Walk Through Itaewon

After having that incredible experience at the Leeum museum I decided to head towards Itaewon. But I went through some back streets to get there. Along the way were mostly residential houses, the more pricey ones. Here the houses are hidden behind thick gates and walls. Some of which are guarded by spikes.

The street I came out onto was the one with a favorite cupcake shop of mine. 

But no cupcakes for me, just yet, I was on the prowl for lunch. As I walked up the hill towards the main street of Itaewon I saw a Thai restaurant, but it was closed.

I'll be honest, I don't really like the main street of Itaewon. It's always crowded and there are times I don't really like the foreigner crowd I find myself sharing the sidewalk with. So usually when I have to go to Itaewon, I head to the side streets.

But this time it wasn't so bad and I had a good lunch at the Petra Palace. The falafel meal was scrumptious and very satisfying.

Even though my feelings of Itaewon are mixed, it is always fun to see what new restaurant has popped up in the neighborhood.

Secret Garden (시크릿 가든): Drama Review

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Imagine if you will two young Korean couple, one male and very rich the other female and poor, that just happen to switch bodies. Can you see that happening?

That is exactly what happens in the recent Korean drama Secret Garden, which I happen to be watching. I haven't finished it, but I am halfway through. I'll be honest that I haven't been into the K-dramas that much lately due to American ones grabbing all my attention. Plus after watching a little of Boys Before Flowers I started to grow a distaste for it. I really hate it how the female lead character ended up going from a tough-independent person to a soft-apologetic little thing. As I started to watch Secret Garden I feared that this was going to happen all over again. Thankfully, the lead female character in this story pretty much stays a tough chick (so far).

The Characters: source

Gil Ra Im

Played by: Ha Ji Won

Character: The main female role. Feisty and has a street spirit to her, Gil Ra Im shows no mercy towards the male lead who tries hard to bring her into his heart. Her day job is being a stunt woman so you can imagine she is pretty fierce.

Kim Joo Won

Played by: Hyun Bin

Character: Main male lead here who likes to wear fancy track-suits (hand-stitched) and chase Gil Ra Im. Has claustrophobia and a bossy attitude. CEO of a wealthy department store.

"Oska"

Played by: Yoon Sang Hyun

Character: He is the cousin of Joo Won, so naturally he is rich as well. An aging "Hallyu" pop star who faces his career taking a nose dive. Has a heart-broken past with another character. Comes off as cheerful and more free-spirited than his cousin. 

 

Yeun Sol

Played by: Kim Sa Rang

Character: Watch out guys! This gal is looking for the perfect marriage. She is actually a film director and so you see her trying to make films for Oska. But due to their past relationship things become bumpy. What I love most is seeing her rich-ass cry over her breaking heart...(sorry).

Im Jong Soo

Played By: Phillip Lee

Character: He is the stunt school's director and so has a big influence on Gil Ra Im's life. He secretly loves her but is never man enough to tell her (so far). Makes for complications and a love triangle. 

There are plenty of more characters but these are the main players. The other people you see are Joo Won and Oska's parents, friends of Gil Ra Im and some other lively characters thrown in. 

Formula:

The story and whole formula for this drama is pretty out there but still adheres to traditional drama algorithms.

Typically, a Korean drama takes a young couple and makes them hate each other at the beginning. Then for some random reason they have to be next to each other practically all of the time. Usually they have to lie about each others relationship to keep their social and family lives smooth. Eventually they fall in love and the last part of the series ends with them finding each other, after being torn apart, and swearing they will never leave each other ever again. 

Beautiful isn't?

Well I can tell you that gets really boring, very quickly. Secret Garden's formula is somewhat like this but the DNA has changed a bit. 

Joo Won finds himself attracted to Gil Ra Im and can't get her out of his head. Gil Ra Im doesn't really fall for him like he does for her, but there are times when she finds herself feeling something. At the beginning of the drama they kind of weave this out for 5 episodes until finally their bodies are switched.

