식객

My favorite Korean movie is now on television. It's been running all month on OCN, and I LOVE it! In Korean, it's called 식객 which translates into "Le Grand Chef". I watched it perhaps three times on the flights to and from Korea in March (for Spring Break) ... and on the internet numerous times ... and NOW ON TV!

But there's no subtitles. I still remember what happens though, haha. I hate that Bong-ju (봉주) played by LIM Won-Hie (임원희). BUUUT I love Sun-Chan (성찬) played by KIM Kang-woo (김강우). And everytime that "little sister" (여동생) dies, I cry. Sad, huh?

PS, 여동생 isn't a PERSON. It's a cow. You have to watch the movie to understand. And when 할아버지 dies, I'm saddened as well. But the movie is SO great. I LOVE IT!

And 봉주 really is a jerk.

I Think I Really wanna see this ...

"One of the most amusing sights that the Korean has ever seen regularly occur on White Day, in front of Ewha University in Seoul. Ewha is a premier women's university, and men who are not employed by the school are not allowed to enter the school grounds (except a few extremely lucky souls, mostly exchange students from outside Korea.) This is because Ewha was established in the late 19th century when women getting any education was highly disapproved; no man (usually a father of a student) could enter the school in order to drag the student out and put her back to the kitchen.

The rule survives today, which lends to the sight. On White Day, outside of the front gate of Ewha, you can see litterally hundreds of young men, each carrying flowers and candies and awkwardly dressed in their best, waiting for their girlfriends to come out of the school. The most amusing thing is that across the street from the gate, there is a building that has a set of wide steps in front of it, like a platform. That platform is completely filled with men carrying flowers, standing on their tiptoes to get a better view of the gate, many of them on their cell phones talking with their girlfriends. The men themselves don't realize it, but to a passerby, the sight is incredibly hilarious. In fact, the group as a whole was given a nickname - ba-bo bu-dae ("the idiot brigade.")"

http://askakorean.blogspot.com/2007/02/happy-commercially-made-up-gift-giving.html

Korean Family Names

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Korean_family_names

I decided that I want to change my (Korean) family name from 조 to 즙. Under "distributions", Wikipedia estimates the number FOUR. FOUR! Really? As opposed to the 1.3 million for my actual family name.

How cool would it be to have a name that only like, four families or clans or whatever are estimated to be using at that time?

Okay, maybe only I think that.

Taking out money just got easier ...

Korea to Issue 50,000 Won Bank Note

Korea will issue a 50,000 won ($35.93) bill in May or June after beefing up anti-forgery works, according to the central bank.

The Bank of Korea (BOK) earlier projected to issue 100,000 won and 50,000 won bills in the first half of this year. On Thursday, it decided to drop a plan to issue a 100,000 won bill at the request of the government amid controversy over its design and effectiveness, but will push to issue the other new bill as planned.

Currently, 10,000 won notes are the country's highest-denominated bills, followed by 5,000 won and 1,000 won.

"The BOK plans to make public the final version of the 50,000 won bills in February and to put the notes into circulation starting in May or June," an official at the BOK said.

Shin Saim-dang, a renowned female writer and calligraphist, is to be featured on the 50,000-won bills. Shin was also the mother of Yulgok, one of the most respected scholars of the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1910).

Happy Seollal!!!

Seollal, for those of you who don't know, is the Lunar New Year. POLY celebrated by giving us a four day weekend. WAHOO! (^_^)

Now, because of this four day weekend goodness, I peaced out on Saturday morning and caught a bus from Anyang station to Daejon. Now, let me explain some things. I went down to Daejon for Chuseok, which is a major Korean holiday, in September. A normal bus ride should take about two hours. Chuseok weekend, it took about two and a half. Saturday morning? Holiday traffic PLUS snow equaled SIX HOURS ON THE BUS! SIX EFFING HOURS.

But it was all worth it. When I got to Daejon, Sung-won appa picked me up at the station and took me back to their apartment. Sun-Hyung oppa was there, and together we had a dinner of insanely spicy (yet delicious!) chicken ... and then we met with his friend, Noah, and hung out. Sunday morning, I GOT TO USE A REAL SHOWER!!!, I spent time with Sun-Hyung oppa, had nap-time in the living room while he studied, and chilled out. Sun-Hyung oppa and his friend Hyung-ho oppa took me to see a movie on Sunday afternoon - "Valkyrie". After that, we went to church.

