See all the things! Part 1

In my first post about my recent trip to Korea, I mentioned that Mindy and I had 3 goals for our trip:

1. See all the things
2. Buy all the things
3. Eat all the things

We did a pretty damn good job of accomplishing these goals. And, though I can name at least a dozen things off the top of my head that we didn't see, this post is dedicated to how we worked to accomplish the first of these goals: See all the things!!

Museums

We went to several museums on our trip: the National History Museum, the National Folk Museum, the COEX Mall Aquarium (I'm counting it), a museum about King Sejong (the king who got the current Korean alphabet - hangul - going), and an Andy Warhol exhibit.

This history and folk museums were nice, calm, air conditioned breaks from our treks across Seoul. The museums I've seen in Seoul have been beautifully laid out with lovely displays and wonderfully chosen artifacts. Some truly top notch museums!

There's a big statue of King Sejong in front of Gyeoungbokgung Palace and underneath the statue is a museum about him. He was a really amazing dude. He wanted to invent an alphabet that would be easy to learn so all citizens could learn to read. He not only commissioned the development of hangul (the alphabet), but then used it HIMSELF to transcribe (or translate...) some huge classical epic to both improve and make sure it worked. Talk about dedication!

King Sejong!

 A lot of the things in the museum are dedicated to the Korean alphabet. The walls had things carved all over them, there was a calligraphy section where people copied classic poems onto beautiful scrolls in calligraphy. So pretty.

This says "Min" for Mindy!

This bench is made of Korean letters! Cool!

We also went to the COEX aquarium, which was really fun, too! It was inside this gigantic mall - the COEX Mall. Lots of fish, sharks, penguins, otters, and beavers! It was my first time seeing the namesake of my town - Beaverton - in the flesh. I couldn't decide if they were adorably or freakishly ugly. Still not sure.

It was kind of dark in the aquarium, so most of the pictures that aren't just, you know, fish, are kind of blurry. But Mindy got this cute (and not AT ALL creepy) picture of a couple standing in front of the giant viewing tank. Aw, so precious!

"Why is the foreigner taking pictures of us?" "Ignore her... maybe she'll leave."

The Andy Warhol exhibit was... a mistake. I thought we were getting tickets to something else. It was cool, but I really didn't care. Did you know he made movies? Me neither. From the clips I saw, I don't think I ever want to see any of his movies all the way through. :/

Gyeoungbokgung Palace

There are several palaces across Seoul and Gyeoungbokgung is the main palace. We, of course, decided to go on probably the hottest of all the days we were in Seoul. Nice choice.

I LOVE the colors at the palaces!

I made Mindy pull into the little shop after a few minutes to cool down in the air conditioning and grab a cold drink. I was so sweaty and hot! Ew. Luckily I carried around a hand fan like an old lady. I got a tasty ginger, cinnamon punch and Mindy got some kind of rice drink. Both were very yummy and cold (the important thing).

We were almost ready to go when we got pulled aside by a lady in a hanbok to try a traditional medicine experience. Why not? So we went into a little building (after taking off our shoes), read through a list of symptoms, and determined that Mindy has a cold body type, and I have a hot body type (obviously). Then we were given teas for our body types (Mindy got chamomile and I got peppermint). Then we were given a form to fill out before we saw the doctor. At this point the questions got a little too personal so we snuck out before meeting with the doctor.

*Oops! I guess that happened at another place: the Hanok Village! My bad!

Trick Eye Museum and Ice Museum

After our exhausting day in on Jeju Island (more on that later), we took a relaxing day in Hongdae to visit the Trick Eye Museum. It's a total touristy spot that has a bunch of fun paintings and backdrops to take fun photos against.

With our ticket, we also got entry into the Ice Museum. We had no clue what it was until we walked into a freezer with a bunch of ice sculptures. It was FREEZING! We totally should have gone there first while we were still hot from being outside! As it was, it made outside feel nice! Super cute. And, of course, there was an ice toilet with a little poop inside. Ha!

