Framed! Where to frame pictures in Seoul

The wonderful thing about this city is that there is a street for everything! So if you need to frame a picture the best you can do is to go to the frame street! There are plenty of little and small shops one next to the other and you can choose the frame you want!

The frames of course vary in quality and price but in general I think that they're quite convenient. We framed the picture you see above but also smaller and bigger ones. We have traditional frames but also framed picture with a very modern style. There is plenty of variety!

Often we landed at the same shop because we liked the frames there but the other shops we looked at were good as well.

Usually they deliver the framed picture for a small fee in case it's to big to carry or you're simply too lazy to pick it up.

The frame street

Subway station "Samgakji" line 4 or line 6, Exit 2

Recipe / Tiramisu

Finally I could prepare one of my favorite desserts here in Seoul, to surprise my husband Gabriel coming from his business trip. The recipe is really fast and easy! 

So here it comes:

Ingredients (4 persons):

Lady finger biscuits (about 2 packages)

250gr of mascarpone (one portion from the supermarket)

4 eggs

60gr of sugar

A fingertip of salt

Lemon juice

Coffee

Cocoa

optional (Contreau, Grand Manier or a similar sweet liquor)

1. Make the coffee first so it can cool down. If you make a strong one you can dilute it with water. Add sugar if you want.

2. Divide the yolk from the egg white and put them in separate bowls.

3. Mix the yolks with the sugar and the mascarpone until you have a smooth cream.

4. If you like add two tablespoons of the liquor of your choice

5. Mount the egg whites adding a little bit of salt and a hint of lemon juice to help the process

6. With a spoon mix carefully the whites into the rest until you get an homogeneous cream.
7. Put the coffee into a flat container and if you want dilute it with water
8. Take the ladyfingers one by one and immerse them into the coffee just enough that they don't break
9. Adjust the biscuits into a rectangular bow
10. After one layer of biscuits cover the entire bowl you can distribute evenly the cream until you can't see the layer of biscuits anymore.
11. Repeat the layering one or two times more depending on how deep your bowl is.
12. Distribute the cocoa on top of your last layer of cream.
13. Put the Tiramisu in the fridge for about an hours before you serve it.

And then ... Enjoy it!

Tiramisu in Italian means "Pull me up", sort of wake me up. I guess the name comes from the fact that it has coffee in it! So...actually you can eat tiramisu for breakfast since it has a lot of good ingredients to make you start the day.
My mother would prepare it for dinner and we would them keep a part of it for the next moorning. Believe me, it's awesome to start the day with a good tiramisu!

How Korean police could make a lot of money!

When you live in Seoul you pretty soon realize that cars and traffic play a very important role in this city. I'm used to drive in Europe and walking and taking a cab here in Seoul makes me continuously roll my eyes, seeing how the Koreans drive.

If the police would give fines for all of the infractions on the street, the city would be much richer now. 

Here are ten things police should have a closer look at!

1. Motorcycles on the sidewalks

It probably happened to everyone living in Seoul. You are walking on the sidewalk looking around, in peace with the world when suddenly you hear an engine behind you... It's the usual bikes on the sidewalk that wants to pass. He could drive on the road right? He could pass through the cars in line, right? No...too easy he prefers to drive in a slalom through pedestrians. Maybe to improve his driving skills but I guess most likely to save some few seconds of the traffic light! The best is when they use the pedestrian crossroads.

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

2. Parking on the sidewalks

Again...you are a nice pedestrian walking around and what happens? You have to mind the cars on your way. Why? Because they park on the sidewalk. But not right next to the street, no! They park next to the buildings. So you have the common situation of cars making all sorts of manoeuvrings to park in a tight space (yes tight, because it's supposed to be for small tiny pedestrians) and you have to careful and wait until they finished parking.

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

3. Run engine run!

Point 2 leads me to the next violation...Once the car is parked it's not obvious that the driver actually steps out. It may occur that the driver just stays in the car for an undefined time leaving the motors on and polluting the air around him for a very long time.

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

4. Waiting for green...in the center of the street

The traffic light turns red. Cars stop. Wrong. The Korean drivers like to save time. Even 2 seconds. And for these 2 seconds more they just ignore the pedestrians and just drive into the crossroad just enough to not crush into the traffic coming from the other road.

