Escape Room, Board Room Cafe, Cat Cafe and some Chi-Mek, too

On a warm Sunday, Yangkyu and I spent the whole day hanging out with his brother's family. They had been a big help to us and are super fun to be with and so we kind of saved the best for last and allocated an entire day to be with them.

Before our trip to Korea, Yangkyu's sister in law had inquired through an online forum asking for advice on what kind of activities might be worthwhile for people visiting Korea who haven't been back in a long time. Included in a long list of suggestions was something called Escape Room cafes, which were widely popular all throughout Korea when we were there (I am not sure if the trend has passed now). 

Yangkyu and I love board games and so this type of physical adventure was something we really wanted to try. We didn't think we would be all that good just the two of us and so we decided to do it as a group with his family.

We went to one (of many) in Gangnam called The Clue and while I don't have any photos to show you (except for their logo - photos are not allowed inside), I can tell you that it was incredibly fun. For people who have already experienced Escape Rooms before, they pick up on certain tactics that help them pick up clues and solve the riddles faster. For me, it was a little hard because while I do speak the language, it's harder for me to read and understand/process sometimes. Still, it was thrilling every time we got a step closer to making it out of the room. 

There were about 6-8 rooms you can choose from - ranging from beginning to advanced. There are scary/horror themed rooms, which we didn't choose because Yangkyu's niece was too young.

After you choose your room, you get in a single file and are asked to put your hands on the shoulders of the person in front of you. You are given blindfolds and are guided inside the room you are to escape from. To me, that whole process was fun in itself. Kind of builds of the excitement. When we were allowed to take our blindfolds off, the room was completely dark. The first step to making out of the room is to find the light switch.

You are given 1 hour and there was a huge digital clock inside the room to help you keep track of time. You are also given one opportunity to ask for a hint, which is done by making a call from the phone provided inside your escape room. The people who work there I think also monitor your entire process using CCTV cameras. We used our hint at about the 30 minute mark and we made it out with just a couple of minutes left on the clock. 

The whole experience wasn't corny and was actually very well made. A part of me thought I would be disappointed but I wasn't at all. Yangkyu and I even thought about going again just the two of us but unfortunately we couldn't find the time. Yangkyu had wanted to go with his colleagues back here in the states but somewhere something got screwed up and their plans got foiled. 

Next we made our way to a Board Room cafe also located in Gangnam (but again there are many throughout the city). 

For some reason I can't imagine going somewhere like this back home but in Korea it was actually really fun and I think Yangkyu and I could spend an entire day there (ok maybe not an entire day but hours and hours - we're game nerds). 

It just so happened that Yangkyu's brother likes board games as well and comes here with his daughter when they have their daddy/daughter time during the weekends. And so we started off with some games they both enjoyed (Ovo was a super fun one) and chose games that none of us has played before. A huge favorite was called Love Letter. It's just a simple deck of cards with characters who out rank one another. The goal is to avoid being eliminated by being the one holding the highest card. It's such a simply made game but one that made us play for several rounds. 

  // Thai lunch // 

 // Pit stop at a capsule coin machine store. Another big popular trend while were in Korea were stores dedicated to toy grabber machines and stores that only housed capsule coin machines. We had gone to a toy grabber machine with Win's family few nights before and came to the capsule store because Yangkyu's niece wanted to go. Aside from being completely dumbstruck at why these things were popular was the fact that she is just like Yangkyu in that she takes her times in deciding what she wants. I couldn't help but laugh and tell Yangkyu, to which he replied, "I know! She takes a long time! Just like me! We must be family." But it was nice to see her think about what she really wants instead of making a haste decision. Something I thought was very mature for her age. // 

Our last activity for the day was going to a cat cafe. 

Before going to Korea, Yangkyu and I had wanted to go to all the animal themed cafes - dog cafes, raccoon cafes, sheep cafes. Then I started reading about incidents where animals were actually being abused and neglected. One person who claimed he had worked at a dog cafe wrote a plea to the general public asking them to stop frequenting these cafes because they need to shut down as animals are neglected and treated poorly. So Yangkyu and I decided not to patron them. 

