Korean Dance Phenomenon!

Boy bands and girl bands are HUGE in Korea; huge in 2 ways: 1) They are extremely popular, and 2) they are literally huge, sometimes with 10-12 members!  The more the merrier apparently, and they can ALL dance!

Korean boy and girl band music videos are jam packed with dance moves, and pretty much every Korean between the ages of 5 and 25 knows them!   My students break out into the dance moves on a daily basis, and whenever I've gone to a dance club, all of the Koreans do the dance moves from the videos when the songs come on!

Jess actually found this kid on youtube, reinacting the dance moves from a boy band called Shinee.  I loved it and had to share!!  

The REAL VIDEO

The KIDDO 

The Fruit Store

I purchase at least 95% of my fruit and vegetables from carts like this! Old Korean men wheel these around the busy markets, repeating the prices over and over again,"Sam chunun... Sam chunun" like a broken tape recorder. Can you imagine being in your 70's and pushing around a heavy cart of fruit all day? Korean's level of physical and mental strength is second to none!


While I would never hope to be a fruit cart owner when I'm his age, I do hope I can push something that heavy! Better keep doing my nightly push-ups!

Louis Vuitton

Who knew Louis Vuitton made scooters!  Gotta love the black market around here!

A Nazi in Korea?!

At first glance, this man's ring looks like the Nazi symbol... but here's a piece of history for ya: 

The Swastica symbol dates back to the 5th Millennium BC.  To Buddhists in Korea, the symbol represents dharma, universal harmony, and the balance of opposites.  

Did you know the swastika symbol was popular as a good luck or religious/spiritual symbol in the United States before its association with Nazi Germany?  The symbol is actually still on a bunch of historic buildings, including sites that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

So, long story short, Hitler adopted this symbol from the Buddhist, who have used it for years and flipped the symbol in the opposite direction and called it his own!  So, this man, who I spotted on the bus this afternoon, is not a Nazi at all, but rather a Buddhist... one who likes GIANT GOLD RINGS!

WOW, That Was a Close Call!

Yesterday, I was waiting for a taxi, outside my school, when 2 older Korean women came up to me with huge smiles! They bowed to me and said "Younga sun seng neim. Kamsamnida!" (English teacher, thank you!) I'm guessing they were probably grandmothers of some of my students.

Anyhow, they were carrying about 10 of these huge drink bottles, so I asked what they were. Since they couldn't explain in English, they simply offered me two! It looked disgusting, and I felt bad taking them, because I knew I wouldn't be able to drink all of it, but I figured I could take it to school, and someone at school was bound to have been a fan of this yucky looking brown drink! So, I thanked them profusely and said goodbye.


When I got in the taxi, I took one of the bottles out of the bag, and noticed there was a pamphlet inside the bag, explaining what the drink was.

Low and behold, IT WASN'T A DRINK!! It was cleaning detergent!! Talk about a close call... I was going to drink it, and share it with the people at my school! Yikes, huh?!