나타샤 in Seoul

I'm Still Blogging!

2010-12-07T20:30:00.000-08:00

Whoa! This blog has received over 68,000 visits from people all over the world! I'm so pleasantly surprised to still receive comments and e-mails from readers, so thank you! Awesome to hear that quite a few of you have visited Seoul for vacation or even for exchange in the past 1.5 years. I miss it and two of my close friends who visited me when I was in Seoul will be going on exchange and will be teaching English there so I'll be going back to visit them in October, 2011! Let me know if you'll be there and let's meet up :)

I've been very busy since I've come back from my exchange. For all of October, I traveled to Greece and Sweden to visit some friends. I graduated in Spring of 2010 with a degree in Geography and now I'm working for an amazing fashion/makeup/hair/esthetics school called the Blanche Macdonald Centre. Yea, I know. Totally nothing related to my degree haha And you'll never guess what I do... Social Media and Marketing! A large part of my role is to BLOG for the company hahaha I just love it!! A number of you have been asking me if I still blog, so yes, I do. http://blog.blanchemacdonald.com/

As for a personal blog, I will be setting one up in the new year so I'll update you soon! Happy Holidays!!

So I guess it's time to say goodbye

2009-10-21T09:09:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to thank you for reading my entries -- especially to those who have left comments and kind words and who have written me e-mails. I have enjoyed writing about my travels, adventures, and thoughts immensely! You have all inspired me to continue travel blogging in the future and I can't wait to share my next journey with you. I would also love to read yours too so if you're going to travel to a fascinating place or if you want to show me your city or country, leave me an e-mail or comment with a link to your webpage :)

A huge thank you goes out to my friends for sleeping over with me the night before my flight and seeing me off at the airport, for visiting me and bringing me some things from home, for supporting me on my decision and keeping me from being homesick by Skyping with me and updating me with home happenings...

And last but not least, my parents! I cannot thank them enough. Ever since I decided to come, they never once told me I couldn't or shouldn't. In fact, they helped me research for it, they supported me emotionally - especially when I thought that maybe 5 months away from home was more than I could handle (hah.. it seems like nothing now!), they supported me financially tremendously, and anything I would happen to want or need, they would help me without batting an eye. Without them, I would not have been able to achieve one of my dreams to go on exchange ♥

Now, I think about Korea every day and miss how much of a home it had become - I still have dreams about being there! I do plan to go back - probably not within the next couple years, but soon enough. Plans on teaching English abroad after I graduate has kept me daydreaming....... :)

안녕히계세요

Poof

2009-08-25T01:09:00.000-07:00

Gosh... I haven't updated in so long. I haven't made Korean food *yet* because of some social engagements along with work, chores, and making sure I'm all updated with my medical shots.. I've been pretty busy. Downtown Vancouver is teeming with Korean people and restaurants, especially down Robson near Denman street. There has got to be at least 13 different Korean restaurants in that 2 block vicinity! Last week, I had donkatsu (pork cutlet) at a small Korean restaurant called DaeJi (which means "pig") around Dunsmuir and Seymour... and I ate one of my favourite bulgogi dishes at a restaurant on Robson called "Apgujeong" (wasn't anything nice as some of the restaurants in the actual Apgujeong district, though). I'm happy that Korean food in Vancouver is just as good as in Korea. Funny how we have different side dishes, though! For example, I've never had the potato dish in Korea -- not once!

I got my aunt and mom (my mom especially) into that 2004 classic (self-deemed) Korean drama, Full house with Song Hye Gyo and Rain. I got to re-watch about 1/4 of the episodes, which was nice. They have a lot of cute/sweet scenes in that drama. The other day, I caught my mom re-watching the episodes! haha.. I thought it was amusing considering she was someone who wasn't interested in anything remotely Korean all this time (since my first love for Korean entertainment in 2005). Anyway, I can't wait to get my hands on the Boys Over Flowers drama with English subs soon!

This is Brown Eyed Girls (브라운 아이드 걸스) song called Abracadabra. It's the #1 song on the weekly K-pop Music Charts on Soompi right now. Brown Eyed Girls is a group made out of 4 women (3 of the members were born in 1983). and they all happen to look pretty sleek in this music video. They debuted in 2006, but I had never really paid much attention to them. I'm a tad surprised this music video wasn't banned in Korea considering how conservative Korean entertainment can be (I think we can all contest to that... I mean, even this Chae Yeon MV - Shake was banned and I think this BEG MV is a bit more explicit).

**
The hip swinging seems to be the new move in Korean dance these days...
Evidence is seen in Baek Ji Young ft. Tacyeon from 2PM's song - My Ear's Candy
This is their performance from Aug 15th on the Chocolate stage. Thanks, Bern!
**

바나나 [Banana]

2009-08-17T18:56:00.000-07:00

This is Anam Street (next to Korea University). I always saw this truck on my way up the hill to the dorm. The ajusshi who owned the truck sold a different kind of produce every day. Most often than not, though, he sold bananas (for a very reasonable price, too, might I add... at 2,000won per bunch).
I distinctly remember wanting to buy bananas that night, but the ajusshi was nowhere to be found! It was around 9:30PM. We chose our bananas and even put them in the thin, black bags with handles on the side. My friends and I stood around for at least 5 more minutes, waiting for some man to show up. Finally, we asked the man who owned the cart beside the truck if we could give him the money and take our bananas. He told us to wait a minute and dashed across the street into a tiny restaurant - the banana seller was eating dinner! I couldn't believe it hahaha! All this time, I was thinking how this would never happen in Vancouver. Nobody would dare to leave their produce out in the open like this... so easy to take. I tell ya, the level of trust business owners have is pretty darn high. Down the street, this other store sold a bunch of small knicknacks and umbrellas displayed outside.. all unmanned.

Above my favourite chamchi kimbap restaurant! Wish I could have chamchi kimbap right now...
So I clearly don't want to say goodbye to this blog, but I must go on to concentrate on other things (not yet, though)... and work hard and save so I can afford to go on another big trip abroad.
I hope to take a couple of smaller trips to Vegas or New York in the meantime, but Greece (with side trips to Italy + Spain.. + possibly Paris again and Germany), here I come in a year!!

\\(^____^)//

I'm back at SFU in the Fall and will *hopefully* be graduating in the Spring... so 2 more semesters.

Aja aja hwaiting!

Btw, stay tuned... I am going to attempt cooking some Korean food next week! Wish me luck~

DBSK - Picture of You (Afterglow)

2009-08-15T00:01:00.000-07:00

My favourite Korean music group, DongBangShinKi, came out with a new music video for their Korean song, Picture of You (Afterglow). The song is actually pretty old - it's from their Mirotic album (Sept, 2008). It's a beautiful song written by Junsu (one of the members)..... he's one talented guy.

I want his dog, Xiahky (a Samoyed).
Anyway, the video was shot earlier in the year in Saipan. The concept is kind of cheesy at parts, but... the boys look good! I love listening to DBSK harmonize! Unfortunately, I couldn't find a HD music video with English subs.... so this one will have to do! Yay~

Thanks, Soompi!

I Stepped Into North Korea...

2009-08-10T10:18:00.000-07:00

DMZ = Demilitarized Zone.

For many guys, this day trip to the DMZ is the highlight of their trip to Korea. Since it has been almost 3 months since my visit to the border between South and North Korea, I can't really remember all the details... and also, I don't want to give too much information away, especially if you plan to go there.

The DMZ is one of the most popular tourist attractions in Korea (pretty much only available for tourists... I believe I heard that Koreans need to do a bunch of paperwork - lots of hassle - in order to do it). From comparisons to other tour packages and from what we were most interested in seeing, I believe the tour USO offers is one with the most value. The tour cost something along the lines of $59 USD.. compared to ones I've seen that cost over $115USD and did not cover all the sites we went through.

It seemed as though people were flocking to join these tours because of all the speculation regarding North Korea's plan to restart their nuclear program and how it was becoming ever so unsafe to tour that it could be canceled. We had no problems, though... and it was reassuring to know that this border is the most heavily guarded in the world.

So that morning, Bern and I woke up pretty early and made our way over to the USO building to embark on our half day tour called the USO Panmunjeom Tour. By the way, there's a semi-strict dress code. Once we signed in (we had to pay and reserve spots way in advance -- spots filled up quickly), we were split into two or three Grayhound-type buses. Each bus came with an English-speaking tour guide. Everyone on the bus, besides B and I, were English teachers, mainly from the US!

First, we went to Camp Bonifas and watched a powerpoint to help us understand the history and situation between the North and South. Throughout the trip, we were lead by either our tour guide or by a couple of dudes from the United Nations Command military personnel.
You are here.
We were not allowed to take pictures in certain places. They strictly reinforced this rule.

Panmunjeom: Joint Security Area (JSA) where negotiations are held (since 1953).
This is the closest you will ever get to North Korea.
The Military Demarcation Line (MDL) - the border that separates North from South.
South Korean military... they stay just as still as the Queen's guards...
North Koreans chatting away ^^
Unfortunately, it was a very cloudy day so we weren't able to see very far... You'll have to go to see the village yourself.

The Bridge of No Return: the only bridge connecting North and South Korea...
Once you walk one way, you're not allowed to come back... dun dun dunnnn

On the bus

Incursion Tunnels (I thought this was sooo neat). Basically, in 1974, the South Koreans found four tunnels running North to South under the DMZ! They were dug by North Korean military, presumably for invasion purposes. The North Koreans claimed that they dug the tunnel to mine coal but there is no coal in these tunnels... the North even painted some rock black to make it look like coal!! haha!
It is too small and narrow for any vehicles to pass (it had enough room for 2 average-sized people to pass at the same time... but if I stood up straight, I would hit my head on the granite (I'm 5'6)!). The tunnel tilted a bit so that the water did not stagnate (kind of high tech that way). We went through the Third Infiltration Tunnel (1.6km long, allowing 30,000 soldiers to pass through per hour). So yea - we got to go into the tunnel wearing construction hats haha

Oh yea we also had a good lunch somewhere in between.

At the store~ You can get tons of camo-wear here.
I bought my brother a gun bullet keychain. Used, perhaps? It had scratches on it.

You can also buy a plaque with a piece of barbed wire in it for around 12USD.

I thought it was quite interesting - I'm glad I went. What better way to learn about the situation than to go see for yourself? Now I can say I've been to North Korea! kk

Learn more about the USO tour HERE.

:)

2009-08-06T11:17:00.001-07:00

I shipped 2 decently-sized boxes full of stuff home using the cheapest shipment (the one by ship that takes 2-3 months to arrive) and I have received them both! It has only been a little over a month :) Hurray!

My transcript has also arrived to my home university and I found out that I passed all my courses - hurray again!

Lasts...

2009-08-05T17:38:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay! I've been busy enjoying the sunshine :) Now, I'm a few shades darker. Funny how in Korea, my legs were quite dark compared to other girls on the subway... but here, people look at my legs and go "why are they so white??"

Fact: I have not had Korean food since I've arrived home. I found out that my favourite Korean restaurant downtown Vancouver serves Gamjatang for approximately 17,000won (if I were to convert)......... instead of the 6,000won I'm used to paying... nooooo!!

Fact: I had my first shift back at work today after a 5 month hiatus (I'm a server @ a Japanese Sukiyaki restaurant called Posh) and served a couple of Korean girls. I understood 80% of what they were saying (it was really simple, though).... but so neat! I didn't mention that I knew, but I ended up surprising one of them (the one who didn't know very much English) at the end when they were paying, asking them if she wanted to put everything on her debit card... "ta gachi?" kk

Fact: When someone who doesn't speak (much) English does something for me, I (still!) automatically say "kamsahamnida" (thank you), or "dae" (yes) when I reply... even if it's Chinese!

Last time riding the subway :(((

Speed Limit: Zero

Last time visiting Cafe Slow haha (sangria + good service)... :( Gosh I love that cafe.. and I don't know why I do, really.
It was kind of funny.. we asked the server to get the sangria to our table really fast (bbali bbali!) @ Cafe Slow lol... but they did it! We had to get to Eden.
I'm eating the fruit~

Then we went to Club Eden (said Ed-en.. not Eeee-den).

Located next to the Ritz Carlton (if you take a taxi from somewhere in Kangnam, just tell the driver to take you to the Ritz because it's hard to explain and most of them won't know where Eden is). Electronic music. Free cover before 11 if you become a member of the U.N.O Entertainment group on Facebook and are on the guestlist... you might need to be invited though, I just realized. (FYI - you used to be able to bring one guest per person on guestlist, but now they've changed it so I highly recommend you get your friends/SO to sign up... or they might give you a hard time or not even let your friend in). Even if it's for one night, it sure beats having to pay 30,000 for cover!! Plus, you'll get invited to the latest + exclusive events @ Club Eden if you do. Fergie is the special guest on Sept 5th... and it's "Model's Night" every Friday night. If you want to see where a lot of "beautiful people" hang out on the weekends, Eden (and Club Answer) are the places to be. People tell me that 80% of the girls who party there have had some sort of face alteration (plastic surgery... nose/eye/jaw) which is no wonder how they look kind of perfect. I often see them looking at themselves in the mirror, pinching the bridge of their nose haha VIP is upstairs... and also a hotspot for celebrities if you're interested in that sort of thing. Dress code in effect... but it seems much more strict for guys.
They have a huge washroom with seats where girls smoke and primp.
Tiiiiiiffffffffff -- if you read this, I miss you!!!!

My Goodness (!)

2009-07-30T17:38:00.000-07:00

These are what the pricier (80,000-260,000won) bags look like. They're made out of real cow leather and are divine to touch. I got to sneak a picture because the lady was absent... for a very very long time.... in fact, she never came!

You know what's funny? She had left a note (in Korean) next to the phone, telling the customers to call her number if they wanted to buy anything! Wow talk about trusting nothing would get stolen! HMMMM... But I really enjoyed how I wasn't pestered at all or pressured to buy it from the lady. I could take my sweet time trying on all the bags. As nice as most of them look from far away, none of them worked with me unfortunately.

Here's another example of a SA who left her name and number on a note. This was in Goodmorning City shopping complex in Dongdaemun. I guess it made sense she wouldn't be there as it was almost 4AM. A lot of the time, they get people from neighbouring stalls to cover for them so it was a bit amusing to see the same sales person follow us down a whole aisle.
Desserts (no, not on the same day)...
They love their waffles! (@ Doota Accessories floor in Dongdaemun)
Lynn's Red Velvet cupcake @ Lotte Department Store
Misarang's Pizza... I forgot what it's called but it has sweet potato in it which is funkily sweet.

Had a shabu shabu lunch around campus with JiHee (KUBA buddy) + Chika~~
I want to see this movie -- Antique!

haha what a random post. Too hot to stay still and blog. It hit 40 degrees Celcius (104 Fahrenheit) downtown today...
I'm meeeeeeeeeeeeltinnnnnggggggggggggggg!

Triple Dog Dared

2009-07-27T12:29:00.001-07:00

Remember how, after my first visit to a Korean jjimjilbang (sauna), I dared and promised myself I would do the full body scrub before I returned to Vancouver? ..............................

I did it!!!!

That's right - I lay completely exposed on a table, in the public women's bath house, and an ajumma in black, lacey lingerie scrubbed me from neck to toe. First, I had to soak in a hot tub for 10 minutes to get the dead skin loose haha...

The scrub was great - it was 20,000won. First, she doused me with warm water and then started scrubbing away. It was really soothing, for me - I was falling asleep! I think I'm an odd sheep that way, though -- quite a few other people found it to be a bit painful. So I had to turn over on all sides. I didn't notice, but I guess a lot of "skin noodles" (as my Korean friend calls it/translated) came off, if you know what I mean. Yea. Gross! After scrubbing, she soaped me good and gave me a bit of a back massage using her knuckles. I felt really clean -- and kind of lazy 'cause I just realized someone just bathed me! Maybe I turned a shade paler haha but I couldn't really tell. And then I rinsed myself and then soaked in the super hot tub and cold tub for another 15-20 minutes.

