Seoul Theatre

This weekend a co-worker of mine invited me to see a production she was part of, called “Love Recipe”. It was my first non-professional musical that I’ve seen here and it was so fun to watch! The cast was having a great time on the stage and even though I didn’t understand all the jokes, it was very enjoyable.

It got me thinking that I have actually seen a lot of theatre in Seoul, so I thought I’d share my experiences with you :).

A free dance recital, downtown Seoul over Chuseok.

Some bigger productions that I’ve seen are: Les Miserables (in Korean!), Wicked, Phantom of the Opera and the Nutcracker. I absolutely loved each of these. The prices are not outrageous for world-renown shows such as these. I think a tickets for the balcony are 50-70,000 won and the best seats might cost 150,000 won (under $150). We went to see these shows at either the Seoul Arts Centre or Blue Square theatre. The quality of the show is amazing. I saw ‘Wicked’ in Toronto and Seoul and the second time was just as good, if not better (because I knew all the songs ^^).

The girls at Phantom!

These days there are tons of English musicals being adapted into Korean. For example, Les Mis had the exact same music and story line, just the words to the songs were different! I have seen advertisements for Bonny and Clyde, Hairspray and Jersey Boys in Korean. Personally, I think it’s incredible how they can translate songs still with keeping the same tune and meaning.

There are many smaller theatre companies which provide non-verbal shows, such as Nanta, Bibap, and Fanta-stick. Many of these shows include b-boy dancers, and since Korea has some of the best b-boys and b-girls in the world, these shows are unbelievable!

The Ballerina who feel in love with a B-Boy. A must-see!

I would definitely recommend any kind of dance show, and Nanta is also fantastic. The non-verbal shows are great for an international audience, but the few shows I’ve seen in Korean are very easy to follow along with.

These kinds of shows are great for getting involved with Seoul’s modern culture, however there are many traditional performances as well. I’ve stumbled upon many stages with women in hanbok singing or dancing or drumming. It’s always been by chance, except when my Mom came to visit we attended the Andong Mask Festival which is held every fall. These performances were all free and are usually held at festivals with awesome street food :)!

Andong Mask Festival, held every fall.

Those are just a tiny snippet of what is actually available in this city. You could probably go to a new show every night of the week if you wanted to! I didn’t mention concerts and dance festivals and that kind of thing because that is a whole other blog post!

Overall, theatre in Seoul is amazing quality, abundant and relatively cheap. I really want to go to more shows so when I do I’ll keep you updated. 🙂

Our class at the LATT Children’s Theatre.

shopaholic’s paradise

It’s been a while since my last post so I was trying to think of a new topic when it hit me…. I haven’t done a post about shopping!!! :O!
How could I have deprived you of such a post for so long!? Most of you know that shopping has become an addiction of mine this past yeat, and those of you who have come to visit me know why! Shopping (for me) is so abundent that I can’t step out my door without being tempted.

Just. Walk. Away. Haha no chance.

I have to specify “for me” because I happen to be a) female and b) small enough to shop at most stores in Korea. The sad truth is that if you’re above a medium at home, you won’t be able to shop at stores where most of the clothes are “free” size. My feet are also juuust small enough to buy shoes here so shoe shopping is a pleasure for me, rather than the struggle most of my friends go through to find footwear.
Let’s start with my most-frequented shopping district, which is my home, Gangnam. Yes, most of my clothing comes from Gangnam station which makes me officially “Gangnam Style”!! ㅋㅋㅋ

With my Gangnam crew… hard to see but we’re rockin the horsey dance.

The subway station, like many in Seoul, is jam-packed with clothing stalls, jewelry, phones, cosmetics and the best konglish^^! Here you can find adorable dresses, sweaters and skirts on racks that will say ₩5,000 or ₩10,000 (roughly $5 or $10). This is my #1 downfall if I’m trying to save money. It’s just so easy to slip a green bill out of my pocket in exchange for a panda bear sweatshirt.

₩5,000 animal shirts for people?!

Gangnam is also great for brand name stores as the retailer will usually put a really BIG store close to the station. Super fun stores like top ten, innisfree, giordano and kyobo have huge stores along Gangnamdaero.
If you keep going along that main road you’ll get to Sinsa which hosts the famous Garosugil. I mostly go to Garosugil when I want to hit up Forever 21 but there so many nice places along the street. It’s the best place to go if you want to see some funky chic street style. I’m not sure how it magnetically draws in all these super hip people, but everyone there looks like they walked straight off the catwalk.

Looks like I’ll have another reason to visit!!

