Big City Life

We have been living it up in the big cities these past two weekends. First it was Busan and then it was Seoul! I love big cities, there is something so mesmerising about them!

....and a happy new year!!!

I know its a bit early but HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

I hope that you have a cracker of a party and that 2011 is awesome! It feels like as I get older the years go faster and if that is anything to go by 2011 is going to be over before I know it. Soon I will be saying hello to more grey hairs, back pain, and bad eyesight!!! Bring on the future...yeah!

Ummm....new year's resolutions. I have learnt to take better care of my body in Korea. I have lost weight not through dieting but through living a more active lifestyle. In South Africa we drive everywhere, in Korea we walk. I have also taken up gym and the healthiness of Korean cuisine also helped. So one of my resolutions for 2011 is to keep this up! I am terrified that once I leave Korea I will fall back into the same unhealthy routine. So here is to better cooking and living. My second resolution...to figure out what the hell I am doing with my life!! Heehe! Oh, and my third...to continue learning to speak Korea...even once I have left!

Hmmm, as for Oliver: I am not sure what his are...I will have to ask him. But if I know him at all....I think these will be among them. Get more of his photos published...and make more of an effort to make this a reality, also uphold his healthy lifestyle, master the art of snowboarding, and figure out what the hell he is doing with his life.

Feel free to comment and tell us some of your resolutions!! I love hearing resolutions because sometimes people say things that should really also be on my list.

As for our New Years Eve activities: Well initially we had planned to go and watch a sunrise on a beach. This is a tradition in Korea and hundreds gather on numerous beaches to celebrate the first sun of the new year...pretty neat idea. However, my hopes for this were dashed on two accounts. One, everybody thinks that it will be freaking cold...which it probably will be and I would more than likely be the first to complain. Number two....those festivals along with many others have been cancelled due to a recent outbreak of foot and mouth disease in Korea. Yikes! As if crazy neighbours weren't enough to worry about. Read here for more details on the outbreak.

Despite the festivals being cancelled because authorities are trying to avoid large gatherings f people...we have decided to head to the most populated city in the country which is bound to have tons more visiting for the new year celebrations. Yip, you guessed it Seoul!

And man oh man does it look like we are in for a party!

Check out some of these videos from you tube for New Years Eve parties in Seoul





I am not a fan of massive crowds where moving is a nightmare and finding a drink is even more difficult...I am sure it will be epic!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!! Korea style....whooop whoooop!

Post by Claudia

Seoul Knife Gallery

Not too long ago, we made a little trip to Seoul, to feed our inquisitive minds and find out what the Seoul Fringe Festival is all about. Turns out it's all about the arts, music and just general awesomeness. On the Sunday after the festival we did have a couple of hours to do some more sight seeing in Seoul. Even though we had been there before, we decided to go to Insandong. Anyone who lives in Korea has no excuse for not having seen this place. It is just an absolute hive of activity, one of the most animated areas I have ever been to. Anyone not living in Korea, who one day decides to visit, must make the mission to see the marvel that is Insadong.

Insadong contains many shops, antique stores, art stores, restaurants, and art galleries. It is very well known for the conglomeration of art galleries and exhibitions that are to be found there. Many of these exhibits are temporary exhibits, of artists showing off their (usually amazing) work, and then there are a few exhibitions that are permanent. One that we saw and decided to go visit is the Knife Gallery.

Turns out this place is far more than your run of the mill knife gallery, if there is such a thing as a 'run of the mill' knife gallery. We went into the gallery, expecting to see your standard fare of different varieties of Asian swords and Katanas,etc. but this place was a lot more far reaching than that.

Upon entering, you pay 1000Won 'donation', and then you are free to browse. One of the first things that smacked me in the face was a life sized replica of the Witch Kings mask/helmet. Really really cool!

Standing very near to the Witch King of Angmar's mask is a glass encased hand of Sauron, complete with the Ring. Again, very cool.

It's worth noting here that all of these items are made of actual steel/metal, and are not plastic replicas. And the detail that has been put into these things is ridiculous. The ring on the hand of Sauron actually has the writing along its edge, as it is seen in the movies.

Once you move a bit further into the exhibit, there are many 'more serious' items on display as well. One of the most interesting ones was an exhibit showing the step by step process that is required to make a traditional sword. I must make an apology here, as I am not too certain if this is a Japanese sword, or a Korean sword. Either way, it is incredibly interesting to see the process involved in making just one of these swords!

