yum. Moroccan!

A friend of friends just opened a Moroccan restaurant called Andalous in Itaewon a week ago. Jeff (a Moroccan) used to (or sometimes still does?) play on the Lokomotiv Goyang team, which I have been friends with (many of the players) for a few years. So last Friday I went with a group of them to check the place out. For those familiar with Itaewon, it is up the hill opposite the McDonalds (near Noksapyeong Station) where the New Delhi restaurant used to be. The food was excellent. The menu is small but very good and there is a buffet, as well. Most of us had the buffet dinner for 20,000won (sorry I was so hungry I didn't get a pic). A few others ordered separate dishes:chicken kebabslamb kebabs
etc. Everyone was very happy with their meal. I had never had couscous before. It's great! And the vegetables were soooooooo good. Large chunks of zucchini, carrot, and others. The baba ganoush and hummous were also wonderful.

2007 Seoul International Fireworks Festival and after activities

Saturday evening was a huge fireworks festival in Seoul. The fireworks display was put on by 3 different countries:19:30~19:45 Japan fireworks team's introduction and show19:55~20:10 U.S.A fireworks team's introduction and show20:20~20:45 Korea fireworks team's introduction and show
They had a stage set up (I think) on Youinaru Station, but we just watched from the north side of the river near Yongsan. We had a nice little spot in the grass and vegetation along side the walking path.
When the fireworks were over, we made our way to Itaewon. First stop was a little Mexican restaurant called Taco Amigo. My Chicken Burrito was very good. Everyone else seemed to enjoy their meals as well.Then we all went to the Bungalow, a cozy tropical lounge up behind the Hamilton Hotel.A tropical bar wouldn't be complete with nice white sand to tantalize your toes.They also have a room with swings, an outdoor spa to dangle your legs in in the warmer months, and a hammock.Tom tried a daquiri. A great summer drink, but not the best for a cold evening!Outside, when we left the Bungalow, Richard found a discarded ice sculpure and, of course, had to play with it.

La Tavola

La Tavola is an excellent Italian restaurant in Itaewon (123 33 Itaewon 1 Dongsan Gu Seoul, Korea). It is not cheap, but it is definitely worth it. The pizzas are all thin crust, made it a big wood fired brick oven and are served on wooden platters. I've been there 3 times now and loved it every time. Can't go too often, though, as it doesn't help the budget.Insalata Mista - Mixed Seasonal Salad and Fresh Tomato (8,000 Won): Not bad. The dressing and vegetables were slightly different each time.They have Canada Dry GingerAle, though a bit pricy. For some reason, it isn't very easy to find here. When ever I think of it, I am reminded of Egypt, though. When ever I told anyone in Egypt that I was Canadian, the first thing they said was "Canada Dry Never Die". Strange that in the entire 3 months that I spent there, I only saw it once, at one little hole in the wall convenience store.Pizza Vegetariana - green peppers, mushrooms, black olives, onions, fresh spinach, mozzarella, tomato sauce (18,000 Won): excellent.
I also love their Pizza Ai Funghi - button mushrooms, mozzarella, tomato sauce (16,000 Won)Mousse al Cioccolato e Cioccolato Bianco - Chocolate Mousse with White Chocolate: When it first came out, I was thinking "It is SO SMALL!!!" It is not cheap, but it is SO worth it. It is quite rich, so anything bigger would have been too much.
They have a very well layed out website, including the full menu, if you want to see more.

Korea misunderstanding Islam

I have friends here that are Muslim and they have mentioned that there was a huge protest outside the Seoul Central Mosque in Itaewon and that there was a bit of fighting and stone throwing going on. The Koreans were threatening the Muslims, blaming the recent kidnapping on them. Like the Muslims here had anything to do with it. Most Muslims everywhere have nothing to do with it. There is way too much generalization going on. First it was the Jews, then the Japanese, now the Muslims. Who is next? There have been police outside the mosque since the kidnapping. But here, it isn't really anything unusual, as the American army bases all have Korean soldiers posted outside and some embassies have police or soldiers posted outside the gates. They are everywhere - patrolling; standing guard.

