Halloween in Korea

HOLY CRAP I had an amazing weekend. Playing zombie in Seoul was a ridiculously awesome experience.



First, let's backtrack. On Thursday I had a Halloween party with my kids at the suggestion of many amazing TaLK scholars. For each of my classes, we went trick-or-treating to the library and teacher conference room, played pin the nose on the pumpkin, did a mummy wrap and unscrambled the letters in Halloween and recorded a message for our penpals! I should have a video compilation done soon. All photos of the Sojeong Elementary Halloween party can be seen here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/album.php?aid=8409&id=295700354


That night I also went to a concert that featured one of my student's fathers as a performer. They also had Pansuri singing, a traditional Korean style of singing! http://www.facebook.com/annunc1ata?v=app_2392950137#!/video/video.php?v=508860385508

On Friday afternoon, I found out about a Seoul Zombie Walk on Saturday and immediately began rearranging my plans to go. I saw Paranormal Activity 2 in Suwon with Luke on Friday evening and made my way up to Seoul on Saturday afternoon.

I met up with my friend Tammy, a Gongju TaLK scholar, in Itaewon. We went to What The Book?, Korea's best foreign bookstore, and ate at Gecko's Bar and Grill-- I had a tofu enchilada, yum! Tammy and I took the metro to Seoul Park and started doing our makeup.

We began walking through the park at about 9:30pm, then made our descent upon the metro. About 40 zombies lumbered through the Seoul metro train, freaking out the local Koreans. We actually had a very angry man almost call the cops on us. Kayla, Miok, and Kristen met up with us on the subway as zombie hunters with terrifyingly realistic toy guns!



We continued the scaring in Hongdae, I'm sure there will be many pictures.
To help you be there, I posted this on my Picasa. A compilation of the photos taken by my friends last night.

http://picasaweb.google.com/nyxnightingale/ZombieHalloween#

I came home to Jochiwon and slept for 5 hours. My feet are swollen and the bottoms are bruised. I have a cough and a sniffle from wearing fishnet stockings in Korean autumn. My throat is hoarse from rasping "Nuwaeee.." all night at the unsuspecting Koreans. But I had a fan-fraking-tastic time and I wouldn't have done anything different.

A Floridian's lessons in cold weather..

It's cold! Monday brought a chill through Korea, and I'm taking it with as much strength as I can. But as a lifelong Floridian, I am not used to this cold. At all. This winter shall be.. interesting. My face and hands are red from the cold and it's not even November!



The ginko leaves have all turned yellow and fallen off the trees due to the sudden chill, and all the beautiful fall wild flowers that popped up in September have drooped and withered.

I have learned a few things in this unfamiliar cold, known for generations of northmen:
1) Scarves can be stylish, but are essential in cold weather. Putting on a scarf properly by placing front, crossing back and tucking in keeps your neck toasty where a coat can fail.
2) Pockets are not just for storing keys and cell phones. Keeping one's hands in one's pockets while walking keeps them from turning purple. Always a good thing.
3) Layers. Layers don't make sense in Florida, and the hipster fashion of layering clothing clearly originated in colder climates, but it makes a lot of sense here.

And always, my friends, always walk in the sunlight.

Seoul Sistas

Took off for Seoul this weekend with the dream team; Corrie, Stephanie and Emily! I cannot reiterate enough how awesome it is to have these three ladies in my Korean life! I only wish they lived closer so I could go on more adventures with them!


ANYWHO, our destination was the G20 Summit Concert / Asia Song Festival at Olympic Stadium in Seoul. There we some of Asia's (but mostly Korea's) top pop music groups/ singers including; 2PM, KARA, B2ST, BoA, AND the crown prince of Korea himself, RAIN! Jackie Chan was supposed to be there, but it was a damned lie. We got a video of him saying hello in badly dubbed Korean.

Following the concert, we found a lovely love motel to rest our heads and went dancing in Hongdae. It was a damn good night.

The following day, we met up in Myeongdong for some shopping time! Myeongdong is a dangerous place indeed-- Especially the 4-story Forever 21 store. We ate curry for dinner and went our separate ways. But had a dramatically adorably ridiculous rendition with the four of us singing "All My Loving" in Seoul Station.

Coming home to Jochiwon after such an amazing weekend kinda blew, and Monday was the coldest day I've had here. Luckily my parka from back home arrived just in time! It kept me cozy on a listless night.

Lost in Busan

I went to Busan this weekend. Busan is the second largest city in Korea and it is on the far southern coast of Korea! It was remarkably warm and sunny for our entire stay-- and in long sleeves, jeans and boots, I unfortunately did not dress for the occasion! Though I did wade in the waters of the Eastern Pacific ocean! It was really quite breathtaking, and wonderful to see the ocean again!

We spent most of our time in Haeundae Beach, where Korea's largest aquarium, the Busan Film Festival, and the Busan Museum of Art lay rest. The museum was absolutely trippy and a refreshing splash of weird in Korea!

The huge downside of this trip was the cost of transportation. I probably spent close to 100,000 won in train fare ($40 one way), taxis, buses and metros. It was way more than I wanted to spend, but I got to see a new city and I am glad I went while I could still enjoy the beach!

But overall, a good time was had by all!

Fun Times in Seoul

I went to Seoul this weekend! Not without bumbling adventure, I got desperately lost on the subway but played the "stupid Miguk" and got help from people who felt sorry for me. Standing in the rain, asking for directions, hair wet, hand-drawn map colors running, I must've looked pretty pathetic. I am grateful for the kindness of strangers.

But the reward? Classes and dinner with the beautifully amazing Belynda Azhaar (http://www.azhaardance.com). I learned some cool choreography, got new fire-colored fan veils, AND met some amazing new friends!

After dance and dinner, I met up with my superfriend Ben and had an awesome time bar hopping in (Sh)Itaewon and dancing in Hongdae! I saw my first car collision in Korea in Itaewon, and subsequently a very very VERY angry Korean man yelling at the bus driver in the middle of the street. I hadn't gone clubbing in Seoul before, but there are SO many foreigners there, even Hongdae was full of waygooks. I didn't even feel like I was in Korea.

Apologies for no pictures, I will be a better documenter in the future!