Where has this month gone?? I mean, really!!! It's super crazy! Tomorrow is CHRISTMAS! I can't even believe it.

So yes, today is Christmas eve! I plan to do a lot of fun things today! but mainly I plan to getreally lost in Hongdae in hopes of finding the Coffee prince Cafe. this trip has been a year in the making and it's going down today. Then later I plan to possibly go to Dr. Fish. Depends on when I actually get out and about today. lol.

Then tonight i'm going to go see the Nutcracker!!! Yay!! Super excited about that!!! ^_^

Then tomorrow I am off to Jeju Island for the weekend with Gabi via Adventure Korea! YAY! Be prepared, pictures to come!

T&S

K.C.

I know I already did the music of the month this month, however, this simply couldn't wait until January to be featured. I mean really, it's TOP and G Dragon!

I just found out about this song last night so I immediately pulled up the music video.

Now, TOP is my all time favorite Kboy. there is NO denying it. I just love him, always have and always will. and G Dragon, on the other hand, is the guy I love to hate. he's just so darn weird and yet totally smexy at the same time. I think it was the blonde hair that did it for me and it went from there.

Anyways, so I pulled up the music video to take a look. After the 3min and 9 second video I sat dumbfounded.

Never before have a loathed a music video quite so much. Don't get me wrong, I really really like the song! which is what makes this oh so weird. the song is great. It's provocative and fast past, just how I like it. The Music video on the other hand, makes me want to run and throw myself off the nearest balcony. Ugh. It's that bad.

I mean let's get real, it's G Dragon and TOP in a club with a bunch of ushered in FOREIGNERS who do nothing but stare at the camera and grope G Dragon and TOP. I would bet that half those girls probably didn't even know who they were.

My real problem though, is that I wasn't in the video! Darn It!! I mean, how did I miss the call for scanky blondes who want to rub  up against TOP and G Dragon! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! There went my one chance to fufill my fantasy... LOL.

Anywho... take a look and see for youself. I recommend you listen to the song by itself BEFORE watching the music video so you're not jaded. lol.

Ok, I live here right??? how is it I totally missed this??? I didn't hear a siren, I didn't see anything? No one even told me about it at work. I mean, really?? Clearly this was not all that important to people. I would have liked to of known beforehand though. That would have been totally great, thanks a lot US Embassy. Why did I sign up for your notices again?

Note to self: Don't expect help from the US Embassy or the SK Government if all hell breaks loose because apparently we foreigners aren't important enough to inform T_T Yeah, it's not that big of a deal but what if it were something more important. then It would have been a big deal. I mean, this drill should have also been about getting information out to both citizens and foreigners. Just sayin....


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101215/ap_on_re_as/as_koreas_clash
By HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM KWANG-TAE, Associated Press Hyung-jin Kim And Kim Kwang-tae, Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea – South Koreans stopped their cars, donned gas masks and ducked into underground shelters Wednesday in the country's biggest-ever evacuation drill — a government attempt to prepare traditionally indifferent citizens for possible new attacks by North Korea.

Fears of war on the divided Korean peninsula have intensified since the rivals fired artillery shells at each other last month across their tense western sea border. Four South Koreans on a front-line island were killed; the North's casualties are unknown.

Many South Koreans have become used to regular North Korean threats to turn the South into a "sea of fire" and have reacted coolly to civil drills in the past. There has been widespread anger and shock, however, over the North's Nov. 23 artillery bombardment of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island.


It was North Korea's first assault targeting a civilian area since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Both Koreas accuse each other of staging the first provocation. The North claims that South Korea fired artillery toward its territorial waters, while South Korea says it launched shells southward, not toward North Korea, as part of routine exercises.


The nationwide 20-minute evacuation drills Wednesday were the largest since the country began the training in 1975.


In frigid temperatures, air raid sirens blared. Government officials and company employees stopped work and evacuated to underground shelters in basements, subway stations and parking lots. Housewives were asked to turn off the gas in their kitchens.


