The Cultural Us~

We did some cultural activities during the past few weekends and here's the update. First was the visit to Samcheonggak with my classmates TaeHo and Mamiko. We had to visit a cultural site and submit a short report on the place and our thoughts as our midterm assignment for our class on Korean Language and Culture. Samcheonggak was a retreat for past emperors and aristocrats in the olden times and is now open to the public for visit. There were structures built along the mountain slopes and the compound was scenic and tranquil.

We also went for another project outing with sq's group and visited the Seoul Museum of History with Minjin, Katherine and William. The museum teaches the public about the history and culture of Korea's capital city, Seoul, from the prehistoric age to modern times.

And lastly, we watched a play called "Line 1" with our Korean friends and the KU people at a small theatre along Hyehwa street. The streets in the area are lined with many small theatres and cafes and have a rich cultural atmostphere. I felt that the play was interesting as it was actually a rock musical, which made it very lively. I liked the story and music as well. Here's a picture of us taken with cast.

Dinner with Korean friends

I went out with 2 korean friends some time ago and was brought to nice places for dinner.

First was with Ahmi (Flora and RX's classmate), who brought the 3 of us to a nice italian restaurant called Nolita near school. The restaurant is tucked in a quiet corner of the busy Ewdae street and is small but cozy. The ambience is good and has the perfect setting for a nice dinner with pals. The food was delicious as well and according to Ahmi who lived in Europe before (she went to Finland for exchange), they serve authentic italian food. I enjoyed the spaghetti, salad and bread a lot... It's really a refreshing taste from the usual korean food which I've been eating. Thanks to Ahmi who introduced us to the place, as the restaurant is really quite difficult for foreigners to locate.

Next up was dinner with Minjin, my classmate and language exchange partner, Flora and sq. Minjin is a korean who emigrated to Canada since young and has lived in Japan for a year before and is now back in Korea as an exchange student. We will meet up informally whenever we can to learn new languages over a casual setting. I'll teach her Chinese and she'll teach me Korean and Japanese. Dinner that day was grilled chicken, vegetables, noodles and rice tossed in hotplate, followed by dessert of fruit yoghurt. It was a happy night out as dinner and dessert were yummy and we learnt many new Korean and Japanese vocabulary from Minjin~ =)

More Spring Pictures~

RX, Flora and I have made it a routine to take pictures around our school every friday after lessons in order to capture the changes of the trees and flowers during spring time. So here are the photos for this week. I think the buildings and scenery here look pretty, especially with the blooming flowers and greens.

Later in the day, all 4 of us went to cut our hair at a salon in Ewdae ( Ewhwa Womens University street). I guess my new hair looks pretty much the same as my normal hairstyle, so I'm quite happy with it. Here's the before and after pictures for comparison. =)

After getting our hair done, we ate japanese food for dinner at an eatery in the area. Everyone looked good in the new hair, especially Shen Nan who looks so much like a korean girl now...

And more pictures of us in our new hair. Heh~

Happy Day in Everland!

We went to Everland with the KU people on Sunday and had a great time there. The weather was bright and sunny but a little cold.

As it is spring now, the flowers are in full bloom and there were flowers festival and parades held there. The theme park was crowded with people and there were even helicopters from MBC and SBS hovering in the air to capture the images.

And this is the filming site for some scenes of the korean drama "My Love Pazzi" featuring Kim JaeWon, Jung Nara and Kim Raewon.

The kids there were so cute... And the whole theme park was filled with them. Take a look...

And lastly, more random pictures of us. Mr Eng Teck took more than 900 pictures alone on his camera, so you can imagine how many pictures we took in total. It was indeed a happy day for all of us and we enjoyed ourselves very much~

A Fun Filled Day

We went to the Seoul World Cup Stadium 2 weeks ago and had a good time exploring the place. The atmosphere was great as Korea was having an international friendly with Uraguay that day, so there were volunteers there early in the morning for preparations and fans were spotted as well. Security was extremely tight as the Korean team was practising in the stadium while we were there. It was a pity that we could not enter the stadium to see the players or how it looked like inside.


In the afternoon, we went to Itaewon, which I personally find it boring. The streets are lined with stalls and shops selling hip hop clothings and accesories and sportswear mainly. The place is frequented by many Americans as there as the American army camp is based near the area.

In the evening, we went to Hangang at Yeouido Park to celebrate sq's birthday and stayed there till nightfall. We had a fun time there playing with firecrackers and enjoying the night scenery of the river, even though it was chilly at night.

Next, we proceed to Outback steakhouse nearby for dinner. Along the way, we passed by MBC ( one of the TV stations here) and here's the pictures taken for the night.

And finally, presenting to you my favourite picture of the day... (Credits to Mr Eng Teck for the photography and editting of the pictures!)