Kyobo Bookstore

Kyobo is well known as one of, if not the biggest bookstores in Korea. Generally, if I want to buy a book, I go What The Book in Itaewon, but on Monday, after visiting the Police History Museum, we were in Gwanghwamun and decided to take a peek.


Due to the holiday we were greeted with a massive wave of people, mostly concentrated around the stationary section, though there was no lack of people in the book sections either.

I was trying to find a corner rounder to take the sharp edge off of laminated flashcards. Unfortunately, the crowds in the stationary section were a bit overwhelming and making it impossible to find anything. So we moved on to books, where there was a little more room to breath.

Kyobo has quite a large room (probably bigger than all of What The Book in Itaewon) dedicated just to English language books. You can find lots of bestsellers, nonfiction, US textbooks (way cheaper than in college bookstores), Books for learning English, travel guides and books on Korea among others. They even have a whole section dedicated to learning Korean in this area too! I found my text book, and was thankful to find out that my hagwon is not overcharging me on books, believe it or not.



Then we went over to the children's section to try to find me something that I was capable of reading. I found a nice little book about a caterpillar that I was understanding about 50% of... when the boyfriend found some other book he was sure would be more entertaining and convinced me to read that instead. It was not more entertaining though... because I couldn't barely understand anything.... so much for the little caterpillar....

We got bored of my struggling to read children's books after a while, and without any better ideas we went out and headed home. It wasn't quite the amazing long weekend I had hoped for, but you can't ask for everything. I'm now planning my amazing long weekend (only 3 days) in May in which I hope to go to either Kyoto or Fukuoka Japan. Tickets are already sold out for flights, but, this far in advance, we should be able to put our names down for a reservation and get it... I would hope...

Not Impressed...

Lately I've been seeing people's travel plans being mentioned on facebook and I think to myself, That's so lame! Anyone can go to Florida or California... why don't you go to Costa Rica or Guatemala? The plane ticket probably isn't much more... Something about travel within my own (huge, vast, varied) country seems nearly as lame as sitting home to me. Does this make me a snob? Or have I just traveled so much that the novelty has worn off? Even the thought of traveling to Australia seems a bit lame... it must be the English factor.

I feel as though travel needs to be a challenge... you need to overcome some sort of language and culture barrier to get the real travel experience. A trip up to Canada just doesn't qualify, I'm sorry.

I also look at my students who tell me they traveled to Malaysia with the same look of pity. I ask them, "How is Malaysian food?" , and they reply, "Teacher, I don't know, I just ate kimchi and rice there". And I think to myself You poor, sad fools. You don't know how to live....

Is there something wrong with me for thinking like this? Clearly, anyone in their right mind, should be excited over a trip to Florida... right? I mean, there are lots of great things to do in Florida, right??

Anyway, I'm currently investigating tickets to Japan for the long weekend in May. There aren't many long weekends this year (and two have passed by without me even hardly noticing) that I need to take advantage... I'm looking at Kyoto and Fukuoka. What do you think?

Police History Museum

Today, March 1st, is a holiday here in Korea and therefore I was home from work looking for something to do. We decided to go to the Seoul History Museum (in between Seodaemun and Gwanghwamun), but upon arrival, we discovered it was closed. Probably because today is a Monday.

As we wandered through the neighborhood in the freezing cold (we were wearing spring jackets, assuming the weather would continue like it has for the past week) we came across the Police History Museum, and decided to take a look. Admission was free and they had a fair amount to see...for a free museum..

Here was a photo from the 1960's. Here in the top photo, the police are measuring the length of the man's hair. Hair was not allowed to be grown past a certain length back then. (gee, sounds like North Korea) In the bottom photo, police officer is measuring the length of the mini skirt. As miniskirts grew in popularity back then, restrictions were put in place to make sure that the woman covered enough of her leg (maybe we need to bring this back this particular law).

Uniforms from the Joseon Dynasty

Police uniforms from the Korean War

Police riot gear

North Korean spies

After the boyfriend got caught and put in prison, this is what he looked like...

I look Korean, right?

To visit the Police History Museum, go to Seodaemun Station ex 4 and walk for about 3 minutes, and you'll see it on your left. Sorry, no English here, folks... Bring a Korean

Weird English Names

At my old hagwon, students generally stuck with their Korean names except for a few exceptions, but, at my new hagwon, children (or the children's parents) choose English names for their children to be used during class time.