Body Switching! Oh my!

I found it quite whimsical and interesting that the creators of this drama took on body switching. For one there are so many gender and sexual taboos in Korean culture that this kind of story-plot has room to play with. What happens when they discover that they are in each others body is really quite amusing.

The guy reacts by being in the girls body by instantly noticing he has breasts. The girl reacts the same way when she realizes she is a man. It is an interesting play on gender roles and there are times when things almost cross a social barrier. However, the creators of this drama kept things light and fluffy in regards to any kind of social commentary.

The body switching scenarios were mostly playful with one instance where Gil Ra Im (inside the man's body) had to show her switched partner how to put on a bra.

 Don't worry no one walks in on this situation.

They stay switched for quite sometime and end up messing up each others lives. Yes they do switch back, and I won't tell you why, but afterwards the tone of the story becomes more serious. 

Throughout the story Joo Won's mother finds out about his relations with Gil Ra Im. Of course she isn't pleased as Ra Im is completely out of his class. During the body switching she even tried to bribe Gil Ra Im to stay away from her son, but since the person she was really talking to was her son (in Gil Ra Im's body) she ended up toyed with.

After the switch reversal there was an intense scene where his mother called back Gil Ra Im to finally get rid of her. At one point Joo Won walked in and declared that she couldn't get rid of Gil Ra Im

Commentary on Social Class and Standards

His mother berated Gil Ra Im for being poor and daring to think about belonging to her class. The whole scene reminded me of how with my first Korean boyfriend I wasn't truly accepted because I wasn't Korean. 

This is about where I am at in the drama. To sum up the story plot you have a rich guy who wants to love and be with a poor girl. The poor girl time-after-time puts him down and even kicks him around. There are mixed in other love stories and the whole thing seems to be centered on forbidden and broken love. What's going to happen to the couple and will they switch again? Just gotta watch and find out.

Is It Worth Watching?

I would have to say, yes. Although you might find yourself muting it now and then, as I do, since they play the same music over and over. 

I am beginning to see that this is more about the male character changing and dealing with his life. It also portrays rich Korean people in a critical tone, of course done so carefully. You do get the sense that the moral merits mostly come from Gil Ra Im and her "lower class" upbringing. The rich people in this show are portrayed as conniving, backstabbing and easily persuaded. I am not sure if this is something I am imagining or whether the directors are really going for this kind of atmosphere.

All in all, I would say give this drama a chance. Mostly you will need to get through the first 5 episodes and then things get really interesting. There's a lot of the usual eye candy and of course they spend a few episodes on Jeju Island. 

In case you need a visual idea of it all:

Have you seen it? Did you like it? Anything stick out to you as interesting?

Movie Review: Ajusshi or The Man From Nowhere

Last weekend I went to the movies with JH, which was good since we hadn't seen a movie together in quite a while.

Catching a movie in Korea is always an interesting experience. Usually you can go to the theater and pick a movie you want to see then buy a ticket. But the more normal way to buy a ticket is to reserve it online. There are different movie theater companies here but the well known one is CGV. It was a Sunday and most of the tickets were already sold out, so we were left with the seats way in the back. Actually we got the "Sweetbox" tickets. These are more expensive than the normal price, because they are more like a "couple" seat being that they are like a mini-couch without an arm rest in the middle and a large head rest behind you. The sweetbox seats were very comfortable.

The movie we went to see was the popular hit here in Korea called Ajusshi or "The Man From Nowhere." It is number one at the box office in Korea beating out the Hollywood flicks like Inception. I knew the movie was going to be sad and a bit violent due to that it is a Korean movie and they typically are that way.

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The main actor of this film is Won Bin starring as Tae Shick, who is some kind of loner. This is a movie with a sad story mixed in with violence and survival. The plot follows Tae Shick as he ends up in a bad situation having to look for a girl and her mother that were kidnapped. The girl befriended him early on in the movie so there was definitely a soft spot in this film, which is riddled with violence. By now, in my life, I should be desensitized to violence but I think I haven't seen it on the big screen in a long time. Plus there is some truly gory types of violence in this movie.

