Ah, here we are again.  After Christmas I went to Japan for New Year's.  I had lots of fun and took about 400 pictures and some videos as well. Don't expect to see them all - most will probably die a quiet death.  Perhaps I will get around to slogging through them at some point, though with my past record... yeah.  We'll see.  I'm going to try to be more productive this year. Try being the key word there.  Anyway.

Things I missed about Japan. 

--Actual houses. 
--Being able to talk to people. 

--Rayuu and shichimi - the things that make Japanese food spicy.

Rayuu and shichimi

Afternoon Tea!

--Coco Ichibanya Chicken Katsu/Cheese Curry.
--ramen!!
--Caffe Veloce Iced Cocoa.

Yeah, food is clearly associative for me.

Before Christmas, I decorated my apartment.  And then, when I went to Japan, I got some other thingys.  So now my place looks thoroughly lived in, cute, and boasts a random collection of art, Christmas cards, and small figurines. 

First up, my puzzles. Which, I might add, were a pain in the butt.  Had to get mr. lee to come drill holes in my cinderblock walls. Hope they aren't going to charge me for that when i leave...

The first one, Starry Night, a classic.  The second one is Art Nouveu, by Alphonse Maria Mucha.  I love his art.  I would like to find more of them in the future.  He really likes painting women, and series. For some reason his works remind me of neechan.  Probably cause she likes Art Nouveau as well.

Anyone who has ever visited a room I have lived in for a significant period of time has probably noticed that I like small figurines, usually animals.  Especially cats.  I kind of collect things like that.  When I was in Japan I discovered hashi-oki (chopstick rests) are great for that sort of thing. They are invariably small and usually cute.  I had two already, a tiger and a dragon from a series on the Juunishi (Zodiac Animals).  This time while I was in Kyoto, I picked up a few more.

Tigers and Dragons

Off to the left are the ones I had before, and then from the left - chirimen dragon and tiger, a normal dragon and tiger, but bigger and more cartoonish than my others, and lastly, a pair in Heian-period robes.  I like the chirimen ones the best, but chirimen things are just so adorable - I found out while I was there this time that it's a mostly Kyoto thing, and it's made by twisting the silk thread while weaving. 

Found these in Kiyomizudera at a handmade family-run shop and thought they were adorable. No dragons, unfortunately.  They did have lots of cows though, since that's this year.  Next year is my year!!  I hope I will get to visit Japan at some point during the year of the Tiger.  These two are very different styles, but both cute.

Kiyomizu Tigers

Last but not least - on New Year's Eve day I rode a bike down the Philosopher's Path in Kyoto and found these watercolors.   I thought they were beautiful, and so I picked out the ones I liked best.  There's some of my other stuff visible on the ledge, including my Hina Matsuri figures that Gizmo loves to play with when I'm at work.

Watercolor Postcards

And one last one, entirely out of order.  My museum postcards and Christmas cards.

Art and Xmas Cards

Okay, now that's it's almost 3 AM and I have just paid $1,000 worth of bills (most of them student loans), I'm going to bed. I feel rather accomplished.  Tomorrow... other stuff.

It's not fair that three such beautiful people should be fiction.  granted, the actors who play them are real, but it's the characters I really love.

I spent the afternoon finishing Season Three, and I really loved it, even though I'm still a Rose/Ten shipper.  But who needed that?  There was enough slash to drown in, what with the Master and dungeon-surviving!Jack and last but not least, "Regenerate!"/angst!Doctor.  Martha was nice too, though I think it would be cool if she hooks up with Dr. Milligan later.  I thought the comment the conversation about the TARDIS key perception field was funny - "Like someone you fancy who doesn't even know you exist!" and Jack's comment, "You too?"  Although, to be fair, it's been mentioned enough times as a joke that it's very clear the Doctor does know.  And Martha's been building her house of cards since the first episode and the genetic transfer, so even though I think she's awesome in her own right, I still don't get the Doctor/Martha shippers.  It's just not there, at least for me. 

Ahh. And now that I have finished that, I will let myself dl the next episode of Psych.  God knows I have so many shows that people have recommended that I will never finish all of them.  Even though it's sad, it's kinda a good thing that Torchwood and Who are taking a break, cause it gives me time to catch up.  I go through spells of TV watching, so it takes me a while. 

Also today I finished my second puzzle!! This one took me the same amount of time as Starry Night, despite that it was 500 pieces, not 300.  But I think it was a bit easier, even though I loved it and had lots of fun.  I'll post of pic of it later. 

While looking for pics of the puzzle on the internet, I discovered the Art Renewal Center.  They seem a bit forceful in their views, but the important thing is that they have high-res  images of lots of pre-Modernism paintings.  And since I love pr-Modernist art, I really loved browsing through their stuff.  I found some awesome stuff, and a new artist to love. 

John William Godward - Dolce far niente

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Heart Of The Andes by Frederic Edwin Church

I'm off to the store for food and then to cook dinner, listen to an audiobook version of Twilight, and knit Tim's scarf.  Fun times. 

