bathroom warning

Says the toilet: A sign in a bar bathroom in Itaewon. There are often interesting signs like this.

Shoe Per Diem

I post almost daily on another blog called Shoe Per Diem. It is what the name suggests. Pictures of feet/shoes to do with things done that day - places, things, food, what ever. There are 10 of us in 6 countries posting almost daily. Check it out. ^.~

salad

Yesterday since I only taught for an hour (but had to be at work the full day), I went out for a nice lunch. I tried to go to Le Alaska, a little bakery cafe right beside where I used to live, but it was out of the panini bread so couldn't make the sandwich I wanted. I'll have to go back next time another time as I really want to try their sandwiches!!! Instead, I went to the Paris Croissant Kitchen. The menu there isn't great (for me) because almost everything had fish or seafood in it.The few things that weren't fishy, though, sounded great. I got the beef and mushroom salad.It was fantastic!

Mmmmm Cinnamon Latte

Last year I bought myself a Mukka Express.It is a stove top latte maker made by Bialetti, an Italian company. It is fantastic. Water goes in the bottom, coffee grind in the middle, and milk in the top. It takes less than 5 minutes to get a 2 shot latte. The company has many different kinds of stove top espresso pots (2, 4, 6, etc shot pots) but this is the only one that does the latte (only one that you can put milk in). A couple of the higher end department stores here have them and Starbucks has one kind of pot - a 6 shot pot, which is too big for my liking. Right now I'd have no use for 6 shots of espresso. You can't adjust how much it makes. Too bad because it's cheaper than in the department store.After I got back from a long walk with Hopie, my friend's dog that I'm taking care of (check links to see pics and a video of Hopie if you like), I made myself a nice cinnamon latte (in one of my Starbucks mugs). One of the things I got for Christmas was a cinnamon sugar grinder (like a pepper grinder only with cinnamon sugar in it). I love it!! It's great for so many things. For my latte, I put some in the bottom of the cup before pouring and then some sprinkled on top.Yum!!!

snow and a dog

Weather here in Seoul is strange. A couple of weeks ago we had such nice warm weather that made everyone think spring was on its way. That was followed by a not so nice very cold period that made us realize that the warmth was just a teaser. The past few days weren't too bad except they were a little chilly. Then yesterday it was cold and rainy. When I got on the subway to head home it was raining. When I got out, though, it was snowing. A lot. What?? This is my view out my little balcony window last night.

[with the flash][special night setting][with the flash][without the flash]

It snowed all night. Ugh.
[Seoul Tower in the distance, on Namsan][My home is sort of on the lower side of the mountain.]

Walking a dog on the hill in the snow can be dangerous. Several times he almost took me down. He was going nuts acting as if he had never seen snow before. Woo. White stuff. How exciting!! He was going in circles trying to scoop up snow as he went. He looked kind of funny, actually, wandering along with his jaw in the snow. Made me think of a snow plow. Hopi is a friend's dog. He (the dog) is staying with me for the month while his owner finds a new apartment. Hopi is a tiger skin/brindle (Hopi or Hogu) Jindo. The Jindo (진돗개) is a Korean hunting dog breed that originally came from Jindo Island. They are known for being brave and loyal. They are Korea's National Treasure #53.

The snow certainly does make everything look pretty.

nesting tea cups!!!

I LOVE these!! They are so fun! 8 ounce nesting tea cups from Starbucks.

Les Baux again. :)

On Friday Danielle and I had lunch at Les Baux again. I love that place! She had her spicy Arrabiata pasta that she had the previous time. I decided to try another dish. I had the Pomodoro Mozzarella pasta. Soooooo delicious!! The pickles.We both decided to try the rouge lemonade (red wine lemon ade).
I love the ades there as they are always freshly made.

gifts

I got a couple of gifts this week, both from the same student!Yesterday I got a nice gift for the Lunar New Year or 설날 (it is Romanized as Seollal, but the Korean is actually written as Seolnal), one of the most important holidays in Korea.The paper Hanbok (Korean dress) is a card from Kerry. A letter from the mom is in the envelope. The purple ribbon gift contained a business card holder. The red bag wrap had a fancy cloth bag and a note book. I guess Kerry picked out a book for me that had a butterfly because she likes butterflies.Then today, it was Kerry's birthday party at school (and her sisters, but I don't teach her) and the gifts she brought for her classmates and teachers (goodie bag type gifts) was fancy soap. The students all got one bar. The main teachers each got two. They smell so nice!!!
One thing I find interesting in Korea is how everything is always wrapped. Even simple things are often wrapped very extravagantly.

weather

The weather here is nuts. Yesterday it was pouring rain. Then I woke up today to snow which turned to sleet which turned back into snow. Sometimes today there were huge snowflakes. Other times it stopped. I'd prefer if it just all went away and let the sun do its job. ^.~The lovely view (would be better without all of the cables and wires) of Namsan Tower as I walked up Haebangchon on my way home.

Earthquake!!

So, apparently there was an earthquake in Seoul here this evening. Why didn't I notice??? It happened around 6, so maybe I was in the taxi or in an elevator at the time. I've read it measured 3.3 and was centered just southwest of Seoul in Siheung, Gyeonggi province. I onlyr recently read in this not so old article that Seoul is SO not prepared for any major earthquakes. Luckily this one wasn't major.