The great thing about this film is that it never really slows down and you are engaged throughout the whole thing. The acting was also well done and believable, along with the story which was touching and well thought of.

I would highly recommend this film to those seeking a thriller and a good story this summer season. I caught it with English subtitles at the Gangnam CGV theatre.

Check out this trailer to get you excited...

After the movie we prowled along Gangnam, near the theater, looking for dinner. Unfortunately this area is now one of the busiest places in Seoul so it was hard to get dinner at the places I chose, such as the Mexican and the Indian place. We settled on a Turkish (Turka Kebab House) restaurant that was somehow not yet busy.

The dining inside was cramped, but there was an upstairs unit for reservations. The variety of choices seemed pretty good, yet in the expensive range of 10,000 won to 12,000 won. We ordered beef and chicken kebabs with bread. It was all very tasty and the bread was filling.

My advice would be that if you have a lower budget to head out to another area since this one was packed and also the places were pretty expensive. Yet it was a Sunday and maybe on other days it isn't so crowded. However, in Seoul it is hard to get away from the crowds.

There you are...movie and dinner. Yum!

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Get Your Art On

Yesterday I had the lovely privilege of going on an artsy gallery tour with my friend Jennifer. I was really excited for this adventure because I have been feeling guilty lately that I haven't been producing much art nor spending time seeing it.

Our area of interest was the Insadong and Samcheong-dong areas located near the Jongno-3 sam-ga station in Seoul. As many of you may know I have been to the Insadong area quite a few times, and enjoyed my visits. But I had a special feeling about this visit because my pal has been living in Korea for 10 yrs and is also into the Art Scene.Let me break down the map for you and our path. We started out at the beginning of Insadong street, which is the area closest to the Jongno-3 station. This is where most people start out when they are in this area. Anyways, Insadong street is an art district of Seoul, but is more so a tourist street. This is because along the main street there are shops that sell souvenirs and the usual knick-knacks one can take home. People often reference this street to a ChinaTown street like back in America. I had never gotten to the end of Insadong street and so of course had not gone past this area.

(View of the start of Insadong street with Bugak mountain in the background.)

We arrived around 11 AM and the shops were opening. This made it kind of difficult for us because we wanted to get brunch. But most of the shops were closed and not many cafes serving food were open yet. So we walked through Insadong street passing by mostly everything. As we passed by we did a little window shopping. Before I knew it we were already at the end of Insadong street. I felt somewhat amazed, I didn't realize how short distance the street actually was.

Next, we crossed a large intersection which was near the Angok subway station. It was here that Jennifer bought some roasted chestnuts, which I didn't care for too much. And also we made our way into Samcheong-dong. On this path Jennifter promised me that there were some cafes that served up some good brunch food (pancakes, sandwhiches...etc.)

The street we started walking up on had the atmosphere of being quiet and waking up. The path was somewhat more narrow than Insadong street and it appeared that the buildings were mostly residential. But we started to come upon the cafes. One place looked promising but it turned out they were still finishing the morning baking of goods...

Finally, we came upon a cafe that was just opening and ready for customers. It was inside a cute little building. Jennifer told me that the style and architecture of the building was built in the Colonial style.

I looked around at the structure and it had a familiar Japanese Colonial style. And so I mentioned this to Jennifer, and indeed it was built by the Japanese when they were in Korea. I found it somewhat thrilling to be inside this building. This is because I thought of how this building may not have existed if it weren't for the initial influence of the West on Japanese architecture after they opened their doors to the West. And then how the Japanese came over to Korea and built up this architectural style while they occupied Korea. It felt as if I had walked directly into a mini-historical-museum, but was actually just getting brunch.

