Date Night in Seoul - Our First Concert Together!

A couple weeks ago JM and I found a website that lists upcoming gigs in Seoul, mostly live music, and decided that we should plan a date night. We had never been to a concert together, despite both being fans of live music. We listened to the various artists, none of whom we had ever heard of, and settled on a British band that struck our fancy called White Lies. They had a sort of 80s rock vibe and we both liked their sound.

So last night, after JM got off work, we headed to Seoul for dinner and the concert. It was so nice to get out of Cheonan and see some of the club/bar culture in Seoul. We really haven't experienced any of the Korean night life scene so it was a welcome change of pace. The concert was a tad pricey, but the venue, Yes24 MUVHall, included a few free drinks and the sound quality was awesome. All in all, the show was great and JM spent the entire next day listening to White Lies. We are both loving this band!

Here is a video of their live performance in studio at a radio station.

                  Waiting for the train                                            At the concert waiting for the band to start!

The Inexplicable World of Korea #12 - Mopping the Train Station Floors

This isn't even everywhere in Korea. In fact, this was the first time JM and I had seen this, but it was just plain strange. And dangerous!! (Frickin' dangerous - right Mom?) - This woman was literally pushing around a garbage pail full of water and baptizing the floor. Like showering it. She even asked people to move out of the way so that she could chuck water in their direction. It was so bizarre. 

Of note, there was a man driving around on one of those zamboni floor buffers.  But he was no where in sight when I was taking these pictures. The floor was very slippery.

Wet Floors! No caution sign.

Chuckin' water.

Sarah and Mom's Visit (aka: the month that flew by much too quickly ...)

Today my mom and sister returned to Canada. They were in Korea for 3.5 weeks and boy, did they do a lot! We tried to take advantage of all the time we had. I'll attempt to recap.

The first weekend that they were here was spent in Cheonan. We played some ultimate frisbee with our Cheonan group and then went out for shabu shabu. Mom was struggling with the chopsticks, but surprisingly, she liked the kimchi! Sunday we headed out to Independence Hall for some history and scenic pictures.

Post ultimate smiles!

Post ultimate eats!

 Independence Hall: Entrance and Korea Flags

The next week, they headed out to Seoraksan National Park to do some serious hiking and then to Seoul for shopping and a templestay experience. JM and I had some frisbee games that weekend, so we did not join them, but we all met up again after the weekend for our Chuseok break in Busan.

Templestay outfits!

Touring Gyeongbokgung Palace

After Chuseok, the four of us took an evening trip into Seoul to see the Nanta cooking experience. I had read some great reviews of the show online (it is Korea's longest running broadway show) and was excited to go to the theatre. Audience members are often pulled up on stage and lucky for us, we had aisle seats! So both Sarah and JM were called up. Sarah had to pull a barrel off some guy's butt and JM had to make mandu on stage as part of a competition. His team didn't win, but he was given a picture and a chef's hat as a souvenir. It was a great show - highly recommended for some amazing chopping skills and laughs!

Finally, our last trip was a long weekend in Jeju. Sarah and Mom took the ferry and I flew up after my last class. We rented a car that Sarah drove (!!) and it was by far the best decision we made. It was so convenient to have the freedom to travel when and where we wanted. We grabbed a tourist map and started circling places we wanted to hit. We planned out three days: east side, hiking Hallasan, and the west side. Jeju is an old volcanic island, Hallasan is a dormant volcano, so lots of sight seeing revolved around awesome lava rocks, formations, tubes, and cones. We stayed at the very cute Breakfast at Tiffany's B&B and our hosts were lovely people. Nice view from the rooms, log cabin style with the smell of pine. Very relaxing!

Jeju - Beautiful volcanic island

Day 1: Seongsan Ilchulbong, a tuff cone also called sunrise peak, has a great view of the ocean. By far the coolest part of the trip was the 1km long lava tube we walked through. A UNESCO world heritage site, this was such a unique geological wonder that all I could do was wish my grandfather was able to experience it with us.