Monday, I ate tteok-guk with Sun-hyung oppa, umma, and appa ... and appa's brother, appa's brother's wife, appa's nephew, and hal-mon-nee!!! I really missed hal-mon-nee (grandmother), so that was nice. (^_^) After umma's homemade tteok-guk, I was taught how to do the traditional Korean bow, and so they had me bow to hal-mon-nee, and then umma and appa ... and I received money! I guess it's a Korean tradition. That's what the kids do. So I laughed.

The trip back to Seoul wasn't as long - I took a bus from Daejon to Cheonan, and then I just hopped the subway from Cheonan to Beomgye. It took maybe ... two and a half hours total. That was nice.

It's been insanely cold this weekend. But, we all know that I do enjoy the cold. However, I think I'm getting a little sick. So I'm trying to take more care of myself. I went out to buy groceries today, and after trying like, four different stores, realized that it's a major holiday and therefore stores simply aren't open. Grrr.

Tomorrow. :)

Also tomorrow, I'm hoping to find an art exhibit in Sinsa-dong that I've read about. I'm quite intrigued. Wish me luck!

Hope you're all keeping warm, and that you had a nice Lunar New Year, too. (^_^)

... I couldn't think of a title ...

Well, I didn't get to see "쌍화점" today, like I hoped. Buuuut I get see "Transporter 3" ... which was neat ... ANNNNNND 선혛오빠 which was FABULOUS! Annnnd then after dinner, I met 창기오빠 in 교대 at Janus and got to listen to a REALLY amazing drummer from the states ... in-freaking-credible.

So, all in all, it was a pretty fabulous day. (^_^)

It's actually been a pretty fabulous weekend. Last night was good, hanging out with a group of people ... Pretty neat. And today was great.

So, all in all, I'm happy.

PS, I went to this open market in Anyang for the first time and it was AMAZING ... and I'm going back soon. Just so y'all know.

Scmap Seattle Sixth Edition

One of my photos made it?

Weird.

http://www.schmap.com/seattle/sights_churches/#r=none&mapview=Map&tab=Places&p=41851&topleft=47.70006,-122.37276&bottomright=47.58857,-122.27629&i=41851.jpg

Go to that link and select Saint James Cathedral ... and scroll through those photos. I swear one of them is mine - they even credited me. :)

Random, huh?

Watch this.

Seriously. Just watch it.



The piano score is called "River Flows in You" and it is composed by that lovely Korean man named 이루마 (Yiruma). This is the song that I fell in love with a year or two ago. It is quite possibly my favorite song EVER. It's so beautiful. It's the reason I wanted to learn how to play piano (and the reason I took piano lessons during my last semester). No matter how frustrated, tired, sad, upset, etc I am ... if I listen to Yiruma, it's all better. No lie. Anyways, the original version that I heard didn't have lyrics. Buuuut I heard this on his website, and I nearly fainted ... especially the part where he says "holding you, holding you, it's in you, a river flows in you" ... So seriously. Listen to it.

And then, watch the original version.



And then, watch my newest favorite of his that I just found called "Maybe."



AND THEN, watch "Kiss the Rain".



I promise, it will be the best fifteen minutes of your day.

Happy New Year's!!!

Love you all!!!

JYP!!!

So, on Sunday a group of us (seven) went down to Daegu to surprise Amanda for her birthday ... with tickets to a JYP (박진영) concert!

It was fabulousness. JYP puts on a good show. His opening act was a new group called 2 PM. Of course, upon arriving home, I YouTubed them - so check out the video below of "10 out of 10".



Then JYP began his part of the show with an INSANELY long intro. It was cool, though. And the venue was small, which meant that our third to the last row seats weren't that bad. The title of the show was "One Night Stand" ...

Promotion video, anyone? He's the shirtless guy. For a 37 year old man, he really can MOOOOVE!



Please enjoy. :)



I'll post more about Daegu and hanging out with Hannah soon ... but now I gotta go!