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6th Hangang Yeouido Spring Flower Festival 2010 
Basking near the southern bank of the Hangang River, the island of Yeouido is famous for its spring displays of cherry blossom. The Spring Flower Festival makes the most of the island's floral extravagance by organizing various street performances and parades beneath it --- a great place for families and couples to celebrate the end of winter. Yeouido, of course, is famous for its rows of cherry blossoms: every spring, countless visitors descend upon the island to walk beneath its canopies of cherry blossoms that rain down a pink snow of petals upon those strolling below.
VENUE: Yeouido Park, Yeouiseo-ro, Yeouido Hangang Park, Floating Stage
PERIOD: Apr 6~18
ADMISSION: Free
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 2670-3125
GETTING THERE: National Assembly Station, Line 9, Exit 1 / Dangsan Station, Lines 2 & 9, Exit 4 / Yeouinaru Station, Line 5, Exits 1~3 / Yeouido Station, Line 5, Exit 2.
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- Good tours of the DMZ are conducted by the USO (795-3028) and TOURDMZ (755-0073). For more information on their tours, click here (USO) and here (TOURDMZ). - The Seoul City Bus Tour is a great way to explore the city of Seoul, especially if you're new to town. For more information, click here or call 777-6090. - The Royal Asiatic Society conducts entertaining and informative tours to some of Korea's most historic sites. Click here for more information, including schedule. - For self-starters, the Seoul City Tourism website has several walking tours and self-directed tours. You can also give them a ring at 2171-2461. - The Korea Tourism Organization website is another great place to get information. If you're on the road, just call 1330 for up-to-date tourist information.
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Get Your Finances in Order
SHINHAN BANK's New SEOUL GLOBAL CENTER Offers Dedicated Service for Foreigners
 With more than a million foreign citizens in Korea and 255,000 in Seoul alone, demand for foreigner-friendly banking services continues to rise. Korea's banks offer plenty of competitive services and products, but most of these --- understandably --- are created for Korean customers and are often difficult for foreigners to approach because of language and other barriers. Even basic aspects of opening a bank account, such as length of name, can unexpectedly become problems for non-Koreans.
On March 16, however, Korean financial giant Shinhan Bank took the initiative and extended a dedicated hand to Seoul's financially frustrated foreigners by opening Shinhan Bank Seoul Global Center. Located on the first floor of Seoul Finance Center, in Gwanghwamun, the center offers financial consulting services in English, Japanese, Chinese and Korean such as professional asset management consultation, small group financial seminars, exclusive expat financial product packages and an investment information service. If you're looking for banking services designed specifically with the needs of expats in mind, try calling or dropping in to Shinhan's Seoul Global Center and seeing what it has to offer.
More Info
Call Center: 1577-8380
Getting There
City Hall Station, Lines 1 & 2, Exit 4
Gwanghwamun Station, Line 5, Exit 5
Written by Ben Jackson
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 Ballet Gala Kang Sue-jin---The Ballet
Boasting new fewer than five works, this novel ballet gala from Kang Sue-jin features John Neumeier's "The Lady of the Camellias," Uwe Scholz's "Suite No. 2," Jiří Kylián's "Nuages," Evan McKie's "Pas de Deux" and more. Joining Kang on stage are three partners---Marijn Rademaker, Jason Reilly and Evan Cavallari---and eight dancers from the West Australian Ballet. This will be the first-ever Korean performance of Scholz's "Suite No. 2."
VENUE: Opera House, Seoul Arts Center
PERIOD: Apr 9, 7:30pm / Apr 10~11, 5pm
ADMISSION: VIP: 180,000 won, R: 150,000 won,
S: 120,000 won, A: 80,000 won, B: 40,000 won
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 751-9607
GETTING THERE: Nambu Bus Terminal Station, Line 3, Exits 4 & 5. Walk 5~10 minutes or take shuttle bus, bus No. 12 or bus No. 4429.
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 Steve McCurry---Unguarded Moment
A living master of the language of images, Steve McCurry is the photographer behind the haunting "Afghan Girl" image that appeared on the cover of National Geographic magazine in June 1985 (he also won a New York Film Festival Gold award for his 2003 documentary that located the same subject 18 years later). "Unguarded Moment" is a collection of 100 photos showing the immense variety of people, scenes and incidents that McCurry has witnessed on his global travels.
VENUE: Main Exhibition Hall, Sejong Center for the
Performing Arts
PERIOD: Apr 9~May 30
ADDMISSION: Adults: 8,000 won, Youths: 5,000 won, Children: 3,000 won
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 3412-1700, 1544-0114,
www.mccurrykorea.com
GETTING THERE: Gwanghwamun Station, Line 5, Exits 1 & 8.
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Secret Garden---LIVE IN SEOUL
The Irish-Norwegian new age duo Secret Garden is set to bring the best of northern European lyricism to Korea. Consisting of violinist Fionnuala Sherry and composer/pianist Rolf Løvland, the duo has sold over 3 million albums and won the Eurovision Song Contest for Norway in 1995 with the composition "Nocturne." Their first album, "Songs from a Secret Garden," went on sale worldwide and became the first million-selling album in the history of Norwegian music. Barbra Streisand contacted Secret Garden in 1998 after hearing their music in Ireland, and suggested putting lyrics to their track "Heartstrings" and singing it as her wedding song. The duo's recent "Inside I'm Singing" album saw them take some of their favorite tracks, have lyrics written for them, and record them being sung by a selection of top singers. A must for all new age music fans. VENUE: Sejong Grand Theater, Sejong Center for the Performing Arts
DATE: Apr 8, 8pm
ADMISSION: R: 120,000 won, S: 90,000 won, A: 60,000 won, B: 40,000 won
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 599-5743
GETTING THERE: Gwanghwamun Station, Line 5, Exits 1 & 8.
