Some new hobbies of 2011

Now that I'm only at the radio station twice a week as opposed to every night, I have even more time on my hands. Rather than sitting in front of my computer or window-shopping (two of my vices), I've devoted more time to being creative. Not only am I trying to write more frequently (I'm shooting for every day!), I'm also exploring other creative outlets like music and art. Art has never been a strength of mine...I managed to keep my drawing abilities looking "average" until middle school, where people really began honing in on their natural talents. Rather than embarrass myself by trying to draw something more than a fancy stick figure, I decided to completely neglect any forms of drawing or painting...until now that is.

My love, Mark, is working on a really neat project and the other evening when it was too cold to be outside, we decided to get some pastels, paper and sketch away. It was a lot of fun too! We probably spent a few hours just acting like kids again and getting our hands dirty. By the end of it, we were relatively pleased with our masterpieces :)

Remember around Christmas time when I told you I got a used guitar? Well, when Mark and I snagged it at the Dongmyo market for $50, I was more ambitious than ever to master it. I pictured the two of us playing on the street or at the local venue in no time...ha! Yeah right. Everyday I'd look at that thing sadly sitting near my window collecting dust. Every once in awhile I'd pick it up, pluck a few strings and in a bout of frustration, put it back where it looked better as a piece of decoration than an actual instrument.

Then, a couple weekends ago when we were in Busan, my dad and I met up with Mark for some brunch and what does he walk up with? Yep! A brand spankin' new guitar...for me! My dad was pretty impressed ;)

The back story is that the night before, when Mark was with his friend in Busan, they went to a live show. Their tickets also served as raffle tickets, which they didn't think much of. But right before the second act was about to go on, one of the band members got on stage and announced that it they had an acoustic guitar and an electric guitar to give away. Now, usually when something like this happens, most of us think, "Eh, whatever, I'm not gonna win anyway." But apparently, for Mark, he just had a feeling. And that feeling proved to be right because he won the acoustic guitar!

[Me practicing; courtesy of Mark]

And like the sweet, sweet guy that he is, he gave it to me. He said he knew that the reason why I wasn't practicing the guitar was because it wasn't a very good guitar. The thought never occurred to me, but I have to admit, the sound of this new guitar is so much more beautiful than the first one. And, in fact, I've been practicing a lot more. It's just much easier to see and appreciate the fruits of your labor with a guitar that sounds beautifully naturally :)

I'm also trying to learn how to cook more Korean dishes, which I've mentioned here before. It's hard to do since I can eat out for so cheap, but I'd really love to learn now so I can perfect it as I get older (like my aunt...btw, she's coming out with a recipe blog soon. I'll keep you posted on when, but I guarantee you there will be something for everyone on there. Keep your eyes peeled!). I tried making daengjang jjigae, which is soybean paste soup, earlier this week. It is SO easy to make but my first try turned out just ok. It was definitely missing some kind of punch. So I tried again a couple days later except this time, I added more garlic, more peppers and more paste and it was delicious!

[My perfected daengjang...mmmm!]

[As much as I love Korean food, sometimes a nice juicy grilled chicken breast hits the spot!]

Another thing I'd really love to pick up is knitting. Every once in awhile I see women on the subway knitting away and it looks so peaceful. I once learned and I remember it being a really fun past time hobby because once you get the hang of it, it's just this thoughtless motion that you do. And before you know it, voila! you've got yourself a nice scarf :) Plus, with how cold it gets here in the winter, I should get started on making myself a good collection of scarves.

In fact, I might head to Dongdaemun Market this week to pick up the supplies to get started!

So those are my newest activities so far. It has been fun discovering new hobbies that give me a break from discovering Korea, which can be very time consuming and exhausting.

Have you discovered any new hobbies this year? I hope so because we're never too old to learn and try new things :)

Until next time, bisous xoxo