(Brunch consisted of Pancakes + Ham + Egg + Syrup for Jennifer and a Ham + Cheese + Onion + Pepper Sandwich for myself)

Brunch was satisfying and we spent some time chatting and catching up on our own individual histories and opinions of life abroad. It felt awesome to get some girl-talk in and stew about certain aspects of foreigner life. But the streets and galleries were calling our name so we moved on.

Decaying Korean Architecture:
Did I mention Jennifer is rich in her knowledge of Korean Art and Architecture? Well, it was a delightful treat to be served a history lesson of the architecture in the area. Part of my Asian Art history courses back in college covered aspects of Asian architecture. But what I studied came from pictures, so of course it was exhilarating to see these structures in person.

The area, though, appeared to be going through many transformations. Apparently this part of Seoul is for the richy-rich folks. Indeed, I almost felt like I was walking through Nob Hill or the Marina district of San Francisco. How I could tell? Well not that many people were on the street, the majority of buildings were painted cleanly and also done up in very stylish ornamentation. But the old and the new existed side by side in this area, and was evident when Jennifer pointed out to me old Palace structures.
We could tell this structure was older than the rest of the buildings surrounding it because of the wear and tear in the wooden beams, and also within the style of the eave of the roof. If you look close enough at the second picture you can see remnants of painting left on the round beams coming out under the roof. In time this building will be torn down to be replaced with something new. I stood there trying to grasp this reality, wondering why the Korean government would not act to preserve each and every old building like this. But it is what they do and I in time will accept this part of Korean society.

So we moved on and came upon an area where they were tearing down old palace walls. This place had a kind of flux feeling feeling because we caught the walls in a state of suspended renovation. For one of the walls was cut away, like a cross section, and made for a particularly interesting study.


This area was really starting to grow on me. Of all the places I have seen in Seoul this one seemed to give me the impression of what I thought a Korean street may look like. That is with old Palace structures and nature tucked in between it all. So I became somewhat envious of the residents in this neighborhood and wanted my own traditional yet modern home.
Cafe and Gallery Streets:
Our path then took us onto the Cafe / Gallery street of Samcheong-dong, which reminded me of such places like Laguna Beach in Orange County and Geary Street in San Francisco. You could see Gallery window displays and cafes arranged next to one another. Also many of the shops had unique storefronts or architectural elements.
We stopped in a few galleries and took note of the art inside. Actually we didn't really go inside many galleries, I guess I was getting more of a feel for this area. But no doubt an artistic and creative edge permeated throughout this area, even if we didn't step inside many galleries.

As we walked up the street we came upon another Japanese Colonial style building. This time I could easily spot the Japanese elements. (Rectangular elongated windows and shortened eaves.) Jennifer made an accurate point about telling me how you can spot the irregularities, because it basically looks different than Korean homes. For those who live here I think you too can notice the difference. I think though that this structure has had some modern improvements and embellishments.
Turning the corner we came upon another street with cafes and galleries. On our way we spotted some graffiti art and a cafe with a crazy storefront.

Vista Viewpoint:
Then we came upon an uphill road, which yielded a spectacular view. Not only of the mountain in the distance but of the Geoncheondong palace structures, and in the foreground below us were old rooftops.
I was told that couples like to take thier sweethearts here for a walk at night, supposedly very romantic. (Hint, hint...BK)

At this point the weather was getting colder and colder, and for some reason my body wasn't warming up enough. So I suggested we head back towards a subway station, as a way to see more sites and also get out of the cold. On our way we tried to find a cafe to sit in, but they all seemed too pricey for just a cup of tea.

Jennifer remembered that she knew a friend of hers who had a store in the area, and said that she couldn't pass by without visiting.

An Actual Cultural Experience:

It was here at Jennifer's friends shop that I felt like I had a real cultural experience. It has been rattling around in my idea of what actually makes a cultural experience? Is it when you go see a place that is designated as a cultural icon? Or could a cultural experience come from the interaction with the people of the culture?

