Scribbled Journeys: March 2010

Lizze and I have been wanting to spend some time at Insadong, an area with tons of galleries, so last Sunday we cleared our calendars and prepared for a day of “culture”. We got there and walked around a bit, waiting to meet up with Steve, another friend. We passed several signs for galleries, but didn’t go in. Then, one caught my eye, “Knife Gallery”. I don’t know why it stood out, but I suggested we take a look. We weren’t expecting much as we walked down the narrow stairway and I laughed a little at the sign on the door that read, “PHOTO? OK!” Then we walked inside. We ended up walking around for quite a while, taking lots of pictures, and even waiting for Steve to get there, so we could show him too. Here is some of what we saw:

After that we walked down to Toto Gallery. Now, I had read about this place before going and thought I knew what to expect, but it was way crazier than I had imagined. I only purchased one souvenir, but took a bunch of pictures. We probably circled the place at least five times, always seeing new things. It wasn’t even the items themselves that were all that interesting in many cases, but how they were arranged. Here are some examples:

Yes. Yes they do...

Look's like Hellboy's movin' in on Fiona...

The 'backside' of one of the displays.

I'm going to have nightmares about this one.

"Over where?"

"Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!"

Random nativity...?

Don't we all need a pair of these shoes?

Hellboy's domestic side.

Run Cinderella! Run!

The original plan had been for Steve to join us for a couple hours before leaving for a soccer game, and Lizze and I would finish the day at Insadong on our own. However, he invited us to join him and his friends and we decided that, as it was FC Seoul’s first home game of the season, we would do that and save the other galleries for another day.

Our boys are in red.

The other side...

Our first game! ^_^

And so, a day of “culture” turned into a day of knives, toys, and soccer – not too bad, I’d say.

(As always, more pictures at http://www.flickr.com/photos/scribbledjourneys/)

You know that drawer in your house that is the catch-all for odds and ends? I’m convinced that everyone has one. No matter how well you organize, there are just some things that don’t have a particular home, and some times when you don’t have time to find the perfect place for things. So everything gets thrown together into one drawer and they all go together simply because of the fact that they don’t. Well, this blog is like that.

Dumpster-diving and thrift-store shopping: Now, I know there are thrift-stores in Korea because I visit one often, however, many times when people want to get rid of things they just put it out in the trash area (it’s not actually in a dumpster, to I’m not actually diving in, but whatever). There is often nothing wrong with these items other than that their previous owners decided to get rid of them, so they are perfect for people like me and my friends who want to furnish our apartments for, um, free. So a stroll through the local apartment trash areas can prove to be quite profitable. For instance, I looked at several stores trying to find a shelf of some sort to store my kitchen items, but had no luck. Then Lizze and I visited a couple dumpsters and I found the perfect new addition to my kitchen. (Is is gross to store food in something I technically got from the trash? I promise I cleaned it well and even lined the drawers). I’d show you a picture, but my kitchen is really messy right now and I don’t feel like cleaning it… maybe later… I also really enjoy visiting my local thrift-store. While the prices aren’t quite as good as the dumpster, they’re pretty close. I heard from a friend of mine, who speaks Korean and can actually talk to the people who work there, that the store gets new items every day, but there are a bunch of older women who show up early and get all the really good stuff. So, on Saturday Muang, Lizze, and I went right at opening (we seriously waited in line with three other women until the doors opened right at 10:30). We found some great things and I got a tall lamp that is exactly what I had been wanting for my apartment. It was pretty intense, but our dedication was rewarded.

Joint-custody: Lizze and I decided to adopt a child together and have joint-custody. Our baby is a little 5 octave keyboard and is currently living with me, but Lizze is allowed to visit on weekends. We adopted her from a guy in Ansan and brought her back to Bundang via the subway. This meant a 1 ½ hour trip there, then a 1 ½ hour trip back carrying the keyboard and stand (no case) up and down stairs, and in and out of different trains as we switched lines. We got some funny looks and woke up the next day with sore arms, but she’s worth it. Now we can play and write music to our hearts’ content… until we have to put her up for adoption again in about 10 months…

A new term: March 1^st was the beginning of Spring term, which will last for the next 13 weeks. Last week I was sad to say goodbye to my students as I had really grown attached to them. Sure some of them are little brats, but they were my little brats! I’m teaching some different classes this term, so I will have to get used to those, but I’m sure that in 13 weeks I’ll be just as sad to leave these students… at least, I hope. Here is one of my favorite “student stories” from this last term:

We were doing a project where they had to get in groups and pretend they had been hired to get rid of ghosts or monsters. I walked up to a group of three boys who had chosen to get rid of zombies.

Me: How do you kill zombies?

Boys: Fire! Throw it in sea! Bomb!

Me: You have to get in the head – shoot its brains out!

Boy 1: No, that doesn’t work.

Me: What?! Haven’t you seen any zombie movies?

Boy 1: That’s just movies. That’s not real.

Sorry, I forgot we need to be realistic about our zombie slaying….

Okay, in closing this blog of random thoughts and happenings, here are some pictures. A few I took recently, and a few, appropriately, I forgot were on there and just uploaded.

I don't know which I like best - the strange menu, or the punctuation...