So Long

Probably you have noticed the lack of my response to comments since this autumn, and actually I've been thinking about stopping daily blog. For the past few months, amusement has turned into a burden and I simply didn't have much time to endeavour so I had to post most of photos right before going to bed. Because of this tiring routine, I haven't managed to properly interact with visitors, which I think is also a very important function of a blog besides posting.

My daily Seoul blog stops here, but another story goes on at my new blog - Cozmopolitan Sunkyoung. So you can continue to see 'what's the craic' in Korea.:)

It's been exactly 5 months since I opened Everyday Seoul. This blog has been a very special experience to me, and I truly appreciate all your visits, comments, interests in Korea. "고맙습니다! (Ko-map-sup-ni-da: Thank you very much in Korean)"

Notes

Since last year, we've have new notes with smaller sizes, some different colours and designs. 1,000 won is the smallest, amounting to app. 075 euro cents. In 2009, we will have brand new 50,000 won and 100,000 notes as well.

Season of Reading

It can be said now we are in the early winter but I still want to hold on to the last page of this year's autumn. Besides the season of men (don't know from where this nickname came from), the autumn is also called 'the season of reading' in Korea because the cooled down weather suits well for reading. I'm currently reading 'Status Anxiety' by Alain de Botton, my favourite philosopher and writer and this books gives me a lot of inspirations and comfort. What are you reading these days?

Writing a letter

This is my friend, Heejeong who's writing a card for me. When was the last time you wrote a letter or card? Me, on Monday a birthday card for my Mom. Since e-mail appeared, we almost abandoned our habit of writing an epistle with a pen on paper and, despite email's efficiency, this has made us more thirsty for human touch.

Sunset

Korean peninsula has its three sides surrounded by the sea and, shortly after getting out of the city centre, you can reach the West Sea (or Yellow Sea). Cold sound from the sea and warm light from the sun... With just a little bit of touch, the nature makes human being modest.

Metro in the Autumn

Seoul Metro runs mostly underground but in some routes it also goes overground. Looking at the green line metro leaving the golden leaves behind and entering the station, I with it were a train to the coloured forest.

Apartment

Seoul is under construction all the time. I can't help but wonder, no matter how many apartments and houses are built, why there are always so many people who can not own their house. In this capital city of over 10 million of inhabitants, a quarter of the country's total population, this height of apartment is completely normal.

Seoul Gaels GFC

As wells as liaison officer of Irish Association of Korea, I am a friend of Seoul Gales Gaelic Football Club, the biggest amateur sport club of expatriates in Korea. This FC consists of mostly Irish and also has players from Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc. Today they had the last match of the season and, for this final, I got involved to have booked the artificial pitch in Hanam, one of satellite cities around Seoul. Gaelic football rooted in Ireland is a mixture of football, rugby and basketball, and sets up poles on the both sides of a goal post so there are two ways to score up, over/under a horizontal bar.

Spring

"Spring" the figurative art co-designed by Swedish American Architect, Claes Oldenburg and his wife, Coosje van Bruggen, is standing at the beginning spot of Cheonggyecheon. This figure shaped from Indian seashell represents the motifs from Korean ceramic ware, Hanbok (Korean traditional costume), and the full moon that inspired the artists.

Fire Prevention

Today is "Ipdong(入冬)", the onset of winter in lunar calendar, and this new season is immediately followed by 'Fire Prevention Season.' After work, I just found the new poster for this year was posted on the wall. If this poster gave me the impression of Christmas mood, however, would I be too injudicious?

What's Going On?

When I was walking along Cheonggyecheon after lunch, a mouse fell into the water after failing to spill juice from a cup which a girl sitting on the edge put beside her. The mouse was pawing the air to get out of the water and finally managed when it reached a foothold to the stepping stones. Having watched the whole procedure, and on this photo, people are looking at the soaked mouse at the corner that were trying to come up to the footpath.

Signs

The signs of three restaurants that share one building are standing side by side. The left sign represents 'Ginseng Chicken Soup' restaurant, the middle raw tuna, the right Chinese restaurant whose name means 'huge luck.'