Well, after I put together my Starry Night puzzle.  It took me about 5 hours, for 300 pieces.  But then, it's a hard painting to put together. Still, I feel like it shouldn't have taken me that long, though I haven't done a puzzle in forever.  I was going to get a frame for it, still might.  Strangely enough, it actually came with glue to hold it together once it was finished.  I though that was pretty cool.  I have one other one still that I bought when I went to COEX, but there are a few more there that I was looking at that I liked - three of them were from Night of the Milky Way Railway, which I thought was pretty fricking awesome. 

Then I ate the rest of my burrito and watched Human Nature/Family of Blood.  I really liked that episode.  For one thing, Thomas Sangster is so adorable.  (He was the kid in Love Actually, Sam, whose mom died.)  And he's only two years older than my sister, which makes me feel kinda weird, but oh well. I'm sure everyone has their child molestation urges every now and then.  Though he is 18.... as of May. 

I was annoyed with the Doctor for the way he treated Joan, but she was a bit snitty at the end too, though I can sympathize.  I mean, he has Martha - and he'd just heard her say she loved him! And then goes to ask Joan if she wants to come along. -sigh-  Watching this made me realize how amazing David Tennant is, how much I am going to miss him, and think that perhaps I should watch his new show.  Looking it up on Imdb, it doesn't look too amazing, but still... But then, I have a ton of other things to watch.  Psych, Torchwood (when it omg FINALLY AIRS), etc.  Legend of the Seeker, the Sword of Truth miniseries is finally out, and while I kind of cringe, I also want to see it.  And people keep talking about Merlin. 

Ack. Just got lost on IMDB for 30 minutes reading randomness.  Interestingly, they are remaking one of my fave shows from when I was younger, Cupid.  No Jeremy Piven, but alas.  Although, Fantasy Island wasn't as good as I remembered it being when I rewatched it, but it was still pretty damn sweet.  I never did review it, though I meant to.  Oh well. So much to do, so little time.  Did I mention I was thinking of taking up watercolors again?

And lastly, cause I need to go to bed - I saw this and it made me laugh.  Look at it, really. 

'Torchwood' Writing Provides Absolute Confidence

It all changes in 2009 and fans of "Torchwood" have got to be ready.

One thing that won’t change, though, is the high standards and quality of writing the series has displayed from the first season.

I choked when I read that second sentence.... -laughs-

Korean word of the day from Daisy teacher:

grandfather = haramboji

(In case you're wondering, grandmother = halmoni)

I'm very happy with the way today went, not the least of which is my being able to type this while sitting in my comfy bed. 

I woke up this morning and could barely breathe, so I knew the weather was kinda crappy.  Also because the sun hadn't woken me up -when I looked outside, sure enough it was hazy as all get out and the sun was just a glowy-looking circle up above. 

I was actually early getting to Jamsil, and then Sohee got there - Cait and her friend were running a lil bit late, so we waited on them... Unfortunately, when we actually got down to the rink they told us that it was going to be closed in a few mins for a half-hour break, so we went up to Pizza Hut to grab some lunch.  Afterwards we came back down and skated for an hour until a show forced us off the rink.  I only fell once, when I was trying to turn like Jen showed me and there was someone in front of me.  I tried to avoid hitting them and landed on my left side.  It wasn't that bad, just I was a bit wet because of it.  I want to go there more often and practice if I can... I would like to be good at ice skating. 

Ooh! Cait taught me a new word. I have heard it used mostly in the context of drinking, but here.

Mul = Water

Then I met Tim and his friend at COEX, this huge underground mall that was completely awesome.  I bought a nice pair of jeans and a cute lil fleece vest (such a hot salesguy. and he told me I was cute!) on sale.  They're guys, but they fit me not too badly, tho i think i might see if i can do something to me them less loose in my hips.  We wandered around for a bit more - there's a huge bookstore there with lots of English stuff.  I was annoyed at the obviously used books they were attempting to sell for full price, but what the hey. can't do much about that.

I found something that looked really interesting called The Black Hole War.  And I also considered getting Foucalt's Pendulum, but Tim wanted to leave, and I have a ton of books to read already.  I haven't touched anymore of The Fountainhead, but I will get around to it eventually.

After a while the other two got tired, so they left, but I wanted to poke around some more.  They have an entire shop full of puzzles, right behind the aquarium.  They also have a kimchi museum, but by all accounts it's not very interesting.  I found a Nintendo store, quite by accident, and got one of those USB connector thingys for cheap. Now I just need to get Matthew to tell me how to set it up so that I can get my friend code for Pokemon.  I attempted it tonight, and managed to connect, but it keeps telling me I haven't yet.  I might try it with my Animal Crossing, which isn't in Japanese, and might be easier to navigate. I also picked up a longer ethernet cable, hence my happiness at typing from my bed as opposed to having to sit in my chair and slump over. 

In addition, I got a puzzle from that shop - it's that artist that neechan likes, alphonse maria marche, who does the women in art nouveau style.  This one is four women representing times of the day.  They have some other beautiful ones - this artist called Kagaya has some fantasy stuff.  She does a zodiac series, and while I'm not particularly in love with the Leo, some of the other ones are beautiful.  There was also - and this surprised the hell out of me - a series of three puzzles entitled "Railway in the Stars," or something like that. ZOMG!! Miyazawa!!  They were pretty, and I might go back and  get them some other time. 

