Chuseok (추석) 2014: Events

One of the most popular holidays in Korea is Chuseok (추석), the Korean equivalent of Thanksgiving in Western cultures. This year Chuseok will take place from September 7 to September 10, one day longer than the standard 3-day Chuseok holiday.

Though the official holiday period is from September 7 to September 10, many stores will be open on September 10. However, tourists are recommended to double check the operating hours in advance during the Chuseok holiday. This is the list of Chuseok holiday schedules and hours of operation for some of the tourist sites and shops in Korea.

One must remember that all museums are open and so are the palaces and in some cases - free entry during Chuseok is a trend. Places like Namsangol, Deoksogung etc. hold various performances for foreigners. Restaurants - big and small are close on the first day of Chusek and its falling on 8th Sept. this year.

Visit Seoul Global Centers website or Korea Tourism website to lear more on what's happening!

Korea:Jutaek Roofs

Dongdaemun: A Dog

Daiso Korea Collection

I bought this set earlier this year  from Daiso - Round plates on right were 5USD and the rest of the stuff range  between 3USD except the sushi plate. Pot in front is for 12USD.

Pictures of the Day - In Gangnam-gu

“Rainwater Doctors” Program Launched in August

The second Rainwater Doctors Program was launched in August to promote the use of rainwater harvesting facilities according to building type and function, and to inform citizens who want to reuse rainwater but are not sure how. The Rainwater Doctors appointed this year will carry out their duties from August 2014 to June 2016, and the program will be operated through voluntary participation and talent donation by citizens.
A rainwater harvesting facility is an eco-friendly technology that allows the reuse of rainwater. After all the rainwater is collected in a tank on the roof of the building, it goes through a simple water treatment process and can be used for various purposes, such as watering vegetable gardens, landscaping, and cleaning bathrooms and floors in buildings. However, the facilities are not yet widely used, since most citizens are unfamiliar with and inexperienced at maintaining and using the facilities.
The Rainwater Doctors will serve as consultants, providing detailed information on rainwater harvesting facilities and helping those citizens who are unfamiliar with reusing rainwater.
The Seoul Metropolitan Government expects that the rainwater reuse system will be great for urban farmers who know that rainwater is better for agriculture than tap water. Also, the city government hopes that this measure will help Seoul become a healthy water-cycle city cycle.

Italian Mountaineer Conquers K2 without Oxygen Reserves

Tamara Lunger, one of the seven women on a K2-climbing mission, reached the top of the 8,611 metres high mountain on July 26, that too without an oxygen reserve.
Ms Lunger had been dreaming of climbing 8,000 metres plus peaks since she was 15 years old.
“I guess one of the reasons why I chose to climb K2 was because it is the hardest to conquer,” said 28-year-old Italian mountaineer, who scaled her third 8,000 metres plus mountain.

Ms Lunger had been training for the climb since a year.
When it came to K2, she and her team members went up as an expedition without porters, and carried their own gear. This is what made climbing hundreds of metres of steep slopes harder.

Her team leader, Giuseppe Pompili, who also climbed K2 without supplemental oxygen, bagged his third 8,000 metres plus mountain. In 2006, Pompili became one of the 150 climbers to have conquered the seven highest peaks in the seven continents. Today, a little over 350 people have accomplished this feat.

Read more here.

Read Tamara's blog here!

Source: Dawn and Tamara's blog!

Korea Post Issues Pope Francis Stamps

On the occasion of Pope Francis' visit to Korea starting August 14, Korea Post has released its “Pope Francis' Visit to Korea Commemorative Stamps” !

Google Celebrates Korea's Liberation Day - 광복절 (Gwangbokjeol)

광복절 (Gwangbokjeol)  by google!

Korean Independence Day–광복절 (Gwangbokjeol)–is celebrated on Aug. 15 each year. The literal meaning of "광복절(光復節)" is "the restoration of the light. I wrote about it here!

Save Arturo - the polar bear!

SIGN THE PETITION  HERE!

