Emart has a pet section, which consists mostly of fish and rodents.
I pass by this section whenever I am in that area. Today, it seemed was the day I didn't come home empty handed.
Looking at the betta fishes I came upon a purple one stuck in a bowl with other fish. I know bettas like to live alone so I felt bad for it. As I looked at it I noticed that it perked its fish-head up at me and was checking me out!
At that point I realized if a fish is going to look you in the eye than you probably should take it home.
And that is what I did!
I now have a new friend in my home who I have to learn how to take care of..haha.
Since I got my little guy at a supermarket I don't know how healthy he/she is. But out of the others which were there he/she looked the most active.
And so pretty!
What to name him/her??
I just hope to give him/her a good home and clean water.
Did you know that Korean b-boys have been winning the international competition known as "Battle of the Year".
I bet I am late to the game with this, but thought it was important to bring up on my blog.
For starters I became aware of this after watching the brilliant documentary: Planet BBoy (Director: Benson Lee)
It is not that you SHOULD watch this movie it is that you MUST watch it. Especially if your an expat.
Why?
Embedded between all the beat-box music and dance moves is a little story about one of Korea's dancers. He comes from a poor family in the countryside. Within this vignette you get a glimpse of what the Korean male suffers as a son and man in Korea.
When watching the part where he is sitting next to his father and hearing him speak about how he wishes his son would become a professor or Doctor, you can clearly feel the tension. Also the scene highlights family values within Korea.
You know I don't even think my description does it justice. All I have to say is that since I live here in Korea I understand the feelings that were shown during these scenes. And I think I even understand BK's role in his family a bit more now.
Gee, all from watching a b-boy movie!
Anyways Korea has won this competition many times, just check out the stats.
Battle Of The Year 2008 Best Show: Top 9 (Russia)
Final Battle:
1. Top 9 (Russia) 2. T.I.P. (Korea)
Semi Finals:
Top 9 (Russia) vs. Smokemon (France)
T.I.P. (Korea) vs. Formosa (Taiwan)
Battle Of The Year 2007 Best Show: Turn Phrase Crew (Japan)
Final Battle: 1. Extreme Crew (Korea)
2. Turn Phrase Crew (Japan)
Semi Finals:
Extreme Crew (Korea) vs. LegiteamObstruktion (France)
Turn Phrase Crew (Japan) vs. Funk Fellaz (Germany)
Battle Of The Year 2006
Best Show: Vagabonds (France)
Final Battle:
1. Vagabonds (France) 2. Last for one (Korea)
Semi Finals:
Vagabonds (France) vs. Drifterz (Korea)
Last for one (Korea) vs. B-Town Allstars (Germany)
Battle Of The Year 2005
Best Show: Ichigeki (Japan)
Battles: 1. Last For One (Korea) The crew in the movie.
2. Ichigeki (Japan)
3. Gambler (Korea)
4. Phase T (France)
Battle Of The Year 2004
Best Show: Break The Funk (Italy)
Battles: 1. Gambler (Korea)
2. Fantastik Armada (France)
3. Stuttguard (Germany)
4. Break The Funk (Italy)
Battle Of The Year 2003
Best Show: Fire Works (Japan)
Battles:
1. Pockémon (France) 2. Expression (Korea)3. Gambler (Korea)
4. Fire Works (Japan)
Battle Of The Year 2002
Best Show: Vagabond Crew (France)
Battles: 1. Expression (Korea)
2. Vagabond Crew (France)
3. Deep Trip (Switzerland)
4. Top 9 (Russia)
Battle Of The Year 2001
Best Show: Visual Shock (Korea)
Battles:
1. Wanted (France)
2. Team Ohh (Japan)
3. HaviKoro (USA) 4. Visual Shock (Korea)
In the movie, the Korean crew had a first-place battle against Japan, and naturally they took it very close to heart.
Well an 68-year old Korean woman has been trying really hard to get her driving license. Found this through CNN.
Goodluck!! Fighting~~!! k k k k
A 68-year-old South Korean woman this week signed up to take her driving test once again -- after failing to earn a license the first 771 times.
The woman, identified only as Cha, first took the written portion of the exam in April 2005, said Choi Young-cheol of the Driver's License Agency in the southwestern city of Jeonju.
Maybe you don't have this memory but I do. As a child, living in South Florida on 1 acre of land, I hung fresh laundry on a line. Although a chore, it was one of my favorite ones because I enjoyed trying to get everything on the line without anything overlapping. After everything was dry it was time to collect it in a wicker basket. And so it was that I learned how to take care of laundry at an early age.
