Open Mic

So last night (sunday) my friend Michael and I performed for the first time at open mic here in Seoul. We first talked about doing a set in January, and then holidays and travelling got in the way, we've been practising for a few weeks now and sunday finally rolled around when open mic was on and by 9.00 am I was petrified! Nerves were with me all day, and even though we practised before the show and it went ok (apart from one song) we were both really nervous when we got up to perform. We'd invited a load of our friends to come, especially as it was Chris' (one of my best friends here in Korea) last night here with us as he's going home to Canada today at 4pm. We got through it all without too many mistakes and were even asked to go back up on stage to do another verse and chrous of Stand by me so that we could get the whole bar doing a sing along. I got Hayley to record two of the songs so I've attached the youtube video link here. For some reason my blog doesn't let me attach videos. There were other people there taking photos and videos as well so If they get posted anywhere I'll link them to here at a later date.

House of the rising sun


To make you feel my love 

Lessons

Games we play in class are rarely eventful enough to warrant a post on my blog, but one from this lesson was so funny and the kids were so into it i thought I'd film it and show how crazy these children really can get.

So the premise of the game is easy. Student 1 hides some stationary, or a cap (in, on, under, in front of, behind) and student 2 has to move around the class to find it. The rest of the class say either cold (not near) warm (correct direction) or hot (you are very close) to help student 1 find the object.

Hot Cold game 1

Hot cold game 2

Spring has sprung!

This weekend finally saw some lovely weather come to Seoul! Hayley and I took advantage of it to wander down the street of the rich and famous in Apgujeong. We had a perusal around the boutique shops and vintage stalls before heading to Myeongdong for some more shopping and to meet practically everyone else we know in Seoul to watch our friend Michael in his latest play; Macbeth. We returned to apgujeong on sunday with the others in tow because I wanted to buy a dress I'd seen the day before. We ended up in a board game cafe where we spent the early evening playing jenga and tumbling monkeys. Spring is finally in Seoul, and I intend to make the most my favourite season, before it gets unbelievably hot and humid in the summer!

Quiche, salad and Dr Pepper!

Flowers!

Sunny weather makes me happy!

Cafe/flower shop

My new jacket!

Macbeth!

The witches

Very real fight scene!

Ginkgo avenue

My newest purchase!

FYI; To get to Gingko Avenue take the subway to Sinsa station (Orange line 3) go out of exit 8 and walk straight for about 5 minutes. Take the 2nd left turning (it is signposted Garosu Gil) and you've made it to the street. Most of the shops are on the main street but there are some off down alleyways. You can also walk to apgujong really easily, if you walk to the end of the road, (they are building a forever 21 here) and turn right. Walk straight, past M & S and you get to hyundai mall and apgujong station.

Doctors and dictators

Today I was diagnosed with asthma and sent a parcel addressed to me in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Not the best, although the parcel is a lovely dress from ASOS so that mostly makes up for it! Oh and when I ordered it there was only one option for 'Korea' which I assumed with South Korea so I didn't actually choose the DPRK...

On the back

On the front. Either Democratic People's Republic, or a statement that 'Korea - for the democratic people'...

My 6 pills to take after breakfast and dinner, and 5 after lunch. All for a throat infection.

We are tourists

 

Hello from Gangnam!

Dreamingggggggg

I'm having a bad week at school. Lessons are going ok, students working well, no big disasters, but I've had a bad lunch 2 days in a row. I'm absolutely starving and then when I get to the canteen, I'm faced with soup and rice as the only decent things I want to eat. This isn't really why it's a bad week though. In the last 2 weeks I've stumbled on 2 very different travel blogs. and I've become completely immersed in their experiences. During the 10 minute break between lessons I'm reading post after post, and during lessons I'm day dreaming about me visiting the places they've written about. Both blogs are really well written which is obviously a big pull into reading them, but for me it's more than that. I love to travel, and when I am travelling I always wonder if there is something I'm missing, or I'm thinking about what the next stage of my journey will be, which means that I often miss what I'm actually experiencing at the time. It's something I want to be able to stop, to live in the moment a bit more and that is why I have decided that during my summer holiday, which I'm planning to spend mostly in Thailand, I will not be my usual super organised self, and will do things a little more off the cuff. That's where the best adventures come from! So why is it a bad week? I can't concentrate on anything more than seeing new places and experiencing new things. I think I've developed an 8 month itch! (insert obvious joke here)

My wanderlust knows no bounds.

Life is an open road

Ne-Yo

Last week Wendy, Fontaine and I went over to olympic park to watch Ne-Yo live in Seoul. It was a big arena and packed, but the weird thing was that in Korea no one gets up to dance. We sat rigidly in our (very uncomfortable) seats for the whole show. It wasn't until the end we couldn't take it anymore and got up to dance, stares or not stares! In Korea everyone buys light sticks to wave, which lit up the arena like a night time city scape! We had a great night, and completed another cool experience away from home!

and on friday we had dinner out in Sillim, where we found Elvis!

Here is a video I took from the Ne-yo concert to enjoy!

Beautiful Monster