Myeongdong is a great area to go if you want the (shopping) comforts of home. Tourists and locals alike flock to this shoppung district for stores like h&m, zara, mango and forever 21. The street shopping is really fun here too, if you don’t get carried away by the crown before you have time to look at a booth.

The fun and occasionally offensive hat selection.

Another thing I love about Korea… girls actually wear stuff like this!

The fourth and final area I’m going to write about is Insadong. It’s very different from the shopping I’ve mentioned because it’s not only girlie stuff. Insadong is the best place to buy souveneirs, art, antiques and handicrafts. If you’re looking for a break from the bustling, plastic-surgery ad-strewn streets then head over to Insadong for a different cultural experience.
There are so many more great shopping spots (hongdae, dongdaemun, yeongdongpo etc.) but you get the idea! Oh I almost forgot! The best thing about buying cosmetics- free samples!! Lots of them! I have more free samples than i know what to do with, but they sure come in handy for travelling and to have in my purse!

A small selection of the free samples. FREE ^^

I also have an over-flowing closet… most of my hangers are doubled up, but I do donate clothes every so often.

My closet… never too old to have boy band posters, right!?

So there you have it. Confessions of a shopaholic in Seoul!
Like and comment if you want to hear more about fashion and shopping! ♥

Juno what I want.

There arent many better ways to feel awesome than getting your hair done. I’m currently munching on a blueberry bagel after a wonderful experience at Juno hair and I’m feeling pretty great ^^!

Juno is the second hair salon I’ve been to in Seoul and I think it’s gonna be my new go-to. The first was the Green Turtle in Itaewon which was really nice but after my first visit they stopped giving me the nice head massage. Plus Juno hair salon in Gangnam is much closer to my house.

My visit started with the staff taking my coat and giving me a drink with clementines and cookies. Pretty good start. Then my stylist came over to consult and gush over my hair colour (apparently lots of Asian women spend a lot of time trying to get my colour!).
Already feeling pretty good, I headed over to the shampoo room for a lovely 20 minute wash and massage. Awesome~! Then I sat down with my new bff while she gave me the exact cut I asked for. I had shown her a pic of Emma Stone with a nice side bang and she gave me pretty much exactly that.

The pic I showed her.

The side bang! Don’t worry Grandma, they won’t always be in my eyes, just showing a close-up!

 

I wouldn’t say I’m over the moon about the new cut, simply because it doesn’t look much different than before. I do think it frames my face better and gives my hair more shape. Plus it’s gonna be fun to pin it back with cute clips ^^!
Overall it was a really nice experience and now with my fancypants phone I’m able to update my blog almost immediately! Aren’t you so lucky ;).
Oh, and the whole thing cost ₩25,000 which is quite reasonable- especially for Gangnam.

Bithday shoutout to my baby brother who’s 24 today :D!

halfway?

Time for a bi-annual update on how long I’ve been in Korea! I think I started with 1 month, then 6 months, then a year… so now it’s time for 1 and a half years!!

My new contract is for 18 months so I COULD be half-way through my time in Korea. When I got to my first 6-month mark I knew there was no way I was leaving Korea after one year. At the moment I’m unsure about what I want to do a year and a half from now (seriously, who plans that far ahead?). I still love living in Korea and my new job is going really well so who knows?!

The one thing I do know is that I haven’t been this permanent since I left home at 18. I did 4 years at U of Ottawa but always went home for 4 months between and spent most of my 3rd year abroad in Switzerland. Then I did Teacher’s College and came here! I like the feeling of being settled but am also itching to explore more of Asia. I like the familiarity of my little neighbourhood where I can say good morning to my favourite delivery man or gossip with my Starbucks barista.

So for now I’m definitely staying put but who knows what the next year or so will bring for me :)!

Oppa Gang… enough already!

I have seen a lot of news recently about Gangnam Style being “over” and that people are getting sick of it. While I am definitely sick of hearing the song, the hype over Psy and his horsey dance has come with its benefits and hindrances.

On the bright side – people all over the world are LOVING K-Pop! It’s amazing that people are enjoying listening to a Korean song so much! Hopefully this will encourage people to listen to music in different languages and in turn, learn a bit about other cultures.

exactly!

Psy has also put Korea on the MAP! I mean, two months ago when I told people I live in Gangnam they’d be like “Gang-what?” but now everybody knows what I’m talking about (sorta)!

… my Gangnam.

On the other hand… all the fame and attention towards Psy definitely has its drawbacks. A lot of Korean artists feel frustrated that their music isn’t being taken seriously. I read this yesterday and I can kind of see where he’s coming from.