While I was walking back through one of the places after getting a thing for my mom, I saw a floor cleaner with the name "Tennant" on the front of it, and I laughed.  Also noteworthy, though I didn't get a pic of it, was a store that advertised clothes made by Jesus.  And lastly, some pics from the subway station that I found amusing -

They are adverts for a Chinese beer called Tsingtao.  So of course they use pandas to advertise it.  Pandas drink lots of beer, you know.

I didn’t exactly plan on all this stuff happening today but since it did and I needed to blog anyway, might as well write it all down.

I just finished eating my quiznos sandwich @ Jamsil and since my feet are protesting doing much else for the time being, might as well write, although eventually I should get home cause gizmo’s probably freaking out cause I’m not home yet.

I posted on the SnB list asking about knitting looms, and someone has some that they were not just getting rid of, so I went to get them after work.  She lives in a traditional part of Seoul, right down the street from the largest medicine market in the country, which means it’s probably the largest in Korea.  Than sounded kinda interesting so I walked that way, past lots of street vendors selling fruit, but I realized I was on the wrong side of the street.  I crossed and walked down and there were lots of medicine shops, by which I mean, lots of shops with huge barrels of powders, stacks and bundles of woods and flowers and seeds and other miscellaneous plant-y goodness.  I recognized some things – flowers, rose wood, ginger.  It all smelled very good, though I have no idea how it’s used.  It was around 630, and people were starting to close up because it was dark.

I was a little late getting off cause I was talking to Douglas and then Joseph decided to call me Siobhain-poop-teacher, so I had to set him straight.  As Douglas said, nothing like bullying a 5-year-old.

At this point I’m going to interrupt myself to note that Chumbawumba’s “Tubthumping” is playing here in Quiznos.  Also that the sign in front of me is advertising a flatbread sandwich that’s “served with lanch dressing.”

Anyway – I reached the end of the medicine stores and the market kept going – lots of produce stalls and some butchers.  Once again, I was on the wrong side.  When I got over there I turned down a side alley and then had to take another one to get back to the main route.  All the stalls in this part were closed, and there were only some ajuma peeling veggies.  One of them said something that sounded rather annoyed at me, but I just glanced at her and kept on my merry way. 

I got more stares than usual as I walked past – even though Songpa is a quiet place, it was built for the Olympics, and they ae mostly used to foreigners here.  I get the occasional kid whispering to her mom about the weigukin (foreigner) and sometimes people say hello to me in the street (both of which happened to me today).  But rarely do I get blatant double-takes.  It must be what I’m wearing.  I have on my brown boots, which make me about 2 inches taller – I realized while on the subway that I was taller than pretty much everyone.  And with that is my brown fuzzy sweater and my long skirt with the orange flowers.  Maybe it’s the skirt.  As much as Koreans tend to not wear long skirts like mine, I always get comments about them.  SohJin and a bunch of the kids commented on it today.  But other than that I had at least 4 people call me pretty today, that I heard.

The first was a group of vendors who stopped me as I walked past.  They offered me a drink, some kind of milky rice alcohol, and when I told them I couldn’t drink it the game me some dried squid and anchovies instead.  They were very friendly, and I guess surprised to see me. 

I kept going and when I came out, I saw what I was looking for – pomegranates!  A few places had them and they seem to go far $3.  Altho when I got here I saw them for 2380 won a piece, and also that I was pronouncing them wrong, which would explain why people didn’t know what I was asking for. 

I kept walking past another vendor who called me pretty and a drunk salaryman who tapped me on the shoulder and said, “Hello I love you” as he staggered by with his cohorts.  Eventually, I got to the next station, which connects to my subway line.

Another Q-music update – A remix of “Get Down On It.”

In the train station was another unexpected thing – a woman selling baked goods.  And she had chocolate chip cookies!  I’d been craving those – I keep not buying them at the grocery store.  Of course, they aren’t as good as the ones Bethany and Fareen and I make, but they’re still yummy. 

I got on the train, but had to transfer at a place I’d never been before, and I wanted to make sure I didn’t get on the wrong train.  So I stopped to look for a sign, and an ajushi asked me where I was going.  When I told him, he said he was going to the same train.  He was very nice and repeatedly told me I was beautiful.  I still find such things creepy, esp. when, say, my principal does it, but I just smile and say thank you. 

Q-music update – Ace of Base, “The Sign”

He asked me if I was a student, and when I told him I was a teacher, he told me a joke.  Apparently the English teachers are called ET.  Yes, like extra-terrestrial.  I guess it makes sense – we are technically aliens.  We talked about Japanese literature until he got off.  When I got here I decided to come to Quiznos for dinner and it took me a few minutes to decipher which exit to take, but I figured it out and ended up near the bookstore, which was having a sale on puzzles.  I got one of Starry Night.  Hopefully it will be good – I haven’t done a puzzle in a long time. I missed them.

Today was such an acquisitionary day, and I met lots of people.  Dried fish, pomegranates, knitting looms, cookies, puzzle… I need to go home and do my nails and some emails.