Most names are pretty normal names. Biblical names like John, Matthew, Sarah, Luke, James, Mark, etc., seem to be fairly be fairly popular. For some reason the name Jay is quite popular, I have 3 or 4 Jays between my various classes.

Some students, though, have some Weird names. None of my students this month have strange names, but I've seen some names on other folks attendance lists... such as:

Hero
Nickhoon
Boston
Bookie
Kandi (with a heart to dot the i...)
Jelly

Brings me back to the good old days of middle school Spanish, when we all had to choose a name to use in class. I used Ana for the longest time, but by college I seemed to go by Juana by no one's decision but my professor, but it seemed to fit. Though, back in Middle school, kids found out that Nacho was a name and insisted that that would be their Spanish name. Kids like to pick the most ridiculous names...

Unfortunately, when one becomes an adult, you need to have a respectable sounding name. I hope that one day students who choose to be called Donkey pick something a little less awkward when it comes time to make introductions.. .

Have you had some students with strange English names? Please feel free to add them to the comments, I need a good laugh...

A weekend of goodbyes...

This time of the year is always the saddest time for English teachers in Korea. This is the point of the year when the most teachers come and go from Korea, due to the starting of the new school year starting March.

Last night was a giant going away party for 4 of the girls from my old SLP. It was great to see all these people that I never have time to meet up with nowadays... We met at Wolfhounds for a few hours, and nearly everyone from my old school showed up, including a bunch of the Korean teachers and my old boss. After that we went to the Loft... which is the most dangerous place in Itaewon because they have free entrance and free drinks for women... Not sure how this place stays in business.... And after that we headed over to Dillenger's, a decent place slightly removed from the bustle of the main bar area of Itaewon. Finally, the party broke up while heading back to our neighborhood to look for a norebang... but all we could find was girlie norebangs and we realized again just how sketchy my neighborhood really is...

Tonight I'm meeting my current coworkers for some Greek food in Itaewon. It should be a good time, though if the party breaks up, my Saturday Korean class is having an end of the semester party tonight too, so I shouldn't be without options..

This being a long weekend, though, I need something to do on Sunday and Monday. If anyone has any ideas of exciting things to do, please let me know!

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10 Magazine (English magazine in Korea) is taking a poll on the best blogs in Korea. If you feel I deserve to be on the list, go here and type in my blog (The View From Over Here). If I get three votes, I get on the list!

Dongdaemun History and Culture Park (Under Construction)

After two months at home, I sort of expected to see something change in Seoul... but fortunately or unfortunately, things seemed more or less the same... until I happened to pass by Dongdaemun STADIUM station, only to find that it no longer bore the name that I have always, so fondly, called it. It was now Dongdaemun History and Culture Park Station. The name is so long in Korean that it's actually very slightly cut off from the digital display that shows each station's name as you ride the train. Since my boyfriend works near here, I feel like I am always talking about 동대문운동장 this or that... and now... I can't even remember the name of the stupid station in Korean because it is so freaking long. -_-

Anyway, enough rant. If a new park opens this close to my house I need to check it out. While it's only half finished, you're still welcome to walk about the finished park and check out the progress on the other half. The photo above is a plan of what it will look like when it's finished. Since Seoul is the "World Design Capital 2010" (whatever that means) It is basically one big flashy design project that they grace with the name park, for lack of a better word. There are a few trees, and a patch or two of grass, so I guess it's no worse than most neighborhood parks around here.

Yes, yes, Seoul, brag about the fact that you are the World Design Capital, but frankly, I don't think it's a major pull for your "Visit Korea Year 2010-2012"

I didn't have time to check out the insides yet, but this looks like some sort of cafe? Maybe there is/will be a museum here.

View from the middle of the park, looking at that mysterious newly constructed building across the street... not quite sure what's gona be in there...

As you can see, the walkways here are not on the ground, but raised in a artsy kind of way. It's fun to walk around, but just don't expect too much greenery here...


Here you can see some dead grass (well, it is winter) and the main shops of Dongdaemun in the background.

Next time you're in the area shopping, take a walk around... I don't expect the other half to be completed for some time, but in the meantime, have a look see at what they're working on and what they have finished..