2S2 Anguk: Get Your Coffee Snob On!

Hey there coffee lovers!  Hope you're well... you may have heard of this thing called 2S2 that I regularly plan -- it's a come-as-you-are expat-and-anyone-else get-together aimed at meeting and making connections.

Well, this week, I'd like to share something that's given me much joy lately: coffee!  See, lately, in the Gyeongbokgung Station area, I've been finding a whole slew of amazing coffee shops, and I'd like to share them with my readers and friends.

So if you're free this Saturday, at 2pm, I'll be on the second floor of Twosome Place, near exit 1 of Anguk station, and anybody who comes out to meet up, will be treated to a coffee shop crawl of the neighborhood west of Gyeongbok Palace.  There are a handful of places there selling a variety of great beans, and slow-drip coffee, siphon coffee, and other stuff; they are also selling top-quality beans, and if you're a Seoul-based lover of coffee, I'll level with you, and tell you that you really need to come out and find out about these places!

Show up at 2pm, and don't be late: we'll be leaving fairly promptly, because the coffee at twosome place doesn't stack up, compared to the awesome places we'll visit thereafter.

Stop having these kinds of coffee experiences: (discarded dishwater coffee handed out before a concert I attended once)

and start having experiences like this:

and this... if it were coffee, instead of ice rink:

and this... not that luwak's on the menu, but you might make the face I make when I smell, and then sip it...

2S2 Anguk... World Cup Edition

Dear readers...

Downtown Seoul is going to be a zoo this weekend.  The Twosome Place by Anguk Station will doubtless be overrun by red-clad Chukkumaniacs, as will the rest of Jongno, so here's the plan:

skip Anguk station.  Seriously... instead of going to Anguk Station, go to Gwanghwamun Station Exit 5, and walk straight ahead.  The Korean Queer Culture Festival, including the Pride Parade will be there, and there will be tons to see, including face painting and all kinds of stuff.  Look for me.  I'll definitely be there for part of the day. 

If you head either down to City Hall Plaza, or up to Gwanghwamun Plaza, as the evening wears on, you'll want to switch your rainbow gear for a red t-shirt, to watch Korea play against Greece.

I am dead serious that some time during the world cup, it is imperative that you see a world cup game with 600 000 other people, in one of those mass gatherings Koreans do so wonderfully, chaotically, brilliantly well.  Believe me, it'll be worth it.  Gwanghwamun or City Hall will probably both be good for seeing the game, both will have stuff set up - souvenirs, flashing lights, silly hats etc., I'm sure, and you might want to bring a picnic mat, to stake out a spot on the ground from which to watch the game, and stake it out early - the game starts at 8:30, if memory serves, and people will be claiming spaces, I'm sure, three or five hours before that.  Bring water, bring a snack, bring your cheer gear, look for me at the Pride Parade, and enjoy the party!

That's where it's at for 2S2 Anguk this month.  Send me your pictures!

2S2 May: Gwangjang Market

Thanks to Amy and Chris, 2S2 May, in Anguk, was a success.  Here are some photos Amy sent me, by way of a fella named Richard.  Thanks for the photos!

Jongmyo Park: all the old guys playing games.

Gwangjang Market, a 25 minute walk from Myeongdong, one of the top brand-name shopping districts in Seoul, still evokes old - really old Korea.

Traditional dolls.

And... the amazing Kwangjang Market food...

Chapchae with a side of sundae:

Bindaeddeok - Korean savory pancakes.

This is the market as seen from outside

Gwangjang Market also has long, hollow, haunted-looking halls, lit this way, selling tons of fabrics.

2S2 Anguk: Gwangjang Market and the World DJ Festival

Remember: 2S2 Suwon is also a go!  No word yet from Yongin and Wonju.

So Amy and Chris, minor deities in their own rights, have offered to help me out by running the upcoming 2S2 by Tag-Team, so that I can go tuxedo shopping on Saturday with my fiance, and still get married in July.  Thanks, you two.

The plan remains as stated:  Meet at 2PM on the second floor of the Twosome Place coffee shop by Anguk Station (Anguk Station exit 1, turn right).

Look for either this handsome guy (stolen without permission from Chris's Blogger Profile), who answers to the name "Chris" or "Thou Austere Keeper of the Sword That Wails, And Curator of Awkward Silences"

Or this curly-haired young lady, who radiates "awesome" (picture stolen without permission from her facebook photo album... I didn't have time to check if the picture was a good one; it's late and I wrote this in a sleepy rush.  Sorry if it's not you at your best, Amy.)

She answers to the name Amy.  I think the picture might be old; she may have changed since it was taken.

Once the crew has gathered, there are two ways to get to Gwangjang Market.  Either by following this path:

View 2S2 Saturday May 8 2010 in a larger map
(If the weather's awesome and everybody is healthy and mobile)

Or by subway, Anguk Station, transfer at Jongno 3-ga station, get off at Jongno 5-ga station, exit 8, and head for the center of the market, where all the best food awaits.

From there, on the other side of the market is the Chunggyecheon Stream, which is a nice walk, and if some of you want to go to the Seoul World DJ festival, you'll have to work that out.  The facebook page is here.  The google map is here.

If you really want to go to the DJ Festival (which is awesome, by the way, but'll cost ya), here's the map to catch the bus from World Cup Stadium Station;

View Seoul DJ Festival in a larger map

Wish I could be there, readers.  I'll post pictures of me in my tuxedo when I can.  Don't you know I look dazzling in a suit.

If I have the energy (clothing shopping tires me), and Girlfriendoseyo has the patience, and the store has one in stock, I'll be sure to get at least one picture of me in a ridiculous tuxedo for you.  If all those things occur.  Have a good time eating food and walking around a market I wish I could join you for, readers.

-Rob

2S2 Suwon: Archery!

See the facebook event here.

Here's the schedule for the Suwon 2S2 meeting:

12:00 pm: meet at Suwon station (수원역) (2d floor, bottom of escalator, near Lotteria - like last time)

12:15 pm: take a bus to Bukmun ( North Gate - 북문) / Janganmun (장안문).

12:30 pm (or soon after): sign up for, pay, and do traditional Korean archery.

2:00-3:00 pm (when finished archery): walk the fortress wall. This will take us up the hill, past the statue of king Jeongjo (정조) [the very one in the event photo to the right of this text], past the big bell (well, another big bell) that you can ring for luck (and a few thousand won), and finally through an old-fashioned Korean market.

6:00 pm: Dinner at Ban-ga (반가) IF there are not too many people. If more people come, we'll eat at a bigger place just down the road - can't miss it: 3(?) storeys high, big windows, lots of space, on the main road to Suwon station, near the first set of traffic lights on the way to Paldalmun (팔달문) / Nammun (남문 - south gate) from Suwon station.

7:00-8:00 pm: optional drinks, socialising, etc. at a place to be determined on the night.

Hi Expat: Where to Volunteer

Hi Expat, a useful new site, has a list of places where you can volunteer. Hopefully, he will be adding to that list.

Go read up.

2S2 Wonju in April.