I'm proud of myself for doing it~
Of course I was feeling a bit shy at first to walk around wearing nothing, but after 5 minutes, I realized it wasn't a big deal at all. Everyone else around me in all shapes and sizes were just as naked and walked as though they owned the place.

Melanie also did the scrub except she got a body massage and an oil treatment along with it for 50,000won. She sure got more than she bargained for hahhaaha! The story is much better told in person, but in short, her "massage" was pretty much a harsh knuckle massage where, after massaging each limb, she would get hit! She got punched in the foot and even slapped on the butt! LOL so, needless to say, she doesn't recommend the massage.

So yea, that took place in the women's sauna down the stairs from the women's changing room. After, I went to sweat in the hot rooms. I snapped a few super quick pictures to show you guys. The layout of the whole facility is a bit confusing. This unisex part is on the 1st floor to the right after the men's changeroom.

The 2 pyramids are the warm rooms. The one on the left is around 36 degrees and had a TV in it. The one on the right is too warm for me at 67 degrees... only because the floor is too hot to walk on, let alone sit on.

They have 2 of these "kilns", too that are even hotter than the pyramid rooms. They don't even have a temperature indicator for them. Just by sitting, you'll start dripping after a few minutes.The cold room! It has penguins in front and a couple of snowmen inside. I really like this room after I leave a hot room.
I don't know the purpose of this, but it was used for game shows.

You can also get a manicure, face threading, and eyelash perms and extensions there, too.

I really love The Dragon Hill Spa (get off at ShinYongSan and walk towards I'PARK Mall. It's on the left of the mall). It has so many facilities including a Finnish Sauna and even an arcade area.

They had these mini karaoke rooms. I thought they worked the same as the ones I've sung in in Daejeon, but these ended up being 20 minute sessions instead of per song!! Wasn't as fun as singing with someone else. And I didn't even know how much it would cost because we get these beep-in tags and had to beep in for everything - even all the food you buy, and pay for it when you leave. Since it was lunch time, I bought a few marinated eggs, a popsicle, and a green tea (nok cha) drink.

kk can you guess which song I was singing?Admission is 10,000won before 7PM and 12,000 or 13,000 after 7PM and on the weekends. Open 24/7.

No-no's

2009-07-25T23:54:00.000-07:00

Last time I went to Namdaemun, I saw these street food stands with those plastic chairs and tables under a tarp just like in the dramas! So, we went there to find it but we didn't find any. I guess they're not open on Sundays. We ended up eating something random at this open stand.
I just pointed to a couple skewers and some fish cakes in the broth.
Yea... the skewers looked like chicken but they ended up being gizzards of some sort. I don't mind gizzards, but I really don't recommend this haha.. I was your guinea pig.
Disappointed, we walked over to Myeong Dong..
But not before buying some seaweed chocolate ^^ It's pretty decent tasting! There's only a hint of the seaweed flavour. I also tried kimchi chocolate haha.. oh what a mistake!
He didn't know how to use macro...This lady was selling puppies! She wouldn't let me take anymore pictures after this one... couldn't get a close-up, but they were supercute!
I've been having quite a few dreams about being in Korea recently -- I'm still in a daze that I'm back in Vancouver. Sometimes, I find myself thinking "what do I feel like doing tomorrow? A lazy day lying around the sauna, eating marinated hard boiled eggs and watching StarKing at The Dragon Hill Spa would be great...." and then I remember it's not really possible... darn.

Daejeon

2009-07-24T09:55:00.000-07:00

Gosh everyone who travels by KTX travels light! I didn't notice anyone else carrying a big honkin' suitcase like mine on the train...

When we got to Daejeon, we waited at a cafe in the station for my friend, Jessica, to call when she got off school. I know Jess because we took Japanese together for two semesters at SFU except now she has graduated and is teaching English in Daejeon. She was so kind to let us stay at her apartment for a couple nights! Actually, since the apartments are so small, I stayed in her room on the 3rd floor and M stayed in her friend's room, Ann, on the 1st floor.
Jess told us to grab either a white taxi with an orange top or a black taxi with a purple top because these two taxis are part of companies that track where the taxis go so they are much more likely to not rip you off and drive you around in circles.

When we got there, we hung out for a bit in her room (I tried on one of her wigs) and sort of got settled in a tad. Her room is tiny! It's pretty much as big as my bedroom at home except she has a desk, a washroom + washer, some closet space, a bed, AND a mini kitchen + fridge in it so there was only a little bit of space to walk in the middle -- probably about 1.5 metres by 1 metre wide. Cozy. So sweet - she bought an extra blanket just for me and made me sleep on her bed -- she was so tired the days after from sleeping on the ground! ♥ Anyway, she also planned everything for us to do (but because so, I didn't really know anything about Daejeon before I arrived). We got there Friday afternoon around 4PM and left Sunday morning around 1:30PM. Soon after, we went to Say department store which is a walkable distance from her apartment, but because we were so distracted by talking and whatnot, we ended up taking the subway even though it was only 1 stop away.

We ate omurice at Omuto Tomato~ they have this chain in Seoul too but I've never tried it. Not bad~ Omurice is like rice/fried rice inside an egg crepe type thing with different sauces on the outside. I got mushroom. The best was Ann's popcorn shrimp type one.
Then we went upstairs and played a ton of arcade games hehehe.. I love arcade games! I've never noticed them before, but there are mini karaoke booths! You sing per song and apparently it's the same price as a regular norebang sans the extra free minutes.
Not the cleanest, but it's great that you can also take your time finding the next song. Jess is a great singer~
Then we went up and watched Transformers -- awesome possum movie!
Walked home :)

The next day, we rode the bus to O World!
M's first bus ride in Korea
They have these plastic surgery ads everywhere!! How horrible.
O World -- is a cute amusement park - smaller than Lotte World, but it has a botanical garden and safari zoo-type thing too... and of course, rides! But not the roller coaster type ones. I believe it's regular 35,000won to get in to be able to see and ride everything but luckily, connections got us in for 8,000won :)
We spent the day with Jessica's friends from various schools in Daejeon.Not very many people there - it sprinkled a bit at one point but it wasn't enough to use an umbrella!Ah this ride was crazy - it's like the Wild Mouse ride at the PNE where you feel as though you're going to fall off when you turn the corner except these corners were even sharper + 4 people are on a cart at a time and the cart spins while you're going around! I think we rode this one 2 or 3 times in a row haha I tried this peach ice drink because it was hot and I needed something refreshing.
I can't believe I paid a dollar for peach flavoured ice you just suck on lol but I guess it's the same as a regular peach drink.
Korean babies are cuuute!
Then we went to this hill and rode this innertube down like 10 times!

Race race race! If you go down on the very left, you get to go through the mist~
I got so dizzy just looking at this ride for kids...Then afterward, we played the confusing Korean rock paper scissors to see who would get a ride to downtown or have to take the bus. Ann and I lost so we took the bus haha
We ate a feast at this Korean restaurant ---
On top of this, we shared rice, a soup, cold noodles and something else. wow.After dinner we went shopping in this area that reminds me of Myeong Dong except I think their sales and variety are better! I wish I could have stayed in this area for longer.
Quite happening~
They also have a huuuuuuuuge underground mall! Everywhere in Korea sells pretty much the same clothes at the same prices. I tried to powershop but only ended up getting a blouse before it closed.

They're big dessert eaters -- always have to have dessert.... :)
Fun day~~
Then back at the apartment, I watched Twilight in Ann's room -- Jess couldn't stand watching that movie, saying that it was too unrealistic. M agreed with Jess, but Ann and I loved it. Can't wait for the sequel haha~~

The next morning, we packed and went out to eat seafood soup for lunch at this hole in the wall up the street from the apartment. Good stuff. Then we hailed a taxi and rode to the station to head back up to Seoul!
I did! I like what it says "To be happy, drop the words 'if only' (and) substitute 'instead' next time".

We had such a lovely time =) Thanks a million again for your hospitality, Jess and Ann ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

Busan: Last Day

2009-07-22T01:51:00.000-07:00

Our last day was really a half day before we took the taxi back to ride the KTX to Daejeon -- we discovered Shinsegae's Department Store about a 5,000won taxi ride away from Haeundae Beach.

There's a Shinsegae in Myeongdong, Seoul, but the one in Busan claims to be the biggest department store in all of Asia. I guess they have to bring something big and huge to Busan to boost its tourism. Since we only had about 1.5 hours to browse the night before, we woke up early, checked out, and went there with our suitcase. We got to leave our suitcase in the baby carriage storage department on the 7th floor! Excellent service.
Anyway, it's a luxury department store and as much as I love browsing, I couldn't afford too much in the lower levels. They announced a cheaper "young fashion" floor with a similar setup to one of the nicer Macy's Department store sections that sell trendy fashion. Prices range from 25,000-200,000won. I only ended up getting a longer black blazer for 90,000 (they were having a 30% off sale~)! One great thing about Korean sizing compared to ones we find here in Vancouver is the fit of the shoulders. Korean brands are made longer in general and narrower in the shoulders than in Canada.. so I finally found ones that fit! Hurrah!

Shinsegae Department Store (also connected to Lotte Department Store)
One of the reasons why I was excited to visit Busan: the only miu miu in Korea! (I don't believe there's a miu miu in or near Vancouver).
I drooled but did not buy.
They had a nice roof floor
.. with fake bird sounds hahaAnd department store food is always super tasty! They are more expensive than food on street levels, of course, and can range from 6,000-26,000won, but it's well worth it. Good quality stuff - highly recommended! Especially Lotte Department Store's restaurants on the 12th floor, I believe. ^^

Busan: Seomyeon Station

2009-07-21T13:48:00.000-07:00

Oooo what a wet day! So wet, we decided to spend it indoors so we took the subway to Seomyeon Station to check out its underground shopping complex. Seomyeon also has a little district called First Street where all the young people hang out. It's sort of like a typical downtown in Korea with bars, restaurants, karaoke bars, cafes, shops, markets, game rooms, movie theatres, and nightclubs. They also have an eating street. The subway is connected to the underground mall (teeming with people) and Lotte Department store so you didn't really have to walk up and out but we did anyway. Actually, it was a bit confusing for me to get around.

Underground mall - waste no space~
The underground shopping mall was quite massive, but not the largest one I've been to. The shops sold mainly clothes, but they also sold typical Korean cosmetics (Tony Moly, The Face Shop, Etude House, Skinfood, Nature Republic) and accessories such as bags, hats, jewelry, and glasses. It would be nice to browse around over the course of a couple days and actually dig through all the random clothes in the smaller shops. We stopped by a cafe as per usual -- want some?
It was a neat cafe where each table was enclosed by curtains so you really did have privacy! And if you wanted service, you just had to press that button almost all Korean restaurants have that rings and lets servers know who needs something.
Despite my "happiness" in that picture, it was an absolutely miserable day because of the rain, unfortunately.
---------------------------------
Korean television has a whole channel dedicated to solving math problems...
.....................................................
yea ............................................................
My Boys Over Flowers poster I got (and couldn't bring home) from buying the F4 Special Edition CD @ Hot Tracks, Kyobo.
This was a cute ad on the subway:
It says "Mommy, daddy, I love you."

Outsider - Alone

2009-07-19T10:46:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's now been over a week since I've been back! B + M helped me get over my jet lag by making me stay up even though I was tired the other day so now I'm sleeping around 10:30-11:30PM at night and waking up around 7AM. I just gotta push myself to stay awake until 1AM so I can start working.

Just wanted to share a Youtube clip of a popular Korean artist called Outsider (1983). He's quite new to the industry, I think. He's known to be Korea's fastest rapper. This is his performance from earlier today @ Music Bank. I wanted to post the original music video, but it's a bit odd and Outsider is just rapping as he's sitting in the front seat of his car in front of a house almost the whole time.
Enjoy^^

Stuck On You

2009-07-18T09:22:00.000-07:00

One of the KUBA buddies in my group sent me a copy of our sticker picture scan taken the day of the farewell party~
Sticker picture stores are quite neat in Korea -- there's this one type of booth where you can adjust the height and the angle of the camera.. and many stores have props like afro wigs and huge sunglasses you can borrow for your pictures. After you take the pictures, everyone scurries outside the booth to this large computer screen with 2 sensor pens attached. They have a bunch of frames and stamps you can add to the pictures to personalize it.. and you can even pick pen colours to write messages. Once you've decorated and printed the stickers, you can bring it to the desk and they will put a protective semi-laminated cover on it (it can be matte or sparkly) and cut it for you to share. This particular store in Myeong-dong scans your sticker picture for you (as many people like to crop them and put them on their Cyworld blog) for free.

This is sort of what it looks like before you edit it. You can choose the backgrounds before you take the picture. For this one, we were going down a rollercoaster! Ahhhh!!!!
Even though you take maybe 6-8 different photos, you're only allowed to choose 4.
You can click to enlarge~

I love taking sticker pictures - they're fun and quite a bit cheaper than in Vancouver!

"That's Not Nice."

2009-07-17T01:58:00.000-07:00

One of my friends from the Korea University exchange program posted this link: 8 Ways to Know You're Home for Awhile. I can definitely relate to #5 and somewhat for #8.

I really miss my tuna kimbap with purple rice near KU!
They also sell this snake-like edible thing there. You can also find it in street vendors.
Looks like a sausage...
So on my last day, I tried it. My friend told me what it was before and said that it's pretty tasty when you eat it with dukkbokki (left).
It's apparently intestine! Pork intestine I believe? It looks as though it's made out of a bunch of clear noodles inside. Interesting... it's steamed/boiled right next to some blood and heart, I was told.

It really doesn't taste like much to me. It wasn't disgusting, but it's not something I would buy again haha.

Changdeokgung Palace

2009-07-16T03:14:00.000-07:00

After having shabu shabu with a couple of my KU friends back at the campus and paht bing su (frozen shaved ice + ice cream dessert with a bunch of fruit, mochi, and red bean on top) at Lovice (oh how I love Anam St.!), we decided to take a taxi to visit the Changdeokgung 창덕궁Palace! Good timing because we arrived just in time for the English tour (and the last tour of the day @ 3:30PM). You aren't allowed to view the palace without going through a walking tour on certain days.[Closed on Mondays, 3,000won for adults for GUIDED walking tour every day except Thursdays from April to Nov -- Thursday NONGUIDED is 15,000/adult)

There are 3 main palaces to visit in Seoul (at least, they're the 3 I consistently saw advertised in tour pamphlets) - I chose this one because we heard it had the most beautiful Korean garden (protected by the UNESCO World Heritage Center). I also heard that it was the most harmonious. Actually Changdeokgung palace is one of the 5 grand palaces that were built by the kings of the Joseon Dynasty (approx. 1412).The palace went through reconstruction a few times due to being burnt to the ground during the Japanese Invasion in the 1590's... and then being under attack later on. But fortunately, it stayed true to its original design.

Only royalty could walk along the middle, upper path. Everyone else had to walk on the lower sides.
This is the throne hall. All the major state affairs happened here (like the coronation of a new king). The little white markings on the sides leading up to the building mark where the officials stood. The lower rankings stood furthest away from the king (closer to where I am taking the picture).
We had a huge group --
The throne.
Apparently the best time to take a picture of this building is early in the morning when the sun rises from behind this building.
It was a hot day.hehe... the royal toilet! The king never had to go to the toilet - the toilet came to him! All he had to do was annouce he had to go, then he would go to the corner of this building and a big pot would be placed through the little doorway and he would do his business. Then it was the servant's job to clean it up after. Nasty!
This was neat -- a sundial type thing! That lady is our tour guide haha -- she had to hold up the speaker the whole time but it still wasn't good enough to accomodate our big group.
Lots of ornate details~This lead to the "secret garden" apparently.Nice architecture~
In the garden! I believe the building behind us = royal libraries.In the servant's quarters?
I believe this was the reading room. So high tech! They lifted up the panels in that way to let light in.