According to Tiger JK (a Korean rapper), hecklers in the audience insisted that he perform the “horse dance” from the choreography of Psy‘s “Gangnam Style“, and he was unable to hold back his frustration. He tweeted, “Creators project event other night. I went crazy on all them white folks in the crowd, Cussing them out. During my set, these dudes kept telling me to horse dance , F*** rapping just dance. I had to cut all my song short. Without self control. My F*** you turned into F*** everybody To F*** all the white people to F*** CNN To F *** Hollywood. To Fu** all yall who think Asians are here to make you laugh by dancing my ass off. F*** Hollywood thinkin Asians are just a comic relief.”

Tiger JK at the Creator Project

Tiger JK has since apologized, but I can’t really see who’s in the wrong. Is it wrong to make racist comments to people who are acting racist towards you?

If you want to read more along these lines, Ranier “The Falco” attempts to explain the Psy hype on his blog here.

A lot of really hardcore K-pop fans get very haughty when people talk about Gangnam Style. They think people don’t really know K-pop… they just act like they do because they know one song. Personally, I’ve never heard anyone claiming to be a K-pop expert after listening to Gangnam Style.

Um, a little extreme?

To summarize, I don’t think that Gangnam Style is a true representation of K-pop. While it’s a good introduction to K-pop, I don’t think many North Americans realize that there is a huge, creative and diverse music scene in Korea (and all of Asia). So if you loved Gangnam Style (how could you not?), keep in mind that there’s lots more where that came from, but it won’t all be SO ridiculous. 🙂

If you have been living under a rock, here is the original video:

I was going to post another song from Psy’s most recent album but it’s impossible to find a song other than Gangnam Style on youtube! Instead, here is another song that’s very ‘typical’ K-pop.

Hey, I never said it was great K-pop, just typical ;)! That was Gee by Girls Generation (SNSD).

There is soooo much good K-pop out there that I just want to post video after video. For now, I’ll just post ONE more video – super popular at the moment! A beautiful song and really creative video. G-Dragon, That XX:

Home for a… rest?

 “No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.”  ~ Lin Yutang

As most of you know, I just went home to Canada for two glorious weeks. While it was a lovely change from the fast pace of Seoul, my vacation was super busy, visiting family and catching up with friends. It was an awesome time and really made me appreciate some things from home that I hadn’t thought I’d missed.

No beaches like this in Seoul unfortunately…

I loved the fact that I could hop on my bike and be at my grandma’s house in 5 minutes. Biking isn’t really an option in this city, and while there are bike shops and some paths, it’s not a safe or efficient mode of transportation. I definitely took my bike for granted when I lived at home!

I also loved not being glued to my phone every hour of the day. I’m not really a phone-a-holic, but being able to say “I’ll see you when I see you” or “I’ll swing by your place in an hour” rather than texting people constantly to meet up was great.

Reunited and it feels so good 🙂

It was so fantastic to see all of my family and friends again! I keep in fairly close contact with my immediate fam and a few close friends but mostly I rely on facebook to keep me up to date. I know this is so cliche but it really felt like no time had passed since we last saw each other. It’s comforting to know that even though I’m pretty bad at keeping in touch with people, my relationship with them doesn’t change based on how much I talk (or don’t talk) to them.

Some of my favs!

I am still on a high from my visit but I am definitely glad that I decided to stay in Seoul for another term because, as I’ve said before, I’m not ready to leave Korea yet :)!

BEST CITY EVER :)

Click here to read a great article about Seoul and why it’s so awesome.

I loved this article… please please read it! Then maybe some people will actually come visit me 😉 haha! I especially liked:

– #30 – G-Dragon. I never use to get all the hype about this skinny, nasally-voiced guy but have grown to ADORE him and of course his fashion is just amazing.

-#19 – because I know the answer to the first question! What’s the best transgender bar in Itaewon? Queen of course, on Hooker Hill. Fun place!

-#14 – ‘A bang for every occasion’ – now that’s just funny!

-#1 – Galbi definitely earned first place. It’s one of the reasons why I don’t want to leave Korea :P!

Koreaversary!

I know I have been all over facebook with this, but today is my one year anniversary of being in Korea!!!  I guess what I’ve been thinking about recently is what have I accomplished in a year? How have I changed? What have I learned?

Well for starters I really don’t think I’ve changed that much per se. My personality and values are very much the same, but I have definitely changed in some ways.

I’ve learned some useful skills such as how to use chopsticks (like a BOSS) and I’ve learned quite a bit of Korean. Well… I guess ‘quite a bit’ is a relative term. I can’t really say that much in Korean but from my experience I’ve learned more than a lot of other English teachers. Speaking of teaching… I have definitely grown as a teacher. The obstacles and challenges I have had to face at school have made me adapt to situations so much.

