Olympic Park – where I am most at ease

Tags

korea, olympic park, seoul

Coming from a country where parks are scarce and not frequently used, Korea is a paradise to be in. I love how there is a culture of taking walks in parks, picnics, dates etc. I’ve been to several parks in Seoul and I must say that my favorite places are the Olympic Park and Hangang River. I enjoy walks alone in the Olympic Park and I love to hang out with friends at the Hangang River.

The park is a flurry of activity on weekends, but not to the point where it will be annoying. The park’s huge and everyone has their own space. On the weekend I was there, I saw couple on dates, family outings, jugglers practicing their trade, rollerblading clubs, kids running around, gatherings etc. It’s nice to see everyone enjoying themselves and it’s a nice place to snap some photos ^^

You can rent some of these bikes

How many people can you fit into one?

Where the big meets the small ^^

[RESTAURANT] MIES CONTAINER Gangnam

Tags

gangnam, korea, korean food, mies container, seoul, seoul life

Sometimes I scroll through my photo album and look for blogging inspiration. But I’ve been lazy about shooting and all I see is food, food and more food photos which is an awesome thing. In my point of view

This is not going to turn into a food blog and the 길치 in me can never remember directions well enough to make one. So let’s just enjoy the photos (and the general location of it), shall we?

The other weekend, I was at MIES CONTAINER with a friend in Gangnam. According to him (I quote his exact words – translated), this is the place where ‘all girls will know’ and it’s one of the hottest ‘dating spots or to-be place for couples or among girlfriends’ and it’s like ‘paradise’. ㅋㅋㅋ We reached there at around 10.50am and the upper floor was already fully occupied and we managed to score one of the last remaining tables at the first floor. Everyone was just chilling (with no food on the table), so I asked my friend if we are ordering. Apparently the restaurant starts at 11 am! I can only imagine when people start to arrive at the restaurant O.o Unparalleled popularity.

MIES Container Gangnam is the 5th outlet of this chain and it has an awesome deco of container trucks and a warehouse like feel. My friend suggested ordering two of the most popular dishes in the restaurant, and hence we got the salad spaghetti and the platter.

We had to order at the counter and they gave us a construction helmet (numbered) so that the waiters can find us later!! SO AWESOME. heh of course no one really wore it while waiting, but it will be an interesting sight to do so! They should totally enforce this. Another quirky thing is that you have to give the servers a high 5 after receiving your food (and exiting the restaurant).

The food was awesomee too and the whole atmosphere was really good to chill. Like what my friend said, the place is full of couples (or at least guy-girl pairing) or groups of girlfriends. My friend (a guy) told me how he was here with his buddies the previous weekend and people stared at them. LOL.But I think it’s an awesome place for a guys hangout too.

I fully understood how popular the place is when we finally exited the place.  There were people queuing in the restaurant, outside and the queue extended wayy back to behind the building. o.O My friend said it was basic to wait at least 30 minutes and 2 hours waiting time was not uncommon too. I guess I was really lucky!

This is near exit 9 of Gangnam Station (within 5 min walk).

Protest in 광화문

Tags

city hall, gwanghwamoon, korea, protest, seoul

Dilemma of a blogger. It’s perfect 21 degree cel weather outside right now, and I’m torn between sparing some free time to blog or to go out and enjoy the weather. I would love to be outside, but from a reader’s point of view, I’ll love it if the blogger updates often. ㅋㅋ Anyway I’ll be out with an awesome vlogger later on, so I’ll save my energy for later!

Protests in the city hall 시청 and 광화문 area is pretty common and it seems like there’s something going on every other weekend. I’ve walked past (through) quite a number of protests before and last week or so, I was in the area again. It was a HUGE protest and certainly one of the biggest scale (out of the few I’ve seen). I’m clueless about politics here, but it seems like an anti-government (president) protest.

It’s kinda creepy when the protest is funeral-themed.

Quite a crowd watching.

This is what they are protesting about. Naturally there were a lot of cameras / filming going on and some of the protestors were trying to hide their faces.

I don’t understand why parents will bring their babies / kids on a protest. Sure, things usually are not dangerous but I still find it irksome.

Life goes on as per normal. A stark contrast from the protest. Fruit vendor.

LOADS and I mean LOADS of police / personnel on standby. Really.

There was another protest going on in the 광화문 area and I don’t really think that the two are connected. Maybe? The one below is clearly anti-president.

Looked what I got for a souvenir!

Foreign language learning occurs when you are using it

Tags

foreign language learning, learning korean

Haven’t been blogging much about learning Korean these days! That’s because I have not been actually ‘learning’ anything. But I’m absorbing loads by using it. I have mentioned it several times during previous posts, but I’m surrounded by Korean everyday and I have to use Korean. I translate articles on tech startups, interview people in Korean, talk to my colleagues (most of them) in Korean, listen to their conversations in Korean, buy stuff in Korean etc.

