram

The sun was just setting by the time we got up to the tower. There was some really cool artwork around and in true Seoul style, tons of people.

A popular thing to do is put a lock on the fence of the tower. Couples, friends, families, any type of relationship you can think of, has been solidified on this tower with a hunk of metal and a secret combination. There were millions of locks. Literally, millions. Heartfelt messages were sprawled on some locks, with pictures, dates, and promises. You're supposed to put the lock on the tower, and then together throw the key off the top of the tower. As cute as that sounds, there were also messages cut in half, locks broken off and thrown over the edge...let's just say love can be fleeting.

me & b after we put our lock on the tower

i wasn't kidding. millions of locks.

It was a great evening. We rode the tram back down to the busy city and enjoyed the view all the way. It feels so good to get out of the busy city sometimes, even though I was still in the heart of Seoul. Even though I've been living in the city for the past however many years, I still think I'm a country girl at heart.

"Twenty years from now you'll be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than the things that you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - MT

Look Dad! Waeguks!

Waeguk is Korean for "foreigner". I haven't heard it said too many times, but when I do, it can feel somewhat insulting. See, I don't mind the staring so much. I enjoy when the kids come up to me (forcibly by their parents) to practice their English. Last week I was at a coffee shop working on my writing (and by the way I hate those kinds of people) and a little girl came up to me. She proceeded to stare at me for a good 5 minutes like some squashed bug in a glass case. Then she put her head on my leg, like she was going to take a nap, and poked at my shoes. Just another day as a foreigner. This weekend was no exception. I might as well have been Sasquatch walking through Times Square. But pointing and gawking aside, I held my head high (a lot higher than everyone else), and had a blast.

After some pretty dark excursions from the past few weekends, we decided to meet up for some sledding and Lunar New Year festivities.

epic subway exit.

playing a traditional Korean game, similar to hackey sack

B flying down the hill, lookin waaay too happy :)

it may not look fast, but holy mother it was!

After some sledding, I flew a kite down by the Han River. Is it lame to find flying kites fun? I really enjoyed it. The weather was warming up and the sky was clear. Couldn't complain.

Then someone got the brilliant idea to go to Seoul Grand Park for some roller coasters and burgers. Loving the randomness of it all, I just went along for the ride. It was great to scream my lungs out and laugh till I cried.

click. click. click. going up the track.

a view from the top of the roller-coaster.

Tomorrow means back to work. Boo. It's safe to say I'm having a good time in Korea and hope to take advantage of what this country has to offer me.

C-

Love Is Lovely

Happy Valentine's Day and Lunar New Year! With both holidays falling on Sunday AND a three day weekend...I was a smitten kitten. Koreans do V-day a little differently than we do back in the states. Instead of boys and girls exchanging gifts, girls just give chocolates to the guys. This chocolate love is recipricated with White Day in March, where girls get chocolates from boys. Either way, B gave me chocolates too. Beautiful, smelling too good to be true, and wrapped in a cute box. Thanks B :)

love it.

Then he took me out to a fancy Italian dinner. This is their take on the Caesar salad.

Then we decided (I decided) to hit up the photo/sticker booth store. It was packed and there were so many crazy photo machines my head was spinning. The directions were all in Korean so we had no idea what was going on, but it was fun. (Sorry about the pic quality, the paper is super glossy).

The previous night, a bunch of us went out to some bars in Hongdae. I bought this amazing pair of shoes earlier that day, and like most girls know, a new pair of shoes can make a night. And boy, did they ever. Buckets of long islands and trays of shots didn't hurt either. Well, not until the next morning.

Me - Lee - and Rob. I look like a ghost thanks to my camera's terribly bright flash. ick.

Ashley, Bonny, and Boyoung at Papa G's.

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday :)

C-

Mom, I went to prison.

It was another weekend and another opportunity to see the sights in Seoul. While a few of my friends opted for a movie and the amusement park, I decided to visit a prison. Right? Seriously, what were those other people thinking? Who passes up a prison? Not this girl.

Anyways, so a group of us hopped on the subway to see if couldn't get the heebie-jeebies. Seodaenum Prison was built forcibly by the Japanese in the early 1900's. At the same time the Korean's had started an Independence movement. Anyone found guilty of cooperating in this Independence group were placed here in Seodaenum.

There was little to no english translation, and with no guide, it was pretty difficult to make sense of what I was looking at. I did learn, however, that starvation was the leading cause of death in this prison and torture in any form was fair play. I'm guessing to add to the shock value, the current Korean population decided to fill the cells with dummies and mannequins, smeared in fake blood. For me, it just cheapened the whole thing and kind of made a mockery of a completely serious subject. But hey, someone's gotta be buying up those halloween clearance items.

