Happy Thanksgiving!

Technically it's approaching Thanksgiving morning at home and here in Korea it's Thanksgiving night but Happy Thanksgiving all around! Today was a first for many things. This was the first time RCP is working on a holiday (let me clarify, also working LATE on a holiday). This is the first holiday season that I'm not working (that's what I'm most thankful for this holiday season :)). This was the first time I went to a French Village on Thanksgiving. This is the first time I had Italian food for Thanksgiving. This was the first time I went shopping on Thanksgiving. Above all, this was the first time I decorated for Christmas on Thanksgiving. As you can see, it was an interesting way to spend the holiday, but fun none-the-less and amongst the nice company of Heather and Pria. The highlight of the day though was when the Korean girl at High Street Market wished me a Happy Thanksgiving, when I went there looking for paprika.

I always think the weather is a huge part of a holiday 

and this morning was 30 degrees and clear blue sky, just the way Thanksgiving should be. 

It didn't get above 35 degrees either, so the long down coat is back in action.

Thanksgiving lunch with Pria and Heather.

 A First: Seafood Pasta on Thanksgiving

A Winter Wonderland at Kim's Club.

They had a real explosion of Christmas. It was so nice to see.

Looks like Bloomingdales!

Christmas decorations. Done. In 5 minutes.

From what we've heard, procuring a real, live Christmas tree here seems to be an enormous 

amount of effort, so we've decided to forgo a normal-sized tree.

It also makes me very happy that my decorations are real, not sparkly, and not Koreanized.

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving....

.....in the USA only (insert sad face icon).

There's no American Thanksgiving holiday here in Korea, Samsung will be open for business so RCP will be at work and I'm not quite sure how I'm going to spend the holiday yet. We will be celebrating Thanksgiving however, just on Saturday, in the form of a potluck dinner with 14 other Samsung people at Heather and Brian's house. Yes, they have Butterball Turkey's here, that appeared only a few weeks ago at select expat marts, along with aluminum roasting pans. Our hosts are taking care of the tukey, stuffing, pies and cranberry sauce. Another couple is bringing sweet potatoes and baked apples. It will be interesting to see what the others bring since half of them are single guys. Since I don't like sweet potatoes and I don't like to bake desserts, I'm going to take a vegetable crudite (since I brought a packet of that Hidden Valley Ranch powder from home that you mix with sour creme for dips...this is the perfect occasion to use it). I'm also going to attempt to make Mom's famous scalloped potatoes and either a green bean casserole or green beans in a shallot dressing with dried cherries and walnuts. I haven't decided. I'm tempted to take two casserole-like dishes because they're so Southern and anything with pre-cooked ingredients and cans of Campbell's "Cream of (anything)" is hard to mess up, even if you're using a Korean oven. Casseroles are also easy to transport across the neighborhood. We can't wait!

Spotted at High Street Market: Thanksgiving ingredients!

It was limited, but they had bay leaves(!!!!), 

which I need when I begin my self-taught French cooking lessons.

Canned cranberry sauce is better than nothing!

If this "pumpkin paste" is the same thing as "pumpkin pie filling"
they should just call it "filling" or "puree" not "paste".

The Singing Room

I mentioned karaoke in the previous post, but I thought I'd give it it's own post since it is a huge part of the nightlife culture here in Seoul. Koreans LOVE to sing. We have been two two Korean birthday's so far and both times dinner and drinks have been followed by a late night of singing. They call it noraebang (nor-ee-bong) meaning "singing room". It is pretty much the same as it is at home, some are nice large rooms with big stages, nice tables and banquets to spread out and visit on while listening to your friends belt it out and some are on the smaller side, with a cozy, dive-bar vibe. They usually stay open 'til the wee hours of the morning, and by wee I mean like 4:00 - 5:00 am, as I experienced during my first visit to one. The song selections obviously include both Korean and English, and the selection of English songs is usually pretty extensive, at least for the kinds of songs that you probably already know the words to by heart and belt out anyway at home (ex. Billy Joel, Celine Dion, Frank Sinatra, or any song from the '80's).

