As a 1,200 year old temple, Bongeunsa has a variety of large and small buildings.
Huge Buddha.
Colorful patterns on the roof inside one of the buildings.
Foreground: Old, Background: New
Admission is free. You can register to spend the night doing a temple-stay program too. As someone who likes to sleep in and is scared of vegetables, a walk around the temple grounds was more than enough for me, though.
Suwon Paldalmun Market is found in the blocks surrounding Paldalmun (one of the gates of Hwaseong Fortress) in Suwon. We used to live in Suwon and would shop around Paldalmun from time to time, but more and more often we find ourselves heading back there to shop around and eat nice food. From our apartment in Gangnam it's only a 45 minute express bus ride, so it's really convenient for us to visit. I can't believe it, but we've actually found ourselves in the market for the past three weekends in a row. The shame! We should just move back!
Clothes, shoes and bags are the main items for sale here, and there are a few square blocks of shops. What I like the most about this market is that there are hardly any brand name stores. The clothes are still pretty unique and well-made, but because you're not in Seoul and not buying brands, it's very cheap. When it got colder here a few weeks ago we headed to the market to pick up some winter clothes and our money just went so much farther than it usually does in the city. Plus, unlike most markets which sell mostly to women, about half of the shops here are for men.
Our three favorite stores: One Point, Workshop and Y-Teen Total Gift Market. All three sell both men's and women's wear so we both have something to look at.
Some of the stores have seen better days. This place should be re-named "I Was Shop".
Most of the fashions are pretty normal, but there's something for all tastes at this market.
It seems that this winter, Sleepy and Mario are the hottest things in K-fashion. I can't even tell you how many Mario-related clothing items are sold here for some reason.
Of course, I mostly just posted pics of the strangey fashion, but I also bought this suit for just over $100 at Workshop for the jacket, pants, vest and shirt.
A few weeks ago we decided to spend the night in Suwon, and we were happy to find a cheap and nice love motel just a few blocks north of the market. The BMW motel was only 30,000 Won for the night and there was a computer, big screen TV and a whirlpool in the room.
The TV even featured the popular "Ching" channel, now in HD!
The food is pretty good around the market too. There's some fast food options like Lotteria and Han's Deli, but this BBQ restaurant ("Hwa-lo-ku-ee") one block west of the market is our favorite galbi place in Korea.
The seasoned ribs are so good, but the reason this restaurant is the best is because the side dishes are awesome. You get my three galbi favorites: macaroni salad, vinegar-radish soup and the grass in brown sauce. Score! And if you go before 4pm, it's only 9,000 Won each.
I keep meaning to try this place across from the galbi restaurant- they serve pasta, noodle AND Bob. No word on if they serve Sam or Bill too.
You could always pick up a snack from these kind vegetable ajummas that sell from behind the bus stop.
If that's not to your liking there are sandrich shops around too.
And a Pizza Hut... I mean Chicken Hut. I <3 Korean libel laws.
Yep, Paldalmun Market has something from everyone. You could even buy a tank of gas off the back of this guy's pick-up. Why not come for a visit? The market is just a few minutes from Suwon Station, or take bus 3000 from Gangnam. Chances are I'll probably see you there next weekend.
After work today, my school catered a special turkey dinner for us in honor of the American Thanksgiving, and I was even able to bring a doggy bag home for Mel. I love you, 
Much more interesting than the boring outlet malls and the nauseating smell outside Gasan Digital Complex Station on Saturday was certainly Motel Dink. Mel thinks that all of my jokes about this motel are too lewd to post on here, so feel free to post yours in the comments section.
When you work with little kids you never know what they're going to say, and kids trying to communicate in a foreign language can be even more random. Every now and then when something funny happens in class I'll write down the quote that made me chuckle. I've now got a full page full of randomness so I thought I'd share the insanity with you.
Monday- a peppery beef soup (although it doesn't matter what flavour they claim the soup will be, it is always a fishy miso broth), scrambled egg, rice, kimchi and a crab/bean sprout/yogurt salad. Shawn Teacher had Mcdonalds- Quarter Pounders are back in Korea, baby!
Wednesday (forgot my camera on Tuesday!)- some kind of tofu/seaweed/caper soup, bulgogi (very nice!), vegetable pancake and 2 kinds of kimchi-type stuff.
Thursday- (fishy) Chicken soup, japchae noodles (worth staying up after 10:00 for!), broiled mushrooms, seaweed, and kimchi.
Friday- tofu/mushroom soup, fried rice with anchovies (!!!), spicy tofu, kimchi, and apple. I had a big bowl of apples that day!
Deep fried octopus, fried egg. kimchi, snail stir fry and hot dog/kimchi soup!
For a country that's so proud of it's four distinct seasons, Fall sure didn't last very long. Just walked home from Korean class and I can't feel my face. Ouch!
English lessons? I couldn't be more interested!
Apparently I'm just one click away from dating some sexy Korean women.
For all of your calls to China... and it connects directly to my Chinese cellphone? A-sah!
*adds to favorites*
At 70% off I'm totally going to give myself the biggest eyeballs possible.