Anyways, the shop this woman runs is, what I guess, a tailor shop. She handmade everything inside including hanboks, coats, scarfs and decorative cloth materials. It was a tiny little shop, with a kitchen and storage room in the back. When you walked in you came across a large table, where she did her needlework. Jennifer and I were greeted with a warm smile, tea, walnuts freshly cracked and mandarins. The shop keeper was an unmarried woman who looked like she was in her 40's or 50's (hope that is somewhat accurate.) A sweet woman with rosy cheeks and a wise smile.

Inside we drank tea and Jennifer talked it up with her friend about boyfriends, marriage and past times. I enjoyed sitting and sipping my tea and looking at all the handiwork.
As I sat there it felt like I was on one of those adventure travel shows where the host is seen going inside a local person's home and being given a modest portion of something to drink and eat. While at the same time he narrates the scene by saying "You can really get to know a culture by being a guest inside a locals home." Or "You really must get to know this culture by going off the beaten path and engaging yourself locally."

That is how I felt sitting there, for it was as if I was off the tourist path. Inside the store I caught a glimpse of a little storefront, that I would otherwise pass by. So I wondered to myself whether or not this designated itself as an actual cultural experience. I would like to think so.

Chinese for Dinner:
Hunger was calling our name and so we said our goodbyes and headed back towards Anguk subway station. On our way we stopped at a Chinese noodle restaurant that is actually managed by Chinese people. From the picture on the wall I knew it was going to be delicious and indeed it was. The dish had that familiar ChinaTown from America taste, and perhaps actually better!

Ah, come on Joy...give us a smile!

And so ends my Art adventure with Jennifer. Thank you so much, and I can't wait to do it again...next time we will actually go inside more galleries.

Apgujeong / Taste of Home

Last weekend I met up with BK in Apgujeong, which is an area of Seoul known for its rich people and snazzy neighborhoods. It is an area of Seoul located in the Gangnam area. BK and I weren't there to stare at all the Lexus' driving by or count the number of Louis Vuitton bags, for our mission was to find the infamous Butterfinger Pancake restaurant.
Stepping into Butterfinger Pancakes was like walking straight into a diner in America. The smell of sizzling bacon and pancake mix was an everlasting experience. It was as if I had stepped out of the streets of Seoul and into my Berkeley neighborhood restaurant joint. But of course this only lasted a little while as everyone around me was mostly Korean. There were some foreigners there and actually quite a few groups of them. So I could tell this place was certainly a favorite amongst us foreigners.You may ask: "Joy, couldn't you just make pancakes and bacon at home? Why travel all the way out to Gangnam for them?" The answer simply put is...atmosphere. You gotta have that diner feeling and the aroma in the air. Plus I think the place gives a foreigner a moral booster, if only temporary.

Above all else, though, the true reason one should come out here is for the food! The menu is quite extensive and even resembles a typical breakfast / lunch diner back in America. For there are combo specials where you can get waffles + eggs + sausage + bacon + potatoes. I think that is a classic American menu item. But if eating half the world doesn't seem appetizing to you, other parts of the menu list sandwiches and desserts.

BK ordered a Waffle sandwich, and of course I was a little curious and apprehensive just how it would turn out.

That is a real sour pickle in there folks! Not the sweet kind, too. (Most pickles you find in Korea are sweet.) On top of the waffle sandwich is a dollop of sour cream, and inside you would find melted cheese and ham. As strange as it looks, the taste was fulfilling.

I ordered a waffle combo, and boy was it worth the 11,000 Won. You can get the eggs done any way you like, and my choice was scrambled. The waffles had a great light texture and were easy to break apart and eat. Yes, there was a jar of maple syrup to accompany the dish. The potatoes were seasoned and cooked perfectly, actually rivaling some breakfast potatoes I have had back in America. The eggs were all right, not too runny, but they could have used more seasoning. All in all, it was an excellent taste of home!

Some satisfied customers!