I have to admit, it's a little nerve-racking going to a noraebang for the first time, knowing that you're going to be forced to get up and sing. I don't know how I always played the lead in my elementary school Christmas musicals, singing in front of a giant audience. I think it's the same reason I could dance in front of a football stadium of people in high school; it's a lot easier to be in front of hundreds of people, when you don't really know them, than to be in close quarters, in front of six people who you just had dinner with. Things that help with the stage fright are a little "liquid courage", making every song a duet so your husband sings with you, or just realizing that you sound just as good (or bad) as everyone else. I usually sing about 4-5 songs per visit, usually all classic rock tunes because they're the most fun to sing. Our duets on Saturday included "Footloose" - Kenny Loggins, "Here I Go Again" - Whitesnake, "The Power of Love" - Huey Lewis, and "Piano Man" - Billy Joel. According to RCP I keep him on key....Mr. Perfect Pitch and Plays by Ear thinks I keep him on key....Amazing. 

 In the moment.

The screen in the background is where the words for the songs are shown, usually along with

some very strange Korean music video that has nothing to do with the song that is playing.

RCP serenading Niels, the birthday boy. 

Niels is Korean but was raised in Denmark and has been back in Korea for the last 7 years,

as a member of the Seoul Symphony. He plays the trumpet.

A duet with Larry. 

Natural performers.

RCP loves to sing...even when it's not his turn.

Niels always ends the night with Frank Sinatra's

"My Way".

Getting To Know the Neighbors

There's no better way to get to know your neighbors than to get locked out of your apartment and have them find you sitting in front of the door and invite you in. And until the neighbors found us, I'm realizing that my new little smartphone really is a life-changer and is really going to come in handy in situations that involve waiting.

Thanks to RCP (yes, he readily admits that it was his fault since he didn't think to take his keys and then left mine inside) on Saturday evening, after a long day out and dinner plans at 8:00, we came home to find no way to open our door, so we took a seat on the floor, I proceeded to read my book, now conveniently with me at all times thanks to my phone, and RCP made a call to our real estate agent Elvis. Elvis in turn called our maintenance guy, who said he'd be there in half an hour to let us in, as the third set of keys are in his locked office downstairs.

We waited for about fifteen minutes, in the dark because the hallway lights are motion censored and it got a little tiring continuously waiving our arms in the air to keep the lights on. Then the elevator opened and The Esparch's family piled out of the elevator. Pepe is in Rich's group at Samsung and they moved in next door about a month ago, after looking all over the city for an apartment big enough for two adults, three kids (under the age of 5) and one on the way. Georgina, his wife, is delightful and I usually only see her in the morning or afternoon herding the little ones to and from school.

They had just returned from picking Pepe up at the airport, as he had just flown in from Paris, and despite I'm sure wanting to spend time with each other, not the neighbors, they invited us in.....it proceeded to take three hours for our maintenance guy to come open our door for us (due in part to his being completely intoxicated, which in his defense, it was Saturday night) but we did have a very enjoyable time next door. We had real Spanish goodies including manchego cheese and cured meat -- "contraband" as Pepe called it, since he smuggled it in their cargo shipped from Spain. We drew the line at their offering to make us risotto. And I played with Pepe Jr. and Nicholas, helping them assemble some Lego trucks. I had forgotten how fun Lego's are.

It was a nice, unexpected evening. I highly recommend locking yourself out of your house if you want to get to know your neighbors as it's more informal and less awkward than planning a formal get-together....and we ended up being only an hour late for our friend's birthday dinner, completely made up for by some superb duets at karaoke later that night (we nailed Huey Lewis and Billy Joel). Oh, and we now know that our door has a fingerprint recognition pad that will really come in handy the next time this happens. RCP apparently didn't know about this high-tech feature before hand. Shocking, I know. Then again, we wouldn't have gotten to know the neighbors had our fingerprints let us in.

Meet the neighbors! This is Nicholas, 3 (right) and Pepe, 4 (left).

They have a sister who's 2 and another sibling who will arrive in February!

This Week's Dose of Holiday Cheer....

Circa 1989

....37 Days 'til Christmas

....29 Days 'til We Arrive in Texas for Christmas

This is my second favorite holiday commercial of all time.
Stay tuned next Friday, for my all-time favorite.

Christmas in November

RCP made it back yesterday safe and sound from his 10 day European trip.  I think you could also loosely refer to it as a vacation since he got to visit his ancestral homeland (he's half Swedish for those who didn't know) and then got to spend a weekend gallivanting around Amsterdam with our friend Marco. That being said he did say they had very good meetings regarding the current project (foreign investment in Korean real estate). His 10 day, 4 country trip did yield some very exciting goodies: Dutch cheese, summer sausage and licorice (the Dutch LOVE licorice) and for me, a gorgeous Swedish hat and mitten set. Maybe the hat and mittens actually came from Santa's gift shop. He was very close to Arctic Circle and Land of Reindeer. Hmmmm....

From RCP...maybe.
It amazingly matches my red coat,
which really makes me think Santa was the one who picked it out.

 RCP would not have remembered the color of my coat...and he's colorblind.
Santa knows all and can see the color red.

Lovikka Yarn

The name Lovikka orginates from a small village 100 kilometers north of the Arctic Circle.

More than a century ago, a Lapp woman invented a method of knitting the special Lovikka yarn into mittens that had extraordinary qualities. This brand follows the old Lapp traditions by using very soft and thick wool yarn to make mittens and hats that are thick, windproof and warm. 

The colorful decorations are the traditional Lapp colors.

Love the reindeer.

The Indians are Ready

My framed pictures were supposed to be ready today. On Monday, I took my handmade collage, along with some 5x7 prints of photographs from the Edward Curtis photography exhibit on the North American Indian  to my frame guy in Itaewon, Mr. Lee. The Indians were ready, the collage was not. I'm thrilled with how the photographs turned out and I plan on taking two more to have framed. Mr. Lee let me take home the two prints and pay for everything tomorrow. I'll let you know how the collage turns out.

The shop has a plethora of artwork for sale as well.

Mr. Lee.

I don't think he understood that I wanted to take a picture of him, not a picture of the picture.

I think they turned out really great and look like the real photographs from the exhibit.

The other two I'm going to have done include horses and teepees.

A Christmas Miracle

I guess RCP had an early word with Santa while up in Sweden

because after not being connected for two and a half months and left to my own

devices and a paper map whenever leaving the house, this little present arrived today.

I hear this little thing is life-changing, 

but at this moment I'm not really quite sure what to think of it.

All I'm really excited about right now is that it's white and matches my ipad.

A Birthday and a Bazaar

Yesterday was quite a busy day, probably my busiest in the last two and a half months. Let me give you the run down:

9:30 am - SIWA International and Diplomatic Bazaar
10:30 am - 12:00 pm - Check out the bazaar and partake in any shopping necessary to benefit charity
12:30 pm - 2:30 -  Surprise birthday party for Priscilla at Shing's apartment back in Hannam
7:00 pm - 11:00 pm - Girls night

This is A LOT of socializing and activity for one day, that is actually just as exhausting as working. Believe me.

SIWA

SIWA is the Seoul International Women's Association. It was created in 1962 as a group of women from different nationalities including Koreans in order to enhance the expatriate life in Korea as well as to support those in need in this country. Very rapidly this initial small group of women grew in popularity and over the years membership rose continuously to a peak of 1 000 women from 80 different countries. Different activities take place in order to serve the various interests of the members. The regular SIWA meeting is the monthly coffee morning where members get together to share friendship and enjoy presentations on different topics. The Newcomers' meetings allow new people to Korea to meet with long time residents and gain some knowledge about their new life and country. As a way to enhance the expatriate life in Korea SIWA also extends to its members the opportunity to experience new skills and activities realted to discovering Korea. The Enrichment classes offer a wide range of activities from handicrafts, to cooking to cultural sessions about our host country. The SIWA Tours & Events committee also helps its members discover Korea by organizing tours to museums, art galleries, markets, festivals and other places of interest in and out of Seoul.

The annual SIWA and Diplomatic Community Bazaar have been held by SIWA since 1978. These popular events have become recognized as one of the leading opportunities in Korea for the community to work together to support a wide range of South Korean Charities. The diplomatic and business communities as well as the Korean Government come together with SIWA to raise much needed money for these charities and over 50 Embassies, women's clubs, charity groups, and vendors participate in the bazaar, selling goods from around the world. 

Heather and I had a good time perusing the booths that offered everything from traditional Christmas crafts, to ethnic foods, to home decorative goods; things native to the country that you can't find here. As usual, I had no cash for a cash only bazaar, so I collected business cards instead in order to visit the actual shops the booths were representing. There was quite a scene around The Netherlands booth due to the selling of authentic Dutch goodies....along with one of my favorite cookies in the world "Stroopwafles". So I scrounged around my wallet for $5 was able to get a bag. It was ironic because RCP was just in Amsterdam, yet here I am in Korea buying them.

 Everyone loves the Dutch!

This is a Stroopwafel. 

They're have the thinnest, creamiest layer of caramel between the two waffles.

And these were real Dutch imports, from the supermarket chain

Albert Heijns that I've actually been too. Amazing to have them in Korea.

New Zealand wool ornaments!

This is a booth for the boys where expert negotiation skills are required.

The "Oriental Mood" booth was getting quite the action too with their ceramic candles.

Heather partook in the frenzy.

After the bazaar it was time to party....

Since Priscilla's fiance Ben was traveling this week, Shing planned  a surprise birthday party for her since Ben wasn't here to celebrate with her. Shing lovingly cooked everything and we brought the birthday banner. Priscilla was completely surprised and it was a great afternoon of champagne, finger foods, sushi and delicious cake.

Later that evening Heather came over with a homeade apple pie, I made chicken tortilla soup and we talked for four hours. It was a nice girls night....and she showed me how to used my Korean oven.

Heather and Sindu

Surprise! Happy Birthday Priscilla!

Capucine, Juliana and Irene

The Pixelation Creation

Approximately one month, 17 hours, three movies and 109 songs later we now have one piece of art for the apartment! White walls, beware! You are about to be decorated! I have finally finished  a giant collage made entirely of tiny 1 inch by .5 inch rectangles of magazine ad pages. Why I chose this rather small medium to work with, I'm not quite sure. Tiny pieces of paper and glue sticks can quickly become a very frustrating situation. I don't recommend it for those with little patience, which normally includes myself, but with the successful completion of this project perhaps I'm learning to tame the usual intolerance for time-consuming, monotonous work.

I don't think I've worked with such diligence on an art project since being in AP Art my senior year in high school when I usually waited until the night before something was due to start churning things out. I always used to say that my best ideas came at the last minute, late at night. I still believe that. This was also the first time since high school that I have had a dining room table to make a complete mess at...and a place to leave it for extended periods of time. However, I have to admit that the reason the project took so long to finish was a short stint of artist's block. So I just put the whole project under the bed for most of last month. Sometimes even good things need to marinate a little to become even better.

The piece is entitled "Pixelation". You don't have to like it. It kind of has an old video game vibe to it and it's very colorful....which isn't everyone's cup of tea. I have my own interpretation of what it means, but I'll let you come up with your own.  I was a marketing major and in retail, so I'm really good at creating a story out of nothing and selling things to people. You should create your own story behind the pixels. That's what art's all about anyway.

 

"Pixelation"

Detail Shots

 

A Work in Progress

w

Always work through dinner when you're on a roll.

Okay, it's Time....

Classic Yuletide circa 1994

Welcome back to my to my ipod Mariah, Michael Bolton, Chuck Berry, Rosemary Clooney, Bing Crosby and the Eagles! Oh, how I've missed you all and all of your carols!