Fan Death- Many Koreans believe that if you leave a fan on overnight in your bedroom then you run a good chance of not waking up at all the next morning. It's an urban legend that is widely regarded as fact. In a heroic act of saving face many authentic-sounding justifications have been used to explain why 700 people a year die from this problem (from Wikipedia):
Double Eyelids- I've been told that about 50% of Koreans are born with single eyelids and 50% are born with double eyelids. Maybe your parents will have double eyelids but you won't- it's really the luck of the draw. Everyone wants a double eyelid... it's considered to be very beautiful. Well, plastic surgery is very popular in Korea (there are even clinics in the COEX shopping mall, and I once saw one above a bakery near Sinsa Station) and the most popular surgery to have is the double eyelid surgery. A Korean friend once told me that she thought about having the surgery for a long time and decided against it, but all of her friends had done it. If you don't want to go under the knife you can buy double eyelid tape at any convenience store or pharmacy. If I used it do you think I'd have a triple eyelid? Would that just be the most handsome thing the country had ever seen?
Small Face- We hadn't been in Korea for very long before perfect strangers started to tell Melodie that she had a small face. At first she was offended because she thought they were calling her a pea brain. A lot of Koreans will be brutally honest and say things about your appearance to your face that the rest of the world gossips about behind people's backs instead. "Oh, you look so tired" or "nose isa very very big," on a day when you feel fine can really change how you feel about yourself at that moment! Anyway, having a small face in Korea is a huge compliment. This is probably because, in general, Koreans have pretty big heads. I mentioned earlier that plastic surgery is pretty popular here and another surgery you can have is to crush all the bones in your face so that it becomes smaller. Or you could just have your cheeks and jaw shaved down to thin out your face. I've never been told that I have a small face (probably because I have a melon head) so maybe I should look into this.
Fake sleeping on public transportation- Koreans work long hours so I really understand the need to steal a couple minutes of rest whenever you have the chance, but it's funny how asleep a Korean can look one minute and how awake they can seem the next. I can't tell you how many times I've sat next to someone on the bus or train and they're slumped over and their head is bobbing around all over the place. Their heads will wind up an inch from your shoulder, or sometimes, your lap. Then -ding- their stop is announced, they perk up, adjust their tie and sprint to the door to be the first one out of the car. Amazing.
Yogiyo Buttons- "Yogiyo" means "come here" in Korean, and a lot of restaurants in the country have these buttons on every table that you press to summon your waiter or waitress if you need something during your meal. Anyone who's ever sat in a busy restaurant trying to get their waiters' attention for a re-fill of pop can understand what a great invention this is. In Korea, restaurant service is amazing anyway... if we finish one of our side dishes it's usually refilled quite quickly... but the yogiyo button takes it to another level. It's never been easier to get a refill of fresh kimchi.
Korean Showers- Korean showers are attached to the sink and drain onto your bathroom floor. Koreans think this is cleaner than the western style bathroom but to me it just means my whole bathroom is wet for most of the morning and instead of just having mildew in my tub I have it everywhere. Not a plus.
Old School Brooms- Cleaning ajummas in Korea use these old archaic brooms out of the 19th century for their sweeping needs. Normal, modern brooms are available everywhere but these are the preferred model.
Uniquely Korean Phrases- A lot of Koreans speak basic English because they have to study it in school, plus we live in the hyper-educated Gangnam area so the English level here is more advanced than in other places in Korea. Still, there are some phrases that you hear over and over when Koreans speak with foreigners in English. The first two are "You must understand..." and "It's the Korean way", which are usually used when some bad news is about to be given. "Awww, shh!" seems to be the Korean version of "Awww, shit" and "_____ is come" is a common mistake. For example, if one of my students wants to tell me that Max has just arrived at the school, they will say "Max is come". This problem comes because the students are directly translating the Korean word order into English. If you want to saw "it's snowing" in Korean you say "눈이와요"(I think that's the right spelling) which translates to "snow is come".
Konglish- It's pretty easy to get by in Korea without knowing any Korean, but once you can read the language life here is a breeze. An amazing number of things written on signs and menus here are written in Korean letters, but when you sound out the word you realize you're actually reading an English word! Wow, Koreans sure do love English. Some restaurant menus are entirely written in Konglish. At Smoothie King all of the smoothies on the menu are written like "stuh-raw-bare-lee buh-leez-zuh suh-moo-dee" AKA "strawberry breeze smoothie". This seems odd to me because Koreans have their own words for "strawberry" and "breeze"... they shouldn't need to write them out in some mutated form of English. When Melodie asked her co-workers if older Koreans (who would never have studied English in their youth) would understand the menu at Smoothie King they said "no". Writing a menu that is impossible for non-English speaking Koreans to understand seems like an odd marketing strategy to me, but whatever- it makes my life here easier!
Tofu Donuts at Dunkin Donuts- for well-being with delicious taste. Tried one today and it was pretty good. You'd never know it was tofu.
Carrying stuff on your head in public- because that's got to be the easiest way to walk around with a tray of food.
