S FOR SAMFORD

THIS ISSS SOOO BUCKKKK it deserves a tumblr post. OH EMM GEEEE...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 01:16:40 -0400

THIS ISSS SOOO BUCKKKK it deserves a tumblr post.

OH EMM GEEEE SOOOO BLOWNN AWAYYY AHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
after watching this, i wonder what i’ve been doing when i say i “dance”
cuz it certainly looks nothing like this! I’m not too familiar with this crew but I believe they are Korea’s finest female dancers … from krump to locking and popping…madddd respect for them cuz they keeping street dance in its true element. BUCKY, K’MAE, GANGDREA, LEE DA, LOCKME, DONALD LOCK, YUN. THIS IS SO TAEBAKKKKKKKKKKKK AHHHH!! when i say these girls killed it, that’s a huge understatement!!!!!!

BUCKY: still my hero :)
if i can learn from her again without an injured knee = life will be complete

Today My Life Begins

Thu, 14 Mar 2013 22:27:00 -0400

Today My Life Begins

what is the exact address of self bar in sinchon? do you have a have a map? thank you

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 01:55:00 -0500

Can you read korean?

you get out of exit 2 and walk towards the hyundai U-PLEX department store (there will be a big red tube outside of it), then you’ll see a big 4 way intersection and you want to turn right. walk down it for 3 -4 blocks and in this small alleyway (not a major street) on your left.. that’s where self-bar is. good luck!

명동의 오후N 카페 (Myeongdong's 오후N Cafe)

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:49:00 -0400

Come time for my Japanese midterm (yes I actually studied for this!), I decided that my favourite cafe (Cafe aA in Hongdae) was a little too far to travel to.

This time I decided to scout out a cafe in Myeongdong to pass 2-3 hours of study time. I didn’t to go to those usual cafes like Caffe Bene, Angel-in-us or Ediya.

I came across Cafe 오후N by random and since they had free wifi and was quite quiet, I settled for this place.

The place was furnished in wood and brick walls which I attracted me in the first place. It was located on the 2nd and 3rd floor so there were windows on the side and plenty of natural light. Perfect study (and napping) conditions!

The waitress was super nice and also very interested in where I was from since you know, I looked Korean but spoke English and was studying Japanese…. :P

I ordered a strawberry latte (~6500won) and this thing was so good! The strawberry taste wasn’t overbearing and didn’t make the latte too sweet. I almost wanted to try their other flavours…. but paying over 13000won for 2 drinks seemed to be a little ridiculous. I figured I’d just come back if I wanted to try the other flavours :)

They had these cute little wooden box character decorations all over the cafe.

My Japanese friend came and joined me for studying after and said actually, the Japanese phrases written on these decorations were so strange haha

Regardless, we spent at least 15 mins taking photos and looking at everything :D

This cafe is worth checking out! Not super unique but still special :)

Directions: Myeongdong station Exit 8. Turn left and walk one and a half block. It will be on your right hand side. It is located on second floor so you have to pay attention to the signs.

My Inspiration

Mon, 08 Oct 2012 02:41:49 -0400

So I can look back on it someday when and if I forget :)

I used to think I “enjoyed” dance…taking classes and workshops, learning choreo from different teachers. Sure I had fun in some moments but most of the time, I beat myself up for not getting the choreo down right or not learning it fast enough.

That was until I met D.J. in Seoul and I learned what it means to actually dance.

He stressed that dance is not about how fast you pick up the choreo or how nice you look or what cool moves you can pull off… but it’s about having fun. God created a rhythm in us, gave us a body and ability to express ourselves. Dance is just about that!

And that’s what made the difference.

Being with JHM for just 4 months I learned so much from not only him but everyone else and appreciated dance for what it is.

If you ever read this, THANKS MAN! Thanks for showing me how to enjoy dance, for introducing me to krump, for being a great mentor and friend :) 정말 감사합니다

Fresh Makeoli Brewery 양재동 막걸리

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 03:01:00 -0400

Presenting…느린마을 양조장 Baesangmyun Brewery!!!!

