Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Class #5

This week's chilbo lesson was working with sterling silver. Nan decided to take some pictures of me working. The Koreans are always feeding me but I don't mind!

This is delicate work.

But look what came out of the kiln! Nan is going with me to my first maedeup class tomorrow. I'm not sure where to get off the bus and she really was worried about that so I'm going to her place which is on the way and she is going to ride with me to the maedeup shop.

I had a strange experience on a bus when we first moved here. I was sitting in a seat listening to my IPod when an ajosshi entered the bus and sat behind me. All of the sudden I could tell someone was gently feeling my hair. It would tug slightly when the bus driver slammed on the brakes which was often. I sat forward more and it continued. The ajosshi was the only one behind me. I never looked back because honestly, I was really creeped out. Luckily, I only had to deal with this for 3 to 4 stops.

I guess he was curious about my Western hair. Maybe I shouldn't have put those blond streaks in it right before we came. Too late now.

Bojagi (Korean Sewing) - Class #1

Nan, my chilbo teacher lined up a bojagi teacher for me and she told me in her limited English accented with a lot of Korean that she and a few people would be coming with my new pojagi teacher. I should have known better since living in South Korea it's always best to expect the unexpected, this is who I opened my door to.

Luckily, I had enough coffee cups for all the coffee and green tea I served. One lady brought me a bunch of ramen and some Jeju Island chocolates. They stayed for about an hour and all but my teacher and her friend that knows a little English stayed. I found out my pojagi teacher knows absolutely no English. Nan was also like this when we started classes and little by little she has picked up quite a bit of English from me and I have learned some Korean from her. My pojagi teacher is second for the left in the picture above.


This little cutie was so happy. I happened to pack some American candy for when little ones would visit. She even gave me a kiss on the cheek when she left.

My class ended up lasting from 3-5:15. I practiced on this cloth all the stitches. Her interpreter said that I did a great job. It was so hard and I haven't really done a lot of stitching since the 1970's. I loved it though and next week I will begin to make a pin cushion.

Furniture Shopping in Suwon

Furniture shopping in South Korea is very different than what I'm used to back in the States. Jeff and Vanessa from our relocation agency took me (Rocketman was out of the country) to Suwon's Furniture District to get what we needed for the apartment. I'll shoot a video of our apartment and the furniture later now that all the furniture has been delivered.

Square footage is at a premium here in Suwon so furniture stores are usually multilevel and filled to the rim. You really have to watch where you are walking. I loss count how many stores we actually visited but it was just about every one on both sides of the street. The most important thing on my list was a comfortable bed and a LazyBoy type chair for Rocketman. These two items also turned out to be the most ellusive. I only found one bed soft enough. I really felt like Goldilocks laying on beds in all of the stores we went into. For the most part, I just had to sit on the bed to be able to tell they were too hard. The Koreans sure like their beds hard. I never did find anything like a LazyBoy but I got close with a chair from Norway.


This gives you a hint about the look of many of the beds I saw.

I made a friend at one of the furniture stores. She took me all over her father's store to show me the chairs and sofas that had remote control reclining. She was such a cutie!

I also just had to take a picture of her fingernails. She is definitely a little fashionista!

I did manage to find a kingsize comfortable mattress which is closest in size to a California King. You also get your bedding from a bedding store which happened to be right on the same street and was recommended to us by the owner of the furniture store where I bought most of my furniture. Bedding is custom made and very different than the U.S. No fitted sheet or flat sheet. I will take a video of this too. This is the bedding we ordered. One for the kingsize bed and one set for the queen bed in the extra bedroom.

Of course, all this shopping makes a girl hungry so we ate lunch at a local restaurant. I had this which included mandu. I couldn't eat even half of it but Jeff helped to finish it off for me.

And of course, I never met a kimchi I didn't love.

I did shoot some video in the furniture store where we purchased the most furniture to give you a taste of what furniture shopping is like over here. I just love those stone beds! I still need to learn how to slow down when I'm videotaping. Sorry!

Garbage Picking in South Korea

It didn't take long for me to start garbage picking here at our apartment complex. The day we moved in was a flurry of activity. So many Bongo trucks moving tennants in and out. I had never seen it like this. I also noticed that the garbage areas will filled with unwanted junk or treasures in my case. I picked up this basket.


I also picked this up. Rocketman is going to translate it for me but the first two lines start out with "love." He liked it too although he has never been a big fan of garbage picking. It was something I used to do with my sisters when we were young and my mom still has some of our "finds" decorating my old home.


I also picked this up. It's in Chinese characters and Rocketman is going to try and translate it. He knows Korean, Japanese and Chinese. It was huge, four feet long and I'm not sure how I'm going to hang it.

Today Rocketman is taking his first set of classes with the infamous Michael Hurt. We were both so excited. He's going to learn so much about photo taking and he will be doing it with a live Korean supermodel. The class is every Sunday from 12-3.

Tomorrow I finish up my furniture shopping with Jeff. We also need to pick up a few transformers now that our U.S. things our here.

Korean Goodwill Store

Near Suwon Station, there is a Goodwill Store and I decided to compare it to it's counterpart in the U.S. The outside was the same but the inside was quite different. I was surprised to see a lot of food for sale. Prices were great!


