Ukulele Show at Hula Ukulele!

Our best show yet was December 1st at Hula Ukulele shop.  The venue is also where Lynne and I take ukulele lessons.  The acoustics in the place were great and we were very pleased that the guys gave us a 15 minute sound check.

We played:
1) You & I by Ingrid Michaelson
2) Yellow by Coldplay
3) Hey, Soul Sister by Train
4) Dancing in the Dark by Bruce Springsteen
5) Royals by Lorde
6) As Far as I'm Concerned by Martha Paton
7) Baby by Justin Bieber
8) Cups (When I'm Gone) by Lulu and the Lampshades
9) I'm Yours by Jason Mraz (performed by my ukulele teacher Gyu!)

The venue was cute and cozy with little wooden seats!

The venue is adorable, isn't it?  Such a calming atmosphere!

We (of course) wore our Korean-inspired matchy-matchy outfits!

Me, Lynne, and our Korean ukulele teacher, Gyu!

And we tried our best to put on a good show!


The guys recorded the show and it is going to be on youtube!

I feel so blessed for all the wonderful opportunities I've been given in Korea.  First of all, to my parents who got me this amazing ukulele last Christmas!  (My ukulele is very good quality and has the ability to plug into an amp so I can play all these fun gigs.)  Second, to my co-teacher Yuri who inspired me to take ukulele group lessons with her, making me a much better uke player. Third, to my dear friend Lynne, who is my partner in crime and gives me the confidence to perform in front of an audience and harmonizes beautifully with me.  I definitely wouldn't have done it without her!  Finally, to Hula Ukulele for inviting us to perform!  I will cherish the memories!

Happy after a good show!

Love,
Erica

Halloween in Korea...

Halloween isn't too big in Korea...which is might seem disappointing.  However, if you were to go to an infamous foreigner bar, you would be pleasantly surprised to see a splash of craziness from home...

The foreigners went ALL OUT...

This year, I slacked on finding a costume, but decided to use my dance outfit from my school's talent show...I was Michael Jackson (마이클 잭슨)!  While I was getting dressed, I had an idea to make my skin white like MJ's.  I didn't have any skin make-up of my own, but I recalled I was given a free sample of Korean BB Cream.  I thought maybe Korean skin tones would be too dark for my fair complexion...  On the contrary!  My Korean make-up was whiter than me!  Therefore, it was perfect for making me look ghostly-white like Michael Jackson.  I find Koreans' obsession with being white so funny---especially since in America most people go out of their way to get a tan!

Getting in the zone to be Michael Jackson...

Hanging out with Minnie Mouse!

Here you can see how white Korean make-up on me...

My friend Lynne was the lovely Minnie Mouse!

Other noteworthy costumes spotted in the foreign bar:

Awesome!

람연 Ramyeon Man! Epic costume! You can't really see, but I thought it was super unique how on the back of his headdress, there are disposable wooden chopstick wrappers!

Khalissi and one of her little dragons!

Miley Cyrus!  Earlier in the night he was wearing a big foam hand too!

An American...idiot?!!! :)   (My friend, Nick!)

A shower!

Chuseok: Korean Thanksgiving

From September 18-20th the entire country of Korea went on holiday.  Travel plans were all booked for weeks and tickets were expensive.  Over Chuseok--Korea's version of Thanksgiving--people tend to travel south or into the countryside to be with their families.  People often eat a special type of rice cake called Songpyeon.

It is covered in pine needles to keep it fresh.  At first, I wasn't sure if Koreans ate the pine needles.  It turns out that they don't!  Whoops!

Koreans also give each other tons of...interesting gifts.  A few weeks before Chuseok I noticed many gift boxes at the grocery stores...fancy gift boxes of shampoos and strangest of all, luxury gift boxes filled with SPAM!  For whatever reason, Koreans are obsessed with SPAM.  It is considered a very nice gift!  My Dad would approve!  I, on the other hand, thought it was a very strange gift.

Since I don't have any family in Korea, and all international travel plans were insanely expensive, I decided I should take the road less traveled: I decided to go to Seoul. Sure enough, I had no problem booking a train ticket and there was no traffic.  On the other hand, I heard from people traveling south towards Busan were stuck in traffic for hours.  It was a good time to go to Seoul!  I hadn't spent enough quality time in Seoul, which is silly because Seoul is an amazing city only 50 minutes away from me on the KTX.  I decided to stay with my "sister", Kady from Austria.  She was our foreign exchange in high school.  I am glad we've kept in touch.  She has been living in Hongdae, Seoul for the past few months studying and looking for a job.  I am extremely impressed with her ability to speak Korean.  I wish I could speak that well. While I stayed with her, we went to a coffee shop and studied Korean together.

We visited the Gyeongbokgung in Seoul.

It was very cool, but after a while, all temples start looking the same...  When I first got here though, I was so hypnotized by the upward curving roof tops! It looked so exotic!  However, I am no longer in my honeymoon stage in Korea.  I love it here, but I don't freak out with excitement about temples anymore!

