Korean Airlines

Rocketman's recent business trip included a leg on Korean Airlines. He usually flies Northwest Airlines which co-shares with Korean Airlines. I've flown them several times and Korean Airlines is my favorite. The coach seating area is wonderfully spacious considering it is coach. It's a long flight to Korea so the amount of space you have in your seat is important. The flight attendants are eager to please and very accommodating. He brought home their magazine because of it's cover: maedeup. I love the colors.

A LIttle Piece of Korea in the Twin Cities

What to do on a rainy day and Rocketman at home...check out a Korean restaurant. It's called Kings and we had been there shortly before we left for Korea but that was a few years ago. We got there about 11:30 am which is when they opened. They had a buffet and we decided that sounded perfect. They had delicious kimchi! I thought after so many months without it I would think it too spicy. But it tasted just like kimchi back home in South Korea. This is Rocketman's plate.


This is my plate. It really felt like home to me and made me miss all my friends in Korea. We ate a lot of good food together.


This is a picture from the inside of the restaurant.

Conveniently located two doors down from the restaurant was a Korean market. WooHoo! It was just like my Home Plus back in Suwon.

I am inching to make some buddae jjigae and got the ingredients I needed. This is everything that we bought.

I passed on this.

But picked these up for our grandson. I don't know about the nude Pepero, the chocolate is on the inside instead of the outside.

How To Dance KPop

After my post this week about my favorite KPop songs, I had to include this video from Simon and Martha. I've been a fan of their videos for some time now. They have a lot of good information on their website about living in South Korea.

Rocketman and I were not teachers when we lived in Korea so my interaction with Korean kids was limited to the ones who were brave enough to run up to us to say, "Hi!" and children of my friends and Rocketman's co-workers. I was quite the baby magnet while living there. Koreans loved to have me hold their babies. One time when Rocketman had to go to the hospital, we weren't there five minutes when a grandfather handed me his grandchild to hold. I loved every minute of it.

Batman and Batgirl for Halloween

When the kids were little I loved to make their Halloween costumes. They would tell me what they wanted to be and I would head off to my local JoAnn Fabric store to find a pattern. It was definitely more expensive to do it this way than to buy a pre-made costume but I enjoyed making them and they were always unique.

Rocketman and I were at the retinologist last week for a post surgical exam. It has been four months since his detached retina. Due to the steroids he was prescribed during recovery he has developed a significant cataract in that eye. He is having surgery in a few weeks for that.

I must say this waiting room is one of the most interesting ones I've sat in. The average age of the patient is 70 and I hear all kinds of stories. One lady told me about death of her hubby over twenty years ago and her love of yorkies.

Another patient when hearing that he didn't need to be seen for 4 months yelled out, "Four months! I could be dead by then!" It was one of the funniest things I've ever heard. When scheduling the appointment, he also let us all know that he preferred a morning appointment since they schedule all the afternoon ones for the same time and you wait forever standing because there are usually no chairs unoccupied. We have discovered this too and it's soooo annoying and ridiculous.

I happen to be sitting next to the door when this gentleman left and he told me the same thing that he could be dead in four months. I just smiled at him and disagreed while inside I was thinking we all could be dead in four months. Tomorrow is never a guarantee.

Korean K-Pop!

I know a lot of people think Korean K-Pop is cheesy but I can't help it, I LOVE IT!!! Thanks to Youtube and http://www.popseoul.com/ I can keep up on all the new music. This is the latest from FT Island. Lucky for me Rocket Man has occasional business trips to Korea so he can pick up the latest CDs. Or I order them from http://www.yesasia.com/.


This is one of my favorite all time songs from the soundtrack of Full House. Full House was a popular Korean drama a few years ago and made a name for Rain (Bi) who played to male lead role.