Islam Misunderstood in Korea Due to Hostage Crisis
By Shamim Shahid; Special to The Korea Times
PESHAWAR, Pakistan _ The Korean Muslim Federation (KMF) has urged the Taliban to release the 19 Korean hostages immediately to prove that Islam is a religion of peace and brotherhood.
Suliman Lee Haeng, the Imam of the Seoul Central Mosque, made the remark here during his visit with three other members of the Korean Muslim Federation.
They were visiting in a bid to seek the release of the Korean nationals in the central Ghazni province.
Beside Suliman, the delegates included naib imam, Abdul Rahman Lee, a member Zaki Jeong, and a Pakistani businessman living in Korea, Zulfiqar Ali Khan. Suliman is the director of the KMF and imam of the Central Mosque in Seoul.
Suliman said that the holy month of Ramadan is approaching and for the sake of it the group requests the immediate release of the hostages from Taliban custody.
So far he said the incident has affected the Muslim community in Korea where citizens are growing increasingly suspicious of their activities.
Abdul Rahman Lee said that policemen have been posted at the Central Mosque in Seoul round the clock due to a minor incident involving someone hurling stones in the mosque.
He added that some people also using abusive language against the Muslims and although the number doing it are few in number, Muslims are still affected by it.
The delegation has also met the chief of Jamiat-e-Ulema-e-Islam and Maulana Samiul Haq, at his seminary in Akora Khattak.According to them, Maulana Samiul Haq has assured them of his all-out support for the safe release of the Korean prisoners. The delegation said they were advised while in Korea not to visit Peshawar due to security reasons, but they proceeded against such warnings in order to forward their request to the Taliban.
Suliman said that due to such incidents, Islam has been turning into a misunderstood religion in Korea and the rest of the world.The delegation will also meet other religious figures here.
There are about 35,000 Muslims in Korea and before this incident, "we had been preaching Islam in very effective manner," said Khan, a native of Peshawar who settled in Korea about 10 years ago.
While my family or other Muslims, especially non-Koreans, travel on public transport or roam around people look at us sarcastically and some of them even regard Muslims as killers,'' he added.
The 23 South Koreans including 16 women and seven men were kidnapped while riding a bus on July 19 on the Kabul-Kandahar highway. Two of the male hostages were killed and two females were set free. They are the largest group of foreigners to be taken hostage in Afghanistan since the 2001 U.S.-led invasion that drove the Taliban from power.
Making a desperate request to the Taliban, Suleman said that being representatives of the Muslim community in Korea. "We initiated this visit so as to plead the case of our people and request to our Taliban brothers that these hostages are innocent and they should be released for the sake of humanity."
Zaki also showed some pictures of the Central Mosque where police have been deployed and some busy roads of Seoul where banners were displayed requesting the Taliban to release the hostages.

Friday night dinner and drinks

Sergeja and I decided we would go out for dinner and drinks every Friday after work, trying out different restaurants every week. Yesterday we had Thai food again, but at a different restaurant. This time it was the Thai Boran restaurant in DongbuIchon-dong, near our work. It is a small restaurant on the 2nd floor of a building about half way down the main street. As we went right after work, we were there very early and there were no other customers. We ordered fairly quickly. We ordered spring rolls, green curry (gotta have it) with chicken and eggplant, and a dish of bok choy and mushrooms, which they unfortunately didn't have that day. We decided to get the sauteed beef salad instead (not quite knowing what to expect). [we had some before I was able to take the picture]
As I don't eat seafood, the choices are fairly limited. It was all very good, but a bit overpriced.

