Sunday, August 31, 2008

Partying in Itaewon

Last night was Rob's last night in Korea. I guess being the beginning of the western academic year, there's a lot of teacher turn-over at this time of year. Anyway, we went to Itaewon for a final drink and a dance.

In my whole time here I don't think I've ever really talked about Itaewon. Maybe there's a reason for that. When I first arrived in Korea I didn't go there much; the one time I went in the daytime I got really freaked out that a) I could understand people's conversations on the streets, and b) with that in mind, they could probably understand mine too.

Living out in the suburbs of Seoul it's rare that I meet another foreigner on the street in day-to-day life. If I do, we'll probably acknowledge one another, keeping up the united minority front. In Itaewon, the foreign district of Korea, I'm more likely to shy away from all other foreigners. I know I AM one, but en masse I guess we can be intimidating.

Actually it's not probably not that different to being at home. Hoards of drunk people in the evenings are intimidating wherever you go, especially when you're not drunk and by yourself. But getting back to England and understanding EVERYTHING is going to be weird.

Anyway other than this, Itaewon just doesn't seem to have the same standards of cleanliness than the rest of central Seoul. It just seems dirty (possibly with coke bottles and KFC wrappers floating on the streets). I kind of feel I might get a rat across my feet down the side alleys.

Still, these days I come here at least once a week to dance salsa (there's a seedy little salsa bar called Caliente, predominantly full of expats doing their thing on a Saturday night) and to hang out with my Korean and western friends alike without any pressure to speak Korean.

I guess people like coming here because everyone speaks English and you know what you're getting. I guess that's why I (and a lot of other foreigners) don't.

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Taking an urban walk

Admittedly wandering through Seoul isn't always the most pleasant of activities. People, traffic and high rises aren't exactly conducive to relaxing. Still, eager to try my new digicam I bought in Yongsan last weekend, I headed for City Hall for a wander around the less congested roads around the area. First stop: Seoul Museum of Art.

I wanted to see if they had a modern art exhibition still running that Lauren had recommended before she left, but alas I was a week too late. Still, this was a good opportunity to browse the works of Chun Kyung-Ja in the permanent collection. It is a small array of the pieces that this successful female Korean donated to the gallery, depicting her life of travel and quest for international acclaim in the art world.

I really enjoyed wandering around this artist's paintings. I was lucky to turn up at the time that a fellow English teacher was giving a tour of the collection, and having enjoyed the art myself it was nice to gain more of an insight into the artist's life and the depth behind the paintings. I'm no art critic, but I'd like to come back here sometime and enjoy the serenity of this gallery.

Continuing my walk I headed to Gyeonghuigung - a small palace yet to be fully restored. Again, I was revelling in the lack of people and cool breeze that the end of summer has brought with it. By chance I stumbled across a taekwondo demonstration, being held every Wednesday and Saturday until December as part of the 2008 Seoul Taekwondo Tour Program.

Even though taekwondo is a self-defense sport, the power and control behind the fighters manages to turn a potentially scary skill into a form not dissimilar to dance. There really is an element of beauty and elegance to this martial art. There was an opportunity for foreigners to try out some board-breaking themselves, but it was only strong looking men who partook^^

My photos aren't going to win any competitions, but for a point-and-shoot camera I'm pretty pleased with the lack of effort needed to get some nice colourful pictures. On the way to the bus stop I got a shot of this moving Statue of Hammering Man, presumably depicting the endless toil of Seoul city life...

Sunday, August 24, 2008

Everland has a new rollercoaster

My new co-worker Marie (who, by the way, seems to be settling in well) had her birthday celebrations yesterday at Korea's actual best theme park: Everland.

I'd been there several times before with my family, but this was the first time I'd had the opportunity to ride Everland's newest rollercoaster addition. The T-Express (named due to its sponsers, T-World, who make your swipey subway T-money card) is Korea's first wooden coaster, opened to the public in March this year. It is truly a sight to behold. Behold:


The ride up to the top was incredibly smooth, twisting you round the corner to prepare you for the world's steepest wooden coaster drop of 77 degrees (see the one on the right hand side). It was immense. All drops and turns were totally exhilarating, reaching a top speed of 64.6 mph, and you really felt like you were coming out of your seat on the fast dips. It was also great only being strapped in at the lap rather than having a cumbersome over-the-head safety bar.

Definitely the best rollercoaster I've EVER ridden.