A Greenpeace petition to move Arturo from his current home has already gathered nearly 200,000 signatures.
Argentine professor Fernanda Arentsen said: "You can see he is going crazy. He moves the way polar bears do when they are suffering a lot of stress.
"He has been filmed rocking back and forth in a way that signals distress. It breaks my heart to see it.
"I'm from Mendoza. I know how hot summer is. There is no way for him to escape the heat."

Google Celebrates Pakistan's Independence

Google Doodle on Pakistan Day is an interesting landmark from Islamabad.
Celebrating the 68th Independence of Pakistan, Google has posted a doodle on the Pakistan homepage. The doodle features the blooming flower-shaped Pakistan Monument located at Shakarparian -a small hill near Zero Point in Islamabad, Pakistan. This monument is a national monument that represents the country's four provinces and three territories.

Before an architect was finalised to design this monument, a competition was held among notable architects during General Musharraf's government.  Arif Masood's plan was selected for the final design.

The four main petals of the Pakistan Monument represent the four provinces -Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, Punjab, and Sindh - while the three smaller petals represent the three territories - Gilgit-Baltistan, Azad Kashmir and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

Prayers for Pakistan!

Maths World's "Nobel prize" goes to Maryam Mirzakhani

 

 

A woman has won the maths world's "Nobel prize" for the first time. Maryam Mirzakhani of Stanford University, California, will receive the Fields medal tomorrow at the International Congress of Mathematicians in Seoul, South Korea.

The medal is awarded once every four years to at most four recipients, who must be aged under 40 at the start of that year. All the previous 52 Fields medalists, dating back to 1936, have been male.

Mirzakhani, who is Iranian, studies the geometry of moduli space, a complex geometric and algebraic entity that might be described as a universe in which every point is itself a universe. Mirzakhani described the number of ways a beam of light can travel a closed loop in a two-dimensional universe. To answer the question, it turns out, you cannot just stay in your "home" universe – you have to understand how to navigate the entire multiverse. Mirzakhani has shown mathematicians new ways to navigate these spaces.

Mirzakhani first attracted international attention as a high-school student in 1995, when she was the first Iranian student to achieve a perfect score in the International Mathematics Olympiad.
For further details read here.

Malala and Justin Bieber Talked on FB

'I can't wait to meet her in person and talk about how I can support her and the @malalafund. #love': The 20-year-old, who is a very generous supporter of dozens of charities and causes worldwide, revealed he's eager to throw his substantial weight behind the 17-year-old's Malala Fund

An Apartment to Share near Korea Univeristy from August 24th.

Jia is looking for flat mates and she posted about it below!

Rooms:	3-5
Address:	서울시 성북구 하월곡동 90-723번&#5 (Seongbok-gu, Seoul)
Features:	Fully furnished, Service charges included, Parking, Garden, Lift / Disabled access, Security service, Balcony / Terrasse, Cellar

Price  450,000won

Contact  Jia Kim ,   Cell Phone: 4917630573395

 I'm Jia. I’ve been living in Berlin for a year and will be back in Seoul this August to finish my degree in Korea University and I’m looking for some nice people to share my flat with.

In the northern part of Seoul, I have a lovely flat with 3 rooms, two bathrooms and a big kitchen and a living room. The flat is on the 11th floor. There are big supermarkets such as E-mart (2min walk) and there are restaurants near by. You can go anywhere in Seoul with the subway and bus. The subway is 5 minute walk from the flat and the bus station is right in front of the flat. Korea university is within 10 minutes by bus.
I have a big TV that you can watch any kind of movie you want, ( there are hundreds of free movies you can search and choose on the TV). And there are two air conditioners in the flat. I'm living with a small poodle and a cat. They are very friendly to people and give a warm atmosphere among the house.

Brief introduction of the owner Jia:

I'm 23 years old university student. I speak fluent English, Korean, and some German. I’m studying to become an ethologist and a researcher to study animal behaviour in Africa.

