Okay- 3, 2, 1, let's jam

This past weekend I came down with a case of Energizer Bunny Syndrome. See I like to get out and about, especially in the nice weather now, but I've always been someone who matches the amount of time I spend being busy with double that amount of time being lazy. It just works for me. Three hours out being social equals six hours reading comments on Oh No They Didn't, collecting recipes off Food Gawker, and watching YouTube videos of Anthony Weiner snarking on the GOP (true story, this was basically my Sunday night).

So usually even if I'm super busy one day, I take the next to relax and catch my breath. This weekend though I stayed pretty active. Let's pick it up from Saturday, starting from the top:

12:00am

I get home after grabbing dinner after work with Brianna and Kim, our newest co-worker who just started this term. I check online for info about Korea's cherry blossom festivals since they're in bloom now. Except all the festivals are about five hours away and I haven't planned in advance. Boo hiss. So Brianna and I decide to hit up the 63 Building in Yeouido instead. 

1:45am

Lights out with the intention of getting a good night's sleep in order to be up and out nice and early. 

3:30am

Planning has never been my forte. I'm still tossing around in bed, trying to empty my head of all thought so I'll fall asleep though not really since actually I'm trying to decide if the books in the home library I am determined to have someday should be placed on the shelves at random or in descending order by height from left to right like I usually do. Conundrum. 

3:45am-ish

Sweet sleep.

8:25am

My first alarm goes off (I always set three alarms, ten minutes apart and wake up on the third) and scares the bejesus out of me. I was in one of those deep sleeps that leaves you confused as hell when you're jolted out of it. When I heard the alarm I thought, "Okay 10 more minutes for the students to finish their tests". No idea.

9:40am 

After pushing out our meet-up time by 10 minutes so we can finish rushing to get ready (always happens), Brianna and I head out to Yeouido. I'm rocking a head of wet hair and wonder how horrified the ever-fully-primped Koreans feel about this. Actually now that I'm thinking about it do other people in the US consider this tacky? I hate blow drying my hair and sometimes just head out when it's still wet. Air drying works best for me. Oh well. I was also wearing the "BOSTON, MASSACHUBATTS" sweatshirt that I finally ended up buying. Tack it up! 

11:30am

We arrive at the 63 Building and it's a cool place. Lots of restaurants and swanky stores and things to keep you busy.

(Your wooden goat is prohibited from the 63 building, sorry to say.)

We purchase the Big 4 ticket for ₩30,000 (about $30) which gets you into the IMAX theater, the aquarium, the wax museum, and the art gallery/observatory on the 60th floor. You can also purchase tickets for say only two or three of these attractions, depending on what you're interested in seeing.

12:00pm
The 63 Building has a spot called the Buffet Pavilion and the food on the signs looks delicious. We're starving and after checking out the price determine that ₩23,000 is totally reasonable. When we walk in the hostess takes one look at us and instead of offering to seat us says in a helpful tone, "₩68,000". We make a hasty turn back into the lobby and realize that ₩23,000 is the price for just dessert. Uh...

12:15pm
Japanese restaurant and a pork cutlet set for ₩10,000 it is!

12:50pm
Our first stop is the IMAX theater for a screening of Mummies: Secrets of the Pharaohs. 

It's a pretty nice theater and it's jammed pack with littles on school field trips. Unfortunately for kids here when they usually get trips they fall on the weekends. Similar to how kids in America will wear matching t-shirts on field trips, these kids are all wearing little vests that make them look like crossing guards. They're loving the 3D though and adorably spend the previews screaming and trying to grab at the things "jumping out of" the screen. Since the film has been given a Korean voice-over, the ushers provide us with a little audio set and headphones so we can hear the English version.

1:30pm
After the movie we head to the Wax Museum which is so many kinds of entertaining.

It's a nice mix of historical figures, celebrities, and fictional characters. Some of them were pretty good and others were... not so much. Make your own judgments:

There is a little clothing rack in corner where you can get dressed up to jump into The Last Supper. Will the wonders never cease?

Leonardo DiCaprio. I swear.

The absolute worst James Dean wax figure in the universe. 

There is a section with characters from horror movies. We walk through the doorway and I'm wondering why the Dracula figure is situated awkwardly right by the entrance when suddenly he lurches forward. I let out a scream and call him a not nice word in English. He laughs and tries to get us to go into the haunted house which is connected to this part of the museum. Clearly if I were a full blown automatonophobic I wouldn't even step foot into a wax museum but basically my worst fear is dolls/ventriloquist dummies coming to life and  I hustle out of there.

2:00pm

Next we head up to the observatory and art gallery on the 60th floor. It overlooks the Han River and the view is nice except it isn't really a clear day.

