Hanji (Korean Papercrafting) Class

 I was greeted this week in hanji class with my classmate putting the finishing touches (hardware) on the dresser she's been working on.  It turned out beautiful.

                                                   This is a look from the top of the dresser.

 She didn't really want me to take her picture with it but she was a good sport about it.  She should be so proud of what she has accomplished.  I would love to make one myself but I don't have time to complete it before we leave.  There is also hanji cutouts on each side so you imagine the incredible amount of work this was.

 I'm still plugging away on my little box.  I finished covering it entirely in the white hanji paper and am starting the black.  It takes a lot of work.  I'm going to hanji on Thursdays too now that I don't have any miniature classes on that day.

 Etude House (my favorite obsession) had these darling hand cream containers for sale and I couldn't resist.  Can a girl have too much hand cream?

                                                 I also love the freebies!

It's Beginning to Look Alot Like...

              Kimchi making time here in South Korea.  Everywhere you go, you see sights like these.

I even caught some kimchi making action.  This ajumma was so quick with her knife.  I wish I would have thought to catch some video.  This was a side entrance to a little mom/pop restaurant.

              My Home Plus is also getting in on the action by offering everything you need to make kimchi.

Everything is huge!  I guess that is what it takes to make kimchi.  I have never made kimchi myself but I would love to learn someday.  I love this time of year over here.

Our Korean Christmas Tree

 I just couldn't spend Christmas here in South Korea without a Christmas tree.  I found one at Home Plus for 12,000 WON ($10 USD) but it came with no decorations.  I bought a short string of lights which turned out to be more than the tree at 14,000 WON ($12 USD).  I also bought a string of red beads.  All the ornaments you see are actually cell phone charms.  They are a great way to decorate a small tree.

                                                       Here are some closeups of the tree.

        Most of the ornaments in this photo were from a store chain here in South Korea called Naughty Cat.

                                                                The tree topper.

     What's a Korean Christmas tree without some ddukbokki from the miniature shop where I take lessons.

                                                             A bottle of makkoli.

                                                            Korean  coin.

 

                                              Pororo which I bought from a craft show.

                                                                   Soju and a glass.

                                              This was from the Naughty Cat store.

                             Some maedeup and a miniature of the Korean 50,000 WON bill.

I had so much fun decorating this tree and all I had to do was dive into my stash of things I had bought over the year we have been in South Korea.  All the cellphone charms from the Naughty Cat were only 1000 WON each (.90 USD).

Rocketman is in Japan this week and I hope he likes it when he gets back on Saturday.

Korean Miniature Class - Tol (Korean First Birthday Celebration)

 I had a special miniature class where we made a tol (Korean First Birthday).  It was a recreation of how they would have done a tol in the olden days.  Korean first birthdays are still celebrated in a big way and we have been lucky enough to go to quite a few.

I was really sick last Friday when the day long class was held.  It was the first full day of my cold and I had two episodes during class where I could not stop coughing to the point I was losing my breath.  The cure is lots of water and it worked after a few minutes but it was darn embarassing.

I was told the class was until 5 pm but when 5 came and went, I asked the teacher how much longer.  She was a new teacher to me and spoke really good English.  She said about 40 minutes.  I waited a while longer and called Rocketman to pick me up on his way home from work.  But when he arrived we were no where near finished.

The teacher saw how tired and ill I was and she offered to come in after my other class the following Thursday to finish everything up.  I couldn't believe how generous she was and I took her up on her generous offer and packed my things and left.

These pictures are of the finished project.  My teacher came in about 2 pm and my class ended up finishing around 4pm.  We started right on it and finished at 6 pm.  I asked her how long class went after I left and she said it everyone finished at 8:30 pm.  I would have been toast by then.

 These are the choices a child from the old days would have to chose from.  These days I have seen things like a mouse (gamer) and a microphone (singer).

 I am beyond thrilled at how it turned out and that I made it all.  It was a ton of work but I will have this forever.

 Here is an idea of how it all started.  When I say I made everything that included even building the case.

                                                 These are the parts to the hanji lamp.

 We glued a piece of hanji paper to one board and a piece of vinyl to the other.  Then we glued them together.

                                                       I painted the hanji lamp pieces black.

                                             I glued hanji paper to the hanji lamp frames.

                                                 Then they were cut out and glued together.

I also had a lot of food to make.

                                                 Here is myself and my teacher.  I was so excited!!!

Thanksgiving Dinner in Seoul

 We had a wonderful time at the O'ngo Culinary School in Seoul.  This is Daniel Gray and his staff that put  on the Thanksgiving feast.

                                                         This was my plate.

 This was Rocketman's plate.  The food was delicious and the turkey was just perfect.  I couldn't have made it better myself.

 This was Rocketman's plate.  He was kinda pinned in and so I went up and refilled his plate two more times.  There was plenty of food for all.

 I was surprised at how many people were there.  We sat at a table with a family from Singapore.  The wife loved Korea so they were there for a vacation and I have no idea how they knew about this dinner.  They were wonderful to talk to and encouraged us to visit Singapore.

Here is a shot of some of the leftover food.  They also served three different types of pie: pumpkin, chocolate and cherry.

We left full and happy.  Insadong was very close so we stopped by to do a little shopping and saw this: