South Korea - Part 2

Sunday was our first day full day in Suwon and we took advantage of the meal I missed the most in South Korea, NolBol's budae jjigae. I don't know what they put in their stock but I've tried to duplicate it here in the States and just can't get it quite right. This is what it looks like as it's heating up.


There's Rocketman, ready to eat!

We also met Hannah for a few hours at a coffee shop in Seoul. I'm always amazed at the ability of Koreans to fall asleep basically anywhere. I took this picture in the coffee shop. I wish I could do that. I can't even sleep on airplanes even if the flight is 13 hours. I do rest but I never fall asleep. Thank goodness for my IPod.

Here's me with Hannah. It was so good to see her.

This was in the bathroom of our room at the Dormy. They must have some pretty amazing toilet paper. Don't tell, but I didn't follow the warning.

Rain - Bi

Our visit to South Korea coincided with Rain's new CD release. We heard it everywhere we went and you know what a big KPop fan I am and I'm also a big fan of Rain. They put a lot of thought into their CDs in South Korea since everyone downloads songs illegally. Rain's new CD is twice the length of a normal CD and opens to him showing off those glorious abs of his along with a booklet. I also got a free poster for buying the CD.

Today has been a bad day of jet lag. Rocketman always says the third is the worst. Here's the video for Love Song from Rain's new CD. It's interesting to note that this video was banned from being aired on Korean television due Rain running down the middle of the street. That is apparently against the law in South Korea. I found it odd because I've seen the same thing on Korean dramas. The male lead is running after the bus as it drives away.

South Korea - Part 1

We flew out of MSP at about 11 am so it was nice to not have to get up at the crack of dawn to start this journey halfway around the world. Louie seemed to want to tag along. Much to Rocketman's dismay, we had three huge suitcases, two carry-on bags and his computer bag. I reminded Rocketman that we are allowed 3 checked pieces each but he was already worrying how this would all fit into a standard Korean taxi. Me, I worry about it after we are able to flag a taxi in Korea.


Rocketman has many frequent flier miles but to upgrade to Business Class pretty much wiped them out but it was so worth it. We were in a 747 and the first row on the second floor. We also had two bathrooms available to us. Rocketman is checking out the menu for the flight. The flight was 11 hours to Japan.


Some of the extra storage space we had.

We had two storage containers which held a lot. It was great to not have to worry about overhead compartment space.

The flight attendant saw me taking pictures and offered to take one of us.

We were really shocked to see the cockpit door open preflight. Since 9-11, the door has always been shut. So I had Rocketman take a quick picture.

First course, appetizer.

Rocketman chose the Japanese menu.

Second course, salad. It came with a delicious peppercorn dressing.

Main course and it was some kind of beef. Very tender and not too bad.

Dessert was ice cream with chocolate sauce.

The breakfast which was served about 1 1/2 hours before landing. I didn't eat much because I was still full from the dinner courses.

While waiting for our luggage at Incheon, I saw this adorable carry on piece. The couple had a little girl. The mother was Korean and the father was Japanese. The little girl only spoke Japanese but the parents both spoke English, Korean and Japanese. They were flying to Korea for a visit with her family before a permanent move to New York.

Dunkin Donuts had a new donut.

Old familiar sights in Suwon. We flew to Japan , had a couple hour layover and then caught a flight to Incheon. We arrived too late for the Suwon bus so we stayed in a local motel. I've had too many nightmares with the airport taxi drivers and wasn't in the mood to get ripped off.

The next morning we caught the bus to Suwon and surprisingly to Rocketman, the Suwon taxi DID manage to get all of our luggage into his cab. We stayed at the Dormy near Suwon Station since it was convenient to catching buses and also only a one mile walk to my chilbo class. The Dormy is also where we stayed for five weeks when we first moved to South Korea.

We had only been away for a year but it seemed like home to me the moment we stepped off the plane. More adventures to come. I'm battling some jet lag and hopefully it won't be too bad.

Noah Didn't Like the Loud Singing

Rocketman finally emptied all the videos I had taken over the past year and put them onto our computer.

This one is of our grandson, Noah, at his preschool. It was a Mother's Day brunch and it was so fun to be able to attend:

Maedeup Monday!

This maedeup necklace I displayed at the Winter CHA Show in Anaheim, California. Designers were allowed to pick a country and then make a craft inspired or indigenous to that country. Lucky for me, I got South Korea. The focal bead is a polymer clay bead made by Humblebeads.

It was her bead that inspired the necklace. It often happens that way with me. I find a bead or pendant and the maedeup just evolves around it.

Packing and Presents

It's been almost exactly a year since we left South Korea and moved back to the States. I knew at the time that Korea would always be home to me and a place that touched my soul. I need to go back and see my Korean friends and eat Korean food and shop!

But I had to buy A LOT of presents. It's a cultural thing and I'm very respectful of it. It was a good thing I compiled a list but finding just the right thing for the right person took me some time.


Then the list grew and grew. We are taking three huge suitcases and carryons. Rocketman is worried about how this will fit into a Korean taxi but I figure we will worry about that when we get there. Every taxi we've taken ran on propane so the gas tank was in the trunk. How rude! We actually had more luggage when we moved to Korea so I'm not too worried.



