I met up with Barbara and Amy at 1:00pm yesterday at the Seoul Museum of Art.  Amy is a docent for the Chun Kyung-ja exhibition, and gives a guided tour in English at 1pm every Saturday and Sunday.

Including me, there were seven of us on the tour, which lasted about 20 minutes.

For those interested, tickets to the museum are only 700 won and the nearest subway station is City Hall.  There’s also an abstract art exhibition going on at the same time, which runs until August 23, 2008.

After Amy got off “work,” the three of us walked to Insa-dong for lunch.  We found a great hole-in-the-wall Korean restaurant tucked away in an alley.

The food was cheap, plentiful, and unpretentious (unlike other restaurants in Insa-dong).  My “soon duboo” was 4000 won and we all shared 9 side dishes including fish. It’s very easy to get to.  Directions: With Starbucks behind you, look across the street and to your left, and you’ll see an alley.  In the alley on your left hand side, you’ll see the restaurant.  Below is also the menu.

By this time, it was pouring down rain.  We hid out at The Coffee Bean and waited for the storm to pass.

After it did, we went looking for a movie to watch.  Of course, that was a bad idea.  It seems like everybody and their mother watches movies on the weekend and most things were sold out until much later in the evening.  Instead, we decided to look for a chicken and beer place.  After a few blocks of walking around Jongno 3-ga, we found Chicken Maru.  It was only 6000 won for each of us, and that included an order of chicken and 2000cc of beer.

I finally left around 8pm for Gunpo, where I was to met Courtney, who was having her birthday party in Sanbon.

I was heading back home from Yangjae today and was sitting on a bench, waiting for the subway at Seonbawai Station (near Seoul Racecourse Park).  The headlights of the train came closer, and I quickly got up to throw away my Coke Zero can before getting on.  I sat down and looked for my phone to see what time it was, making sure I’d get home plenty of time before my class in the afternoon.  Looked through my purse, through the bigger tote I was carrying, and patted myself down… no phone.  Ok, it had to be somewhere.  I rummaged through my things again.  No phone.  I started to get concerned.  This time, I took everything out of my bag and touch every item before returning it into the bigger bag.  No phone.  I couldn’t have lost it, could I?  I’ve never lost a phone.  I would never just set it down.  Ok, it must have fallen out of my pocket when I got up from the bench.  That’s the only explaination.  ARGH!

I got off at the next stop, which was three stops away from Seonbawi.  I rode the train back to Seonbawi, hoping, hoping, hoping, it would still be on the bench.  I asked the ticket seller if anyone brought a phone to her - nope.  I went back to the bench where I was sitting at and looked around.  There was a man sitting there and I asked him if he saw my phone - nope.  I walked around perplexed, looking into the garbage can that still contained my empty Coke Zero can.  Nothing.  The old man called me over and offers to let me use his cell phone to call my phone.  I called, but the phone has been turned off.  Hmmm.

I quickly accepted the fact that I lost my cell phone.  Life’s too short to dwell.  I didn’t feel angry, distraught, lost, or countless other feelings some cell phone junkies might have.  It’s gone… oh well.  I’ll live.  At least I didn’t lose my wallet, iPod, or planner/journal there were in my bag.  More than anything, I felt annoyed at having to go cancel my phone tomorrow and sign up for a new one.  I also got to thinking… I don’t know anyone’s phone number by heart.  Not even Raswan’s!  I know it’s 010-something something, 6389.

At school, I called my phone several times, but it was still off.  Maybe whoever picked up my phone took my T-Money card, which was attached to the phone, and threw the phone away?  By the time I got home around 8:30pm, I was checking my email and saw one that said URGENT.  A woman found my phone and called one of my contacts, and this person emailed me.  I got the woman’s phone number and called Thomas through Skype.  His Korean friend found out her address for me and I’m going to Gangnam tomorrow to pick up my phone! I’m assuming this woman didn’t make tons of long distance calls or chatted up phone sex operators on my won.  So, I’m going to pick up a Starbuck’s gift card to give her, as a way of saying, “Thanks for not pocketing the 12,000 won T-Money card and throwing my phone away.”

Have you ever lost a cell phone?  Was it a tramatic experience?  What happened?

I had this really strong craving for Shin ramen and kimchi today… don’t know why.  I don’t think we’ve had any kimchi in the apartment for at least 3 months.  That was during the pork, rice, and kimchi phase.  It comes and goes.  Right now, it’s baked chicken and beef.  Anyway, my mouth was watering for kimchi.  I ventured down the 23 floors and walked to K-Mart, the small grocery store in my neighborhood.  K-Mart = Korean Mart?

They didn’t have my favorite brand, but there was CJ kimchi.  It’s a big brand, so I figured I’d try it.  You know what really convinced me to buy it?  Look at the bottom of the package.

“CJ Kimchi, Luxury In Your Mouth“  I’ve always wondered what oral luxury tastes like.  My prayers have been answered!

I also picked up these king oyster mushrooms, which are in season now and cheap.  Two bags for 1500 won (~$1.50 USD).  They’re great pan fried with butter.  I also spotted Haitai ginger ale!  The taste was ok, but for 900 won, I’d sooner buy the familiar Canada Dry ginger ale.

Last but not least, there’s a new flavor of Yoplait yogurt: cream cheese & pineapple cheese.  As weird and unpleasant as pineapple cheese sounds, I wouldn’t mind trying one… but not four for 2700 won.  Maybe they’ll have individual ones at Family Mart sometime in the future.  If so, I’ll have a taste test.

Except for a few pictures taken in the neighboring complex, this is a photo essay of where I live.  Ju-gong 2 dan-ji is the name of my apartment complex.

You can see these photos and more in their larger sizes at Flickr.

I had to get up early today and do an errand in Hongdae.  Aftwards, I met up with Kevin and Shaun at the Hamilton Pool around 10am when it opened.  I arrived at the pool at 10:07am and there were at least ten other people there!  Kevin wanted to come to the pool during the week because he says the weekends are packed.  I can’t imagine what that would look like, since most empty spaces were full by noon.  Reardon joined us around noon.

The pool at 10:30am - nice and quiet.

The pool around 1:00pm.  Click on the photo to see the large size of this panorama.

These guys were interesting.  Three tan Korean guys with lots of tatoos, wearing thongs!  G-strings.  Banana hammocks.  Whatever you want to call them, it’s not right in any language.  It makes a Speedo look like a padded bra - theres nothing left to the imagination with thongs!  My small point and shoot camera couldn’t zoom so well, since they were on the other side of the pool.  So, these are the best pictures I got.

In this picture, it looks like the guy on the right is naked.  No, his ass was just hungry and decided to nibble on that thong he was wearing.

All in all, with it being my first time there, I had fun at the pool.  Kevin also brought yummy sandwiches to share.  This is Reardon thanking him by delicately putting sunscreen on his back.

Haha… I kid.  Below is a video I took at the pool, to give you a better feel of the place.  My toes make a cameo.