We did however stop by a dog cafe on our last day in Jeju Island, which we regretted immediately (written about here). Yangkyu's brother knew of my disappointment but asked if I would be willing to try a cat cafe and since Yangkyu's niece likes going there (she loves animals) I said ok. 

I do have to say that it doesn't seem like the cats at this cafe were neglected and poorly treated. I liked how there were clearly written directions and rules, in Korean and English, asking customers what not to do (don't scream at the cats, run, pull on their tails, etc.). Some of the cats had bananas on which meant that people should not feed them as they have dietary issues. Which were all great. But, the problem lied with the people who came to the cafe. 

You can clearly tell who among the customers loved cats and knew how to be with them. You can also clearly those who weren't. They stuck out like sore thumbs - well to me at least. They were mostly kids who would run up to sleeping cats and yell at them to wake up because they wanted to play with them. Kids who would feed any cat, even though they had bananas on them. Kids who would try to drag the cats on to their laps, etc. The people who worked at the cafe had to spend time explaining to the children that they weren't supposed to do that but after being told they will did it anyway. The parents didn't really do anything and were either busy taking pictures or being just as annoying to the cats as well. Thankfully they weren't the majority but that didn't make it better. 

Even with the healthy cats, I wasn't too into the idea of buying cat food and feeding them. I couldn't imagine how many people came to give them food throughout the day. I liked the people who spent time there ordering a coffee or two and reading a book, or sketching (there was one girl who just sat there with napping cats all around her and she was just sketching one cat after another - she was clearly an awesome crazy cat lady).

Yangkyu spent time with his niece and fed the cats while his brother ended up with a peacefully nappy cat on his lap which he gently stroked the entire time we were there. 

I'd say, if you want to visit an animal themed cafe in Korea, please follow rules and etiquette. Even if the store doesn't have one set up, remember they are animals and not solely there for your amusement, entertainment and selfies. 

We ended the day with chi-mek. It's a shortened term for chicken and mek-ju which is beer in Korean. Yangkyu's aunt joined us and I think everyone felt a little bitter sweet that it was going to be Yangkyu's last day before heading to Paju to stay with my family for a night before going back home. 

 // Yangkyu and his niece. The last we saw her was about 6 years ago when she was still so little. She apparently likes games too! // 

We're almost almost done with our Korea trip. We'll be in Paju next at a little art village. Hope you'll come back for that story. 

 // Travel Korea : DMZ Tours

 // Travel Korea : Childhood Memories

 // Travel Korea : Seoul

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 1

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 2

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 3

 // Korea, according to my iPhone (pt. 1)

 // Travel Korea: Seoul

 // Korea, according to my iPhone (pt. 2)
 // A Gem in Hongdae
 // A Cocker and Friends Meet Up in Hongdae

Our (almost) Vegan Thanksgiving

In the past, Yangkyu and I would always make these enormous Thanksgiving dinners just for the two of us. Thanksgiving leftovers are part of the fun of Thanksgiving dinners but after a couple of days it gets a little too much (and gross). So as much as we enjoy having our home smell of fall spices and herbs, two years ago we gave up doing those big Thanksgiving dinners and decided to something different. 

First it was a Korean Thanksgiving dinner where we just cooked one dish - something that sparked joy and reminded us of our childhood and family get togethers. 

Last year, I think we just did take out. 

This year we decided to do a small vegan Thanksgiving bowls.

While the thought of doing a vegan dinner was exciting at first, as we got closer to Thanksgiving the whole idea just seemed like a big undertaking - something we were trying to avoid. But as I sifted through recipes on Pinterest, I chose ones that were simple yet sounded tasty and asked Yangkyu to pick up a few things from the grocery. The only thing was, he couldn't find vegan butter and it was too much to ask him to go to Whole Foods the day before Thanksgiving or sending him out on Thanksgiving morning and so we ended up using butter for our biscuits, gravy and ended up adding them to our mashed potatoes as well. 