Mostly it disturbs the pedestrians that have to live in fear of crossing the road but the most damages is done in rush hours. They drive so close to the crossroad that they end up blocking one or sometimes two lanes of the other road. So when the other direction has green light they still can't drive through and they are stucked or have to change lane. Causing a congestion and stopping the flow of the traffic.

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

5. Racing

The streets in Seoul, especially in Gangnam are so large. It's so tempting to drive fast at night when there is no one around... It's so tempting that everyone does!

So after a certain hour at night, when the traffic jams are over, Koreans discover their need of speed! For that, for the racing they have imported nice fast cars and bikes. But when they buy them, they are not so happy that they build them so silent. So what do the Korean racers do? They tune them. And then .... ROOOAAARRRR. At every hour of the night you can hear this tuned engines racing on the streets, waking everyone up, leaving traces on the asphalt, feeling the wind on their neck for...a couple of 100 meters! Because, yes, the streets are large but the distances of the traffic lights are very short. So the only thing left of this racing mania is the disturbing sound that wakes me up every night!

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

6. Yobosejo?

I guess this is more of an international problem...Talking on the phone while driving! Here in Korea everyone has a smartphone and the newest gadgets, even the dumbest. So why on earth is it so difficult to buy headphones for your mobile phone when you drive, dear Korean? It's really dangerous to drive while on the phone and even text messaging (incredible!). I don't want to be a moralist but I think it's really shocking to see how many actually do it. Even the taxi driver that is responsible for my life.

I'm actually scared that so many call or text while driving especially in Korea since the drivers here change lanes without reason every two seconds. I'm always impressed not to see an accident every day!

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

7. Korean drama live! In the car!

Speaking of the high-tech stuff in Korea I want to mention a very smart device. The television for car drivers! Why didn't anyone else thing of this before? I mean, driving and pay attention to the traffic and other people can be very exhausting. So why don't rest the eyes on a nice Korean drama on tv? Caring about not making accidents can be so boring...better watch tv!

If only the police would let them pay...Amen

8. Sirens on, we are coming!

This point actually concerns the police and emergency forced directly. So I guess they would not fine themselves. But it's still worthwhile to mention...

It's 3am at night. Most of the people sleep. The streets are empty. Completely empty. Silence is all over...EMERGENCY EMERGENCY!!!

The police, ambulance, firemen or anyone with a fucking siren, have to go to some emergency and they love to use their cute and very very loud siren. To pass through traffic. Only dilemma...There is no traffic!!! So why would you need the terrible sound of the sirens to drive to empty roads? For me it's a mystery. In Germany they usually use the blinking blue lights to pass fast through the city and only when there are too many cars that obstruct the way, they use the sirens. Which almost never is at night, of course...

If only the police would think...Amen

9. I love my whisle

It's good that once in a while, when the traffic is really heavy policemen help out and direct the traffic. In theory....In the practice they do direct the traffic with their continuously whistling but following the system of the existing traffic lights. They do the exact same job as the traffic light. With only one exception...The pedestrian are the bad guys causing the traffic. So it's the pedestrian that have to wait longer.

If only the police would think...Amen

10. Let the dance begin!

I have to mention one of the things that bothers me more. Actually two things I'm sure that once I'll have a car here in a few weeks it will make me crazy.

First...CHANGING LANES!

It seems to me that most of Korean drivers (no offense) have bugs under their asses and so have to keep moving. They change the lane all the time. So if a driver has to turn right in 100 meters he doesn't stay in the right lane. He changes lane from right to left and back from left to right minimum 2 times before he then turns to right. If there are 6 lanes, the change happen from the external left lane to the external right lane within seconds. You may think this is not a big deal. But if every driver does it, including public and private buses and trucks, there is a continuous rotating and crossing of vehicles that stops traffic completely. Everyone moves and no one moves at the same time.

This of course has a second consequence, which brings me to the second most annoying thing...the use of the BREAKS

This stop and go type of driving is, as you can imagine everything but smooth. So, at least talking about my taxi experiences, a lot of Korean drivers are very rough with the pedals of their car, which means a continuous hopping while driving. I don't know if they don't learn how to use the break and the accelerator in a smooth way but fact is that you can feel sick very quickly when you sit in a Korean car.

If they would drive in the same lane for a while then maybe they would be less agressive with the pedals...

I guess the police can't do much about this last point!!!

So folks, I hope the Korean police will read this post and up to then...be careful in streets of Seoul! AMEN!

Teachers day!

Today I got this flowers and the greeting card from my students! I was so touched! 
It's really nice that they celebrate teachers and professors in Korea!

