Korean Films

Since i'm here i think i might as well tell you (whoever's reading) my ten favorite Korean films so far. Other than number 1, umm maybe the first five. the rest are in no paticular order.

A Bittersweet Life - 달콤한 인생
A Dirty Carnival - 비열한 거리
Bungee Jumping of Their Own - 번지점프를 하다
Beat - 비트
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance -친절한 금자씨

The Host - 괴물Shiri - 쉬리
My Wife's A Gangster - 조폭마누라
Romantic Assassin - 낭만자객
Vampire Cop Ricky - 흡혈형사 나도열

More suspicions

As i mentioned the other day i had suspicions about the area that i'm staying in, especially at night. The other day while while to the store I saw a man who was pretty big (muscles) walking down the street with a very sexy woman. The man had on a short sleve shirt and i could see that he had japanese style tattoos on both his arms that went down to his wrist. The pic is not of him, i didn't think it would be a good move to ask the guy if i could take a pic of him especially if he was with a women. The following day i saw the same guy in fornt of my building and this time he had a friend with him. Not a women but another big looking guy also with a tatto on his arm. He didn't look too happy to see me either, he kinda had an expression on his face that read "What the Hell" so i didn't ask him either for a pic.

Every morning you can find these cards on the floor, the top right hand corner reads (massage). Now that i think about it I do remember a movie where a guy ordered a massage, but he was a gangster and he was trying to embaress the family that owed money. It was one of the opening scenes too. it was A Dirty Carnival - 비열한 거리

Also today as i was going down stairs to take a picture (more on that later), there was a guy waiting by the elevator. He looked like one of those gangsters from the films i watch all the time.


Except he had no tie and he had a stratch over his right eye that looked as if it was about three days old. Still kinda red but had already scabbed over. We both got on the elevator going down. He started to talk to one of the guys who was already on the elevator. When they got off i noticed that the other man also had a japanese style tattoo. I had now seen three different men with tattoos three days in a row. Today was the first day i felt as if i watch my back if you know what i mean. Also i'm starting to notice that people are starting to notice me a lot more. I guess i do stick out, if only there was a way for me to look more "Korean"

Shopping

So much money so many stores but so few banks, there aren't many banks that change money so you have to look around for the ones that have the sing above. I tried to change money yesterday but missed the bank by 5 mins. Banks close at 5pm, I could see peole inside still sitting at their windows but they would change my money. I had to return the next day, this time i was there by 10:30am i had to do some shopping. Which wasn't so bad for me because the store and the bank opend up at the same time at 10am. I actually got there sooner but was turned away. It turns out Korea passed a new law, you need to show your passport in order to change money. I thought it seemed kinda weird, i was in Mexico last month and they didn't ask to see my passport to change money. But these women were making phone calls confirming my stay in Korea. They asked when i arrived and when i was leaving. I asked if there was a problem and the lady in white (kim Seon Ah) replied there wasn't by saying "changie" meaning they were going to change my money. With that I was able to go on my marry way.

For the last week i've been living off of Forsted Flakes (not shown) and Aloe Water. that stuff is awesome. I first had some because of my uncle, he works alot in China town in Chicago. Sometimes they give him stuff. Anyway, i've been living on Tony the Tiger and Aloe Water. I really need to go shopping.

I went to the "Mart" that Kimmy had told me about, i've been there a few times now to buy water and Aloe water.Actualy as much as I love Aloe Water I love drinking anything that has flavor, i get so tired of drinking water and orange juice. so I bought some Lemonade and Strawberry Yogurt (drinkable) i also bought a bag of chips for a snack. I thought it was kinda funny juice, yogurt, water, and chips. They did have some SPAM that was looking mighty tasty. maybe i'll go back tomorrow and pick some up.


Kimmy didn't mention that it was also a department store, i thought it was kinda weird that it was in the basement of a building. they had an escalator that lead up, wondering where it went i found that it was also a department store. She did tell me that the building is closing by the end of August. They are remodeling the building, becasue of that it means that everything must go so everything is on sale. they have some Nike stuff that i'm debateing on getting or not. I can prpbably find that stuff in Chicago. so my main focus was to get whatever I could that said Korea. Also it was a chance to get some cool stuff for gifts instead of cheap souvenirs.


with most of my shopping done i went to another store SHINSEGAE. which is like a Nordstroms, there area is a little "different" across the street there are lots of resturants, bars, video rooms (not what you might think, you rent a room to watch major films like shiri, Dirty Carnival etc.). On the other side of that is another department store called Lotte world angain like Nordstorms. Anway in Shinsegae i was able to find what i really needed Peanut Butter. since i'm not eating a lot of meat and kimmy won't let me cook in the aprartmen I need protien.

