Jongjae Flower Market Part 3

The second floor of the 'fresh cut flower' building.. has silk flowers, ribbons, decorative tissues and papers and in late November- December.. Christmas decorations from China. (The same items that you'd get in the states-- just less of it, since, most people in Korea don't celebrate Christmas.)

The ribbons are sold in spools of about 20-25 yards and are a very good value. They have so many beautiful ribbons that it is hard to decide which ones to buy...





Some of the silk flowers and arrangements...




Some of the decorative papers...


I use them for packages, wrapping gift loaves of pumpkin/etc. breads.. they are really more like a thin fabric w/ scalloped edges than they are 'tissue paper' and they also have clear cellphane w/ designs printed on them that you can buy too.


Now, this little guy looked like something that my 2nd graders could have made..

These trees don't have lights on them- they have 'spangles' on them that are made out of shiny plastic disks.. and they glimmered and sparkled and as a result- they just didn't want to take a photo. Different, but interesting.

The FIRE that was and wasn't... but, there were flames and the possiblity of burning the entire apartment down/etc.. or in other words.. OH MY GAWD!

It all started out innocently enough-- one night last week the lights went off and I went down the hallway to check on things-- and since, it was NIGHT.. and there was NO ELECTRICAL POWER.. it was dark and even darker in the entry way (where the fuse box is located and no windows to be found) So, I wandered back down to my bedroom to get my 'handy dandy' little flashlight that I had bought from one of the 'live commercials in the subway' a few months ago.

This cute little flashlight had so many nifty features.. a red flashing emergency light, a magnet to store it on something metal, the ability to recharge it by plugging it in the outlet.. but, it seems that all of those nifty features.. didn't include a bright light.. and for some reason .. there even seemed to be a blue plastic filter over the light... which prevented what little 'bright light' from being emitted.

Or in other words, you couldn't SEE ANYTHING using this flashlight. So, I go back down the dark hall to my bedroom and get another flashlight. I quickly noticed something strange- the individual switches were still in the correct positions- showing that power was still going to the different rooms/etc.. however, the main POWER switch for the entire apartment had 'tripped' or flipped off which was the reason for the lack of power.

So, I flipped the switch and all was well... I came home the next day from work, to a dark apartment. The power had switched off again. I flipped the switch again and all was well until about 3 hours later .. when it tripped off again. So, I left it off and went to bed. (I quickly learned that my heat depends on electricity.. because there were no more nice warm floors).. The next morning, I called my realtor to ask them to send an electrician to my apartment and that my house girl would be there all day.

So, on Thursday afternoon, I came home to 'ELECTRICITY'.. lovely, bright electricity.
All was well in my home. I appreciated my electricity, I used my electricity... until SUNDAY MORNING at 9am.. I was on the phone talking to a friend in the states and I had just told my friend all about my electricial problems that I'd been having and suddenly the power went off. So, I walked down the hall-- w/ my GOOD FLASHLIGHT and flipped the main switch back on again.

I had just told my friend that I didn't like that this had flipped off again.. and that I thought it was strange.. when, I looked up and saw that the outlet in the kitchen where my microwave was plugged in was ON FIRE and SHOOTING OUT flames about 12 inches or more in length in several directions.

I very calmly said, "Oh, there's a fire." and.. took my headphones off and I ran to the kitchen. (I had been talking to my friend on my computer phone) I finally got the fire out, and averted being burned by the melting, dripping plastic and metal adapter and microwave plug. I went down the hallway to flip all the fuse box switches off- to stop all electrical power.



I spent the night with a friend.

I had to take today (Monday) off from work for the electrician to come by. He was here from 9am- 2pm.. all day- except for about an hour and half that he left to get more parts and to take a lunch break.

He didn't speak any English- but, when he opened up the fusebox panel and found this:

He gestured towards my entire apartment and points at the fusebox and said: FIRE!..

