Although today had great fun moments, it had some very disappointing ones as well. L Boo! First of all, SM Entertainment artists have gone to Europe to promote their Japanese debut. Lame! I finally come to Korea and they decide to go to London and Paris! 안돼!!!!!!!!!!!!! SM Entertainment, 너!! 너무 소심해!!! /No way!!!!!!!!!!!!! SM Entertainment, You!! You are so close minded!!! (ahn-dwae!!!!!!!!!!!!! SM Entertainment, noh!! Noh-moo so-shim-ae!!!) When I leave Korea, they come back from their debut! Talk about super lame! SHINee 샤이니 should change their lyrics, “Hello! Hello!” to “Goodbye! Goodbye!”
So that made me a bit sad but this next part just made it worse. Honestly, that did not end the world but come on! Talk about inconvenient! But this was really bad! I decided to curl my hair for the day and my hair was a little wet but it wasn’t that bad (or at least I thought so). If you don’t understand curling hair, just bear with me. I’ll try to make sense out of it. Well, I swear, I think our appliances get hotter faster over here with the converter. As I was curling my hair, I tried to release my hair which it falls out by itself. Well, it wasn’t releasing itself which it does sometimes if it’s a bit wet. If that’s the case, I just pull the curling iron and the hair comes out. Well, as I pulled the curling iron, MY HAIR CAME OUT WITH IT! I pretty much cinged my hair!!! L If you know what my hair is like and how I feel about my hair, it makes the situation that much worse…. So you can see my pain, I took some pictures of it.
This was a long strand. It doesn't look like it because it's wrapped around the iron but it was the full length of my hair. If's from my left side.
Uh-oh....
Realization kicks in...
Here comes the tears. After this, it just gets ugly but I won't show you my face for aesthetical purposes.
MY HAIR!! I burned my hair off!! I felt like crying but bucked up. I had to hurry up because a foreign exchange student from my high school wanted to get together tonight because she lives in the same city and province as me right now. Her name is Ji-Young Kim 김지영. It’s really cool! At first, she came to America as a student and now I come to Korea as a student! She’s so cute and smart! She’s attending Seoul University 서울대학교 majoring in Computer Science 컴퓨터 공학 (computer gong-hak). We decided to visit Namsan Tower 남산 but now they’re starting to call it N. Seoul Tower. This is a huge tower where you can see all of Seoul 서울 from up above. It’s best to see it at night because all of the lights from the city. We took a bus to the Tower but they dropped us off at the bottom. We had to walk up a steep hill. They have a tram but we had to hurry since it was closing in an hour. It wasn’t long but it was really steep and we were walking in heels. Haha aren’t we Korean? Walking in heels everywhere. They have two exhibits going on. They have the observatory which is where you see the city and the Teddy Bear Museum. You can also pay to have dinner up in the tower. We first went to the Teddy Bear Museum which is located on the bottom of the tower. The Teddy Bear Museum was really cool and so cute! They had 3 stages. They had an exhibit of teddy bears showcasing Korean life centuries ago, one of modern Korea, and a Goong궁 exhibit based on the Korean Drama because that drama used lots of teddy bears in it. I loved this drama! If you have time, check out this drama. It’s so cute! They also showed the Alfred bear which is used by the main character Lee Shin 이신 (Joo Ji Hoon 주지훈). I loved that exhibit the best because of the drama and it was darling. The teddy bears would move which was pretty cool. My goodness, I’ve been so impressed with the museums and exhibits here in Korea. They’re very high tech and interesting. You forget that it’s supposed to be a museum.
Ji-Young 김지영 and me! She's so darling!
Outside view of Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower.
We've arrived at Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower! Yeah, we were inside that!
This is the Teddy Bear Museum. Here is depicting life in old Korea. Education has always been extremely important in Korea. Attending a university was the gateway to prestige and power. This is depicting specifically the Joseon 조선 dynasty.
I thought this one was cute lol. It looks like a troublemaker in school.
This is depicting a traditional wedding ceremony during the Joseon 조선 dynasty.
Here are the court ladies making food for the royals.
Haha, this one, I had no idea what was going on. The one on the left was doing push ups. I have no idea why.
Markets
This is depicting the last king of the Joseon 조선 dynasty.
Ssamzigil 쌈지길
Cheonggyecheon 청계천
Seoul Plaza. This is where everyone gathers to hear and cheer during the World Cup.
The Blue House. This is where the President lives.
Hong Dae 홍대. This was really cool because the bears were spinning and break dancing.
They had TV's where you could insert yourself next to teddy bears.
This is describing the Goong 궁 exhibit. It showed the Alfred teddy bear which was used frequently throughout the drama. It also showed some of the teddy bears that were shown at the end of each episode of the drama.
Here are some scenes of the ending episode bears that were used in the drama.
This was one of my favorite scenes from the drama!
Teddy bears imitating the drama poster.
Goong 궁 plot by pictures: There once was a boy named Lee Shin 이신 and a girl named Chaegyeong Lee 이채경 who went to the same high school. Lee Shin 이신 was a cold but handsome prince. Chaegyeong Lee 이채경 was a clumsy but good hearted girl. Their first encounter was a bit rough.
Lee Shin 이신 had a girlfriend named Hyo-Rin 효린 who aspired to be a prima ballerina. He asked her to marry him because he was about to secure the position of king. They're almost out of high school and she thinks that it would be better if she concentrates on her dancing. But she still loves him.
A long time ago, Lee Shin 이신's and Chaegyeong Lee 이채경's grandfathers made a promise that their grandchildren would marry each other. So, to honor their grandfathers' wishes, they decided to marry despite their distaste for each other. After this marriage, their lives changed forever.
Luckily, good love stories have happy endings!
Now this was an exhibit for the famous actor Bae Yong Joon 배용준 that they say resemble a teddy bear. At least that's what I think his name is lol. Haha I've never thought of people resembling teddy bears before.
Bae Yong Joon 배용준
After the Teddy Bear Museum, we headed to the Observatory. We had to wait in a long line to take the elevator. The elevator is the fastest in the world. They had photo booths like they do at Lagoon and Disneyworld where they take pictures, photoshop you in front of a scenic background, and then if you like your picture, you pick it up in the end. The Observatory was pretty cool at Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower! You can see the whole city of Seoul 서울 and with all the lights, it's so pretty! It's a romantic place if you have dinner there or if you visit there with someone. We were up so high! When we got back down, it was incredible to look back and see how far up we were from the city.
When I saw the "SHOCKING WALL" sign, it freaked me out at first. I thought we were literally going to get electrically shocked but as I read further, it was a relief lol.
Inside the elevator.
Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower
Amazing...
Dido.
Getting to see the night view of Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower was pretty incredible. Especially after hearing that SM Entertainment went to Europe and my hair was cinged. Haha I swear, Koreans are so funny with gifts. Ji-Young 지영 did the same thing that Young Min 영민 did the other day! She bought a gift for me, when I wasn't looking, of a little replica of Namsan 남산 Tower/N. Seoul Tower! I thanked he for the gift and taking time out of her schedule to come and take me to see this great place. Just getting to be here in Korea has been a wonderful gift. I wish many of you were here with me so you could experience the fun Korea has to offer. I've lived each day with no regrets! :-)
