I have been hearing that some people who do not have a blogger account have been having trouble commenting. As well, many of my livejournal friends have tag teamed me, and convinced me to post there as well. I will be posting my blog to both here and to livejournal for a bit. If you were having trouble commenting here, feel free to wander over to my livejournal blog and bookmark that one instead.
http://dalediane.livejournal.com/
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Monday, December 29, 2008
Dale's Picture Walk to the subway station (with Ryan)
So, i was talking earlier with my friend Tasha, and she said she wanted to see 'landscape pictures'. Well, i haven't been in Seoul long, and it is surely a varied area as a result of it's gigantic size, but the landscape of my neighborhood of Gwanak-gu seems to be buildings, buildings and more buildings. High rises everywhere. Single story buildings don't exist here in my area. So, i thought I'd do you better than show you one or two landscape pictures... i thought I'd show you where it is that i live here, and my personal 'landscape' of a daily basis. Ryan and i were on our way to do some errands, which involved a walk past the subway station. A walk to the subway station is seeming like a pretty standard thing to me. Here... walk with me through the pictures as we go to the subway station from my place.
First thing you do is walk down the stairs (or take the elevator) to first floor. once you step into the hall, this is what you see. Note the Korean restaurant here on the first floor. I have not eaten here yet, but the soup looks interesting. I am intrigued by the idea of 'eating out' without even setting foot outside. It reminds me of living in rez haha.
By the way, that silhouette in the first picture is Ryan.
This is where you are right after stepping outside the doors. In my building, there is also a dry cleaner place, a travel agency and.... a 7-11. The tables are all from the 7-11.
A quick picture of the dry cleaners.
Ryan, successful from his mission of buying a coke from the 7-11.
This is the first turn you take. It is directly opposite the 7-11 (the 7-11 was right behind me).
After walking down the narrow side street for about 2 minutes, you come onto the turn onto the major street. This is that turn. At the corner here there is a 'Red Mango'. This is a totally delicious frozen yogurt place. If you ask for your yogurt 'to go', they tape pieces of ice to your take out container to keep your frozen yogurt cold. I love the sour yogurty taste here. It's no german gelato, but i like it better than canadian ice cream.
When i first went to red mango, ryan had gone off to starbucks as he didn't want any. Once doing a lap around the building to find the stairs to the second floor (the first floor is something else... i think a cell phone store?) I got to the door it. It was a sliding door. The kind that usually have sensors and slide open as you come in. I tried waving all around to trigger the sensor, i even tried pushing on the door itself to make it slide. There was delicious frozen yogurt on the other side and all i could do was stare... the door WOULD NOT OPEN! Koreans passed me on the stairs and were laughing at me. They said something to me in Korean and then went on. Finally i found the little 'push' button beside it. I was no longer the crazy foreigner banging on the glass, trying to get into the store.
Directly opposite the red mango is another convienience store. Here is Ryan with the 'wacky' convenience store cartoons.
A typical Gwanak-gu 'landscape'. This is the view down the major road after turning the corner at the Red Mango.
Along the major street here, there are many cars, a bus stop, many stores and along the side there are street vendors selling food. It snowed just a very little bit today (melted as soon as it hit the ground, didn't show at all) and so there were tents over the vendors. They sell a variety of fried foods. I haven't tried any of their food yet. I do know Ryan's friend got sick after eating this, but i figure anything is worth trying once.... There is one in a different area that sells roasted nuts ( i think?). I think i will start with that one and work my way up.
Here's where Ryan likes to go to get his frapp fix. I am not that crazy about Starbucks, but i was intrigued when i went in with him and saw that they sell cupcakes in the Starbucks here. However, upon eating the cranberry cupcake, i discovered that the 'whipped cream' is made with soy milk. Oh well. This place makes Ryan happy :).
This place makes Dale happy!!!! I have already fallen madly, deeply in love with Paris Baguette here. I love their breads, i love their friendly people that work there, i love their little salads, i look forward to trying the juice from their juice bar.... i really love everything about the place. For breakfast today, i had a almond sticky bun i picked up from there.... delicious! I will have to take a picture sometime of the cakes they make there... i swear i will be picking one up as soon as an occasion arises to buy a cake where there will be 5 or 6 people together. The cakes are so beautiful! They also sell individual slices. Ryan and i loved the mocha cake, and i usually don't even like chocolate! This was divine.
And now we have arrived at the subway! Here is the view from the top of the stairs.
Here is the view in the direction towards the school where i work. In order to get to the school, i go down into the subway station, and go out on the other side, which is on the other side of the street. This street is so busy you cannot cross it except for underneath.