After dinner, we got on a bus and headed towards Itaewon. We got off about halfway to do a bit of walking. It was SO HOT out. We wanted to go to a place with a terrace or balcony so we went to Gecko's Garden and Terrace for some drinks. Mmmmmm. Strawberry daquiris.

[with flash][without flash]Then we decided to try out the Monkey Punch. SO GOOD! Banana, Baileys, in a frozen milky drink.Gecko's Garden and Terrace is a very nice place but is a bit overpriced. The food, especially.

more food... and a few drinks, of course

Last Friday after work, Sergeja and I decided to go out for dinner so we went to Itaewon. After wandering for a little while, we ended up going to Buddha's Belly, a little Thai restaurant. Yummy! I had been craving Thai food for a while. Actually, I often crave Thai food. We found out that we both have the same favorite - green curry. mmmmmm. So good. We ordered 3 things to share: spring rolls, green curry with chicken and egg noodles with vegetables.
hit the spot.

After filling ourselves, we decided it was time for a drink. We decided to check out the Baby Guinness, an Irish bar with a small but nice patio (above BricX for those of you that know the area). Sergeja's MargueritaStraberry Daquiri (soooooooo refreshing!)

After we finished a couple of drinks, we went down to BricX. Dark and cozy as usual. Very nice chocolate martinis! After that it was off to the Wolfhound for one last drink - a Junebug for Sergeja and for me a Black Russian, one of my favorite drinks. They made it wrong though and added mixer. :(

my birthday

I guess I could tell you that my birthday was also this month (June 8th). I hasn't really been a big deal these past few years. Being in Korea, especially with most of my friends in another city, all working different hours, makes it difficult to really do anything. And there are so many birthdays here in June. On my actual birthday, I rented a movie, came home and just relaxed. I did go out for a drink on Saturday with Revo to BricX in Itaewon. I love BricX. It has such a great atmosphere.Very cozy. We were going to get a sheesha but there was a 2 hour wait, they said.My gift - a beautiful gold necklace.

Saturday night

I've been in a bit of a slump lately and haven't really done anything other than sit around watching tv or sitting at my computer just looking around.
I did go out last night. My friend Jen (from Ireland) and I went to Itaewon. We started out with a Turkish kebab... sooooooooooo yummy. Next time I'll have to take a picture of the place. There are a couple of places to get them in Itaewon. One is right next to the Burger King, the other is on the street behind it. I prefer the one behind. Even if the kebabs weren't so good, many people would still go, as the man behind the counter is such a character. He never stops talking. So funny.
Then we went to the Wolfhound for some drinks. We sat at the bar as the place was packed, as usual. We were quite amused by one guy that started talking to us when he was at the bar to get some drinks. He started out by asking where we were from. I'm from Canada, Jen's from Ireland. He then went into a big long story about how his parents are from Ireland and he is Canadian. He then asked Jen how she's here. What?? What kind of question is that? She said she is here teaching English, as most of us are. He said, "Oh." And then he said he didn't know how Irish and English and such teach English as their accents are so strong that no one would understand them. What an idiot.
After the Wolfhound, we went to Brickx. I really like Brickx. Later on we went to Polly's. She had never been there and one of my Egyptian friends was there so we went. Jen got tired and decided to go to a sauna at around 3. I stayed to dance. I can dance all night. So much fun.

