TOTO

Toto is a rather bizarre toy museum/shop in Insa-dong, full of forgotten and battered dolls and all of the other childhood toys that you forgot about... or didn't. I was very happy to see a cabbage patch doll make an appearance - even it did look rather sad and abused...

Saturday in Insa-dong

A few weeks back we headed into Insa dong to do some wandering, see some art and generally immerse ourselves in Seoul culture...

I stopped myself from going totally crazy and spending all my cash on random pieces of pretty junk however I will be going back and next time I am highly likely to come back with a birdcage...

Kimchi

Kimchi is 'the' food of Korea, it is served with EVERYTHING a kind of cabbagey, spicey thing that is apparently very good for you. Kimchi season is now and a few weeks back our school cooks and various othe random ajumma's spent the day making the vast amounts of Kimchi the school were require for the following year.

Minjae Lee

I found the artist Minjae Lee on the internet rather randomly, it was a complete fluke that he happened to be South Korean. I love his style, especially this picture. According to research he's a fairly young guy with no formal training. I found a website but annoyingly its all in Korean! Grrr....

Seoul Museum of Art

I have been wanting to go to Seoul Museum of Art for a while, so today I decided just to get on subway and head over. It was a good decision. Seoul Museum of Art is housed in the old Supreme Court building near City Hall subway station. Its currently showing 'City_net Asia 2009', The Seoul Arts exhibition and permanent exhibition of the AMAZING Korean artist 'Chun Kyung Ja' who I am now in love with. It also cost 700 won to get in which is about 30p. Ridiculous.

City_net Asia 2009 is an annual exhibition compromising contemporary art from galleries based in Seoul, Istanbul, Tokyo and Beijing. It was great viewing and the best thing is that it closes in the next month and then the 2010 exhibition opens! Annoyingly you weren't allowed to take photos inside, however I did buy the accompanying book so will be able to show you all at some point.

The 'Chun Kyung Ja' exhibition was beautiful, a retrospective of whole vein for her work, that she herself has donated. Unfortunately there was no english text accompanying the exhibition, so to learn about her I relied on google when I got home. Obviously everyone else loves her too, as the book and postcards from the exhibition had all sold out in the shop... grrr. Her work is very figurative and very colourful, almost Kahlo-esque. She also has alot of pieces inspired by literature which I loved the most. I am definitely going back.

The Seoul Arts exhibition sector, was my least favourite - mainly because I prefer paintings to creaft based art, and this season it was themed on crafts... alot of ceramics etc etc. Pretty and I could appreciate it but it just wasn't really my cup of tea.

Korea Now.

'Sun Mu' is an escaped North Korean Artist whose solo exhibition 'Korea Now' is currently being held at Art Space in Hongdae. Its intriguing viewing... as close as contemporary North Korean Propaganda Art as I will probably get...

Wedding photos

...so i finally added photos to the 'Laura Teacher gets married post'... scroll down and take a look. It was beautiful x

Things I have been meaning to show you...

My desk/bookshelf... I dream of having more books... so few depresses me.

My fridge....I made it pretty

The place where I look in the mirror and do my hair and make-up... that cupboard is full of random rubbish... the black hole area.

Clothes rail and television....

Some of my favourite jewelrey...

My mobile phone... its pink and shimmery

Korean military boots....My Korean military boots.

Two new purchases... a rucksack and a tshirt...

Kyobo

So the other week we decided to end wasting our Sunday's in Munsan and head into Seoul. Our first (and only) hit was Kyobo bookstore. An international bookstore in the basement of the Kyobo building. After receiving directions form the Holy Grail (Lisa Teacher) we headed off excited about the possibility of an proper bookshop. Essentially Kyobo is amazing, if a little pricey i stopped myself from buying British Vogue (it was 27000 won, around £14) which was a good thing as I found another place which sells it cheaper they just don't have the new issue, the red one with Georgia Jagger on the cover, in stock yet. I did managed to pick up New Moon, the second installment of the Twilight set and scored myself a membership card. The area Kyobo is set in was also really interesting and managed to get some random snaps... just random things that caught my eye. I will definitely be heading back to Kyobo come pay day, it was like a little slice of heaven...

I like this photo...

Me and Shauna in Ilsan....