Here is a picture of the spot where those previous two pictures were taken from... the subway stairs. Down the escalator we go...
And here we are, inside the subway station.
Once in the station, we are directly under the street. We can exit through one of 8 exits without actually going into the subway area. This is the method for crossing this street. The first time i went out on my own, i was going out to a store to buy more clothes hangers that we had seen. I had a brief moment of worry that i was leaving through the wrong exit... and then i saw the sign. The name says it all hahahahhahaha. Ryan and i do get a giggle out of this one.
Wow this was a long post. Final thing i go is a picture of my new little friend. In the previous post Bianca said i needed a plant. I agreed and already had my eyes open for a plant store. In our travels today on the other side of the subway station, we came across a plant store! This little sweetie was only 3$... i couldn't resist. After years of living in a basement i finally have enough light in my place to keep a plant! If he lives, i will build up a collection :). I give him a month before the collection starts.
First thing you do is walk down the stairs (or take the elevator) to first floor. once you step into the hall, this is what you see. Note the Korean restaurant here on the first floor. I have not eaten here yet, but the soup looks interesting. I am intrigued by the idea of 'eating out' without even setting foot outside. It reminds me of living in rez haha.
By the way, that silhouette in the first picture is Ryan.
This is where you are right after stepping outside the doors. In my building, there is also a dry cleaner place, a travel agency and.... a 7-11. The tables are all from the 7-11.
A quick picture of the dry cleaners.
Ryan, successful from his mission of buying a coke from the 7-11.
This is the first turn you take. It is directly opposite the 7-11 (the 7-11 was right behind me).
After walking down the narrow side street for about 2 minutes, you come onto the turn onto the major street. This is that turn. At the corner here there is a 'Red Mango'. This is a totally delicious frozen yogurt place. If you ask for your yogurt 'to go', they tape pieces of ice to your take out container to keep your frozen yogurt cold. I love the sour yogurty taste here. It's no german gelato, but i like it better than canadian ice cream.
When i first went to red mango, ryan had gone off to starbucks as he didn't want any. Once doing a lap around the building to find the stairs to the second floor (the first floor is something else... i think a cell phone store?) I got to the door it. It was a sliding door. The kind that usually have sensors and slide open as you come in. I tried waving all around to trigger the sensor, i even tried pushing on the door itself to make it slide. There was delicious frozen yogurt on the other side and all i could do was stare... the door WOULD NOT OPEN! Koreans passed me on the stairs and were laughing at me. They said something to me in Korean and then went on. Finally i found the little 'push' button beside it. I was no longer the crazy foreigner banging on the glass, trying to get into the store.
Directly opposite the red mango is another convienience store. Here is Ryan with the 'wacky' convenience store cartoons.
A typical Gwanak-gu 'landscape'. This is the view down the major road after turning the corner at the Red Mango.
Along the major street here, there are many cars, a bus stop, many stores and along the side there are street vendors selling food. It snowed just a very little bit today (melted as soon as it hit the ground, didn't show at all) and so there were tents over the vendors. They sell a variety of fried foods. I haven't tried any of their food yet. I do know Ryan's friend got sick after eating this, but i figure anything is worth trying once.... There is one in a different area that sells roasted nuts ( i think?). I think i will start with that one and work my way up.
Here's where Ryan likes to go to get his frapp fix. I am not that crazy about Starbucks, but i was intrigued when i went in with him and saw that they sell cupcakes in the Starbucks here. However, upon eating the cranberry cupcake, i discovered that the 'whipped cream' is made with soy milk. Oh well. This place makes Ryan happy :).
This place makes Dale happy!!!! I have already fallen madly, deeply in love with Paris Baguette here. I love their breads, i love their friendly people that work there, i love their little salads, i look forward to trying the juice from their juice bar.... i really love everything about the place. For breakfast today, i had a almond sticky bun i picked up from there.... delicious! I will have to take a picture sometime of the cakes they make there... i swear i will be picking one up as soon as an occasion arises to buy a cake where there will be 5 or 6 people together. The cakes are so beautiful! They also sell individual slices. Ryan and i loved the mocha cake, and i usually don't even like chocolate! This was divine.
And now we have arrived at the subway! Here is the view from the top of the stairs.
Here is the view in the direction towards the school where i work. In order to get to the school, i go down into the subway station, and go out on the other side, which is on the other side of the street. This street is so busy you cannot cross it except for underneath.
Here is a picture of the spot where those previous two pictures were taken from... the subway stairs. Down the escalator we go...
