Once upon a time

If you're currently in Korea or expect to be within the next few weeks, I highly recommend checking out the "Dreams Come True: The Art of Disney's Classic Fairy Tales" exhibit running at the Seoul Arts Center.

Mike and I managed to get there during one of my afternoons off and I'm glad we did. I'd never been to the Seoul Arts Center before but I absolutely plan to go back. It looks as though they generally have a handful of different exhibits running as well as concerts or shows. We took the bus from Yeonsu into Gangnam and then picked up a shuttle bus from one of the subway stations to the Arts Center, which was convenient.

I was expecting we could squeeze in at least two of the exhibits while we were there but the Disney exhibit is amazing and took us four hours. I really cannot recommend it enough if you are someone who is a Disney fan or interested in animation (or both!). It's very thorough and includes tons of film clips, concept art, and models. It's set up chronologically so it begins with Disney's earliest animations like The Three Little Pigs and The Ugly Duckling and in one section there are three screens showing some of these Silly Symphony shorts. This was the first time I saw Disney's The Pied Piper and it is seriously the creepiest thing ever.

Then it takes you through the big fairy tale flicks- Snow White, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, and also includes the newer The Princess and the Frog and Tangled (still called Rapunzel in Korea though). There's lots of character sketches and storyboards and bits of background information about the various artists who worked on respective projects. We got those little headsets for the audio tour but it pretty much just reiterated information that you could already read during the exhibit so unless you're super lazy I'd say just pass on that.

The concept art for some of the movies is amazing and Tangled especially is well represented. There's a huge copy of the work below (this doesn't do it justice) and I don't think I've ever wanted a piece of art hanging on my wall so badly. If they'd been selling enormous posters of this I'd have snatched one up in a heartbeat. So so beautiful.

The exhibit runs through the end of September so I figured better to mention it sooner than later. And if you love it as much as we did then the gift shop sells art books with a lot of the same concept art pieces included. You can find more information on the Seoul Arts Center website here and at the exhibition website here. 

And if you're not in Korea then keep an eye out for the exhibition's next stop. It was first in the US and then went on to Australia so I haven't a clue where it will be heading to after Seoul but if it comes your way be sure to catch it!

Trivia of the Day: Disney Channel Korea (디즈니 채널) is a television channel which is a local version of the Disney Channel for South Korea. It launched on July 1, 2011, replacing Disney Channel Asia (the Southeast Asian franchise), following an agreement between Korean company SK Telecom and The Walt Disney Company to form a joint venture for operating all future Disney-branded channels. SK will own the majority 51% of the new company. 

Treasure hunting

Back home, one way my fella and I like to spend a weekend afternoon is browsing through a flea market. I both love and hate flea markets. On the one hand there's the cool antique type items like phones and record players and piles of used books that look as though they've been nestled in an attic somewhere, gathering a little dust but in nice enough shape to move to a new home. And on the other hand there's the mounds of absolute junk that look as though they were finally chucked out of a smelly, dank basement and landed on a table five sizes too small to hold it all. I cringe away from the latter group but the former just keeps bringing me back.

So we decided to spend a Sunday checking out the Seoul Folk Flea Market and seeing what they had to offer. Unlike most flea markets which are open weekends only, the Seoul Folk Flea is open every day with the exception of two Tuesdays a month. The location is apparently fairly new which allows for tons of vendors so there is plenty to keep you occupied for a few hours. We made it there about mid-afternoon and surprisingly the crowd wasn't too bad so we took our time wandering for a while.

An antique Singer sewing machine! There's hope! Maybe this will be a flea market free of people's old shi-

... nevermind.

Though we do like to look through everything, we both have certain items in mind when searching through a flea market. He looks for video game related things- controllers, games, systems, etc.- while I hunt for old VHS tapes of Disney movies. And yes, my search actually is that specific. You know the ones I'm talking about, not just those tapes that come in the plain cardboard sleeves but the totally 90s Disney boxes that are big and plastic and white and awesome. Of course I already had a handful that we actually bought when I was growing up but after finding a few for cheap at this record/movie store by our college campus that we'd frequent, I got it into my head to track them all down.

