Friday, April 30, 2010

Seoul International Book Fair 2010

Seoul International Book Fair 2010 is in town.. from May 12~16
Thanks to Sandra we were able to get the info.. I would have totally missed it if it weren't for you Sandra! Thank you!

It's open to public:
May 13~14 10:00~18:00
May 15 10:00~20:00
May 16 100~17:00

Admission: Adults: KRW3.000 / Children &Teens (under 19) KRW1,000

HOWEVER, if you pre-register.. then you get to go in for FREE.. so here's how you do it..
Since the English website doesn't have a pre-registering site.. and it's until today(April 30th) they accept pre-registration.. so do it QUICK!!

First go to this page..http://www.sibf.or.kr/kor/html/visitors/pre.php
Then enter your info, click ok, and print out your ticket.
I've also added the pictures just in case you have trouble understanding and inputting info..






Give me a call if you have any trouble!

Monday, April 26, 2010

Salsa SHOES!!!

It's about time I got them..after my initial start or shall we say my first try at learning salsa.. I did get distracted because of the plan of going away and then that plan getting canceled.. and on and on and on.

I finally decided it was time.. and got myself a pair of nice SHOES!!!
So, with the help of lovely Crys, a really nice gal I met at my initial try.. I walked from my work place(Gyeongbok palace station) to near Seoul station.. since it was raining and all I was thinking of going another day.. BUT I didn't want to get lazy and didn't want to delay anymore.. so with the rain pouring I walked a good 2.5km for about 35mins and arrived at the store.. my jeans got soaked and my shoes were too.. but oh, well.. today wasn't a bad day to walk.. it was actually nice walking in the rain.. if it rained a bit harder.. I might have taken a bus.. but it was okay...

so!
I asked her of the price and all.. and since the price of the synthetic ones and leather ones didn't differ much was going to go for the leather ones.. Then again, I changed my mind because I wanted to get something right away.. for the leathers it had to be made.. they didn't have any with my size.. and they don't make many of my size(FYI, I have tiny feet.. 220) And besides, I'm a beginner so I thought I'll get a nicer one when I'm a bit better at it.. ;)

I got my shoes and headed home.. SO HAPPY! I'm gonna start learning right away! Yippie!

short weekend trip down south - Geoje Island &Tongyong (March 19~21)

It was a long drive but fortunately the traffic wasn't that bad. We left early Friday morning of March 19th and spent 3days and 2 nights and came back home. Our first stop was Geoje Island, a not so big of an island famous for its natural harbors and shipyards, is located on the southern coast of Gyeongsangnamdo province. There were lots of things to see like the P.O.W camp museum, Windy Hill, former President Kim Yong Sam's hometown, Oedo(island) and lots more.. had this whole thing planned out.. however, we only made it to the P.O.W. museum because of the bad weather. It was drizzling, windy, and cold. Hence, the boat ride to Oedo was out of the question because on a really windy day or bad weather the ship doestn't sail. Now, the interesting site I have to point out and tell you is when we got there it was around 6 and I guess all the men and women working at the shipyard were punching out for the day.. so when I saw a sea of people on motorcycles, scooters, and bicycles flooding out to the streets.. well, what a site! It reminded me of the scene that I saw on TV where there are flood of bike riders commuting on the streets of China or Vietnam. It was ver interesting and my mother, sister and myself included we were all laughing and giggling with delight. (No, we weren't laughing at them we'd never do that.. it just was a thrilling scenery to witness, that's all)

Complimentary of my mother's friend who lives and runs a tourist office and accomodations we were able to stay at a pretty nice motel and settle in for the night after we had a full meal of raw seafood.

The next day, we called the dock and asked if the boat was running but we were told 'no' because of the weather. So, we decided to go to the P.O.W museum and while mother stayed in the car with our dog (she didn't come with us because she already had a tour of the place) we went around the place. There were some interesting things we saw and some part of the history of Korea that I didn't know about. My sister and I thought the did a great job in creating the park/museum and on a better day it would have been a much better tour.
After the tour of P.O.W we were planning to go to the Windy Hill, but since it was TOO windy we decided to just head out to Tongyong and meet up with a distant relative, a very distant aunt, whom I saw for the very first time. It was really nice meeting her and getting to know her even though it was for a short while. I really like meeting distant realtives because I don't really see myself as a Korean and being connected.. meeting relatives kind of gives me proof of that I am in deed and it also gives me a detailed description and explanation into our family tree and who's who and whatnot.. Plus, my dad's side of the family, though there are 4 brothers and a sister, they never have been close and they never will be. And I don't really think I'll see much of them since my dad passed. I mean they didn't really care before so why care when he isn't even around right? Anyways, enough of the Ko family history.. 

