Advertisement
Published: October 12th 2009
Edit Blog Post
This would have been a ridiculously long update, instead I am cutting it into 2 updates: the first on Chuseok, Itaewon, the Soccer game and Hongdae, and the second on The zoo and the DMZ.
Last weekend was Chuseok, which is probably the biggest holiday in Korea. We got last Friday off, which was quite nice. On Thursday, all of the kids in my school wore their humbocks (not sure of the spelling) which are traditional Korean clothing. The kids all looked adorable. We then played traditional games outside, and then I was off for my 3 day weekend.
On Friday I went on a beautiful hike on a mountain that I don’t know the name of, sorry. It was breathtaking. I am not much of a hiker so I will say that some of it was a bit difficult for me but it was definitely worth the climb. Just as we were about to turn back, a man convinced us to keep going and it turns out we were just meters away from the peak! Scaling boulders was worth it as we stood on the top of this beautiful mountain, surrounded by other equally beautiful mountains, overlooking the
expanse that is Seoul.
Later, my friends convinced me that I should give Itaewon another chance. Knowing that many Korean-run places would be closed due to the holidays, I said OK to hanging out in a foreigner area of Seoul. Let me just say that Itaewon has redeemed itself. We went to a bar called “Bungalow” which was amazing. It was about 3 stories tall and had lots of different rooms. The room we chose to hang out in had sand on the ground and swings for seats. It was great; very mellow and conducive to conversation. When the DJ started up we decided to switch venues. This is when we discovered how amazing street food is in Itaewon. It’s extremely difficult to find good foreign food in many parts of Seoul, but not in Itaewon. I bought some grilled/fried baby potatoes on the street which were amazing. Later in the evening I bought a gyro which tasted just like it did back home. I was very pleased. We ended up in a bar that had free drinks for women, but that was not enough incentive to stay at such a slimy, gross place. We left and called it
a night.
The following day I attended my first sporting match in Korea: a soccer game! I saw the Seongnam (the city I love in) team play another team. The vibe of the game wasn’t great and the audience wasn’t terribly enthusiastic but it was probably due to the fact that the game was being played ON Chuseok. My team won. Oh and we got in for free because we’re foreigners.
After the game a bunch of us headed to Hongdae, another part of Seoul that is known for its nightlife. It was POURING rain when we arrived, even though the weather in Bundang was great when we left. I bought an umbrella, and we ducked into a pirate bar to wait out the rain. After a while we started wandering the streets, and found a random club/bar called “Velvet Banana,” which is where we spent most of the evening dancing and having fun. The one male in our group kept getting free drinks, and the bartender gave us plenty of free drinks because we were attracting other customers. Hongdae was definitely a long night but totally worth it. I will definitely be going back there!
Sunday
afternoon I went to Butterfinger Pancakes for brunch with a friend. This is a “western” style diner-type restaurant that we heard great things about. Well, it was good, not great. I had a typical breakfast platter but Brown Sugar (another Western restaurant) was way better. But it did satisfy my craving for eggs and pancakes.
The week after that went by really fast. Work is going well, the kids are adjusting to my presence. I just got a new student, a 4 year old (Korean age, American age he is about 2.5) so I am working on getting him used to the classroom. Things have been going well at school. I am going to start Halloween-themed art projects with my kids because this is my absolute favorite holiday! We’re planning a really fun activity for the kids for Halloween. Each room will have a different theme and kids will walk around with their classmates from room to room engaging in whatever activity that room has. My room will be the “creepy bug touch” room. I will have bowls of various things for kids to touch with the lights off. For example, peeled grapes as eyeballs, cut up hot dogs
as fingers, cooked noodles as worms, gooey things as insides and so on. Did I mention I love Halloween?!?!
Now on to this weekend…to be found in part 2.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.04s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 8; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0205s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
eman
non-member comment
Butterfinger Pancakes - Thumbs Down!
Being a recent implant in Bundang (3 weeks ago), I took my family to Butterfinger pancakes to quench our desire for a good pancake brunch. Forgettabout it! We will never go there again. Sausage patty was like chewing shoe leather and a stack of their signature Butterfinger pancakes costing over $10 was 2 measly pancakes no bigger than my hand. Pathetic. However, we did find a decent western diner that serves very good brunch (with potatoes!!). It's called Daily King's Diner. It's a block and a half south of I-Park Bundang apartment and on the 8th floor. A little pricey, but if there are 4 of you, then order one "big" breakfast with the pancakes (3 come with it), one regular omelette and definitely order the French toast; you can share and be satiated of your hunger afterwards. For this order with coffee, you're looking at about $50-$60. I think it's a little pricey b/c just like the many cafes in Korea, you can stay there as long as you want. I do believe that the coffee is bottomless also, so get your caffeine fix. Where is Brown Sugar? I want to compare to Daily King's. Enjoy! And love the blogs. I'll be referring to them for my future trips with the family. 안녕!