And here we are, inside the subway station.
Once in the station, we are directly under the street. We can exit through one of 8 exits without actually going into the subway area. This is the method for crossing this street. The first time i went out on my own, i was going out to a store to buy more clothes hangers that we had seen. I had a brief moment of worry that i was leaving through the wrong exit... and then i saw the sign. The name says it all hahahahhahaha. Ryan and i do get a giggle out of this one.
Wow this was a long post. Final thing i go is a picture of my new little friend. In the previous post Bianca said i needed a plant. I agreed and already had my eyes open for a plant store. In our travels today on the other side of the subway station, we came across a plant store! This little sweetie was only 3$... i couldn't resist. After years of living in a basement i finally have enough light in my place to keep a plant! If he lives, i will build up a collection :). I give him a month before the collection starts.
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Pictures of my place!
So, i have Internet here at my place now! We still don't have a wireless router, or anything but the bed to sit on, so we do our computing sitting on the middle of the floor. I am currently using my housecoat as a cushion, and have the laptop propped up on the suitcase in front of me. Table and chairs will come as soon as we find a secondhand furniture store here in Seoul. Preferably one close to home?
Well i thought I'd post some pictures of Ryan and I in our new place! Here they are:
We found this table at a nearby furniture store for only 40$. I was so pleased at the price and it's simplicity. It even has a pull out keyboard tray for more surface area. This pictures shows what is so far my 'studio' (hahahhahaahhahahha).
This door shows where we come in to our apartment. You can also see the fridge, the large cupboards, and (much to Ryan's delight) a large bookshelf. I grabbed one shelf for myself, and i am sure he is working towards filling the rest of them.
Here is our bathroom. Note the nice tiling on the floor and walls. It looks new. All the floor s look new here. As well, you can kinda see in the mirror, there is a really nice wood roof in there too. What there is not is a 'shower area'. Note the drain on the floor. Oh well, it is a really nice bathroom none the less, with a 'natural rain' falling style faucet thing (that isn't in the picture it's higher up.
While out looking for sheets that day (and we found them!) i walked by a market stall that sold fruit. Oranges are EVERYWHERE here. I am 90% sure that they are in season or something. Every fruit seller has them by the bucketload. However, this seller had bags of kumquats for sale. I love kumquats, but back at home they were REALLY expensive. The bag i picked up would have been about 15 or so dollars. However, here, there was a very friendly fruit seller, who had a great display for 2$! How could i resist? Sarah Evans, wherever you are, i bought these kumquats thinking of you. (For those who do not know what a kumquat is, they are a delicious mini citrous fruit. They are kind of like a christmas orange with their peel. However, the peel is sweet, and the flesh inside is VERY sour. You eat a kumquat by popping the whole thing in your mouth, peel and all. Watch out for seeds :).
This picture shows my kitchen. Note the tiny fridge and the complete lack of any counter space. However, also not the washing machine! The sink is very large, which is nice. The horse head came over to be part of the fun.
This picture was taken standing beside the fridge. You can see my art area, the door to the bedroom, the desk, and the 'studio area'. You can also see an opening beside the bedroom, which deepens to the bathroom and is also where the kitchen table will go.
Here is the bedroom. And Ryan! And the horse head! The really nice, king sized bed came with the place.
Here's where i'm storing all my art supplies. This desk also came with the place. Once we have a chair, it will also be our laptop computing desk.
Beads! I couldn't resist showing the awesome little containers i got for them at a nearby shop today.
More art stuff... I created little papers for storing all my various ribbons, in the cd rack.
Well, today, the plan is to go to Namdaemun to do some shopping around, and then to hang out with Ryan's friend Mike. Wish me luck finding a cheap drill!
Well i thought I'd post some pictures of Ryan and I in our new place! Here they are:
We found this table at a nearby furniture store for only 40$. I was so pleased at the price and it's simplicity. It even has a pull out keyboard tray for more surface area. This pictures shows what is so far my 'studio' (hahahhahaahhahahha).
This door shows where we come in to our apartment. You can also see the fridge, the large cupboards, and (much to Ryan's delight) a large bookshelf. I grabbed one shelf for myself, and i am sure he is working towards filling the rest of them.
Here is our bathroom. Note the nice tiling on the floor and walls. It looks new. All the floor s look new here. As well, you can kinda see in the mirror, there is a really nice wood roof in there too. What there is not is a 'shower area'. Note the drain on the floor. Oh well, it is a really nice bathroom none the less, with a 'natural rain' falling style faucet thing (that isn't in the picture it's higher up.
