Chongdong Theater

We had fun at Chongdong Theater. We got there a little early, no traffic which is unusual for Korea. So we walked around the neighborhood for about 30 minutes. Then it was dress in traditional Korean outfits. Mike dressed as emperor, I was in wedding costume. Will try attaching photos. Then we learned how to play the Jang go (korean drum). That was fun, but it isn't easy. We played it slowly, I don't know how they play it so fast. We had seen most of the performances before, but it was really interesting seeing them play something we learned the basics of playing. It is the first time we have been on a hotel tour that they didn't feed us. We came home and went to McDonalds for dinner. It was about the only place opened.

Monday I did my swim for 1 hr and about 15 minutes water aerobics. It is the first time I had seen the pool full. there were two people in all the lanes. But I was ready to leave when most of the people showed up. Afterwards I was tired and hungry, so after getting dressed went to On The Border for their lunch special and then came home and did laundry. No fun. Even got some ironing done.


Tuesday I met Colleen at hongik university. That is where the b-boy performance was. The stores in that area looked interesting, so we decided to go check them out. I was running late, but the stores open even later than we thought. We had lunch at Subway and then went to Starbucks after we walked the area. Had a nice time at one of the stationary shops. Colleen even got some shoes. I have too big of feet to wear any we saw. On the way home we saw a bar. A picture of it is below. The name shows you that the Koreans definitely don't understand some of the translations.

Saturday July 26, 2008

Had a lazy morning. Since it was raining, we stayed in the coex. Went to lunch at Chosen deli and split a tuna sandwich while maid came in an cleaned. Then got directions to are evening plans. The guest relations worker wrote out the directions in korean for the taxi driver. The driver was horrible. It took us 1 1/2 hours to get there. It is usually 30 -45 minutes. we went in circles, traffic was bad and Mike was not happy. when we got close we said yogi (means here) paid and walked the rest of the way.

ate at a seafood italian place called Il Mare. We met four other american couples. One was our good friends Colleen and Tim Ranta. The food was good, we were 30 mnutes late, but no one had ordered yet, so didn't have to rush. Then walked to the show Ballerina who loves b-boy. Attached is the link to watch parts of the show. http://sjbboys.com/ It was fun and enjoyable except for the volume of the music. My ears still hurt. The koreans are really good at break dancing I must say. we didn't think we could take pictures so left camera at home, and they said take all the pictures you want. You could even join in and break dance at several places. No one in our group did so.

Tomorrow we are going to Chongdong Theater where we will get to wear a traditional korean costume, learn to play a janggu(korean drum) and see and hear traditional korean arts. Will let you know how it is.

Week of July 20, 2008

This is my first attempt at blogging, so don't know how it will work.


Last Thursday Colleen and Tim Ranta, Phil, Mike and I went to On The Border grand opening. It is in the coex mall where we live, so may be bad for my diet since it is so close.

Saturday we went to Dongdaemun market. Had breakfast first at Butterfinger Pancake. An American type restaurant. Has good pancakes and waffles. Ate too much. As you can see a lot of our entertainment is eating, which could be why I am gaining weight. It started raining so we came home after getting wet.

Monday was grocery shopping. Tuesday Colleen and I went back to On The Border for lunch and shopping. I am not Korean size so can't buy clothes here and my feet are too big so no shoes either. Guess I will have to stick to jewelry and purses. Wednesday was flower arranging class and then lunch. We only transplanted plants. We planted a palm tree in a glass jar with blue water balls and wrapped another plant with moss to set on plate. It is like the Chinese do in their gardens we were told. So I have a few more decorations for our apartment.

Last night we watched Sweeney Todd dvd. Definitely not something I will watch again. In fact I think I looked away and missed about 1/2 of the movie. Pretty gory. tonight we watched The Kingdom. Not something you really should watch before you go to the middle east. Colleen and Tim lent us those dvd's and also The Legend. So have one more to watch. Hopefully The Legend isn't so gory.

Tomorrow is ladies coffee at the hotel. Saturday we are going to see The Ballerina Who Loves a B-Boy. Not exactly sure what it is but will let you know after we see it. Before the show we are eating at Il Mare. A seafood restaurant in Korea. Let you know how it is.