It was a nice tour but because of the size of our group, it went a bit too slowly for me and I couldn't hear everything the tour guide said. The whole tour was about an hour and a half. We had to rush off afterwards to eat dinner and attend the piano recital!

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I was finishing off the last bit of unpacking earlier today -- yeekx not enough closet space! Pretty much everything I bought needs to be hung. I think this calls for some closet alternation.

A Little Bit Of Spice

2009-07-15T01:29:00.000-07:00

Lotte World (my 3rd time)!
Rode Atlantis twice~~ so fun!
Fish stick goodness.
Stopped by Misarang in Ilsan again~
Love for Paris Croissant bakery! (Different and better than Paris Baguette).
They advertised Silky Pudding so I tried it.
Last full (and most expensive) meal~~
Cucumber Kimchi - super refreshing
We watched Nanta! It's a nonverbal (though they do throw in a few words in English and Japanese in there) cooking comedy much like Jump!!
(oh my goodness - it was raining SO hard that day!)
It's about 4 "chefs" preparing korean food for a wedding banquet within a time limit.
It was very well done -- tons of percussion using all sorts of kitchen utensils and equipment and they added some Korean elements to it. It's actually shown worldwide and it's called "Cookin'" elsewhere. Highly recommended! The theatre was packed -- this show is performed 3 times every day (except Mondays), too! We got to see the White team perform. There's a rotation of 4 or 5 different teams.
Although I really enjoyed this and although they are 2 different kinds of performances, I thought Jump! was a bit more well rounded because its plot was more well defined and had more depth than Nanta's. Nonetheless, the characters in both were hilarious and they really played their parts well.
Fun for the whole family (50,000won).I have major jetlag haha! I sleep at 7PM and wake up around 2AM and then go back to bed around 4:30 and wake up again at 9:30. Well there goes my night social life until next week. I guess I'll try to start fixing this weird schedule tomorrow.

"Nothing Dropped."

2009-07-12T06:03:00.000-07:00

Came back to Vancouver yesterday around lunch time.

Closed my eyes but didn't sleep a wink on the plane.
Watched 3 good movies (17 Again, Sunshine Cleaning, and a Korean movie called Scandal), 3 funny TV shows, and listened to 2.5 albums (Could have been the lack of bass from my headphones, but besides her hit radio songs, Lady Gaga's album isn't too great :/).
And I only had 2.5 hours of sleep the night before (got home at 5:30AM, woke up at 8AM).
I was sooo extremely exhausted. I don't think I've ever been this tired, unable to sleep in my life.
Went for dimsum with my parents and grandparents after they picked us up from the airport~
Somewhat unpacked, lounged around for half an hour, then crashed really quickly (I didn't realize how much I missed my bed!) ---
Not sure just how much I am jet lagged yet.
I'm still in a daze - I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing with myself for the next couple of days because I don't feel quite with it enough to go out nor do much.

Anyway, I'll still be blogging for about another week or so. I've got quite a bit to catch up on =)

Got a trim, a hair manicure treatment, and my hair colour "corrected" at Fiore in Gangnam. I went there because I got a 50,000won gift certificate when I attended a wine party in Apgujeong a couple months ago.
The place had a minimalist-modern lux feel to it~ It's right next to another upscale hair salon called Red Carpet. I didn't find out until I was trying to find the address of the salon online, but quite a large majority of celebrities go to these two salons. It is apparently the place you go to if you want to run into them. I asked my hair dresser whose hair he had cut and he said Hyori Lee and MC Mong's gf to name a couple. When I was getting my hair done, I was sitting a metre away from a popular Korean talk show comedian and one of the members of an older Korean hiphop/dance group called NRG.
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M and I went to a piano recital a few days ago at the Seoul Arts Center.
They have a Miffy Museum/Gallery in one of the buildings!
(By the way, I bought this "ajumma" (old married lady) dress and wore it because Tiffany said that if I did, she would buy me dinner kkkkkk I don't think it looks that ajumma though!)

They had a fountain show that swayed to 15 songs outside which was nice and romantic haha
Almost as magical as fireworks to me -- especially at night when it starts to light up.

As for the recital itself, it certainly wasn't close to the most impressive piano playing we've heard unfortunately. Perhaps the standards back at home are much higher than that in Korea. I did really enjoy one of the movements, though, and was even inspired to learn it. I think people attended more because she is prettier than most piano players ('cause I mean, who else would have such large pictures of themselves on their program?) than her talent/skill. Her name is Kim Hye-Sun.
Her nose is strangely "perfect" according to Korean standards........I'm going back to bed.

Miso, Not The Soup

2009-07-09T12:37:00.000-07:00

We watched a Korean musical at the Chongdong Theater in Seoul on Wednesday night~

It's called "Miso" which means "smile" in Korean and it's a simple love story that develops throughout the four seasons of the year, taking place during the Joseon dynasty.
If you go early, you can dress up wearing various royal costumes~ (We're not in this picture)
The play was a fusion of live singing, drumming, and traditional music!
The costume changes were amazing~
As were these (super duper talented) drummers! They had so much energy and really looked as though they were thoroughly enjoying themselves on stage~~

I think it's pretty amazing how the theatre is packed even though this show runs every day except Mondays~

It was an interesting experience~ I'm glad I went and recommend it to all who want an unoverbearing taste of traditional Korean culture (and if you want to see those beautiful hanboks)!

www.chongdong.com

Busan: Gwangalli Beach

2009-07-06T09:40:00.000-07:00

Gwangalli Beach is a popular beach in Busan that's lined with cafes and restaurants.
It was perfectly warm, not too breezy, and a bit cloudy at first, and then the clouds disappeared after an hour and we enjoyed a wonderfully "loungy" day at the beach!

Popular among the young crowd --Gotta pay to use the umbrella!
We sunbathed for a while and took a nap and took a dip~Nice + clean beachYou can do a bunch of water sports here, too such as wakeboarding, kayaking, banana boating, and sea-doo racing.

At night~
The street our motel was on -- in the "mass motel" district across from Heundae Beach.
We're back in Seoul, by the way - came back on Sunday and we're back at Banana Backpacker's Hostel in a private double ensuite. Sure is nice not having to wait for the bathroom anymore! I've got quite a bit of catch up to do! After spending 4 days in Busan, we visited my friends and stayed overnight in Daejeon for 2 days before we KTX-ed it back to Seoul. Fun stuff~ update to come! I'm bitten alive by mosquitoes! I've collected quite a few bites yesterday -- on my face, too =( How sad. Our last few days are totally booked up with performances, more shopping (yea I shop a LOT but I never seem to buy much!), having meals with friends, and revisiting our favourite places. I can't believe I'm only here for another 5 days! Chalja~

Busan: Jagalchi Market

2009-07-05T01:30:00.000-07:00

It smells fishy...

One afternoon, M and I had lunch at the Jagalchi Market (자갈치시장). It's a famous landmark of Busan where ajummas (40+ married Korean women) sell all sorts of fish and seafood caught that morning. Once we stepped out of the taxi, we could smell the fish and salt water.
Lots of different types of seafood on display~It's Korea's biggest seafood market.Located right next to the port where all the seafood comes from.Ew... on the groundBaby shark for sale?
Undercover area They had some strange creatures... I have no idea what this is... looks like a fat frog leg sticking out there hah
Watching their women work kk.I read that flatfish sashimi was delicious so, after using my cell phone's e-dictionary, I went searching for "kajami", pointing to every flat fish and asking the ajumma if it was "kajami". Quite a few sold it - I've never bought fish other than salmon before so I didn't really know how this would work or how much a fish should cost. Once I found it, I pointed to one and asked how much it was. The ajumma said "o chon" (5,000 won). So I say okay... and then she starts packing up the whole pile!! Shocked, I quickly clarified with her that I was only going to pay "5 chon" and she happily reassured me.... what was I going to do with all that fish?! I mean, I love fish but there had got to be over 10 in that bag!
So we brought it to a store to have it sliced up. You can do that in Korea - just go to a store with fish in hand, and they will slice it up for you as sashimi or whatnot. Silly me - I had plum forgotten that sashimi needed to be totally fresh - like the fish had to still be alive and swimming 5 minutes before it reached a platter! So the shops refused to serve it as sashimi, saying it would make me sick so I had all the fish grilled on some 2nd floor.
kk... I love fish but it was a LOT! This was part of our 1st batch... had 3 more batches come afterward. It was sooo delish though~~ I got my fish fix!
You can find these dried seafood snack stands in busy places in Seoul, too.
Rats... I was quite excited to try live octopus on this trip down to Busan but I didn't have anyone to share the dish with. Live octopus is considered a delicacy. There's a Korean movie called Old Boy where one of the character orders a live octopus and eats it... whole... it's really quite amazing -- watch HERE. Of course, eating it isn't as extreme as in the movie. The servers cut the baby octopus up so the tentacles are still squirming around on the plate. You pick it up with your chopsticks, dip it lightly in soy sauce (there may be some other sauces, too), and eat! Make sure you chew, though! There have been several deaths each year as a result of not chewing enough and choking. Here's a video on the "Art of eating SanNakji"!

I'll Be Back Sunday

2009-07-02T16:27:00.000-07:00

I'm having difficulties connecting to the internet on my laptop right now and we're in a rush to pack and do some last minute shopping at the Shinsegae Department Store (they have the only Miu Miu in Korea!) before we take the KTX to Daejeon to stay with a couple friends for 2 nights!

Have a nice weekend~

Busan's Orange Moon

2009-06-29T06:41:00.000-07:00

We're in Busan! It's a city in the southernmost tip of South Korea and because it's next to the ocean, the climate is much cooler than in Seoul. Thank goodness because just this morning, we left the wettest and the most warm-humid morning in Seoul ever!

We took the KTX to Busan and it took around 2.5 hours.
We got the taxi driver in Busan to take us to Heundae Station because there were a lot of cheap places to stay. We ended up at an interesting motel called Nobelesse for 40,000won/night for 2 people (haha sounds so sketch). It's actually pretty decent with a large TV and even a computer with free internet for you to use! The shower is one of those full body massage showers, too. What's great about the motel is its location - it's only 2 blocks away from Heundae Beach which is the most well-known beach in Korea.

As one of the busiest seaports in the world, Busan is chock full of seafood restaurants. So, for dinner, we went to an outdoor restaurant that specialized in... dun dun dunnnnn eel! I love canned eel haha... but I don't think I've ever tried fresh eel.
This guy took a good 5 minutes picking out a small one for us. Slimey...
2 seconds later, it was on a cutting board...
Uhh.. this picture - viewer discretion is advised... I watched him cut up my eel.
(Detail: he held the eel down on the cutting board and jabbed a nail into its eye to kill it faster and then slit it open and de-boned it really quickly.)
Then one of the guys grilled it for us and coated it in this red sauce that wasn't very spicy.
Ah it was interesting! Kind of hard to explain - not dense and meaty like canned versions - it was soft and didn't really taste like seafood. I enjoyed it, though =)
There was this friendly guy who came around to talk to us. He told us to try one of the side-dishes I swore I would never eat because of how it looked. I remember seeing large buckets of these being sold on the side streets in Taiwan, too. The guy didn't know what it was called in English, but he urged us to try, saying that it's nationally popular street-food snack.
Talk about Fear Factor!
I ate one.................................................................
So did Melanie. It didn't really taste like anything, but Melanie said it was a bit salty. I ate it, thinking it was some sort of seafood. All I can remember was the feelig of its "guts" exploding in my mouth.... gah it was the nastiest thing! And then I needed to know what it was so I used the dictionary on my cell phone and showed it to the guy. We eventually found out that it was a BUG. yup.............. some sort of small beetle!!!! I don't recommend it at all!

Afterward, we strolled down to Heundae Beach and dipped out feet in the water! It's very nice. You could smell the salt water from our motel.
It was lined with higher end hotels and restaurants.On the way back, we passed a mini street stall market except it was very much unlike any one I've seen in Seoul!
These ones only sold seafood!You can see the live, fresh seafood in the tanks before you eat them (raw or cooked).Must go to bed -- we've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow!

'Old Tea Shop'

2009-06-28T08:56:00.000-07:00

After almost 7 consecutive days of nonstop go-go-go, we finally took a day of rest (which happened to be a Sunday). Today, we planned on having a more cultural day, but our plans changed a bit because of the weather and we only ended up going to a traditional tea shop, packing and dropping our suitcases off at Tiff's apartment, and eating a highly-missed meal near KU.

One of the most relaxing things to do in Korea is to visit a traditional tea house. Insadong is known to house a few of these and each is unique in its own way. These are very charming, quaint rooms mainly lit by oil candles and lamps which gives the space a very intimate, harmonious, and warm feeling. The walls are filled with traditional Korean crafts and ornaments, Korean printed calligraphy on aged paper, and notes written by various visitors. They have a mini waterfall in the front and a few small caged birds set up around the shop that tweet cutely. I heard that in some of the shops, they allow the birds to fly around freely. Some establishments even have parrots that speak random Korean phrases! We visited 'Old Tea Shop' in a somewhat narrow alleyway in Insadong.
I ordered a jujube drink and Melanie ordered a Pear tea. I have no idea what mine is supposed to have in it, but it tasted a lot like one of my Grandma's soup except with a twist. We were also given a generous bowl of different traditional Korean treats. Sipping~
Some notes in the drawer --
It was lovely and relaxing, though, I can't say I'm a fan of the traditional rice treats. Next time, I want to try the Sujeonggwa which is a sort of delicious persimmon-cinnamon- ginger punch that is served cold at the end of many of my traditional Korean meals in Insadong.

Dalgi Dalgi Dalgi!

2009-06-27T09:20:00.000-07:00

We hung around Hongdae all day today! Hongdae is still one of my favourite places in Korea because of the diversity of people and especially its Indie scene. It's young and hip.. much unlike Insadong's traditional and aged crowd.

The main reason why I wanted to go to Hongdae today was because of their Free Market near Hongik University that's only open on Saturday. I believe there's a Hope Market on Sundays. It's the tiniest flea market where students sell their handmade crafts and goods!
I think Hongdae and Apgujeong are the 2 best places to people watch. There are a few cafes that have giant floor to ceiling windows. We escaped the heat (I believe it was around 30 degrees today) at one of them. The one we went into was quite nice -- everything was ivory coloured and we got to sit on roomy, long couches that had bolsters and pillows. Unfortunately, you pay for your atmosphere when you order - their drink menu was quite expensive at approxiately 7,000won each.

There are tons of restaurants in Hongdae to fit any sort of budget. You can get some typical Korean food such as bibimbap for only $3CAD or pay over $45CAD for a plate of sashimi. We decided on having samgeopsal (pork belly) + dweji galbi (marinated pork w/ bone) BBQ for dinner. BBQ here is quite a bit cheaper than in Vancouver so we "stock up" haha These lower end BBQ restaurants use coal to cook the food. When we sit down, a metal bucket of hot coal passes our shoulders (just inches away!) and is plopped into the table and then this grate/strainer is placed on top. I love eating BBQ outside!
There's a good donkatsu restaurant just half a block away from our hostel! My cold soba noodle set - very refreshing.
We went to a DVD bang for the first time! Just like how you go to a noraebang to sing karaoke or a PC bang to use super fast internet and play games, you go to a DVD bang to rent DVDs and watch them on a large screen. Bang is Korean for "room". What is so special about a DVD bang is that you can watch them privately in a room that's equipped with a "couch", a TV, and a roll of toilet paper (you know, in case the movie is a tear jerker).
You can find DVD bangs by just looking out for the neon signs on the 2nd or 3rd floor of a building. The way up the flights of stairs can be a bit sketchy looking at first, but it surprisingly turns out to be a very decent place. There are a great variety of movies to choose from - both Western and Korean (and some Japanese). The room was very small and intimate - we sat on comfortable leather sofa-bed type things and had to look up to watch the movie. There's apparently a certain connotation that goes with these rooms, but I might save that for another day.
So, for 13,000won (price depends on length of movie), we watched a funny semi-romantic comedy Korean movie with English subtitles. The movie was great! I'll definitely be returning to a DVD bang soon!