Then comes the time when you leave your family's house and have to do all the steps by yourself. Living in dormitories during college is a great starter for learning the social etiquette that comes along with communal washing machines.
When sharing laundry facilities often times you run across some drama:
What to do when there is washed laundry in the machine you need to use?
If you move that person's laundry where do you put it?
Is the timer right?
How many machines can one use at once? Is using all the machines greedy?
Moving to Korea means that you may face these same questions, but with the language barrier you have a whole new problem.
For the lucky ones out there who have their laundry machine neatly tucked inside their office-tel, then these Korean Laundry Etiquette tips won't be much use for you.
For the rest of us who live in accommodations that are less fortunate, where we have to share the laundry facilities with other, then please take in these words of wisdom. Incidents: I am going to start off with two incidents that occurred while I was doing laundry in my building.
1. Using both machines / Taboo: Since it has been winter I have a lot of sweaters that I wash. After finding my clothes full of fuzzies I decided that it was best to separate my sweaters from my regular batch of clothes. This means I need to use two machines (or one machine...one at a time). But I'm American, and I want to use two machines! haha
I took my clothes over to the machines and filled them both up. But before I was able to close the lids and press the buttons a guy came over. He had about 3 shirts in his hand and maybe some towels. After noticing I had filled up both machines he started speaking to me and gesturing. I did not know what he was saying, but I figured it had to do with my use of two machines. So I said "Gwen chanai yo" or "okay, okay" and took out the sweaters and put them in the other machine.
He seemed pleased and loaded up the machine. But the tone of his voice and attitude when he talked to me was very unpleasant. I know I was being selfish and using two machines, but you don't have to freak out about it. In the end, I couldn't really say much back to him because of my lack of Korean. So it was that I learned to look out for other people when I want to use both machines.
2. Mixing with somebody else's clothing/ You might as well have signed a pact with the Devil! When I came home from Winter Camp last month, I was really tired. But I needed to do some laundry. So I gathered my clothes and brought them to the machines. Without really looking I put my stuff inside, added soap and pressed the buttons.
After the time was up I came out of my room to see an Ahjumma (40-50'ish woman) standing over the laundry machine. At first I thought she wanted to use the machine and so was taking my clothes out. So I rushed over. But then I realized the expression on her face read more like something must have pissed her off.
It turned out I had put my clothes in on top of hers, without checking first. She was really upset! And was doing the usual Ahjumma yelling at me. I was surprised and felt very ashamed. I said "Mian ham nida..." (sorry) many times. But she just did that typical Ahjumma clicking of her tongue.
She figured that I didn't speak Korean and finally gave up yelling at me. And so she fished through the laundry pulling out her stuff and scoffing at the fact that I had jeans in my wash. Then she put her stuff in the other machine and washed them for a 3rd time. No wai-guk germs for her !!! haha
I wasn't mad at her for yelling at me, although I wish she wouldn't have freaked out.
I learned a valuable lesson: Check the bottom of the machine before putting laundry inside.
So here are some valuable etiquette rules I have found out:
If you are going to use all or most of the machines, make sure no one is around.
Check to make sure it is empty before putting your stuff in.
Be quick to unload, or someone will come and do it for you without care.
People in your building, when walking by, will give you 2nd or 3rd glances at the sight of a wai-guk doing laundry. Pay no-mind and continue on.
How to Use the Washing Machine: Let me remind you that there are no dryers, that is done on an elaborate drying rack. Also everything on the machine is in Korean. So you gotta be careful when pressing those buttons, or you could wash your clothes on a destructive cycle. At first site it looks pretty daunting and complicated. Also you ask yourself why there are so many choices?
To make life easier for you I made a little diagram in Photoshop. Also, I didn't use BK to translate the buttons, I used the dictionary on my cell phone. Guide to using a Korean Washing Machine: Review of the Buttons: Use the picture to understand my references
A Button: This turns on the other buttons. It does not make the machine run. That is a separate button. I would say it is like the on switch to your computer.
B Button: This does start the machine to wash your clothes. PRESSED after you make your choices.
C Button: These are your cycle options. Going from top to bottom these are your choices...
Regular Cycle (I use this to wash everything but my sweaters, takes about 48-58 min depending on your load size.)
Unsure (My translator comes up with something very worn. So I guess this would be a super-cleaning cycle?, All I know is that I don't use it.)
Scour cycle (Hmmm .... scour doesn't sound pleasant... I don't use this one)
Wool (Used for sweaters and delicates, it only uses cold water.)
Bedding (Cycle choice for washing quilts and bedding. I don't know if it uses hot or cold water.)