It had also caught on fire at the fuse box!!! ALL the wires were melted and you could see where there had been a fire! (Sorry it doesn't show up in the photo- but, it was taken in the dark and it was hard to tell if it was in focus or not) *IF you look at the red cords- the two on the top left.. the 2nd one that doesn't really look RED anymore is the one that was on FIRE!!

I had saved my apartment by flipping off all the switches and cutting off all power.

Here ya go.. the plug to the microwave, the adaptor that was in the outlet and all the 'on fire' damaged fusebox parts. Of course, my microwave no longer works nor does that particular outlet (and the only one on a counter in the kitchen) work.

I am so thankful that I was home and that I had actually been on the phone in clear view of this damaged outlet so that I could see the fire immediately when it broke out. I can't even imagine what could have happened... the damage to my possessions (and need I say it? MY YARN STASH?) or the other apartments on my floor or even in my building.

Apparently, I react very calmly in emergency situations too. Good to know- not something you want to find out.. but, it's still good to know.

What does a pay phone and mail drop box look like in Korea?

Just in case you've ever wondered if they are the same as they are in the states??



Believe it or not, I tend to take photos of pay phone booths in foreign countries. They are all a little different.

How square can you knit a square?

These are my donated 4 inch squares on the diagional, that I found out have just arrived all the way from Seoul, South Korea to NEW YORK CITY, NY (said in a voice from any of the characters that lived in Mayberry, NC on the Andy Griffith TV SHOW.) *Yes, I do know that it is a TV SHOW and not a real town.. but, I still wanted to live there when I was a kid.

The squares are for the blanket that is being made from knitted squares sent in from all over to the www.masondixonknitting.com website. It was suggested to use 'left-over sock yarn' but.. since, I have never knitted a sock.. I just used some yarn that I knew was THIN like sock yarn should be.. and I could have knitted a sock from it had I been so inclined. (Sure I could have.. I'm sure of it.. sort of)

So, anyway.. my name.. 'Jeannie' got mentioned on the website, in the blog entry dated November 28th.. as having knitted squares that had arrived in NYC! WOO HOO.. my name was mentioned on another blog.. and on a blog that is written by people who have published a real book! :D

AND, I'm very proud of the squares.. because, they were the first items that I knitted when my hand/thumb injury was finally well enough to do the knitting motions.. I DID NOT SAY that it didn't hurt to knit.. just, that I was finally able to do so! And, it was nice that I was able to do it for a good cause.



Here's the knitted item that the yarn had orginally been used for.. before the left-overs were knitted into a square that now will be used for a blanket to help a child get a wheelchair. It is a baby caridgan for a baby that was born in July .. and hopefully, he'll be able to wear his nice warm cardi this winter and maybe next winter too?

Sigh... some days it doesn't pay to get out of bed.. or go to bed??

My 1973 VW Karmann Ghia has been sick... sputtering, dying at traffic lights, and backfiring. So, either my car needed some sort of mechanical adjustment or I needed to contact the National Enquirer to report the first recorded case of a car getting bronchitis.

So, the plan was to get up super early, 5:00am and drive to work in the 'less traffic-y' time of *o'dark 30.. or 5:45am I usually get up at 5:50 and depart for work at 6:50am. The less cars in traffic = the less 'danger' to me and my car, if my car did decide to die or sputter on the way to work.

So, despite not getting enough sleep for the past 3 nights, I set my battery operated timer for 5:00am, instead of changing the electrical alarm clock for the earlier wake-up time. I went to bed about 11:30pm.

Well, as you can imagine, when the alarm jarred me awake, it was just way too early for my body. I managed to crawl out of bed, wash my face, and before hitting the shower, I went into the living room to check my email messages. To stay on schedule, I set my kitchen timer for 8 minutes of computer time. I couldn't believe how sleepy I was and as I wandered towards the kitchen, I decided to get some cold water to drink.