English Differenciating You From Others

It's been long since I posted about English. As I wrote here before, in Korea English is considered not to be just a language tool but rather a method to acquire a higher status in society. This advertisement for English school, I think, clearly represents this tendency as well as western, more precisely American, culture adoration: people looking at up a girl standing on the ladder (my ideal figure is they sit side by side) and the girl wearing a cowboy hat. Speaking foreign languages is not to differentiate you from others but to mingle with them.

Korean Beef

Despite the increasing invasion of import beef from the US and Australia, we still consider our beef the best with its top quality and foreigners who have also had it are fascinated by its taste, which they had never got from steak. If you come to Korea, do not miss eating beef!

Handwritten Bill

As many of the good old local cafes have been replaced by global coffee companies, the new technology has also changed the tool of sales management. Most of cafes, bars and restaurants now are using the POS system with the touch screen calculator. Since this has been very common for long, I barely recognised this change until I saw this handwritten bill at a tea house, "Trinitea" today.

Demonstration

I had a meeting at Seoul station this afternoon, where a lot of people come and go and also is famous for its good qualification to gather people and make them pay attention to various kinds of demonstration. As for today, a group of people protested against the government's decision to ease the restriction on the capital region's development. Apparently, these people came from the provinces, mostly in South and they could no longer stand the excessive centralisation of all the infrastructure, materials, capital, labour etc.

1st Nov Theme Day: The Colour Blue

I even didn't have time to give my vote for this month's theme and just listed my blog yesterday. The colour blue feels cold to me, though, as now the temperature has dropped. Hope you can find any warmth in the colour. My photo shows a blue-floor-papered hallway of metro and two pairs of blue jeans two passengers on the seat are wearing. Pick any city of blue you'd like to see below.

Boston (MA), USA - Cleveland (OH), USA - Philadelphia (PA), USA - Arlington (VA), USA - Cape Town, South Africa - Portland (OR), USA - Sequim (WA), USA - Selma (AL), USA - Arradon, France - Petaling Jaya (Selangor), Malaysia - Stockholm, Sweden - Singapore, Singapore - Wassenaar (ZH), Netherlands - Phoenix (AZ), USA - Seattle (WA), USA - Toulouse, France - The Hague, Netherlands - Moscow, Russia - Fort Lauderdale (FL), USA - Kyoto, Japan - Tokyo, Japan - Saint Paul (MN), USA - Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - Stayton (OR), USA - Maple Ridge (BC), Canada - Detroit (MI), USA - Crystal Lake (IL), USA - Port Angeles (WA), USA - http://www.twincitiesdailyphoto.com/" target="_new">Cottage Grove (MN), USA - Nelson, New Zealand - Bandung (West Java), Indonesia - Greenville (SC), USA - Hyde, UK - Radonvilliers, France - Albuquerque (NM), USA - Nashville (TN), USA - Manila, Philippines - Port Vila, Vanuatu - Saarbrücken, Germany - New Orleans (LA), USA - Bellefonte (PA), USA - Melbourne, Australia - Hobart (Tasmania), Australia - Forks (WA), USA - Wichita (Ks), USA - Barton (VT), USA - St. Louis (MO), USA - Joplin (MO), USA - Chandler (AZ), USA - Quincy (MA), USA - Setúbal, Portugal - Inverness (IL), USA - Christchurch, New Zealand - Toruń, Poland - North Bay (ON), Canada - Le Guilvinec, France - Chateaubriant, France - London, England - Minneapolis (MN), USA - Naples (FL), USA - Norwich (Norfolk), UK - Sydney, Australia - Austin (TX), USA - Mumbai, India - Boston (MA), USA - Santa Fe (NM), USA - Menton, France - Monte Carlo, Monaco - Paderborn, Germany - Montréal (QC), Canada - Jackson (MS), USA - Stavanger, Norway - Orlando (FL), USA - Grenoble, France - Cheltenham, UK - Forks (WA), USA - Mexico City, Mexico - West Sacramento (CA), USA - Silver Spring (MD), USA - Weston (FL), USA - London, UK - Jefferson City (MO), USA - Ocean Township (NJ), USA - Belgrade, Serbia - Paris, France - Shanghai, China - Montego Bay, Jamaica - Montpellier, France - Saint Louis (MO), USA - Wailea (HI), USA - Rabaul, Papua New Guinea - Auckland, New Zealand - Evry, France - New York City (NY), USA - Nottingham, UK - Las Vegas (NV), USA - Oslo, Norway - Minneapolis (MN), USA - American Fork (UT), USA - Cypress (TX), USA - Haninge, Sweden - Trujillo, Peru - Trujillo, Peru - Melbourne (VIC), Australia - Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation - Durban, South Africa - Brussels, Belgium - Anderson (SC), USA - Budapest, Hungary - Wellington, New Zealand - Prague, Czech Republic - Saigon, Vietnam - Ystad, Sweden - Miami (FL), USA - Seoul, South Korea - Hong Kong, China - Melbourne, Australia - Baziège, France - Greensboro (NC), USA - Sharon (CT), USA - Kajang (Selangor), Malaysia