Yesterday, we walked around Edae (Ewha Women's University) and stumbled upon this cute waffle place.

For less than $3CAD, you can get some mini waffle desserts! There are quite a few waffle places around universities. Kim Yuna (world champion figure skater) now has her own drink at Smoothie King.

be white. YUNA SMOOTHIE. (what?!)

She even has her own cup if you should select her drink that has her autograph on it!

I dub Haagen-Dazs as the best ice cream brand in the world.
Hyori Lee for Ocean Park (ad in subway).

At night in Hongdae, a couple of carnival games are set up for boyfriends to "win" huge stuffed animals for their girlfriends. This girlfriend pouted and made her boyfriend win her a Hello Kitty.

Goodnight~

So Hot

2009-06-25T19:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, we went to Seoul Station to buy KTX (train) tickets for next week. On Monday, we're going down to Busan for 4 days and then we're going to Daejeon to visit my friend for a couple days. It was pretty hot so we decided to spend the hottest time of the day indoors at a jjimjilbang (sauna)!

This one is known as one of the best in Seoul - called Dragon Hill Spa located next to I'Park mall at Yongsan.

It's really well known - quite a few popular Korean variety shows were hosted there.Locker rooms

It was huge -- 7 floors of gender-separated saunas, restaurants, wet saunas, outdoor salt pools, an arcade, and spa services such as full face threading, eyelash extensions, body scrubs, massages, skin cupping etc. The unisex sauna was on the 1st floor. The facilities at this jjimjilbang were a lot nicer than the one I went to at Anam. The 39 degree had a decent-sized flat screen that played Starking (love that show) but the temperature was so comfortable, I ended up taking a nap on the marble floor. The 69 degree pyramid was too hot to stay in for long because the floors burned every part of me that touched it. The 57 degree was pretty like the one at Anam with pink hued pebbled floors. Of course, I loved the "penguin" room as I dubbed it. It was 9 degrees but the sides of the wall were frosted over with snow and there was even a couple snowmen in it! And then there were 2 actual kilns that had doors so small you had to crouch down to get in. Those were intense and everyone was dripping by the time they went out. Can't wait to go again.. I love jjimjilbangs~

Then at night, we met up for some drinks with some exchange students + locals -- a really fun night ^^ we went to sing at a norebang after and were totally blown away by the voice of In-Young!
Insadong

Coex -- so cute!!

The Week After

2009-06-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

It's almost 2AM and I finally have time to blog - sorry for the hiatus! Melanie came on Saturday and we've been out and about ever since.

My new residence is at Banana Backpacker's Hostel in Insadong. Right now, I'm sharing a room with 5 other girls - 3 of which are from Japan. The room contains 6 "lockers" and 3 sets of bunk beds. The whole hostel is quite quirky and is extremely colourful and there are a ton of free amenities such as free irons, laundry, luggage storage, breakfast, tea and coffee, and wi-fi in the lobby area. There's also a TV and 3 public computers for you to use, too. Considering how it looks, it's actually pretty clean. An ajumma comes in every morning and scrubs our bathroom, wipes down the floors, empties our garbage and windex-es the mirrors. And there's always someone at the front desk until 12AM which is helpful -- they play some catchy music all day long~

Anyway, I've so far shown Melanie to Myeong Dong, Insadong, a bit of Dongdaemun, a bit of Anam, Coex, Cheonggyecheon, Kyobo bookstore, and Apgujeong. Yesterday, we visited the Leeum Samsung Museum in Itaewon!

Leeum Samsung Museum (actually, it's much closer if you get off at the station before: Hangangjin Station - exit 6, I believe. It's only a 5 minute walk to the museum from there).
The museum consists of 2 different buildings - they both have a different feel to them but they're designed by the same architect. Museum 1 is the "traditional" side and Museum 2 is the "modern" side. We rented audio headphone devices that automatically told us about the piece we were standing in front of~
This is a pillow (for royalty) made out of Celadon pottery in the 15th Century.
This sort of painted pottery is extremely rare. The "rich cobalt blue ink" is imported from somewhere in Persia via China so it was so expensive, you would only find these pieces in the royal households.
A mini pagoda~
The modern side didn't have as many pieces on display, but there were quite a few outstanding ones I wish I could have taken a picture of!
This is probably the most distinctive part of the museum... giant spiders.
Then, across the street from the museum, we totally indulged on the most decadent chocolates + pasteries at Passion5!
Chandelier~
We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, but the whole interior was so chic and had a boutique/exclusive feel to it. The chocolate shop had it's own air conditioned room and housed the heavenly-ist chocolate I've ever tasted. We tried green tea, basil, rose, dark, and cheese chocolate.
I liked their motto:
I was very inspired to open something like this at home! I'm actually pretty surprised this cafe/bakery/chocolate shop is in/around Itaewon - it seems like something that would fit right in in Kangnam.

We also visited a couple random museums in subway stations and along Insadong:
Apple cores (picture)
In front of It's Skin in Myeong Dong~
Cheonggyechon
--- Korean kids are cute! They pose for pictures really well.
Around Insadong:
Apgujeong - window of the Hyundai Gallery
Hanging out at De Chocolate Coffee on Rodeo where chocolate isn't the only sweetest thing..

We're going to spend half the day at a jjimjilbang (Korean sauna) tomorrow~

A mini shout out: I'm a bit late, but Happy Father's Day + Happy Birthday to my mom (and Kyle)!

Farewell

2009-06-19T17:44:00.000-07:00

We only part to meet again.

John Gay

My Vacation Has Officially Begun.

2009-06-18T19:05:00.000-07:00

My OM final went much better than I thought it would, phew. But now, I don't know what I'm going to do with my textbook because it's so heavy, I don't want to bring it home. My friend suggested for us to make a bon fire and have all the international students throw their textbooks in -- sounded like a good idea at that moment!

I did a shop at Dongdaemun while everyone else was packing, finishing up their exams, or writing their final papers. It was nice~ I finally got to explore the new Doota! Fashion Is War building!
It's a very clean and modern store that's set up like the other shopping complexes in that each floor caters to specific segment groups.
The clothes in Doota! are better quality and more stylish in a chic way than ones like Migliore and Hello aPM. Prices range from 32,000-230,000won for women's clothes compared to Migliore's approx. 5,000-50,000won.
I didn't buy anything though I really liked quite a few things.
Designer(ish) family matching tees~
The accessories floor -- Didn't take many pictures last night:
Chipmunk loves fresh&hot cheese naan...
This paht bing su (shaved ice + ice cream dessert w/ fruit + red bean + mochi) is made for 2 ppl but 4 shared.
The coffee cake (Julie loves coffee) we picked up @ Tous Les Jours.
With the birthday girl

The last time I'm going to see my main competition in Korean beginner's class
kk we had fun.

Street food! It was delicious - marinated skinless chicken alternated with green onions... but I asked him if it was "mewoyo" (spicy) and he said "ahn mewoyo" (not spicy). Pssh to him it wasn't spicy -- I could barely finish it.
Going to pack and then go shopping~
Tonight's farewell party.... will be great.

Cloudy

2009-06-17T02:54:00.000-07:00

Whahaaaaa Marketing is overrrr! I really enjoyed that class~ His exams are so hard though... the fill in the blank terms kill me every time but at least this time, the essay questions went well.

This is my marketing group taken after the exam ^^
I just realized they all have the most common Korean last names: Kim, Lee, Park, and Choi.
All the girls are in 2nd year - they're so funny and nice and they work so hard -- they had 3 exams yesterday, 2 today, and will have 2 tomorrow so since they stayed up all night and since they were so under-dressed compared to usual, they were a bit reluctant to take a picture. So happy I got to be in their group! We will KIT for sure.

This microwaveable spaghetti box is quite good. 2 minutes ding ding~
And I like that aloe drink. It has chunks of aloe inside.

Operations Management final tomorrow (last one!). It's open book/notes which I'm thankful for, but we've gone though 12 chapters since the midterm and the midterm was killer....... I'm going to treat myself to a manicure after no matter how badly it goes hah.

2 days until goodbye/hello........................ vacation.

"Wake up and live." Bob Marley

2009-06-16T06:09:00.000-07:00

So why is it that every time exam week rolls by, my desk is suddenly super tidy, my room gets so clean, all my clothes are folded and hung properly, my laundry hamper is empty, and that walk down to the convenience store just to buy water suddenly feels like no hassle? haha ^^

As you can probably tell, traveling is one of my utmost favourite things to do. It's a curiosity that can and never will be satiated. Earlier today, I was reading all the quotes in the travel journal Bern got me as part of my going away gift. That book has gained a lot of weight from all the ticket stubs, business cards, and random flat things I've kept!
They have some inspiring quotes on every 2nd page -- here are a few I enjoyed:

You have brains in your head, and feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose. You're on your own and you know what you know. And you are the one who'll decide where to go. Dr. Seuss

While you are upon the earth, enjoy the good things that are here. John Selden

Without experience, there is little wisdom. Apocrypha

Seek and you will find. Don't be willing to accept an ordinary life. Salle Merrill Redfield

Discoveries are often made by not following instructions, by going off the main road, by trying the untried. Frank Tyger

A man who views the world at 50 the same as he did at 20 has wasted 30 years of his life. Muhammad Ali

An original life is unexplored territory. You don't get there by taking a taxi - you get there by carrying a canoe. Alan Alda

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. Mark Twain

My Day

All I did today was hop from cafe to cafe (needed a change of scenery after every hour), eat, and study on Anam street down the hill from my dorm.

Lunch:
Bibimbap ($4CDN)
Cafe #1: Ediya - I can always count on them for playing the latest Kpop releases!
Cafe #2: Holly's Coffee: I really enjoyed the new Yuza (Pomelo) Iced Tea.
Across the street is a new store that just opened yesterday. I believe it took just 1.5 weeks for them to totally gut and renovate the whole shop! That's Korea's (notorious) "bbali-bbali" (translates to: hurry hurry) culture for ya! They believe "the quicker the better" (they talk fast, eat fast, and drive fast, but... why do they walk so slowly???) and this belief has allowed them to become one of the world's most advanced nations. It's very impressive, but I think sometimes quality is sacrificed a bit too much... not in the craftsmenship, really, but in training their employees (for example). Butchea, I've even seen whole (previously burned down) restaurants get up and running in 2 weeks!
I had McDonalds for dinner. McDonalds here is a bit cheaper than home, I think... I got a shrimp burger set for 4,800won ($4.30CDN). It basically tasted like the inside of a ha gaow (of Chinese dim sum) in burger form - very different from the Ebi (shrimp) burger I had in Japan. All sets come with Coke unless you tell them you want something else. Their ketchup isn't as flavourful as the ones at home (less sugar, maybe). You are charged extra for sweet and sour sauce. Their Bulgogi Burger is good! I mentioned that there's such thing as McDonald's delivery, right? It's free and McDonalds is open 24 hours. I see the little yellow and red scooter zip up my hill very often.

Onion truck
Cat (ko-yang-ee)
Stopped by Aritaum (a Korean cosmetics store that specializes in 5 or 6 brands including a house brand) during my break. That store was so empty it was nice to have the whole store to myself and take my time to test everything out but I really don't enjoy being stared at by SA's - especially ones in tailored, baby pink outfits that look like they should be working on a plane who stand less than a meter away, watching my every move. I did end up with a few gifts and a couple things for myself, though:
Laneige single eyeshadow in G769 - Deep Kakhi (very pigmented and almost creamy, I really like this shade) and Aritaum's house brand single e/s in GR201. It's also a shade of dark green (hard to tell) that compliments the Laneige. I seem to have a thing for green these past few months. For being so affordable, I think Aritaum's e/s are great! I will be going back to pick up a few more colours. I just wish they would make more with less sparkles. Good service, as usual. I got quite a few generously sized samples (a lot of moisture and whitening ahha are they trying to hint something?) from IOPE (a popular Korean skincare brand and sister company of Laneige) that will last anyone at least a month, an Aritaum tote, and some free gift wrapping service. A nice touch~

Time to sleep -- Marketing final tomorrow! I know it will be difficult, but I feel much more ready for it than I did for the midterm.

One Sweet Day

2009-06-15T01:15:00.000-07:00

The official final exam week has commenced. I don't think you could really guess from the pictures below, though! haha ^^

♥ ♥ ♥
All the CJ dorm students got to pick up free muffins and flavoured milk in the morning for breakfast. I chose a chocolate muffin and a coffee Seoul milk carton and obviously devoured it too quickly to take a picture [oink].

♥ ♥ ♥
Then, at 2PM, we had our Korean language final (which went very well). Our teacher told us to stay for 15 minutes afterward because she had something for us (so nice!) -- she bought us a dduk cake! Dduk is glutinous rice flour and it's traditional food usually eaten at weddings or birthdays or any sort of celebration.
I believe this one is the steamed version because it was warm. It was very dense - it really reminded me of a dense bao. It wasn't "shingowoyo" (bland), but it wasn't "dalayo" (sweet) either. The professor says that it has a lot of calories in it and that eating a slice is like eating a bowl of rice lol....
The raisins on top spelled out "jong kang", which, I believe she said, is something related to the end of something...
They ran out of aluminum foil by the time I got my piece haha so I ate on a test paper.
I was just looking at some goofy videos I took from the class throughout the semester earlier this morning. We had lots of fun - I'll miss you, Korean Beginner's level I!
Bich, Albeta, Benny, + Vivi ^^

♥ ♥ ♥
And then when I got back to the dorm, my friend calls me and says she has a surprise for me:
A good luck cupcake from the new cupcake store down the hill!
Strawberry mousse topping~
It was absolutely divine and totally made my day ♥ ♥ ♥That act sure reminded me of certain someones from home ♥

OH and there's a Gossip Girl Party happening at Eden this Thursday (18th) -- dress to impress and I'll see you there! xoxo
I ate so many sweets today you'd think I would have had a sugar rush, but even after 2 coffees, a nap still seems to be calling my name..............

Korean Cosmetics Review: LacVert Eyeliner

2009-06-14T03:36:00.000-07:00

Ohhhhhh Kim Yuna~

(Credit to Soompi)

Everyone in Korea is in love with her. And for good reason, too! She's so talented - she can skate [2009 World Figure Skating Champion] and sing and she's beautiful.
Plus, since she's affiliated with Korea University, KU is extra proud. My Korean Culture and Society prof said that whenever Kim Yuna's name appears on TV, there's "Korea University" right next to it in smaller letters.
She's been featured in 15 commercials advertising everything from Maeil milk, to Samsung Hauzen air conditioners (reportedly raking in about 240-320 thousand USD for a 3-6 month contract)... and just a few weeks ago, she started endorsing Samsung's latest new full touchscreen haptic phone called noneother than Yu-Na's Haptic (SPH-W7700). Impressive, eh?

