Cosmo VIP Party

Before I start on the party, I have to post a few more photos of scenery hehe. Korea is just so pretty in the fall!




So Cosmopolitan published its 100th issue in Korea, and they had a big party to celebrate! Since Prain not only does a lot of PR for Cosmopolitan's affiliations but also has many friends who are reporters for Cosmo, we got a few free tickets to the exclusive VIP party. Glo and I got super excited for it and expected celebrities (at least C-list...) but the crowd was mostly reporters, writers, models, and people like us who somehow scored tickets through connections. Well, supposedly there were famous people there but we didn't see them. They must have been in their special hidden rooms.


Co-workers :]



Glo, me, and Joo-yeon sunbae (one of our superiors at work)

The party was held at Club Volume in Itaewon and the best part was that Big Bang performed! Glo and I were lucky enough to just happen to be standing right by their exit route after their performance, so they brushed past me :D And that's how I know that whatever heights they post on their profiles are TOTAL LIES! Sure I was in heels, but I still know 5'10 when I see it, and these boys were maybe 5'7 or 5'8. T.O.P. may be 5'9. But no more! Also, their performance was a little disappointing.. they sang about 4 of their hottest songs right now so the crowd loved it, but they themselves just looked totally drained and like they weren't really into it. Like, when it was one person's part, the other four would just kind of sway listlessly in the back without any expression. G-Dragon had his typical ridiculous headgear.






DJ Koo also performed. He mainly just dj'ed to his own music and then popped out from behind the table to do a little tecktonic dancing before he went back behind the table to dj the rest of the party, which I actually thought was kind of weird and downgraded his stardom.



Dianne, Ray, and I also went to go watch a musical at Daehakno, which is also another big college town-y area. It's known for its thriving performing arts culture (maybe the colleges in the area are artsy schools) so there are small theaters everywhere, and literally every day of the week you can catch a musical or some kind of show. Since they are so small-scale, you can't really expect the highest quality I guess... This one, for instance, was pretty cool but had some really lame and over-exaggerated, not-funny-humor parts. Afterwards though, the three of us went to our favorite Minto Cafe and chatted until closing.


It's so pretty.

Another day, the three of us went shopping in Ideh area again and chilled at a cafe that was hidden in an alley. It was a hidden gem, the kind that only the people who always go there know about.




One of my favorite parts of Korea is the abundance of cafes like this. We have had so many good conversations and bonding moments over cups of coffee in little shops that barely fit three tiny tables.

Photobooth Fun

Jen, Dianne, and I exploited the sticker picture machine store in Shinchon, not initially intentionally of course. We went in with the full intent to pay for our pictures, but one digital camera picture led to ten more and then we decided to be economical for the night and save money (sticker pictures are expensive! 5 or 6000 won for a sheet!) so we left. We really felt guilty though, especially since we even came out of the machine a couple of times to ask the man behind the counter for the props.






Sticker pictures are pretty popular here. Girls and guys both enjoy taking these cutesy photos and cutting them up and sticking them on phones, wallets, etc., or just carrying them around in their wallets. The lighting and angle makes you come out really good (and very pale). Most people decorate their pictures afterwards with the computer screen device. If I had a scanner I'd put up some examples of the many I've done! Instead, here are some of Danny, Steve, and Eugene:



Afterwards, we went to a cafe in Shinchon. On the way we picked up a snack:

It's a deluxe chicken skewer! The man proclaimed that they're famous, but who knows. It may have an ounce of truth perhaps, though, because that stick was damn good. And he put so much care in preparing it! It was almost funny.
Mm.. street food..


Walking, we saw a cool parking device!


And realized we were in a really shady part of Shinchon. Love motel lane. The pictures do not suffice; there was seriously motel after motel after hotel after hotel.



At the cafe:


Dianne's teapot was adorable:




Oh and we also had an early Thanksgiving dinner at DMC a couple nights ago, thanks to EAP staff! It was wonderful and delicious. We had a real, American Thanksgiving dinner, with ham, turkey, stuffing, and everything!



Hanging out at Steve's room per usual:

The guys are addicted to GoStop. It's a gambling game with special cards. I've tried to learn but haven't been able to pick it up yet. I think you need interest for that kind of thing.