View from the top of Seongsan Ilchulbong

Lots of stairs on the way back down

View of Jeju from the tuff cone

The entrance/exit of the lava tube. The ground caved in here, and that's how they found it!

Mom and Sarah walking through the tube

Melted rock

Day 2: Hiking Hallasan in the rain and sleet. Not as much fun as it sounds. Hallasan is the tallest mountain in Jeju, but sadly, we had no view at the top.

We made it to the top!

Day 3: The west side brought with it the amazing seashell museum/gallery (this was my favourite place), a hilarious waterfall (road drainage), a chocolate museum, and finally, the beach! A cute setting, where the beach was quite private and you had to climb down the escarpment to get to it.

 The artist not only displayed seashells, but she created art out of coral, bronze, and seashells.

This was the most spectacular gallery I've ever been to.

Three little mermaids

The world's greatest waterfall [*cough - road drainage*]

The rain did not keep us from enjoying the day

Mom jumps the same way every time

Jeju Island, 2013

A trip to the Dentist

I have been on my own for many year now and one thing I haven't done regularly enough is go to the dentist. Some of you may think it is because I have a healthy fear of characters like Steve Martin's Orin Scivello -D.D.S from Little Shop of Horrors

or maybe Laurence Olivier's Szell from Marathon Man

but you would be wrong. My father was my dentist for a large part of my life. Then when he sold his practice and semi-retired, I was fortunate enough to try out many of the other dentists who came to work at the office. Some were very good, but none of them as skilled as my father.

No it isn't any fear of the dentist, it is a fear of insurance. I have not gone to the dentist since 2006 when I was no longer on my parents dental plan.Now I have great coverage at Bugil, and so, this weekend I went to U.S. Dental in Seoul of a check-up and cleaning.

The cleaning took some time as you may imagine from a hiatus as long as mine. The hygienist was thorough removing the plaque from my teeth and giving them a nice polish. I also got some x-rays to make sure there were no hidden cavities. There a two spots of concern but nothing large enough to warrant a filling. A total success for me, considering I do not floss as much as I should. Now that my teeth a clean my mouth feels fresh. If you are searching for a dentist in Korea I would research U.S. Dental.

Cheers, JaM's

A day exploring museums in Seoul

After JM's visit to the dentist, we decided to tour some museums in Seoul. We had taken an early train in and booked the last train back to Cheonan.

The first stop was the National Museum of Korea. There were many ancient artifacts, including rock tools and jewelery made of jade, and even old graves and bones. JM really liked the paintings. With free entry, you can't go wrong!

JM with some roof tiles

A really old compass

Room dividers that we want in our apartment

Next, we headed off to the war memorial of Korea. Not just a memorial, but a full museum, we were pleasantly surprised with all the information about Korean history and the full sized replicas of the turtle boats. Turtle boats were used to defend against the Japanese invasion in the 1590s. Admiral Yi Sun Shin was in charge of these boats and even though he was severely outnumbered, his men won the battle of the sea because of the innovative design of the boats. Outside of the museum was a display with fighter jets and tanks, many of which were open for the public, especially children, to climb aboard.

Panoramic view of the front of the war memorial

Turtle Boat

JM hanging onto a rock

We then went to Itaewon to try a new taco place, Vatos, for dinner. While we had to wait 2 hours to get a table (we headed back to the Canadian bar for some cider to pass the time), the tacos were quite delicious. Next time we'll make sure to come on the off hour or for lunch.

We finished our day with a trip to the Lotte Mart right near Seoul station. We were in search of some padding for the spare bed before JM's parents arrive in 2 weeks. We did not find what we were looking for, but, quite fortunately, we did find the massage chair section. With 30 minutes to kill before the train, JM and I took full advantage of some expensive chairs. he he.

Adios amigos, until next time ...

Jennika