D Button: Within each kind of cycle are certain washes. This button highlights which ones will happen in the cycle you chose. It is a progressive thing, for example from top to between it goes from rinsing to washing to rinse and then drain. You don't really need to mess with this after you pressed the C button, since it presets itself.
E Button: This button has pictures of measuring cups next to it. I don't mess with this button either and just leave it alone. I don't really know what its function is.
F Button: Hot or Cold? I usually always leave it on Cold. I think if you want hot you have to change the hose connected to the machine.
G Button: The timer. Do I really need to explain? One thing though is check it often, because it seems to take longer than you think.
Washing Whites: If separating is your thing, then I would press the on button and leave it at the regular cycle. Washing Colors: Same for whites, I guess just double check hot water is not going into the machine. Sweaters / Delicates: Turn on and select the Wool setting using the C button, don't touch anything else and turn on.
Well, that should do it for the tutorial on how to use a Korean washing machine. Again remember every one's machine may not be like mine.
Finally, when doing your laundry and interacting with other people in your building try to remember that they more than likely have the upper hand. So get along with your neighbors, despite that they may act unfriendly.
Goodluck~!
Bonus!~ A video of the music the machine plays when done washing:
Yesterday, I went up to COEX to do some shopping and browsing. BK was busy playing basketball and having an appointment with his coworkers to watch Volleyball, so I was on my own.
I'm pretty sure that just about every foreigner-teacher goes to COEX more than once or twice. The more we go the more we are able to navigate our way around the maze that is this mall, and find our way to the stores that we enjoy. There are also many places to eat inside the mall that offer more than your usual Korean cuisine.
So come with me as I revisit COEX and take a look at what I saw this time.
A chest for sale in a window display~
I went inside the Hyundai Department store's food level, where there is a food court, deli and supermarket.
Inside the supermarket area is a section dedicated to "world" foods. I saw food mostly from Japan and America. Some of the American goods were surprisingly a shelf of Organic brand products. It was like they took a slice of an health foods store and put on their shelf. But the prices were really high.
These flavored salts caught my attention and reminded me of my family's favorite salt seasoning Herbamare.
When seeing these displays of foreign goods put in their own section of the supermarket I couldn't help but recall a similar situation back home. For example, at the supermarkets back home there are usually a few aisles dedicated to "Asian" foods, or "Latin" foods. I can imagine people of those origins going to that supermarket and seeing these aisles and feeling how inadequate they represent their foods from back in their country. Thankfully if you live in a large city you can find specialty markets for Korean, Chinese or Latin food. So I guess it goes the same for an American living abroad, your national products are put on a shelf, in a special section and highly priced.
Moving on, like I said one of the best aspects of COEX is that you can get a bite to eat that consists of familiar foods from back home. One great example of this is the On The Border restaurant. Or you can try out what is offered inside the food court, which does have a Sbarro pizza counter. COEX is of course a busy place with all ages of people coming and going throughout its halls. Yet, I would say the majority of mall goers are teenagers. This is true for any mall, so why should it be different for Korea?
Therefore you can find teens in groups milling about the mall giggling as they go along their way. While I was there yesterday there was a talent show going on. I am unsure whether the participants on stage were teens but they gathered such a crowd. I finally came to my favorite store inside COEX, which is called Ani Land. Inside is a great collection of Ghibli character toys and also cute stationary store items. A very popular activity here in Korea and Japan (likely the same in other parts of Asia) is taking pictures with your friend inside photo-booths. But these are not your regular photo-booths, for after you get your picture taken you can spiff it up with hearts, cute backgrounds, angel wings and other digital add-ons. I tried to figure out how you pay and how to operate one of the photo-booths but for the life of me didn't understand what to do. Plus, this photo-booth operation was next to an arcade and the gun-shooting noise was a little too much. I figured I would come back with BK and we can get some cute pictures together.
Another great place to visit inside the COEX is the Apple Store or as this place likes to call itself the A# Shop. A mecca for Mac and iPod lovers it houses Macbooks, iPods and the gear you need for both. Hint!!: They were having a sale on last year's model of Macbooks...looked really great!
I picked myself up a screen cleaning kit, due to that my Macbook's screen has been getting a little grimy lately. I did however, contemplate buying the new iPod Touch 16 Gigs because my iPod Touch from last year is only 8 gigs and is sometimes not enough. But I didn't...might as well use the money for something else.
Well after the A# shop I got a bite to eat and browsed around a bit and then went home. I did find what I was looking for, although I can't reveal what that is because it's a secret. (has to do with my anniversary with BK)
The weather is a bit warmer than usual which helps one get over their winter grumpiness.