The girls eat cake instead!

Peppero Day!

Oops! I forgot to mention Peppero Day!! November 11 is Peppero Day because the numbers 11 11 look like Peppero (it's also called Pocky, the Japanese brand) sticks. It's a holiday made by the Peppero company, and they make lots of money off it. People give boxes of Peppero to their friends and loved ones, and now it's spread so it's not just giving out a simple box of Peppero like these:


Koreans go all out:



Even Peppero breadsticks!

Busan and More!

Whew that last one was a long post.. Okay here goes a recap of the first of November thus far!

Our advisor, Michelle's son had his 1st birthday! It's called 'dol' in Korean and is a really important birthday. He had a big party in a banquet room at a buffet restaurant.








Jaewon picked the mic from the box of items, which means he's going to have a life where he speaks in front of audiences a lot.



Another day, I met with Janet, a 동생 (younger friend) of mine from back in high school! She's two years younger than me, and I actually only took a year of Spanish with her before she transferred schools so we weren't very close, but it was still nice seeing an old face :] It was our first time meeting in about 2-3 years, and she had gotten a lot prettier. We met in Idae and had pasta for lunch. Then we went to Lucygato, a chocolatier and dessertery (ok I made up dessertery, but chocolatier is a real word despite the red squiggly that's coming up right now). I forgot to take a picture with her, but I didn't forget our pretty cappuccino and sweet potato cakes! :D



A couple of weekends ago, Dianne, Ray, and I went out with Gina and Michelle. They're exchange students at Yonsei as well, but we don't hang out with them as often because they live in the International House on campus. I know Gina from high school and she goes to UCI.
We went to a cool hookah bar in Hongdae called Oi, right above Club Catchlight. The hookah was so cheap, only $10 so $2 per person!



Samara!

Then we went to another bar called Inside the Box, which had really cool interior and really nasty, too strong Long Island Iced Teas and Black Russians -.-




And last weekend, EAP went on a weekend trip to Busan, a port city famous for its beautiful beaches. We went there by train, which took about three hours, and arrived there just in time for lunch at a delicious, famous barbecue restaurant.









The ginormous bowl of nengmyun that came out at the end, which was more bowl than nengmyun, but still delicious!


After lunch, we went to our youth hostel to rest a bit from our travel and take a short nap.

And woke up for dinner -.-
We went to the beachside in search of delicious sashimi.

What a photogenic restaurant, it didn't look this nice in person!








We drank quite a bit of soju at dinner and all got into fabulous moods :D
Outside the restaurant











We made our way to a bar and drank some more there (just beer) before going to a club. It was such a nice club, but no pictures unfortunately.

The next day, we went to the world famous (?) Busan Aquarium. It was actually pretty fun!

Inside a tank:

A car full of fish!


Afterwards, we went to a restaurant (뜰아래채) at the top of a cliff with a beautiful view of the ocean, shoreline, and city lights. It was a traditional Korean style meal with endless courses!






Afterwards we walked in the sprinkling rain to Starbucks, where the red cups are out <3



After, we headed back to our hostel to have a little "house party" ^^ It was fun and cute! Michelle even provided us with hats and long shirt things that said EAP Seoul on it hahaha



On Sunday, a bunch of girls went to Vespa, a 찜질방 (sauna with many different steam rooms) that is supposed to be the best, or one of the best in Korea. It was quite nice, but it was the first one I ever went to so I can't compare.

The view from the balcony:


You wear these little outfits they provide you with:

And make sheep heads (or Princess Leia heads, w/e haha) out of the towels:

And that was our mini-vacation :] It was probably the best EAP activities thus far. We all had so much fun and got so close with the other EAP'ers. Our only regret is that we didn't do the trip sooner so that we could have gotten to know some of the other kids better before we only had a month left of our program!

Yesterday morning, some of EAP went on a tour of MBC (one of Korea's biggest cable TV and media networks) studios:






The sets look sturdy and real but actually are made of styrofoam so that they are easy to move around inside the studio.













That was a pretty cool experience, which would have been perfect if we had run into some celebrities! How unfortunate...