So semi-recently, Yuna 'revealed' the makeup she uses. People were curious because when she cried (happy tears, of course), nothing would smudge or smear and her makeup would still stay flawless!
She uses LacVert cosmetics: a Korean brand that is known for its natural amino acid content (good for moisturizing).
It's actually pretty difficult for me to find information in English about this brand -- especially this eyeliner + mascara...
Sooo yea curiosity got the best of me and I picked up the eyeliner at Olive Young for 16,000won.
Comes with "yuna's lipstick" haha.. looks like play makeup for kids.
It's a liquid eyeliner and is packaged in a light metallicy-pink-silver tube -- pretty, sleek, girly, and classy!
I didn't buy the mascara as I already own 6 tubes (3 of which don't do anything for me).
As for eyeliners, I have 3. Well, now I have 4.
Top to bottom:
- Chanel Ligne Extreme in 31 Onyx (liquid): It's nice if you have a steady hand (which I don't). The brush point is very fine and sharp so it's great if you're into the winged look, but you can easily poke yourself (as I do....) and you have to draw next to the line many times to make it thick enough (in my case anyway). I only use this one once in a while. I like how intense the black is. Does not budge once it's on, though =)
- Revlon ColorStay Crayon: I bought this because of rave reviews online but I'm pretty disappointed. It does not stay put at all and I always get raccoon eyes and at the end of the day, half of it is gone.
- LacVert Live Natural Washable Eyeliner (liquid): see below for review
- The pot is a black gel eyeliner from Coastal Scents: very very inexpensive and glides on well. You can vary the degree of pigmentation depending on how much you dip your angled brush and it stays put for the most part. Very minimal raccoon eyes. Also looks the most natural and soft + easy to fix if you make a mistake.
I don't use pencil because I find them too harsh to use and I'm afraid I'd poke my eye out but I think it'd be nice to get one just for tightlining purposes.
In comparison (very dry hands.... I know T_T):
L-R: LacVert, Chanel, Revlon, Coastal Scents.
(Actually, the both the LacVert + Coastal Scents sample strokes can be much finer and more precise than what I've shown you. I did it too quickly and sloppily)
When I rubbed them, the Revlon Colorstay Crayon and the Coastal Scent gel liners smudged quite a bit whereas LacVert + Chanel were not affected at all (I even scratched the LacVert and it still stayed put!). However, when I ran my hand under warm water and gently rubbed, the LacVert came off quite easily (actually, it peeled in a strip almost! It is not waterproof) and the Chanel also disappeared after a couple seconds. However, the Revlon Colorstay + the Coastal Scent gel liner didn't come off at all! I had to use DHC Deep Cleaning Oil to get it off and even so, it took a bit of rubbing.
Interesting~
So yea there's pros and cons of each depending on what you're looking for.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the LacVert liner! It's dark and dramatic and is great for detailing (thin or thick.. I wear pretty thick eyeliner 'cause if I don't, it doesn't show up at all) and it won't budge all day long which is great for someone who touches their eye area quite a bit (yes I know it's bad - it's a habit for me.. I'm doomed to get early eye wrinkles). It's also great for quick and easy application (if you don't have much time in the morning). It's very comparable to Chanel's (and is half the price, too!). The brush is a tinch thicker, though, and the LacVert handle has more substance so it's easier to hold and control. So yea I recommend this eyeliner!

Opportunity ----- (unavailable now)
Because I like it so much and since it's hard to get for all you Korean cosmetics/Kim Yuna fans out there not living in Korea, I'm doing a mini survey for either the eyeliner or mascara. Payable by Paypal for 21USD for the eyeliner and 23USD for the mascara - 40USD for both (all prices include shipping to Canada or USA). The sooner you send the money, the sooner you will receive it. Will ship next day. Takes 1-2 weeks from shipping date. Last call: money must be received by June 29th, 2009 to be shipped on Monday, July 6th, 2009. ^^

A Big Kit-Kat Sort of Break

2009-06-13T18:15:00.000-07:00

Took a "little" break last night and had a girls night out in Itaewon. I was a bit hesitant to go out because of my upcoming finals this Monday, Tues, and Wed (which is why I couldn't make it out to Eden last Friday), but yesterday morning I checked my KU e-mail and found out that my Tuesday (OM) final is now on Thursday! That makes me kind of sad because that means my last final will end on a sour note lol but whatever! I'm on exchange haha
So anyway I'm so glad I went out after being so cooped up in the Anam area for almost 2 weeks 'cause I had such a great time! ^^ The original plan was to just go eat at a French restaurant - one of the girls from France went there and said it was authentic. I can't remember the name of the restaurant, but it was right next to Kraze Burger on the main street haha. It had an open patio feel to it and closed off from the street by airy cotton sheets. I really felt as though I was in some European country which was a nice change of scenery~All the servers and customers spoke English... well, then again, we were in Itaewon (foreigner central). There were a lot of menu items to choose from (prices range from 15,000-36,000won) from duck to steak, salads, salmon.... and I wanted it all (because all I've been eating for the past couple of weeks were instant noodles, pasta, kimbap, and at random Korean restaurants around Anam)... but almost all of us settled on having mussels and shared a couple bottles of wine.

I chose one with garlic, cream, and aioli sauce. They were the best mussels I've ever had.The point when I got fullIt was a really lovely meal! I must come here again.
Then, to go with the French theme, we decided to end our night by eating dessert. We walked so slowly to get there (even though it was only a couple blocks away) because we all knew we would have to go back to CJ to study... and who wants to do that? We went to a French bakery that specialized in pies in some quaint alleyway but because we walked to slowly, the bakery was almost closed so we ate our brownies, cookies, and (my) strawberry rhubarb pie with vanilla ice cream outside. Yum x 100.Then of course none of us still wanted to study so we walked over to the "tropical lounge" called the Bungalow in Itaewon's back alleyway.haha what a place! It's a 3 story bar and they had these open rooms with a bunch of basket swings and rope swings in them and soft sand that completely covered the ground. Chill and cozy! I think they even have some mini whirlpools outside. The DJ spun a mix of Spanish salsa and popular dance hits new and old.

Lots of "exotic tropical drinks" on the menu but a bit on the pricey side.
Mojitos + strawberry daquiris ~
Dance+ sheenaaaa
It sure looks quiet and peaceful without people in the picture
We finally got the place to ourselves -- a really great place to hold a party ^^Then we stepped out of the room and danced the night away on the empty floor to classic dance songs. After the end of the first song, the floor was packed with other people.

Good fun.

I remember the last time I visited Itaewon, I wasn't too impressed. But now, I have a new found love for that district. I think it's fantastic how you can easily "transport" yourself into so many different atmospheres and cultures in such a small vicinity!

For anyone interested and who will be in Seoul on June 27th -- all white dress code @ M2 in Hongdae.
And now I'm going to do a load of laundry and plop myself down at a nearby cafe to study!

In My Lifetime

2009-06-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Wow I feel so refreshed! Finally got enough sleep. I made myself go to bed at 11:15PM and I woke up at 8:15AM (20 seconds before my alarm rang - my internal alarm clock has been kinda impressive recently). The fab. weather outside certainly helps, too =)

My Korean Culture and Society final yesterday went OK. I remember someone once told me that we remember a lot more than we think when we just read something once. I think this sort of proves that... I honestly cannot remember what I wrote, though, as I only had 4.5 hours of sleep the night before and almost fell asleep in the last 10 minutes of the exam >< .. never again. I'm going to make sure I get adequate sleep every night leading up to my last 3 finals on Mon, Tues, and Wed.

Btw, here's a big fat congratulations!! So many people I know have graduated this month from both high school and university. It seems as though every 2nd Facebook photoalbum is of someone's grad pictures~ I can't wait until I graduate. 1 more year!

Anyway, I can't believe it. It's the last day of classes today!

These days.. months.. years are flying by way too quickly. People are growing up... aging... sometimes you just don't know if you will ever see them again. You just gotta treasure every moment and everyone around you. I was thinking of how in 10 days, I will be saying goodbye to so many of the people I am used to seeing every second day.. of whom I've lived with for 4 months and of whom I've learned of their good side and bad. All the good times, inside jokes, and those simple, insignificant things that gets us in sudden fits of laughter will always have a special place in my memory. I can honestly say that I've met some of the nicest, sweetest, and most thoughtful people ever here. Who else would offer to run out in the rain and buy me healthy food when they don't approve of me eating instant noodles? Who else would text me (when I'm late for class), telling me that they were worried about me? Who else would always pick up my namecard and save a spot for me in class? All the problems or questions I have - who else would not hesitate one bit to help me out? And not to mention all the strangers who made my day with their gestures of kindness... I don't know when I'll see them again but it's nice to know that it's not goodbye forever.. as big as the world is... and that I'll have a place to stay if I decide to visit ^^

Anywayyyyy on a totally different note:
I usually don't like things with loud logos on them, but did anybody see the new The Olympic Dream sweatshirts from Park Life for Aritzia?

There's a few other styles, too, but I have my eye on the blue zipup.
I've been feeling patriotic recently... well, in the city-sense (is there a word for that?). Every time I go on a vacation or a trip and no matter how terrific I find the country/city, I'm reminded of how great Vancouver is.. and of how appreciative I am to live there - in a different sense, of course.

Gotta get ready for class! xo

Hit-Or-Miss

2009-06-09T03:27:00.000-07:00

So all my projects and presentations are over for this term! I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. Although I didn't do much of the research (Koreans are good at that) or writing, I did compile all the reports and case studies and edited the black ink out of all of them which took days (the locals were ever so grateful) and (most importantly) learned a lot in the process. The powerpoints (PPT) they churn out at this university are amazingly nice and professional. I've never seen anything like them -- they really could be a new form of art! The professors are pleased, I'm happy, we all win. I've always loved group projects. I got to meet some friendly, super hard working and funny people in my groups. Koreans sure have a unique sense of humour that's hard to describe and all the girls sound like they're 8 years old when I talk to them online "k x 100" haha~

Anyway, now I'm super cramming for my Korean Culture and Society final tomorrow. There are a ton of interesting facts in my notes -- here's a few I found really interesting:

Remarkable economic development:
- Korea's GDP grew (miraculously) 605.8 times (from $1.3 billion in 1953 to $787.5 billion in 2005) which now makes them 12th largest in the world
- Per capita Gross National Income (GNI) grew 243 times from $67 in 1953 to $16,291 in 2005 (Luxemburg has the world's highest per capital GNI at $86,819).
- From rags to riches: emerged from the ruins of the 1950-1953 Korean War and is now the world's 11th largest exporting country (exports increased 13,000 times during last half century)
- Top memory chip producer in the world, one of the top producers of cell phones, 5th largest carmarker.

Becoming increasingly multicultural:
- Because of "son preference" (AKA sons are much more preferred than daughters.. typical), abortions are widely practiced here (since the late 1980s) and are not frowned upon unlike in the West.
- But because of this, there are more males than females (a prevalent sex-ratio imbalance) so there's a growing number of international and intermarriages.
- Korea is not alone - it's believed that there are up to 30 million extra men in China and India. (Feeling lonely? Now you know where to go! kkkkkkk)
- The most popular intermarriages are called "Kosians" (Korean + Asian). Given this increasing trend, it is estimated that nearly a third of all children born in 2020 will be Kosians.
- Many men from the countryside marry foreign brides because they are less educated and generally have a lower income than those from the cities (and women would rather marry ones w/ money)
- Most foreign brides are from less developed nations, but a large majority of foreign husbands come from economically advanced nations like Japan, US, and Canada (which further increases the shortage of Korean brides for Korean men!)
- This is a 'problem' because Korea prides itself for being ethnically homogeneous. This trend will lead to more foreign immigrants + a much larger number of bi-racial or bi-ethnic children.
- Another way Korea is becoming more multicultural is because there's a labour shortage so they bring in foreign migrant workers to do the dirty jobs.
- More people are getting better educations than ever before so there's not enough people working in these 3D jobs (difficult, dirty, and dangerous)
- Korea is currently the most rapidly aging society in the world. In 2000, 7% of the population comprised of the elderly. In 2019, 14% of the population will consist of the elderly. In 2026, Korea will become a "superaged society" lol at 20%.
- What is remarkable about the Korean situation is that while the economically advanced nations took decades to shift from an aging society to an aged society, it will take Korea only a generation (approx 19 years) to make the transition which will break the world record set by Japan (26 years).
- WHY + HOW? 1. Increasing life expectancy rose more than 10 years in the lat 2 decades (expected to be 81 years in 2020) and 2. Low fertility rate - lowest in the world.
- If the low birthrate persists, it is forecasted that Korea's total population will drop from 48.29 million to 42.35 million in 2050.
- A UN report says that with the current population trends, Korea's population will drop to a mere 5 million in 2200 and can become extinct by 2800.
- Thus, Korean society is destined to make a transition from a mono-racial society to a multiracial and multiethnic society in the near future. This process is irreversible.

Urbanization:
- Took just 40 years to urbanize
- As a result of rapid urbanization, there is an extemely uneven distribution of people living in the big cities like Seoul and Pusan and not enough people living in other smaller cities.
- A little less than half of the total population live in the capital district (which comprises of approx 11.8% of the total land)
- This is a problem because now there's a housing shortage - too many apartments, everything can be found in the big cities (best universities, the headquarters of large conglomerates and companies (foreign and domestic) which makes it even less likely for people to want to move away from the big cities, it creates slum areas and areas of illegal residential areas, there's poor air quality, underfunded and overcrowded schools... etc.

Interesting... the other day, one of the girls I had dinner with told us of how she did a little survey in her East Asia studies class of how women are viewed vs. men in Korea compared to in the West. For Western women, the Korean guys wrote "strong, independent" and for Korean women, the Korean guys wrote down a bunch of characteristics, but on the top of all their lists were "weak and incapable". Hah! Some of the international students were wondering why they never see Korean guys with foreign girls but they notice Korean girls with foreign guys. It's 'cause most Korean guys have a domineering mindset so they feel very intimidated by foreigners.

On a different topic, the humidity (and pollution?) is really affecting my skin. I'm breaking out a bit these days (especially last week) in the most un-hidable spots on my face. Plus, my skin texture is bumpy! You may as well just call me Dotty :( I've been using my face masks and trying out my new products so they've been helping quite a bit thank goodness.

Oh btw, I've become a fan of oil cleansers! I've been using DHC's (a Japanese brand - all their products are based off the natural benefit of olive oil) Deep Cleansing Oil for a while now, ever since the Cetaphil I brought from home ran out. While it's been good (it effectively removes dirt, makeup (even waterproof mascara), excess oil, and easily dissolves other pore cloggers), I think it's better for people with oily-type skin.
I have really dry skin. I picked up this beauty oil cleanser by Kanebo's freeplus line in Japan. It does the same job (as in, it gets off every trace of makeup you have on your face including your eyemakeup (just rub and it's gone!)), but the texture is much lighter ('cause it's for sensitive skin) and my skin doesn't feel dry afterward - feels soft!
I think oil cleansers are popular here.. and especially in Japan (Shu Uemura is very well known for their oil cleansers but I do not plan on spending $60+ on them!) because Japanese girls wear a LOT of makeup and oil cleansers will take it all off... and oil cleansers are recommended to help take off BB creams for Korean girls.

News on Cenix (refer here): So it seems as though I don't have enough evidence that I bought my device for however much I paid because my receipt is combined with Bern's and doesn't list out each product separately.. so the customer service of Korea can't do anything. There was one other reason why but I can't remember. I can still try for the customer service for foreigners but nobody can seem to find the right number to call. I will be getting 60,000won back from the customer service department of I'Park Digital Mall in Yongsan this week, though. I guess that's better than nothing! The tech reps do say that Cenix is a good, durable brand... it's just that it's not well known so people don't buy it. I guess I do need it (even though I'm not a fan of how it looks). And even though I've only used it twice since I've arrived in Korea, I think I may have broken my Zune 8GB. hah.

I really feel like going shopping (lol what's new... I haven't been shopping in over a week, though!)! A Korean makeup haul is due. Funds are getting limited though.. iiiiks

Happy 22nd To A Dear Friend

2009-06-08T03:22:00.000-07:00

(click to enlarge)
Note: I am in Korean Beginner's Level 1 and this is the first note I've written in Korean so although it may not be perfect, it took a lot of effort and I tried my best.