There i also able to find some other things that I was looking for DVDs and CDs here's a few of what i picked up so far



with all the running around i did i was getting hungery but with none of my friends around to show me good Korean food I decided to get something I knew i would like

I went to Burger King and got a Double Whooper with cheese hhhmmmmm....
mmmmmeeeeeaaaattttt
the only thing that was disappointing was the small fries and drink that came with it. Come on man I'm American I need large especially if i'm paying eight bucks for the meal.

Tourist for a day

that's right tourist, if you know me personally you know I hate Tourist. But since I went to see a friend there I thought i'd let her show me around the way she wanted to. Althought i have to go back to Seoul becasue I'd really like to see Seoul Action School. I had to take the subway from Incheon to Seoul in order to meet my friend (she's from there but I met her in chicago at school). The first place we went to (in Seoul) was 덕수궁 - Deoksugung


There we saw a changing of the guard, when we started to look around I tried the best i could to take pictures of only the guards. I thought it was kinda foolish to stand next to them and pose. So I just took their pic, there were other touist trying on costumes to wear as they posed. I told Jini to try it one so that I could take a pic of her in it. She said that she would if I did it as well, of course I said no but if I wanted to get a pic of her in that dress then I was going to have to do it as well.So I did and I got the pic but not before we got a pic standing next to the guard. If you're wondering where those pics are don't worry because you won't see them. As we took our costumes off we missed the tour bus.


As we were waiting for the bus we noticed a water foutain across the street so we deicided to walk over and take a look. We saw some children playing in the water (it was a hot and humid day), I thought this was a perfect photo op. So I took a few shots. But if you weren't getting wet there really wasn't much to do. We we walked back across the street and waited for the bus.

The next stop on the tour was The National Museum of Korea. Where we rushed through to see as much as we could. they had lots of cool historic peices in thier collection. By that time we got a little hungery so we went to the resturant in the museum and had lunch, some shaved ice with red beans and fruit. She said it tastes better if you mix everything up and then eat it and she was right. I thought it tasted better after some of the ice melted and it was a little more soupy. We rushed through the Museum again to finish looking and get on the next bus, which we missed again. So we looked around outside in the Meseum garden till the next bus arrived.

The next stop was Seoul Tower, which was basically 360degree view from the top. With a quick martial art show at the base of the tower. Sorry no pics, it's almost the same type of pic as when I climbed to the top of that moutain in Incheon. The next stop on the tour was Dongdeamun market. when I saw it i fell in love, it reminded of the maxell street fle market (now located on canal). I had to have look around since I recently started going back to the fle market in chicao. I told her i wanted to try a street vender. In films i always see a scene where a character eats at street vender.








we didn't find one that sold fish cakes like i wanted to try but we did find one laday selling food. i grabed a big chicken on a stick which tasted like orange chicken. only more chruncher we also went to Insadong market, i would write more about them but I have other stuff to do now. Also i'm going back to those places today to do some shopping. So i'll talk more about them later.

Korea day 3 : Night life

As it still raining I thought i'd write another blog entery. Before I came to Korea I had written Kimmy lots of e-mails. She had mentioned a few times how she doesn't like the area. When I arrived at 7am I looked as some of the buildings the cab driver had passed. I started to suspect about what kinda of area i'm staying in. The pic above is from the view in my apartment at about 6pm. Last night was friday night so i figured that i'd take a stroll down the street to see what it looks like at night with all the lights.
As I left my apartment this is the first view you get at night from across the street. I thought i should take a pic so that I show people, maybe it was the rain or maybe it was because it was still kinda early (about 10pm) but the streets weren't as crowded as i thought they would be. Maybe i'll go out again tonight to see if there are more people out. As I started to head back I did see a bunch of women going to another club. Most of the clubs had "door men" or guys in button up shirts trying to get people to come in. It was kinda funny because of some them i guess were trying to get me to come in but stopped. As I walked by they opened they mouth as if they were going to call out to me but then as I got closer they didn't say anything. I guess since i'm a foreigner they thought I wouldn't understand and for the most part they were right. But i'm old enought to know what they're doing in front of the building.

I took this pic because the street reminded me of the trailer to one of my Favorite films. In English is called A Dirty Carnival but in Korean it's
비열한 거리 I think becasue it was a small side street, anyway i'll attach the trailer so you would know what i'm talking about. Also the film is realy good and I think Dragon Dynasty has the U.S. rights to it, either way I'm sure you'll be able to find the DVD. Then again maybe i'll attach a link to where you can order it.
A Dirty Carnival (teaser)

http://www.yesasia.com/global/search/a-dirty-carnival/0-0-0-bpt.48_q.a+dirty+carnival-en/results.html

If you keep walking around you see lots of sings like this as well, my Korean is not so good but it reads as Motel "Joo Ja Jang" or "Joo Cha Jang". I don't think it means anything it could just be the Name. There are also lots of resturants and mini marts in the area, if your singing and dancing your going to get pretty hungery. Since I'm not sure how crowded it gets i'm not sure how full these places get. Maybe i'll have another look on Tonight.