At night, Kady and I went out with some of her Korean friends.  We had walnut 막걸리makgeoli (rice wine).  Koreans like to pair makgeoli with some kind of 전Jeon (Korean pancake).  I rather enjoyed it, if I do say so myself!

Kady, her friend, and I having Makgeoli and Okonomiaki!

All in all, I had a wonderful time in Seoul for Chuseok, even if it wasn't really a traditional Chuseok celebration out in the country with Koreans...I did not receive any SPAM this holiday season, but some of my friends received a king size gift box from work...(I'm so jealous!...just kidding!)

I still must say, American Thanksgiving is the best!  Nothing beats my mother's cooking and large loud Tiffany family gatherings in the dining room eating cheesy mashed potatoes and Sparkling Kid Wine!  But spending Thanksgiving in Seoul is pretty cool, too!

Half Marathon at the DMZ!

My friend Kelly and I had an amazing time going to the 10th Annual Peace Marathon along the DMZ.  It is certainly an experience I will never forget.

We took at shuttle bus from Seoul at 5:30 in the morning.  On the bus, I passed out asleep, and when I woke up, I looked around and saw tanks!  There were army tanks everywhere near a large green area.

Kelly and I got off our buses and walked over to the Race Packet Pickup area for Foreigners.  We were given a heavy cardboard box.  I was expecting to get a free t-shirt or something and my racing bib, but instead, I got a 3kg bag of rice... That was weird.  I felt like it was more of a punishment to carry around than a gift.

We put on our racing bibs and chips in our shoes laces to mark our time.

Shortly after we got there, we heard an explosion.  It kind of scared everyone...but we realized it was just fireworks going off to signal the start of the Full Marathon.  Ten minutes later the Half Marathon started.  As our fireworks went off, it looked like no one was moving.  There were SO many people I ended up having to walk and slowly jog for the first part of the race.

The race was on a road surrounded by green and yellow plants.  It was a very pretty area.  Eventually we crossed a bridge over a river and I saw a beautiful view.  The air there seemed very clean compared to city air.

During the race, I saw there were many teams of runners with matching running gear.  Also, there were lots of men wearing "ROK ARMY" shirts.  We assumed that the army used the race as a training exercise.  They were not very fast, however.

Along the way, many people were cheering for me.  They shouted, "FIGHTING!" and in Korean, "KAJA!" which means "Let's go!"  I had a lot of fun.  I was sad that I didn't find anyone to run with me the whole way. I saw a few women runners running fast, but eventually I passed many of them.  I have yet to find the exact results, but I think I was one of the first women finishers for the Half Marathon.

I felt pretty good, although by kilometer 16 I felt pretty terrible and wanted to be done.  I slowed down the pace a bit, but never stopped.  I couldn't tell where the end of the race was, until suddenly I turned a corner and saw the finish line 20 meters in front of me.  I really should have picked it up a bit earlier, but I was so tired and had no idea how much longer I could hold on.

After the race I was given a Finisher's medal.

 I was also given some strange Herbal Tea Energy Drinks.  It tasted pretty bad, but I was so thirsty, I just chugged it.  Then, for re-fuel there was free bibimbap and cold seaweed-cucumber soup.  It was delicious.

When my friend Kelly finished the race, we walked around and took some pictures together.

We had to wait until 3:00pm for our shuttle bus to take us back to Seoul.  Kelly and I fell asleep in the grass.  When I woke up from my nap, I saw a group of Korean men sitting on a picnic blanket, grilling barbecue.  I said, "Wow, that looks so good!" and accidentally made eye contact with an old man cooking.  He smiled and waved me over to join him and his friends for lunch.  I looked at Kelly and said, "Come on!"  We sat down on their picnic blanket and had so much fun trying to communicate with them in butchered Korean.  They also were embarrassed of their English skills, but they had so much fun practicing.  They kept passing us more and more Makeoli (Korean Rice Wine).  We chatted with them for a good hour until our bus came.  What a great end to the day!

Jeju-do, I love you so!

Last month, my boyfriend Dennis and I had the most amazing vacation together.  We flew an hour south of Seoul to the island of Jeju.  Although some things were similar to Korea, I felt like I was in Hawaii rather than in Asia.

We arrived in Jeju City and rented some good quality bicycles for $15/day. We spent the day walking along the coast, watching the sunset.

                                       
That night we met up with our Kiwi friends, Jessica and Jacob for dinner.  We had a special spicy fish soup.  It was very tender and good.  The food in Jeju seemed quite different from mainland Korean food.

                                             
The next day we took off on our bikes going counter-clockwise around the island, sticking to the path that ran along the coastline for a much time as possible.   Here was a bike plan we looked at before we left!

