Apartment Amenities

The big air conditioner in the living room.
They don't have central air in the apartments.
We have a smaller unit in our bedroom and
also my craftroom.

This control is on the toilet. This toilet
comes with a button for the bidet, a button
to wash your bottom, a button to warm the
water and another to warm the seat. You
can control the nozzle and also the water
pressure. There is also a temperature control
for the water and for the seat. Wow, I never
knew you needed more than toilet paper!

This is on the wall as you are sitting on
the toilet. It is a way to answer your phone
when you are busy with the bidet.

This is in our master bedroom. It is a

cosmetics refrigerator. I never knew
they should be refrigerated.

This is our kimchi refrigerator. It comes
with plastic tubs to put your kimchi in.

This is our intercom.

We are on the 10th floor. I was told that
in case of a fire, if I didn't want to wait for
rescue, I can attach a rope to this and out
the window I can go. I think I would wait
for the firemen.

This is our three locks on our front door.

My craftroom. I have a lot of work to do.

My worktable.

The floor of my craftroom.

My first house purchase. After failing many, many

times to make rice. I bought a rice cooker. I can't

read the instructions but I'm going to give it a try

tonight.

Moving into the Apartment - Korean Style

The moving truck with the attached crane. This shot
is looking down out of our apartment window.

The crane approaching our apartment.
They remove the window for easy access.

A look at the truck and crane from our
apartment.

A ground view.

Our apartment is on the 10th floor.

A view from down the street.

The truck with our boxes on it. It's been 60 days! I
can't wait to unpack.

Our couch arriving through the window.

Looking down from the apartment.

A co-worker of Curt's (hubby) with me

who came to help us out.

My Korean lunch at the local Home Plus. It is

bulgogi bibimbap. It only came to about $5.00 US.

The move to the apartment is finished. I am so glad to see our stuff. It has been a long time. It was really humid and we were sweating like crazy. The movers unpacked everything and now I just need to put everything where I want it to go. We did venture out into the neightborhood for dinner. I had seen a "Mexican" sign around the corner from our apartment and I've been missing mexican food. Of course, they knew no English but they did have signs and it was actually a chicken restaurant. We ordered fried chicken and a chicken with a coating on it which turned out to be a spicy, sweet and sour chicken. Delicious, but we misordered and ended up with enough food for four so we had leftovers for another meal. I still wonder why a chicken restaurant says "Mexican."

I found some Korean crafts!

This couple is made of a very rubbery and pliable clay
and are dressed in Korean costumes.

These bags came in a bunch of sizes and these are
about 6 inches by 3 inches. They each cost only 1000
won which is about $1.00 U.S.

Here is a close up of the Korean knotting. It is called
maeduep and is gorgeous. You can find it all over
Korea. It has over 30 knot variations. This is the
first craft I am hoping to learn. I found classes in
Seoul but I am hoping to find a teacher in Suwon.

My first Korean craft magazine. You
may think that they spelled craft wrong
but actually in the Korean language there
is no "F."

The bookstore at the Suwon Station has a pretty good selection of craft books. They have a wide selection: cross-stitch, quilling, folk art, beading, quilting, knitting and crocheting. I found quite a few "foot" art books so I pulled one out to see what that was. It turned out to be folk art books. They also had a huge selection of pattern making books to make your own clothes.

A few weeks ago while looking for information on Korea, I came across an request looking for foreigners who would like to appear on local television shows. I sent an email and they responded asking a lot of personal questions. I replied that we don't give out that information in the U.S. and I asked who he was. It turns out he works for a casting agency. I figured that was the end of that, but apparently I'm now added to his email list. I got this email from him yesterday:

Hi,
I have a TV extra job offer today.
The shootings will be on Thu, Fri and Sat.
I need 20 foreigners including 6 girls.
It will not take whole day for the scenes. So you don't have to come for all 3 days.
Just tell me the time you're available, and I'm gonna arrange the schedule so that many of you can have this opportunity.
e.g) I'm free on Thu from 1pm to 9pm.
The program is a history documentary on Korean history.
And it's about a guy who went to Fance to study.
It will be on KBS and the program title "Çѱ¹»çÀü"
The background if France, so they need white people.
Don't have to be french.
The payment will be around 50thousand KRW and can be more through negotiation.
This is urgent. So I prefer that you to text me to XXX-XXXX-XXXX or XXX-XXXX-XXXX with your available time range along with name, gender, age.
e.g) I'm free on Thu from 1pm to 9pm.
If you have friends, let them know about this thing so that they can experience a funny job.
Those who I contacted individually and who I'll do soon also reply to this message please.
Thank you very much and I hope I can hear from you soon.

