Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day

I've actually had nothing of the kind. I just like that book.

I've started taking Korean lessons with someone I met through ATEK on Saturday mornings. At first I was reticent to give up one of my few days sleeping in, as well as the possibility of going out on Friday nights, but so far it's been worth it. The first lesson was way above my level, but after talking to the guy who's giving the lessons to myself and another foreigner, it's been changed to something that's much more on my level. I thought at first that I wouldn't go to the lessons if they were free - that paying for lessons would be more of a motivation to go. But since the person is doing it for me as a personal favor, it's almost like I'm being guilted into attending. Not that I mind that much, as I'm learning quite a bit. It also gets me up and going on a Saturday morning instead of laying in bed and wasting the day.

This Saturday, I met a friend of mine in Anguk after my lesson. I had heard of a place in the area where you could go to see an ice carving gallery, and you could carve your own ice. We decided to find somewhere to grab a bite to eat while on our way to the gallery. We tried to follow the directions Amy had written down, but we weren't able to find one of the big landmarks that the directions were dependent on. So we ended up wandering aimlessly around Jongno, which since it was a nice day neither of us minded. We found a strange little coffee shop called Yellow Bricks. We stopped and shared a real Belgian waffle for lunch, and then tried again to find the ice gallery.



We finally managed to find the Ice Gallery. We headed in, steps ahead of a Chinese tour group. The tour started out in the ice carving area, so we decided to go into the gallery first. For lack of a better word, and pun intended, it was really cool. There was a small group of young girls in there who seemed to be just as interested in watching us as they were in looking at the ice carvings.



After wandering through an igloo, an ice pension, ice palace, and even and ice bathroom, we went back to the carving area, just as the tourists were coming down.



We watched an 'ice expert' carve a block of ice first into a beer stein, then a wine chalice, then a coffee mug. And then she handed us two ice picks and Amy and I had a ball hacking away at the ice.







After we left the ice gallery, we wandered around Jongno a little bit, deciding to stop at Jogyesa. The last time I'd been there was at Buddha's birthday last year, when I went to the Lotus Lantern Festival. There was some ceremony going on inside the temple, and while we walked around, Amy told me about some of the different symbolism in Buddhism. I can't wait to go to Japan with her - she's gonna be like my own private tour guide!





We then headed back to Apgujeong, where we killed time in a Tom n Tom's coffee shop, until we met up with Leah for dinner at an Italian restaurant right across the street at a place I'd been meaning to try, called Pizza and Wine Married .



My "Funghi Pasta", which was string pasta with cream sauce, mushrooms, and black bread, was particularly tasty, and quite filling. After that, we headed to the Jang Cheon Art Hall close to my house, where one of my students was performing in the "Seoul Genius Junior Orchestra". June was the youngest member of the orchestra, and played both cello and trumpet. I forget sometimes how small my kids are. it was easy to be reminded when I saw June playing a cello that was larger than he was, seated with his feet dangling from his chair next to other students, some twice as old as he was.


After the performance ended around 9:30, and I had a short conversation with June's mom, Amy and I went back to my house, where I was charged with introducing Amy to the film wonderment that is Labyrinth. Before we saw the movie I checked my email, where I found out that I had won tickets to see Do Make Say Think Sunday night in Hongdae. I asked Amy if she knew who they were, and since she not only knew who they were, but also had some of their music (which was two steps ahead of me), I asked her if she wanted a free ticket to come with me. She agreed (would you turn down a $50 free ticket to a band you liked?).

Sunday morning I spent sleeping, and the afternoon was filled with putzing around my apartment, writing this blog (since I left my camera cord at school I didn't actually publish it), reading, and drinking an entire pot of coffee. Amy and I met around 4pm on the subway, and headed first to Richard Copy Cat's American Diner where we both enjoyed breakfast for dinner. We then made our way to Hapjeong station in search of Bau Haus Cafe, where Amy fulfilled her dog craving and I satisfied my curiosity.



After the dog cafe, we went to find the venue for Do Make Say Think. I had no idea where it was, only that it was in Hongdae, and it was called V-hall. Usually there are signs all over Hongdae on the streets for shows that point you in the right direction. This time there was nothing. So Amy and I stopped at the tourist box, where I asked for directions. The lady at the desk pointed out the window right across the street, and told us it was in the basement of that building.



I was worried that we might have trouble getting in because the reservations for the tickets had actually been made in someone else's name. I won the tickets through TheYeogiyo.com forum. The contest had been simple - first person to reply to the post gets the tickets. I was the second. But it turned out that the first person couldn't go, so that's how I got them. But the first person's name had already been put on the list. It didn't turn out to be a problem, and not only did Amy and I get in for free with no hassle, but we got there pretty much as the doors opened, so we were in the front the entire time.



The opening band was called On Sparrow Hills, and they were very entertaining to watch, particularly one of the drummers.


The second band was called Vidulgi Ooyoo. I couldn't tell if some of the sounds they were producing were accidental or on purpose. I'd like to think the ones that hurt my ears were accidental. Though I wasn't particularly fond of their music, it was nice to see a Korean girl playing guitar on stage.


And of course the last band was Do Make Say Think.


Even ignoring the fact that the first time I'd heard their music was the night before, I really enjoyed their performance. There were nine people in the band - two drummers, a violinist, saxophonist, two horn players, and three guitars and one bass (I think). Not only were they enjoyable to watch, but their music was interesting and varied. I'm not usually into instrumental music that's not classical style, but this was catchy, danceable, listenable music.




I wish I had better words to describe the concert. I've always envied people like my friend Steph, who can write about bands and review music and actually make it sound interesting. Anyway, the show was great, and as we were leaving, I saw a 10,000won note lying on the floor so I grabbed it, and promptly told Amy that we now had free cab fare home since the subways were just about closed.