The Aussie Shop

Today I went to Itaewon to go to What The Book? to get some more reading material. On the way I bumped into Stacey on the subway. She, too, was heading for the little book store. After getting out books, we went to The Aussie Shop, a little Australian diner in Itaewon. Stacey had read about it on the Net and wanted to go. She is from New Zealand and said she missed the Australian mince meat pies.We both had meat pies and chips (French Fries). The food was great (Check out the menu if you are interested) and it was a beautiful sunny day today, so we sat outside on the small patio and enjoy the weather. There are only half a dozen tables at the place, a couple inside and a few outside. I will definitely go back there. And I will suggest it to my friends here. I have a few Australian friends that would probably love it.
We talked to the owner for a bit. He is Australian and owns the shop 100%. It is not easy for a foreigner to open a business here due to legal issues and such. Foreigners that open businesses here usually have a Korean wife or friend as a partner, to open the business. He has been having some problems, as trademarks and such are not really respected here, and some Korean guy decided that The Aussie Shop was a great business idea, and opened his own Ozzie Shop somewhere down the street, stealing every idea right down to the color schemes and the menu items. The only thing he couldn't copy (so far) is the Australian beer, as the supplier is somewhat of a friend of Tony's, and decided to be loyal to the original Aussie Shop.
The Aussie Shop in the news:

Down Under Fare in Seoul
By John RedmondContributing Writer
Starting up your own business is not an easy task. It takes money, a good business plan, an original concept and lots of hard work. And that’s in your own country. My two favorite quotes on this subject are, "Think," an IBM slogan, but more to my way of thinking is, "Imagine" the Apple slogan.
Foreigners setting up businesses in other countries are usually burdened with a few extra (usually more than less) legalities, and Korea is no exception. The usual way most foreigners set up a business in this country is to get a Korean silent partner or family member (wife or husband), to register the business under a Korean name, and take it from there.
Until recently there were very few 100 percent foreign-owned businesses in Korea in the food, catering and entertainment industries. The Aussie Shop in Itaewon is a 100 percent foreign-owned business under the management of Tony Le Rhodes, the one-time drummer of the iconic Australian rock band the Choirboys.
Essentially The Aussie Shop is a dine-in or take-away style delicatessen specializing in genuine home-cooked traditional Australian food. Not the kind of food you would find on the menu of that American "outback style" steakhouse chain. Here the order of the day is Fish and Chips, Hamburgers (Australian style with egg, beetroot and pineapple), home- made meat pies (beef, lamb and chicken), sausage rolls, potato scallops, steak sandwiches or vegemite sandwiches, followed by lamingtons and rum balls, all washed down with VB (Victoria Bitter) or XXXX (Queensland spelling for beer).
For the full menu check out the website listed below.
Tony honed his culinary skills in the afternoons after school. While most kids his age were watching TV or getting up to mischief, he was helping out in his father’s fish and chip shop. Later in the evenings the family would help prepare their unique "family recipe" beer batter and tartar sauce. That tradition has stayed in the family as Tony still uses the family recipe (30 years and still going) in the beer batter and tartar sauces. The meat pies and sausage rolls are baked daily. Even the beetroot is home grown. I personally can vouch for the fish and chips. For what it’s worth, you’d be hard pressed to find anything better here in Korea, even when paying the price of an arm or a leg (as I have done).
The Aussie Shop also captures a real essence of Australian culture without resorting to stereotyping. An interesting feature is some of the items for sale. There are music DVDs from the likes of INXS, popular TV DVDs of shows like The Comedy Company, and the New Zealand animation series Footrot Flats. They also offer host of popular Australian TV commercials including the "Export Cola" ad (featuring Skyhooks) a "Coke" ad (featuring the Australian band "Sherbet" performing "Summer Love") and the award-winning Toyota "Bugger" ad.
Wines for sale include a selection from such vineyards as Jacobs Creek and Yellow Tail. More are on the way.
Later this month The Aussie Shop will expand the "shop" aspect of the business by opening up a full-fledged cafe/bistro next door. Renovations are underway. This new area will seat about 40 people "We’ll have full sports coverage of all games, especially Aussie games most people here don’t screen," Tony told me. "It’s going to be awesome," he said. Details will be on the website soon.
The Aussie Shop is open from Tuesday through Sunday from 11:30 a.m. ‘till late (Friday and Saturday till 3:00 a.m.). To get there: Leave Itaewon subway station (line No.6) exit #1.
Walk down the main street until you get to a Pizza Hut on your right. Take the street that runs parallel to the main road but heads up a hill. The Aussie Shop is on the right at the top. For more information contact Tony at (02) 790-0793, or email tony@aussieshopkorea.com.
Website is www.aussieshopkorea.com

a little late... but...