I was also going to do a French bread vegan stuffing but realized that store bought French bread could contain milk or butter or eggs and so we scrapped that off of our list. We did manage to pull off a lentil loaf (I didn't like it much though and don't plan on making it again) and roasted carrots, broccoli and acorn squash (Yangkyu forgot to buy the brussels sprouts). You can't really go wrong with roasted vegetables. They are always delicious. The mashed potatoes and gravy turned out well as did the biscuits, something I thought was going to be a big bust.

While we don't plan on going completely vegan we are going to make little changes as much as possible. I have a commitment to go meatless (Yangkyu says he will when we eat together, but on his own during work he will likely still consume it) and when we run out of dairy products that we already have in our fridge, we will restock with vegan items. I don't plan on reading all the labels to make sure that something doesn't include dairy products, perhaps that's a goal for a later time. Baby steps for now. And we don't plan on giving up on fish or shellfish. 

My main thing right now is to cut meat. My mom doesn't eat meat and her reasoning is that she doesn't trust the factories, farms and butchers. My main thing is that I love animals. For me, I have always had trouble justifying the wearing and consuming of animals for my own pleasure. Every year it weighed down on me and I grapple with feeling like a hypocrite, and perhaps I am finally done with excuses and at least give it a good try to go as meatless.

It's been a few years that I made the switch to products (although it's still not 100%), and it's finally time to see if I can walk the talk with what I eat. 

Around here

Peek-a-boo

Just like Piri and Bartles, Lady has some of the best resting cocker face expressions.
One more week until we get our tree. I'm pretty sure this is the face she'll be wearing once we get it.

Things

The other day, I was looking through old photos, photos of when we first moved into our home and noticed how bare it looked. Bare but very nice. We were just moving into this new space and finding homes for all our things but we had also moved while I was on a big minimalist kick. I threw away or donated many of our items, including all my books (except my absolute favorites - less than 20), little collectables which always gave me a headache because they would collect dust and was a pain to clean and clothes. Lots of clothes. I kept only things that we needed, used often or really liked. And we only bought things we absolutely needed or really liked, sometimes putting items on a wish list and waiting to buy it after a few weeks if we still thought we wanted it or needed it. It turned out we ended up not needing a lot of things.

We were pretty good about keeping this lifestyle until one day I noticed clutter and that we didn't have space in our house to put things. We don't have a lot of storage space in our home to begin with and I don't like it when it looks like a lot of junk is just jammed in there. And I hate putting things away in hard to reach places to be completely forgotten. It'll just sit there unused for years and years , which is completely pointless to me. I like all my things within reach, which can be taken out and put back in with ease. If we don't have space for it, we don't need it.

Unfortunately I have forgotten my minimalist motto and now have one too many yarn baskets, throw blankets, dog beds and furniture including a kitchen island we recently bought that I'm desperately regretting but don't have the heart to tell Yangkyu. While he thought the kitchen island was a good idea as well, he is often the more wiser of the two of us when it comes to buying things we need vs. buying things we don't need. We also come from different schools of thinking -- me, I used to think buy it and if I don't need it later then donate or throw it out. Yangkyu, once he buys something, he will keep it forever and ever and ever. He doesn't have the heart to throw things out. Even iPhone and iPad boxes. He thinks there will be a use for them later on. I throw it out later without him knowing and he never knows that it's gone. I always tell him he takes after his late mother. When she passed away and we were cleaning out her apartment, we found all sorts of old (I mean really old) Korean newspaper clippings of "Let's Learn English" columns to an old beat up beach parasol (so random) to cassette tapes (she didn't have a cassette player). Anyway, I digress.

That kitchen island we bought because we don't have enough counter top space to cook with (more) comfort (elbow room, etc.). I rationalized that since I'm cooking more and more now, it'll be easier to have that moving kitchen island to have my vegetables sprawled out, cutting board and knife out along with different mixing bowls, etc.. I had completely forgotten my golden rule -- if you don't have enough space for things with the space you already got, you have too many things. 

