Jongmyo, Insadong, and Hangang Park

OK, so update about the whole pan thing. So apparantly, Paul 'approved' my whole pan buying experience while he was asleep. So when the pans appeared on our doorsteps the other day, he was very confused as to why there were 4 new pans in the house. I'm not giving them back. hehehhe. He says that he'll get me back by asking for a new watch while I'm asleep. We'll see :)

On another note. So, Paul is on his vacay and my classes have been really light because students are studying for their midterms. In the US, if midterms are around the corner, too freakin bad, we're gonna have classes right up to the midterms right? Well, not so in good ol' ROK. So here, students get a lot of "self-study time". If we have tests or anything along those lines during the week before midterms or finals, parents call the principal, and us teachers get a trip to the principal's office. Testing is a very important matter! So right now, my students are working hard, studying for their 13 tests and I am in the classroom writing up this blog post!

OK so, because Paul isn't working this week, we have a ton of energy to explore Seoul. On Monday, we went to Jongmyo... one of the few shrines that Korea has to offer.

Paul decided that it was high time that I got a picture taken of me so here I am, blue shirt, backpack and all! This is in front of the main shrine.

According to Wiki, Jongmyo was built to hold memorial services for deceased kings and queens. I was expecting really a lot of cool stuff to be in there - but it was quite empty.

What was really nice about it, though, was that from inside the walls, you couldn't see any of the modern skyscrapers and the air was relatively fresh.

It was also beautiful.

Anyway, the ceremony. The kings themselves took part in this ceremony, conducting it with the high officials.

So these are the vessels used to hold all sorts of ceremonial lootz for the spirits. Most will carry either alcohol or food to try and pacify the spirits of all of the deceased kings and queens. One particular piece that Paul and I liked was the dragon pouring-spout-thing. It contains some kind of grain alcohol (of course) and the king would pour the wine from it into some kind of hole in the ground 3 times to try and make the spirits happy. Paul and I think the kings were just trying to make the spirits drunk so they could bribe them with food afterwards. Also, outside the building, there was a mysterious iron handle on the ground.

Paul thought that maybe the Korean dudes put treasure in there, and if you could lift up the stone, you could get to the treasure. We decided maybe if we harness up the poops and we both pulled, it'll give way a little :)

Also, the pillars were kind of these lame colors. In Jeju, the pillars on the buildings were very intricate and all sorts of fun colors, but these were just a plain aqua/turquoise-y color with minimal design.

But the shrine made it all up to us by having these awesome grates that looked like faces

(Paul decided to feed these 'faces' some acorns)

and an awesome tree

It looks like it ate some children or something.

There were also some cute oak trees there and so Paul found some triad caps.

Paul and some people ran around gathering acorns.

Paul, to collect them because he likes big piles of stuff...

Other people... to eat them because acorns are tasty.

The best part of the whole thing, though, was that at the exit gate, there was a cute little bin.

Roughly translated, it says "the acorns real owners are the chipmunks!!!"

So, people threw their acorns into the bin

:) Now the chipmunks have something to eat during the winter if they accidentally wake up.

After our fun times @ Jongmyo, Paul and I decided to go to Insadong.

Insadong is just a big tourist-y place with lots of traditional food and shops. It's really fun to go there, but it is kind of out of the way so we don't go too often.

So the main purpose of this trip was to satiate Paul's craving for Kon-guk-su, AKA bean noodle. A couple of months ago, Paul and I were running around Insadong when we got really hungry. We just wanted to get a quick bite so we went into this noodle shop that had only 4 things on the menu. It was blistering hot out so we decided to order said kon-guk-su and just had a terrible time with it. The best way to describe the texture is... smooth and grainy? It doesn't have much of a flavor besides this umami dark roasty taste.. like peanut butter. Anyway, it wasn't what we expected so we just kind of chowed it down and went on our merry way. The taste though stayed with Paul and so as of a month ago, he started craving it. We attempted to order it at some fast food place near us, but it was just watery and not flavorful at all, and just created a bigger craving. So while we were in Insadong, Paul got a chance to satisfy the craving.