Another ride of note was "Let's Twist" recently opened this year as well. We actually rode this one at night, so as the wheel lifted us high above ground level while the rotating arms simultaneously flung us about we were we able to take in the beautiful views of the star-lit countryside^^


The weather was perfect for a Saturday afternoon visit, and we hardly had to queue more than forty minutes for any ride. It was pretty impressive that all 11 of us managed to stick together all day, and the dak kalbi went down well afterwards!

Thursday, August 21, 2008

Back to old ways

After the initial excitement of seeing their favourite Mary Teacher back, the kids' good behaviour and/or shyness has certainly worn off quickly. We're back to the old "Yay -- it's playtime!" mentality once let loose of the controls of their native teachers.

This week is seriously dragging...apparently having 5 hours in the afternoon to "prepare" is a lot more tiring than it sounds.

Still, was asked to join the "performance team" at salsa today, so that ought to keep some of my free time occupied! Eugh; tired. Went to bed at 9.30 last night. That's early.

Monday, August 18, 2008

First day back

Today was the first day teaching back at the old yu-chi-won. This week is pretty cushy with only two hours teaching each morning; next week won't be much worse since they cancelled my elementary classes, so it's just 20 hours of teaching kindy a week from now on. This will give me lots of time to go to the bank/post office/stationery shop, surf the net, read, or whatever tickles my fancy once I've done ALL that preparation for my classes. Considering how stressful I found this job to begin with, 6 months down the line it all seems to be working out in my favour :) Also, the weekend just gone is the first that hasn't been laden with storms or extreme heat. However it's still mid-August, so no doubt there is more to come...

In other news, have decided to apply for a masters course starting Autumn 2009 in linguistics. It sorta seems to be up my street. Am just waiting for applications to open so I can get on that.

Sunday, August 17, 2008

Buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo buffalo buffalo Buffalo buffalo

...is a grammatically correct sentence.

Yesterday, "sparked by my mathematical background and free time on [that] national holiday", I wrote a really long blog post showing how for every number of words 'buffalo' strung together, the string would make a grammatically correct sentence. With too much time to think on the subway I'm not really satisfied that what I wrote was 100% accurate, so have decided to come back to it later. This might take a long time though, since at this point in time I never want to hear the word 'buffalo' (or at least type it) again. So!


TODAY (which is now yesterday, and considering it's gone midnight, two days ago) I went to the Latin American Art exhibition in the Deoksugung museum. Pretty weird stuff. Lots of dismembered limbs, definite space theme going on in gallery 3, and gallery 4 messed with my eyes/brain. I enjoyed it.

TODAY (or Saturday, or today, or yesterday, depending on *just* how pedantic we're being) I saw The Dark Knight. Loud and long was how my friend described it, which I don't think is an unfair evaluation, but the raving reviews of Heath Ledger as the Joker were completely justified. It doesn't need to be said, but the lack of his masterful performances from future cinema screens will be missed.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

I watched The Mummy then everyone left.

After mentioning a throw-away thought of holidaying to Egypt next year, Ian gave me a look of fear as he told me he was scared of scarabs. This look was nothing however compared to the look of horror he gave when he realised the reference was lost on me. With The Mummy 3 imminent to Korean cinema screens, we bought the two prequels (I think this particular subway seller was actually legit) to aid my impending education.

Being a big fan of Egypt, Rachel Weisz and American jokes, they went down well. The latest film, however, unfortunately misses out on the beautiful lead actress, and although we came up with some plausible explanations, Alex's cut-sharp English accent was disappointingly replaced with an all-American one. On top of this, the plot was poor. Basically they revived the mummy far too early and I fell asleep during the action. With the film set in China, none of my reasons for liking the earlier films were fulfilled in this one.

So that was Ian's last night in Seoul. I packed him off on the City Limousine Bus (it's just as plush as it sounds) on Tuesday morning to Incheon airport, tried not to get too teary as a further half year of long-distance-relationship looms, and set about enjoying Lauren's last night in Seoul.

Earlier in the day Lauren had met with her now ex-boss, who'd kindly loaded her off with some cash to splash on her last day. After packing and re-packing a year's worth of accumulations (let's not even think about how much stuff got sent home; I'm thinking of having a clear-out soon) we went to a fancy sushi bar. One of those all-you-can-eat buffet places. We agreed that Korea definitely does buffet restaurant a lot classier than England. For some reason they threw a mental when I wanted to take pictures of the food, though.