I went back into the bedroom to get my morning meds to take with my water and I noticed that my actual alarm clock was doing the 'repeating flashing numbers' announcement to let me know that the time had gone off during the night. I was really glad that I had decided to use my battery timer instead of relying on my alarm clock.

With the timer set, I went back into the living room and looked out my apartment window onto the building closest to my apartment building and saw that only 3 people were up early like I was.

After using the computer for a few minutes and just as the timer rang, I decided to go into the control panel on my computer to change the time back to "SEOUL, KOREA" time instead of the central standard time zone that was currently on my computer- that I'd changed it to when I did the 'knitting bag' contest last week on my blog.

Imagine my surprise when the computer clock told me that it was 1:08 AM!

YES, I had set my alarm clock wrong. So, I re-set it for 4 hours later on my kitchen timer so that it would now ring at 5:08am. And, I groggily and gratefully crawled back into bed.

As you can imagine, the buzzer sounded in what seemed like minutes.. I pressed the STOP BUTTON to stop the 'buzzing' of the timer
and once again, I crawled out of bed. Went to the bathroom to wash my face, and gathered up my clothes. I was so tired and I was really regretting staying up until almost 1am for the past 3 nights.


I decided that since, I don't drink coffee-- but, since I was so exhausted and groggy, I clearly needed some caffeine- I decided that I needed to do something to help me stay awake and went into the kitchen to pour myself a Dr. Pepper on ice. It was either that or set the alarm for another 50 minutes and forget the plan of getting up at 5am to get the car on base before the traffic got heavy.

Since, I was still so tired and one tends to move a little slower when you get up much earlier than usual, I decided to set my timer so that I'd depart my apartment on time and I noticed that the timer STILL HAD 2 hours and 8 minutes left on the timer!!! . and that the BUZZER had NOT buzzed yet. I still had 2 more hours to sleep! Yes, I had 'DREAMED' that the buzzer had rang alerting me to get up and it was actually only 3am. Sigh..

I did the only thing that I could do.. I went back to bed.. for a nap until it was finally time to really, really wake up in less than 2 hours.

Ya gotta be tough to shop in Seoul..

As you enter the subway, you find signs illustrating the dangers of NOT LETTING THE DEPARTING SUBWAY PASSENGERS leave the subway car BEFORE you try to enter the SUBWAY.

(THIS is a big, big, big, big problem. It amazes me.. doors open and people push on before those departing can get off. They even have little feet placed on the floor of the platform, to the sides of the door openings of the subway cars, with Korean words explaining to wait for departing passengers.) They have had a subway system for about 25 years or more.



You have to keep your bearings in the subway, despite unexpected construction areas that have removed all direction signs and exit numbers.


And, my favorite, there are 'LIVE' commericals.. people selling things on the subway. It so reminds me of those late, late night tv commericals in the states.. You know the ones.. "IT SLICES, IT DICES.."
I try to resist, but I almost always buy whatever they are selling.


Be prepared to get stepped on at some point... *but, notice the black shoes, socks, and coat! Just doing my part to 'blend in.'



Your wardrobe should have a lot of 'black' clothing to blend in.. of course, I know that I don't really BLEND in all that well. The green eyes and light brown hair keep me from 'blending in' very well.

Jongjae Flower Market Part 2

Yesterday, I mentioned that there was a building with cut flowers. You buy them in groups of 10 flowers- not a dozen as in the states. Why? They use the metric system. Don't get jealous.. but.. 10 roses are only 3,000 won.. = or about $3.50 USA. :D

Most flowers are 2,000- 5,000 won per 10 flowers. I didn't buy any cut flowers- because, I was going to buy other things and wouldn't have room in my 'big shopping bag' to manage flowers and the bag too (I still can't manage carrying heavy things in the left hand)... but, I always go and look at them even if I don't buy them.

Each of the blue signs w/ numbers hanging from the ceilings is a different vendor.


A few of the vendors also make flower arrangements. However, there is actually another building that is just full of different vendors that make flower arrangements- kind of like having a mall full of flower shops! :D