Third Clay Art: Dooli!

Hello everyone. Today I made another character with the clay! This time, it's a Korean comic character called Dooli. A story about this character was published as series of comic books at first, but as it gained more popularity, it got published in forms of animation and movies. The main story of the animation is that Dooli, a dinosaur with magical power, comes down to Earth to look for his mother who has disappeared. While on Earth, he stays at the house of Gil Dong, and meets new friends who add humor to the story with their special characteristics.

Steps to make Dooli:
1. Make an oval with the clay, and push down the center for the eyes.

2. Put circular white clay for the eyes, pink clay for the tongue, and some more white clay for the nose.

3. Make a cone-shaped body of Dooli, and pull out a part on the back for the tail.

4. Make hands and feet of Dooli

5. Put all the parts together, and there's Dooli!

Fukuoka Japan: Parco in Fukuoka opened on March 19!

Today we left Kurokawa, and went to Hakata station in Fukuoka. At the Fukuoka airport on the first day we arrived in Japan, the woman at the information center told us about the newly opened Parco department store, so we went there today! Parco is right in front of exit seven of Tenjin station. Because it just opened last Friday, the building was very clean and well decorated. However, it wasn't exactly as what I've expected because the goods at the department store were too expensive for me to buy as souvenirs. There were many young, fashionable women there; I think Parco is a a place like the Galleria in Korea, where young people come for shopping. Personally, I thought the shops in the subway were actually better than the shops in Parco because they were cheaper, but as good as the shops in Parco.

(These are pictures of the shops in Parco!)

Click here for the Parco website!

Kurokawa Japan

Finally, I'm in Kurokawa, Japan! However, I'm staying here for only three days, so I already feel sad about leaving so early. :( To come to Kurokawa, first, I left Incheon airport, and arrived at Fukuoka airport (this flight was only about one hour long). Then, I took the bus to go to the domestic airport, where I rode the bus to move into Kurokawa. Kurokawa is a town in the countryside, which is very famous for its beautiful sight and hot springs. My mom and I liked it very much because it wasn't crowded like the other developed cities in Japan, and we could enjoy the relaxing hot springs by ourselves.

Sushi we ate at Fukuoka airport.

The bamboo forest in Kurokawa!

We stayed at Okunoyu in Kurokawa, and I was satisfied with the service there because all the workers there were sincere and nice. I ate dinner and breakfast at Okunoyu, and they were all very delicious. Overall, I loved staying at Okunoyu! If you get a chance to travel to Kurokawa, I strongly recommend you to stay in Okunoyu.

The lobby of Okunoyu. Okunoyu is only about two minutes away from the Kurokawa bus station (by car)

Dinner at Okunoyu. We had more foods coming after this!

Garden at Okunoyu! It was well decorated with many different kinds of flowers, and the outside hot springs were in the garden.

Burdock chips we bought at another hotel. Unlike what I had expected, it tasted good; a little too salty though.

We were trying to go to a cafe, and the road was so steep! (but beautiful :)

Wool and the Gang

Although I didn't upload the pictures of it, I finished knitting the muffler for the handicraft club a long time ago! After that, I started on crocheting, but these days, I didn't get enough time to work on it because all the teachers are giving us projects and tests as it is close to the end of the school year! Then we'll have final exams...ugh... Anyway! I want to start knitting again... and while searching for some new yarns, I found a website called Wool and the Gang. This website's most famous yarn is the crazy sexy wool, which is a quite thick yarn that, which I personally think, is really pretty when it's knitted. In the website, there is an online shop, where kits, yarns, and products made with those yarns are sold. Oh, the website also has well-made videos that thoroughly explain how to knit! I really want to try knitting with one of those kits to make some clothes for spring, but they're all too expensive... They are sold in Euros, and I would have to pay for the shipping fee too, so... it's not quite easy for me to simply decide to order something form the website... but it's so pretty!

While looking at some other blogs about knitting, I found out that many people in other countries are interested in knitting. Even many men knit these days!

Sources
http://woolandthegang.com/en/home.php
http://blog.naver.com/swingfish?Redirect=Log&logNo=110078229699

Hello, World!

I know well what I am fleeing from but not what I am in search of. ~Michel de Montaigne

Like what the quote says, I know which subjects I don’t like, but haven’t realized which topics I actually like to study about in depth and share my ideas about with other people around the world. Therefore, although it is better for blogs to have certain topics, which make them organized, I decided to start writing posts about things that just come up to my mind or that I simply want to talk about! Hopefully, by doing this for a few weeks, I’ll be able to figure out which areas of topics interest me. I hope this blog will offer me a chance to both get to know more about myself and get organized, and to communicate with other people who have similar interests as mine! : )

Japan and Hello Kitty!