While out looking for sheets that day (and we found them!) i walked by a market stall that sold fruit. Oranges are EVERYWHERE here. I am 90% sure that they are in season or something. Every fruit seller has them by the bucketload. However, this seller had bags of kumquats for sale. I love kumquats, but back at home they were REALLY expensive. The bag i picked up would have been about 15 or so dollars. However, here, there was a very friendly fruit seller, who had a great display for 2$! How could i resist? Sarah Evans, wherever you are, i bought these kumquats thinking of you. (For those who do not know what a kumquat is, they are a delicious mini citrous fruit. They are kind of like a christmas orange with their peel. However, the peel is sweet, and the flesh inside is VERY sour. You eat a kumquat by popping the whole thing in your mouth, peel and all. Watch out for seeds :).
This picture shows my kitchen. Note the tiny fridge and the complete lack of any counter space. However, also not the washing machine! The sink is very large, which is nice. The horse head came over to be part of the fun.
This picture was taken standing beside the fridge. You can see my art area, the door to the bedroom, the desk, and the 'studio area'. You can also see an opening beside the bedroom, which deepens to the bathroom and is also where the kitchen table will go.
Here is the bedroom. And Ryan! And the horse head! The really nice, king sized bed came with the place.
Here's where i'm storing all my art supplies. This desk also came with the place. Once we have a chair, it will also be our laptop computing desk.
Beads! I couldn't resist showing the awesome little containers i got for them at a nearby shop today.
More art stuff... I created little papers for storing all my various ribbons, in the cd rack.Well, today, the plan is to go to Namdaemun to do some shopping around, and then to hang out with Ryan's friend Mike. Wish me luck finding a cheap drill!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
First post!
Well, this blog goes out to primarily all my friends and family back home, but also my art blog friends if you are interested. Feel free to lurk/skim/comment obsessively/ignore as desired :). I do not yet have Internet at home (until Friday morning), so i am at a local pc-bong (Internet cafe) and can therefor not post pictures. Pictures will come in later posts!
On Monday, December 22nd, 2008 (three days ago) my flight landed in Incheon (which is very close to Seoul where i live). I have moved to Seoul until (minimum) January 2010 to teach English with my boyfriend Ryan.
I have decided to embark on this great adventure for a variety of reasons. Mostly, I had been going through some life changes, and the opportunity presented itself at the perfect time. My boyfriend got a job offer to go work in Korea, as he had twice before, and i decided to go with him. I now work teaching English to elementary children here in Seoul.
Yesterday was my first day of work. The school was beautiful. It is in a high rise type place, on the third floor. My bosses seem very nice and very enthusiastic. The kids seem very high energy, but you will find that anywhere. Yesterday was the Christmas party. Ryan got to be Santa :). (He made a great Santa!). We spent most of the day creating games, including our own version of Quiddler (a word creation game). The school is now on Christmas break. School resumes on January 5th. I think the timing worked out perfectly... i had a chance to meet people at the school, ask my questions, and get things set up, and now we have 10 days to get settled into our new place.
I am fascinated here how everything is sort of all jumbled together in high rise places. At the school, the ground floor is a grocery store. Above that, there are many things such as a dentist office, a couple of restaurants and... my school :). My own apartment is on the second floor of a high rise, with the ground floor being a 7-11, a dry cleaners and a Korean restaurant. Who'd have thought I'd be living above a 7-11? That kind of thing would never have happened at home hahaha. On the other hand, Seoul is a BIG city, and it is crowded. Lines for taking the bus stretch longer than to get into an Irish pub on st. patrick's day, and that's on a daily basis in the morning. (Thank goodness i walk to work). Everything is sort of jumbled together on top of one another here. It is fascinating to see what is around.
As for my place, we are very pleased. For a Korean apartment it is really a fair size. It has nice hardwood floors, a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It did not come fully furnished, only a bed, a desk (but too nice for my art :( ), a fridge, a stove, and a bookshelf. We will still need to get a kitchen table and chairs, something to sit on in the living room, and an art desk for me. Something like a night stand and a coffee table could be nice for me, but not absolutely necessary.
So, today we are going to Yong-san neighborhood, as they have a good store for small appliances. We need adaptor cords for our laptops, so we can charge them. Then, I will be able to post at will (!!!) from home and the comfort of my own apartment (as soon as we get internet on Friday).