Here are some videos and pictures from St. Patrick's Day (March 17th for those of you that don't know). I missed the parade but met up with my friends shortly after, where the post- parade festivities were going on (near HyeHwa station in Seoul).

Barry got run over by a little cartoon car!!!

Kieran dancing with the cartoon car (at this point, with Dairin inside).

Barry doing a 3D glasses obstacle course. The point is to follow the line without knocking over any bottles. Barry aced it. Others had a hard time.
We stuck around there for a while and then once we started to get hungry, we headed to the Wolfhound (an Irish bar) in Itaewon.

It was absolutely packed. We ended up standing at the top of the stairs as that was the only place left with any breathing room.Dairin and I.Some of the guys. The uniforms they have on are for their team - they are on the Lokomotiv Goyang football team. They were in the parade earlier in the day.
Later on, there was a rugby game on TV, so we went to Hollywoods to watch, as (I think) the only TV at the Wolfhound is small and downstairs. Hollywoods has a big screen set up for games and a couple of TVs.Dairin and some guy at Hollywoods... yes the beer is green.
More Videos.

waxing hurts!!

For some reason, though, I keep going back for more. Today was the second time I've gotten the 'Brazilian wax' done (everything). OUCH! Getting waxed here in Korea is an interesting experience. for the most part, Koreans don't do it, so there are only a few places that do it, mostly in more foreign friendly areas. I go to a salon and spa in Itaewon.
Back at home, it is usually done in a comfortable relaxing room and they give you time to prepare. Here, you go into the small room with the two girls (the first time I went there were three of them) that do the waxing, and they stand there waiting for you to take it all off and hop onto the bed/table. They both work at the same time, one on each side. I got my legs and underarms done, as well. Both put on wax and pul off the strips in their own time, so there is no chance to prepare for the expected pain of each strip. A lot of the time, they were talking to each other. I'm not sure what they were saying most of the time, but at one point they said something to do with my skin being like paper (maybe because I am pasty white). For the most part, I just kept my eyes closed and tried to think about other things. The light above was so bright, and paying attention to what was being done didn't help much.
It isn't cheap, either. I'm not sure what it costs back home in Canada, as I usually did it myself and then had my sister do it when she became an esthetician.

Saturday's entertainment

Saturday I went with a couple of friends to see the Vagina Monologues. They had a bilingual performance here in Seoul (some monologues done in English, some in Korean, with subtitles on a screen up above the stage). It was a small venue, packed full. The show was a lot longer than I had expected, but it was quite enjoyable. They were even selling vagina shaped cookies. I didn't manage to get one, though I had planned to, to give to a couple of friends. Oh well.
Then, after dinner at a little Italian restaurant in Itaewon, it was out for an evening of drinks and such... the usual.

Christmas Day

Christmas Day, Jason and I went to the Wolfhound, an Irish Pub (THE Irish Pub) in Itaewon. Irish Tom had organized the outing and had made reservations.

[this photo by Janine]

It was a buffet style Christmas dinner with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, beans, veggies, buns, shellfish (yuck), and raw fish (also yuck), among other things. There was a group of 12 of us there. Kieran and Dairin et al went to the Hilton Hotel for their Christmas dinner. It was twice the price and they got only a small bit of turkey. Anyway... The dinner started around 4:30 or so and ended fairly early (7ish). The group slowly shrank as everyone went their own way for the rest of the evening (some home, some elsewhere). Jason and I stayed for more drinks. A few of the people we met the previous night at Kieran and Dairin's were there, as well (all Irish, I think).

some of the groupKing Yiannis Tom and DavidKing JasonKing Richard's Christmas cigarmost of the group [this photo by Janine]