Yay! FINALLY it's spring break. Even though it is only a week long, I'm planning to enjoy as much as I can without working on school related things because this is the last break before the 2009-2010 school year is over. This spring break, I think my mom and I are going to Japan. However, we're not going to the crowded cities of Japan like Tokyo, but to the countryside where we can really REST. I think Japan is a very nice country to visit when you're in Korea because it's really close and shares much of its cultures with us although they are very different on the other hand. So, since I am leaving for Japan soon, I tried making a character of Hello Kitty, which is a very popular character in Japan; it's almost like a mascot of Japan actually. I bought the clay used for clay art for the first time in my life to make Hello Kitty, and they are COOL. Unlike other clays, it is soft, light, and easy to mix with other colors. Because it was the first time I tried doing clay art, I couldn't take any pictures of the steps, but it wasn't very hard to make them. The final result was very cute :)

Second Clay Art: Rilakkuma

Hello, everyone! After the first try of clay art, I thought it's very interesting and easy to do, so I made another one! This character, Rilakkuma is also a very popular character in Japan as it looks like a cute bear. This time, I took pictures of every step, so enjoy!

Steps:
1. Make brown clay into an oval shape
2. Stick half-circle-shaped brown clay on the head.

3. Put an oval shaped white clay on the face.

4. Put small pieces of black clay for the character's eyes, mouth, and nose.

5. Make the body of the character with the brown clay.

6. After you put white clay on the body of Rilakkuma and yellow clay on its feet, you're done!

Mokomoko Cupcake!

MokoMoko Cupcake! Fast and delicious! :)

Today I tried making MokoMoko Cupcake! It's an instant cupcake, and it takes less than five minutes to make one if you have an egg and the cupcake powder! So cool and delicious!

These are the packages of the cupcake. The left one is mocha choco cupcake, and the right one is vanilla cupcake! Today, I tried making the left one!

Put an egg in your cup and mix it!

Pour the powder into the cup, and mix it!

You can put some almonds in the mixture! (You can put whatever you like such as chocolate chips, raisins, and others!)

Tada! Enjoy your MokoMoko Cupcake!

Clay Art 4: Initial Cupcakes

This time, I made a cupcake with initial on top with the clay! I didn't post the pictures of procedure because it's really simple, and I believe you would all know how to make it even without any explanations! It's really cute and easy to make!

Animal Farm Podcast

Last week, I had to make a podcast that is similar to a musical. This musical had to include music that represents the key events in the novel, Animal Farm! When I first got this assignment, I was worried because I don't know much about music, but it was actually fun doing it because I could chose any type of music or even sound effect for this project! This is my podcast, so enjoy!

Animal Farm Musical

Seohyun Kim's Podcast

The songs in my podcast are:

"Beasts of England"

"Go Away!" by Super Simple Songs

"A Whole New World" from Aladdin

Sounds of dogs barking

"Be Prepared" from Lion King

"Wa" by Lee Jung Hyun

Sound effects of a winter battle during the WWII

"Oops I Did It Again" by Britney Spears

Chopin Etude op. 25 no. 11

"The Hey Song" played by Granville Ohio HS Marching Band

"One More Day" by Sinead O' Conner

"When We're Humans" from The Princess and the Frog

DMZ Trip!

Hello, everyone. Today I have a very interesting story to tell you! This Thursday, I went on a trip to the DMZ, or the demilitarized zone. This trip was planned by my school's world history teachers because students are learning about World War I and World War II these days, and the teachers wanted them to know more about the war between North and South Korea. A few days before the trip, North Korea declared that it will train its military with stricter rules than before to prepare for a possible war, so all of the students in our school got nervous, and worried about the safety of the trip. However, when I actually got to the place, there was nothing to be worried about because it was protected well by the soldiers of Republic of Korea or the ROK soldiers. In the beginning of the trip, we went to an army base and a museum to learn more about the war between North and South Korea and some artifacts from that time. Then, we moved to another bus that traveled around the region that has the Freedom House, Pan Moon Jeom, JSA, and bridge of no return. It was really interesting to see all the buildings and conditions in the DMZ!

The ROK soldiers inside the Military Armistice Commission
One of the ROK soldiers inside the MAC. Look at the tightened fists of the soldier! Our tour guide told us that this position is called the "ROK Ready" position in Taekwondo.

These are pictures of the Panmoongak, which is the white building on the back. It doesn't show on the picture, but there was a North Korean soldier guarding the building in front of the Panmoongak.