경희대/Kyunghee University + 홍대/Hongik University + 평양냉면/Pyongyang Naengmyun

It's been a few days, but I've been so busy with work and meeting up with people. I need to give you a recap on the past few days.

My good friend, Hyungchang, gave me a tour of 경희대/Kyunghee University. The campus is gorgeous. The building are quite majestic and the landscaping is phenomenal. However, I didn't take any photos because he said that spring is the best for visiting. I will return in the spring when the cherry blossoms are in bloom to take many photos. After the campus tour, which was very short because we didn't feel like walking up the big hills, we went to eat 파전/pajun/Korean pancakes with 막걸리/makkoli/Korean rice wine:

 This street near 경희대/Kyunghee University is known for 파전/pajun/Korean pancakes and 막걸리/makkoli/Korean rice wine.

 You normally drink 막걸리/makkoli/Korean rice wine from bowls.

 We mixed 막걸리/makkoli/Korean rice wine with 사이다/sa-ee-da/cider. For short, it is called 막사/maksa. Koreans like to combine words like this. 

 파전/pajun/Korean pancakes

This is my friend Hyungchang!

The next day, I went to 홍대/Hongik University to spend time with one of my really good friends, who I studied with in France, named Goeun. She showed me the area around 홍대/Hongik University, and I had a great time. Some parts of the 홍대/Hongik University area are extremely busy and crowded, but other parts are a little quieter. Here are some pictures: 

 짬뽕/jjambong/Korean Chinese spicy seafood noodle and soup dish that was white instead of the traditional red. 

 덮밥/dup-bap/rice with steak on top

 The start of our walk that turned into intense shopping around 홍대/Hongik University.

 This is Goeun! She loved those glasses ^_^

 On weekends, bands play on the streets, but as it was Friday, there weren't that many. 

 We considered stopping at this cafe, but decided not to because of the creepy dolls >.<

 I loved this cafe. It was adorable and the drinks were delicious. 

 빙수/bingsoo/shaved ice with sweet red beans, corn flakes, and rice cake & 복분자/small strawberry juice with lemonade.

 This was so pretty

 Adorable lace coaster.

 This is the 합정/hapjung, which is where there's a big shopping mall with Home Plus, one of Seoul's biggest supermarkets. 

 I couldn't believe they had Jamba Juice here! At home in DC, this is also pretty new. 

 The flowers at Home Plus were beautiful. I wish flowers were this pretty at the supermarkets in the US. 

So. Much. Hello. Kitty. SO much. There was much more in Home Plus than this wall, but I thought this wall summarized it in one picture. So much. 

On my way home, I noticed some pretty interesting things. First, men and women in Korea have so much skinship. That's what they call it in Korea. It's essentially the physical relationship between people. As I've mentioned in a previous post, there is no personal bubble in Korea. Women hold hands with each other when they walk down the street, men have their arms around each other, and it's completely normal here. Yet, many Koreans are homophobic. It's a shame that some Korean people can't just respect and accept the way some people are, especially when they have so much skinship with their own gender. However, I hope that will change with time. LGBT rights are human rights! 

Just to show you, here's a picture I took of some Korean men walking down the street: 

This is quite common. 

Another interesting/funny thing I saw was this: 

Did they seriously just combine Chef from South Park and Dexter's Dad from Dexter's Labratory? I laughed so hard when I saw that. 

Today, I went to go eat 평양/Pyongyang style 냉면/naengmyun/Korean cold noodles with a 동생/dongsaeng/younger sibling (literally, but commonly used for a younger friend). I had never had it before. In the US, I've had South Korean style 냉면/naengmyun/Korean cold noodles. It was very good. Compared to the South Korean style, the taste was a lot more simple and natural. It was also not very sweet. I thought it was delicious. Also, when you eat it, you don't need a spooon. You sip the soup from the bowl. 

 평양/Pyongyang style 냉면/naengmyun/Korean cold noodles.