Sweet Red Bean Gruel

Recently the temperature decreased and as a result lots of people including me feel depressed sometimes. Occasional lonesomeness may be solved by warm hugs from your family and friends and, if your physical insides also need some warmth, how about this sweet red bean gruel? Finely ground sweet red bean garnished with chestnuts, red beans and a ginkgo nut will be enough to make your stomach delightful.

Seoul Metro ll

Every stop sign of Seoul Metro is written in three languages: Korean, English and Chinese. And the announcement made on the subway is spoken in both Korean and English. However, when it comes to informing the passengers some critical information, it is not always that script is recorded in English. A friend of mine told me his experience that he didn't understand the next stop would be the terminus. So he left alone for a short time after most of passengers got off the subway whilst a drunk man was lying asleep on the seat. It'd be taking a long time and not be so efficient to teach all the metro drivers English but, instead, when there is the announcement in Korean, some people speaking English can help foreigners who look confused by lost-in-interpretation, or foreigners also can ask some people around them what's going on.

Seoul Metro l

Seoul Metro has been in the big movement of change equipping itself with screen doors, electric bulletin board, LCD advertisement screens etc. One thing unchangeable is, however, that the metro should should place its biggest concern to the passengers.

Baseball ll

Another photo from yesterday's baseball match. In Korean series, the team that wins four out of seven matches becomes winner. As SK Wyverns won three matches in succession, tomorrow's game will be more interesting to see. The photo shows the supporters for SK Wyverns.

Baseball l

Baseball is the most popular sport and this week the final matches, Korean Series, have been started. The two final teams are Doosan Bears and SK Wyverns. Even though I'm currently living in Seoul, I couldn't get tickets in their side as it was their home ground match. As the initials of my given name are SK(Sunkyoung), I had a good reason to support SK Wyverns anyway. After all, SK Wywerns won 4-0 against the poor bears. The big white audience is Doosan Bears' supporters.

Oyster with Rice

Nowadays it is a good season to eat oyster and, among many ways to have it, we chose oyster with rice steamed in a stone pot. It is good indeed to have some food in the right season. Enjoy oyster if you can!

Cinema

After work, I went to the cinema to see one of the recent Korean movie. It started raining but the place was crowded with people who wanted to enjoy a pre-weekend mood. On the wall of this cinema, there were typography of classic films like Ben Hur, Once upon a time in America, Breakfast at Tiffany's etc. What did you do this evening?

The Mysterious Country IRELAND

Earlier this evening I went to a photography exhibition entitled "The Mysterious Country IRELAND" by a Korean photographer. As a passionate lover of Ireland, I couldn't miss this chance. Korea is called Asian Ireland and Ireland European Korea. Some people put Italy for another counterpart. The elements for this allegory are taking big pleasure in singing, dancing, drinking and talking, and being hot-tempered.