I realize I should ave taken a picture of this thing BEFORE I started chowing down on it, but I promise it's not as gross looking as it looks.

So basically, you have some chewy noodles, you put some matchstick cucumbers into it, then pour a cold bean slushy type of mixture on top, and voila - kon-guk-su. It's a summer dish and is served cold.

Yesterday, I came home to Paul sleeping...



and after waking him up, the pups decided that they wanted to be restless.



so we decided to visit Hangang Park (gang means river so Han River Park). They've (the city and its government) been doing a ton of construction on it so we haven't actually been back in awhile.... But there was a restaurant that I've been wanting to show Paul for awhile so we decided to bike along the river.

We loaded up the poops and headed west. The skies were blue!

When we got there, we decided to check out the new structures that they'd built. To our surprise, there was a concrete BMX bike course O.o and an art-bike exhibit.

So if you're wondering what an art-bike is...

These bikes are open to the public.. so of course, being the adventurous folks that we are, we decided to have a go on them!

This bike is propelled by jumping up and down the back portion of it.



What a fun science project it would be to analyze the different simple machines on these!

We also decided to get on one of these made for multiple people to ride on.



Weeeeee!~



As you can see, I decided to steer and made Paul do all of the pedaling :)

We wanted to ride a few more - especially the one with the toilet cover as the seat o.O but it was 5:00 and they were closing. We vowed to come back sometime and have some more fun.

After leaving that area, we still had a lot of energy left. Paul went to the park convenience store (the 7-11 hehe) to buy some water and I let Kamja off the leash to let him run around.



He was entirely too happy to be free!

When Paul came back, he walked Tank - we can't let Tank off leash because he will run away :(

Here he is peeing!!!



He likes to lift his leg up high into the air to pee on tall things... like grass.

So Paul and I headed over the river path to the Secret Garden (the place I wanted Paul to see) but on the way there, Kamja jumped out of the basket (Paul didn't put a blankie in his so it was uncomfortable, I guess) and almost got killed by oncoming bike traffic. :( I yelled at Paul :( :( :( and then stole my puppy and put him in my comfy basket where he esentially laid down and enjoyed the rest of the ride. I also made sure to buckle him in this time.



Poor puppy :(

When we finished, we laid the blanket down and rested awhile. Paul found a fuzzy weed and decided to look like a farmer.



Then he became grumpy as we saw a very angry black rain cloud coming toward us. We huried home and gave puppies their din-dins! Overall, a pretty good day!

It's almost Chuseok again!

It has been over a year since we came to Korea. Although we've had our ups and downs, I really have a hard time believing we've crossed that threshold. Paul just finished his last day at school before his vacation(he now has a 10-day vacation.. 7 of which he is paid for... due to midterms and then Chuseok).

Anyway, I'm in a giddy mood right now because I just bought myself (with an approval from Paul, I promise!) some new ceramic coated pans! They are sooo pretty! I always told myself that I wasn't going to fall for the home shopping stuff, but after rooting around on the internet to find out about these pans, I couldn't help it.... hehe.... they have a detachable handle!!! AND they come with silicone covers so that it's easy to store. I'm a BIG proponent of easy storage - just ask Paul. The lady on the phone told me it'll take 3 days to get here. I can't wait to make delicious things in them ;) !

I totally stole these pictures from a different Korean blog because these babies won't come in for a couple of days, but aren't they gorgeous?! They have a nice thick bottom to prevent warping and a nice hardened ceramic coating that can withstand metal utensils without becoming scratched up (not that I would use anything besides silicone anyway). And best of all, they will nestle in nice and tight (nicely and tightly?) into my drawers without the handles getting in the way. Woohoo!~

And speaking of watching home shopping, I have to mention what they're selling currently. So, Korea has one of the highest percentage of smokers (more than Japan as of 2009..)... and really, there is a ginormous market for smokers... With this huge customer basis, a lot of companies are now starting to bring those nicotine filled electric cigarettes to Korea. I know electric cigarettes have been around for awhile, but they're finally starting to catch on in Korea now. I should mention also, that Korea is notorious for their lack of PC-ness. In order to appeal to their audience, they are showing these images on the TV (don't mind my cup in the picture). Let me try to narrate...