A dozen South Korean fighters flew over major cities to simulate North Korean airstrikes. Bullet trains ran at low speeds in a symbolic move to join with other stopped vehicles. In downtown Seoul, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the heavily militarized border and within easy range of North Korean artillery, the city's congested streets momentarily cleared as traffic halted.


There was no penalty for not going to shelters, but authorities encouraged participation, sending out word through the media and posting notices in residential areas. Officials expected up to 12 million of South Korea's 49 million people to take part in the drill.

So yup. Sounds like it was quite a thing. lol.

T&S

K.C.

One of the many things I have really enjoyed while I’ve been here is going to the Ballet. I love the Ballet in Columbus and I was curious to see what the national ballet troupe would be like here in Korea: I wasn’t disappointed!




Then my next visit to the Ballet was this past Saturday! Saturday Gabi and I headed over to the Seoul Art Center to see the KNB perform Swan Lake!


I was shocked to see that the music was going to be performed by a live orchestra! I was so excited!

The ballet itself was wonderful minus the ending. They performed the Yuri Grigorovich choreography which completely changes the original ending. I’m not going to lie, I always like a happy ending but hey, don’t change the story.

The best dance scene by far was with Odile, Rothbart and the Prince. That whole scene was really well done! Actually, the enter second half of the ballet was better than the first but this scene stood out in my mind.

I also have to comment on the staging as it was really beautiful! Most of the time in Columbus the stage is pretty bare or don’t change at all. But here the backgrounds for Swan Lake were both elaborate and changed throughout the storyline. I really liked the use of screens that could drop down for shadowing or towards the end, to display Odette in the background as the prince confesses his love to the wrong girl.

Overall it was a really great performance. The music was especially strong, thanks to the live orchestra.

My one main complaint, and this didn’t happen at the other performances, is that the troupe was constantly asking for applauses. I mean, really? they even did a whole ordeal at intermission where everyone came out and bowed…. It wasn’t even the end of the performance. And then, they came out AGAIN at the end of the ballet. Not to mention the bows during the actual storyline. I have to say, this was pretty tacky on the KNB’s part. I was highly displeased and I will be interested to see if they do it again for the Nutcracker. So yeah, that is really my only complaint about the night. Lol.


Next up is the Nutcracker! YAY! Gabi and I are going to go and see it on Christmas Eve! Can’t wait! If you’re interested, tickets to the Nutcracker are still available and run through Christmas Day!

T&S

K.C.

Well, I didn’t think I was going to do any decorating for Christmas seeing how I’m going to be in Jeju for Christmas and then I leave on the 30th. However, I just couldn’t do without a Christmas tree.


I had seen mini trees on sale at Home Plus the other day and decided to head back and get one. Unfortunately they only had pink left. LOL. So yes, I have my very own pink 3 foot Christmas tree!

In my search for a tree and decorations I can say with certainly that Home Plus had the best selection of trees from any place I went and Daiso has the best deals on ornaments. So, if you’re in the market you may want to check those places out.

Well, I pulled the tree out of the box and immediately knew I had to fix up this Charlie brown style Christmas tree. It just looked so bare and hopeless. Lol.

Here is a picture of the tree with just the lights and a few bulbs on it. (I was color scheming at the time. lol)


Well, I can happily say that my Christmas tree is a Charlie Brown Christmas tree no more! After about an hour to two hours of work, this is the final result!
T&S
K.C.

December is here already and there is a ton of new music to choose from!

However, this month’s music choice wasn’t too hard to make. I have been addicted to this song since I first heard it!

So, December’s music of the month spot goes to….. Miss A’s Breathe!!!

Now, Miss A started out with a pretty different concept than most girl groups. They have that little bit of edge that I like in a group. Of course no one is as edgy as 2ne1, but they can all try. Lol.

While their new look is a bit more girly than before, their bold use of color and their wicked dance moves keep them being awesome!

The song is a bit more girly too, talking about love (of course), but they manage to pull it off and rock it out!

So here we go, Miss A’s Breathe!!!


 
Hope you enjoyed!!! ^^
 
T&S
 
K.C.