Picasso at the Lapin Agile (ie Rupert's Play)

Sunday was Rupert's play. He's been busy rehearsing for over 3 months now, but I think all the hard work payed off! It was a fantastic show!



After getting back from Busan later than we'd anticipated, I met everyone at the theater. Some of the guys who went to see the play were Heather, Meaghan, Adam, Stephanie, Amanda, Ann, Kenny, Erin, Sun, Mike, and Sun Young. Andrew entertained us with a bit of accordion before the show started, and Matt was able to sneak in also, even though he didn't have a ticket for the sold-out show.

The theater was near Chon Dae's Front Gate, and it was a little small. They had a nice set up however, and because of the small size, nobody had a problem seeing or hearing.



The play was written by Steve Martin, and is a fictional story of when Picasso and Einstein meet at a bar in Paris. Later, Elvis even makes an appearance. All of the cast members did a fantastic job, but I think my favorite character of the evening was Charles Dabernow Schmendiman. He was so funny!



It was a great time, congrats, Rupert! :)

KSU Club Night~ Busan

"BUSAN, South Korea -- Saturday the 25th will witness an evening (and probably early morning) of the peninsula’s top hip hop spread out between Vinyl Underground and Blue Monkey in Kyungsung. $10 gets you in both bars with a free drink in each and a long night of rappers spinning their yarns and DJ’s scratching."

The Deserts and Da Meegook Movement are playing their final out-of-town concert this coming weekend, and I know they've been working hard at getting ready for it. Stephanie and I are going to Busan Friday night (the boys will be playing/watching another concert in Daegu), and we'll catch the band in the exciting Kyungsung University District Saturday night. It should be a great show. There's a huge lineup, featuring:

*THE TROUBLE MAKERZ
*PINNACLE THEHUSTLER w/ DJ TOM SLICK
*BLACK ILUMIN & JUDONOMI
*DJ FENNER
*Da MEGOOK MOVEMENT
*THE DESERTS
*SAMMY CLAY

To find out more about some of these artists, check out Busan's English News Website here: http://www.busanhaps.com/article/hip-hop-descends-kyungsung

Daejeon Downtown~ 대정 시내

I took this picture of downtown Daejeon on my weekend trip there with Kenny. Daejeon has two downtown's, old and new, and this was the newer, cooler of the two. We were surprised at the amount of people (both foreigners and Koreans) that were out to have a good time. There seemed to be an endless amount of places to eat/drink at, but I'm sure if we lived there, we would say the same things about Gwangju!

Yangdong Market (양동시장)- Gwangju

Stephanie and I went to check out Gwangju's most famous market last Saturday, Yangdong Market. It's very convenient to get to as it's close to U-Square bus terminal, and it's also on the subway line. This market has been around for years, and an article in the Gwangju News Magazine showed a picture from the market back in the 70's. Things have changed architecturally, but I'm sure what they were selling back then is very similar to what we saw!

We first began by buying Stephanie some socks. Korean women like to wear socks that are made out of nylon, especially at school. Gotta keep your feet sanitary while wearing those community slippers!

Next, we found ourselves in the midst of the action. Fish, chicken, fruit, vegetables, kimchi, basically anything your heart desired. Some of the fish looked excellent, and the prawns were huge!



It always seems that at traditional markets such as Yangdong, they seem to sell everything in bulk, and that the vendor has enough to supply a small army. For example, how does he sell all this garlic?!



We also some some things that were a bit unsettling, so don't scroll down if you don't like seeing bizarre animals or parts! Don't say I didn't warn you!





Pigs heads and frogs- now that's something I'll have to go back for!

Seoul's Western Food

Besides shopping, the variety of non-Korean food is one of the best reasons to go up to Seoul for the weekend. Stephanie and I went up this past weekend, and our whole weekend essentially revolved around Forever 21 in Myeongdong and eating as much non-Korean food as possible.

We first began with a Kebab from Mr. Kebab in Hongdae, for which I now have a punch card. Sorry, no picture of this as we were both too hungry to wait to snap a picture!

Saturday, we picked up a coffee from Dunkin Doughnuts in Hongdae, and by the time we were finished, Dos Tacos had opened up. We each ordered a burrito, mine was rice and bean with beef and avocado. It was simply fantastic, even though I couldn't eat it all. It was completely worth the 9,900 won!



After having perhaps too much success at Forever 21, we refueled with a giant, 1,500 won ice cream cone. It was fantastic because it was cool in the hot, afternoon sun, but it wasn't so filling that we were stuffed after.



Before we had dinner, we went to Happy Hour in Hongdae. The group next to us had a pitcher of what appeared to be fruit soju with real fruit. We ordered the same thing, but had to add the soju ourselves. It had a yogurty base, and was pretty unique.



The next place our group went to was a hopping Hof in Hongdae. Despite Hongdae being one of the main tourist areas, we were one of two tables of foreigners. Every other table was full, and it did take a while to get served. We ordered two types of chicken- a cheesy, boneless bbq style, and a spicy garlic chicken. The garlic chicken came in a shovel! I'd never seen that before.



Sunday, we began with breakfast at Rocky Mountain Tavern in Itaewon. This is probably the best Western-style breakfast for less than 10,000 in town. And the IPA we each ordered with it may not have been the healthiest decision for 11 am, but, oh, it tasted so good!



Finally, something I'd been literally dreaming about! Subway! I missed my chance when my parents were here when I stumbled upon a Subway in Gangnam, but forgot to go back to order! I was so happy to see one in Hongdae, where I generally stay. I chose the Subway Club, and it was just like back home. It was by far the best sandwich I've ever had in Korea!



When we weren't eating, we were either shopping, relaxing, or people watching around town. Even though we didn't do too much, we were both exhausted by the time we came back Sunday evening!

Where is Wando?

Wando is a very small town located in Jeollanam-do providence, right on the coast of the ocean. I've been to this island (connected by a new bridge) three times now, and each time seems to get better than the last. Camping on the beach with a bunch of friends never gets old!



I received the Facebook invite a few weeks ago, and even though 293 some-odd people RSVP'd yes, I don't think there were more than 100. The beach is quite large, and our group camped away from the main party area (as we'd arrived late Friday night, and didn't see anyone else around). However, we were just a short 3 minute walk away from the main hangout area. We had the best of both worlds- right next to the clean bathrooms, and had a quiet sleeping area!



I came down with Michael, Matt, and Kenny after their band practice. Their music academy owner and his girlfriend were gracious enough to give us a lift in their van. It was a tight squeeze with all our tents, foods, backpacks, and of course, guitars.

The Deserts had won a competition and a local bank, NongHyup, gave them 300,000 won as their prize. We used those gift cards to feed our group of about 10 for the whole weekend, what a deal! We spend over 70,000 on meat alone, and really stocked up on beer (don't worry, we drank it all!).



Saturday and Sunday we spent doing normal beach activities- looking for shells, making campfires, cooking hobo dinners, and playing beer pong, volleyball, and Frisbee. Even though the weather was cloudy all day Saturday, almost everyone came home more red than they left! And of course, when we had to leave Sunday, it was perfect weather. Here's some pictures to ooh and ahh over!




No starfish this time, but still lots of colorful shells.


We both got color!