There are also several displays of Japanese Samurai armour and swords:

Once one has moved past the interesting and informative items, one seems to get hit by a complete barrage of more 'just cool' items. There were so many items on display that I recognised from movies from when I was younger. On display are replicas of John Rambo's knives from all of the different movies. The knife that Arnold Schwarzenegger used in the Predator movies. There are replicas of Braveheart's sword, and also replicas of Ivanhoe, and even Excalibur. I must say I was a little disappointed by Excalibur. This has got to be possibly the most famous and well known sword in history. It might even be the only sword that many average people know by name. And it's really small and puny and absolutely not what one wants to see when standing in front of the most revered sword ever.

Braveheart's Sword

                                                                           Excalibur

I am by no means a movie geek. One of 'those' people' that get caught up in the fictional realities of fantasy stories such as Lord Of The Rings, or Braveheart. Nor am I a Sci-Fi geek that gets caught up in the made up, but oh so intricately detailed 'reality' of the Star Wars movies, but standing there in front of all of these marvellous movie icons, I couldn't help but feel a little happy on the inside. And none of these items made me smile as broadly as one of the last few items in the farthest corner of the gallery.

What might these incredibly awesome items be? I'll tell you. Lightsabers. Yes, Lightsabers. Ask ANY guy who has seen a Star Wars movie and ask them what the coolest part about the movie is, and some might say 'Princess Leia', and others will say 'Darth Vader', but almost undisputedly, 99% of guys will tell you that the Lightsaber was the coolest Star Wars gadget. I will go as far as saying that the Lightsaber was the coolest movie invention ever. Well, Lightsabers and Wolverine's claws (of which, by the way, the gallery has a set)!

'Am I reading correctly?' I hear you ask? Yes you are. And yes, that is a perfect replica of Yoda's Lightsaber. Possibly the coolest character/weapon combo ever in the history of anything, ever. It really is that cool. The one thing about Lightsabers that makes them the coolest and most disappointing movie invention ever, is the fact that they don't work. Bummer! Any one of these movie swords can be picked up and swung around and be used to chop stuff up. Lightsabers, unfortunately, no.

So, aside from all the informative stuff, and intensely awesome movie paraphernalia, there is a smorgasbord of different, random knives, weapons and just cool stuff made by all sorts of manufacturers and knife makers.

So if you are in South Korea and happen to be in Seoul, and you just so stumble into Insadong, and you have about an hour or so to spare, give a thought to all those movie fanatics out there, and the people that dream up their awesome movie ideas, and go visit the Insadong Knife Gallery, and go donate your 1000Won!

Post by Oliver

Technogasm

So. Again we went to the fascinating city that is the capital of South Korea, Seoul. Everytime we go there, the city amazes me, blows my mind and shows me something new and exciting. It really is a special place. Anyone who visits South Korea has to make an effort to visit Seoul. The only issue is that Seoul is so incredibly huge that it would literally take weeks to see the whole city. Unless you have previously visited places like New York or Tokyo, it's difficult to fully comprehend the scale of Seoul. As a South African for example, what we consider a big city, Johannesburg, absolutely pales in the shadow of Seoul, in terms of sheer size. It is a definite must see.

The purpose of our visit this time was to go to the 13th annual Seoul Fringe Festival, which is a somewhat youth oriented, contemporary art and performance festival, held in the young and vibey areas surrounding the Hongik University. The festival runs over a period of 2 weeks and caters to all sorts of performance and art lovers, with all sorts of things happening. On a daily basis, there are exhibitions, bands playing, dramas, performance arts, etc. etc. etc.

It is a very cool place to go and visit.

However, before we went off to enjoy ourselves at the festival, we needed to make a stop somewhere. On a previous occasion we had stumbled upon a place called Technomart. We figured, OK, a large store where we can buy all sorts of electronic goods and gadgetry. Boy, were we right! But wow, were we wrong about the size of the place. This is a electronic goods store you can lose yourself in, spiritually, and quite literally. It is MASSIVE! There are 8 floors, each one housing all sorts of goods. The floors are broken down into sub categories, with X-amount of floors being dedicated to digital cameras and domestic appliances, and X-amount to computers and gaming, etc. The place has everything.

