Weekend Korean Classes at Onnuri Church near Seobinggo Station. Line 1

Onnuri Church at Seobingo. Line 1, originally uploaded by breeze-O.

On weekends I attend my Korean Class @ Onnuri Guhe..

The Onnuri Church at Seobingo offers Korean Classes for free (tutoring) on weekends at all levels. The classes are held on Saturdays 11 am to 1 pm. On joining you are required to pay for the books, which is around 30,000 won and for snacks – again around 30,000 won (each term).

These classes are open for all. On day one they will assess your Korean Language skills and will assign a class to you accordingly. There are 9 levels (from beginners to advanced class) and by word-of-mouth they have loads of students visiting them regularly for learning Korean. And they really have the best tutors to teach you Korean.

Directions to Onnuri Church – Get down at Seobinggo and come out of the station. No specific exit. Just come out and take a right. Get down. Walk and you will find directions to the Church.. Keep walking till you reach.

Otherwise you can take any of these buses – 0015, 149, 6621 to reach Onnuri Church. It will drop you bang opposite the church.

For more information you can contact Jessie: oemkorean@gmail.com

Cute-um Buddha at Insa Dong

Cute-um Buddha.., originally uploaded by breeze-O.

This is by far one of my cutest finds.. Cute Gautam Buddha amongst the streets of Insa Dong.

It was kept inside a shop among other antiques and I could not help but capture it when I saw it. It was like love at first sight.. Instant attraction.. infatuation.. whatever you call it..

Insa Dong is really popular amongst tourist as you ll find all traditional stuff offered for sale.. from korean dolls to handicrafts, for cups to korean tea, from sculpture to all the things which are good to see but of not much use you will be able to find here..

Its a must visit walk for every photographer and alike visiting Korea.. you fill find many a mementos here for gifting it to your loved ones at home..

Getting there – Anguk Station, exit 6.. Jonggak Station, exit 3.. Jongno 3 (sam)-ga Station, exit 1..

Do you remember your lines…

Do you remember your lines…, originally uploaded by breeze-O.

One of my photograph on Flickr which has received maximum views, maximum comments and have been fav’d by so many expert photographers.. Yipppeeeee!!!

I had taken this image inside an art gallery between Insa-Dong and Bukchon Village… I liked this place the moment I saw it and felt like capturing it immediately on my lenses…

Thanks a lot for viewing it..

Useful Websites – Seoul n Korea

Useful Blogs:

• Marmots hole and Korean Beat are like Korea insiders.. Korean Times and the other English news paper available in Korea is pretty dry and news published is more or less filtered. If you really want to know what is happening around you check these websites with articles from Korean Newspaper translated in English.
• Seoul City Blog – This blog is maintained by Seoul Global Centre and has very helpful information for foreigners on most of the things.
• Kimchi Crew – This blog has interesting info on Korean Language, Kpop and youth culture in general. Kimchi Crew also offers Korean and other language exchanges classes on weekends at Meeple Cafe, Sinchon.
• Kiss My Kimchi – This blog has info on Culture, Entertainment, Food, Shop, Teach, Travel, Clubbing and everything in general in Korea. So before you are planning to visit any part of Korea you can just do a quick search on his blog to get some useful info for the places he has visited and blogged about.
• Brian in Jeollanam-do – Brian has been contributing articles to Korea Herald, Korea Times, Joongang Daily and has around 2500 posts on his blog about the culture, educations, news and events in South Korea. I specially enjoy reading his articles on Love Motel in Korea.
• Recruiting in Korea – tells you the Honest truth about recruiting English Teachers in Korea.

Newspaper and Magazines:

• 10 Magazine – Events, Movies, Workshops, Art Cafes, Music,Theatre, Parties in Korea.. one of the widely read English Magazine in print. Copies available at Kyobo Bookstore and other places frequently visited by foreginers:
• Groove Korea – similar information as above. Available in Print. Mostly covers the music scene in Korea.
• For the list of Korean newspaper in English available online click here.

Online Entertainment – Dramas, Movies & Kpop

• MY SOJU – the mecca of Korean Dramas and Movies. These guys do a very good job of uploading drama episodes with English Subtitles. Most of the foreigners who watch Korean Drama owe their viewing to MySoju. Apart from Korean Drama and Movies it also has Japanese and Taiwanese Drama and Movies.
• KoreanMusic.tv – does a very good job of uploading KPOP videos with useful info about the band and the artist.

Online Shopping

• Gmarket – you need an Alien Card to register your self and then you are on. This is by far the cheapest place I ve come across to buy your things. They offer almost everything and had various options to chose from. And most of the goods you order they deliver if for free.

Adventure

• Seoul Hiking – has a group on facebook. You need to just join the group and every week they will mail you details about the hiking conducted by them. With so many mountains surrounding Seoul this one is not to be missed.
• Adventure Korea – offers very interesting packages on weekends for exploring Korea in an adventurous way. Skiing, Ice Fishing, Rafting, Mud bath, Hiking, Rock Climbing, Temple Stay, Jeju Island they have travel packages on almost everything.

Photography

• Seoul Photo Club and Flickr in Seoul are the two most commonly used group on Flickr where people from in and around Korea submit their photos and offer constructive comments.

Other Listings

• Craigslist in Seoul – Buy / Sell / Rental / Dating / Events etc in Seoul. These listing are very popular amongst the Foreign Community in Korea.

Lost in Translation

If this is the first time you are visiting Korea and you are planning to stay here for a long time then it is important for you to visit the Seoul Global Center.  SGC was launched recently keeping in mind the problems faced by foreigners who come to Korea for job or a short visit.

The common problem faced by every foreigner coming to Korea for the first time is that they get lost in the Translation. They cannot speak Korean and most Koreans cannot speak English. So at that moment they need a mediator and that is where SGC comes into picture. Not necessarily to help you in your day to day translation but to help you get settled.

SGC can help you in many a ways. They can help you in resolving your conflicts, teaching you Korean language, give you some orientation on Korean Culture, help you in buying a mobile, making new friends etc. etc.

You can visit their website for more information: http://global.seoul.go.kr/

And you can also read their blog where they have very informative article: http://www.seoulcityblog.com/