And that was the end to my 'wonderful, marvelous, not bad, very good' weekend.

Lotus Lantern Festival

This year Buddha's Birthday fell on a Saturday. It's a big deal in Korea, and had it fallen on a weekday, it would have been a day off for most Koreans. The celebration begins a few weeks earlier with people all over the country hanging lotus lanterns in the city, and especially near Buddhist temples, to remind people that it's coming. There is a Lotus Lantern Festival the weekend before, which I attended with several of my friends.

The main event for the festival was on Sunday April 26th, so I canceled my Korean class for the week and headed out late Sunday morning for Seoul. I had planned to meet up with friends later in the afternoon, but I got there around noon, so I wandered around to look at the area by myself.

A mass of lanterns in Tapgol Park in Insadong, in front of the remains of the Wongak Temple.

I wandered through Tapgol Park, and discovered that the station I got off at was an easy walk to Insadong - the ancient cultural tourist trap where I purchased all my traditional Christmas presents last year. I came across some ajumas making mini lotus lanterns for donations.

The ajumas hard at work making mini lanterns outside Tapgol park.

There was a woman standing near the ajumas, trying to get people to buy the lanterns for only 1000 won (about a dollar). She pointed to the sign that she had written, which said something to the effect of "meals will provide to men are old". I was able to tell the woman, in Korean, that I understood what she was asking for, but that her sign didn't make sense in English. So I offered to write her a new one. I wanted to write something along the lines of "The donations you give to purchase a lantern will go towards purchasing meals for older men", but it was too far away from the original sign. So this is what she ended up with:

Photo courtesy of a Chris Chien, who I didn't see at all that day, but who saw my sign later on that day and thought it was awesome enough to take a picture of.

She seemed very pleased, and after I gave her 1000 won for a lantern, she gave me another for free as a thank you. At this point I headed back to the subway station to meet up with Kathryn. Kathryn and I chatted over chaumchi-kimchi-jiggae (tuna and kimchi stew - yummy!) in the Jongno area.

Kathryn took a picture of me in Topgol park with my two lanterns, which I later lost.

I took Kathryn through the same areas I had been, and we went through Insadong as well. We had forgotten it was the Hi Seoul Festival as well, and we came across these lovely dancers, who broke out into dance in the middle of the very crowded street:

And right after the dancing, I ran into one of my students from my morning classes and his mom. She spoke no English at all, and he knew no English two months ago when he started, so communication was rather difficult. I had to explain to the rather worried looking mother that I was his English teacher, and not just some random foreigner talking to her son. She indicated with her hand for us (myself and Kathryn) to follow her, and then she proceeded to walk away, without a glance back to see if we were following, or even if her son was still with her. She ended up buying us a box each of some traditional Korean spun sugar candy (that I also lost later on in the evening), but it was a good distance away from where we had been and the whole time Kathryn and I were watching her son to make sure he didn't wander off and wondering where she was taking us, and even if she had meant for us to follow.

Little wooden statue men in Insadong. They're traditional, and I have no idea why.

After wandering around we went for coffee, but apparently it hit Kathryn wrong and she said she needed to go home just as James and Dayna got to the station to meet us. So James, Dayna and I went to look at the festival.

The first part we saw was an area with a bunch of tents that had everything from grinding your own coffee, to painting hanji paper crafts and meditating with monks.

Well-Being is Korea's version of the health craze. This is Well-Being Yoga. With plates.

Dayna talking about fair trade practices while grinding her own coffee.

The coolest version of double dutch I've ever seen. Look closely, and you can see the ropes form a cross that the person is jumping over. So you need 4 people to hold the ropes instead of just 2.

The penultimate Jenga game.

After wandering through the street of tents and such, we ended up at Jogyesa, which is the largest Buddhist shrine in Seoul and the headquarters of the Jogye sect.

The entrance to Jogyesa, which was overly adorned with lanterns. We thought they might have spelled something with the colors, but we couldn't tell for sure.

More lanterns just inside the entrance, with the seven-tired pagoda in the background to the left of the tree.

How can you take a scolding seriously when your mom is wearing a lotus on her head?

The white lanterns are hung for relatives or friends who have passed on.

The architecture of the temple was amazing- even the doors were beautiful.

A happy Buddha statue at the temple, seemingly asking you for money.

We stayed at the temple for a while, and watched a performance with dancers from the traditional Hahoe masked dance, though it wasn't the original dance itself but rather just the characters from it. After the dancing we met up with some other friends, who had just had dinner. We recommended to them that they watch the performance, and then Dayna, James and I went to get something to eat.

Girls in Hanbok, traditional Korean clothing, waiting for something.

James knew a small place in a back alley in Insadong that served home-made mandu (dumplings) that was delicious.

My favorite Korean food - steamed mandu.

After dinner we headed back to the main street by the Jongno subway station, which is where the lotus lantern parade was to be held.

Lining up waiting to start the parade

It started drizzling right around this time, and since the sun was going down it got rather chilly as well. We decided to move from where we were to get a better view, so we switched to the other side of the street. And before we saw anything, we heard this:

The parade was fascinating. I sat next to James the entire two hours, and we talked about all the different floats, people, and just random weird stuff that kept passing by us. After the parade was over, we headed to the subway to go home, at which point I realized I'd left my bag with my lanterns, my candy, and my brochures under my seat by the parade route. But it was late, I was cold, and I just wanted to go home, so I didn't go back for them.

Here are the photographic and video highlights from the parade:

I tried to catch the peacock on film while it was breathing fire, but it didn't want to cooperate.