My Day

2009-06-07T02:52:00.000-07:00

"today, forever & always, you drive me crazy"

2009-06-05T18:03:00.000-07:00

Currently giving myself "another" consecutive 20 minute break before I tackle putting together the first 15 pager. It was amazingly humid today. I wore shorts and belted an over-sized cardigan which was just enough when I was walking down the hill to discuss the project with my group, but by the time we were finished the meeting, I was so sticky, my hair curled and clung onto my neck for dear life, and my face almost glowed... and all I did was sit in a semi-ACed room for 2.5 hours! Then when I stepped outside, I saw a bunch of students just standing at the edge of the stairs undercover, looking out at the rain. Of course, I, along with all those other students didn't have an umbrella. Why would we? It was sunny. It was still very sunny when it was raining. Warm rain... smells. It was actually warm enough to take a shower in. So, feeling impatient, I decided to suck it up and walk back to the dorm. haha I bet the crowd thought I was michoso (crazy) for doing so. It sure was a quiet walk back!

I spent the last 2 hours trying to figure out how to set up Nate-On (Korean version of MSN that's connected to Cyworld) for my 11PM online meeting tonight with my OM group (ended up having to use my friend's dad's ID lol.. just temporarily), researching a possible new netbook (Korean brand MIS U100 or Samsung NC10), updating myself with my favourite Chictopian outfits, and online shopping on Gmarket.

Oh yea - I forgot to show you the pictures from when Bern, Tiff, and I went to visit the Coffee Prince Cafe in Hongdae! The cafe was created for the popular romantic comedy Korean drama, The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince (2007) and since then, it has turned into an actual cafe + tourist spot.
The menu that listed the most expensive coffee I've ever had.
I'm the next "Waffle Sun Ki"! hahaha
Butchea... go to visit - it's just like the drama but unfortunately, I don't recommend their coffee at all, especially for that price.

Aw so sweet - the Taiwanese girls just invited me to have some homemade bubble tea! Ciao~

School + Cosmetics

2009-06-04T04:30:00.000-07:00

Hakkyo.... (school)
Ah marketingggg -- the professor is still great and interesting, but sometimes it's a bit nerve-racking to be in his class when he shouts out "YO" all of a sudden after explaining a concept and then picks on someone randomly and asks them a question. The questions really vary from a test to see how much you remember from previous lectures to what would you do in this situation if you were the marketer, your opinion, your personal life, and how life compares in "America" to Korea. He especially likes to call out on the foreign students so sometimes, when I don't know the answer, I try to hide my name card (yea we have to pick up our name card before the start of every class as a form of attendence) behind the person in front of me, out of his view hehe... but it doesn't really work 'cause he knows all our names very well.. and 'pretending to be occupied' doesn't work.. you'll still get called on.

This is a pic from yesterday when he called on both groups who presented on the marketing scheme: Product Placement (PPL) to debate on why a company would chose to spend their money to have their product shown subtly for 10 seconds or less in a movie or TV show rather than make a 30 second commercial where all the attention is on the product. Btw, the answer is simple -- because you have control when you watch TV to either change the channel or go up to do other things during commercials whereas in movies, you are forced, in a way, to pay attention to every aspect and so you will subconsciously remember a brand. One of the PPL groups used the movie ET as an example. Do you remember when ET grabbed those M&Ms? Well, because of it, sales of M&Ms grew by quite a significant percentage (I forgot how much exactly) that year.
I've canceled all my plans for this weekend to stay in and study and work on my projects. I have another 15 page Marketing case study to put together for Monday, a 15 pg OM project to edit, a ton of Korean homework, a Korean Culture and Society final on Wednesday, and my team chose me to present our OM project along with another girl for Wednesday. I'm just going to relax tonight and start work tomorrow morning.
I've got such a funnn weekend ahead of me, don't I?

Fact: the base price for taxis here in Korea has increased by 500won to 2,400won over the weekend! (Oh so that was what the taxi driver was trying to tell me when I cabbed home the night I came back from Japan). This covers the first 2 kilometres. But, if you ride compact cars with an engine power less than 1000cc such as Kia’s Morning (999cc) and GM Daewoo’s Matiz (800cc), it's cheaper (and better for the environment, too)!
--------------
The start of my Japanese makeup collection~
Shiseido Maquillage -- oh how long I've waited to get my hands on these products!
It's known as Shiseido's younger line.
- Agnes B Voyage cosmetics bag
- Shiseido Maquillage Design Cheek Colors in 70 + case
- Shiseido Maquillage Glossy Gloss in 74 (the tri-colour lip gloss.. too pretty to mix the layers up to use...)
- Shiseido Maquillage Cheek Color in PK313
- Shiseido Maquillage Neo Climax Lip in RD745 is hands down the best lip gloss I own (and I own a lottt). It's actually in between a lipstick and lip gloss -- semi-sheer, natural looking, not sticky, and acts like a lip balm, too!
Another Shiseido line called Majolica Majorca is much more affordable than their Maquillage line and delivers pretty good quality products for its price. This lip gloss (800Yen.. approx $10CDN) is much more sheer than I thought it would be, but it smells pleasant and the applicator is angled which makes it easier to apply. A bit sticky. Rouge Majex in BE205.Kanebo's newish line (as of 2007) called Coffret D'or.
I took a risk in purchasing these 2 products... on a whim... without even testing them out.
- Coffret D'or Blend Color Blush (right) in BE-17 (this shade is a contour blush)
- Coffre D'or TD Eyes in 03 (Khaki green tones). I like how they have instructions on the back to tell you how to apply these colours -- especially for a newbie eyeshadow user like myself! If you can't read, you can go onto their English website, which translates it for you. The colours are very pigmented and sparkly. Japanese people seem to love sparkles. I have to get used to the sparkle.Lastly, Jill Stuart!
I indulged. Jill Stuart is a prestigious fashion designer that expanded with its own cosmetics line. Until last year, Jill Stuart cosmetics products were only available in Asia (Japan, HK, and Tw) and they even had a cult following, but now it's available in the States. It's produced by a major Japanese manufacturer (Kose). Their packaging has an ultra-pretty and luxurious yet sophisticated look to them. I would have bought a couple more just because they're so nice to look at if they weren't so pricey. I got an eye brightener cream and a powder blush (neat way to apply) in sunny tan. I actually wore a bit of it today and was surprised when I got compliments on my "new tan". Little do they know, it'll be all gone tomorrow! Magic.

Overall, I'm a big fan of Japanese cosmetics and their packaging. Unfortunately for me, they are not cheap at all (most drug store products from lines like Shiseido + Kanebo range from $25-55CDN and department stores are around $30CDN+.. of course, depending on the item). I think their pigmentation in general is very good quality for what you pay for and their skincare/skin products are exceptional for Asians especially because they seem to understand that Asian skin tone is different and don't all work with MAC.

OK enough about Japanese cosmetics... I've been looking into Korean ones, but so far, I haven't been too impressed with the typical Korean brands like The Face Shop and Etude House. Maybe I'll find some treasures if I look harder! Aja~

JAPAN: Fukuoka

2009-06-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Fukuoka Fukuoka Fukuoka...

4 days, 5 pounds more and an almost maxed out Visa card later... I'm back in Seoul!

Right when we got out of the train @ Incheon Int'l Airport, we were zipped to the check-in + departure gates on these little buggies that got us there just in time. What a fun, windy ride!
Above the clouds on the 1.15 hour flight from ICN to FUK
Filling out some paperwork on the plane.
I don't know why, but my whole luggage bag was searched at the Japanese customs.

Since I was so busy in the days leading up to this trip, I didn't have time to research the city or even know what to expect. It was my first time visiting Japan. All I knew was that it was a small city compared to Tokyo (about 1,500,000 people live in Fukuoka) and that I was excited to attend the concert and to eat some authentic Japanese food!

Our hostel: Khaosan International Hostel Fukuoka
It was only an 8 minute ride from the airport -- very clean (had to take your shoes off at the door) and simple and came with all the amenities I needed (hairdryer, internet, kitchen). A comfortable stay for the price we paid^^ The people at the desk were very helpful and spoke English.
Never a fight for the top bunk (quite the opposite from when I was little).
I don't know why, though.. top is the best! I get to be in my own little world.... ^^

MONEY

This is what it looks like. The exchange rate was horrible for me! I exchanged $100CDN for approximately 7,345JPY.

SHOPPING

There seemed to be only 2 areas to shop in Fukuoka.
The first place: Canal City Mall
Confusing layout, but it had some Japanese brand names and some tasty looking restaurants!
Connected to a hotel -- there was a little fountain show two or three times a day.
lol Tiffany and her #11.
A line from one of the Japanese stores, Moussy.
Comme ca store My mission was to buy Japanese cosmetics so I went on a mini spree.
It was very overwhelming, though. Too many products to choose from! I need a couple of hours to spend testing all these out. hehe the selection makes me giddy =)
You can even buy your own gun to pierce your ear (or your friend's).
Here are a few items I picked up on the first day from Shiseido's Maquillage line and Kanebo's Coffret D'or... plus 3 of my favourite Japanese magazines.
Tenjin is Fukuoka's downtown. They have tons of upscale department stores!
I visited the depaato (department store), Iwataya, twice because of their great selection of Japanese makeup.
Tenjin's Underground Mall was neat and very long. They had a lot of stores catered towards the 30+ crowd so Tiff and I didn't find much to our liking except for the jewelry stores.
There was also this multi-story mall full of young, hip, and soley Japanese clothes.
Princess sweet lolita style. Lots of lace, pink and black, and frills. The epitome of girly. I tried to find one thing I would wear but to no avail...
More of a gothic style
Love their shoes but their size varieties are even worse than Korea's! They only have S, M, and L and their L seems to fit a size 7-7.5.
I didn't buy a single piece of clothing. All the clothes in my price range had the same quality as the low-end and disposable clothes back at home for a tenth of the price and they were just too loud for me in general. I spent all my money on accessories and cosmetics and Japanese food!
I picked up some Jill Stuart blush + eye cream.

Cosmetics case + a simple Agnes B voyage case.What I'm curious about is why so many of the stores asked me if I had another credit card to split my purchase amounts. I wonder if it's common to do so.
Also, how come Japanese girls seem to carry so many versions of LV/Gucci/Chanel in designs I've never seen before? Are they actually authentic? Some of them look very very nice. I even found a magazine that showcases all the different types of designer brand name wallets, clutches, and bags.

TRANSPORTATION

Subway - very easy to use! Look how tiny and simple their subway map is!
The bus came very frequently but they stopped running too early...
You get in through the back and take a piece of paper that tells you what number you got on from. There's a board on the front that informs you as to how much you would have to pay if you wanted to get off and then you pay when you get off!
Bicycles are a very popular way of transportation for all ages! During rush hour, there are a lot of women and men in business suits riding home or to meet people to drink.A rare kind of taxi:I had forgotten that their streets work backwards in Japan!
Taxis are quite a bit more expensive than Korea, though! Their starting price is approx. $6CDN!
Panda taxi anyone?Oh and the language! haha it was so confusing switching from Korean to Japanese! It wasn't until the 3rd day before I got the hang of saying "hai" instead of "ne" (meaning, "yes"), and "arigatou gozaimasu" instead of "kamsahamnida" ("thank you"). (I just bought something earlier today around campus and almost said "arigatou" to the cashier lol). I took 2 semesters of Japanese @ SFU but it has been over a year since I've studied so it was sure interesting seeing how much I remembered... which was not much, but enough to survive. At least I could still read Hirigana and Katakana.. but Kanji (Chinese characters) will be the death of me!

PEOPLE

I wish I could have stayed there for another few days! I would want to spend a whole half day just people watching. Out of all the countries, I think Japan is the most interesting in terms of fashion. Everyone dresses their own way and it seems as though they don't care what other people think. Everything they wear, they rock it.
Boyfriend jeans + heels...
Rolled pant cuffs makes the whole outfit look so much more relaxed. J'aime beaucoup!
Zippered backs of jeans. aha... I have all these stalkerazzi pictures... if only I could be like The Sartorialist!
You can't really see, but this bunch on the right definitely had their own style.
One thing that really struck me was how beautiful Japanese girls were! It could be the way they put on their makeup, but all of them had the nicest, fairest skin and they all applied their eye makeup so perfectly, no matter which style of dress they're wearing. I guess those magazine tutorials really help! I've been to Taiwan and HK.. and even Korea - all of them emphasize the beauty of fair, porcelain skin... but never did I once consider a whitening product and I was happy I wasn't as sickly looking as a lot of them... but Japanese girls are a different story. Wow!
I'm also curious of how they choose their clothes. It seems as though their body frame generally thinner than that of Koreans because no matter what they wear - even if it's super baggy or moo moo-like, it works for them! Even though I wouldn't wear half of what I see Japanese girls wear on the street, they sure make Korean fashion look boring and too proper and uptight.
Oh and Japanese hair - from far away, they look so nice and perfect but up close, it's a total mess -- extremely damaged and fried from all the dying. I guess it's their type of dying process, too. Apparently Japanese use bleach, changing the chemical makeup of your hair whereas Koreans use colour which is much better for your hair. Maybe that's why Korean hair looks so much healthier. Butchea... so many girls dye their hair such a Caucasian shade of brown that I found myself thinking they were actually foreigners - especially with their fair skin! until I looked at their face closely.
Japanese boys are short and very thin. I'm surprised at how Western a lot of their features look.

FOOD

I love Japanese food!!!!!! I had a list of all the native food of Fukuoka I wanted to try.
Our first and 2nd last Japanese meal was at the Raumen Stadium in Canal City Mall. There were 6 or 7 mini restaurants in this stadium and they even had their own souvenir shop!
Before you enter the restaurant, you pick what you want and pay at one of these vending machines! Then you give your order receipt to the guy at the front and he shouts out "2 people!" to the kitchen staff and seats us and serves us water. (Come to think of it, we were never served Japanese tea of any sort during our whole stay!)
Hakata Ramen!
The 2nd ramen restaurant we chose on the 4th day. Ah I'm wearing the mask because I kept sneezing. I think it was the dust. The mask helped. Besides people at the airport or at information counters, I hardly saw anyone wear a mask... and the ones who wear them on the streets are most likely wearing them because they're sick - not because of the Swine Flu scare. Just a fact: one difference between Korea and Japan is that when you wear a mask in Japan, people won't give you a second look. It's common and normal to wear one especially if you are sick. However in Korea, I was told you would only wear one of these masks if you have had surgery so you will get a lot of people come up to you and ask you what's wrong.
I wanted to try an Izakaya (basically, a Japanese drinking restaurant where they serve food like appetizers). The hostel provided us with a map of their recommended places for food nearby. When we were seated, we were given the menu. I couldn't read most of it because it was all in Kanji so I asked the server for some sashimi. Then she asked me what type of nomimono (drink) we wanted. All I could read were the beer choices because they were the same ones I sell @ the restaurant I work at in Vancouver (Asahi, Kirin, and Sapporo)... but Tiff wanted something else. Then the server went to grab who I presume was the owner to explain the drinks to us. She (the owner) was very excited we came to her restaurant and was especially taken by Tiff when she heard Tiff was from Sweden. She said that she has a Swedish friend. Anyway, so she basically told us (in Japanese with a few English words thrown in) that we would get sashimi with different kinds of fish for 1,000Yen per person. Tiff and I shared this peach drink and an Asahi.
The lady asked us many questions such as where we were from, why we chose to go to Fukuoka (they don't get very many English speaking tourists.. mainly Korean and Chinese), etc. and then our food came: sashimi platter, a potato salad bowl, and this marinated tofu+beef bowl.

There was this one bowl with 1 huuuge tiger prawn in it. When I saw it, I think the lady saw my expression because she quickly covered it up with a towel.

It was ALIVE!

THEN she proceeded to rip its head off and de-shell it right in front of us!
omg..
There's my piece on the plate.....
The top half of the shrimp was still squirming in the bowl as I picked the was-alive-1-minute-ago piece of prawn. *shudder*
I mean, I love sashimi a lot, but to see it die like that?! I now know I will never be able to eat live octopus! It did taste good though...