Wife giving you hell about coming in at 2 AM every night after smoky alcohol-filled office parties (he is TOO sexy for his shirt, no?)?

Then try our electric cigarettes which are fun for the whole family! You can even smoke around your small impressionable 5-year-old child!

You can ALSO smoke while you are pooping in the bathroom.

You know, maybe it's just that I'll never understand this joy of smoking a cigarette while doing number 2, but I've noticed that public bathrooms are always stocked with ashtrays here.. usually right under the 'no smoking' sign. Am I missing out on a simple joy of life? Perhaps. I guess I will never know.

In any case, so Paul and I had a fantastic time last weekend. On Saturday, we decided to forgo the Everland trip and go to Lotte World instead. The difference between the two is really just is just the size and distance from home. Lotte World is a relatively small theme park about 15 minutes from home. Everland is a gigantic theme park that in the middle of nowhere about an hour away. On this particular Saturday, students had school (which we planned in advance) and so we arrived around 11 AM to a relatively quiet and empty park. We had such a fantastic time that we're considering getting a year membership.

So Lotte world is a 1/2 indoor, 1/2 outdoor park... but don't let that fool you. I have NEVER seen such excellent use of space before.

This is the view from about 15 feet away from the ceiling of the indoor portion of the park. This is the ENTIRE indoor portion. This tiny, tiny space holds at least half a dozen rides. I'm currently in an imitation hot air balloon (if you look around the outer skirts of the room, you can see other balloons 'floating' around the perimeter of park). Right beneath me, is a full scale pirate ship ride (which we loved). The center white area is an indoors ice skating rink. This room also has an indoor roller coaster, a stage (that's what the yellow benches are for), a ferris wheel, 2 theme rides (one of which was probably the best theme ride I have ridden on in my entire life), and other various theme rides.

When we walked into the park, I saw a cute little band playing Beatles covers. Being the nerdy ex-brass player I am, I was quite amused and snapped a picture of them playing 'Hey Jude'.

The park is setting up for the Halloween celebration so people wear awesome awkward costumes around the park. And yes, my shirt does indeed say "Try again in 2006". It refers to the glorious period in world history when Korea and Japan co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup and was gloriously devastatingly defeated by Turkey... Someone, somehow ran across these shirts, probably stored away in the bottom of some corner closet, and decided to put them on clearance sale at our neighborhood grocery store for the jaw-dropping price of 500 won (approximately 40 cents) Paul and I HAD to snatch these jems up. We now proudly wear these shirts together when we go out. Paul and I are pretty sure that these shirts were made by someone with no humor that wanted to express their hope and faith in Korean athletics. Hehe.

Also, while exploring the paradise that is Lotte World, we also saw a familiar scene.

A cameo appearance by Harrison Ford? No way?! But alas, the hat, the whip, and the all-too-familiar annoying asian kid made us realize that we were on our way to a great adventure in the Temple of Doom... which apparantly is in Egypt...

I digress.... in any case, like I mentioned before, there is an outdoors portion to the park... and just like Disney World (and Lotte would like to mention that Disney has nuttin on dem) there is a cute monorail that goes around the perimeter of the park. But before we headed out, we decided we were getting hungry so we stopped for a quick snack at the Speedy Gonzales!

Arriba!

Then we got settled in our monorail compartment

and we were off to the great outdoors

where we marveled at the originalities of Koreans! A blue and white castle with a moat?! Where do the come up with these things?!

In any case, by the time we went outside, it was about 3 o'clock, and kids were starting to get out of school, and before we knew it, we were surrounded by swarms of hormone-raging, touchy-feely teens. We rode the best roller coaster we'd ever been on (beats the Georgia Cyclone @ Six Flags over GA, Rock 'n Roller Coaster @ MGM Studios, The Incredible Hulk @ Islands of Adventure, Superman: Ultimate Flight @ Six Flags, Space Mountain @ Magin Kingdom... and the list continues) and said goodbye to the place Paul says he will spend the next 5 days at.