So naturally, since we were at a flea market, I was hoping to find maybe a movie or two hidden among all the clocks and paintings and golf clubs but I didn't have high expectations... until we turned a corner and saw this:

A seriously amazing collection of VHS tapes in good if not great condition! They even had tapes of new movies that aren't even released on VHS in the US anymore. I couldn't even decide what I wanted. Sure I have almost all Disney movies in my collection now but these ones have Korean covers and the novelty of such small things never ever wears off for me. But of course I couldn't buy them all and I'd never have been able to choose so what we ended up buying instead was The Dark Knight. We love it because, well first because we are VHS nerds, but also because it's on two tapes and so you get the cover with Batman as well as the cover with the Joker and the title is written out in Korean and just looks badass. Plus it's not a bootleg or anything but in a legit Warner Brothers case and on Warner Brothers tapes. It came out to be about five bucks so it was a sweet deal too. I know I'll be back at this booth before I go home to bulk up my collection! 

Our only other purchase of the day was a lens protector cover thing for my new camera. It was way cheap and the seller was really helpful so I may return there as well to look for some other camera doodads. Though we didn't end up with much it was a pretty cool place and if you're on the look-out for something totally random it's worth checking the flea market for it. 

Afterwards we went to Cheonggyecheon, which is this area running through the city that was recently restored to be a sort of public recreation place. There's a long stream and walkways and so we sat for a bit with our feet in the water.

On our way back to Incheon we stopped off in Yongsan to check out a store in the I Park Mall that I knew Mike would appreciate. Except my attempts to make it a surprise were spoiled since there were signs for it everywhere but anyway:

Like a kid in a toy store. Literally ♥

After that we headed outside to the DVD booths and bought about 50,000 won worth of movies and TV shows. I didn't mean to get so many but the guy was really friendly and kept suggesting Korean movies and I just kept saying, "Okay, why not?". Plus he threw in an extra movie for free at the end and gave us vitamin drinks while we were waiting for them to bag it all. Those movies and shows kept us entertained for the past month so it was worth it. 

I'm pretty sure this day ended with pizza and a movie, which is always a good way to top things off. This was one of my favorite days from his visit because it felt just like the sort of way we would spend a day back home. I'm already looking forward to doing this again some Sunday next summer!

Trivia of the Day: Organized by the state owned Korea International Travel Company, Tourism in North Korea is highly controlled by the government, and as such it is not a frequently visited destination — roughly 1,500 Western tourists visit North Korea each year, along with thousands of Asians. Tourists must go on guided tours and must have their tour guides with them at all times. Photography is strictly controlled, as is interaction with the local population. Prior to 2010, tourists holding United States passports were not granted visas, except during the Arirang Festival mass games. U.S. citizens, journalists and citizens from other nations have also been given special permission to enter as members of the Korean Friendship Association and Choson Exchange. Citizens of South Korea require special permission from both governments to enter North Korea, and are typically not granted such permission for regular tourism except in special tourist areas designated for South Koreans. In April 2010, the first tourist trains from China brought visitors to North Korea for a 4-day tour. In June 2011, Chinese citizens were allowed on a self-drive tour in North Korea for the first time in history.

Things!

So it seemed about time I take a breather and check in. We've been keeping real busy these past two weeks and it hasn't left much time for blogging. I'm actually not sure how long it typically takes most people to put an entry together but I've always been slow about it. I like to mull over what I'm writing and I take awhile picking out pictures to post and I'm easily distracted so more often than not my blogging sessions are interrupted with side trips to Oh No They Didn't! and Facebook. And when I sit down to write I want to get it all out in one go, none of that saving-to-finish-later business. That means usually I'm sitting at the computer for let's say about 3-5 hours when I'm assembling a typical entry. Also I like to write at night.

Since we've been doing a lot of early days to get the most out of a trip into the city and since my new schedule means I'm not home until 11 o'clock every night I really haven't had a chance to sit down and work on anything. Work has been a bit stressful and I have a lot weighing on my mind in regards to what my plans will be when I'm back home in the US. On the plus side though we've been up to some great stuff lately so eventually (I promise!) there will be lots of new pictures and stories. Plus that full Vietnam recap! I know those entries will pretty much take me twice as long as usual so I'm waiting for a long, do-nothing-day to get going on those.

In the meantime, here is a random list of goings-on on my end recently:

- Rain. Torrential rain. Drizzly rain. Plain rain. Just-enough-drops-to-warrant-opening-that-umbrella-rain (the most annoying kind, to be honest). My introduction to the Monsoon season began in Vietnam and is continuing in Korea. It is an extremely damp experience, I have to say.

