Weddings, Times Square, French Quarter

Wedding bells

A friend from small group, Jiyeon, got married on January 22nd. She got engaged a few months ago and we were all excited to hear about her upcoming wedding. I was so happy when I got the invitation to her wedding because I love weddings and this would be my first Korean wedding!

The invite

At the entrance of the wedding hall, we looked at some of the bridal portraits and greeted family members. Then, we went to find the bride. She was in a small room where she welcomed guests and they could have pictures taken with her. We got a few pictures with her and then waited for the ceremony to start.

 The ceremony and the reception took place in a beautiful reception hall. Although I didn't understand anything during the ceremony, it was really neat to see the interaction between the bride, the groom and the parents. At the end of the ceremony, both the bride and the groom bowed down and hugged their parents. I love how Koreans honor and respect their families in all occasions. They were then announced as husband and wife and walked down the aisle as confetti burst into the air. There was a fog machine, too!

We then headed to another room within the same building and ate a lot of Korean yumminess. There was even galbi (Korean BBQ) which I know I blog about all the time but it is so good! The bride and groom then came and greeted their guests while dressed in traditional Korean clothing, Hanboks. We continued eating and socializing while the bride and groom had another ceremony with their families.

After the wedding, a bunch of us went shopping to Times Square (not that one) :)

French Quarter
Ye Seul, Celine, Vanessa, Elisa and I ventured out in 15 degree weather and headed out to the French area in Seoul, called Seorae Maeul , which is located in the eastern part of the city close to COEX. I had read that this area was bilingual (Korean and French) due to the fact that a French international school is located here, and being that I like to pretend that I speak French, I thought we should check it out.The main street does have a "Parisian" feel to it and and the street signs are bilingual. We went into many of the cute, antique shops and then had breakfast at a bistro.

Signs in Korean and French!

 Celine and Ye Seul being tourists

 C'est la langue Français dans Corée du Sud!

 We ate at this cute, little bistro

 Brunch...yum

Then we went to a cafe.

 

 My new favorite snack at Cafe Benne: the cinnamon toast dish

Taxis

We left the French area and decided to take a taxi. Now this is something that I should have blogged about before. Taxi drivers can definitely multitask here. There is usually a television on so they can keep up with their games or dramas while on the job:) This particular taxi had an iPad hooked up. :) Whenever I am in a taxi here, I hold on for dear life. The taxi drivers are almost always running red lights, doing U-turns in the middle of the streets and cutting people off all while playing with their iPads or watching a match. Did I mention I'm probably going to get my international driver's license? AH!

The ROKetship comic says it all!

Food and friends

More eating:)

I am always asking these girls "How do you say so and so?" "Can you translate for me?" :)

 Vanessa, a new Canadian friend. 

 Soup on a very cold day

Being sardines in a bus

 A tout a l'heure!

I said brrr..it's cold in here

Well, January is over already. January was busy and VERY cold. I don't know how I made it through the cold and I still have a couple months to go. My attire lately consists of multiple pairs of socks, leggings, boots, mittens/gloves, hats and a hot beverage.

The beginning of January was busy getting settled into my new place and new school. I've been subbing in different areas and I am very much looking forward to being back in my own classroom in a few weeks. This school is great and everyone has been helpful in getting me settled in.

A had more firsts in Korea in January. I finally got a haircut to try and calm down by big hair that was looking like a mop. A few of us went to the Ewha University area which is really close to where I live. I live near 3 universities which means lots of deals on anything, including haircuts:) 5 of us went to a salon on a Saturday afternoon and between the perms, coloring and cuts, we ended up being there for 6 hours! 

Ye Seul got a haircut.

Sora dyed her hair.

Vanessa got a wavy perm.

And I had to document my first haircut.

Dr. Fish

I finally went to Dr. Fish (I heard that this is common in many countries in Asia and I knew I wanted to try it). Basically, it's a spa treatment for your feet. You put your feet into the water and the little fish nibble off dead skin. It sounds a bit creepy but it wasn't too bad. :) It tickled a lot and I kept taking my feet out of the water.

Vanessa and I did not know exactly how to feel about the fish...

Eeeek!

I also went to a cultural museum and tried on a Hanbok (traditional Korean clothing)

And of course, one of my favorite things in this country, Noraebang:) We went to a noraebang called Prince Edward in Hongdae. It was one of the nicest Noraebangs I've seen. We even had free ice cream! It's the little things, people.

The musical selection for this evening consisted of Coolio, Weezer, Taylor Swift, Michael Jackson, Journey, Madonna Oasis and Eminem. Maybe one day I'll be able to sing a Korean song:)

Random story: Elisa let me borrow this suitcase when I moved so I figured it was about time to return it to her. Of course, I chose a snow day to take it to her. I dragged this huge suitcase down the hill at school, in the snow, while it was still snowing. Then, I walked for about 10 minutes, took a taxi, took the subway, then took another taxi to finally get it to her at church. It's one of the few times that I've missed having a car. I definitely got a lot of looks and although I didn't understand the comments, I'm sure the people staring were saying "Oh silly foreigner" :)

I found a warm winter coat (and I've started wearing mittens. I think the last time I wore mittens was in the 1st grade) :)

Snow at Seoul Foreign School: There was a lot of snow this day (the suitcase day) but no more snow days for me! With this amount of snow, I would have gotten at least 2 days off from work back at home. :)

It's a small world after all! My friend from high school, Katie, had a business trip in Seoul so we met up her first night here. What did we eat? Galbi of course! We even sat on the floor to get the whole traditional Korean experience:)

I also went to Costco for my time ever here. My friend Misty signed out a car so we could load up on all sorts of stuff (you know how Costco is!). I ended up getting really good food such as pancakes and popcorn. Don't judge me.

Oh mommm...look... Costco!

Some things never change