2:30pm
Our last stop is the aquarium, called Sea World.

As I'm walking by this tank I overhear random snatches of Korean interspersed with, "Nemo".

The sea lions have an actual playground in their tank.

And a random Maggie Simpson in one of the fish tanks. Most of the animation for The Simpsons is done in Korea so the characters are very popular here. You see them on everything from pencil boxes to phone covers.

Overall the aquarium is kind of disappointing. It's very small and the animals have very little room. The otters especially look like maybe they could be better taken care of. It makes me apprehensive about visiting a zoo here where the bigger the animals the more obvious the lack of space is but we'll just have to see.

3:15pm
We grab some gelato in the food court and head outside to enjoy it by the river. It's a gorgeous day and the riverside is the place to be. There's a spot where you can take out paddle boats and people are roller blading and riding rented bikes.

View of the 63 Building from the riverside.

4:00pm
We head back to Incheon, making a stop in Arts Center to grab food at this deli that makes great Western-type sandwiches and breakfasts.

7:30pm
Nap time! One of the things I miss most about college is taking naps. When you wake up everyday at noon though there really isn't room for naps so getting a chance for one on the weekends is always nice.

8:40pm
I wake up, finish off a bag of caramel popcorn, and get ready to celebrate Kim's birthday in Hongdae.

9:30pm
Head to the subway with Jim and Brianna and realize that I should have brought a change of shoes since I'm breaking in new wedges. Oh well. At least I packed band-aids.

11:30pm
Begin the night at Ho Bar III which is basically crawling with teenagers. This happens from time to time. My assumption is that they are the kids of military personnel stationed in Itaewon. They're definitely not of drinking age but they're there anyway and acting ridiculous, as teenagers who are underage in a bar are apt to do. When everyone else is just starting the night at 11 or 12, these kids are already super wasted so they've probably been out since 7 or 8. They're gone by midnight though which I figure means they have to make curfew.

It's a fun night and I don't even check my phone so three bars later I'm shocked to hear that it's

5:00am
The night started with a pretty big group but by now there's about seven of us so we leave the last place and head outside where the guys buy some kebabs from a street vendor because of course it is completely normal for someone to be selling kebabs on the street at 5 o'clock in the morning.

Since the trains are up and running again we head to the station (instead of paying about ₩40,000 for a taxi back to Yeonsu) but not before stopping at Burger King so Brianna and I can get burgers and watch the sunrise.

8:00am
After a nice shower to wash off the stink of Hongdae (I will never get used to Korea allowing smoking in bars) I hop into bed and I'm out like a light.

1:00pm
I force myself up and get ready because the last performance of The Little Mermaid at Arts Center is today and I have to see it.

3:00pm 
Brianna and I are the only non-children/people accompanying children in the theater.

(Stealth shot so the ushers wouldn't come over like they did during Macbeth)

The posters for the show are actually posters for Disney's The Little Mermaid so I figure even though it will be in Korean that they'll sing the songs from the movie, which are among some of my favorites. This isn't the case at all and the whole performance is ridiculous. Ariel is super whiny and keeps making wavey movements with her arms to show that she's underwater. Ursula is dressed like a goth with tentacles coming out of her costume at random places. Instead of Flotsam and Jetsam her sidekick is an orange starfish who she keeps beating with her tentacles and at one point they break out into an 80s dance number, complete with funky moves.

So the whole thing is hilariously bad and I'm not sure it could be anymore absurd when all of a sudden the greatest thing ever happens. One moment the characters are talking and the next moment the speakers are blaring "I LIKE BIG BUTTS AND I CANNOT LIE. YOU OTHER BROTHERS CAN'T DENY". My immediate thought is that someone backstage messed up big time but no no, the characters start dancing to it. Flounder, Ursula, Sebastian, the Starfish Sidekick- all rocking out to Sir-Mix-A-Lot. They only play that first line and suddenly it's over but we are cracking up.

Overall definitely not worth the ₩15,000 we paid but I can add it to the growing list of weird performances I have been to.

4:30pm 
Buffet lunch/dinner at VIPs which has amazing cashew chicken, broccoli soup, and the only good Caesar salad I've had since coming to Korea. Very tasty.

6:50pm
Sucker Punch at the movie theater by our apartment. I don't dislike it as much as I'm expecting but the action scenes become redundant and I can only watch Emily Browning do that same dramatic leap in which she lands with one arm stuck into the air so many times. Plus there's too much slow-mo and not enough John Hamm. And Abbie Cornish is awful. But the music is good. It's ridiculous but I could forgive that if only Zach Snyder and Emily Browning would stop going around claiming that it's empowering to women. I especially liked the part where the twenty-year-old protagonist is infantilized, not given a real name, and in her self-created escapist world basically just functions as fodder for male fantasy. Great going Zach Snyder!