Trial of Raw Thornback

Sliced raw thorn back would be possibly less interesting food you can have in Korea. First you chop a raw thorn back and the pieces are sealed in a jar over a week. During this riping process, thorn back, in order to control the osmotic pressure, generates some elements and ammonia. Therefore these cause some stink when we eat it. Raw thorn back is normally served with other two companies, kimchi and steamed pork, and thus they are in total called 'trial.' It was the first time for me to have raw thorn back and I'm glad you cannot smell it on your monitors.

Image Matters

Some of my Korean friends have told me that, on this blog, sometimes my point of view about Korea is quite sarcastic and thus they urged me to post some positive side about things in Korea. I don't intend at all to disappoint them, however, the impression I got from today's post made me uncomfortable. The illustration shows a man and a woman trying to get in the metro door shutting and apparently they are taking risk of being collided by the doors. The caption says "ONLY BECAUSE OF A FEW SECONDS... are you going to let your image be damaged?" The reason why I was upset was Seoul Metro's approach to arousing people's attentions to a certain way of boarding. It should have been guided in the matter of causing danger or injury, not of impairing your image.


Today, I am tagged by Don in Rotterdam, one of my favourite daily blogs, and the rule to play is to list eight random things about myself that you do not know. So here comes mine.

1. I haven't gone clubbing for more than four months.
2. My favourite football players are Thierry Henry and Arjen Robben.
3. I don't like chocolate.
4. I love Dutch cheese.
5. I want to live in Ireland once again.
6. My current goal is to take the opportunity to go to Europe next spring.
7. I need multi-vitamin tablets.
8. I have a tattoo on my lower back.

Queuing at the Platform of Metro

Seoul Metro advises the passengers to queue in four lines at each platform due to the huge number of commuters during the rush hour, and thus these green footstep stickers are kind of guidance.

Tree Behind Glass

Looking at this potted tree behind glass, I thought the tree itself would have been pleased if it were outside the building despite that the air it'd breathe is quite polluted.

Durga

One of the good things about living in a big city is that we can have lots of various types of world food. Nearby my office, I found an Indian/Nepali restaurant and the place was quite busy during lunch time. What do you have for your lunch?

Night View

Irish Association of Korea had its first committee meeting at Hyatt this evening and this means the early step for next year's St. Patrick's Day in Seoul has got on the track. The Seoul branch of this global hotel & resort company is located in the very centre of the capital, in the middle of Namsan (Mt.), and have a view toward the southern part of Seoul along the Hangang (river).

Scarfs

The autumn has arrived and even it seems like the winter's coming soon. Some shops in Insadong are selling scarfs and a number of people are very much interested in them. My colleague and I also bought scarfs today. :) How are you getting yourself ready for the cold climate?

Bike Rack

In Seoul Plaza in front of City Hall, there was an exhibition of public facilities with a touch of design. Instead of this fancy bike rack, however, I think we need more bicycle paths first.

Seoul Chungmuro Intl Film Festival

Like Hollywood to the USA, it is Chungmuro to Seoul that is a mecca of film industry. Mainly due to the enormous expansion of lots of multiplex to commercial areas, people do not necessarily go to Chungmuro for movies any more so it seems the heyday has gone. In an attempt to remain its symbolic value, however, Chungmuro is holding its first ever international film festival. This structure is a film reel covered with flowers and leaves.

Posters

This is one spot in Shinchon, a university quarter, and there are always loads of posters on almost all the walls. They are mostly about music concerts and club parties. It is a kind of good channel from which I get some information about gigs, but sometimes it looks messy.

Sujeong & Kevin's Wedding

As I said about a week ago, today I went to my friends' wedding and the ceremony was held in Korean traditional way. The couple looked so lovely that everyone was amazed by them, and the ceremony was fantastic indeed. I've been thinking that I'd also like my wedding to be this way, and today I made a firm decision to have the traditional wedding. I'll try to post more pictures from the wedding someday.

2007 Seoul Fireworks Festival

Since 2007, Seoul has hosted 'Fireworks Festival' around Yeouid0 area that has, among noticeable architect and bridges, 63 building which I previously posted. As I cannot make it to see the beautiful fireworks tomorrow, I took the poster instead. Have a good weekend!