My original inquiry was in regards to either teaching some crafts that I know on Korean television or learning Korean crafts. I think I will pass on this one.

We are moving tomorrow so I should get packing. I'll have a whole new world to discover once we move. I can't wait for the adventure to continue.

Things I Miss....

Noah Patrick, our grandson with a
waitress from the Chinese restaurant
we ate at shortly before our move.

Today is kinda a rainy gloomy day in Suwon. For the rainy season, we really haven't had too many rainy days. We are starting our second month in South Korea and I haven't really thought a lot of the people and things we left in the United States. It's not that the family and friends are not in my thoughts a lot but if I dwell on it too much, it would make me terribly sad. I miss my kids. Although, they are pretty much grown, living overseas I'm not able to be there immediately if needed. We also are Grandparents for the first time and it is hard not to see Noah every week. They change sooo much when they are little and it seems that all of the sudden they are grown. I miss my girlfriends, thank goodness for e-mail.

I miss grass. Although it was a constant worry: needing to be mowed, needing rain, needing to chase sprinklers... I miss our restaurants. Donatelli Brothers (http://www.donatellis.com/) has been a weekly visit for twenty-five years. Curt misses Chipoltle burritos. I miss being able to read the menu. I can't wait for the Korean language lessons. I miss the craft stores like JoAnn's and Michaels. I could get just about anything I needed there. I miss being anonymous foreigners get looked at a lot. I miss getting my hair foiled. They don't even know what that is over here. Who would ever pay to have someone put a bunch of tin foil in your hair?!

I miss being able to turn on the faucet to brush my teeth. Here in Korea, you need to use bottled water. I miss my dryer. My clothes are really crunchy from air drying. I miss bookstores where I can read the titles. I love to read. I did bring a lot of books with me so that has helped. I miss living in a country where I don't have to worry about my neighboring country (I never knew Seoul was so close to the North Korean border).

I miss television. The hotel channels that are in English are: CNN (BBC version), BBC, Animal Planet and a Korean channel called Arirang. I am hooked on Animal Planet's "Meerkat Manor." Until this show, I did not even know that there was such a creature as a meerkat. I am also enjoying "The Crocodile Hunter" with Steve and Terri Irwin. He had such a passion for life.

I haven't really been a big soap opera watcher since the days of Luke and Laura from General Hospital. But my husband got me hooked on a Korean soap opera. He found it on an Asia channel back home before we left. It is called, "My Lovely Sam Soon." Here is a link all about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Name_is_Kim_Sam_Soon

They have a lot of soap operas on all the time. They also have shows with the same six Korean guys doing all kinds of really silly things. One time they tried to race a train, another time they tried to put their body through a tennis racket. But they seem to have a good time. There are also a lot of cooking shows and I'm learning a lot about Korean cooking. They put a lot of work into their prep and they have pretty sharp knives to julienne all those vegetables they use. I'm cooking impaired as it is and keep all my knives pretty dull for a good reason. I am still trying to learn to make rice without it sticking to the bottom of the pan.

How about a few things I don't miss. I don't miss the presidental candidates campaigning already. I think they should only be allowed to announce that they are running for office six months before the election. I don't miss bad news. Oh, they may have some here but I can't understand the language. I don't miss the celebrity gossip. Oh, that's not true, I do like to listen to it too but I just don't need it every day. I don't miss cleaning my house although that will change in a few days when we move to our apartment. I miss "Kathy Griffin, My Life on the D List," "Top Chef," Gordon Ramsey's "Hell's Kitchen," and many others I can't think of right now.

We are moving on Thursday and wait till you see moving, Korean style. I'll make sure to take lots of pictures.