And so I'm in a predicament. I can't throw out or donate that kitchen island or other clutterly things around the house because, well, it's too wasteful. While we are comfortable with what we make in terms of salary, we don't have the luxury to always buy and then throw out when the trend is over or when we don't need it anymore. 

My solution? 

I am mulling over different ideas to maximize our space without having to get rid of (many) things. And it's time to go through the medicine cabinet, condiments, craft items get rid of expired items and glues, markets and paint bottles that are old and dried out. And it's time to embrace my motto again and have a go at doing the waste challenge again on the daily (it's too hard to do the zero waste challenge but we try to do a version of it that challenges us enough that we don't try and create extra unnecessary waste). 

How do you manage "things" with the space you have?

Currently Knitting: Cowels

Me: What do you want for Christmas? 

Yangkyu: Hmmm.. a cowel. 

Me: Oh. I'll knit you one. 

Yangkyu: I want two. 

Me: I'll knit you two!

Yangkyu: Three. 

Me: I'll knit you three..!

Yangkyu: Five.

Me: Do you not want me to knit you a cowel? 

It's that time of year when we ask each other what we want for Christmas. I get to make a longer list of things because my birthday and Christmas fall just days from each other. Sometimes I add a big whammy and try to convince Yangkyu to get me that as a birthday/Christmas gift. A two for one kinda of deal. In the years past he got me my first DSLR and my first iMac. Such wonderful  wonderful surprises (I still remember the feeling and his face expressions when I opened them).

I still have that DSLR (Canon Rebel xsi) and that iMac I am still using today. While I would love to upgrade to a bigger iMac I don't think I will ever give away my first DSLR. I don't shoot with it at all now but there is just something about that first camera that I can't seem to part with.

I've begun knitting for the winter months. We like wearing cowels around here and so I've been knitting and crocheting those. I always download patterns because I want to try adding different colored yarns, patterns and cables but I always start the first couple using simple stitches. I don't even go off of a pattern. Just eyeball it. Maybe that's why Yangkyu would rather buy a cowel instead of me making one for him. Ha. They don't always turn out so pretty, or practical. 

This first cowel for the season I knitted with yarn I picked up at the Shenandoah Valley Fiber Festival. It was my first time going and I picked up a couple of skeins of yarn (white Shetland with 15% fawn angora) from the wonderful ladies at the Rosefield. They included with my purchase a small bottle of Eucalan Fine Fabric Wash and told me to try it when I block my work. I have never blocked any of my knits before and so it was a first for me. 

It's a slow evening for us. We had a couple of daycare dog guests come the past couple of days but starting tomorrow we will have several overnight guests come for the next week and a half through Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving has never really been a major holiday for us to celebrate and it doesn't excite me as much Christmas, but this particular year it's especially so. I don't look forward to our traditions (watching the Sound of Music and breaking out our 1000 puzzle piece) and our attempt at doing a vegan Thanksgiving doesn't seem so exciting anymore. Ah, maybe it's just one of those many funks I am go through -- always ebbs and flows.

Lately at Piri's Place

I'm still a little behind in putting pictures up from Piri's Place. But I'm kind of glad. I get to look back on Bartles when he was still with us.

I miss him and our little ritual. I miss his lazy sleeps and peaceful rests and how friends would nap next to him. Such precious friendships. I wonder if they miss him as much as I do. 

These are from May. In just two months, we would say our see you laters with Mr. B who would cross the rainbow bridge so suddenly and unexpectedly.

We miss you, Mr. Bartles {nose boop}.

A cocker and friends meet up in Hongdae

Boy am I really dragging our Korea posts on for an eternity. 

In my last post I had said that we would be back in Paju to visit a little art village but it had been so long since our trip that I completely forgot about a couple more Seoul related posts before we head on back to Paju and the tail end of our travels to Korea. 

First, a very special meeting happened on a warm weekend in Hongdae. A group of people who belong to cockers and friends came from near and far to meet Yangkyu and I. I was a bit nervous in the beginning to meet everyone (what will I say? what if I can't speak Korean because I get so nervous? What if we come off completely awkward?) but was so sad to say good bye when it came time to part.

