Am I supposed to give thank you notes....?

Today I had an influx of gifts. Yay. It's not the done thing at home but here it's practically expected.

So first is a lovely gift box from the mothers of one of my kindergarden classes.

The brown envelope on top is a gift card for Shinsegae to a generous sum.

The box contained an assortment of rice cakes.

Behold my lunch in the background. (Oh, and a fancy assortment of ricecakes)

Unfortunately I am leaving in two days and do not know the expiry of these confections. So I scooped up a handful and left the rest for my co-workers.

Then in the afternoon I received a nicely packaged bottle of wine!

 Obviously too good for the likes of me but I'll still drink some of it.

It never ends...

 

It appears constantly. What on earth is a 'Ginie'?

 

 

I sense irony....

I fly half-way around the world and end up sitting in Starbucks.... =_=

 

Granted I had a gift card to test the limits of but still...

 

At least green tea frappuccinos are quite tasty. (Is that cream on tops?! Ooh, I really shouldn't)



 

 

Someone call animal-man control!

 

Psy gets molested by the creepy horse-man hybrid outside the phone shop.

 

As if that mannequin wasn't traumatising enough they have to drag Psy into it!! D:<

 

No one has figutred out why they have that horse head thing in the first place either. It stalks our nightmares.....................

 

 

Tasty Chicken Om nom noms

So, hitting up Gangnam on Sunday for some tasties. Long story short we were all like.
Stephanie and I split the plate you see in front of you. It was boneless chicken with noodles (Scissors kindly provided - they were chewy) with various vegetables and (extra-chewy) rice-cakes.

I am not ashamed to say that I bogarted the potatoes which I have not had in months. It was delicious and a previous assertation was re-established.
That being that you simply cannot eat out on your own in Korea. You'll never manage the portions. As it was I thre in the towel fairly early.

Aubrey as you see had some sort of sea-food dish with random crab, shrimp and sausage things (unusual fishcakes). It bubbled most credibly.

It was lovely anyway and clearly an excellent idea. I successfuly avoided shellfish and things with tentacles so I was happy at any rate. :D

Konglish/Engrish - Equal Hilarity

I have made no secret of my endless hysterical laughter amusement stemming from random and inappropriate Konglish/Engrish. (Not that I am in any way denying it can/will go the opposite direction.)

Korea seems to be above the humble refill pad only writing on fanciful notebooks with 'meaningful' quotes on the cover.

I discovered  this gem in Gangnam. (Yes, that Gangnam)

 

 

Such a dramatic epic deserves nothing less than our personal attentions. >:3



Just like Starbucks...

....they're everywhere.

A new Homeplus opened up beside E-mart so naturally we had to go take a look.

Homeplus seems to be owned by Tesco. The presence of Florence&Fred is simply an affirmation of that.

Stephanie and I were amused by the trolley. Not only does it have a convenient spot for your phone (which makes the entire cart vibrate when it rings) but it has an inbuilt pedometer. *cue wry amusement*

 The issue here being that this is a grocery/misc store in SOUTH KOREA. Where, naturally enough, they sell food and brands that the average Korean wishes to stock the pantry with. ;P
They sell noodles, unidentifiable (to me) substances and rice in bags the size of what we'd purchase potatoes in back home.

So why do they take one unit of shelving in the midst of this and label it 'Asian Food'?

-_- I sense...great idiocy. Just look at the content on the shelf.

I sincerely hope I'm missing something. (Although that was the only place with that label....)

The Wheels On The Bus

The quest for science is eternal.

 

The excitement never ends although regarding this elastic powered bus I feel that .....well.



 

 

A sharp pointy stick is not a good idea with small children and somehow I feel that the position of this one makes it all the worse.

 

 

Much excitement was had as I retied a dozen elastics two to three times apiece. At least I had everything packed away safely in their school bags with minimal drama.

 

For me? Why, thank you.

 

So gifts are a novel thing. The other day *Annie* from my U.C. Berkeley class dashed off to her schoolbag and proudly presented me with this.

 

I nearly die of cute. Oh kids, why do you pout so before showering me with stickers and aodrable triangles.


Today, on another note, Alex and I each recieved one of these.

 

I'm always befuddled when this happens. I sort of go: "Wait, what?" each time. >_<
I don't actually know how much is on the card so it could either be lunch or coffee for all!

Even Moar Science!!!

 

Once again, adventures with SCIENCE!!

 

I always seem to have ds.k vhlmv;esi/  water experiements which are horrible and awful and I despise them so. D:>

 

But seeing as I am a mean fascist that exerts and iron-clad will and control over these proceedings it generally goes alright.

 

More to the point, do I really sound like that? Ye gods - my eardrums are cruel indeed.

 

Tea, Lies and Konglish

 

Out and about in Insa-dong I saw a signpost for a tea museum. :D

 

I quickly dashed off to investigate and found....................

 

 

 

 .............an overpriced cafe with a display of various (READ: eight)  built into the wall.

Pouting was epic but I did enjoy the hilarity of signs such as this.

Ouch. So close and yet.....

Messing with the digestion

 

So, as I may have mentioned before, every Wednesday I belabour to introduce some six and seven year olds to the wonders of SCIENCE!! I'm provided with convenient little books and plastic bags worth of goodies for doing so too.

 

Behold what U.C. Berkeley (seven years) and I got up to:

 

It's.................an unnecessarily detailed model of the digestive system. Wait, do they really need to recognise the duodenum?!

The colorful one is a puzzle (minutes of fun!) and the lower picture involves playing with a magnet and a paper-clipped picture of food.

Science everyone!!

On the button.

Firstly:                                                    HERE

This will grant you great wisdom. Korean Dram Wisdom.



Secondly:                                              THIS

It pretty much sums up anything I could possibly say about Korea.

Kick him in the face!!!!!!!!!!!

It was a lot of fun to catch these guys again. The last time I saw them they were having a mini tournament. Today though was a demonstration of their performance martial arts. Accompanied of course by the ever lovely traditional musicians.

I want one....

Stephanie is well prepared for the return of Doctor Who.....

Watch your fingers

So on Friday, I met up with my coworkers for drinks. There had been a change of plans and we decided that since the weather was nice, we'd avoid the bars and go lounge in Central Park.

Central Park, as I have posted before, is just beside our apartment complex. So, with a blanket, ice-cream and a selection of drinks in tow we set forth.

I have to honestly say, it was much nicer after nine at night than in the heat of the midday sun. Unfortunately all the Pagodas were taken so we had to sit with the crickets in a pow-wow circle. Of course, we can't sit as nicely as some of the kidsin school can. (Who do so with the gravitas of old men.)

It turns out, than on one of the many man-made islands on the lake there is a population of rabbits. Lots of rabbits. We saw them going nuts, dashing around their island. (They were pretty big too - emergency winter food supply.....?)

Along with those fluffy bunnies and the crickets there were deer. I don't know the breed but they are quite small and even the adults have spotted coats.

Mr. Seth Ball revealed his skills as some sort of animal whisperer and discovered that the deer were attention whores remarkably tame.

On a side note, I don't believe I've ever tried venison.