Wednesday, March 23, 2011

JC's birthday & more

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( JC & our Korean teachers )


First order of business; Happy Birthday JC! 

He turned 27 on Saint Patrick's Day. Naturally, it was another excuse for a fun night out. JC printed out invitations and invited all of us, as well as all of the Korean teachers. This doesn't seem like a big deal or anything, but the Korean teachers at our academy never come out with us. Surprisingly, five of the Champ program Korean teachers showed, and we all had a good time eating galbi and doing some light drinking.

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( Birthday Boy )

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( Liz showing us how it's done )

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( Mindy )

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( Lucy, Grace & Ashley )

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( JC & Justin showing us the birthday North Korean soju )

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( Justin getting serious )

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( Lucy's extreme concentration )

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( Lucy, JC, Grace & Ashley )

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( Myself, JC & Lucy )

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( The Lucy Pose )

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( The Avalon Gang -me ]: )

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( JC, Erik, Liz & Mindy )

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( Mindy )


After dinner, we went to Jurok for some drinks and darts, followed by a fun walk home and some skateboarding.

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( JC )

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( Erik, Connor & Calvin )

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( JC, Justin, myself & Erik )


Saint Patrick's Day Celebration

Because everybody works on the weekdays, which is when St. Patty's fell, there was a big celebration the following weekend in Insadong. On Saturday morning, Erik & I awoke and went down for some festivities. It was actually a really good time. I ran into some SHITY hikers, some Suwonites, and also, met some new friends. I learned how to do a traditional Irish dance that was really fun, and I proceeded to dance for about an hour. We drank a little and ended up at in Gangnam at some point that evening with Ciaran, Sori & Sarah. If any of you are around Korea next Saint Patrick's Day, I would definitely suggest hitting up this party, because it's quite a time.

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( Andrea & myself )

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( Myself & the crowd )

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( some Irish folk enjoying the day )

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( doing some Irish dancing )

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( face painting... I didn't partake. )

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( Erik did. )

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( Ciaran, looking EXTRA Irish )

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( Sori & Sarah )

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( Erik posing with randoms )

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( Some people were into feeding other people beer. )

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( Erik & Ciaran )


Sunday in SamcheongGak with Ji

On Sunday, I met up with Ji for a little exploration. First, we had coffee at a nice little cafe at the base of a mountain in the Hansung University area. Nice atmospher; good coffee. After that, it was time for adventure. There is a big wall that runs along a mountain ridge behind the Blue House (Korean White House) to protect from assassinations and such. We took an invigorating walk through the neighborhood where all of the ambassadors live. We saw lots of big houses, and eventually reached the base of the mountain ridge. We had the choice of either walking up the hiking trail to reach the ridge or exploring the cultural center that was right there. Naturally, we chose to poke around the site that was right there in front of us. There were no exhibitions going on, but we were able to see some cool statues and interesting architecture. We even found a door that lead to a bunch of props that are used for the exhibitions. We took turns snapping photos in the old school king hat. It was great. After our explorations were complete, we made our decent from the mountain. Once at the bottom, we ate some donkasu (fish, hamburger & pork). It was delicious. The fish was best. Then, we went our separate ways. She went to work, and I headed out to Yongsan to catch a movie. I saw Fighter, which was pretty damn great. After that, I called it an early night, and went home to my cozy bed. Another successful weekend under my belt!

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( Cafe lights that I have totally seen in Readymade )

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( Cafe shelves )

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( Flags associated with the ambassador area )

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( One of the many buildings )

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( Ji says that I look like a stalker in the photo )

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( My king hat photo )

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( Ji's king hat photo )

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( Taking pictures in a court yard )

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( Ji taking photos )

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( Ji taking more photos )

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( building at SamcheongGak )

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( lanterns )

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( Buddha )

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( pagoda )

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( my donkasu meal )

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( another cafe )

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( ordering )

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Two Weekends in Mapo-gu

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( Theater Zero entrance )



I have been spending a great deal of time in the Mapo area lately. I was in Hongdae multiple times in the last two weeks and in Sinchon a couple times. I think it's the music. Pretty much, yeah. It's the music. This post will be mainly photos, because there is too much story to tell. Hopefully the pictures tell the story well enough.


3/5 Itaewon (이태원)

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( Akara Picnic: best kebabs in Seoul! -Itaewon )

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( Yeah, these people exist in Korea, too. )

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( Calvin )


3/5 Sinchon (신촌): Yaletown

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( Erik chowing on some poutine at Yaletown )

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( Poutine looks like vomit, but tastes like not-vomit. )


3/5 Hongdae (홍대)

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( Erik at Garage Bar )

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( Garage Bar )

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( Holding a fist-full of won will make anybody look awesome. )

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( CHELSEA! )

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( Pyramid )

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( She guessed correctly. Look how excited she is! It's a fun game. )


3/6 Hongdae (홍대)... again.

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( Toy Museum )

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( Ji )

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( Ji & Sang-ji attacking a machine, because it wouldn't give us our prize. )

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( Awesome bookstore! )

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백합유리잔 백합유리잔 ) 

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에몬 에몬 )

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( 아멜리레코드 )




3/11 Beomgye (범계)


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( makguli bar )

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( Chelsea )

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( David )

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( makguli bar )




3/12 Samcheong-dong (삼청동)


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( Signs )

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( I had coffee here, but sadly, there was no roof-too seating left. )

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( Some nice buildings )


3/12 Itaewon  (이태원) 


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( I bought a skateboard at Tussa. )

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(  The staff was really friendly! )

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( Erik, in front of a wall of skateboards )




3/12 Hongdae (홍대)... 네:
Super Sketch at Theater Zero & Second Saturday at Club Spot


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( Yep... that's a subway. )

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( He always plays by the rules. )

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( Amarisse at Super Sketch, showing and selling her art! )

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( punks band )

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( another punk band )

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( same punk band )

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( back to Super Sketch )

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( self )

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( products of Amarisse )

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( Jill dancing )

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( Jill & Amarisse )

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( great band... don't know their name. sad. )

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( same great band )

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( same )

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( Martin & Erik ROCK )

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( PAPER )

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( SCISSOR )

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( Erik with our new friends at Club FF. 5am. )


3/13 Hongdae ( 홍대)... mmhmm

No photos here, but I returned to Hongdae the next evening to have dinner with JC, Katrina, and friends. The main reason I made the trek was spend a little time with Hiroko, who was visiting from Japan. She was so kind of hospitable to us in Japan, that I wanted to say hi and attempt to return the favor. I didn't have enough time to do so, but it was still pleasant to see her and Nabe, and also to meet a couple of their friends.