I also had to buy for some Korean men and I wasn't sure what kind of liquor to get since I'm kinda just an occasional wine cooler type of girl. I know what Jim Beam is and I hadn't seen it at my Korean Home Plus so I hope they like it.

Maedeup Monday!

Before I left Korea, I did want to learn how to make my own cording. The maedeup pieces made with handmade cording are so beautiful. I would have had to buy one of these wooden contraptions whose name I have forgotten at a cost of about 350,000 won ($320 US).

There was usually always a student making cording when I would take my maedeup classes. It was fascinating to watch her hands as she moved the spools in a specific pattern. It took a long time to make the cording. I should have video taped the process.

It is still something I may learn in the future but at the time I had my hands full with just the knots.

Happy Birthday Noah!

Four years old! Where has the time gone. Rocketman and I took the family to Chuck E Cheese for an early birthday party.


Momma had as much fun as Noah!


He didn't stop for a minute

He loved the cupcakes!

His daddy helped him cash in all those tickets! Guess what he bought with all those tickets??? A plastic straw.

Rocketman, Noah and me.

I had to take a picture of our darling daughter wearing a shirt I bought for her in 1991. Yes, I said 1991 when she was 6 years old. She still wears it and it still fits! She thought it was a great investment given how long it has lasted. Only one little hole she tells me.

Shopping!

Shopping with my sister always involves lunch because frankly, who wants to shop on an empty stomach. She had heard about this new burger place called Smash Burgers. I must admit the name had me intrigued to say the least.



I got a cheeseburger and it was delicious!

We also shared some onion strings. I don't like onions on my burgers except for White Castles but I love onion strings.

Then the shopping began with a huge shoe sale at Macy's. They sure know how to get you! You had to buy three pairs of shoes to get the 30% discount. I wasn't really looking for shoes but when I saw these, I just had to have them. My sister took care of buying herself two pair so we qualified for the 30% discount.

I'm not sure what Rocketman will think but probably that I've lost my mind. We had to wait forever to even get waited on since they only had two sales clerks manning all the customers including checking out. I have a feeling these are going with me to Korea. Everyone there always sees me in tennis shoes and this will be quite a shock.

Then I heard about this Taiwanese kid who sung Whitney Houston's "I'll Always Love You" during a television show contest. It's amazing!

Maedeup Monday!

One of the projects we had to do in maedeup class to incorporate all the knots we had learned was to make a belt. I made a necklace just to take the easy way out. This is the incredible belt my Korean girlfriend Hellena made and she is holding it around her incredibly tiny waist.

Hellena is one if not the smartest person I have ever met. She is fluent in three languages: Korea, Chinese and English. She had just starting learning English a year before we met her and she was fluent and spoke it very well. Su-Mi, our maedeup teacher, would only have to show Hellena the maedeup knot once and she knew it. I would have never survived without her.

She put a lot of time into this belt and then gave it to me. I tried to tell her I could not accept it but she insisted. So in my Korea apartment, it proudly hung like a picture on the wall and now back in the U.S. it is also displayed on the wall.

She is a flight attendant with Quatar Airlines right now but she will be in Seoul when we are there and I haven't seen her for over a year. We stay in contact through email and occasion SKYPEing. But we both have a hard time talking to each other without the tears starting to flow.

I can't wait to see her!

Rocketman Returns

Rocketman was in Taiwan and Korea these last three weeks. While in Taiwan, he went to a professional baseball game. He bought me this t-shirt. Taiwanese English is equally as baffling at times as Korean.

He also got these pens and key chain free at the ballgame.

Someone was selling these so Rocketman couldn't resist. They told him they were kid's toys.

He also got this bracelet free from the game.

He is very tired and falls asleep at a moment's notice. It's strange that the jet lag is so much worse going East.

He is having trouble wearing his new glasses for any length of time. His brain has forgotten how to see out of his left eye. I know that doesn't make sense but it's the best analogy I can come up with. He is wearing them a little at a time and trying to build up the strength in that eye and to train his brain to realize that he can see somewhat in that eye. The sight in the right eye is still like looking through water. We see Dr. NBM (No Bedside Manner) on Thursday so we will see what he says.

I am still buying presents and need to get that finished up in a few days. The suitcases will be full going over to Korea. I can't wait to see everyone.

I'm Feeling A Little Korea

I found this on Etsy. It's my name in Korean and I'm going wear it while I'm in Korea.


I also found this kimchi on a site called Foodzie. I'm going to see if it's just as good as the kind the ajummas back in Korea make.

Rocketman comes home tomorrow from Asia. He didn't get everything he needed to get done in Korea so I told him to stay another week but he was homesick so there was no talking him out of it.

I finished the quilts I was working on and put a call into my machine quilter. She is booked until June. She is one busy gal!

I got so messed up on my weeks that I missed an ikebana class unintentionally. I'm going to make it up when I return from Korea but I felt so bad. I've never done that before. I was living in the wrong week!

Have a wonderful Easter everyone!