Namsan Tower

The North Seoul Tower in Namsan park is a big tower on top of a big hill in the middle of Seoul. We took a cable car up the mountain and then an elevator up to the observation deck where we could get a 360 degree view of Seoul!. The view was amazing.

 

One of the cool things about North Seoul Tower is that people go up there and hook locks on the railing. They take them down periodically and there are these tree things everywhere covered in locks. People write their names, messages, etc. It's supposed to be a super romantic place or something. I don't know why, really. I guess it could be fun to go with a sweetheart. A lot of the locks are put there by couples with sweet things written on them. One of these looks like someone proposed up there. How sweet!

"She said yes! :D"

As we were leaving the tower to head back to the cable car, we came across a spear demonstration! Super awesome cool!! One guy sliced through a bunch of boards like they were nothing! So cool!

Hello Kitty Cafe

I don't know how big of a Hello Kitty fan I am... but I love cute things with cute designs, pink, pastels, adorable animals, etc. And, for a long time, Hello Kitty was the go to for me for these cute designs and accessories. Now there are so many more choices out there (thank you, internet! and all of Korea's stationary stores!!), that Hello Kitty is no longer really my "go to," but I still love her. So when I heard there was a Hello Kitty cafe, of COURSE I wanted to go. There was actually an entire hotel/resort place on Jeju Island, but Mindy said no. Whatever.

HELLO KITTY HOTEL ROOM

While there was a Hello Kitty cafe in Hongdae where our guest house was, it was in the opposite direction of everything else we wanted to see, so I decided not to pursue it in light of my ultimate desire to not walk in the heat anymore than I had to. But, then! On our final full day in Seoul, we stumbled upon the one in Myoungdong!

Even though we were still full from a giant lunch, I made Mindy go up for a brownie with a powder sugar kitty face on it and seriously sweet lemonade in cute cups. Once you stopped trying to think of the brownie as a "brownie" and just as a chocolate treat, it tasted pretty good.

And everything was PINK!!

Noraebang!

A noraebang is a private singing room you can rent by the hour. Prices vary depending on the place, quality, and time of day. We went to two different ones and each time had a blast. The first time we had some difficulty figuring out the remote (which is HUGE with WAY TOO MANY BUTTONS). The second time we couldn't figure out the air conditioning. But we sang our hearts out and had a blast anyways.

So much fun!

Next up: See all the things! Part 2: Seoul City Tour!

The Fabulous Return to Seoul!

As you might know, I recently went on a trip to Seoul, South Korea with my friend Mindy (we realized we've known each other for 10 years! How is that possible!?!). We had been planning this trip since I started graduate school in 2012 and decided it would be my graduation trip for whien I finished my graduate degree (done, baby!).

We looked up places to see, things to do, foods to eat, and we came up with three goals for our trip (people with graduate degrees are very goal oriented, after all). Here they are:

1. See all the things.
2. Buy all the things
3. Eat all the things.

I think we did a pretty decent job on all accounts. If you read this blog then we are most likely also friends on Facebook (wazzup), so you've probably seen all of the pictures I posted along the way. I don't post often (at least not as often as my mom!), but I wanted to share some of our experiences in real time while we were there.

Overall, it was an absolutely amazing trip. I'll share some more detailed posts about how we managed to succeed in achieving our three goals, but for the curious, here is a quick timeline of what we did on each day of our trip (you might see a few places come up multiple times *cough*myeongdong*cough*)"

Day 1 (and 2? depends on how you see the flying out Monday and arriving Tuesday night...): Fly to Korea!!

Haven't seen each other in so long!!

Day 2: Shopping in Namdaemun and Myeongdong

I swear, I left SOME things in the stores!

Day 3: Seoul City Tour bus hop on hop off tour to see the Korean War Memorial, National History Museum, and Hanok Village.

Mindy takes a lot of pictures... and hers were way better than mine, too

Day 4: Shopping in Myeongdong and Elisabeth the musical

My favorite German musical in Korean!!

Day 5: King Sejong museum, Gyeongbokgung palace, and the National Folk Museum.

The lovely palace

Day 6: Church (hello, English branch!), Hyundai Department Store, Jurassic World at the Megaplex
Day 7: COEX Mall and aquarium

Wazzup, guys?!

