Here's to a New Decade

After a fabulous but tiring Christmas weekend, I was in need of a day to relax and spend some time alone. Sam came to stay with me for the week on Tuesday. We had an amazing time and did tons of great touristy things around Seoul. You could almost say the week was perfect minus a slight mishap on New Year’s. Sam’s purse with basically everything (ids, money, phone, camera, I pod) except her passport was stolen and she spent the better part of the weekend trying to figure it all out. I don’t understand people sometimes. If I’ve learned one thing for sure it’s that karma will always catch up with you.

I had heard about these ‘Dr. Fish’ cafes they have here in Korea so we decided to try one out this week. It was a really neat experience. I will let you check out the video I made so you can get an idea of what this place is all about. If I had to sum up this unique pedicure in one word it would be 'ticklish'.

white hot chocolate at Dr. Fish

pedicure

enjoying my visit to Dr. Fish

Check out the video of Dr. Fish: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100128404687839&ref=mf

Sam and I also checked out the aquarium at the COEX mall. It was really well done and totally reverted me back to my elementary days as a kid at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

toilet fish tank

starfish

fishes

gigantic turtle

On New Year’s Eve we met up with a group of friends and headed to Myeong-dong for some drinks. Shortly before midnight we all made our way to Jongno, in the middle of the city to watch the countdown. There was live music, tons of people, and police everywhere ready to take care of business if things got out of control. After shouting down from 10 people began lighting off fireworks from the crowd and there was live music. The only thing I can compare it to would be Times Square in NYC on New Year’s. Such a cool experience. When the crowd died down and we finally made our way to the subway we migrated over the Hongdae to dance the rest of the night away at a club.

the ladies on New Year's Eve

Korean police force in downtown Seoul

New Year's Eve in Seoul

Jack and Sam

Check out a video of the crowd in Seoul: http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=10100128396673899

Sam and I wanted to visit a temple this week so we wandered over to the Jogyesa Buddhist temple. The shrine there, Daeungjeon, is the largest in Seoul. It was a peaceful and spiritual visit. After walking around on our own for a bit and checking out the inside of the temple we walked into the tourist office and a kind older gentleman offered to give us a short tour. He answered some of our questions and explained more about the temple and religion to us. Watching people lighting candles and incense, placing offerings on the tables, and worshipping inside the temple was fascinating. I am intrigued by the Buddhist religion and eager to learn more about it while I am in Korea.

lanterns outside the Jogyesa temple

Buddha statue

not quite sure what this was, but it was really cool

pagoda that you circle three times to the right and bow to after entering the front gate of the compound

lighting my incense- the candles represent lighting up the world and diminishing darkness like Buddha did and the smoke from the incense sends wishes up to heaven

one of the three giant Buddhas inside the temple- each has a specific name and role

lanterns outside the funeral house

the belfry

Sam and I in the belfry- one large bell in the center to wake humans, one to the left to wake up sea creatures, one to the right to wake up animals, and one in the back to wake up flying creatures each struck 28 times at 4A.M. and 33 times at 6P.M.

A group of girls met up in Seoul and walked down Ahyeondong Wedding Street, a famous street with over 200 wedding retailers. As we window shopped we saw everything from the most elegant and extravagant dresses to ones that were strange and tacky looking. There were modern dresses, traditional dresses, and dresses that I would never be caught dead in at my wedding. After browsing we found the wedding café we had been looking for and ordered some milkshakes while we waited to try on some wedding dresses for fun. It was hilarious and we had a terrific time posing for cheesy pictures and pretending like we were princesses/brides for an hour.

wedding street

Korean wedding dresses

my 'wedding' day

the lovely brides

catch

bride wars

with all the cheesy stuffed animals

On our last night of vaca a group of us got together and went to Gangnam for some laughs, drinks, hookah, and a good time. After getting rowdy at a Korean bar we made our way to Rainbow and enjoyed some hookah.

Hyun-jin, me, and Sam

Jackie S. and Jackie M.

Looking forward to the year abroad in 2010. Can’t wait to see what’s in store for me!

Happy January!

Namaste