9:15pm
Home at last to relax and catch my breath after a good, busy weekend.

Korea is keeping me on my toes. I like it.

Fin.


Trivia of the Day: Soju (Hangul 소주) is a distilled beverage native to Korea. Its taste is comparable to vodka, though often slightly sweeter due to the sugars added in the manufacturing process, and more commonly consumed neat. Most brands of modern soju are made in South Korea. Though traditionally made from rice, most major brands supplement or even replace the rice with other starches such as potato, wheat, barley, sweet potato, or tapioca. Soju is clear in colour and typically varies in alcohol content from about 18.5% to about 45% alcohol by volume (ABV), with 20% ABV being most common. It is widely consumed, in part, because of its relatively low price in Korea. A typical 300mL bottle of soju costs the consumer 1,000 to 3,000 South Korean Won in South Korea (roughly $1 to $3 United States Dollars). Soju was first distilled around 13th century during the Mongol invasions of Korea. The Mongols had acquired the technique of distilling arak from the Persians during their invasion of Central Asia/Middle East around 1256, then it was subsequently introduced to Koreans and distilleries were set up around the city of Kaesong.

Day-tripperish

Since last weekend was spent settling in and getting acquainted with the area in and around work/my apartment, I decided to use this weekend to explore Incheon a bit more.

One of the great things about my late afternoon work schedule is that if I'm willing to get up reasonably early sometimes throughout the week I can actually do a lot in the hours before my first class. So yesterday when I headed out it was also with the intention of getting comfortable enough with the subway that on workdays I won't have to worry about getting lost and being late for my first class. 

And I think I did pretty good for my first time wandering around a new city and riding a subway solo! I am notoriously awful with directions and have no internal compass whatsoever. I once got lost driving around my hometown at night- a town that is five square miles. It happens. 

But there was no pressure to hurry back when I got turned around so I took my time figuring out what exactly I did wrong and how to get where I needed to be. Plus I was armed with an English subway map and the compass that my boyfriend half jokingly gave me as a going away present (it would have come in handy had I actually known which direction I needed to head in!).

The first place I decided to check out was the Incheon Culture & Arts Center. After loading my T money card with ₩10,000 (about $10) I hopped on the subway at Woninjae and went five stops to the Arts Center. When I came out of the station I was across the street from a park so I wandered over to check it out and it was an Olympic Park!

There are few things I love more than the Olympics, especially the Summer Games. Seoul hosted them in '88 and this little park (the stone simply says "Olympic Park") seems to just be a commemorative one.

 This guy, Hodori the tiger, was the mascot for the Seoul Games.

When I left the park I saw a sign for the Arts Center and wandered around some more in its general direction. I went down some quiet sides streets, passed coffee shops and convenience stores and people going about their everyday business. I spotted another park with a bunch of different sculptures and headed in there.

The most I can make out from this is "Centre Park" and even then I may be butchering it. I looked on a map later for the name but couldn't find it.

These tree scultpures surround what looks to be a zero depth water area. I already made a mental note to come back here in the summertime!

I can't say for certain what exactly this park is but the pieces of art all seemed to be celebrating the relationship between Korea and other Asian countries. This piece with Arabic on it had Korean written on the back.

This piece had both Chinese and Korean writing and other pieces had Korean and Japanese as well as Korean and Vietnamese respectfully.

Lots of Korean parks have exercise equipment and I snapped a couple shots of these ladies getting a morning work out in. It's a pretty great idea actually. Not everyone can afford gym memberships and since so many Koreans live in apartments there isn't exactly room for ellipticals and treadmills.

Every time you walk down the street here you'll see someone wearing one of those paper face masks that people were rocking during the height of Swine flu. Koreans wear these when they have just a common cold to prevent other people from catching it. I feel like everyone has been getting sick lately so maybe some people wear them so they won't catch one to begin with? Anyway most are plain but I've seen kids wearing cartoon character ones.

As I was leaving the park I saw a sign for a library and attempted to find it. I never did but I found myself along a residential street with some pretty cool sidewalk wall art.

The women pictured are Kisaeng (기생), who were trained entertainers.

And their crazy heavy looking hairdo comes from wearing a gache (가체) which basically was just a ginormous fancy wig.

This guy and his horse are my favorite. Look how happy they are, aww bffs!

Just a residential street. It was really quiet, not too many people were out and about yet.

Two old fellas in a park playing what was most likely Janggi (장기). It's a strategy game so I guess sort of like Korean chess.

I strolled some more and finally found the Arts Center!

There's a bunch of theater events and whatnot that go on here but mostly Arts Center refers to the entire surrounding area, like the restaurants and shops.