We went to Technomart to buy an electric razor for me, and to buy a hard drive, that we can store our electronic treasures on. The razor was first on the list. We found a store selling razors almost immediately, but figured we'd keep looking around to see if we can find some better deals. The issue is that, as mentioned, this place is so massive, that often you will find a store or vendor, and later on decide that you want to go back to him/her, and will struggle to find the store again. Often you will then settle for doing business with someone else. We found that most of the vendors all hover around very similar prices for similar items. Another problem is that of being side tracked by the sheer amount of awesomeness. There really is just so much to see and look at that you find yourself just browsing everywhere, with no real goal in mind. Just staring.

Items number 2 was the harddrive, which we managed to organise with relative ease and in decent time. A lot of (I would say most) of the vendors/store clerks don't speak much English, but if you go there with a pre existing idea of what you want to buy, it's easy enough to find out what the item is in Korean, and write it down and just show it to them. Plus, a huge amount of electronics and gadgets share their English name with Konglish, so it's basically the same word anyway.

The great thing is that Technomart is linked to the subway system, so you can jump out of the tube, walk a few metres and you're in fornt of the entrance to Technomart. The station you would get out at is Gangbyeon station, on line 2. Really easy and convenient.

Technomart is really just a joyfest for anyone with a slight inkling towards the electronic persuasion, be it cameras, PCs, game consoles, games, etc. etc. They even cater for the select few people with a fetish for house hold electronics! Technomart is an awesome place that I want to go back to over and over, simply getting lost in the mazes of electronic wonders!

post by Oliver

A kicker of a weekend

This week, as I'm sure you can imagine, Oliver and I were both incredibly homesick. With the kick off of the Soccer World Cup we really wished we could be back in SA watching our country shine!!


Instead...we made every effort to ensure that we got into the soccer fever. I made a couple of attempts on facebook to find other South African teachers who would hopefully be watching the opening ceremony but nothing came of that. So Oliver and I decided to go off to a local sports bar.

Alas, we were the only two souls in the entire place!!! Bummer!! So dressed to the nines in our South African gear we headed across Wonju to the sports grounds...but again..no soccer fever!!! URG! Then we went to a bar which we had heard was popular with foreigners but it was closed. By now we were both getting upset and weren't too sure where to go.


It was in this moment of despair that we stumbled upon a group of foreigners (more commonly refered to as waygooks) chilling outside a GS Mart (similar to a Seven Eleven). A crowd had gathered on the pavement to watch the opening ceremony on GS Mart's big screen TV. So naturally we aquianted ourselves with the waygooks and the night got better and better from there.


We were the only South Africans in the crowd but we stood proud and sang our national anthem on a pavement in Wonju....it was a great moment!


Then we all headed to a local sports bar....suprise suprise...it was the one we were at earlier on in the evening....and there were more waygooks....the atmosphere was definately picking up!


Oh...I almost forgot..Tshabalala you are amazing...you made history...you got the first goal of our world cup!! And it was a beauty!!! Boys...you played so so well!!



Oliver watches the game with sheer determination....

Oh and did I mention we got drunk...very very drunk! Check out the clip below where we try our best to sing the World Cup's official song.

On Saturday it was out of our gold and into red. Despite our monumental hangovers we made our way to Seoul to watch South Korea against Greece. What a cracker! We were surrounded by thousands of people at City Hall in Seoul... the vibe was electric!

It was raining but that didn't dampen the spirits of the locals!!!!

Korean chant

Another korean chant

lead up to the winning moment!

And you know what the best part is...there are three more weeks of soccer madness ahead of us!!!

Post by Claudia

Rub a dub dub....

Normally talking about bathrooms is not the most pleasant of discussions but it can make for a laugh. Interestingly, it can also show you a whole bunch about a different culture as well.

When we were in Seoul we managed to get rooms at a pension (motel) for a decent price. We got a room for myself and Oli and one for Chrissie and Rob. The rooms were pretty much identical. We both had massive televisions, a small table, a double bed, a hairdryer, an air conditioner, a water machine, and a bathroom.

Our bathrooms, however, did have one unique difference. Mine and Oliver's bath was small, really small, but it was big enough for me to bath with my legs just a little above the taps. Chrissie and Rob's bath on the other hand was more like a basin in the floor. Chrissie thought the best way to demonstrate the size of the bath would be to give us a demonstration.

Oliver could not refuse the opportunity to test it for himself...

Rub a dub dub.......

Oh and our soap totally smelt like Sugus...Mmmmm (soap I might consider eating after saying a swear word or two)

While on the topic of bathrooms I thought I would discuss a few more of Korea's bathroom quirks.

I don't have the strongest bladder around so I tend to utilize public bathrooms quite regularly. However, I always feel a little apprehensive when I need to use a public loo. There are several reasons for this.