This morning we went out to Paris Baguette for breakfast. I am so pleased... there are three french bakeries within a five minute walk of my apartment. Two 'Tous Les Jours' and one 'Paris Baguette' (I like the Paris baguette better as they also have a juice bar and are also a cafe). Walking in there reminded me so strongly of the bakeries around where my parents lived in Germany. The place is filled with sooo many delicious breads, cakes and so much more. I couldn't resist! We had really nice french style fresh salads, and we picked up a variety of baking for at home including bread. I can bet that i will find myself there often in the mornings. Who needs breakfast at home when you can have fresh sticky bun/croissant/turnover/raisin bread/one million other things, with fresh squeezed juice, right on the way to work? Ryan and i were able to buy two lunch sized salads (that were very good), croissants, a mocha cake, a sausage turnover thing, and a baguette for only 20 dollars. The baking is mostly only around 1.50, so it seems very reasonable. I will be posting pictures of this place later. It is the kind of place i know my mom would love.
Well, i think this is already a kind of long post, so i will be off now. It would be nice if you could leave a comment here, even just to say a quick hello, so i know how many people made it over here from my last blog/to my new blog.
On Monday, December 22nd, 2008 (three days ago) my flight landed in Incheon (which is very close to Seoul where i live). I have moved to Seoul until (minimum) January 2010 to teach English with my boyfriend Ryan.
I have decided to embark on this great adventure for a variety of reasons. Mostly, I had been going through some life changes, and the opportunity presented itself at the perfect time. My boyfriend got a job offer to go work in Korea, as he had twice before, and i decided to go with him. I now work teaching English to elementary children here in Seoul.
Yesterday was my first day of work. The school was beautiful. It is in a high rise type place, on the third floor. My bosses seem very nice and very enthusiastic. The kids seem very high energy, but you will find that anywhere. Yesterday was the Christmas party. Ryan got to be Santa :). (He made a great Santa!). We spent most of the day creating games, including our own version of Quiddler (a word creation game). The school is now on Christmas break. School resumes on January 5th. I think the timing worked out perfectly... i had a chance to meet people at the school, ask my questions, and get things set up, and now we have 10 days to get settled into our new place.
I am fascinated here how everything is sort of all jumbled together in high rise places. At the school, the ground floor is a grocery store. Above that, there are many things such as a dentist office, a couple of restaurants and... my school :). My own apartment is on the second floor of a high rise, with the ground floor being a 7-11, a dry cleaners and a Korean restaurant. Who'd have thought I'd be living above a 7-11? That kind of thing would never have happened at home hahaha. On the other hand, Seoul is a BIG city, and it is crowded. Lines for taking the bus stretch longer than to get into an Irish pub on st. patrick's day, and that's on a daily basis in the morning. (Thank goodness i walk to work). Everything is sort of jumbled together on top of one another here. It is fascinating to see what is around.
As for my place, we are very pleased. For a Korean apartment it is really a fair size. It has nice hardwood floors, a kitchen, a living room, a bedroom, and a bathroom. It did not come fully furnished, only a bed, a desk (but too nice for my art :( ), a fridge, a stove, and a bookshelf. We will still need to get a kitchen table and chairs, something to sit on in the living room, and an art desk for me. Something like a night stand and a coffee table could be nice for me, but not absolutely necessary.
So, today we are going to Yong-san neighborhood, as they have a good store for small appliances. We need adaptor cords for our laptops, so we can charge them. Then, I will be able to post at will (!!!) from home and the comfort of my own apartment (as soon as we get internet on Friday).
This morning we went out to Paris Baguette for breakfast. I am so pleased... there are three french bakeries within a five minute walk of my apartment. Two 'Tous Les Jours' and one 'Paris Baguette' (I like the Paris baguette better as they also have a juice bar and are also a cafe). Walking in there reminded me so strongly of the bakeries around where my parents lived in Germany. The place is filled with sooo many delicious breads, cakes and so much more. I couldn't resist! We had really nice french style fresh salads, and we picked up a variety of baking for at home including bread. I can bet that i will find myself there often in the mornings. Who needs breakfast at home when you can have fresh sticky bun/croissant/turnover/raisin bread/one million other things, with fresh squeezed juice, right on the way to work? Ryan and i were able to buy two lunch sized salads (that were very good), croissants, a mocha cake, a sausage turnover thing, and a baguette for only 20 dollars. The baking is mostly only around 1.50, so it seems very reasonable. I will be posting pictures of this place later. It is the kind of place i know my mom would love.
Well, i think this is already a kind of long post, so i will be off now. It would be nice if you could leave a comment here, even just to say a quick hello, so i know how many people made it over here from my last blog/to my new blog.
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