I saw this on a building nearby. Apparently Incheon has an excellent team. This is why you should visit during baseball season Mom!

These things appeal to me in exactly that order.

Turns out it's a coffee shop, and a really cozy one at that.

I ordered a waffle which looked much more appealing than my camera is giving it credit for. Waffles are really popular here which is a-okay by me.

It took me a minute to figure out both the book and the spa parts of the name. On one wall they had some shelves with books and magazines for the borrowing. Everything was in Korean so I took a copy of Vogue Korea to peruse. Turns out it looks a hell of a lot like American Vogue. Western celebrities and models on four out of five pages. Surprise surprise.

The spa took me a little longer to work out. But when my waffle order was called I headed to the counter, looked down and saw this:

Feet as fish food! I've read on a bunch of blogs people mention a place in Seoul I think called Dr. Fish where you stick your feet into a pool of fish who nibble at them, thus removing all the dead skin. Apparently it doesn't hurt, just feels a little funny. I think this is awesome and want to do it at some point but I opted not to yesterday just because I didn't really want fish gnawing on my feet right next to the same table I was eating at. It's on my list though!

Back in the spring when I was still in school I had an assignment for one class where I had to interview someone about fairy tales they grew up with. My friend told me some of the Korean stories she'd heard as a kid. One story she related was about the origins of the Sun and the Moon. In a nutshell, a tiger eats a mother on her way to the market, takes on her clothing, and then chases her two children up a tree in an attempt to eat them too. They plead to heaven for help and a rope comes down which they climb up to safety. When the tiger tries to climb the rope it becomes rotten and he falls to his death. In heaven the sister becomes the sun and the brother the moon. I'm pretty sure this sculpture is a depiction of the key scene in this story.

After taking a look around the Arts Center I got back on the Subway and went up to Bupyeong Market.

The subway here is so nice. Very clean and I like the safety of the closed doors to keep anyone from getting on the track. Also all the signs are in Korean, Chinese, and English so it's super easy as a non-native speaker to navigate. My favorite part is the little tune that plays to signal that the upcoming station is where you can transfer lines.

Outdoor market area in Bupyeong. I found a nice little stationary and art supplies shop here where I scooped up a multi-flap folder for the papers I'm accumulating for the classes I teach. Not very exciting, it was really my only purchase of the day besides snacks, but I have a whole year ahead of me to get the fun stuff.

Bupyeong Market is a huge underground shopping mall. Mostly they sell clothes, shoes, handbags, jewelry and beauty supplies. It gets a bit repetitive after a while and it was crazy packed but they had some nice things.

The land of the free, home of the RoboCops.

One of these things is not like the other. At some point I'll probably devote an entire post to just food. Grocery shopping is an adventure in and of itself.

I wandered around Bupyeong after leaving the market and again was reminded why I'm so lucky to be in Yeonsu. I'm sure for some people it's great but it's too crazy in Bupyeong for my liking. Getting back to Yeonsu felt like having someone turn the volume down. I much prefer the quieter scene.

I lost my way trying to get back to the subway and this was when I was thankful I'd saved this first trip out for a weekend and not a work day. Basically I was on the wrong subway line but realized it right away and headed back toward Bupyeong Station to make the transfer back to the Incheon line. From a native's perspective I probably did look like the clueless foreigner but whatever, I am after all, at least for now.

I stashed my camera while I was trying to find my way back but pulled it out one last time once I finally found my neighborhood. It's so colorful here at night. Bright and fun without being garish I think. I really love it.

I spent today just relaxing but next weekend I'm hoping to hit up someplace new again and perhaps during a morning or two this week as well. Though there are loads of pictures here (too many?) I took way more than this and am working on getting a Flickr account up so I can stash them all in one place for people to see.

Also I updated the link list (on the top right) and for those people reading this who are actually in Korea now there are some useful sites to check out for information as well as things to do.

I'm about to attempt cooking sliced rice cakes for dinner with a side of laundry and prepping for tomorrow's classes. Stay tuned!

Trivia of the Day: Baekdu Mountain, also known as Changbai Mountain in China, is a volcanic mountain on the border between North Korea and China. The Korean name, Baekdu-san (백두산) means "white-headed mountain". Koreans consider Mount Baekdu as the place of their ancestral origin and as a sacred mountain, one of the three "spirited" mountains; the one contained in the legendary foundation of Korea. From the beginning of history through the Three Kingdoms period, to the Goryeo and Joseon Dynasties, Koreans have spiritually depended upon the "divine" mountain. Foreign visitors, mostly South Koreans, usually climb the mountain from the Chinese side, although Baekdu Mountain is a common tourist destination for the few foreign tourists in North Korea.