Now with all the good that has come from this year there is obviously going to be some bad. I have developed a few bad habits that are going to be difficult to kick. Firstly, I have developed a shopping addiction. The shopping is just so unbelievable here, and it’s been the first year of my life when I’m not a student so… yep, new wardrobe for Gracie. Second, I never cook. Lunch is provided at school and food is just sooo convenient, cheap and delicious that I barely ever use the kitchen. Finally, probably the worst habit I’ve picked up is not being able to say ‘no’ to somek! Somek is a drink made from mixing soju with beer (mekju) and it is a KILLER! It makes for a killer fun night, but a killer hangover the next day.

I love Korea so so much, but I am super excited to go home in August! It’ll be wonderful to see my family and friends, but I am definitely happy that I extended my contract. I am so not ready to leave Korea yet as fell like I have just started to take full advantage of living here.

Cards from my students… each with a little love message <3<3<3

Typical….. I LOVE KOREA!!!!

WDJF

One experience from this year that I will never forget is the World DJ Festival. Their website described it as “oriental electronic paradise” and it definitely lived up to its name.

My friend Jess and I got a bus at 5pm to Yang Pyeong where the festival was. After an hour and a half bus ride and a 20 minute wait to get in, we were ready to party (having pre-drank on the bus of course).

Soju and Vitamin water… yin and yang

After figuring out how to buy beer (no cash, only T-money cards… so convenient!), we were going to get some food but a roar from the crowd pulled us over to to one of the smaller stages.

shortly after arriving… our shoes were still their original colours.

For the next 9 hours we proceeded to be amazed by the Korean’s dancing skills, gawk at the obnoxious foreigners and of course dance our butts off. The music and energy was so uplifting we couldn’t help making “I LOVE LIFE” our mantra for the evening.

loving life!!

The djs playing at the festival weren’t huge names, but there were definitely some very talented fellows (didn’t see any lady djs). Our favourites included: Jin by Jin, Timo Garcia and Aly & Fila. There were also several that we didn’t hear that were a part of the silent disco. I wish I could upload videos onto this blog because it is really funny to watch people rocking out to music they hear on their headphones.

Here are a few more highlights of the night:

The line up for hot water to make ramen noodles… choice snack.

Meeting up with Jess and Elisabeth for a mere 30 mins before being sucked into the crowd

The fashion… of course killer heels are appropriate for an all night dancing festival

The dancing…. oh the dancing… how I wish I knew how to shuffle.

5 to 5… Such a fun all-nighter!!

the Seoulite guide to avocado

Without a doubt, one of my favourite foods is avocado. At home, I would put these in everything and ate them on a regular basis. Doing this in Korea has proved to be quite challenging as avocados are so EXPENSIVE! So, in order to avoid breaking the bank, I have found some ways to get cheap avocados and to make them last.

1. Where to buy? One word – Costco. At your local mart, avocados can range from 4,000 to 6,000 won. At Costco, a bag of 5 costs 11-12,000. If you do the math – this is quite a deal!! If you can’t eat 5 before they go bad, split with a friend. Do not try to freeze them!!

2. Stretch it out. To make your avocados last, try to buy a bag that has avocados at varying stages of ripening. Keep green ones in the fridge and leave one out at a time to ripen. Once it’s ripe, only eat half. Avocados are amazingly delicious and sooo good for you, however they are quite caloric, so half is plenty! Plus, rather than enjoying it once, you can enjoy one avocado for two days :)!

3. Eat. Well, that’s self-explanatory. I like to eat mine with tomatoes and a splash of balsamic vinaigrette. I am not an expert in the kitchen, so I will let you google some avocado recipes from people who are.

4. Leftovers. Say you forget about your half-eaten avocado and you find it a few days later a little too brown. NO WORRIES! Avocado is an AMAZING skin product!! There are so many skin care ideas that use avocado. For a simple face wash, add a beaten egg yolk, a 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 a mashed avocado. This is apparently especially good for keeping your skin free of pollutants, which, let’s face it, are not scarce in Seoul. If you have oily skin, skip the milk and use lemon juice instead.

Even the peel has benefits. Simply massage your face with the inside of the peel and let the natural oils sink in for at least 15 minutes. Your face will turn a lovely shade of green, so don’t plan on leaving the house in those 15 mins.

Also, if you don’t want to waste any of your precious avocado, you can always plant a tree with the pit (a bit difficult to do in Seoul, but kudos if you try!) or use it as a golf ball.

These are a few tricks I’ve used over the past few months to use my precious avocado to their fullest potential. Happy peeling!