NAGWON ARCADE

Before I left the states I wanted to get a ukulele but as I started to pack I realized I needed the space for other things. Since I got here, I've been on the search for a music store and finally found the mother of all stores with the help from a friend. It's basically a mall of musical instruments, recording equipment & supplies. Picture narrow walkways of pianos next to harps, guitars upon basses and small boutique style stores wrapping around every corner. We walked into a handful of stores each with a slightly different selection from the other. I'm no ukulele master, nor am I all that familiar with the different types of ukuleles. I was just looking for something where the sound and the look matched the price. A tip for anyone looking at shopping here, carry cash. I was able to bring the price down by about $40 by paying in cash which definitely made a difference. In the end, I'm definitely happy with my purchase and am loving every minute I get to spend with my new uke.

STEVE McCURRY'S UNGUARDED MOMENT

This weekend was the last weekend of Steve McCurry's exhibition at the Sejong Performing Arts Center in Seoul. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to see it before it was over. Steve McCurry has been an inspiration of mine for years and to see his photos in real life was surreal. Walking into the space was overwhelming. The colors, textures and emotions drawn from the photos were a refreshing experience.

http://www.stevemccurry.com/

http://stevemccurry.wordpress.com/

GYEONBOKGUNG PALACE, FOLK MUSEUM & INSADONG

After salsa dancing on Saturday, we went to Gyeonbokgung Palace on Sunday. It was incredible. The moment you get off the subway stop you walk up the stairs and literally as you turn the corner you see the palace. It was kind of odd. To the right you see tall buildings and city lights and on your left is the palace and Mount Bugaksan to its rear and Mount Namsan in the foreground. Surprisingly it wasn't as busy as I thought it would be. It was quite hot (humid) outside. The cost for entry was 3,000 won, about $2.50, and included entrance to the Folk Museum., although the museum might be free. The architecture was beautiful but what I couldn't stop staring at was the painted lotus flowers and patterns on the ceiling. The colors were so vibrant and mesmerizing. I think the majority of my pictures were of the ceiling. Seeing a structure that has been present since the late 1300's was unreal. This was our first trip that made us realize we were actually living in a foreign country. The Folk Museum was great. I was able to get so many pictures of inspiration with different textures, colors and intricate embroidery. That same day it happened to be the Lotus Lantern Festival just up the street in Insadong. This was the first time we were surrounded by so many foreigners. It was so weird being around so many people who spoke English. All of the shop tenants spoke pretty good English too. Every time we tried to bust our Korean chops we just got shut down and they immediately started speaking English to us. It was definitely a tourist's destination with a long pedestrian infested street with pottery, paper & calligraphy shops, accessories, handbags and shoes galore. Not to mention, the most diverse selection of street food from silk worms, cherries, pumpkin nougat and rice cakes in every flavor possible. I'll definitely be coming back here when it comes time to shop for Christmas and B-days.

Mountain view

Entrance to the palace

Couldn't pass up a picture with one of the guards

SALSA DANCING IN SEOUL

This weekend was great. We finally went out to the city and explored. Saturday night I went to Seoul and got a taste of the Salsa dancing scene in Korea. I was a bit skeptical but once we got there it was like walking into Disneyland... seriously. We took about an hour subway ride to Seoul, walked down a couple of streets and around the corner, down some stairs and suddenly we could hear the music. Oh the sweet sounds of that music. We felt right at home. I thought it was packed but according to Qwalyne, fellow teacher, it was a slow night. It was odd looking around the room and seeing 99% Koreans with a total of about 7 foreigners in the room (Vanessa, Qwalyne and myself included) There were some great dancers. Most of them seemed to be studio trained and kind of choreographed but their style was entertaining. That was the first interaction we've really had with Koreans. At first the guys were hesitant to ask to dance since the sight of foreigners is a little odd to them. As time went by I guess they got comfortable with the idea and gradually they would come up to us, bow and take our hand to dance. No words were ever really exchanged except for the occasional smile and maybe laugh at the lack of communication that was being made but dancing is dancing and luckily nothing much really needed to be said. I didn't end up taking pictures there since after the moment we walked in, I knew it wasn't going to be our last time there.

The club is called "Turn" in Seoul. I'll have to get the info and directions to get there. Luckily, Qwalyne was a regular there and we didn't really pay attention to the subway stops. The drinks were delicious and strong. We tried the "Cafe Credo" (spell check?) which was rum and a shot of espresso served warm. The presentation was beyond precious. It was served in a petite glass pitcher with shot glasses and a small glass side dish with mixed m&ms and rock candy on a mini tray and yes it was necessary. It was only 4,000 won which ends up being about $3.50 for a total of 6 shots. Not bad Korea.

STEPHANIE TEACHER

Excuse the extreme lack of updates in the past couple of weeks. Honestly, I just got lazy. It won't happen again, or at least not as frequently. It's almost been a month since I've been here. I can't believe it. Time flies by so fast. Now that I've gotten the hang of this whole teaching shindig I guess I should talk about it. The school is SLP-Ansan. Sogang Language Program Ansan (the city I'm in.) One of the local Universities in Korea started this language program and now owns the SLP franchise. The teachers are divided by kindergarden & afternoon. I was originally supposed to teach the little ones but since I came later than planned I have a combination of beginners and middle schoolers and everything in between. Some classes are learning the basics of colors, shapes, numbers etc and others are a lot more advanced ( we just covered astronomy and space in one of them.) I do have one kindergarden class for their after school program. We do some sort of "science" project. It usually consists of making/putting together some kind of model. Last week was a wooden canon. Of course they didn't forget to provide the play dough to make small balls to shoot across the room and at Stephanie Teacher. I can't imagine a better project to give 3-5 yr. olds (they start kindergarden young here.) Overall they're great kids. They say the funniest things without realizing they are being funny. I'll see if I can get some pictures soonish of them.