I picked up these ceramic bowls at 1000 WON (.89USD).



This was 10,000WON ($8.86 USD)

This box was 2000 WON ($1.77USD). We got our air shipment yesterday. It only took 5 weeks which is what it would have taken if it went ocean. We still wish we could have had an ocean shipment and brought our furniture like last time. It would have saved the company a lot of money but oh well, this was the way they handle these shorter termed assignments.

The only thing I forgot and it was a biggie is sheets. Korean beds don't have fitted or flat sheets and Rocketman was dying for our sheets to arrive. I'm not sure what to do about it. I did try to get some when we ordered the bedding but it couldn't be done.

I was thinking of either seeing if my sister can run over to our house, grab a couple sets and mail them to us, make some of my own, or wait until we visit in June. I'm leaning towards the June option if I can talk Rocketman into it. I also forgot any Corningware or casserole dishes. I'll have to pick that up. I have a second furniture shopping trip to do since there was a mistake made in our budget. It led to a lot of confusion and stresss but that is over.

Rocketman returns tomorrow from Taiwan and is anxious for some U.S. cooking now that I have all my stuff. We also need to think about a housewarming party for his co-workers. It's a mandatory thing to do here. I'm thinking of having a taco bar plus a bunch of appetizers. It will include a much needed trip to Costco.

Chilbo (Korean Enameling) Class #4

I am trucking right along in chilbo. This week she had me redo the pendant I made last week. Last week, it just didn't look right. This one looks perfect. The pendant on the right used stringers for stems and dots of wet enamel to make the flowers.


This is what it looked like before firing.

Nan also showed me these pins she was working on. She said she bought the pins in Seoul and added her own chilbo creations.

She also gave me this. Can you believe it is an aluminum pendant layered with hanji paper. Then she painted on it. I couldn't believe how beautiful it is.

Nan also got me set up with hanji lessons and maedeup lessons. The hanji studio is right around the corner from hers and I was blown away by the hanji. I wanted to take a picture but thought I should wait. I take hanji lessons every Thursday. Maedeup lessons will be on Fridays. So I have a craft class every day of the week if the Korean embroidery lady confirms. She wanted to have class in my apartment on Monday's.

Chilbo class this week ran a little late and Rocketman is in Taiwan so I decided to grab a bite at Lotteria, a local hamburger joint. The place was jumping with junior high students and I managed to find a table next to a group of 14-15 year old boys. As I waited for my order, I saw that they were having trouble deciding what to do. Each of them had only 1000WON (about 80 cents US) and after talking for about five to ten minutes, they reluctantly left.

My order came up and as I was eating my cheeseburger, I felt bad for those boys. I had wished that I had offered to pay for their dinner. I finished my dinner and as I left the restaurant, there were those four boys standing by the door. I went over to them and asked if they were hungry. They were surprised to have me talking to them and were embarassed. They told me they were and I told them that I had seen that they didn't have enough money for dinner. I offered to buy them dinner.

One boy said "NO" while they others said "YES." I took out some money and gave it to the boy who said no. I told the boys to please be nice to foreigners. They started yelling and jumping up and down which caused everyone to look at us. They said thank you in English many times and I left, making my way to the bus stop.

I am hoping that when they grown up and become ajosshis, they will remember the time a foreigner bought them dinner and think kindly of us who are not Korean. Of course, Rocketman was not happy. He feels I made myself a target. I hope not. It really felt like the right thing to do.

Moving Monday!

It was a rough month waiting for our apartment to become available. I came down with food poisoning which decided to turn into a nasty cold which I still have. All my Korean friends think I'm crazy because I haven't gone to a doctor or the hospital. In Korea, you go to the doctor for everything from a stomach ache to a cold. Doctor visits are very inexpensive, from $3-$7USD depending on who you see.

The bed at The Dormy was so hard it was like sleeping on the floor. It seemed so much harder than when we stayed here in 2007. We had no problem sleeping then. Maybe we're just getting old. It was also hard never knowing when the maid service came and I would have to leave for about 15 minutes when they did come. I saw one of them when I was leaving and she was sad to see us go.


This was our bedroom and the Dormy.

This was the living area. It was pretty big but we couldn't find anywhere comfort. The couch was as hard as the bed.

So when yesterday came, I was so excited. Jeff and Vanessa helped us load all our luggage their and our car and we were off to the Royal Palace. It felt so good to be back in our same apartment. It was like coming home. We waited for all the furniture to be delivered. We managed a delicious galbi lunch while waiting for a second furniture delivery.

The last delivery came about 4 pm, then we set out to E-Mart to buy household items. We spent about an hour and a half there then it was off to Home Plus for additional items. We ate dinner at Home Plus before we shopped.


This is what Rocketman and I shared.


This is what Jeff ordered, bibimbap.

We bought so much stuff at E-Mart that Jeff suggested that we make some boxes to make it easier to transport it up into the apartment. So at every grocery store you will see an area a table with tape, scissors and broken down boxes. This is where you make boxes to take your stuff home. I made this video of Jeff making our boxes: