The weekend started out really well. Friday was nice and quiet and relaxing. I don't remember what I did, save going to the gym, so I'll take that as a plus. I probably watched Dollhouse, ate a bagel, and went to sleep early-ish. Sometimes a lazy night is needed.
The weekend started out really well. Cait and I woke up a little early on Saturday to head out and visit the Foreign Vegetarian Club in Seoul. They were in Dongmyo at Himalaya (an Indian and, well, Himalayan? restaurant). I got to try Naan for the first time and had some delicious vegetarian curry! It was totally yummy. The people were a little cold feeling at first, but I think maybe that was because we were late and interrupted their group. It's just impossible to get somewhere on time in Seoul for us! Relying on public transportation is difficult sometimes.
After lunch I wanted to check out the Seoul Museum of Art. They are hosting the Andy Warhol exhibit right now, and though I have very little interest in Warhol, it seemed like an interesting thing to check out. (It's going on until April, FYI.) I knew the museum would probably be a little crowded because it was the weekend, but I wasn't expecting it to be THAT crowded. Dang! I've heard from some people here that Koreans tend to view museums as a totally cultural experience. They stand in line, see the art, and then move on. They don't think too much about the art, just the fact that they saw it.
I didn't see too much of that though, or at least it didn't seem like it. There was a line outside of the museum (in the cold) that took about 30 minutes to get through, and that was just for the tickets! The line to see the exhibit was probably another 15 or 20 minutes.
Then it was Warhol time! I was a little sad they didn't have an audio guide in English, but I wouldn't really expect them to. His work is pretty interesting and I'm glad I got to see a different side of it. The exhibit had almost 400 pieces in it so I definitely got to see a wide range of his work. Turns out it's not all Campbell's Soup and Marilyn Monroe.
He even had a few piece I would have loved to steal and take home.
I thought that the ticket I purchased was for the entire museum, not just the Warhol exhibit, but except for a small gallery of sculptures and media art there was nothing in the museum to see! I was a little confused. I'll have to go back another time and try to find the rest of the pieces!
The sculptures were pretty damn cool though. There was one that was a room with a strobe light and white walls that you walked into, sans shoes of course. There was a taped recording of somebody breathing heavily and the lights made the floors vibrate. It was super creepy.
I left the museum and had nothing to do so I walked to the nearest palace and wasted some time. This is one of the great things about Korea. If you're bored you can usually find a palace or temple or something to wander around at and kill time. The palace was great, even though it was a little late and so a little deserted --or maybe that's why I liked it. Almost as soon as the lights started to come on outside though there was this terrible noise. It sounded like we were under attack! I thought for sure the North had finally invaded. I kind of freaked myself out, not a hard thing to do, really, and left. As soon as I left the palace I saw what was making all the noise.
A K-pop band.
Damn.
I always love the city backdrop (beige as it is) against the ancient palaces.
These statues were so weird! There was nothing wrong with my camera, they were just made this way. It looks like they're being squished!
I headed out to Itaewon to try and find this restaurant that supposedly has a pretty good veggie burger, but I never found it. This could have been because of my directions.
In Itaewon across from Hamilton Hotel down ally on right.
That is like the least helpful thing I've ever read. I walked around and around for about 20 minutes before giving up and going home. I still don't really love Itaewon. I don't care what kind of foreigner friendly shit there is there (Foreign Food Market. . . What the Book. . . etc.) I feel uncomfortable when I'm there. I headed home and proceeded to have another eventless night. Again, it was nice. Not so nice was worry about my friend who was in an accident back home. He's ok, but damn! I hate when stuff happens back home that I can't help out with in any way. I feel so helpless!
Sunday we woke up early again and went to meet our head-teacher for lunch at Loving Hut in Achasan. She is a 'sometimes' vegetarian so we were happy to show here that there are totally vegan places to eat at in Seoul. Loving Hut really is quite a find. It's nice not having to worry about what's on your plate as everything is totally vegan!
After lunch I hightailed it across Seoul to Hongdae for my book club meeting. We read this book. It was actually pretty good, much better than last month's pick, so I was looking forward to talking about it. Unfortunately, even though somehow my magical inner Hongdae-compass got me to the coffee shop on time, I couldn't find the group! I looked around the coffee shop for like 5 minutes before deciding that somehow I had arrived early. (The coffee shop is actually really big.) I waited for about 15 minutes and then started to look again. I found them in a corner waaaay hidden from sight. Fuck. Another girl and I went to sit with them and they told us they had already talked about the book.
Fuck.
I don't know if I'll be going back. I don't know if it was my utter annoyance with them for not waiting the obligatory 15 minutes to start the meeting, or the fact that I called trying to find out where they were, but no one answered (she didn't check her phone until we were all getting ready to leave--profuse apologies ensued--even though she assured us we could call her for directions (thanks), but I don't know if I'll go again. Maybe I'll read the next book and then see. If it's really good. . . maybe I'll go.
After the meeting, which honestly wasn't bad at all once everyone was settled, I went to Kyobo hoping to buy the new book. They were sold out, but I did find Chuck Klosterman's new book! Win! Even though I didn't really like his last one. . . I always give him a chance. This time I'm giving him a 33,000 won chance. . .
Um, that was about it. I came home and met with a Korean friend. And by Korean friend I mean a girl I met that wants to hang out for the sole purpose of furthering her English skills (I'm pretty sure). She's super sweet, but sometimes I would like a Korean friend who doesn't just want to practice their English!
Haha I'm kind of sorry for the play-by-play of my weekend. I'm kind of proud of myself for finally getting the fuck out of Hoppyeong! I also didn't drink a single drink. I think this is some kind of crazy, and it will be remedied next weekend, because I'm hosting a Lost party.
Fuck yes. A Lost party.
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