제육/jae-yuk/boiled pork 

So the past few days were packed full of activities. Tonight is the first night I can just relax and catch up on work and studying. School starts on Monday! :O

Myungdong & KU Orientation

Attempting to recap the past two nights...

Last Night:

Went to 명동/Myungdong, which is a big international shopping center, and it was extremely interesting (maybe even chaotic). I went with my pretty friend, Soae. We spent Christmas in Paris together in 2010. It's been 3 years and it was so good to catch up. 명동/Myungdong is a huge tourist location. They have all the major stores there: H&M, Zara, Uniqlo, all the Korean cosmetic stores, outdoor stands, and a multitude of food stands.

We ate at this place called Battery Park. It was a fusion Italian+Korean restaurant that played a lot of hip-hop music. I was skeptical to try Korean pizza, but this place was actually delicious. We shared vongole pasta, which is spaghetti with olive oil, garlic, and clams:

We also shared an apple gorgonzola pizza with this deliciously thin and crispy crust. Highly recommended:

I forgot to take a picture first, so you can see we already started enjoying it. Oops :)

We wandered around 명동/Myungdong for a while, just browsing. Then, I realized that I needed a new backpack, so we went to this one Korean store, which I forget the name of. It was simple and classic, but I wanted something different. I found my new backpack at an outdoor stand that sells various bags. It was perfect. I asked for the price and the lady said 30,000 KRW. We (more Soae than me) haggled it down to 26,000 KRW!!! This was my first haggling experience and it was exhilarating. We can't really do that kind of thing in the states. Here is the product of our haggling:

명동/Myungdong is extremely busy all the time. It is full of people from all around the world. The cosmetic stores even target Japanese customers, with employees stationed outside marketing their products in Japanese. Apparently, Japanese customers tend to buy cosmetics in larger quantities, so companies in 명동/Myungdong market to them. I heard so many different languages, mostly Chinese, Japanese, and English. 명동/Myungdong is a lot of fun and very, very lively. Here are some pictures of the crowds of people and quirky stands at 명동/Myungdong:

The last photo is of the shoe inserts that men put into their shoes to make them taller. Korean men tend to be very short. It contributes to their pride to be taller, so they put in these inserts, find shoes with tall heels, or both. It is quite interesting to what lengths Korean men will go to make themselves taller.

After walking around a bit, we went to this place called Nu Look that combined 막걸리/makkuli/Korean rice wine with fruit juice for 막걸리/makkuli/Korean rice wine cocktails:

This one had 복분자/bokbunja/small strawberry juice: 

This one was with 매실/meshil/plum juice:

They were quite yummy, but also quite pricey.

Today:

Before orientation, the AU-KU dual master's degree students had lunch together. We went to this Korean-Chinese restaurant. Shiloh and I ordered 짜장면/jjajangmyun. It's a noodle dish with black bean sauce with vegetables and meat:

We started our KU GSIS Orientation at 1p.m. today. For 5 hours, we listened to so much information being thrown at us (a lot of it was useless information). To be honest, I was ready to go to sleep in the middle of it. Interestingly, there was a session on sexual harassment and gender equality. KU has a Center for Gender Equality. Apparently, there was some inappropriateness between students AND between students and professors. There was also a recent scandal, but I'm not aware of the details other than that it involved a professor and a student. *Heard it through the grapevine. I don't know the facts.*

Moving on, after the orientation, there was a fun bonding night for everyone. We had dinner and unlimited drinks for 3 hours at this one place. That was fun. Here's a picture of the us AU-KU students when we were there:

Me, Peter, Joe, and Shiloh. Thank you Amy for the polaroid!

iPhone is Alive Thanks to Verizon!

My iPhone lives! Thanks to Verizon's wonderful help, my iPhone4S is fully functional here in Korea. Here is the link to the forum that my boyfriend found for me. So iMessage and FaceTime works for anyone from the US with an iPhone or you can use Kakao too for those who don't have an iPhone. When I called Verizon, they unlocked it in 2 seconds. Yay! So happy.