1. You never know if you are going to get a western style loo or a squat loo (a whole in the floor).
2. You never know if there will be toilet paper.
3. They don't seem to flush their loo paper here. So often you come across bathrooms with dustbins full of used toilet paper.
   

But it's not all doom and gloom, something which is quite cool about their bathrooms is that some female toilets come kitted with etiquette bells. These are bells which play music or the sound of water so that the other bathroom users don't have to hear you pee. Phew, one less thing to worry about!

So there is a glimpse of the toilet culture in Korea! And if ever you find yourself in Korea needing desperately to use the loo don't forget these words, 'Hwa-jang-shil' because as apprehensive as you may be about using the loo, when you need to go you need to go!

Post by Claudia

The Bang Life

Bang Bang Bang....says so much about Korean culture. Bang in korean means 'room' and there is a 'room' for pretty much anything. On our weekend to Seoul we had our first Noraebang experience.

Most people, whether they will admit it or not, have a burning desire to sing. However, karaoke bars filled with smoke and strangers can be understandably daunting. So a Noreabang is the answer, in fact, it is revolutionary. It is a small room just big enough for you and your friends to rock out until your throats are so sore you have to retire.

What's more, it is cheap, accessible, and sells alcohol (so if you still have some reservations when entering the small room, a beer or two should be able to help). The room is kitted out with a mirror ball, a large screen TV, and a selection of songs ranging from Nirvana to Metallica and finally to good old Celine.

Apparently they come a lot more lavish than the one we were in... I look forward to my future Noreabang experiences.

There were four of us rocking out in the Noreabang in Seoul. Check out our rock faces below:


Me, Rock on!

Rob, screaming....which is totally his style!heehe

Chrissie, by far the best singer of us all. She could keep the tune which is more than I can say for the rest of us!

Oliver, the diva! I didn't expect him to take to Noreabang in the way he did!He was really feeling the vibe!

Just to give you an idea of how awesome it was and how bad we were...look at my mini clips! Be sure to watch the last one (Oliver thought the paparazzi were after him).

The only other type of bang we have had the pleasure of experiencing so far is a PC bang, a room filled with unbelievably comfy chairs, massive PC screens and games that will keep you entertained for, well, for ever I guess!

There are many other types of bangs, including: DVD Bangs, Jjimjilbangs, Bideobangs, and Board Game Bangs. When we experience these, we will be sure to let you know how it goes!!!!!

Post by: Claudia

Our Seoul experience!

As I mentioned in my previous entry, our weeks have become pretty standardised but as for our weekends ... who knows!!!

Well this past weekend we headed off to Seoul for the Lotus Lantern Light Festival which is held every year a week before Buddha's birthday. What an experience!

Seoul is massive, but I mean MASSIVE. There are high rise buildings everywhere and it has a vibrancy about it that I expect you would find in any big city.

We decided to use the subway to get to where we were going. Looking like real tourists I had my Lonely Planet Book at hand and we were trying to figure out how the subway system worked. After a while of looking a little confused a man approached us and offered to help. What a nice guy. But then he whipped out a book about how to be saved or something .... we soon realised that every foreigner was being targeted. Heehe!

Eventually we figured out where we where heading. Once there we realised just how big this festival really was. People were everywhere. We walked around for the next hour or so trying to find accommodation. After being turned away a couple of times we landed with our bread in the butter. We got a clean room with a double bed and bathroom for close to nothing!!! whooop whooop.

After such an eventful morning we were hungry ... super hungry. After Chrissie and Rob joined us we went for some grub! YUM! The pic below is what was left once we were done. You have to love all the side dishes





We then headed off to Changdeokgung Palace which was amazing!


I set up my gorilla pod in an attempt to get a photo of all of us jumping in front of the palace but it went off too soon and instead we all just ended up looking constipated.

While walking we stumbled across this!!! Hell yeah!!! This kind of stuff really makes me miss home! Bring on the world cup! Whoop whoop!

We tried our hand at some arts and crafts. These flowers are Lotus flowers, hence, the Lotus Lantern Festival.

Oliver has all the amazing pics of the event!!! I just have the cute pics of us ... so here are some of them!

Oli has like a gazillion phots to work through ... once he is done I am sure he will post photos which will blow your mind.

I tried my hand at filming .. heehe. I used my little camera to film so that I could give you just a small taste of what the atmosphere was like when the main lantern parade started. It was really festive. Enjoy!

Post by Claudia