I got my yellow belt!!!

Let me tell you how I got my yellow belt in Kuk Sool Won Hapkido. It was a lot of work. I had to do all of the ki cho hyun; which is 6 formations all together. I had to know how to get out of 10 different wristlocks. I had to know different rolls, falls, and also several different punch and kick combinations, flying kicks, and back hand strikes. I had to prove I’m learning the Tan Jon breathing technique. I had to perform at a 70% to pass. After I took the test it was about a week until we found out our scores and had a belt ceremony. I passed and got a yellow belt!!!! When my instructor put my yellow belt on me, I could not stop smiling for like 20 minutes. I love my yellow belt! 

My Rainbow Song

The Colors of the Rainbow by ZoeJoey

Welcome to my latest accomplishment. The title of this song is "The Colors of the Rainbow." My daddy, mommy and I performed the song. I was inspired by the School House Rock song called "Conjunction Junction." It is my favorite School House Rock song. After listening to this song I wanted to make my own educational song. So I did one about the colors of the rainbow. I had a lot of fun writing and recording it with my family. I hope you like it :)

Here is the song that inspired me.

The World's Largest Department Store

Have you ever gone to the World’s Largest Department Store? I have! It is in Busan, South Korea. It is close to the Bexco building. It was opened in 2009. Macy’s in New York City used to be the biggest, but now this one is. It is over a million square feet bigger than Macy’s! J  

Inside, we saw it had great architecture. It was white and beautiful. The place was super clean which made it shiny. The center of the building kind-of looked like it came from a fancy Dr. Seuss story when you looked up because you could see all the way up for like 7 floors.  The information desk is also in the center on the first floor.  At the information desk, be sure to get your foreigner coupon book so that you can save money and receive a cool World’s Largest Department Store canvas and leather bag J It is actually really nice, I love mine J

Inside that case is a plaque from Guinness saying that it is the largest department store in the world.

There are a lot of fancy stores like Tiffany, Prada, North Face, and Chanel. My mommy thinks those are really expensive but really awesome stores. I don’t know anything about them so I will trust my mommy. J Another cool thing is that there is an ice skating rink with a food court around it.  That is nice because it lets the parents eat as the kids skate. Everyone can rent ice skates. They cost 3, 000 won. The entrance fee for kids is 5,000 won and adults are 7,000. The catch is that you can only skate for two hours for that amount. If you go over that time you will get charged for another 2 hours. L

The food court has many kinds of food. My mommy says it is pricy compared to other department stores.  I got a cheese dog from a place called Steff Hotdog which is a Danish style hotdog. My cheese dog bow-a-wow- chick-a-wow, wow ROCKED!  

My favorite thing to do at the World’s Largest Departments Store was to play on the giant floor piano. I and many others kids took our shoes off and made CRAZY music. We were like a rock and roll band!  Here is my solo performance video.

And this was all just on the first 4 floors! There are still 10 floors to explore, plus a spa, movie theater, art gallery, and a bunch of other things to check out. We definitely will have to go back sometime and spend the whole day exploring the place.

3D Magic Art

It all started when I was watching T.V. I saw a commercial for an exhibit of 3D Magic Art at Bexco which is in Busan. I was so excited to tell my mommy and daddy about it. I rushed to them. I asked “Can we go to the Magic Art show?” My mommy responded with “Yes.” My daddy said “Sure we can go!”

The next day we drove for about an hour to get there. Along the way we went a crossed a huge bridge and saw some really cool looking skyscrapers that were still being built. Once we arrived I zoomed out of the car and started running to the front doors of Bexco. Right outside the doors we saw a group of girls that looked like they were straight out of a comic book. I took some pictures with them and then headed inside.

Some cool skyscrapers that we saw while we were on a bridge going over the sea 

Comic book soccer player girls

At the ticket counter, daddy asked for two adults and one 아이 (ah ee which means child). The ticket lady laughed at him so I think he accidentally said 오이 (oh ee which means cucumber) and not child. After we all got the tickets, I zipped in. All the paintings in the show are made so you can pose with them and it will look like you are part of the picture. It was really fun, and we took a lot of pictures. My favorites were: butterfly, a naked lady, and money falling out of a refrigerator. After posing with all the pictures, I got a Caricature drawn of me. It looks so cute because it has me and a cute bunny. She drew me in an Alice and Wonderland dress.

In Korea there is a long running joke about acting like you are going to stick your finger in someones butt. In Korea it is called ddong shim (poop finger). It is also a popular joke in Japan.

Getting my caricature drawn

I had a great time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :} Then it was time to go and check out the largest department store in the world which was only a few blocks away. Check out more of my photos of this trip on my photo page or just click on the slideshow below! And be sure to check out my next blog post which will be about the exploring the world’s largest department store.