While waiting to meet a new friend, I went to DaVinci Coffee Cafe and had their peach iced tea in their cute mugs. It was so yummy! I highly recommend it if you like sweet teas.

While sitting at this cafe on the 참사리길/chamsarigil/main street at KU, I was people watching. I had noticed it before too, but boy do Korean couples love PDA. What culture shock! There is a clear divide in Korea between the older generation and younger generation. When I arrived in Seoul, my aunts lectured me on the state of young Koreans nowadays. They found it preposterous that young couples displayed their relationships in public so openly. My one aunt even told me I shouldn't wear anything outside with spaghetti straps... -___-'

The young couples are definitely not shy about their relationships. They seem to be stuck to one another. It's cute since there are so many things to do for couples in Seoul. However, it does tend to be overkill sometimes. There is PDA in America, but it is much more common in Korea. In the US, you see a couple here and there, but not everywhere like here. It makes me miss my boyfriend, but he'll visit soon enough! :)

iPhone Fail

So I thought that I would have a phone by now, but unfortunately, there is a Verizon carrier lock on the sim card in my iPhone4S. So sad. I will see what I can do. Everything else would be fine if my new sim card would just work. Why Verizon?! I really hope they unlock it for me. For those of you who didn't know, you should unlock your phones at home first. Apparently, iPhones after the iPhone4 do not have country locks anymore. However, there is a carrier lock for both Verizon and AT&T. I'm not sure about the other carriers. So today was an iPhone fail. Getting a phone in Korea is tough.

I also tried to open a bank account today at Citibank since I have a Citibank account in the U.S. The lady there said it takes quite a long time because the American Citibank needs to verify my account, so I decided to go back later since my aunt had somewhere to go.

My aunts have been tremendously helpful. One of them got me my "one room" and the other bought me cooking supplies and food. She's also the one who helped me out today at the bank and Olleh (the cell phone store). Thank you 이모들! So in Korea, "aunt" is different for you mother's and father's side of the family. 이모/e-mo is for your aunt on your mother's side and 고모/gomo is aunt for your father's side. At restaurants and when you're shopping, it is normal to call the older ladies working 이모/e-mo. It's kind of endearing, especially when you're asking for a service. For example, when my friend was at Korean bbq, he called the older lady working there 이모/e-mo when we wanted more lettuce. Do not call them 아줌마/ajumma. They don't like it too much, and if you're shopping, you'll probably get ripped off.

So I'm pretty much done organizing my room! Almost. Not done yet though because I still have to go to a supermarket, which is not in the area and also not open on Monday (at least Lotte Mart is not). Speaking of, I found out about a very cool outdoor market near KU called 청량리 /Cheongryangli market (Spelling help from Rosie). There is so much fresh produce there along with various other things. It's a very traditional market. Buying produce at the Grand Mart near the 안암오거리/Anam Circle is quite expensive. It was about 13,000 Won for 3 peaches. That's just silly. Apparently peaches and mangos are very expensive here. But the market has lots of cheap produce.

When my aunt/이모/e-mo and I were trying to open my bank account and get a sim card for my phone today at 신설동역/Shin-sul-dong-yuk, we went to have lunch first. We went to this 순대/soondae restaurant called 병천순대/byungchunsoondae. 순대/soondae is essentially black sausage with noodles. I think that's the best way to describe it. I got the 얼큰순대국/ul-kun-soondae-guk, which was a spicy soup with 순대/soondae and other meats. It was okay, especially since we were hungry, but I don't think I'd search for that place again. They only put in 3 or 4 pieces of 순대/soondae. Here's a picture:

Outside of the restaurant was a very random statue that I took a picture of:

Random.

Also a random note: Children wander around by themselves in Korea. If this happened in the U.S., I would flip out and call security/police to find their parents, but in Korea, it's widespread. I see children everywhere without any supervision. I guess I'll get used to it? Except when little children cross the road by themselves without a care in the world. I don't think I can get used to that. It gives me a heart attack every time.