Day 2 in Korea, My Korean Name is 하강호

Today it rained again in Korea, so my plans for a 7am work out with Kimmy and her friend were cancled. I kinda figured a much when I woke up by 4:30 am when I heard lighting. The funny thing is on my first night here I thought I felt the building move in my sleep. Don't ask me how but I sweat I felt the building move while I was sleeping. I woke up as soon as i flet it slapping my hand to the floor. When they started showeing news on TV it said that there was an earthquake in Japan. I thought
maybe i did feel it then. Or maybe, you know how sometimes when someones in trouble and they call out to someone. The other person says that they could feel being called for help. The only thing I would say to that is why would she call out to me.

Anyway back to my 7am workout with Kimmy. Needless to say it didn't happen, she showed up around 7:40 saying that she was late. She woke up when her friend called her at seven saying that she forgot to wake up. Kimmy had asked me yesterday if there was anything else i wanted to do. I asked if "The Good The Bad and The Weird" was playing yet. She called her friend and she said that it was. Later she introdouced me to Eun Young and she drove us around for the day. She took us out for breakfast and then to a department store where they had a cinema as well and we saw The Good The Bad and The Weird.

Kimmy had to go to work soon after so she left me with Eun Young to help her Niece and Nephew with their english. After they introduced themselves and their english names "Leo" asked me if i had a Korean name. (when Koreans start to learn english they are usually asked to pick an English name to help them want to learn) I told Leo my Korean name was 병헌 like 이병헌 because he's one of my favorite actors. Eun Young just laughed and said that I should be 강호 after 송강호. She said because we booth have chubby faces. This morning i was telling the story to Kimmy, and she asked what I said to Leo. I told her Byeong Heon, then she said that I should choose 우성 "I like Woo Seong" she said. Then i told her what Eun Young said and she said that was perfect. And since my last name begins with an H my Korean last name should be Ha. So my Korean name is "Ha Kang Ho"

As for day three there isn't really one, Kimmy helped me get internet so I stayed in all day contacting all my friends and family about how to get in contact with me while i'm here

Hello My Name is Leo
Hello my Name is Annie
Eun Young and Family

Korea

well, i've been gone for a while But I'm back again and this time i'm in Korea. I was actually surprised by the flight because we didn't fly over the Pacific as I thought we would. We flew north over canada and then west stright to Russia and then south Over China. We didn't fly over the ocean until we came near North Korea. Also I wasn't as bored as I thought as I was going to be. I ended up watching only one movie because it took me a while to actually use the entertainment systems. I was also surprised at how much food they gave us, we had two meals and a snack. Which were given about five hours apart.
Two hours after takeoff dinner was served. I choose to have the traditional Korean meal, which was better than I expected. I had never had Korean food before. I had Soba Noodles and Bi - Bim - Bab. For the snack they gave a mini sandwhich. And for breakfast I had pancakes with sausage. The only movie I saw on the plain was A Man Who Was Superman - 슈퍼맨이었던 사나이. It was your typical Korean film, it started out like a warm hearted comedy and then it went into a drama with a sad ending. All I will say is "Superman" althought I did find Jeon Ji-hyeon to look more attractive then in other films. Especially when she's Lois Lane.



Afer the plane had landed it was a quick walk through immigration and then customs. Since i'm only staying just shy of 30 days i don't need a visa and nothing to declare I walked right though. I went to baggage calim and then to arrivals. But my ride didn't show up. I heard later from Kimmy that he was on his way, but by then I was already in a taxi. It was a good thing that I changed some money soon after claiming my bag. Kimmy asked why didn't I call but my phone had no service. I ended up buying a new phone yesterday to get service. But spent an hour today deleating all the unwanted pictures, it was a used phone.


On the day I arrived, i went to the apartment that Kimmy had told me about. but since she still had work it was a quick tour along with a quick tour around the are to see where the subway is for travel later, the market where I can get most of my supples but only till the end of August. Then they close for remodeling and last was an eltronics store for my to get an adapator because they use different plus here in Korea. After she left since I had no way to communicate with any of my friends i went near one of th areas where we passed by before. I had seen a templeing looking structure on top of a moutain, at least i thought it was a moutain it could have been a hill. Either way when she left I was bored and I went looking for it and decided to get to the top. luckily for me i found one of the hardest paths to climb not to mention that it was very humid so when I got down I was covered in swet. I went back to the apartment took a shower and called it a night.