This Saturday, we are having our second wedding - of sorts...

Basically, we were hoping that all the people in Korea would be there.... but it turns out my family can't come... that's right. ALL of them are too busy :( and I'm not sure what's going on with the co-workers so we'll see how this goes... in the least, it should be a fun gathering with friends. Paul will be wearing his hanbok along with the pups.

Also, next weekend (not the one coming up, but the first weekend in October) is a big, special weekend for us. Paul and are going to become certified divers.... in Vietnam. O.o So, those of you who have known me for awhile... a while back when I was dating this someone else, I attempted to be come certified but then couldn't finish my dives due to time restraints. So although I don't have my mask, snorkle, fins, weights, etc.... the center says they'll rent us everything. I wonder if they also have an underwater camera they can loan us... So I've been facebook stalking our soon-to-be dive instructor (BTW, for those of you who are concerned, this diving center received a 5-star rating from SDI) and it concerns me that he likes to call himself the 'love doctor' and is confused about which of the two women he's dating he actually loves. In any case, I'm excited for the weekend to come.

So look forward to some pictures!

So this concludes this post, and I bid you farwell with a few parting photos.

Thailand/Honeymoon/Baseball Game (disclaimer: may not be G rated)

Woohoo!~
We've had an exciting year thus far - so exciting in fact, that there hasn't really been time to update the blog (or so we'd like to have people believe instead of admitting our laziness)... between moving, the new job, and getting ready for the wedding it's been a tough 6 months.

Anyway to kick off this year, we're changing the layout a little. Don't be scared, it's the same blog... just with a new skin :)

So... since we've been back to Korea, we've resolved that we'll be doing more travelling from now on. Hopefully that gives us some fodder for more posts :)

Before our wedding, Paul had a fun summer job in Thailand teaching reading comp to a bunch of Korean students. The school, Bromsgrove Internation School, is located on a golf course which is in turn, located in the middle of a ghetto.

So once you drive on to what is essentially a country club, you get to the school.

Nice, right?

Now to the right of this island of prosperity, you see this..

And to the left, this.

Yes those are banana trees. :)

Anyway, for those who can afford it (i.e. the children of dignitaries and/or British children whose parents get paid British wages), they have access to the field

and a nice air-conditioned facility.

Pretty cool, huh?
Sunsets are particularly beautiful in Thailand.

Not a bad deal for having to pay $1500 for registration and ~$7000 / year (including boarding and meals).... seriously, that's got to be one of the lowest boarding school tuitions I've ever seen. I know where I'm sending my kids during their pubescent years.

Anyway, I digress. So once I finally got to Thailand, we headed over to the great BKK. For people who have never been to BKK, don't worry, you're not missing much. It's a fantastic city to see for about a day or two, but really past that, it's a dirty heavily-industrialised city that clearly illustrates the rich/poor divide. On a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being, I might consider living there instead of Pittsburgh), I'd give the city about a 6. In comparison, I'd give Seoul a 5.5 but only because Seoul doesn't have mangoes that are a dollar by the several pounds, Chang beer, or delicious, delicious Rambutan.

I've heard other parts of Thailand is worth visiting and is far better than Bangkok, so we're planning on going back to pet tigers and ride elephants.

Don't get me wrong, though - Bangkok wasn't a complete letdown. Far from it.

For one, we saw this cool talisman in a free museum

which we assume is a woman having sex with a horse...

next to this...

which looks like a picture of THREE women having sex with elephants.

The caption next to it says that the pictures ward off evil spirits. Elephants are considered gods in this culture and so somehow, this could make sense.

We also made sure to take the river ferry/taxi a couple of times up and down the Chao Phraya

and stopped by Wat Pho.

This temple is actually incredibly famous for its massages. In 1962, a school for traditional medicine and massages was established and since then, people travel far and wide to learn the Thai massage techniques from these monks. On hindsight, we probably should not have passed up the $10/hour massage from the students who were studying at the school.