Learning is not just about opening your books and reading it. It’s about actively finding ways to use it. I used to think that I need to have a firm basis / foundation of knowledge by using books before I start trying to use it in the real world. But now, I think differently.

I find that expressions / phrases or grammar points stick better when I tried to use it. Somehow the memory is enhanced when you try out something. For example, if you try to use a slang like 쩐다! in your sentences, you will tend to remember it more than simply reading about it from a book. I’m trying to apply the ‘use it as you learn it’ principle in learning Japanese now and I find it really useful. Making mistakes is even better. We tend to remember embarrassing moments and mistakes and if you make them during language learning, the point will stick for life! lol.

This is why I try to tweet in Japanese or blog in Japanese even though I’m at the stage where my proficiency is non-existent. Making mistakes is part of language learning!

Here are some points to remember!

1. Use it while learning it!
2. Learn while using!
3. Use it to learn even more!

Use it while learning it! This is about doing thing simultaneously. I used to have the idea that ‘I can only use something that I have learnt fully’. Thinking back, I was being too careful and conscious and there is no such thing as ‘learnt fully’ in language learning. It’s about learning, trying, using it all at the same time.

Learn while using! This is about learning from your mistakes and picking up new things when you are using it. It happens when your native speaker friends correct your sentences or when you realize that you are not too sure about certain phrases once you try them out.

Use it to learn even more! This is about constantly using the language and improving yourself. Which is what I am doing now. I am using Korean everyday to learn even more and be even more familiar and comfortable with the language.

It’s a blessing to be in the country / community / have friends who are native speakers of the language that you are learning. I cannot emphasize this more. Sorry to be blunt, but I can never understand Korean learners who choose to speak in English when they are here in Korean. It’s like giving up the best opportunity to learn. I have seen several people who chooses the easy way out and speaking English whenever possible. I refuse to do that. I remember the time when I went to the international office at KU to get them to change my timetable etc and I spoke in Korean. I could well speak in English, but I refuse to. Unless absolutely necessary.

Of course, I do get my lazy days. But this is something I have to correct too xD

I think my reading ability and translating ability have improved loads!

Korean Markets 모란 시장 / 가락 시장

Tags

bosintang, dog stew, garak market, korea, korean markets, korean traditional markets, moran market, seoul

A week back or so, I visited two of Korea’s traditional markets on a weekend and there were very different from each other. I haven’t had a chance to visit markets (besides Noryangjin) and I was expecting something along the lines of those markets you see in Korean dramas. But it was a different experience.

I was warned ahead that 모란 시장 was known to be a place where they sell 보신탕, or rather, the live versions of it. >< Didn’t know what to expect. Before we turned to the street, we were hit by a very strong, unique stench associated with dog meat. It was like a WTH IS THIS kind of feeling and I was apprehensive of what I would see.

Being a dog lover, I felt really bad when I see dogs all cramped up in dirty cages, and displayed at the store front. The owners were trying to promote their livestock and most of the stores have goats (looks like?), HUGE chickens, dogs etc. They were looking at me and pointing to the chickens 만원 드려요~~~~!  Really cheap, if you think about it. But I am not sure if that price includes them killing it for me. ><

The whole place stinks, of blood, shit and what not. Some of the dogs looked like there were not for the eating kind, and I swore that I saw a Labrador among the dogs. -.- And a lone turkey among the chickens. D:

The inner areas were slaughterhouses and you can see some really horrible looking equipment in some of them. it feels like one of those scenes in Korean movies D: There was one time when we saw two dogs in rigor mortis, on the floor of one of those slaughterhouses D: No photos, but I’m sure you can imagine. There were some shops with those meat fridges / display outside and there was a dog that was half chopped up. Seeing the meat alone is less disturbing than a half chopped up corpse. D:

Needless to say, there were quite a number of 보신탕 restaurants around that area. And of course, we never ate there.

The whole experience was really disturbing and I wasn’t feeling that well even before going there. So I ended up really >.<

We decided to leave the place soon and went on to 가락시장. This market is actually pretty famous but it seems to be in the midst of major renovation so the market is kind of near a huge construction site. It was very different from what we expected.

It was more of a wholesale market but later on we found the areas with individual stores. Nothing fascinating but it was a nice experience. They have a seafood market in there too, but it was so small and narrow that it was not a very nice experience trying to fight off all the vendors approaching. Noryangjin will be much better ^^

All in all, it’s a very different experience and probably not one that most tourists will embark on. Nevertheless, I always believe that tourist places are the most boring places you can go in the city. ^^ If you are in Seoul, why not check out these markets?

Subway Line 8 – Moran and Garak Market stations 

p.s. Vote for me in the 2012 Language Lovers Contest! Would love to have a new button on my site.