Put to the test

DC: My Korean vocabulary is pathetic and only this week in class have we begun to conjugate our first verbs: go, eat, drink and sleep. Exactly like first-graders. So I am in no position to mock the translation ability of the South Korean driving licence agency. However, I did expend good money (the equivalent of around 10 quid, or $15) and shoe leather to traipse a little under five miles to take the Korean driving test in bucolic Mun Mak this week, and therefore feel entitled to leak question three of the Simplified Test for Foreigners, a multiple-choice exam.
Which of the following is the absurd remark to the action taken most rapidly when the car was lost/stolen?

Cafe society

Bach ... Rimbaud ... Covent Garden.

We are not in New York anymore

Click on photos to enlarge.

LO: We have continued exploring both the city and its surroundings. In the last two days we have discovered a whole new neighborhood of Wonju and climbed a mountain! Okay, we almost climbed a mountain.
The new area is actually right behind our apartment complex. The focal point of this part of the city is Wonju City Hall and the art center, Baegun Art Hall, attached to it. There are loads of great restaurants and shops, including the smallest coffee shop I have ever seen (pictured).

As for the mountain, we took a bus from outside our apartment complex for about 10 minutes, trekked through the countryside for a couple of miles to the mountain. It took us 40 minutes to hike up to the third base in the picture, before heading back down the way we came.

Why didn't we reach the summit? Did I mention I am scared of heights?

For the botanists out there - we know you are many - the trees with the yellow flowers are Japanese cornel dogwood, also known as Japanese cornelian cherry. In Korean, sansuyu. It's a food or medicinal plant.

No place like home

LO: It is four weeks since we left New York. We are slowly getting to know Wonju and what it has to offer. It reminds me of Sarajevo. In both cities the majority of people live in huge apartment complexes, where children play right in front of their buildings. Little green groceries, small butcher shops and bakeries are on the corner of each street, and every morning women air their bedding from their windows. There is an old market in both cities, located right next to the main walking/shopping district. There are beautiful mountains with ski slopes and resorts outside both Sarajevo and Wonju. And both have been savagely destroyed at some point in their history.

Punk puss in pink boots eases North Korean invasion jitters

We kid you not. Spotted in window of Wonju pet store.

Language barrier

Interesting piece on the Korea Times site.

.... Being relatively new here with almost no understanding of the Korean language yet, he said traveling outside of Seoul was a challenge and adventure...

The U.S. expatriate apparently isn't the only one struggling with these problems, however, as the Korea Chamber of Commerce Industry (KCCI) said Tuesday that 35 percent of foreigners living here feel the same way.

Read full article at:

http://koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2009/03/123_41462.html

Crossing the Han solo (sorry!)

WARNING: Reduce volume of your computer speakers before playing video.



This is our taxi ride north across the Han River to the Grand Hyatt hotel. You can just about see the Seoul TV tower up ahead, to the left of the mountain peak. Of course, it wasn't a solo journey, we were both in the cab. I just needed another lame punning headline, one the locals have probably NEVER heard before.