The temple is also home to the reclining Buddha

and the Emerald Buddha (you can't tell in this picture but he's actually made of jade and is as green as the land of the Wizard of Oz)

This temple still functions as a religious sanctuary so you'll see locals coming in to pray. Also, the temple is free for Thais. Visitors have to pay a measly $2 to get in. Sorry.

Aren't we such a cute couple?

The feet of the reclining Buddha are decorated with incredibly intricate pieces of decorated mother-of-pearl.

So onward!

By the time we finished with the gigantic Wat, we were tired... too tired, in fact to go over the river to Wat Arun. Instead, we just snapped a picture from across the river and pretended we went.

These things all look the same, anyway.

Later on that day, we also saw the coolest show we've ever seen. By cool, I mean a show with elephants on stage, flying people on wires, and a built-in stage canal with people riding boats on them! We weren't allowed to snap pictures of the performance, but we had plenty of opportunities on the grounds to do so before the show.

One of the show elephants.. with a sign saying along the lines of, "Please do not get too close to the elephant. Even the best trained elephants sometimes get angry." And no, there wasn't a gate.. and no, he wasn't tied up.

Some of the performers in their costumes

Paul on the canal (not the one on stage) with the creepy boat rower who told us that the boat ride was free but emphasized that we could "pay what we wanted" (oh Thailand, how I miss you)

Continuing on, various sources told us that Bangkok was a shopping mecca. I think they were exaggerating a little, but with our money pockets tightened, we tried our luck with the street vendors.

After numerous nagging, I finally got Paul to haggle with a local on his own! I, being the responsible girlfriend that I was, had to document this interaction at the infamous Patpong market (which doesn't get its fame from the market, let me tell you).

2 fireproof (the vendor really wanted to emphasize this by trying to light the wallets on fire) ray-skinned wallets later, Paul returned, grinning and victorious.

The very next day, we woke up, bleary eyed, @ 6AM, got on a taxi, yelled at the taxi driver who tried to rip us off one last time, and headed home. Bye, bye Thailand.

The very next morning, we woke up, bleary eyed, @ 6 AM, got on the subway, and then boarded a JAL flight headed to Pittbsburgh, PA, USA.

First, we did a lay-over in Chicago though, where we went CRAZY after seeing REAL hotdogs for the first time in 12-months. We will never take Ballpark sausages for granted again.

In Pittsburgh, we prepared for a wedding that everyone thought was a shotgun wedding (you should have seen my dress consultant's eyes when I told her I needed the dress by next weekend). I'll save the actual wedding for a whole 'nother post but, as a peek preview, this was the day the flowers came in. We ordered near 400 flowers and they came in safe and sound all the way from California!

Lolly (Paul's mom) and I spent the entire morning cutting and watering flowers but they were so pretty, I didn't care. Bentley tried to help, but didn't get too far with the whole lacking-of-opposable-thumbs-thing.

These pictures are of the actual flowers that came in that morning!

I had never seen such beautiful flowers in my life!

The flower company did such a great job packing them, the flowers that were lost, I could count on one hand. So, if anyone's getting married anytime soon (cough cough, Hoot and Em, Tim and Elizabeth), I'd wholeheartedly suggest DrammEchter for your floral needs. It saved us literally, thousands of dollars.

After the wedding, Paul and I got a nice little weekend getaway in the countryside. We stayed at the Summit Inn, a BEAUTIFUL historical resort built right on the face of one of the scenic Pennsylvanian mountains (thank you Lolly and Pop!).

On our two days there, we went to Fallingwater (overrated, but recommended for it's historical value if you're ever there... also, their museum store is brilliant).

And another without us covering Wright's brain-child.

The Laurel caverns was pretty awesome, but the half-day tour was closed due to the white nose fungus that's killing off 90+% of the bat population in caves all over the NE.

Maybe another day...

After the short honeymoon, we went back to good 'ol Seoul where we were greeted by over-excited puppies (and I use the term, puppies, very loosely).

