As part of studying Korean every term we have a culture day. This term it was a trip to The National Folk Museum of Seoul (국림민족박물관 - more info.) We started out by having a walk around the halls reading about Korean culture and looking at the lovely displays. We have recently been talking about similar culture in class so it was nice to put some visuals to the Korean. After an hour or so we all gathered again and were moved to a workshop to make masks. We were given a choice of blank masks and a quick briefing of some good techniques to use. I got really into the painting and after an hour and a half I finished a pretty solid design (see pic). It also came out in a national newspaper - The Chosunilbo (조선일보). You can see the picture and a brief description in English here.
Finally we learnt how to dance a traditional dance. It was like doing a kata in Karate or something - a lot of flowing movements and a confusing number of patterns to remember. Still I accepted the challenge and got a lot out of it.

20070118 Seoul nightscape
These are some pictures from the roof of where I used to live. I recently moved back to the area near Yonsei university - Sinchon (신촌). As I wrote before, I used to love going up onto the roof at night and relieve some stress by looking over the city. You can see views of the city, the roof itself and my friends who enjoy going up there to smoke.

20070131 Killer kimchi
So January’s random pictures: The unexpected but welcome snow storm; a tower built on Asami playing a Nintendo DS; an outdoor subway station; posing with some hairdressers with our new haircuts; eating delicious pasta with a friend; going bowling with the same friends; everyone with laptops; Baskin Robin’s new ice-cream; a reunion with my level 4 classmates; sprinting down the corridor; nice laces; opening the door; my kitchen; foreign signs in Itaewon; pre-cut hair; Asami grinning; a meeting with my lady friends; eating syabu-syabu; and finally eating Korean food.

20070203 Markus byebye
Markus was a great friend to me in Korea and I will miss him dearly. He has to go back to Switzerland to work. We spent his last night drinking and making things out of whatever was laying on the table. It’s sad to see him go.

20070204 Sodeamun dinosaurs
See the previous post for a detailed account of this day.

20070204 Sodaemun Dinosaurs
I decided on the weekend I should do something fun (as well as going for a few beers with friends in the evening) before I take midterms this week. Turns out right next to the church I sometimes go to on Sundays, there is a medium sized natural history museum: 서대문 자연사 박물관 (for those of you in Seoul from 신촌역 by McDonald’s take the number 3 bus then get off at 원전교회 (it’ll be announced so listen well) and walk up the hill). When you enter there is a large hall with a big dinosaur model (click pic for a stitched up panoramic) which is always fun to see. The museum has three themed floors. The first was about wildlife and plants, the second had dinosaur exhibitions and the third was about out of space. There was 3D film about the earth being made too. I would have liked for some more real things to look at rather than models but it was a pleasant couple of hours spent wandering around the museum’s halls.