Korean Boys

It seems if I am going to be approach by a Korean, it is when I'm not with my husband. For example, today I was on my daily walk to the Suwon Station and waiting for traffic to clear in order to cross the street. Two young Korean boys came up to me and one say, "How are you?" I replied, "Fine and how are you?" He giggled and said, "Fine. Where are you from?" I used to say Minnesota but I get blank looks so I said, "The United States and where are you from?" He looked and his friend, giggled and replied, "Suwon and I'm 13 years old." I then noticed he was carrying a small cup of coffee (that's seems to be how it comes). I then asked him "Do you drink coffee?" I did have a puzzled look on my face because it is something I hadn't seen back in the States. He became very embarrassed and said "No" and gave the coffee to his friend. He then said something to his friend in Korean and then began to run around me as the friend tried to give the coffee back to his friend. They ran around me several times with coffee flying everywhere, thankfully not on me. Then as quick as they came, they ran off.

Over the weekend, we went to Insadong for a second time for more exploring. We were in this one artsy building with lots of levels to see. Curt went one way and I went the other. All of the sudden I am surrounded by five young Korean boys again asking how I am and telling me how they were. Their English was quite limited so they were giggling a lot when I asked them questions. They wanted to shake my hand and I kinda felt like a celebrity. Curt was able to snap this picture but the boys scattered when they saw him. I'm in the left with a beige shirt on.

Housing in Korea

A building under construction near our hotel in Suwon.
They seem to curtain off then entire struction. I'm not
sure why this is done.

An apartment complex under construction outside
of Suwon.

You see these apartment buildings all over Korea.
This one is outside of Suwon.

Where There's Smoke, There's Fire, NOT!

I was looking out my hotel window waiting for hubby
to get home from work when I saw this growing cloud
of smoke. I panicked and grabbed my camera to catch
some shots.

Did I hear fire trucks? Was this a suicide bomber?
(Yes, I watch too much CNN) Was a building on fire?
I must say I was getting worked up as a watched this
cloud fill street after street.

The clouds were getting closer and being released
by a truck. Ohhhh, now I get it. It was a pest control
truck releasing a bug or mosquito killer cloud.

I remember when I was young, we went camping
a lot. These "fog" trucks would drive throughout
the campgrounds at dusk releasing a mosquito
killing cloud. We kids would run after the truck
breathing in the sweet spelling cloud. Now I
wonder what we were really breathing into our
lungs.

Crafting and the CHA Show

A book signing for my latest book at the Leisure Arts
booth. This is me with Debra Nettles, Directer of Design
Relation. She is wonderful to work with!
CHA Winter Show 2007

With my hero, Carol Duvall at the 2007 CHA Winter
Show


I have been so consumed with the culture in my new environment that I have said little about my crafting world. Today is the start of the CHA Summer Show in Chicago, Illinois. I have been attending this show for almost 10 years back when it was known as ACCI. It is a trade show the focuses on the craft industry. If you want to know what is HOT in crafting and what is not, this is the place. It is also the place where I became a professional craft designer. I originally joined as a professional crafter and am now a designer. The qualifications when I joined were a lot easier for a new designer than they are now.

I participated in their Designer's Showcase which was where you sent up a table with your designs and editors, publishers, manufacturers and other industry professionals come to talk to you, if you are lucky. My very first showcase I had made a polymer clay sock monkey. The idea came from Sculpey's Granitex brown which looked just like sock monkey material. An editor and owner of a booklet company saw that and said I had to send it to Carol Duvall of HGTV's The Carol Duvall Show. She emailed her address and off the sock monkey went basically thinking it would be a gift to Carol who collects them. I was shocked to find a few months later an email from Carol herself, first apologizing for the lateness in acknowledging the gift and second, would I have time to come out and appear on her show demonstrating how to make the sock monkey. That was the beginning of a wonderful run on television and a lot of friendships.

Thanks to Carol, I will see my eighth book released this Fall for Leisure Arts. Her belief in me and all her advice through the years has been invaluable in my career. I am still in contact with her from time to time and I still can't believe she took a chance on a girl who was not a professional designer who had NEVER done television and who really had not self confidence.

So if you want to become a professional craft designer, join CHA (Crafts and Hobby Association) and participate at the Designer Showcase. I may see you there! The Winter show is in February in Anaheim, California.

I will miss all my designing friends that will be attending this summer show. I don't think I have missed one since I became a professional.