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International Women's Film Festival in Seoul (IWFFIS 2010) With its theme, "See the World through Women's Eyes," the IWFFIS seeks to introduce the most recent trends of women's films of today and create solidarity between local and international women filmmakers. As in years past, the festival is jam packed with content, including a new program called "Polemics," a program for gay and lesbian film, the Asian Short Film and Video Competition and more. Opening the festival is "The Day Will Come," by German director Susanne Schneider. VENUE: Artreon Theater
PERIOD: Apr 8~15
ADMISSION: Admission depends on program
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 583-3598, www.wffis.or.kr
GETTING THERE: Sinchon Station, Line 2, Exit 4.
Walk 200m in the direction of Ewha Womans Univ.
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RASKB Tour: Suwon  Join Royal Asiatic Society president and Korean traditional architecture expert Peter Bartholomew for a tour of the historic city of Suwon. On the program is the Hwaryeongjeon shrine, the Haenggung temporary palace and, of course, the Hwaseong Fortress. VENUE: Suwon
DATE: Apr 11
ADMISSION: 36,000 won for members and 43,200 won for non-members.
MORE INFORMATION: Click here.
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 WEARABLE ART: Indonesian Batik Cloth Exhibition
Batik, fabric made by using wax-resistant dyeing techniques, is a centuries-old traditional textile art of Indonesia. Artisans draw motifs onto cloth using a "canting," a traditional pen, to hold the molten wax. Then the cloth is dyed and heated to melt wax to reveal patterns. This process is repeated several times to produce a final work, which generally takes about seven months. BIN house, curator of the exhibition, undertakes the whole process of batik production from weaving to designing, dyeing and tailoring. Through this exhibition, Indonesia's representative batik artist and the founder of BIN house, Josephine Komara, will exclusively show the knowledge, techniques and artistic skills that she has accumulated for more than 25 years. Along with more than 120 batiks on display, a special section will be set up to offer a brief introduction to the production procedure of batik and different types of batik produced in various regions in Indonesia to help visitors understand batik. Apart from the exhibition, "Indonesian Food Promotion" and "Batik Workshop" programs will be held at Lotte Hotel Seoul and Ewha Womans University, respectively. Come and experience batik, an indispensable part of Indonesian living in artwork, livelihood items, and clothes. VENUE: The Korea Foundation Cultural Center
DATE: April 2~21
ADMISSION: Free
MORE INFORMATION: (02) 2151-6520/6514,
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GETTING THERE: City Hall Station, Line 2, Exit 9. Walk 5 minutes. The center is located inside of Joongang Ilbo bldg. |
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| These are just some of the diverse events taking place in and around Seoul. SEOUL Magazine's ever-expanding events section is colorfully designed and jam-packed with the latest information. For the complete round-up pick up a copy of SEOUL Magazine at any of the quality bookstores in the city and you'll never have to spend another month in the dark. |
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Miss Jin's Hamburgers
A line of people wait in line in front of Miss Jin's Hamburgers, a well-known hamburger joint in front of Osan Air Base.
Photo by Robert Koehler.
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Shinhan Bank's Seoul Global Center Opens - Shinhan Bank has launched its own Seoul Global Center on the first floor of Gwanghwamun's Seoul Finance Center. This is a branch specially made for foreigners, with financial consulting services for foreigners (individual/group), financial counsellings at your place of work (even for one person) and commemorative events such as special rates on currency exchange and interest rates. For more information, contact Deputy General Manager Jeon at (02) 773-3149 or 010-7275-9006.
Learn Korean Traditional Dance - Chumsae Dance School is offering lessons on Korean traditional dance. Morning (10:00---11:30, Tue Thu), afternoon (4:00---5:30, Mon Wed) and evening classes (7:30---9:00 Tue Thu) available. Classes are limited to 10 persons each. Tuition is 200,000 won a month. For more information, call (02- 762-7731).
KFCC Films - The Korea Foundation Cultural Center runs regular screenings of both Korean and foreign films, with subtitles. In April, they'll be running Indonesian films and films with "fabulous OSTs". Click here for more information. Korean Language Classes - The Korea Foundation Cultural Center Offers free Korean language classes for foreigners residing in Korea. The classes, led by Korea Foundation volunteer teachers, are held at 7:00-9:00 pm every Monday, Wednesday and Friday (two classes at 4:00 and 7:00 on Wednesdays). Anyone interested in learning Korean language and willing to participate in the language class is welcome to join. For more information, click here. Calling all photographers - SEOUL WEEKLY could use your help with our Everyday Koreans photo section. If you have a camera and enjoy snapping shots capturing everyday scenes in the Republic of Korea, send your photos in along with captions and a brief, one- line bio. Send Your Event Info - If you would like to advertise any upcoming events you are organizing, please send us the press release material to
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by the preceding Friday in order to appear in the following Tuesday's issue. Freelance Contributors Wanted - SEOUL magazine needs writers who are fluent in both Korean and English. Writers should be able to interview Koreans and also have a strong interest in Korean culture. Send your resume and writing samples to
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. We Buy & Sell Used Books - Seoul Selection buys and sells used books in English. Unlike our regular selection of publications that specialize in Korea-related topics, our Used Book Section carries books on all subjects. It's all part of our effort to make life easier for the English-speaking community.
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Publisher: Hank Kim /
Editor: Robert Koehler /
Designer: Suh Su Kyoung / Website Manager: Ray Hong
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Seoul Selection reserves all intellectual property rights on information provided in this newsletter. Some event information has been provided by the Korea Foundation. The IPRs are protected by pertinent laws.
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Seoul Selection Web Site: http://www.seoulselection.com e-mail:
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tel: 734-9567 fax: 734-9563 |
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