So, off we went to the bus termial in Tongyong and met our aunt(she came from Busan to visit Tongyong) and headed to another relatives house in Tongyong. We had great time chatting about families who's related to who and how and we got a better idea of things. It was weird because I felt really comfortable with them as if we've known each other for some time and kept in touch all these years even though it was my first time and my sister's to meet them. (My mom had seen them at ther wedding and couple of times afterwards so it's been a long time for her as well.) It was totally different from meeting my dad's brothers' families.. I'm always ill at ease with them. I'm not being prejudiced here nor do I have any feelings of hatred(no, that's not 100% true). But, I've always felt they were more distant than neighbors or even strangers.. Ok, I'm going to stop.. not a good thing to express all these negative on my blog..
... back to Tongyong, our uncle(my paternal grandmother's sister's son) took us for a drive around the little town of Tongyong and gave us an brief tour after lunch. Again, since the weather was too windy the cable car was not in operation so had to skip that and just be satisfied by driving by and hope for better weather tomorrow. They had just kicked off Tongyong Oyster Festival so we made a trip to the festival grounds within a university and had a taste of delicious oyster and our uncle bought us a box to take home. We also visited a really nice private resort and was mesmerized by it.. wanting to visit sometime in the future.. however, it's members only so not very likely to happen. We had dinner at a restaurant run by another relative of ours then turned oursleves in for the night. The next morning my sister and I went up on the cable car since the weather had cleared up while my mother went with our aunts and uncle to attend mass at their beautiful catholic church. After we came down from the mountain which was wonderful we said our good-byes and parted our ways. My mom, sister, and I took turns driving home.. and arrived save and sound.
I've posted all the pictures so you can view them on this site..click HERE ;)

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Damn with the designs..

so.. I got rid of the background design.. why?
well, just felt like it.. when I did it.. I thought it looked nice..
but I'm just going to go with plain and simple white!

Another thing that I thought about was the name of my blog.. I've had it for a long time..
and I do like  the name.. it's relaxing.. and that's what I was aiming at.. but today at work I just felt the urge of changing it.. and then when I got home the urge was totally gone..

Though, I do think that the new name I thought about was pretty good.. I don't know..
I'm just being very indecisive at the moment.. surely it'll pass..


Oh, by the way HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!

I walked about 30 mins. to the bus station today instead of taking a subway directly.
Does that count as an Earth day activity?

Guess what I stumbled on.. ;)

a very interesting...
                             mind tickling...
                                         BOOK!

just got a newsletter from Goodreads and was reading it through just before lunch break was over..
and I tripped myself over a book I just have to read... and I'm guessing it's good.. or is my expectation too high? well, it's going right on my TBR list..

Ok, so it's called The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott by Kelly O'Connor McNees 
From what I read of the review from Goodreads I'm guessing it's quite good.. This is not a biography, obviously, but an interpretation of the authors view of the character Jo of Little Women and its author Louisa May Alcott. I was a big fan of this book ever since I was a little girl and read it.. and I just can't wait to get my hands on it.. Since it's out only in hardcovers.. I'm guessing I'm going to have to wait till it comes out in Korea, which might take awhile. This book is McNees first debut and I know some may be skeptical towards new authors however, I'm all up for new and upcoming authors.. and who knows, it could turn out fantabulous!

ps.. don't you just love the cover?!


Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Bus Engine Trouble?

I know most of you are wondering why the bus engines are suddenly shut down because I was and a friend of mine asked me probably thinking I'll have the answer to it since I'm Korean and know what's going on.. but to tell you the truth, I was clueless as all of you were. Well, my first instinct was maybe the bus just went kaput but I noticed a sticker on the bus saying "시동뚝? 걱정 뚝! (engine trouble? don't worry!)" and well, I also asked my mom because I didn't understand the logic to it. what the sticker said was that it's to prevent the engine from running idle. BUT my logic was, if you do that wouldn't that result in inefficient use of gas?
Well, apparently I was wrong, what really happens is by automatically shutting off the engine it saves the fuel cost plus it's actually doing some good to our environment since it exhausts less CO2. I don't exactly know the technology behind it but from what I hear the buses have an automatic system installed in them to shut down their engines when they are stopped at a red light or stopped in traffic and once they step on the clutch the engine starts up again. I searched on the net for some info and it says that about 7600 buses have this system and through it they're saving up to 5% of fuel cost which is equivalent to about 13billion won. They're still working on extending this to taxis and automobiles in order to save our ozone layer.

So, the next time you experience a sudden engine shut down on our public buses, don't worry, they're doing everyone a favour! ;)