Here's to you, Hongdae

홍대 (Hongdae) is my favorite part of this marvelous city. So many people, so many lights, so many funky cafes--I just can't get enough of Hongdae, especially since it's only a 20 minute walk  from SFS. 

Because of Hongdae University, Hongdae is known to be the central location for many young artists. Hongdae is one of the best places to enjoy various art and contemporary culture. The area holds various cultural items with art galleries, theaters, design shops and cafes. The area provides musicals, concerts, and performances by local artists. This area is also home to the clubbing and dancing of Seoul. 


In the States, I've lived in a couple of  ‘college towns’ but they have never looked anything like Hongdae. Despite the proximity of all the universities (Yonsei, Sogang and Ewha are all within 10 minutes); Hongdae does not have a ‘college town’ kind of a vibe. Throughout every alley and corner in Hongdae, you can find charming coffee shops, jewelry stores, stationary shops and basically anything your little heart desires. The streets are filled with musicians, crazy and fun Korean fashion and street food (did somebody say tteokbokki?). Even after multiple exploring adventures,  it stills feels never-ending.


Despite the trendy bars, the excellent shopping, and the "majisoyo" food to be had in Hongdae, my favorite thing about the neighborhood is that it’s hip and trendy. It has a different feel than the rest of the city. 


Hongdae has been the home to many wonderful memories:
-My first New Year's celebration in SoKo
-Multiple luxury noraebang screaming sessions
-Wine nights with the ladies
-Funky and crazy cafes 
-Club Friday
-Chimek (chicken + mekju)
-2 am "let's walk around" adventures
-Good conversations over coffee
-Jewelry shopping
-Engrish cards shopping
-DVD bangs
-Street dancing (see below)

Staycation in Seoul

Having been inspired by Kevin McCallister from Home Alone 2 and his adventures at The Plaza Hotel in NYC; Elisa and I decided that we wanted to stay in a fancy hotel here in Seoul.  Since we live in one of the world's largest (and most wonderful) cities, why not? Well, after a year of trying to get our schedules to match, we finally were able to do our "stay-cay" in Seoul.

 The original plan was to have a nice, relaxing weekend where we could watch HIMYM, order in and sleep in. Well, that sounded nice but a bit too boring for me, the 13 year old. Plus, Kevin would NOT be proud. So what did we do instead? We decided we would go all out and be super tourists.Yep--full blown tourists.

 To make it more tourist-like,  Elisa and I met up at Sadang station. We planned it right: we met up in the same subway car and dressed the part--fanny packs, cameras, LonelyPlanet books and Korea t-shirts. We were even loud and obnoxious.

We stayed at the ArtNouveau City Hotel in Gangnam--the posh district of the city.

Artnouveau City Hotel

The concierge thought we were crazy

Can you exchange these Dollars for Won please?!

Jumping on the bed

Hmm....what should we do?

Our Hotel

Video call

For dinner, we went out for a very Korean meal, mekju and chicken. Later, Jon, Megan and Jacob joined us and we went out to noraebang. We ended the night with walking around, pretending to be lost, and getting a picture with the Korean Flag.

Chicken and Beer (치킨 + 맥주 = 치맥)

Jacob and Megan singing

Chingus

We <3 Korea!

The next day, we went to the gym, explored the hotel and then went out for brunch at Shall We--a new restaurant with a big "Grand Open" sign (so Korean).

Trying out the treadmill

Working up a sweat

Shall We? Took the pic halfway through the meal... presentation is much better)

K-Pop!

K-Pop is a musical genre that mixes pop, hip-hop, R&B and electronic music. It originated here in SoKo and is popular throughout Asia.

Throughout the last year and a half, I've been listening to, downloading and dancing to Kpop Being that I'm Teeny Bopper, I KNEW that I had to make it to a concert.

Trish, Carolyn, Kristen and I were able to see the most famous Kpop group of the moment, Big Bang ( 빅 방). It was a great show! Thanks to our Korean chingus for helping us get the tickets!

The February Challenge: Off the Hill

Getting off The Hill

Over here in SFS-land, we live at the top of hill that overlooks Seoul. Okay, so it's not that dramatic but we do live on a hill (see above). Sometimes after a long day at school, all we want to do is go back home, order some doengjang jiggae and watch K-pop videos on MTV.  The LAST thing we want to do (especially during winter) is walk all the way down the hill. It is easy to stay on this land but I make it a point to get off the hill and go exploring. Thankfully, the rest of the MELK crew likes doing this, too, so Kristen came up with an idea. The idea: to get off the hill every single day in February (or as many days as possible for Misty and Laura). This may not seem like a major challenge to you, dear reader, but IT IS. As I said, we live on a hill AND this is February. February was by far the COLDEST month last year and that didn't change this year. At the end of January, we came up with a list (mostly from my Korean to-do-list--thanks friends) of things that we wanted to do during the month of February.

Throughout the month, we had other people from the hill join us, as well as other off-the-hill friends. So, here it is, the February Challenge.

Here is the documentation of the month!
(Italic Facebook status updates credited to KE)




OFF THE HILL CHALLENGE-survived two of the coldest days (3F/ -17C) of my life romping around Korea with my Chingu-deul. Building 63 ✓, 10pm kimbop dinner ✓. 27 more days--feeling strong


Day 1: MELK headed to the 63 Building, which is one of the tallest buildings in Seoul. We went to the top and  then took silly pictures with the paintings.

Day 2: It was a busy night for everyone with meetings, plays, lifeguarding, zumba, and other events, so at 10:00pm, Kristen and I ventured down to a little kimbop place for a late dinner. 

