Last Monday was Children’s day in Korea and therefore a holiday. We had finished most of our chores over the weekend, and so with the whole afternoon to spare I and my husband decided to walk over to our favourite cafe.

Besides the massive floor to ceiling windows which let a ton of natural light in, I love Cafe Alver’s excessively long wooden tables which can easily accommodate twenty people at a time. When I’m sketching that’s where I like to park myself. There is plenty of room for all my art materials and my crayons don’t keep rolling off the table.

There is another set of people who seem to enjoy the extra elbow space even more than I do – board game players! Over the last two years of our stay in Korea, I have watched some epic board games with elaborate themes and mechanics being played here on these very tables of Cafe Alver.

That afternoon there was an intense ‘Game of Thrones’ board game in progress. It looked like only two people could play at a time so the third friend was always standing by the side, making remarks, thumping the table at times, and generally cheering on. It was all very loud, we didn’t understand a word they said but it was great fun to watch. And sketch, of course!