To end this post, here is a picture of my aunt's/이모's/e-mo's home-made 김치/kimchi:

If you don't know what that is, please look it up here. It's only the staple food of Korea. If you haven't had it before, then don't judge it on the first taste. It's an "acquired taste" according to my boyfriend, but then you absolutely love it.

First Tour of Seoul

As it is Sunday today, I went to church with my aunt, who is a nun at the catholic church in Anam. It was the priest's last day, so there was a big celebration, including free lunch. I knew this beforehand, but seriously, do not stand in the way of Korean old ladies/아줌마/ajummas or grandmas/할머니/halmuni. There is no concept of your own personal bubble here. They will push and shove, especially for free stuff. The ladies behind me kept pushing against me and stepping on my heels. I'm really particular about people I don't know touching me. I like my personal space, but alas. I realize that I probably won't have that here... Also for the celebration, there were 2 cakes. The one fake cake was elaborately decorated in an outdated way as decoration. The second cake was the real cake that we actually ate.

For dinner, I met up with my old friend, Rosie. You'll see pictures of her soon. Rosie and I go back to our undergraduate years at American University. I first started dancing in k-pop covers because of her. She was the k-pop queen at AU. I think you can still find our old videos on YouTube from culture nights and other various student events. I also rode the Seoul metro, which is very clean, for the first time today. There are very large mirrors at the metro that Korean girls spend way too long looking at themselves in, but that's pretty typical for Korean girls with mirrors. On another note, I thought it was cool how they had the moving walkways at metro stations:

We went to a very famous and delicious 족발/jokbal restaurant called 만족/man-jok at the City Hall metro stop. They combined the first parts of the word for 만두/mandu/dumpling and 족발/jokbal/pig's feet. Now, I know that may not sound appetizing to foreigners. However, don't judge until you've tried it. It's delicious. You don't actually see the feet. It's basically sliced meat and fat. Very flavorful and slightly sweet at this place.

The line was pretty long even at 5:30 p.m., but it moved quickly and it was totally worth it. According to Rosie, this is the best place for 족발/jokbal: 

 Complimentary 만두/mandu/dumpling:

After dinner, we walked around and did some touristy things. We saw the palace, blue house, and the statue of 이순신/Yi Sun-shin/Historically famous naval commander from afar:

Then we went to the famous stream called 청계천/chung-gae-chun and stuck our feet in:

Me being a tourist:

Rosie being cute:

Sticking our feet in, which you must do or else you aren't getting the full experience:

Me being a tourist again:

By the 청계천/chung-gae-chun, there is a big three screen tv/camera thing where you stand on a circular platform and take tourist photos. There are several backgrounds you can choose from. Here's ours from today:

After all the touristy things, we went to 이태원/Itaewon. There was quite a number of shops there. I saw a North Face, Adidas, Aldo, and all these Western stores mixed in with Korean stores like Etude (cosmetics). I actually bought a baking powder foam face wash from there that I really like. It makes my skin feel really nice and clean.

 At 이태원/Itaewon, we went to two bars. Be careful not to go to sketchy areas of 이태원/Itaewon. Some areas are not that safe. The first place was called glam lounge. It was a bit pricey, but their drinks were super yummy. Rosie got the sangria, which had a lot of fruit in it, and I got the lychee martini:

The atmosphere was very sophisticated and nice. However, my favorite place was the next place we went to called Virgine. The bartender was much more friendly here. Rosie got the tequila sunup and I got the raspberry mojito. It was also very good, and the artistic ice touch was very nice:

Last, but not least, I wanted to share some shopping tips that Rosie shared with me:

Apparently 동대문/Dongdaemun is not that cheap anymore compared to other underground markets. Others to look at are:

• 영등포/Times Square Mall
• 강남/Gangnam
• 명동/Myungdong

However, don't go to multiple places in one season. Apparently, each market is the same every season, so there is no point in going to them all in one season. Just wait until the next season. I'll end there. Goodnight!