Since I am such a huge fan of makeoli, of course I had to find a fresh brewery in town!
Makeoli is one of the traditional Korean alcohol made from rice. It’s best served with pajeon 파전 or bindaedduk 빈대떡.

This place is a brewery slash restaurant slash gift shop. 3 in 1! What more can I ask for? :)

The brewing happens behind a glass wall so you can actually see what’s going on. oh and look, how nice of them to put procedures in both english and korean!

That container they were pouring was for us.

This place is usually packed at night time. I came here twice, once in the late afternoon 5ish pm and once after dinner around 10pm. There was no one in the late afternoon and we practically had the whole place to ourselves. I find a lot of people like to come here for dinner.

The restaurant had a cozy feeling since most of the interior was made from wood and had a contemporary higher-class feel, not like your typical makeoli hang out places.

Yeah, looks like milk… but believe me, this tastes so delish! It was so fresh and smoooooooooooooth. After drinking this, I had higher expectations for makeoli.

It wasn’t too badly priced… I think this was only 6000 won.

Some of the side dishes we ordered with the drinks.

I’ve also tried their pajeon and it’s not bad!

Gotta remember your drinking etiquettes in Korea!!!!!!

And of course, there has to be a nice little gift shop on the side to attract tourists and customers. The makeoli we bought was so cheap.. I think 2500 a bottle. But mind you, it’s only fresh if you drink it the day of. They actually poor it in the bottles that day, but the tastes still feels not as fresh as what we got in the store.

I try to buy this brand (soolsool) of Makeoli in supermarkets and it always tastes better than the other kinds.

Direction: Yangjae station (Line 3) Exit 9 and walk ~750m

Photo

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 03:00:00 -0400

DISCO JUMP in 동대문

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 02:06:00 -0400

Never did it, wanted to! They wouldn’t let us on cuz some of us were a little too “drunk”.

Located right behind the strip of malls of Migliore, Doota, APM, Disco Jump is supposedly a really fun ride… and better if you understand Korean. Apparently you sit in a circular machine that continuously moves and you try to stay in your seat while the announcer makes fun of you. hahahaha

Sindang's Dukkbokki Town 신당동 떡볶이

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:48:00 -0400

You a fan of Dukbokki? Well I was told that i HAD to go to Sindang to eat their dukbokki because apparently that’s where it all originated.

The took us awhile to find, we had to walk a good 10 mins from the station.

The only instructions we had were go from exit 4 (?) and look for restaurant with a picture of an ahjumma. HAHA great instructions right?! With a bit of luck and wandering we miraculously found it. Apparently this is where this lady invented dukbokki.

It was super busy inside and finding a table for 8 was kinda difficult.

We ended up ordering 2 different ones, original maybe?? This is what it looks like before everyone got cooked. Can i just say that instant noodles with anything is so awesome?!

AFTERWARDS…

The dukk was really good! They were thinner than most of the dukkbokki I had on the streets and other restaurants… but the texture was really good. I’m quite picky since I’m a big fan of chewy foods, but this one met my expectations.

But other than the dukk, everything else is more or less like anything you’ll find anywhere in seoul lol. It was fun for the experience.. wearing them red aprons and getting your clothes to reek of dukkbokki. :) Worth at least once a visit!

Directions: 신당 Sindang station (Line 6) Exit 7 or 8 and walk straight for 2 blocks…maybe.

Maroon 5 - Payphone If I could pick one song that would sum up...

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:35:00 -0400

Maroon 5 - Payphone

If I could pick one song that would sum up my whole year, this would be it. Singing this in Seoul, Japan, Melbourne, Hong Kong… I got it stuck in everyone’s head :)

Hello Blog, I am back.

Thu, 20 Sep 2012 01:28:25 -0400

So….. after 1 year, I’ve finished my exchange. Seoul, Kyoto, Hong Kong.. I really got to know these places a lot better. I realized I actually used my blog a lot to refer people to awesome food places I discovered, since 99% of the time I forgot how to exactly get there.

So on that note, I have decided to re-update my blog. Haha information might be a little rusty but at least it’ll still be here!

YG Family Concert 2011

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:29:00 -0500

One of the funnest concerts I’ve been to!! (i know funnest is not a word)

After I met friends with similar future husbands - TaeYang and TOP - I literally bombarded everyone with a fb msg about who wanted to go.