Tin Robot

Walking on Insadong Street with my colleague, I found this tin robot, a mascot of a boiler manufacturing company. What a perfect symbol for the enterprise!

Breast Cancer Awareness Campaign 2007

Estee Lauder, a mega global cosmetic company, has promoted the awareness of breast cancer and this year the highlight of the event, 'Pink Illumination', was held in Seoul City Hall Plaza colouring the city hall's facade with pink lights. What a pinky idea! This event has also been organised in other cities like NYC, Sydney etc.

Hangeulnal

Today is Hangeulnal, which means ''Korean Language Day." Among the things of which I am proud, Korean takes the best part of it to me because the character itself is quite scientific and simple. Furthermore, as far as I know, Korea is the only country that has the special day for its own language so there is an international language conference on this day. What you see on the photo is the very first Korean text which contains King Sejong's declaration about having our own language. I'm sure Korean is the most beautiful language in the world.:)

People Reading, The Happy Faces

Except the compulsory text books I had to read at school, I am always happy when reading. I stopped by a small photo exhibition named "People Reading, The Happy Faces" at Bandi & Lunis this evening and there were portraits of Korean writers and their favourite books underneath. I'm currently reading Alain de Botton's "Status Anxiety," and what are you reading?

Grand Mint Festival ll

This is the second and the last photo from Grand Mint Festival 2007. Yesterday's highlight was 'Tahiti 80' from France, who just had the first visit to Korea, and a lot of fans including me have been waiting for this moment for so long. They were absolutely fantastic and showed a good manner on the stage.

Grand Mint Festival l

Today there was Grand Mint Festival at Olympic Park, a picnic-like music festival. After sunset, a sponsor gave flash sticks to the audience and they made a beautiful scene.

Bungalow

For a friend's hen party who were mentioned yesterday's post, we gathered for dinner and drinks. We hit the bar "Bungalow" and there were chairs and swings hung from the ceiling and sand on the floor.

Wedding Invitation

Two days ago I got a wedding invitation from a friend of mine who's getting married next Sat and I thought it'd be great for me to show you this. When I saw this invitation in the first place, I couldn't help but smile with this typical picture of mandarin ducks which are known as a symbol of conjugal harmony. (Recently, I read from a book, however, the male mandarin duck is not actually loyal to its partner and I don't know why they are picked up for that symbol.) This picture of birds has a nice meaning but it's a kind of old fashion and immediately my friend said it was not them but the bride's dad who chose this design and it made her so embarrassed.:) Regardless of the picture on the wedding invitation, I bet they will look fantastic on their wedding day. As they will have the Korean traditional wedding, I'm really looking forward to it.

Rice Steamed in Bamboo

Rice is a main dish for Korean and there are various ways to cook it. This one is steamed in the big piece of bamboo cut, including pieces of jujube, ginkgo nut and charcoal. And what you see on the pan are sliced beef and garlic. What a good food! (I think I should avoid posting any further food and restaurant stuff for the time being.^-^)

Thai Restaurant

As I earlier mentioned, Itaewon is a foreign quarter in Seoul so there are lots of various restaurants from almost all over the world. Tonight I went for Thai food and the restaurant had an interesting name, 'Buddha's Belly.' However, I didn't see that body part of Buddha's there, only faces.

Irish Coffee

Since I joined Irish Association of Korea as a liaison officer last December, I've had lots of Irish company in Seoul. One night we gathered for a committee dinner, and before heading to grub, we stopped at a cafe to wait for stragglers. In the meantime, one guy brought some miniature bottles of Jameson sponsored and these Irish lads immediately began to make Irish coffee with the whiskey. :)

Coffest

I hardly drink coffee but do like the smell and a good place for coffee. Cafe, 'Coffeest' aims the best quality coffee so they put the superlative suffix '-est' after coffee. What's your favourite cafe in your city?

Sailing Yacht in Han River

Since 5 working days has become more common in Korea(most of us used to work on Sat until 90's), the way we enjoy our weekend has changed accordingly. Today I was invited to a yacht club in Han River and it was really interesting and also relaxing. Do you do any outdoor activities?