Seoul Forest Park - October 31, 2010

So on October 31 (yes Halloween), I went to the Seoul Forest Park with Sheila and Katie.  It wasn't your typical forest at all...in fact it's compared to NY's Central Park.  It's really gorgeous and I love it a lot!

Katie and I in front of the map

entrance to the park

Fountain show!

There were a lot of sculptures and places to take pics!

My favorite part of the park is the playground!  It's massive and nothing compared to the one at Central Park!

you have to walk up the stairs to use the slide!

wheee!!!

rope course!

you can climb inside that!

and I did :)  I was the biggest kid :)

year of the snake baby!

They also have a deer park!  You can feed the deers for only 1000 won!!

Katie feeding the deers.

That day, was also the day of G20's Hi Seoul Walk a Thon where people signed up to walk for 12km and the end point was at the park.  We saw a lot of people walking and we decided to join in the fun!

we got certified :)

the certification

so tiring!

They had a big ceremony/performance for it so we decided to sit and watch but little did we know...

performance using jump ropes

host!

The host came up to us because we were with Katie who looks very foreign (she's German) and told us all to go on stage.  We didn't know what was going on but we decided to do it!  He asked all of us to say something in Korean and then told us to pick a number.  We chose the number 2 and we had to dance in front of the audience!  It was embarrassing but fun as well!  At the end we all got a gift:

The prize :)  oh and look at everyone behind the prize..that's a lot of people in the audience!!

It was a fun day!  Seoul Forest Park is definitely one of my favorite places in Seoul!!

G20 hits South Korea!

As I've mentioned before in a previous post, G20 is held in South Korea this year from today (11/11) til Friday (11/12).  What is G20?  Well you can read all about it here.

Her Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany (think Obama of Germany)) came to Ewha today because she's getting an Honorary Doctoral Degree from Ewha.  My friends and I were registered to see the event and so we went.

We had to wait online and while we did, we amused ourselves with another shiny silver pants guy (there was a shiny blue pants guy from  the Asia Song Festival).

However, after waiting in line, we were told that we wouldn't be seated because there weren't enough seats.  My friends and I were pissed becuase we definitely registered for it and we were missing class for it (we can request for an excuse letter though).  After talking to the people for maybe half an hour, they finally let us in!

angry foreigners

haha raise the German flag!

We had pretty good balcony seats...we were right in front!

(l) Sheila, Maria, me and Tessa

I'm German!

The program started with Reverend Sohn, Woon San giving a prayer.

Then Dr. Lee, Kong-Joo (Dean of the Graduate School) gave a commendatory statement.

Then Dr. Kim, Sun-Uk (President of Ewha Woman's University) gave the Degree Conferment to Her Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany).

Then Her Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel (Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany) gave the acceptance speech.

The program ended with Reverend Sohn, Woon San giving the benediction.  Then they took a group pic:

Afterwards, we all went outside to wait for Her Excellency Dr. Angela Merkel to come out.  It took her 30 mins but while we waited we saw lots of cars parked outside.  Here's one with a really cool license plate:

Then she came out!

Then we saw this woman who will be the next next president of South Korea (She ran aganist the current president of South Korea).

Oh, and we saw a very cute guy...we think he's an intern:

It was a great day :)

HAPPY 빼빼로 (Peppero) Day!

Today is 11/11 which is also Peppero Day in Korea.  What is Peppero?  It's a type of snacks that is in a stick form...which is why 11/11 is Peppero Day!  Peppero Day is South Korean's Valentine Day (but they also celebrate it on 2/14 as well).

Here's more info via Wiki:

Pepero Day is an observance in South Korea similar to Valentine's Day. It is named after the Korean snack Pepero and held on November 11, since the date "11/11" resembles four sticks of Pepero. The holiday is observed mostly by young people and couples, who exchange Pepero sticks, other candies, and romantic gifts. Lotte denies starting the holiday and instead states that they noticed a bump in Pepero sales around November 11th and after continued popularity they decided to then encourage the holiday with special gift boxes and other promotions. Some consider it to be a contrived holiday and some teachers have encouraged children to exchange healthy snacks to help combat obesity. An alternative "Garaetteok Day" (sticks of white tteok) has been proposed.


Today in class, my teacher gave us Peppero!

all mine :)

there were more on the table..ppl were snatching them before I can take a pic

International Breakdancing Competition - Korea Elimination - Oct 27, 2010

The 21st International Battle of the Year (International Breakdance Championship) takes place on November 20th in France this year.  My friend, Sheila, and I got to see the Korean elimination show - where they find the team to represent Korea at the international championship.  We went early to pick up our free tickets and we managed to get front row seats!! 

Front Row Seats!!!

DJ Wreckx

MC Go

Several teams performed:

Fresh Family

Last for One

Winston Breakerz

Fusion MC - My fave team!  They were so awesome!!

It's Our Feelings

Maximum Crew

JinJo Crew - This team got swagggg

Art One Crew - They were lame

Lively Crew

Afterward, 4 out of the 9 groups were asked to battle it out.  I forgot the names of the 4 crew but my 2 faves were Jinjo and Fusion MC.

Then MC Go came out and announced that Jinjo Crew won the Best Show award.

JinJo Crew - Best Show Award

Then the 3 judges came out to perform.  I don't have a pic of the first judge, Dyzee

Bruce Lee from the Gamblerz Crew

Snake from Visual Shock

Then they announced the 1st place winner....

wait for it...

woots!  JinJo Crew won 1st place!!!

Afterward, Sheila and I wanted to take a pic with them so we went up and asked!

Sheila and I with JinJo Crew

But our fave team is Fusion MC so we waited outside of their dressing room and got a pic :)

Sheila and I with Fusion MC

When we left the building we saw the MC, so of course we took a pic too :)

Sheila and I with MC Go

It was a great day :)