DBSK is the band and the last I heard were fighting a legal battle with their record label. When these boys were signed, their contract stated that the record company would own 90%. This is the norm in South Korea and it's what you have to do to get a deal. The record company spends years training you to become a singer and dancer and then if you are lucky puts you into a group hoping for stardom. But the members of DBSK clearly were being worked to death, sometimes cross-crossing the Korean pennisula in a matter of hours for promotion tours. It is not uncommon to see stars involved in accidents because of their unrealistic schedules and the driving skills of their managers. These guys decided to take a stand and have taken the record company to court. I've also heard that a normal contract is for 12 years. I wish them well!!!


This song was huge when I first moved to South Korea. It's very catchy.


This was a huge hit for Park Ji-Young who is know as the creator of the Wonder Girls. The dude can dance!


This is my favorite song of the Wonder Girls so far. They have even debuted on Billboard's Top 100 at 76 this week. Go girls! They do this song in English too but I'm partial to the Korean version. You should have seen my family last Christmas when I demonstrated some of the moves from the video.


I have to include my favorite Korean singer, Kim Bum-Soo. His voice is amazing. My Korean girlfriends told me that he wears glasses because he is so ugly. I didn't believe them at first but they were serious. I have four out of his five albums and his face is always show from the side or with him wearing glasses. I don't agree with them but they said that is what the Koreans think.


Big Bang also has this new song out and it's fantastic. When I left Korean in April, this was the most popular band among the young Korean girls.

I had fun putting this list together and I hope you like the songs as much as I do. There is an amazing amount of talent in South Korea.

Halloween Polymer Clay Projects!

Halloween is coming next weekend and it is a great time to share some Halloween polymer clay ideas:


Halloween Pumpkins
By Becky Meverden

Materials:
Polymer clay: orange, white, black, brown and green
Round toothpick
Small paintbrush
Stylus
Plastic straw, optional
Circle template, optional for measuring ball sizes

Instructions:
1. Condition clay according to manufacturer’s instructions.

2. Pumpkin: Roll a 7/8” orange ball. Use a toothpick to indent lines around the entire ball. Stem: Use the blunt end of a paintbrush to make a hole in the top of the pumpkin. Roll a ¼” brown ball into a teardrop. Press the widest end of the teardrop against a flat surface to flatten. Use a toothpick to indent lines randomly around and on top of the stem. Press stem into the hole. Leaves: Flatten two 5/32” green balls into teardrops. Indent veins onto each leaf and press leaves onto both sides of the stem. Vine: Roll a 1/8” green ball into a 1/16” diameter log. Use your fingers to coil and press onto pumpkin.

3. Eyes: Flatten two 5/32” white balls into teardrops. Press the narrowest ends together slightly and press onto the pumpkin. Pupils: Roll two 1/16” black balls and press onto each eye. Nose: Roll a 5/32” orange ball into an oval and press onto the head below the eyes. Eyebrows: Use a toothpick to indent. Mouth: Press half of a straw end just under the nose and remove. It leaves a great smile. A toothpick can also be used to indent the mouth. Use a stylus (or toothpick) to indent both ends of the smile.

4. Bake in a preheated 265 degree oven for 30 minutes.
This is a paper mache box that I covered with polymer clay using a pasta machine.


Here is another polymer clay covered paper mache box. Say that fast three times!

This is a necklace with polymer clay ghosts representing see no evil, hear no evil and speak no evil.

Of course, what is Halloween without a black cat in a pumpkin.

We have had three days this month with snow and I'm hoping it's not a hint of the winter to come. While living in South Korea, we rarely got snow and when it did, it would be usually less than an inch and didn't last long. The shop owners would come out with their brooms to sweep the snow away from their storefronts. I never saw a shovel being used the entire time I lived in Korea.

ABBA

While living in South Korea I felt I was back in the 70's at times. The Koreans LOVE ABBA especially the song "Dancing Queen." The movie "Mama Mia" had also been released during my stay and it was also very popular there.

Once when I was getting my hair done, they put in a DVD of "Mama Mia" and I was lucky (joking here) enough to watch it twice while I was getting my hair done. It was the only Engish song that I heard on a regular basis and it also was a popular choice at the noraebong.