Our lives returned to normal, and Paul, once again, became the king of the couch with his little minions keeping him warm.

For some reason, this picture looks like it belongs in the '20s in black and white. What do yinz think?

FYI (we just let Paul think he's the king.. but we know the truth..)

And yes, that mug does indeed say Seven Monkeys Coffee (Paul's favorite coffee shop in Seoul - Link only works in IE).

Also, Paul decided we should get into the whole bosintang thing, since we are in Korea afterall.

Here he is getting Tank ready to be fried in a skillet?


We're just kidding. Animal welfare, if you actually exist in Korea, please don't take our puppy away..

I felt so bad, I decided to make him a house out of cardboard.

I didn't even have to force him to like it. He liked it on his own.



His toys now all live in his cardboard house.

OK, so LAST weekend, we decided to go to a baseball game!!!!!!!! WOOOOHOOOOOOOOOO!

OMG, I can't believe we never went before! The game was AMAZING!

Now, we enjoyed the Pirates game in Pittsburgh but the game in Korea was out-of-this-world! If we ever ever ever have a visitor ever again, we ARE GOING to a game.

For a measly 8,000 won ($6), we got these seats. These seats are the lowest tier seats in the stadium... so you could buy seats that cost up to 30,000 won.. but why would you?

No, I'm not zooming in. We could read the numbers AND the names off the players' shirts and see the ball that the pitcher threw with clarity. I should also mention though, that this stadium is the smallest major league stadium we have ever sat in (as you could probably see by the lack of rows in the outfield).

Now, the Korean baseball experience is something that can't be exactly recreated in words, but I will try my best.

So, Korea, like its other greater bretherens, is a society that emphasizes a collective identity.
This collectivism also applies in spectator sports.

The two teams that were playing that day were the Kia Tigers (yes, the same people who make the Sedona and the Rio) and the Doosan Bears.

The fans, on their own, segregated themselves so that they were sitting above their respective dugouts. The amazing thing about it is that these people preplanned this so that Bears fans only bought tickets for seats behind the 1st baseline, and the Tiger fans only bought tickets for seats behind the 3rd baseline. Weird, I know.

So, we decided to sit in the middle, slightly off to the right of the home plate. This led to optimal view of what then ensued.

To the right of us, the Bears fans

To the left, the Tigers fans

Do you see what they're holding?

Yes, these thundersticks are the Korean fan's weapon of choice in the bloody arena of casual sports spectatorship (if that is even a word).



Innocent in the US, these babies become lethal in the hands of a Korean sportsfan! They were OUT OF CONTROL!!!!!! +1 for collectivism!

Yes, that's right! That's hundreds, thousands of people. Chanting. Together. With synchronized thunderstick choreography.

Now, I wouldn't be so impressed if they had one chant that they partook in over and over. That's right. These professional Korean fans had not one, but SEVERAL chants that they could whip out of their arsenal at a moment's notice complete with its own unique thunderstick choreography. Many of these chants also had the ability to ADAPT to the players' names to maximize morale-pumping effectiveness! Brilliant! Also, if you can see the little box with the man in the above video, he's one of the cheerleaders - in every sense of the word. He literally LEADS the cheers. They also have a bunch of hot girls that cheer (look in the photo of the view of our seats.. the cheerleaders are on the giant LCD monitor) but they get tired so you also get this guy that waves around a flag and get people pumped up.

OK, well this is the end of the post. This Saturday, we'll be visiting Everland, Korea's response to Disneyworld. Although, you are legally allowed to, Paul will not be buying beer there as to prevent dehydration as we spend a day spending our years' worth of adrenaline.

On Sunday we score students for the IET (International English Test... only used in Korea to test for English fluency).. woohoo! Then we're off to the Hyundai Capital Invitational 2009 World Gymnastics Gala Show. We'll let you know how that one goes. :)

Adieu from the Land of the Morning Calm!

P.S. Santa, if you're reading this post, Paul and I have been really good this year and we would really like a Canon or Nikon DSLR for Christmas.