Seoul Metro

Korea's city, Seoul, is a big one! I can't imagine travelling in the city without it's Metro system. The Seoul Metro system has 9 lines, as of now, and more will be added soon. If you are ever in Seoul you can be confident that you will not get lost in the subway system.

It is very EASY to learn how to ride it!

Here are some guidelines from my own experience:

How to ride the subway

(Bear in mind that this is only for routes inside Seoul city. If you want to go outside Seoul you will need to take another kind of transportation, like the bus)

1. First of all you will need a map of the subway system. Don't be scared of the spider web! With your map find out where you are and where you want to go. Let's say you are in Ewha Womans University (이대) and you want to go to Gangnam(강남). Find both places in the map. In this case both are in the green line or Line 2. Now you know which Line you need to ride, and in this case no need to transfer between lines!



2. Next, you need to pay ofcourse :) You have many options to pay for your ride. There are transportation cards such as U-pass, T-Money which you can charge with money at the subway station in ATM-like machines. These machines explain the procedures in both English and Korean. Other cards are reusable which you can return after you arrive and they refund you 500 won included in the price of the ticket.


3. With your card go to the corresponding turnstile in the direction you are headed. Follow the signs and you'll soon be on the platform waiting for your train! ^^

In case you got lost, don't worry! there are many workers who can direct you on the right way. They are very helpful and kind with foreigners :)

There are other features of the Seoul Metro. It's very clean, even though there are millions of people riding it each day. Everything is well-lit and signs in different languages: Korean, English, Chinese.

Here is a short video of the subway station Line 2. Enjoy the ride !!

Korean Fan Dance (Buchaechum - 부채춤 -)

As part of my experience studying in Korea I have had the opportunity to learn its culture. I have had the opportunity to learn the famous Buchaechum dance (부채춤) (the Korean fan dance. This traditional dance is characterized to use quite big and colorful fans made of paper. The costume for the dance is the Hanbok, the traditional dress that covers all the body, the music is Korean traditional music.

The dance consists of several dancers (women) that move simultaneously moving the fans which they hold one in each hand and form altogether different figures. These figures are, for example, flowers, butterflies, mountains, even the waves of the sea. This dance requires much coordination from the dancers in the movements of the fans so that the figures can be appreciated.


Take a look at this video and I hope you enjoy the dance, it requires a lot of coordination!!



Here is another video:



I love the way the dancers move in this video:




I hope you enjoyed it!

That's all for now ^^

Hangeul (한글)

I think that the language is one of the basic components of a culture. That's why I think that I need to talk a bit about Korea's languange: Hangeul.

Hangeul (한글) is the name of the Korean alphabet. It was created by King Sejong in the 15 th century.


This is King Sejong....




The Korean alphabet is made of symbols which represent heaven, earth and the human figure (ㅇ,ㅡ, ㅣ). Hangeul is written horizontally from left to right, and vertically from top to bottom. The alphabet has 14 consonants and 10 vowels. Here's a chart showing all the characters of the alphabet:

If you are wondering how to read in Korean and how Korean language sounds watch this video:

I hope you can learn a bit of Korean ^^

아녕하새요!

Korean food : 김밥 (kimbab)

Korean food is very rich and a little strange for me, and I must confess that when I first arrived here I could not digest it or tolerate its spicy taste. But now my taste has changed! ^^

On this occasion I want to introduce you to the Kimbap (김밥).

Ta-ta-taaaan (drum-rolls):

Kimbap translated to English means "dried seaweed roll". It's a roll made of sea weed, which makes the cover as shown in the photo. The roll is made of rice which is stuffed with several ingredients. In this case this roll is made of tuna fish. But you can find them in different flavors, beef, chicken, and the ever-present kimchi (김지). Other ingredients are radish, cucumber, carrot and egg, among others. The kimbap is a very cheap option for lunch and very filling!!!

If you've never had a Kimbap before maybe you can try and make one yourself:

If you make one, let me know how you like it! ^^

2010

Happy New Year!!!!

For Koreans 2010 is the year of the White Tiger




Yayyy !!

A new year is always good, it's a new beginning, at least I think so. This year is also special for Korea as it marks the start of the "Visit Korea years 2010-2012". This campaign aims at attracting millions of tourists to the country. I think that for the people that don't know much about Korea is a good opportunity to save some $$$ and come here. You see, Korea is full of interesting things to see and do, it will surprise you, hopefully. This is one of the promoting videos for the campaing:




There are many events scheduled during this period, for example, the "World Design Capital Seoul", the 2012 Yeosu World Expo, a hallyu (Korean wave) festival, World Cultural Festival, among other things.
If you want to learnm more about this campaign log on to http://www.korea.net/ they provide lots of information on many events going on during this winter.

Today stats:





Today we had lots of snowwwww, I can't show you any pictures cause ... sadly my camera is broken *sniff* :( but I'll get a new one soon!!!

UPDATE: Today was the biggest snowfall in 70 years in Seoul!! We had more than 11 inches of snow, read more about it here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/as_asia_storms


Stay warm ^^