McDonalds!
I still haven't eaten McD's in Korea, but I knew I had to try Japan's! I remember when I was in Taiwan, I had a yummy burger with sticky rice patties instead of buns on either side of the meat!
Japan's McD's did not have McNuggets, but they have a Teriyaki burger that Tiff tried. I got an Ebi Burger (shrimp!). Yum. I'm also trying all the different types of Coca Cola from all the countries I visit. Well, they're not really different types, but their recipes are a bit different to suit the tastes of each country. So far, the West wins in terms of sweetness by far. Korea is a close second, and, well, that leaves Japanese Coke last.
Japanese fast food: Hotto Motto! This one was only a block away from the hostel and across the street from our bus stop. These things were everywhere - I counted over 5 from the 20 minute bus ride from the hostel to downtown!They sell a variety of Japanese on-the-run food. We got these onigiri (seaweed + rice covered) sandwiches with a slice of pork and egg inside for breakfast.Cute cafe on our way to find Comme de Garcons.
An okonomiyaki restaurant in the Solaria Plaza! They cook your omelette type thing in front of you.
Oh yea - I dyed my hair in Tenjin. It looks really light and kind of orangeish in this picture, from the flash, but it's brown with no red shades.
Crepes! haha can you tell how I gained 5 pounds? oh my...
Ichigo (strawberry) + tiramisu... We came across this restaurant that specialized in Motsunabe (one of the Fukuoka specialities). Motsunabe is actually beef intestines cooked in a broth in a hot pot style. We didn't feel too adventurous so we settled for a pork nabemono which is pretty similar.I was so happy to see some greeeeeeen!!!
Inside this bundle were noodles, lots of vegetables, and tofu.
It was super delicious!
Then I ordered some onigiri: salmon and mentaiko. Mentaiko (right) is another specialty in Fukuoka. It's a marinated roe of polluck. It's much finer than the typical salmon roe we have in the West. It has a bit of a salty taste to it.When the Japanese sukiyaki restaurant I work at in Vancouver started serving creme brulee as dessert all of a sudden, I didn't understand why because to me, it's such a French/English dessert. Now I understand. Japanese people love creme brulee! It's sold everywhere - at fast food restaurants, in convenience stores (they have over 10 varieties), and even in little stands such as these on the side of the street!
One characteristic of Fukuoka is their yatai. A yatai is a mobile street food stand where you can hop in, drink alcohol, and eat something hot like ramen or yakitori (BBQ skewered chicken).
We actually just had dinner but we wanted to try eating in a yatai so we just picked something simmering in some light broth: fish cake, white radish, and tofu.
Then, for our last meal before we took a taxi to the airport, we (well, I) wanted to try Mizutaki. We asked the info desk at the Solaria where we could eat Mizutaki and they gave us a map in Japanese. We went halfway there and then got lost (seriously, we're not that bad with maps.. I'm a geo major! haha, it's just that Japanese streets are confusing because they curve and are not grid-like). So, I approached a random lady on the street. She happened to speak English pretty well and walked us to the restaurant which was around 2.5 blocks away! We met such nice people here! On the 2nd day when we were looking for Iwataya, a man came up to us, wanting to help us find what we were looking for. I guess we looked really lost with the huge map of Fukuoka opened to all of its extent and us turning around in circles, pointing at random directions of where we thought we needed to go haha...
Anyway, she even went in with us and explained to our server what we wanted and to remind him that we get 10% off because we have the map.
A neat restaurant with Japanese chic interiors.
The lady mentioned a tofu salad we should try. Unfortunately, the server said that they didn't have it and so he pointed at a Torotoro dish. Oishii desu ka? (is it tasty?, I tried to ask). Hai, he said.
OK... so it's this:
We had no idea how to eat it haha so he demonstrated. It turns out to be plain soft tofu you add finely chopped green onions and ginger on top, mix it up, and pour a little bit of soy sauce on top to taste. It actually tasted pretty OK for being a semi-weird combination I would never have thought of!
Then our Mizutaki came! It's known as a very healthy hot pot dish. You boil chicken + veggies in a chicken broth (with other seasonings).
But first, you're supposed to taste the broth before the ingredients go in. Since it's water-simmered, you need to add a bit of salt and green onions to flavour the broth a bit more. MMmm! I didn't realize how much I missed broth like this!
Then, after you cook all the ingredients, you take them out and dip it in a special vinegar before you eat it. Because of all the flavours from the ingredients, the taste of the broth changes and becomes more flavourful when you drink it! You can taste a difference. What an interesting experience.
Do you like sour drinks?
Food candy...Haagen-Daz in Green Tea Latte, Banana Chocolate Chip, White Peach, and English Milk Tea flavours. I tried white peach! Japanese people seem to love everything peach flavoured.
The many types of alcohol... but STOP (the yellow hand says)! You gotta be 18+ to buy!Some snacks I bought.. featuring Cola flavoured Mentos and Espresso flavoured Kit Kat ^^
Some more snacks I picked up at the airport to use up the rest of my Yen:
Green tea Kit Kat, Milk and Azuki (red bean) caramels the SA liked, and some matcha mochi.

RANDOM

Free Hugs in Japan ^^
One thing about Fukuoka (or Japan in general) is that everything closes early and there's nothing to do afterwards. The malls and shops close at 8 and most restaurants close at 9! Soon after, the buses stop running, too. What is there to do but hang out at some 24 hour grocery stores?
18 yrs old and under not allowed. So this is where all the adults go after work... this place (called the Plaza) was massive!
Night time @ Tenjin.
My hair -- I guess it is quite a lot lighter than I think it is!
A lady in a Yukata (a lighter Spring/Summer version of a Kimono) on the subway!
She looked so elegant with heir hair like that.

One thing Tiff and I noticed was how quiet everything was compared to Seoul. It seems as though, any chance they get, Seoul will blast Korean music in all the stores! But in Fukuoka, the streets and malls were very quiet. I don't mind either way, but what a nice change of atmosphere!

Coca Cola..... Wild Health............? What is Coke + the word "health" doing in the same ad?
We visited a Cube House open house!
Tiny tiny house! Very streamlined inside.
Mini sink next to their bathtub. I'm surprised they even had a tub. A shower stall would have been much more appropriate for such a small space, but I guess they were targeting young families.
Bathroom sink. Their toilet was right next to the main door entrance! haha
And then we got some Takoyaki (octopus ball) samples.

Fact: Japanese people walk much faster than Korean.

CONCERT

So thanks to Tiff, we got tickets for a DBSK (my favourite!) concert! They're known as DBSK (Dong Bang Shin Ki) in Korea and THSK (Tohoshinki) in Japan. Even though they're Korean, they sing in both Korean and Japanese and they're extremely popular in both countries (which is a big feat for a Korean artist in Japan)! Everyone we mentioned THSK to in Japan (both young and old) knew who they were and said "ahhhh! Kakkoii desu" (meaning "Oh cool!"). Tiff said THSK had held another concert the day before in Fukuoka. The concert venue = Marine Messe.

Concert goods! I usually don't buy these, but I picked up a couple of small things. They were very pricey.
L-R: Junsu, Yoochun, Jaejoong, Changmin, and Yunho... and me ^^Want a THSK MasterCard?
There was a whole group of women wearing pink t-shirts with the word "Xiah" on it. Xiah is the nickname of one of the members, Junsu. Yea he's good.One thing I really enjoyed about the whole Japanese concert experience (compared to Korean) was how calm and respectful Japanese fans were. Much unlike in Korea, they don't trample over one another, trying to get the best spot, they don't scream at the top of their lungs trying to get the singer's attention. In fact, after we found our seats, they started playing this cartoon that depicted what not to do (such as going to the airport to stalk them, following their cars via taxi... etc.). We were not allowed to take any pictures or our cameras would be taken away so not once did you see a flash go off! The fans were quiet and listened intently when Tohoshinki sang. They sang along in high voices when the boys turned the mics to them. They cheered after every upbeat song and clapped after every ballad. They giggled at THSK's jokes. It was so lovely!

Although I bought a couple of concert goods, I didn't buy a lightstick because it was 1,000yen which is around $14CDN. 5 seconds after the boys came out, both Tiff and I regretted not buying one because every single person in the audience had one. It was amazing to see all those red lightsticks glowing and moving in sync to the beat of the song or swaying back and forth like seaweed lol Luckily enough, the ajumma beside us had a whole bag full of red lightsticks from their previous T tour. She held 3 in her hand at a time. After the first song, she noticed we didn't have any so she let us borrow some lightsticks =)
The Korean Yoochun (one of the members of THSK) fan club members distributed these blue pieces of material with "THE Park YuChun DAY 1986.06.04" printed on it. The intent was to sing Happy Birthday to Yoochun after the boys sang Kiss The Baby Sky because it was his birthday soon. Unfortunately, their plan didn't go through and security collected all the blue pieces before the concert started. How unfortunate for the fan club!

I snuck a picture before I left. The stage extended out - I would say that there was no such thing as a nosebleed section in this concert hall! Our seats were at the front and to the side so we got quite a close view when the boys came to our side.
Concerts like these really showcase their talent. The whole time, I couldn't believe how good their voices were live. Especially Junsu - he really sounded like an angel haha
All five of them never fail to amaze me. Yoochun played the piano, Yunho had quite a few dance solos (as did Junsu), and Junsu had some short solos to showcase his voice.
3 hours of Tohoshinki! Couldn't have asked for more. So fun!

We noticed that the ajumma who lent us the lightsticks was wiping tears of happiness from her eyes when the concert ended. Awwwwwww~

After the concert, these 7 guys bowed down to us in a wave - once every 10 seconds.
Marine Messe + the long line up to get on the bus to Tenjin.
After the super short flight, we took the Airport Limousine. Since it was late, most of the buses weren't in order so I took the one Tiff went on, got off at Dongdaemun, and cabbed it home. The gates were up and the taxi driver refused to move them so I had to lug my luggage up the rest of the hill which consisted of 3 large carry-ons and a small suitcase. Luckily, some guys walking up noticed I was struggling and walked back down the hill to help me carry my stuff back up! Guys back in North America, take note!

All in all, it was a real lovely vacation! All we did was shop and eat. I will definitely return to Fukuoka when I do a full tour of all of Japan within the next few years and do more cultural/historic things such as going to Ohori Park to see the Japanese garden, go to Fukuoka's Art Gallery, dip in a hot spring, and go up the Fukuoka Tower and Sky Tower. I'm not sad to be back as Seoul feels like a 2nd home for me, but I'm not too excited about my last 2 weeks of school because it means no fun because of all the homework, projects, presentations, and studying + it means we're getting closer to when the majority of my friends will be leaving! Oh but there's a rainbow at the end - my friend Melanie from Vancouver will be visiting for the last 3 weeks!!

How's that for the longest post everrrrrr.... phew.
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Stormy weather today! For some reason, it gets really windy and the weather changes so drastically when I'm in Korean class. It was just very humid and somewhat cloudy when I left for class and an hour later, it turned into a full thunderstorm and eventually there was a downpour. Of course, none of us were equipped with an usan (umbrella)... so we just waited around for some dry periods.

A Tight Squeeze

2009-05-28T09:51:00.000-07:00

I finally bought a pair of shoes here! I could have never imagined how difficult it would be to find shoes that fit me. In American sizes, my feet fit a 8.5. It's considered normal for my height (5'6). Shoes I want are made in my size and sometimes they're even sold out. It wasn't easy, but I even bought around 4 or 5 pairs when I was in Taiwan and HK... but HERE! Especially since the average height is taller than the rest of Asia, you would think they would make larger-sized shoes, too! The "standard" largest size here (meaning the ones you can find at any regular shoe store in Myeongdong, for example) seems to be a 250 - equivalent to a size 8. Only once in a while will they have size 255 for very specific styles... and even when they do, those in the same situation as me snatch them so they're sold out by the time I get to them. The Koreans I've met who have size 8+ feet say they need to order from the States, wait until they travel abroad and go on a shoe shopping spree, or custom-make their own shoes.

I've always been a big fan of Fashion Toast's heel collection. I guess this could be considered a toned-down version of what she would have... and another lovely addition to my shoe collection that makes it seem as though I have a regular night job..........
It's leather :)
Wouldn't have minded if they added another half inch in the front + heel.
I wore them around while shopping last night to break them in.
Andddd these are a few other things I picked up yesterday...

Skin Food: Gold Caviar Emulsion (they seem to love emulsions here). I'm replacing my Bio-Oil with this as my moisturizer for night because it's a lighter alternative for the summer.
The Face Shop: Orange Mint Foot & Heel cream - to get babysoft feet
The Face Shop: nail polish in 2 shades of red
Nature Republic: Deep Sea Algae Mask -- Chlorella + Sea Tangle + Seaweed. This mask heats itself up on your face! I didn't expect that.

They sure are generous with the samples here. It's bad (for me) 'cause I try them and like them and then go out to buy... I've been pretty good with skin care and beauty products though -- haven't bought much.... yet.
These are the samples I got just from buying the emulsion and the foot cream!
Skin Food gets the trophy for having the most interesting products...Jetting off to Fukuoka, Japan in a few hours! Going to try to find a Hello Kitty mask to wear..
Be back Tuesday -- have a great weekend!

M-M-M-Manicures!

2009-05-27T03:06:00.000-07:00

Bern and I got manis in Hongdae on her last Sunday in Seoul (1.5 weeks ago).

I never pamper myself this often back at home. I've had 3 since I've arrived!

We got a gradient style.
Bern's purple gradient - looks like a lotus up close!
Mine is pink @ the tips but it looks peach and skin toned in this lighting.
Yea it looks way prettier in person.
We named our nails lol... I think mine was named after an alcoholic cocktail...I actually still have my polish on and it hasn't chipped or anything. The great thing about this style is that you can grow it out and it won't show because the section closest to your cuticle isn't coloured - it's only painted with clear polish.

It was neat how they applied it. I would never have thought of it. I chose my tip colour and they chose the other 2 colours and painted a strip of each colour on a piece of tinfoil. Then they used a sponge that's a little bigger than a sugar cube and dipped it into the paint starting from one side and then lightly patted it onto my nail! Super easy. They even gave us a few sponges so we could save money and do it ourselves at home ^^
These were my inspiration - I showed the manicurists these pictures on my Cenix. I originally wanted to get these colours but I thought it would be a bit too flashy for everyday wear and they didn't have the right shade of gold.
A possible future gold colour lust - called Nefertiti! Where can I find lippman collection in Vancouver?
Korea makes all of my girlfriends way girly-er than they are at home. So many of the girls who never ever wear polish at home wear nail polish all the time here! Every third day is a new colour. I think it's because we're constantly observing the way Korean girls carry themselves... so put together and feminine. Korean girls do it so simply, too. When they do their nails, it's almost always just one colour. Only sometimes will you see a bit of nail art and fake nails.

You would never see this:
A little overboard, eh? That is a picture of one of Florence's friends in Taiwan. I don't know how she could type or text!

This is my super cheap-o nail polish collection in Korea ---
From this new cosmetic brand called Nature Republic:
The 4 on the right were on sale for only 1,000won each! I'm going to try doing the gradient with them... hmm but maybe I should wait for Bern to do it for me... so I can match them with the colours I have at home, too.
From The Face Shop:
The one on the left is a pretty colour for my toes! It goes with everything.
My roomie has a great, juicy shade of red from this brand.
You should see some of the girl's collections here in the dorm.. I think they own almost the entire collection from one of the stores.

----
Presentations went pretty well today. I especially thought my Marketing group members did an excellent job presenting. They spoke very clearly and slowly and with confidence. So proud! The professors were impressed. I'm totally procrastinating on doing my Operations Management homework right now ><;;... 1 more day to survive and then I can have fun and relax! AJA!