Instagram has given us the opportunity to"meet" some of the most kindest and caring people who have laughed and cried with us through some of our happiest and saddest times of our lives. The mutual love of dogs created this bond and while I am quite shy and wary of meeting people (severe introvert here), I have always felt beyond thankful by their warm gesture. It's the kind of gesture that I have trouble expressing to others but have received in heaps (I sometimes want to reach out a hand but am afraid that I'll say the wrong thing or cross boundaries. Perhaps because I'm so sensitive to what others say and do, I put the fear on myself when it's me who is doing the talking or doing).

When Piri passed, I received such an overwhelming response from people all over the world and have received gifts to help us cope and remember Piri by. Just 9 months later when Bartles suddenly left us, they were there again, wishing us condolences, a shoulder to cry on and messages of support. 

Some of the people who have been a part of our journey, and us theirs, were there that day in Hongdae. 

  // Ji-Oh and Buddle // 

  // Pok Pok, White Schnauzer, and Michael (pronounced mi-ka-el), Maltese // 

I can't quite remember the name of the restaurant (their speciality is chicken though and is located across from a popular croissant bakery - there was literally a line of people waiting for the bakery to open) but it's dog friendly. I believe the owners have dogs themselves and inside there are little wooden crates for dogs to rest while their humans can enjoy a meal. Dogs are, of course, welcomed to rest under the table or in the arms of their owners as well. 

I don't think I have ever experienced a restaurant here in the US where dogs are allowed inside (there was one in St. Augustine but we never ate there). The feeling I got was that people are more flexible with dogs going inside cafes, stores and restaurants in Korea, although you must always ask (given). Perhaps there are less regulations and customers threatening to sue. I could be completely wrong as I don't live in Korea and don't know what it's like to have dogs there but it was just an initial observation and wishing that we had restaurants like this back home to take Bartles to (there are dog friendly restaurant but we must always sit outside, which doesn't always work when the weather is cold or too hot). 

  // Best buds // 

  // The wooden crates for pets to rest inside the restaurant // 

You would think that there might have been some awkward silences and moments but there was none of that. Some of the personalities present were outrageously funny and warm and inviting and the ice broke right away for everyone to feel close and comfortable.

After a hearty lunch (reservation, ordering and even footing the bill was all done by Win's owners - thank you again!), we headed over to a nearby cafe which was also very dog friendly. I loved the set up of the place, especially the tables that requires you to take your shoes off to sit with folded legs instead of on chairs. There are tables there with chairs to people who prefer that.

At the cafe, we had a bonanza taking pictures of the dogs, interacting with them a bit more since we had more room and talking a bit more. 

At the very end, we were able to meet one more person who belonged to the Korean cocker family club, whose cocker also crossed the rainbow bridge. She is now married and her and her husband belong to another... you guessed it, cocker spaniel. 

I am not quite sure if I said my thank you's properly this day because it was a little hectic meeting new people and dogs to boot. But thank you for taking the time to come out and making us feel so comfortable. 

That night I had a dream about Piri. He was running about like the dogs I had met, which was so great to see, but he kept running away -- going down into sewers and swimming away. I was so scared of losing him because he was so fast. He was so elusive but so vibrant. Perhaps it mirroring real life -- Piri healthy and energetic across the rainbow bridge and me feeling like he is so far away.  

For a few more pictures from this day, you can visit here - it's a blog (written in Korean) of one of the cocker owners (Buddle) who gifted us with a children's book titled "Dog Heaven". It is now my favorite book.

Next post we'll go on a little adventure, again in Hongdae, picking up clues at an escape room cafe, playing new games at a board room cafe and chilling out with cats at a cat cafe. Hope you'll join us for those adventures.

 // Travel Korea : DMZ Tours

 // Travel Korea : Childhood Memories

 // Travel Korea : Seoul

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 1

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 2

 // Travel Korea : Jeju Island, Day 3

 // Korea, according to my iPhone (pt. 1)

 // Travel Korea: Seoul

 // Korea, according to my iPhone (pt. 2)
 // A Gem in Hongdae