K-pop Dance

I have been going to dance class 5 times a week for about a month and a half. It’s really fun and I am glad I get to do it every day during the week. I was in dance in America, but I only had class once a week. So I really like how in Korea they have classes every day. On Monday, Wednesday, and Friday I practice ballet, on Tuesday I practice Hip-Hop, and on Thursday I practice belly dancing. I like doing Hip-Hop the most.

My school is putting on a big recital at the end of this month. I was sad when they told my daddy that I wouldn’t be able to be in the recital because I was a new student and wouldn’t have time to learn all the dances well enough. But then last week the director called my daddy and told him that she saw me doing the Hip-Hop dance and was really impressed with how well I was doing it. So now they want me to be in the recital for the Hip-Hop dance!!! I’m so excited about it. 

My daddy found the songs I am dancing to on youtube so I can practice more at home. I found out that many Korean pop songs have special dance moves that go with the song. So a lot of the dance moves I am learning for these songs are the same moves they do in the video. 

Check out the k-pop videos below and dance with me!!! 

The Best Snow Day Ever

Happy Valentines Day everyone! I had a wonderfully snowy Valentines Day. It all started when my mommy woke-up and got out of the warm bed. When my mommy looked out of the window…she screamed “Aaahhhh!!!!” I suddenly woke up, jumped out of bed, and my feet hit the floor with a BAM! I ran to the window with my daddy. Then I screamed “AAHHH!! There’s snow falling!” My daddy and I hurried and got our snow clothes on so we could go play in it!

When we got outside my daddy and I saw thick snowflakes falling like crazy, and about three inches of snow on the ground. We ran to the soccer field next to our apartment building. There we played in the snow. First I made a snow ball so we could make a snowman. I rolled and rolled and rolled snow until it created the biggest snow ball I have ever made. I said “This snow ball is half my size!” Then we started on the middle one. We rolled and rolled until it was only a little smaller than the first one. Then, I said “All we have to do is the head.” After we made the head, I said “I am so excited to put it all together!”

Half way done with our first big snowball

My daddy said “How about we make a Mohawk on the snowman’s head?” I said “Oh sure!” It was very funny to create a punk rocker snowman. :) We made eyes, a nose and a mouth with sand, and then I found some sticks for the arms. When we were done the other people that were playing in the snow were very impressed, and they came over to take some pictures. My daddy told me that in Korea people usually make snowmen out of just 2 snowballs, and when I looked around I noticed that we had the only 3 snowball snowman. I think that is why they liked ours so much. Then I jumped into the snow and made a snow angel.

Finally finished with our punk rock snowman! Isn't he cute :-)

I let him borrow my scarf to help him keep warm.

I love making snow-angels.

One interesting thing I noticed was that a lot of the locals had umbrellas. I have never seen people in America do that while it is snowing. I think it’s a good idea though because it keeps the snow off of you. That way you won’t be all wet once the snow melts, like my daddy and I were when we finally went back inside.

Locals with their umbrellas

After a break I sat down in the snow and threw like a billion snowballs at my daddy and he threw some at me. Then we decided to head home because we were covered in snow, our hands and feet were freezing, and the snow was now about five inches high. This was the best Jangyu snow day we have had all winter! It’s a fact that Jangyu usually doesn’t get snow so I was very happy that I had a chance to play in some snow!

While I was writing this my daddy told me that he just read in the news that in the northern part of South Korea they had the most snowfall in 100 years. They had over 39 inches. Wowzers! That’s a lot of snow. Here’s a link to that news story. There is even a couple videos in that link too :D

To see the rest of the pictures we took click on the photo tab at the top of the page and check out the photo gallery called "The Best Snow Day Ever."

My Awesome New Phone

Can you imagine getting a phone for free and when you are 7! Well guess what! I got a phone for free and I am 7! It all started when I went to our Korean friend’s Hey Suk’s house. While I was playing, BAM she offered me her old phone. She said “You can have my touch screen Samsung phone.” “It is really nice.” “You can watch live Korean TV, listen to radio, use the English – Korean dictionary, make video calls, play games, take pictures, and listen to mp3s and video record things.” I responded with a big “YES!!!!”  

My new phone is better than my mommy’s and daddy’s so they both really want it! I always say NO!  

We had to take it to a phone store to set it up with service. For the basic plan it costs 12,000 won (about $12) a month. The registration fee was 24,000 won (about $24). I have to pay for all outgoing phone calls I make and text I send. Korean phone companies charge in 10 second increments and a minute cost about 10 cents. I think a text cost 20 cent, but I’m not sure. It’s nice that they charge in 10 second increments since I won’t use the phone much.  Best of all is that incoming calls and texts are free!

Some Korean variety show I was watching. In Korean every phone has
 whats called DMB which allows you to watch live TV

Before we left the store, the worker gave me a piggy phone holder. It is really cute. It’s all pink and it has little cute arms and feet. It also has a cute little smiley face. I love my new phone and holder!