Day 2! It was FRRRReeezing (1 degree!)

Squashed day 3,4,5,and 6 of Off the Hill Challenge. Kimchi class, vino bar, Korean class/Notre Dam Paris play, and tteokboki town


Day 3: On Day 3, I was able to scratch off a major item from my Korea list: Kimchi-making! Later, Kristen, Laura and I  joined Fiona and Berengere at a wine bar in Hongdae.

Day 4: Saturdays are always busy. Kristen had Korean class, Misty had church membership class, Laura went skiing and I went and saw Notre Dame de Paris with Colleen  and then I met up with other chingus for dinner, noraebang and dancing.

Day 5: On Sunday, once again, everyone did their own thing. Kristen and I went to E-mart in search for a router and to get pictures. I fell into temptation and ended up having American fast food for the first time since in living in this country. Those french fries were calling my name!

Day 6: Rhonda, Misty, Kristen and I met up with Elisa at Sindangdong Tteokbokki Town, which is an area that is known for their delicious tteokbokki. I've had tteokbokki as street food in the past and I've liked it but I think I may have found my new favorite place for it! 

This spells out Tteokbokki tao-un (town). :)

Day 7: Tuesday night was another chill-out night. Laura, Kristen and I headed to the bottom of the hill and went to a little cafe for some tea and a wonderful ice-cream waffle. 

Day 8: Rhonda, David, Kristen and I went to Sinchon for hookah. 

Bats, Balls, and Beers-Day 9 of Off the Hill Challenge is a sweet ending to a long day of work and conferences — with Ellie Meza and Misty Skidmoreat House Of Glitter.


Day 9:  Kristen, Misty and I are such BOSSES. After a full day of working and student-led conferences, we headed to Sinchon. We played at the batting cages and then went out for a drink and fries. 

Day 10: Wine bar with Fiona, Berengere, Bridgette, Kristen and Misty

Day 11: Caffe Bené grading marathon and Myeongdong/ Korean class for Kristen/ Skiing in Yeongpyong for Laura/ Orphanage for Misty

Day 12: Church and Thai food for me, Saruga and Yonhuidong for Kristen

Day 13: Kristen and I headed to Noryangjin Fish Market and met up with Elisa and some of her co-workers to try an interesting type of fish that we've been eyeing for a while. We call this the "peepee fish." :) 

Quotes of the night:
-I'm hungry. I hope the penis fish is good.
-And now the Cass tastes like piss. 

Day 14: Jen, Jacob, Kristen, Misty and I headed to Hongdae where we had excellent seagull barbecue (it's not really seagull but just the the name. It's actually pork. Anyyywaaays). Then we had coffee at the Charlie Brown Café (stay tuned for future blog entry on fun and cutesy Korean cafes)

Day 15: Another laid back Wednesday: Kristen and I got on a random bus, explored more of the Sodaemun area, got on a different bus and then came back home. 

Day 16: Berengere, Kristen, Misty and I headed to the American military base in Yongsan for dinner and to hear the owner of SeoulEats.com talk about Korean food and culture.

Day 17: Misty, Freddie, Kristen, Laura and I headed to Hapjeong for Peruvian food  (about 20 minutes from us) so we decided to go try it out. YES for papa a la huancaína! We then went to Hondgae and ended the night in Sinchon with lots of dancing! 

Day 18: It was another busy Saturday. I met up with Elisa and had Bulgarian food and then later that night, Kristen and I headed to Hondgae with Fiona and friends and went to a jazz club.

Day 19: Kristen and I went to the House of Sharing in Gwanju City and then went to church.

Day 20:  Kristen and I ventured out to Gangnam and had a late dinner at ButterFinger Pancakes. YUM.

Day 21:  We went to Hongdae in search of the trick-eye museum but instead wondered through alleys, looked at jewelry and ended the night at a chicken and beer restaurant.

Day 22: Bridgette, Kristen, Laura and I headed to Myeongdong to try out Vienna Cafe, which was listed on CNN on as one of reasons why Seoul is the world's greatest city. We then walked around, had some street food, danced in the street and headed home. We love Hanguk!

Day 23: Kristen and Laura went to a basketball game in Incheon. I went  on a mission to find gray boots but instead hopped on a random bus, got off at Digital Media City, got on line 6 and found a cafe in an unexplored neighborhood. Also, I have now gone to both extremes of line 6 for no other reason but to explore.

Day 24: Kristen and I headed to the World Cup CGV and we watched The Descendants. We then headed back to the hill to help out with the school's 30 hour famine.

Day 25: MELK headed to Gangnam for Butterfinger Pancakes (again) and then to the Seven Luck Casino.

Day 26: Kimchi fries at Vatos, church and Myeongdong. Misty, Kristen and I also took a few pictures for Claire, one of our students. It was Claire's birthday recently and we wanted to document our love for the purses that she gave us.

Day 27: Kondae area with Youngen and Kristen for some much needed food-lamb, dumplings, soup!

Day 28: After a long day, Kristen and I had a low-key night and went to Edhae and shopped for earrings, hair bows and iPhone cases. We ended the night with chocolate cake at a cafe.

Day 29: The Final Day! After a faculty appreciation dinner, we headed to Hongdae for wine and cheese. We ended the night at at noraebang (woot woot!) where we sang our hearts out to Madonna, Britney Spears and we even honored Whitney Houston.

DONE!!!

Check out more by my chingu/roomie/partner in crime, Kristen:
http://keffinger.blogspot.com/2012/03/squeezing-out-seoul.html?spref=fb