Basically, tickets are uber hard to get and you have to be super fast.

YG Family Concert tickets were bought through GMarket. If you have an account connected to your bank, great! If you don’t, you can still use credit card.

3 Things you need when buying tickets:

A Korean Friend
A super fast computer with top-notch internet connection a.k.a go to PC방
World Clock for counting down

Anyways, after suffocating in a PC방 for half an hour and difficulties in mouse-clicking, we managed to come out with SECTION 05 STANDING TICKETS!

When you get to the stadium, it doesn’t really matte what time you go because the lines are based on your ticket number. But you should get there before your line gets in, or you won’t get as good of a seat!

The only reason I went was for…

2NE1!

and…BIG BANG <3 We went on the last day of the concert since we figured the last show is always the best!

Our tickets were 407 and 408 so we got to budge everyone to the front of the line since it was line for 401 - 500. Pretty sweet eh? There were a bunch of girls in front of us who lined up since 3pm but they were 470 or something. They eventually got moved to the back of the line. I felt bad for them since it was really cold that day!

We were on the left side of the stage right under the camera! We were on the big screen a few times…I really wanna buy the DVD to see if we are on it :)

Cameras are not allowed and security is pretty strict. There was always a guard standing in front of our section so he could easily see if you were taking pics or vids. Nonetheless, I tried to snap a few shots here and there and captured some videos :D

The concert itself was uber fun. It last ~4 hours so definitely worth the 88000 won I spent. It started off with 2NE1 which I was super happy about!

The first half of the concert was alright since it was just the different groups singing their own song. The second half was a lot more fun since they start singing each other’s songs. A favourite will always be Big Bang singing and dancing to 2NE1’s I AM THE BEST. HAHA I NEVER LAUGHED SO HARD at them before!

2NE1: was amazing! After the concert, Minzy became my favourite.. with CL following closely. Park Bom and Dara were a little serious and weren’t as “crazy” and outgoing as Minzy and CL. Park Bom is actually not that fat in real life either haha.

Big Bang: hearing Haru Haru live acoustic version was the best! It was the first Kpop song I ever liked so it was special to hear it live from them :) TOP is surprisingly a good dancer and Daesung’s voice is too good. Taeyang is not as short as people say he is + he is a really nice dancer! My favourite at the concert would be Daesung and Seungri though! I know, not my future husband TOP >< Seungri was really fun , every time he came over to our section the crowd would just go crazy!

Gummy: HAS AN AMAZING VOICE LIVE. but you could tell she did plastic surgery haha when the camera did a zoom-in on her face on the big screen. She’s super fun with her fans too :)

PSY, to my surprise, was actually fun. I didn’t understand before the concert what was so good about him and why everyone liked him. HAHA his music is actually catchy and everyone gets REALLY into it. and by that i mean, let’s all jump at the same time and scream the lyrics

I regretted not buying one of those light things. It really is a lot more fun when you have them with the rest of the crazy fans!

Jinusean

Group picture at the end of the concert :)

Of course, the train is jam packed after the concert.

Thanks YG! It was fun!!!

CB: Yay we finally saw our future husbands ^^

HY - Song for…

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:50:16 -0500

HY - Song for…

홍대's Cafe aA PART 1

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:36:00 -0500

If I could pick and choose one cafe in Korea to rave about….IT WOULD BE THIS ONE.

Omigoodness, I just love everything about this cafe! I could sit here for hours and study/chat/chill out.

I stumbled across this cafe when I was researching what kind of cafe we want to go to study for half a day. Direction-wise, it was difficult to find and buried in the outskirts of Hongdae but I highly recommend going through the trouble to find it!

Cafe aA - a cafe that has a design museum upstairs and downstairs. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to check out the museum the times I went!

The entrance has a high door that made you feel like you were England or something.

When we walked in, we both LOVED IT. If there was love at first sight for cafe - this would be it. LOL

The place has a high ceiling and an artsy light in the middle. All the furniture is super unique - I don’t know where they get it from.