Parking - Korean Style

I thought this rainy day I would talk about parking. If you are from the States, you may wonder what there would be to talk about. Koreans seem to LOVE to back into parking spaces. Every parking ramp I have been to so far confirms this. Not only do they back into the spaces, the spaces are soooo narrow that it really takes some talent and sometimes a lot of manuervering to accomplish it. If you are taking too long, you will be beeped at.

Last weekend, hubby and I went to the Home Plus which is close to our apartment. It is a multi-level shopping complex kinda like a Target Greatland. You can grocery shop and also pick up a TV if you need to. We pulled into a tight parking spot and no, hubby did not back into the spot. He thought we would be fine since he chose a spot that had a wall across from it. We did our shopping only to return to find that cars had parked up against that wall. Oh no! Curt spent five or more minutes maneuvering the car back and forth as he swore up a storm. Meanwhile, a line of cars formed with the lead car doing most of the honking at us. Hubby did want me to get out of the car and help navigate but to be honest, I really was too embarrassed to move. He finally did it and we were able to leave. He talked to co-workers the following Monday and found out that when people park "illegally," they leave their cars in neutral so you can push them out of the way. We would have had to PUSH four cars out of the way to get ours out.

We have a rental car to use for our stay over here and Curt likes to drive it once a week to learn the way. Right now, there is a shuttle that goes from the hotel to work which is about 25 miles away. He has drove to work several times now. Yesterday, he decided to back in although no one does at the plant parking lot. He was notified a few hours later that the security guard was really upset he parked that way so he went out and turned the car around. He asked why they pull into the spots when everywhere else they back in. The response was that there are trees lining the parking lot and the car exhaust isn't good for the trees. That's Korea!

Also, you will find in just about all the smaller parking lots I've been to, an older Korean man who not only watches you back in to make sure you don't hit another car but also helps you navigate. He always seems to pop out to watch you when you leave too. Our car, like most, has a warning system that starts to beep when you are getting to close to an object. It does beep a lot when Curt is trying to park. Hmmmm.

National Holiday - Korean Style

The egg truck I see every morning on
my walk to the Suwon Station

A couple of views of the street I take to the Suwon
Station

Today is Constitution Day in South Korea. Now, back home in the States, you would be confident that your husband was not working today, right? Not in Korea, it really seems up to the company whether it is a working day or not. My husband had originally decided to make it a four day weekend, taking Monday off and then the holiday today (Tuesday).

While we were at breakfast in the hotel yesterday, two co-workers of Curt's (my husband) came to eat and then mentioned that the company had changed the holiday Friday night from Tuesday to Monday. My husband never got the message. It was a good thing he had decided to take Monday off. I was really surprised at this change but my husband, who has travelled to Korea and China said that it is not uncommon. He was just surprised that no one told him!

He also told me that if a holiday falls on a weekend, the company doesn't give you the Friday or Monday off like we do in the States. It's all about culture! Oh, by the way, he did decided to go into work today. It was suppose to be a rainy day and the hotel room was getting a lot smaller for him.

I also had a major crisis. I am probably one of the few that wears sunglasses over here. I can't live without them. One of the screws became really loose on my frames and it was making the leg really wobbly and I was afraid I would loose the screw. Oh yes, I still wore them when I needed to. I found a sunglass store near the Suwon Station and decided to see if they could fix them. In the States, I've never been charged for even a missing screw but who knew and I was willing to pay anything. The salesclerk took my glasses, retightened both screws and put it into this steam machine to clean them. He then took them out and thoroughly dried them. I was sooooo thrilled. I asked how much and he said, "Free, only free." I thanked him profusely and now not only are my sunglasses fixed, I can see through them. I can't tell you the last time I cleaned them.

I bought a Hanbok!

The Hanbok store. It was hard to choose. It's amazing
the shopping you can do without knowing the
language! Everyone knows the universal language of
VISA (Charge it!).


You had to take your shoes off if you wanted to enter
the store.


The one I chose. It's for a little girl and it came with
a headdress and a purse. I'm using it as a work of art
and it will eventually be on the wall. I am wondering
if it would be best to have it framed to help preserve
it.

A few more pictures of Paldulmun Market

I wouldn't advise doing this and we couldn't believe we
were seeing it. You really had to get out of her way or
she would have run you over.

Another trip to Paldalmun Market

Selling everything from sunglasses


to shoes


to kittens


to blankets