Korea - the wallpaper country!

Wallpaper in Korea is very very popular. I have never seen so many apartments that have wallpaper. In fact, I think it's the country's standard. I'm used to European households that use mainly plastered walls. Wallpaper is usually quite expensive. But not in Korea!!!

You can wallpaper every single wall in your house and change it every year! Besides having a very broad range of different brands, designs, qualities, colors etc., the Korean wallpaper shops can help you with the service and have very cheap labour costs.

Originally we wanted to change the wallpaper in one little small room for our coming baby, but then looking at the prices of the paper and the service we decided to renew the walls in the entire living room too.

The fastest way to choose Wallpaper is if you go to the Wallpaper street in Seoul. You can find a bunch of wallpaper shops one next to the other in the city center. Take the subway number 2 or 5 to Euljiro 4 ga  Station and go to exit 6. Immediately at the exit you will find the first shops. It's up to you then to choose the right one for your needs.

We choose a very simple paper and we paid 18.000 Won per roll. For the whole living room we needed 4 rolls. If you need less rolls, the shops will take the one you didn't use back. You only pay for what you use.

Usually you pay per day and not per "walls". They work very fast so in four hours they did the whole living room and the smaller baby room. We only had to move the furniture aside, they did the rest. In total we paid 120.000 Won for 2 guys work. We even thought of doing the rest of the apartment after this good experience.

If you need to know in detail to which shop we went please leave a comment and I'll be happy to help you!

Everland!

Have some fun in Everland!
We went to Everland amusement park last October and it has been fun!
We took a bus from Gangnam Station and after 30 minutes ride we arrived. The park reminds me a little bit of Disney land, it has different themes and different rides for big and small.
I guess October was not really high season because it was crowded but not everywhere in the park. The most famous rides had quite long waiting lines but you sort of expect it. You can "reserve" tickets for a ride and skip the line. But there is also a crowd for getting the reservations.
Overall we got to do most of the things we wanted! The best ride was the big roller coaster you see on the picture. It's built completely out of wood and the curves are pretty steep! Unfortunately the ride is really short and waiting more than an hour for a second one would be too much.
If you get hungry there are of course several restaurants and snack bars and not only Korean food but also international. The cool thing we discovered is that they supply 'anti sickness' pills in the restrooms. First I thought I could do every ride but after the first 2 or 3 you are happy to try out the pills!
We didn't try all the attractions they have for kids but there is of course plenty of thing for younger guests of the park. They have during the day different parades and events.


Sometimes they have big discounts for foreigners, so keep on checking their website! 
You find any information in English you want on their website including prices, transportation, Everland map, etc.

http://www.everland.com/web/multi/english/everland/main.html

To get to Everland take subway Line 2 to Gangnam station, leave by Exit 6 and walk to the Everland bus stop; take bus 5002 (W1400, one hour, every 15 minutes). Other buses go to Everland from outside Suwon’s train station – take bus 66 or 6000 (W1400, one hour, every 30 minutes)

Platoon Kunsthalle

Platoon Kunsthalle is a cultural space for artists to work, for exhibitions and cultural events.
I went last week for the first time and I regret not having gone before.
There is a vast program of things going on in the Platoon spaces. They have parties, events, movie time and a good bar and restaurant space. As an artist you can even rent space for your work.
There is a strong collaboration with Berlin, where there is also a Platoon Kunsthalle.
I went to an internations event and a few days after to a Short Movie Festival event (picture above). There are always nice and open people. A lot (a lot!) of foreigners but also Koreans and people are very open minded to meet each other.
They have a big terrace and I guess when the weather will be better it will be awesome to hang out there.
Generally the architecture is quite cool. The whole building is made out of ship containers opened up and changed to very different spaces inside. Apparently it got a lot of prices in 2009 when it was built.
The food is quite simple but it's German cuisine! Which is hard to find here in Seoul. They have Schnitzel (German cutlet), Käsespätzle!, Flammkuchen (a traditional German sort of pie/pizza), Bratwurst and other good stuff! And of course German beer!


I will go there for sure more often!


Here you can find more information:


http://www.kunsthalle.com


Platoon Kunsthalle
gangnam-gu / nonhyeon-dong 97-22
seoul . republic of korea
tel: +82-(0)2 -3447-1191~7
fax: +82-(0)2-3447-1198
email: mail@kunsthalle.com