- My Friday afternoon class (my five girls who I absolutely love) met my boyfriend when he came in to see the school and they went crazy. One of them started bringing in her friends who are in other classes so she could point at him and say "Boyfriend!" before they all started screeching. They were discussing us in the hallway and I heard both "handsome" and "beautiful couple". Also when we came back from Vietnam a few of them asked "How was your vacation?" but one of them asked "How was your date?" haha.

- I have not gone grocery shopping in three weeks. A few needed items have been scooped up at the downstairs convenience store but mostly this is just a testament to how much we have been eating out/grabbing breakfast on the way out the door. Oh well, Lotte Mart and I needed a serious break from each other. $13 for a box of strawberries? Girl, please.

- In September I'm going with four of the girls from work to Shanghai for Chuseok! Chuseok is roughly the equivalent of Thanksgiving and we'll have at least a four-day weekend. Our flights are booked and now we're working on getting visas. I'm thrilled about all the traveling I've been able to squeeze in during my time here and this trip falls nicely in between my summer vacation and possible departure in December. I know when I go home it will most likely be some time before I can plan any more big trips so I'm happy to be getting my fill now.

- A new pizza place just opened downstairs so we tried it out on Sunday night. It wasn't bad and the wheat crust was pretty good, albeit a legit shade of purple. They even gave us a few freebies to assure we'll come back and I was excited because next to the bottle of Coke in the bag looked like three of those mini containers of Parmesan cheese but of course it was actually three containers of sweet pickles. Ugh, I'm always fooled by the sweet pickles here.

- I recently walked past a girl wearing a shirt with Karl Lagerfeld's face on it and it was the best shirt ever. I know she bought it here because the markets are overrun with weird clothing designs and celebrity faces (hello, there was one featuring a collage of Sponge-Bob, Michael and Janet Jackson and someone who may have been Taylor Swift) and I have made it my mission to track it down. Don't fail me now, Korea.

- Tomorrow night Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 debuts here and so ends my childhood (actually I will never let this happen, who wants to grow up and admit they're never getting that letter from Hogwarts? Life's more fun this way). I'm especially excited because the past few HP movies came out later in Korea than the US and it would be a bummer to have to wait when so many people have already seen it. So after work we're going to catch one of the late shows and I already know it will be amazing. I haven't missed an opening night since Goblet of Fire (or maybe it was Prisoner of Azkaban, though these days opening night means "midnight") and I'm so so excited to have one last Harry Potter premiere to watch with awesome people :)

Also, I am assigning "Go see the new Harry Potter movie" as homework for all my classes this week. If only our school took field trips...

Trivia of the Day: Dokkaebi (도깨비) is a common word for a type of spirit in Korean folklore or fairy tales. Although usually frightening, it could also represent a humorous, grotesque-looking sprite or goblin. These creatures loved mischief and playing mean tricks on bad people and they rewarded good people with wealth and blessings. Dokkaebi are described as the transformed spirits of inanimate objects. The most common objects said to become Dokkaebi are usually useful everyday implements that have been abandoned by their owners or left in perpetual disuse, and include such wide-ranging objects as brooms, fireplace pokers, pestles, flails, and sometimes even trees smeared with maiden's blood. They are different from ghosts (귀신) in that they are not formed by the death of a human being, but rather by the transformation of an inanimate object.

Most Korean legends have Dokkaebi in the stories. They are about Dokkaebi pranking on mortals or punishing them because of their evil deeds. One of them goes like this:

An old man lived alone in a mountain when a Dokkaebi visited his house. With surprise, the kind old man gave the Dokkaebi an alcoholic beverage and they become friends. The Dokkaebi visited the old man often and they had long conversations together, but one day, the man took a walk by himself in the woods near the river and discovered that his reflection looked like the Dokkaebi. With fear, he realized that he was gradually becoming that creature. The man made a plan to prevent himself from becoming a Dokkaebi and invited the creature to his house. He asked, "What are you most afraid of?" and the Dokkaebi answered, "I'm afraid of blood. What are you afraid of?". The man pretended to be frightened and said, "I'm afraid of money. That's why I live in the mountains by myself." The next day, the old man killed a cow and poured its blood all over his house. The Dokkaebi, with shock and great anger, ran away and said, "I'll be back with your greatest fear!" The next day, the Dokkaebi brought bags of money and threw it to the old man. After that, Dokkaebi never came back and the old man became the richest person in the town.

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.