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.

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.

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.

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As many of the good old local cafes have been replaced by global coffee companies, the new technology has also changed the tool of sales management.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.

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.

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?

Red

Today's photo is a reminder of July's theme day: the colour red. Red guitar and red piggy banks. I don't know why, but red pigs are dominant for saving boxes here in Korea.

Sale

Have you queued up for sale? Last Saturday I was in line above and bought two pairs of shoes with 30% reduction.

Jesa

In Korea, most of families perform ancestor-memorial services on the dates when our ancestors passed away. We simply call it 'Jesa(祭祀).' Since my dad is the eldest son, we have a couple of days a year for memorial. The biggest part about the services is preparing food for our ancestors' ghosts and there are certain types of food that must not be missed and also some rules about displaying plates such as red in east and white in west, fish in east and meat in west and so on. In front of the table, all the family members (some families don't allow women to participate) make a bow. After the ceremony, we share the food, which is the best part to me.^.^ Due to my dad who is a fruit seller, we served some exceptional fruits on the left. I hope my ancestors liked them even though they didn't ever know what pineapple, melon and banana are.

Crane

Since the industry era in 1960s, there hasn't been a day without a crane in Seoul.

Light

"He asked his father like this, 'why does pain exist?' 'In order to make changes in action.'"

Currently I'm reading a book titled "Le Papillon Des Étoiles" by Bernard Werber, a French writer, and these two phrases from a page I read today made me contemplate for a short while. It doesn't necessarily have to be pain to make some changes but sometimes, or often, a sort of shock treatment brings the most prompt result. I know today's caption is not really about things in Seoul but, if you let me make some excuses, the photo of a light was taken is Seoul and the book is no. 1 on the best-selling list at the moment.

Thirst

Again the weather was too hot and, without anything to drink, it was difficult to walk and stand on streets, or evn take a step. All these disposable cups were supposed to be put in a dustbin but I couldn't see anything nearby.

Take Off Your Shoes at Restaurants

When being treated food at some restaurants in Korea, what puts non-Korean, mostly Westerners, in a difficult situation would be taking off their shoes to get to the table. The life style in Korea has been Westernised in many ways, but there are still lots of traditional forms we maintain, for instance, preference for sitting style.

These are pairs of shoes at a restaurant where I stopped for lunch. Which one do you think is mine?

Drying Laundry

The sky in Seoul is full of skyscrapers, but between them, there are some unexpected spots like this. Well, it is not truly 'unexpected' though because, after all, Seoul is a place where people live.