I love animals, and spending time outdoors. I have rescued dogs and cats, as well as guinea pigs, hamsters, rabbits, and other pets. I horse ride whenever I can. I adore travelling, and it has been my passion for as long as I can remember. I would love to experience places I have never been before, and experience other cultures. I have traveled extensively in Europe and North America. I am positive minded, friendly, and enthusiastic. I like to laugh and enjoy good times with friends and family. I’ve been living in a shared flat since I was 16 with more than 6 people sometimes, and I had a great time with them. so I'm familiar with living with lots of people. I really enjoyed the company as well as having my own privacy and respecting the others. I am constantly looking to improve myself, and happily accept constructive criticism.

I’m looking for two people to share the flat with. I would prefer people with similar age (between 23 to 28)

If you are interested and have any questions, please send me a message. I'll get back to you as soon as possible.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Jia

Jung Yunho in ‘The Night Watchman’

Member of K-pop duo TVXQ -  Jung Yunho appeared as an actor in the MBC drama “The Night Watchman” on Monday.

Jung plays the role of Moosuk, one of the greatest swordsmen in the Joseon Dynasty.

“The Night Watchman” is broadcast every Monday and Tuesday on MBC.

SOURCE

Itaewon - New Trendy Place to Unwind

Well, I can't believe that Itaewon has taken a 180 degree turn in terms of popularity among Korean youth. Until late 2000s it was a  place that Koreans hate to visit and it was left almost entirely to the expats. The  article below tells a different story about Itaewon:

Where is the hottest spot for young people in Seoul at the end of the week?
KB Kookmin Card analyzed the spending habits of 4.2 million of its travel card users on Friday evenings between the hours of 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. in February and March of this year. Itaewon subway station was the most frequented stop. On Friday evenings, 10,883 of its travel card users disembarked there, a 2.4-fold increase from other weekday periods.
Itaewon is especially popular among young women.
Itaewon has become a top spot to enjoy a second round of drinks after dinner.
One of the main attractions of the area is the recent explosion of unique bars and eateries there.
Park Jeong-lim is one of a number of single 30-somethings who has grown tired of partying in the student-friendly Hongik University area. She now prefers spending her Friday nights at more sophisticated haunts in cosmopolitan Itaewon. 
"The Itaewon area has begun offering an ever-more eclectic mixture of unique restaurants and bars in recent years, making it the place to go on a Friday night," said Choi Chang-ryong at KB Kookmin Card.

South Korea’s webtoons: going global

 Lee Eun-Seok woke up in the middle of the debris and looked for survivors but it was no use. Seoul had already turned into a huge hive, infested by giant hornets.

So goes the story in Hive, one of the “webtoons” that have become hugely popular in South Korea and which are poised to become the country’s next booming export, according to some bullish forecasts.

The growth of smartphones and South Korea’s world-leading internet speeds have spurred the rapid take-off of these digital comic strips, which are downloaded from the internet and scrolled through on a smart device.

According to KT Economy Research Institute, South Korea’s webtoon market, with 6.2m readers a day and 140,000 cartoonists, was worth about $96m in 2012. KT predicts that it will grow to $290m by 2015 as webtoons tap into new revenue streams through partnerships with producers of movies, dramas and online games.

As of 2013, the global comic book market was worth an estimated $8.8bn according to Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA), while the digital comic book market was worth an estimated $1bn. The biggest comic book market in the world is in Japan, worth an estimated $3bn in 2012, followed by the US at an estimated $600m.

More Details here!

Shahrukh Khan as Goodwill Ambassador of Korea

 The King Khan could introduce you to Kukkiwon, the world famous taekwondo academy, Psy of Gangnam Style fame and K-pop, the mouthwatering Korean barbeque. To South Koreans, the actor could teach their first cricket team a thing or two about the business of the game — maybe organize the first match between Kolkata Knight Riders and the Koreans. And, perhaps, open Bollywood to a new part of the world.

Khan as a public diplomat and an ambassador of India’s soft power is not hard to imagine. But only if the man can tear himself away from tinsel town to walk the talk. The South Korean government had to pursue Khan for over two months before he agreed to officially accept the offer. They ideally want him to visit South Korea before the maiden visit of their president Park Geun-hye.
Source!