We got sooo excited that we wanted to switch spots every hour so we could see how it felt in every corner possible in this cafe HAHAHA This did not actually happen as we got too comfortable with the spots we chose…the counter that overlooks the cafe :)

Everything is so unique but fits well!!! Turns out we weren’t the only ones camera-crazy at this cafe. We noticed a lot of people who came would spend a lot of time taking pictures when they walked in. There were also some photo shoots happening outside and a team of professional photographers were taking pictures of the interior too!

And the brick wall on the upper level is a favourite too :)
Of course we had to get pictures on our iPhone, SLR cameras AND Photobooth. I think we spent almost 15 mins taking pictures before sitting down to look at the menu :P

The coffee and food were decently priced! I ordered a cafe latte and if I remember correctly it was around 6000 won which is the average price.

THIS DESSERT WAS DELICIOUS. We thought it was no biggie, could share it between the both of us (i think it was around 11000 won).. turns out that generally 4 people share this :\ There was no picture in the menu so it’s not completely all our fault! ^^

Good thing we both love to eat! It came with 2 pancakes…maybe some kind of matcha one since the insides were green tea colour. There wasn’t a matcha taste tho! Also 2 huge scoops of vanilla ice cream, raspberry, slice bananas, caramelized peanuts and lots of whipping cream.

We stayed from day…until night. I think a total of 6ish hours :) We didn’t want to leave at all!

Studying-wise, the upper level counter space is perfect. In every other pair of seat, there is an outlet so it’s convenient if you need to bring your laptop. The wifi here is also super fast and you don’t need a password.

Service is also sweet, there is a waiter that comes and takes your order and will bring it to you!

To sum it up, this cafe is the BOMB! aww… I don’t want to overrate it, so meh.. it’s average :P When I come here, I forget I am in Korea and can relax a bit :) The music they play here is super indie and not mainstream. Sometimes I prefer it over my own music!

Directions:

This is a little complicated so I provided pics :)

Facing Hongdae University along Wausan-ro, you make a right turn and walk straight for ~5mins

You’ll see a 7-Eleven on your right and you make a right turn after it.

You’ll see a fork in the road, take the right side and walk until you see the restaurant in front of this white car. There you make a left turn and Cafe aA should be within 2 mins walking distance!

* There will be a Part 2 update on this Cafe aA since I went back another 2 times within the week to try their other items on the menu. BEST SALAD DRESSING EVER MIGHT I SAY!!!

I love your blog! ^_^ Love learning more about places in Korea! Can you tell me which camera you use for your pictures? :)

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:46:22 -0500

Thanks! ^^ I am using a canon 5d mark ii and iPhone :)

홍대's Donzzolla

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:30:00 -0500

I’ve been exploring Hongdae a lot these days, probably more than my own university :) It’s just such a nice area during the day! and YES Hongdae is not just about clubbing.

Since Hongdae is an artsy university, the area around it is quite nice. There’s unique cafes here that you can’t find anywhere else. Me and a friend decided to find one of these cafes and study there for an afternoon…

but we had to find a restaurant to feed our stomach first! Here’s to finding something random on the street behind Hongdae Univ.

Donzzolla ..since 1980 apparently. It was on the 2nd level…what attracted us were their life-size models of the food in the display. Apparently portions are a lot smaller in real life -o-”

In the model, this bowl was filled to the top with noodles!!!! Boo-urns.

And this was half-dece. Oh well!!! It was cheap-ish :) just typical food for university students who are running late/need to save money.

Only the kimchi tasted a little strange :P

Directions:

No directions bc this place is not worth going to! kkkk

Superman (It’s Not Easy) - Five for Fighting

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:12:08 -0500

Superman (It’s Not Easy) - Five for Fighting

신사’s MUG for RABBIT

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:22:33 -0500

Also along Garosu-gil on Sinsa is this somewhat famous place for coffee MUG for RABBIT. The reason I say it’s somewhat famous is because 2 of my friend’s have heard of this place before.

The decor in this place is pretty cute ^^

There is a lower sitting area with a super high ceiling. I love high ceilings! At first glance, this place looks nice but after sitting there for awhile I noticed that it’s actually quite old without the antique feel.

I forget the name of this cupcake but it was half dece. I think my friends can make yummier ones.