Dennis and I started off biking around the lovely coastline with our Kiwi friends Jessica and Jacob!  We were glad we had some company and help navigating.  It was pretty simple...just stay close to the coastline, but there were a few areas where we needed to look at a map.  I had a handy dandy GPS on my phone that was very helpful.

Our first stop was Gwakji Beach!  We went swimming in the pretty turquoise water.  We wanted to stay away from the big crowds, so we really enjoyed swimming on the this part of the beach.  Later, however, an angry lifeguard yelled at some people for swimming there...at least we were already done swimming by that point!  

Enjoying some Mojitos at Gwakji Beach!

That night was our first night to test out our new tent we purchased at E-mart!  We had watched a short youtube video on how to pitch a tent...it seemed self-explanatory.  However, we attempted to practice setting up the tent in my miniature apartment...and that was not happening with all the metal poles hitting the walls.  That day however, we set up our tents up early, and we were pleasantly surprised by how easy it was!

Camping in tents on the beach!

View near Hyeopjae Beach!

Along the way, it started raining.  Jessica, Jacob, Dennis, and I decided to look for shelter and wait until the rain calmed down.  We hid under a tarp near some shops with our bikes.  The rain did not stop, however.  It just started raining harder and harder.  We noticed there were some other bikers that had the same idea as us.  They left their bikes under the tarp too.  We started talking to them.  They were Korean, and had excellent English skills.  We asked them where they were headed.  They said they were also planning on going all the way around the island.  Dennis asked them, "Hey, if you don't mind...wanna ride together?"  They agreed.  And when it stopped raining, we started biking together, single-file down the streets.  We stopped at Hyeopjae Beach.  It was a lovely beach with emerald water and the view of an island.

Dennis, me, Jessica, Jacob, and our new Korean friends Seongbak and Minyeol at Hyeopjae Beach.

We had a seafood lunch again in Hyeopjae and said farewell to our New Zealand friends Jessica and Jacob who wanted to stay there.  Seongbak, Minyeol, Dennis, and I continued our route around the island.

We biked so far...and so long, always stopping at GS25's, 7-11's, and CU's for water and Sport Drinks.  Along our journey to the next beaches, we stumbled upon this temple in the rocks!

The biker dudes!

Dennis and I with a view of the South Coast of Jeju.

We were so exhausted, we decided to stop for some ridiculously expensive Bingsoo. 

We considered stopping at this beach, but then decided it would be better if we continued to the next beach so that tomorrow wouldn't be such a long trek.  Next stop was Jungmun Beach...a famous resort and popular destination for honeymooners.  When we arrived we immediately set up our tents, changed into our swimsuits, and went swimming.  I think Jungmun was one of my favorite beaches.  When you swam in the water, you would look up at the green jungle above you.

                                      

Jungmun Beach early morning.

Getting ready to bike through streets lined with palm trees.

We continued onto our next destination: Pyoseon Beach.  It was extremely shallow for a ways and looked like a very beautiful and unique beach.

Pyoseon Beach! One of my favorites!  Extremely shallow for a while, but lovely, turquoise soft waves!

            

                                      

After we had a nice swim at Pyoseon Beach, we continued our bike journey...saddle sores and all.  My butt was killing me by this point.  But we stopped to see this lovely view of Sunrise Peak!

Seongsan Sunrise Peak!

The most bored horses ever!

The sun was extremely bright and I probably had sunblock in my eyes!

Dennis and I felt very lucky to be in such nice company.  It's great going on adventures and meeting new friends along the way.

At Seongsun Sunrise Peak, we said farewell to our Korean friends.  However, it would not be the last time we saw them.

Dennis and I then continued our journey...approaching our starting point of Jeju City.

We stopped at another beach called Gimnyeong

We thought the beach was quite beautiful, but we proceeded further...

You can see the black volcanic rocks mixed in with white sand.

I thought of my Dad when I saw this windmill...always thinking about Renewable Energy!

Constantly stopping for water...it was so HOT!  Dennis must have lost of few kilos on this trip!

Sweating like a butcher...and to make things even worse, one of my contact lenses dissolved when I went swimming in the ocean...had to wear my nerdy glasses that kept sliding down my sweaty nose.  Dennis made me a strap so they wouldn't fall off when I was biking...so sweet of him!

We were so sweaty and sticky from the salt water...we decided to stay in a pension.  Here is our view from our hotel room!

Dennis was extremely happy to go swimming!

At night we tried a new food.  Specialty of Jeju: Black pig.

We arrived back in Jeju City the next morning, returned our bikes back to the bike shop, and got ready to go to the airport.  It was just a 50 minute flight back to Incheon airport.  The next day we met up with our Korean friend, Minyeol in Seoul and he took Dennis and I souvenir shopping in Insadong.  We went out for Octopus one last time together!

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Dennis and I walked around Seoul for the last few hours he was in Korea!  

Saying goodbye to Dennis was hard.  I miss him.  But we both agreed we had the most amazing vacation of our lives together!  We would bike around the island all over again any day!