Chung Wa Dae Sarang Chae

Since I've been working at Korea.net I've come across great information on and about Korea. It helped me a lot in the sense of getting to know this country and what fun things are happening throughout the country.

I probably wouldn't have realized that there were so many things going on in Korea on my own. I did know there were various kinds of fairs all over the peninsula but it didn't really drive me to actually want to visit one..

No, actually until the trip I took early this year down to Geoje and Tongyong I just had ideas of wanting to travel around here are there but action always failed me. But now, I think I want more.. enough of the excuses, it's time to just up and leave for the places that interest me.

One of my interest is photography. I love to take pictures and to see them. When I found out that there was a photo exhibit on Korean War and in colors well, I had to go.. I was planning to go with bunch of friends but that didn't really pan out and since it was only a 10-minutes walk from my office, I decided to go during one of my lunch breaks.

The location was in Chung Wa Dae Sarangchae right across from the blue house(Chung Wa Dae) and I thought they did a great job in organizing everything within the exhibit. Though the building itself, well, I thought it could have been a bit more traditional in the design, but nonetheless everything was clean, neat and modern.

When I first learned of this exhibit I imagined it was going to be just the exhibit however, they already had the place set in different sections: on the first floor there were exhibits and information displaying about the city of Seoul and Korea. Great touch screens that shows you information on parks, markets, and so forth; on the second floor, there was the Hall of the Presidents and G-20 hall. and in the lobby John Rich's Korean War photographs in color.

I had a great time and I'm planning to visit more often.. hopefully I will have enough time to do so. The photo exhibit will be held until the end of June so if any of you are interested you should make that visit soon. ;)

Oh, and on the day I visited they had tea tasting (they told me they have it every Wednesday and Saturday, but should check the schedule on the Chung Wa Dae Sarangchae web page to be sure [only down side is there's no English version]) Loved the tea, especially the green tea that they fermented and made into a round cylinder block shape.

Book Fair 2010

Sunday, May 16, was our dear book meeting and the last day of the Seoul Book Fair 2010. Since this was my first visit to the fair, I didn't really know what to expect.. I was truly amazed of how many people were there and to see so many publishers attending. There was so much to see and so little time to cover all the grounds. There were pretty illustration books from all around the world that tempted me. And tons of book art that truly peaked my interest. My original plan was to get in look around and get out. BUT once again I was defeated and the better part of me took over.. ended up buying 10 or so books. Though it did save me a lot of money. Now, I have more books that needs to be read..
Can't wait to find out which country will be coming as a guest next year!

books I ended up buying..

I did buy a lot of children's books since I do need to read more and plan for my classes

so many reading, taking pictures and browsing through

and great illustration books with the original illustrations on display

so Many jewels within the net!

While I was browsing.. and uploading things for work.
I stumbled on a section of what my fellow book lovers would LOVE to hear about..
LIBRARY for ENGLISH books!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!
was so excited that I did almost scream and totally would have broken the dead silence of the office and woken up everyone... But I didn't and here I am writing about it.

So, if you love books and would love to go and borrow it.. here's an option for you. The only thing I'm concerned about is how many and varieties they have in store. Well, anyhow, I'll try to visit myself and give you a detailed info on it but here's the brief scoop:

Yeoksam Global Village Center, located near Gangnam station(line#2), apparently has 380 volumes of English and Korean(in English) books including recent bestsellers and Korean history books. Anyone intending to stay in Korea for over a month is eligible to rent the books. You can only check out 2 books at a time for 2 weeks, though you may extend the deadline by calling in, emailing, or visiting the center. If you're over due more than twice you'll not be able to borrow any books so, peeps, do return the books for others.

The only trouble you'll have to go through to check something out is to just visit the center with your ID and fill out a form. They also take in donations so if you're planning on leaving or have books lying around that you don't need you can donate them to the center or ME!!!( you know how much I love books and I can always use some more to rotate within our book club)

To get to the center get off at Gangnam station and exit #1. Walk straight until you pass the Yeoksam Tax Office and see the Wooribank. There, turn right and walk until BMS Building which is next to the Pitti Cafe. The center is on the fifth floor of Yeoksam 1 Cultural Center.