This little boy was too afraid to go in.

Corpses were dragged through these tunnels after execution.

This plaque described why such a horrible looking tree grew inside the execution building's walls.

the hanging tree.

prison grounds

This part was really, really messed up. I didn't take a picture of it, because I was a bit disturbed, but this lovely dummy is part of it. You could actually semi-experience a hanging. You could sit in a chair, put the rope around your neck, and the chair would drop (obviously the rope dropped too). I wasn't a fan.

water torture.

lynching.

beating.

old school security guard.

in this cell, they had a tape on a loop of this woman screaming over and over again. really driving the point home I suppose.

These are old mugshots and "report cards" so they called them. As sad as they are I think they're quite beautiful.

As dark and twisted as some of the pictures may seem, it didn't feel that way at all (besides the hanging thing). Schools of kids were running around and playing. Old men were drinking coffee and shootin the breeze. It was strange to say the least.

After the cemetary, then the prison, you bet your butt I went to that amusement park the next week.

Just soakin' it allllll in.

C

Yikes!

Felt my first earthquake yesterday! I was in the middle of teaching a math lesson when the whole ground shook, but only for a few seconds. It was rainging a bit outside, so one of the students suggested it was just lightning, but I didn't hear any thunder and coming from Indiana, where tornadoes and severe storms are quite common, I knew that wasn't it.

My first thought was "Holy sh#t, North Korea has finally done it!" But no shock wave or disinigrating blast followed. Instead I kept teaching about when the train would arrive at the station.

When I went back to the teacher's office I looked on the internet, and sure enough, it was a mild earthquake. It lasted 4 seconds and was only a 3.0, centered farther north. It could be felt through the greater parts of Seoul, including where I live.

Considering South Korea has been considered a "safe zone" as far as earth quakes go, it caused a bit of a stir with the Koreans here.

Just another thing to add to my list of "firsts" while in SK!

The Dating Game

Sometimes i find myself peeking at Korean couples through the crowds on the subway...sometimes I have to stare at them as they scream at eachother outside a coffee shop....and God love em' I quite often am subject to hearing their love-making fests (thanks, permiscuous man down the hall). With Valentine's Day this coming weekend, I thought I'd take a moment to educate yall on the Dating Game of South Korea..or at least what I've learned.

The man must always carry the girls bag when they go somewhere. So, not only do they get to carry their murse (man purse: see previous post) but now they get to carry some hot pink, slathered in Hello Kitty tote that never compliments their ensemble.

Korean women are fierce in every sense of the word. I just read in the newspaper that a Korean woman was arrested for beating her lover with her stiletto. Such passion. They are quite violent when it comes to boyfriends. I see women slapping, punching, and scolding their boyfriends everyday. It's like living in Melrose Place.

Couples very outwardly broadcast their relationship to others. They do so by wearing matching outfits. T-shirts, underwear, bathing suits, hoodies...it's not just for twins anymore. I think it's funny and I could never imagine this catching on in the US.

My Coworker Cindy and her Man-Candy

In Korea, when a boy and girl are "going steady", they exchange rings. These couples ring shops are set up all over the trendy parts of town and the rings can be quite expensive and elaborate. It's not an engagement, but it's a serious commitment. And yes, I've seen a girl throw her ring in the street, followed by a swift punch in the chest. They love a dramatic exit.



Isn't love lovely? Either the men here are scumbags or the women have some serious hormonal issues... I'm kidding.



Wondering what Valentine's Day will be like...considering it falls on one of the biggest Korean Holiday's of the year, Lunar New Year. Will post more on that soon.

Fashion Smashion

Another plus of living in Korea is the shopping. Trends are closely followed and top designs are replicated and sold at a fair price. In Chicago, I always had a tough time shopping, but here I find things I like on every corner. Which, I might add, is not good for savings. The women are carefully manicured and made up like dolls every day. No sweats, always a full face of makeup, high heels a must. Everyone carries a designer bag, although I don't think I've seen a real one, to date (yes girls, I can tell). The guys fashions are my favorite. They embraced the term metro sexual like a religion. Tight white pants, fur vests, a little bronzer, they've got it all. It's funny but also kind of nice at the same time. I couldn't date a guy that wears make up, but it's nice to see men that aren't afraid of looking fashionable in fear of being called gay.

I thought I'd pay tribute to these high stylin, profilin' men with a post to the Murse: A Portrait of the Man on the Go.

Without further adieu' ...

What could they possibly be carrying? Gym clothes? Hopes and dreams? Stun guns? So mysterious.