Day 8: Fly out and back for a day trip on Jeju Island to take the hop on hop off tour bus to see the Jeju Incident Memorial, the Stone Park and Stone museum, Dongmun Market (the good market), Seomun Market (the crappy, empty market), and dragon head rock.

Part of the Jeju Incident Memorial

Day 9: Leave the guesthouse around 2pm (we were very tired) for "lunch" followed by the Trick Eye Museum and walking around Hongdae.

I'M TALL!!!

Day 10: Dongdaemun History and Culture park, Andy Warhol Art Exhibit, Design Plaza, and shopping in the Dongdaemun Migliore building.

Nine floors of nonstop shopping in the Migliore building!

Day 11: Final (haha) day shopping in Myeongdong and Namsan Tower

The view from North Seoul Tower

Day 12: Hongdae Free Market, Times Square Seoul, and seeing "Pixel" at the CGV theater. Otherwise known as the day Mindy almost bought a puppy.

EAT ALL THE BINGSOO!!

Day 13: Church (goodbye, English branch!), lunch with the friend of Mindy's friend, shopping in Namdaemun and Myeongdong (really, real last time), teatime with my friend Rachel, hit a noraebang (singing room), and a fancy sticker booth

The adorable Rachel (who is going to have a baby soon!! OMG!!)

Day 14: Took a final walk around Hongdae, grabbed lunch, hit the noraebang, and then flew back home *quiet sobs*

Our final (delicious) Korean meal in Hongdae!

Stay tuned for more updates on my Korean Adventure!!

Jem Hair!

When I was little, one of my favorite cartoons was Jem and the Holograms. A group of women using magical holograms to become a famous singing group in order to make money to keep open a home for orphaned girls? AND SHE HAD PINK HAIR!?! Who wouldn't want to be Jem?

Truly outrageous!

For me, she rated right up there with Oprah and Michael Jackson as my idols (I was a weird kid). I also signed all of my papers "Jem" in kindergarten, though I think I might just not have known the difference between an "n" and an "m" at that point. (The amazing cartoon should not be mistaken for the movie coming out... only similarities there are some pink hair and singing).

I've always wanted pink hair but there's never been a "good time" to have it. I wanted to have temporary pink hair this summer after I had landed a job. As of right now, I am still looking and interviewing so I haven't had the chance. A few weeks ago, I practiced with some pink on the tips of my hair to see how well it would wash out. It washed out pretty fast so I felt pretty comfortable that if I put it on my entire head, it would wash out in a week, two tops. So I decided that I would do it before I go to Korea for two weeks. This way, I get my pink hair and I can still look professional when I get back in time for more interviews! Yay!

So I got all my crap together: Manic panic pink, old sour cream tub (sorry, Mom; I won't put it back in the tupperware drawer), a color brush, a comb, a towel for around my neck, a bajillion clips, latex gloves, and vaseline for my hair line and I'm all ready!!

Totally ready for this!

Then it was time to get to work. It was super messy and I managed to keep getting pink all over my neck. Haha!

SO MUCH PINK!!

After I got my hair covered in pink goop, I clipped it up, and snapped on a shower cap (cuz SEXY!).

Then I went and grabbed the soft scrub to quickly clean up the pink I got on the counter (cleaned up easy, phew!) and then went and hosed out my sour cream tub and other pinkified instruments in the back yard over the grass,

Then it was time for lunch and waiting before I rinsed it all out. There was a mild freak-out when I stepped out of the shower and saw it in the mirror for the first time, but I swiftly recovered enough to text a bunch of people that I now had PINK HAIR and I would send them pics once I had put on makeup.

JEM!

I only missed a few little spots (it's a little light on one section of my bangs) and some of the hair didn't take the color for whatever reason so it looks like I got pink hair with a blonde weave. Pretty sweet.

For those of you wondering: yes, it washes out. I tested it on the tips of my hair first and it washed out super quick. This will all be gone by the time I get back from Korea.

So how did you celebrate the 4th of July?