Yeoksam Global Village Center
Tel #: 02) 3453-9038~9
email: yeoksam@sba.seoul.kr

May 16 Meeting!

Book meeting + Book Fair = very fruitful & prductive meeting :D

So, we had our meeting on 'The Girl with the Dragon Tatoo'. My summary is that most of our members did not like the book and couldn't figure out why it got to be so popular in the first place.

There were some details we thought would have been better left out and some that should have been more elaborated..

All and all, the meeting was good, the company was lovely, the food excellent(not so much with the service, though), and the Seoul Book Fair something we'd (or I'd love to go back to next year)

I was afraid we wouldn't find a place where they sold books but luckily we did and there,

our next two book selections were picked: My Life in France by Julia Child and Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffennegger (author of 'The Time Traveler's Wife).

'Her Fearful Symmetry' I'll be ordering so I need to know how many copies to order.

Something that we didn't get to talk about is where our next meeting will be taken place. My suggestion was the Anyang Public Art Project park, it is near either Anyang station or Gwanak station (both on line#1). Shanna suggested Dos Tacos.

If you have any other suggestions please let me know and we'll make a choice by the end of the week or so.

Bolshoi on Ice

As a parents' day present to Mom, my sister bought tickets for the Bolshoi ice ballet show (May 9, though there were some complications so our tickets got moved to the May 2). Our seatings were excellent since we were front row center, right on the ice! The rink was ice cold but luckly we had our jackets and a blanket to share.. I think the show was almost 2 hours long started with 'Snow white' for the first part and some various short pieces then the second part ended with 'The Nutcracker'.

For me, the most memorable part was seeing the sad 7 dwarfs changing into happy-go-lucky dwarfs.. so goofy and cute. Also, the director of the show, Igor Bobrin, was amazing! Natalkia Bestemianova and Andrei Bukin were great, too. Oh, and can't leave out Dmitri Dmitrenko. Well, they were all good!

More pictures here!

a Heads-up for our May 16th meeting!

Our May 16th meeting will be held at On the Border, within the CALT(City Airport, Logis & Travel) building next to COEX @1pm.


We'll be discussing The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson and going to take a peek at the Book Fair then a stroll to the book store(Bandi & Luni's).

Below is a map so you'll have a better idea where it's about...

If you're coming from the subway : walk towards exit#5&6 but DON'T walk out of either one. you'll see a big hallway leading to a square(Millenium Square).


From the square on your nearest left you'll see an entrance towards Hyundai Department store. Take that path go straight and into the departement store.


Walk a little bit forward (passing Aunt Annie's Pretzel shop) you'll see an escalator, from there go right and as you pass the food court you'll exit the department store and finally be underneath the CALT building. From there just walk straight and you'll see another pair of escalators(left). Now, On the Border is right behind it(so to speak).
 If you're coming from Bandi & Luni's, from the entrance of the book store take a right towards the path where Burger King is you'll then see Sony and then Linko's. Enter Linko's and exit it from the back entrance and walk straight until you see the escalators(on your right). As soon as you see the escalator turn right and you'll see On the Border.

If you guys ended up somewhere on the street.. well, if you see the Hyundai department store, facing the entrance, walk left and turn around the corner. As soon as you pass the department store parking entrance you'll see the CALT building.. DON'T go in because they have a separate entrance to On the Border. You'll see it as you walk straight. you can't miss it..

1. Discuss book in question & other books.

2. Discuss next book(s) & meeting dates/places.

3. Discuss possible future trip.

4. Talk about any other suggestion & opinions. (*update contact info)

5. Go to Book Fair (closes at 5pm)

6. Browse through Bandi & Luni's

HAPPY READING!