1) Original signature Rabbit Latte ~6000 won

Tasted like a regular latte and the “latte art” was sort of disappointing. It’s cute but very simple, something I could probably do.

I decided to try something more interesting 2) Ginger Latte

This had an interesting taste to it, definitely very gingery :)

3) Hangover coffee

This was one weird coffee, pretty much a black coffee with a super strong hint of cinnamon of taste. Definitely something unique but not a favourite!

There is also a Mug for Rabbit cakery which is close by. If the cupcake tasted better i would’ve checked out this place too.

Overall, this place is worth a one-time visit. Their coffee isn’t that great and the unique ones are slightly strange-tasting haha.

Directions:

Along Garuso-gil - it’s been awhile since I went, if i revisit garuso-gil I will update! But it’s on the main street and pretty easy to spot! :)

신사’s 열봉찜닭 (Se7en's Restaurant)

Thu, 29 Dec 2011 09:50:00 -0500

Across the road from Coffeesmith on garosu-gil is one of Se7en’s franchise chicken restaurant. We actually stumbled across this not knowing it was owned by se7en.

We were super hungry and wanted to feed our stomachs something asap before hitting up Coffeesmith. This conveniently happened to be right across the street and had a cute picture of a chicken.

Thinking we were super awesome at eating spicy food, we ordered the LEVEL 3 spicy jjimdak medium size at ~26 000 won.

BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER!

I wouldn’t even call this a meal, it was more like torture! One of us was in denial and kept saying it tasted okay if we dipped it in the bean sprout soup first. LOL

The sauce tasted really yummy though but it was so hot that our mouths were on fire :P so we couldn’t enjoy it as much… if at all.

I think I gave up after the 2nd piece of chicken haha

Look at all the chilli peppers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*********************************************************************************************

We decided to give this restaurant another shot NOT LEVEL 3 SPICY.

Even when we ordered LEVEL 2 SPICY, I was kinda scared. It turned out alright, still a little spicy if you ask me - but at least it was bearable this time!

We concluded that it was an awesome technique, make your food super spicy so the customers drink more water and get full faster and you don’t even have to put that much chicken in the jjimdak!!! BRILLIANT. hahaha

Not the best jjimdak I had, but worth the try and if you want to see if you’re lucky to run into some k-pop artists. A bunch of them have visited this restaurant like 2NE1, Big Bang, Kim Hyun Joong, etc.

Look! we even met Se7en!!!!

Directions: from the south-end of Garosu-gil, walk north and the building will be on the right side. Across from CoffeeSmith

Exit 8 from Sinsa station, walk straight for ~4 blocks and the south-end of Garosu-gil will be on your left.

신사's CoffeeSmith

Sun, 04 Dec 2011 01:03:00 -0500

Located in Garosu-gil, one of the hot spots for people-watching, we discovered this coffee shop on a late Sunday afternoon.

Compared to Cafe aA (which I will blog about later), this cafe was not as awesome! Coffeesmith has a very commercial feel and nothing homey about it.

Christmas decoration on the first floor

Second floor sitting area

Before lunch, this place was empty! After lunch…

and it seems more like a sit-and-chat place instead of a chill and relaxed environment. The music they play here is more mainstream and upbeat. So if you’re looking for a nice relaxed place to study, i wouldn’t recommend this one…but if you just wanna hang out with friends, chill and be loud - here’s the place! There is also free wi-fi that’s pretty fast :) but not very good locations for an outlet if you need it for your laptop.

They don’t have a nice selection of desserts either, just 4 or 5 items on the menu. Everything else is coffee and tea and average price for a cup of coffee is ~5000won depending what you’re getting.

Black Bean Latte (5900 won). This wasn’t worth it! It was really sweet and I think the one I had at the Hello Kitty Cafe in Sinchon was better.

Tiramisu dessert - simple! I didn’t taste it but heard it was just a normal tiramisu (not even an alcohol taste to it)

Directions: from the south-end of Garosu-gil, walk north and the building will be on the left side. Directly across from Pho Tai

Exit 8 from Sinsa station, walk straight for ~4 blocks and the south-end of Garosu-gil will be on your left.