One Monkey Jumping On The Bed

2009-05-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

The cleaning of my side of the room is in progress!

Desk area + floor, check!
To be completed sometime next week.

Why?
'Cause I have 2 presentations tomorrow and an Operations Management assignment that will take a long time (due Thursday)... and then I'm going to shop my heart out at Lotte Duty Free in Myeong Dong on Thursday night, pack Friday morn, and then I'm off for Japan until Monday night!

I'm exhausted -- all day, I worked on the marketing presentation report that has to go with the presentation Powerpoint. We're doing our presentation on the marketing phenomena: Noise Marketing. This marketing concept is well known amongst Koreans, but there's absolutely nothing on this topic in ENGLISH. Try looking it up on Google! All you would get are websites related to the literal meaning of "noise". Anyway, so since it was impossible for me to research this topic as all the sites related to Noise Marketing are in Korean, I was unable to do anything. I just found out yesterday that I'm in charge of writing the report, which was fine because my group members said that it only needed to be 5 pages long double spaced. Then, I read the Marketing syllabus this morning and it said "limit of 15 pages" (in Korean speak, that sort of implies at least 10 pages)! Sheesh -- so I had to stretch it and add more info which took much longer than it should have. I'm currently at 9 pages. Did you know you hardly ever need to include bibliographies for essays and reports in your undergrad!?!? Love that.

Actually what drained me was the 4 hours of having to reword my group's English into proper English. It sure tested my knowledge of English! (that's a lot of English...) It seemed as though we went through every second verb and noun they used - I had to get them to explain why they chose that word for that context to fully understand what they're trying to say. Sometimes, they try to be efficient and use one word in English that encompasses so many meanings but it doesn't sound right. Smart, though!
Quite a few Koreans like to use their thesaurus wayyy too often. I can't remember at the moment, but we had some good laughs about the words they chose!

Sometimes, ESL student's English vocabularly knowledge astounds me. They are able to utilize big words that I don't even use. I'm a bit embarassed to say I've never even heard of some of them! At least I'm not alone. Other English speakers have expressed the same feeling. Some native Japanese people are taking some courses in Japanese at KU and some of their local classmates use impressive words even the native Japanese speakers are not familiar with.

Looking at lanterns through a kaleidoscope

Anyway, it was very warm outside today. I ate 3 popsicles and had an iced vanilla latte. I don't know what to wear for the presentations tomorrow. I think it's going to be hot and when it's hot, I don't enjoy wearing pants!

Random fact: the minimum wage of a convenience store worker is approximately 4,500won/hour. That's around $4.25CDN/hour.

Incheon

2009-05-24T22:22:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I woke up super early and spent a day in Incheon with a couple of girlfriends!

We didn't really know what was there, so when we got to the station (around 2 hours away from Anam), we headed directly towards the Tourist Info counter where the guy gave us some English maps and suggested a few places.

Right across the street from Incheon Station (which cost me only 1,600won to get to, btw!), was Korea's very own China Town! lol
It was slightly amusing to see all those lanterns and servers dressed in Chinese outfits + cheongsams. I was hoping for some actual chinese food, but everything still seemed a bit Korean-Chinesified. We ended up having deep fried dumplings + jajangmyeon. I'm standing next to a HUGE bowl of jajangmyeon!
The other two bought quite a few souvenirs such as Hematite bracelets and necklaces, bangles, paper lanterns, tea pot sets, and flower tea balls. I think they bought more Chinese souvenirs than Korean! haha They sold fortune cookies -- 2 for 1,000won.
Soon to be dinner...
hehe kiiiiiidding.

Then we took the bus (45) to Wolmi Island - around 7 minutes away by bus. It wasn't really an island - it was like Granville Island in Vancouver -- connected. There was a traditional Korean garden + observatory on this island. We walked around the garden -- there was a little kite/craft festival going on.
This kite string was amazing - it never ended!
Arts and crafts -- paint by number fans!
You can get your hair washed like they did back then!
Such a nice day! So many families were having picnics all over!
Communal drinking fountain... so many people drink from those terracotta-coloured ladles!
Then we walked all the way up to the middle of the mountain to get to the observatory, but we couldn't get to it. It was blocked off to protect the Eagles nest. So, we walked halfway around (long trail), and walked down to try to get to a museum but ended up walking along the seawall type thing. There was a Global festival going on so there were a lot of families and couples + street entertainment.
Huge origami crane!
There were also many many raw fish restaurants lining the seawall!So appetizing!

Then, half an hour before it departed, we decided to hop on this 15,000won 1.5 hour cruise. Little did we know, we were the youngest on the ship by far. I felt as though I was on some Asian-only Alaskan cruise! It was also the tackiest boat I've been on hahaha! When we walked in on the first floor, we were slapped in the face with Korean music for those 65+. So, we went to the 2nd floor and grabbed a table by the window. 5 minutes later, a huge crowd of retired Korean women and men plopped themselves down on the tables and ordered a round of Hite beer + chips. Another 15 minutes later, once the boat left shore, the entertainment started.... oh my......... We saw around 10 mini shows: tumblers, Spanish dancers, Russian dancers, some super flexible Chinese girls, and this guy who blew up and then did the splits.
Walked around outside:
A really long and thin bridge that just goes on...
and on...and on.
Feeding the birds with chips. SWOOP
The last 45 minutes was open dance floor time where the ajummas got up and did the jig. It was amusingly awful and too loud to talk so I napped for 15 minutes. Then we walked to the museum! It was the Museum of Korean Emigration. It was new and free - built to celebrate the 100th year Koreans first emigrated to the United States!
Interesting stuff -- we were given those audio gadgets/headphone thingies that describe what you're looking at. These were neat because they were automatic - when you stood in front of the display, a voice would instantly start describing!
We were a bit rushed - only had 30 minutes to cover the whole museum so we couldn't really enjoy the last bit though it was great having the whole museum to ourselves!
This is the S.S. Gaelic - a ship that transported 102 Korean immigrants to the US! They got so seasick.
Korean emigrant farmers earned approximately $17USD/month, working from 6AM-9PM 6 days a week! They had to wear these tags around their necks - the tags told the boss how much they were worth.
Then we cabbed it back to Incheon Stn and ate sashimi for dinner! I'm a huge sashimi fan, but the other girls were a bit picky. Since we couldn't read the menu, we just ordered the 2 items that the ajumma said were sashimi. We all agreed that the lightest coloured one was excellent. The other girls wouldn't touch the darker 2 fish because they contained bones and a little bit of skin so I pretty much ate it all... good fishy dinner! haha (I love fish!)
All in all, Incheon isn't a place I would visit again as there wasn't much to do for someone my age, but anywhere is fun when you have great company, which I did!

Caution

2009-05-23T03:46:00.000-07:00

(Warning: the following is a bit of a super long rant. I apologize for any incorrect spelling/grammar.)

Where should I start...

So last Saturday, after Bern and I went on the tour to the DMZ, we decided to go to Yongsan to check out their electronics since we were closeby. We went to the I'Park Digital Mall because they have a decent variety of all sorts of the latest electronics and you're able to bargain.. and also because it was where the KUBA buddies brought us to buy our cell phones and I bought my electronic dictionary there so I had a really good experience there. After drifting around a couple of mini shops, we semi-knew what we were looking for and how much we would and should pay for the gadgets.

At the next stop, I ask the guy "Samsung P3 olma-yeyo?" and he said 240,000won, which is a really good price considering it's around 290,000won at Kyobo bookstore. So, intrigued, he shows it to me but then says "this one is better", taking the Cenix S-300 out of the display. I've never heard of the Cenix. My first thought, the P3 looks way better. But then, he started comparing the Cenix with the Samsung P3. They were both multi-function devices: have video, mp3, can record sound, radio, picture display, and you can read texts off their ebook. They were also both haptic, which means you can control it through the sense of touch like iPod products.

He claimed that the Cenix was better because it was made in Korea whereas the P3 is made in C-H-I-N-A, the Cenix had a longer battery life, the Cenix had a bigger screen than the P3, the Cenix was a newer model by a few months, the Cenix came with a stylist and you don't need to convert the file type for it to work on a Cenix (for example, some of these gadgets can only play AVI files so you would need to convert the file into that format). The last point was pretty much what sold me as I don't like to deal with technical things in that way (I'm a big fan of drag and drop. I currently have a Microsoft Zune and the program I have to use drives me nuts).

Cenix S-300, 8GB
(also comes in white)

Samsung Yepp P3, 8GB
(also available in silver)

I asked how much it (the Cenix) was - he said 330,000won. Wow.. expensive... and then he asked me if I would watch TV on it (you can watch live TV in Korea on these things). I said no - there's no such thing in Canada so no need. OK - he dropped the price to 300,000won. Meanwhile, I was unsure and played around with the gadget. He was rushing me and kept packing it up, but all the while, he was nice and asked us a lot of questions about ourselves and was kinda hilarious and schiz-y. Anyway, all in all, he was a very convincing SA.

Then he showed me all these accessories such as a leather case, a USB adapter, a memory card, and headphones... and eventually gave them to me, saying that they're free because he likes us. I didn't want them, but since it was free, why not? Then he showed me how to drag and drop the music and loads a bunch of Korean songs onto my player. Super simple. I asked him what the return policy was - he said "exchange within 2 years, but no exchange if it's scratched + 1 year warranty". 2 years?! I couldn't believe it so I confirmed it with him.. 2 years??? Yes. 2 years. OK. I was still unsure about how much I would grow to like this gadget, but with the exchange policy, I figured I could try it out at home and then come next week to exchange it to what I originally wanted, the P3.

As I was about to pay, Bern decides she wants to get her MP3 player - a Cenix S-200 so we tried to get a deal since I was already buying something. She got hers for 110,000won including a USB adapter. We paid together in cash. I asked for a receipt - he wasn't going to give me one, but he did give me his business card.

1 week passes -- I used it around 2 or 3 times -- uploaded a bunch of music, photos, and a couple videos. I don't like it. I can't totally personalize the screen to what I like (the font is an eyesore and I can't find where to change it on their official website), browsing photos take forever and when I try looking through the thumbnails, it shuts down because the files are too large, the photos I load (of the ones I take from my digi) don't fill up the whole screen and look pixelated, it's not as haptic as I thought it would be (the P3 seems very haptic!), and the device is still just as ugly as I first thought IMO (it's that shiny plastic black that looks inexpensive and you can see fingerprints easily). Completely unimpressed.

And THEN on Tuesday, I tried researching the player online to find reviews and compare it to the P3. Guess what I found! The player is only supposed to be 176,000won for 8GB (what I got) and I paid 300,000won!!! AND the screen size is the same for both P3 and Cenix -- 3 inch! I was scammed! WHY would he do such a thing? I can't clearly remember, but I realized that at one point, he asked Bern how long she was staying here (until Monday) and when she would be coming back (not for a loooong long long time). BIG HINT. He thought I would be leaving with her so he could have jacked up the price, knowing we wouldn't find out how much extra we were paying before we left. Also, the fact that we were young and that we were foreigners didn't really do any favours for us.

SO I couldn't believe that this would happen! I've only had amazing experiences with customer service and getting things for too-good-to-be-true prices from who I believe are honest people.. and now I have this... stain. I talked to a few locals about this and they said, as a Korean, they were very sorry and embarrassed this happened and offered to help come talk to the retailer for me. They also said Yongsan is notorious for that and that even some locals stay away from that mall because they would rather buy it online or from a more established retailer (something similar to Best Buy), even if it meant they paid more.

So today, I got a friend (a local, not the ones who offered - they weren't available on Saturday, the only day I was free) to do a huuuge favour for me and come with me + try to exchange the Cenix for the P3. (Side note, apparently it's Korean culture to pay for the other person's meal even though they're doing a favour for them -- I don't get it! It's like doing 2 favours!) The guy who sold me the Cenix wasn't there. Just my luck. Instead, we talked to another guy. After over an hour of constant talking in the fastest Korean I've ever heard in my life (my friend + him talking in Korean.. I just stood around, unable to input anything but confirm what had happened that day) where at one point, the SA (a guy) started whining to my friend "sonniiiiiimmmmmmm" (a polite word meaning, "customer") [omg so feminine] when my friend told him he would report him to the customer service people, the SA said that it was that price because of the memory card. (You're kidding me.. since when did a 4GB memory cost more than $100CDN?!). Good try, buddy. Then he even went as far to say that Bern didn't pay 110,000 for her MP3 (when she DID) because that price is too cheap and that the seller would not get any commission if he sold it at that price. Pssshhh (but yay Bern! You got yours for a great price!). At the end of the first hour, he said I couldn't return it because it has been used and because of that, the couldn't sell it again. Um... then can you explain to me the purpose of the exchange policy???

OK, that's fine. I just want to exchange it for the P3. The SA said no, unless I was willing to pay extra or else the shop would lose money. What?! The P3 only costs 240,000won! That store already has 300,000won of my money for something that should only cost 176,000won - why in the world would I pay more? The SA said that actually, the price I saw online was wrong and that the 8GB should be 210,000won. The thing is, it's such a new model (the 8GB, I mean... the 4GB is available to buy online) that they don't have the price anywhere on a Korean website - nothing to compare it to. That's great for the seller because he can sell it for any price he wants, which he pretty much did.

SO we went to the customer service desk and got the customer service rep to come down and solve the problem. After another hour of more Road Runner-type Korean talk (seriously even faster than on the first floor, believe it or not -- think Lorelai Gilmore from Gilmore Girls on fast forward.. and omg... one thing about the Korean language is that it contains a lot of fluff and not much content so at the end of the hour, my friend summarized everything that happened in 2 sentences), the situation still wasn't solved. (I wonder how long the convo would have taken if it was in English...). The SA was being very stubborn. So, we went to the 9th floor to talk to someone even more superior where we were offered green tea and stayed in a conference room for another 1.5 hours. My friend mentioned something about how the CS representatives wouldn't usually take it this far, but because I bought the device for 30%+ however much it is sold for online, it wasn't right (yea.. didn't fully understand that). The guy on the 9th floor who helped us was a graduate from Korea University and because he learned that we were both from KU, he said he would try his hardest to try to help us return/exchange and looked like he really meant it. (Sidenote: It's neat how much university affiliation is so significant here. My friend said that because the 9th floor CS guy was his senior, he couldn't ask to talk to someone in an even higher position - it would be very rude). Guess what I found out -- the guy who sold me the Cenix doesn't work at that shop anymore?! He has opened his own shop in the same mall!

The KU grad CS guy gave me 3 choices:
1. The CS department would give me around 80,000won back in cash to cover the difference of what I should have paid, but I would have to keep the Cenix. No. I don't want to keep the Cenix.
2. Since the SA doesn't work at that shop anymore, the CS department has to talk to him and see what he says about the situation on Monday. This is because he's the one who got the commission... but why would he be on my side? That means he would lose his commission! I can only hope for the best for this option. I have to go back sometime this week to see what happens.
3. If all else fails, I will (get help to) report this to the customer service of Korea. Wow - I never thought I would have to take this to such a level! They will make the shop allow me to return the item or exchange it, but it would take about a month so I would have to do it ASAP after this week!

Anyway, that was my sitch. I'm so grateful and appreciative of my friend who spent over 4 hours, arguing on my behalf. He was such a good sport and said he enjoyed the challenge, especially since he's so easy going. He also said he wished his mom was here -- Korean ajummas are amazing bargainers and can definitely raise their voice to get what they want hhhh

Lesson learned: it may be common sense, but make sure you don't buy from I'PARK digital mall @ Yongsan unless you're with a local Korean (preferably someone who can talk well, if you know what I mean), don't buy something you haven't researched, don't buy at the first shop you go to - price hawk, absolutely love the product, and be fully aware of their return/exchange policy!! (And this goes for everywhere in Korea -- the longer you stay and talk to the SA, the bigger the discount they will give you once they learn more about you).

... to be continued.