Reconnec-

In 2010, I joined a choir, the Camarata Music Company, one of the single best decisions I've ever made. It gave me a home, socially and musically, and it was tons of fun! When planning this trip, I found out they were having a concert while I was going to be in town, and I got Ryan, the director, to hold a ticket for me. As the choir rehearsed in Haebangchon, it's an area I got to know really well when I was singing with them, and I found it fitting to revisit with TJ the day of the concert.

 The first order of the day was a burger at Jacoby's. I was hoping that my favorite restaurant, whose name I forget because it was a while ago and I never needed to know its name, it was just That Place I Go When I Want To Eat Good Food in HBC, would still be open. Sadly, it was under a new name, which threw me enough to say I didn't want to gamble on it. So to Jacoby's we went! I'm sorry my head isn't in this picture for scale, but trust me when I tell you that that burger is roughly 0.9 Rebecca-heads in volume. It's big. It's covered with guacamole and cheese, has a piece of bacon that isn't totally flaccid (a victory in Korea) and had this nice grilled pineapple ring, too. Delectable. TJ reports his was good too. I couldn't hear him over how delicious my burger was.

 How do you get to this mecca of burgerdom, you ask? Well, I realized it might be good to have photos of that after we'd eaten and were heading back to the metro, so all these pictures are in a weird order and often in strange directions. Here is what you see walking up toward the restaurant bits of HBC. It's not a terrible hill, but it was a hot day, and it could have been considerably more pleasant. September in Korea is not yet jeans-wearing weather. Learn from my mistakes.

 How do you know when to turn off the enormous road onto HBC hill? By the kimchi pots, of course! So here we are, one landmark closer to the metro, the place where the road in the above picture splits from the massive road on which the metro stop is located. These are the big ceramic urns in which kimchi is fermented over the winter months. This is a store that sells them, not a depot where people store them when not in use. That said, there is no discernable change in the inventory since I was last here. I know, I'm a pottist. They all look the same to me.

 At first glance, the escalator down into Noksapyeong station looks like any other. A normal tube station, you think, just under the road.

 Then you go down further, another escalator.

 And another.

 Remember when you were up there? Yeah, me neither.

 Remember what the sun looks like? It gets a little THX1138 down here...


It's deep, is what I'm saying. Anyway, it was here that TJ and I parted ways, him to go to Dragon Hill in Yongsan, and me to go over to City Hall station, eventually, for the concert. I thought I might stop at Seoul Station for a change of clothes, as I'd sweated through mine and didn't want to see old friends at something so far from my best.

 Here is a common sight: an ajumma (old lady) selling small animals in the subway. This was my first time seeing bunnies, and it was totally worth her yelling at me in Korean for taking pictures to capture this for you. Validate my sacrifice.

 Ahh, Seoul Station. More geodesic domes! Sign of the temple of Lotte! Lotte is a huge name in Korea, from burgers to designer fashion outlets. 

Sadly, the gamble on clothes did not pay off. I was stuck in my sticky clothes, and decided friends would just have to remember my better aspects and love me anyway.

Back into the subway I went, to get over to City Hall station, close to where the concert would be held, so I could attend the dress rehearsal and visit a couple of favorite things over there.

 This is a picture of a vending machine that would never be successful in the states. When exporting the drink, they re-brand it "Calpis," which oddly, doesn't help much.













When I got out at City Hall, I saw a whole barricade bit up right in my way, which was not cool, yo. As I got closer, I realized it wasn't blocking my progress altogether, but there was something Interesting going on.

 It was the changing of the guard at this palace, Dae.....something....Moon. I actually went there in 2010, to tour the grounds, which are like a living museum, and very lovely. I had no idea there was a guard, or that it changed. I saw something like this in Gwanghwamun, which is not far from this spot, but didn't know about the palace guard, especially as it's not an active palace. No royalty live there at the moment, to my knowledge.

 Across from the palace gate is a Dunkin Donuts. Why would I take a photo in there? Because DD in Korea is hard core. This is a photo of my favorite thing that they do: choux. They will sell you a little box (on the bottom) of choux pastries, and give you pastry cream to apply to them as liberally as you like (well, almost. They like to keep the ratios equal, so it can be hard to persuade them to give you two cream portions per box o' choux. Mmmmmm, choux.

 Do not adjust your monitor, that's what the photo looks like, because that's what the sculpture looks like! It's called "Kimchi Pots," and it's a sculpture of a family. Who have all been shrunk only in the Y dimension. The tallest person in there is about 3.5 feet tall, and it's super trippy to look at in person. This sculpture is down the street from DD, the wall behind it is the back wall of the palace complex whose gate is just by DD. It's also right by the intersection close to the church where the choir was performing.

Between rehearsal and performance, I was able to have dinner with Jayleen, who is getting married to her Korean fiancé in 2014! Very exciting news among the other catching-up news that you get when you meet up with an old friend. She took me to a cute little place I'd not been to in the neighborhood, which was also a knitting enthusiasts' shop. It Dr. Seuss trees and tonkasu, which means it was awesome :)

 And then it was time for Jayleen to go sing, and me to go listen. Christine, who came to the choir in the time since I left, and deals beautifully with all its financial needs - and boy have they come a long way! I joined in the choir's second season of existing, and now they have super cool fundraisers at fancy places where they can raffle off tickets from the US to Korea! - gave me her musical score, as she was not going to sing with the group, but be doing admin stuff for the show. She is a sweetie, and I am very grateful.


Here is a picture of my favorite song the choir sang, "Give Me a Choral Medley," and if you or anyone you know/love is involved with a choir and has been for a while, they will be barely able to contain their glee at it, as I was.
 

I realized way too late that I didn't take any pictures of the choir all together, but if you want to see some, go check them out on Facebook, or at their own website. This photo is of Andreas, the master pianist, and his partner in crime for this concert. They played "Rhapsody in Blue," one of my favorite pieces, and it was terrific! The whole concert was a blast, and I'm so glad the timing worked out that I could attend. It was great to be back.