Leave your penis at home.

I made a vow to myself on Thursday that I would NOT stay out late at night this weekend, dooming myself to losing half the weekend sleeping. And yes, I kept my vow. But by some cruel karmic luck, or just nasty coincidence, I was hit by yet another cold and had to stay in Sunday anyways. Damn these Koreans and their years of unregulated antibiotics. I don't stand a chance against the viruses here.

But I did still manage to use my weekend well. I started off Saturday with a deliciously rich breakfast of eggs benedict with crab sauce and coffee at the Toque Bistro. The Bistro was a Matt discovery, run by a Korean-American chef named Jane. She's a great lady and a fantastic chef who makes the best Italian food any of us have found in Korea.

Matt with his gigantic pancakes and my lovely eggs benedict in the foreground.Afterwards, we headed over to Gyeongbokgung Palace (경복궁) to see a performace of traditional dance. It was mighty crowded, which always drives me nuts, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I'd like to give some background info on the dances we saw, but Matt ended up with the paper that explained everything.

Traditional dancers with the Palace entrance in the background.

Being a shorty is not good in crowds...since I couldn't always see the performance too well, I ended up spending more time people watching than watching the dancers.

This little girl spend most of the time grooming her daddy...very cute.

A Mask Dancer.

Mask Dancer

A little boy gets a kiss from Grandma

Grandma just got a booger!

Mask Dancers

The coolest part of the performace was the tightrope walker. This used to be a very popular form of entertainment back in the days of the Chosun Dynasty, but as an artform it has largely died out. The guy we saw was amazing, he not only walked, but jumped, turned, and bounced on his crotch. Right before doing the crotch bouncing, he told the crowd that he had left his penis at home that day. After seeing all the bouncing he did, one would think he really doesn't have a penis...or was wearing a cup made of thick steel. And he was pretty damn funny too, because the crowd was laughing a lot whenever he talked....but I didn't understand any of it except a few things that Matt's friend Sun translated for us.



After the show ended, Matt and I went our separate ways to accomplish individual shopping missions. Mine was to hit up Hongdae, and area I have been to at night many times but never during the day. Hongdae is a university area and one of the hippest spots in Seoul. It's loaded with trendy bars, restaurants and funky little shops. They are famous for Club Night on the last Friday of every month, where one ticket gives admission to 15 or 20 clubs. I went to Club Night last week, and once was enough for me -- every place was packed to the gills with people and smoke. Not my idea of the best dancing environment.

But for shopping, Hongdae just may be my new favorite spot. I didn't even go into half of the stores, but from what I did see, this is the place to get unique stuff, although a lot of it was out of my price range. However, it met two of my major shopping requirements: the stores let you try stuff on and the salespeople were not like vultures. Sold! I picked up some cool stuff for good prices, so I will definitly be back there soon.

Sally, the owner of the shop where I spent most of my time and money. She was super sweet, showing me photos of her kids and giving me advice on what looked best on me.

A giant Soju bottle harrasses some military guys. The company was having a promotion and giving away free mini bottles of Soju on the street, always a hit with everyone.

My new best friend.

Today, Sunday, I took it easy to nurse my cold, which I am still doing as I write this. I continued my exploration of the multitude of coffee shops in the neighborhood, discovering a fairly decent place with comfy couches and overpriced drinks. Then, I finally tackled one of my biggest cooking ambitions - 삼 계탕 - Samgyetang -- or Ginseng Chicken Soup. It is a whole chicken stuffed with rice, dates, ginseng, ginger and garlic. It's damn good, and I am proud to say mine turned out tasting exactly like the stuff I've had in restaurants. It is supposed to be very healthy and it's often eaten in the summertime when the weather is at its hottest.

Speaking of that, the other good news is that it's warming up slightly and I was able to open my window and turn off the heater for most of the afternoon.