....44 Days 'til Christmas.
....36 Days 'til we arrive in Texas for Christmas.

Yes, I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet...doesn't change the fact that it's still only 44 days away...and Mariah will be played everyday until then.

Ladies Who Lunch

Yesterday my friend Heather and I decided to have a very "grown-up" day:  Lunch and antiquing in Itaewon. My exact words were, "I think my Mom will be proud." Heather's from Connecticut and went to school in Vermont so she's experienced her fair share of antique shops in New England and I've got the famous Round Top Antique Weekend back home, so between the two of us we were well qualified to go antiquing.

Before heading for Thai food, we made a very exciting discovery: Framing here is very affordable!  As everyone knows, to get a picture professionally framed back home can cost a small fortune. Heather had a giant leaf (like think 8 maple leafs put together) that she wanted put between glass and framed, so we went to a frame shop in Itaewon and not only did they speak great English and sell already framed art, he only charged her $35....after having a nice chuckle because we walked in with a leaf literally picked up off the sidewalk. Oh those silly American's.

So after Thai food and some nice conversation we headed to the street of antiques and just like that we could have been in any small town in America, any old town in the English countryside, or any back alley in Paris. These were antiques for the expats. With names like "Brittanica", "Vivaldi", "The London House", "Maison", "Queen's Antiques", and my favorite "Francois Fred Antiques" they have certainly figured out the business of collecting and selling antiques as it's done in the Western Hemisphere. These were not shops of junk. Each shop's collection had been carefully curated and  purposefully (or purposely not) merchandised. A few were set up to resemble home decor shops, our favorite boasting a country french aesthetic complete with the scent of freesia and French melodies playing in the background. Other shops not only smelled like old houses, they simply found it best to pack as much as they could into the space, leaving it to the customer to uncover their own treasure. Some collecting trends I noticed were gorgeous copper tea kettles, quirky non-traditional seating like church pews and train station benches, and old bottles for medicine and milk; basically all the things Grandmother, Grandma and Mom have ever collected. There were lots of fun things in the mix too: beautiful old footballs, old metal soldier hats, old luggage, and old rocking horses; and I found too many secretary desks and wooden school desks to count that I could have easily bargained for. I really fell in love with an old copper fire extinguisher (just like Grandmother's), a giant rectangular metal sign for the sparkling beverage Perrier, multiple giant metal clocks worthy of an Anthropologie Home inventory, and all the bottles. I think I've picked up Mom's love for old bottles. But the real treasure? Two giant metal horse busts that were sitting atop a bar. If I leave Korea in two years with anything, it will be these two heads.

We could be on the Upper East Side of NYC right now.

The names were fantastic and fit the part.

 There was a "King's", "Queen's" and "Prince" Antiques.
Old things sound fancier when associated with royalty.

 Francois Fred, Korea....teehehe.

I don't know why I find old luggage so appealing and in some cases incredibly chic.

Can you imagine a stack of black rolling Samonsite's in 50 years?
I don't think so. (Gross.)

Love the bike.

This is where my copper fire extinguisher lives, along with many fantastic

old chairs.

This is Zest, the fabulous rustic yet modern, "Country French" themed shop.

Gulliver's...what a wonderful name.

This could totally be New England.

 So great. 

Hey Dad, you want me to pick this up for you so you can join the bike group?

I guess Barbie from my generation is now considered an antique. 

This place looks promising! Multiple stories of piles!

Yes, lot's of piles of really cool things.

Are we in the prop closet at Anthroplogie?

Is it weird that I really like the antique suede pommel horse in the background?

 Where did all these German tins and coffee grinders come from!?

We're in Korea!

This made me think of Grandmother.

I think she had a strainer like this...

that she probably re-purposed it into a light at some point.

She was so cool :)

Mom, hang on to your Hartmann.

TV's - They don't make 'em like they used to.

Prepping some pub chairs for a customer.

Such a cool bike.

"Antique Flee Market Purchases and Sales"

LOVE.

And there is my horse head.