As a last-night memento we also went to one of Korea's many sticker booths. With make-up shops and face-rollers to slim down your cheeks rife, it is little wonder that Koreans are obsessed with taking photos of themselves. It's not uncommon to see people on the streets/subway/drinking coffee with their phones out posing for self-pics. I guess sticker booths just aid this obsession. They're just like ID photo booths, except there are wigs and hairbands to try on, and you can decorate the photos afterwards with pretty backgrounds and borders.

So that was Lauren's last night in Seoul. I packed her off on the City Limousine Bus (still plush) this morning to Incheon airport where my unexpected tears appeared as my Korean-adventure friend set forth for the security gates and beyond. I'll miss her tonnes and I wish her all the best back in the UK...and I guess I'd better get used to the idea that the holidays are over and it's back to work tomorrow!

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Finding solace from the sunshine

After meandering the men's floors of Migliore and Doota (multi-storeyed fashion shopping malls) and the Korean take on high fashion, yet also largely finding exactly the same goods at every stall, we walked down the steps from the extensive Dongdaemun market to Cheonggyecheon: a man-made stream that, from City Hall, runs a full 5.7km due west of Seoul before reaching the Han River and eventually emptying itself in the sea on the west coast of Korea.

Under Pres Lee Myung-bak when he was mayor of Seoul, the stream was turned from a covered roadway to an attractive watery retreat from the cityscape. Dipping a toe in the fall of the fountains was a welcome relief from a hard day's shopping and an ever-increasingly forceful sun. The rains have stopped, but summer is by no means over.

Men's fashion


Cheonggye stream

Pixar in Seoul

There's a Pixar exhibition going on at the Seoul Arts Center near the Nambu bus terminal.

Ian and I went to the DVD bang especially to catch up on the latest Ratatouille movie on Thursday morning before heading down to see what the makers had to say about it.

It was interesting to see all the original drawings/character studies/explanatory films that went into the making of the animation pictures. Definitely had an aura of "Look! It's not just all computers. There are people behind this!" going on.

The exhibition is running until September 7th, so if you're a Pixar fan (I hold Finding Nemo to be the best film of all time), then it's not a bad exhibition to get to.

Friday, August 8, 2008

The Newquay of Korea?

Ian and I took the bus to Gangneung on the east coast last Tuesday. It was a 3 hour journey from the Express Bus Terminal in Gangnam, and bus 202 links you nicely to the beach once you're there.

Shock 1: I've been know to turn a motel or two down in my time if they're ten thou or so over budget. I'd say 25-30,000 won has been a standard price for a double room, 40 if it was particularly swish. When the guy at the Komodo motel quoted ship-o-man-won I just couldn't comprehend it. I was so confused I actually got him to write it down. Yep, there it was: 150,000 won. We looked elsewhere.

All the big motels had the same story, if they weren't in fact booked out. I know it's peak season but to multiply prices by 5 is a little excessive. Even the little old lady with her no-aircon-no-natural-light box of a room was charging 70,000. We gave up the search in favour of lunch and the beach.

Now I'd say I've experienced a fair few beaches in my time here in Korea so far. There was the recent trip to Muuido where all the Koreans were conservatively swimming in t-shirts. There was Daecheon beach with the mud festival offering an alternative form of modesty. Phallic symbols overlooked the fishermen near Samcheok and the mass of bikinis in Busan was largely sported by westerners roasting on the sand. Being off the tourist trail but in search of some sea and sand I'd imagined a similar story. Hah!

Shock 2: Bikini babes were everywhere! Girls flaunting themselves in high heels, oversized sunglasses and little more than a tiny swimsuit were so predominant that did I not feel out of place because I was showing TOO much flesh, but not enough! Just didn't seem right for Korea.

We found the most secluded spot on this overly crowded beach that we could - which involved sitting next to the beach's bungee jumping stand - took a 15 minute dip in the less than clear waters, just in time for an attendant to come round at 6.30pm sharp whistling everyone out of the water.

Not planning on returning to the beach the next day we took a bus back home to Seoul instead. Traffic jams and a congested subway journey meant that we literally travelled for 8 hours for a 15 minute swim. Worth it? I wonder...

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

Lotte World

Rob, a fellow salsa dancing Englishman, lives a five minute walk from Jamsil subway station. This also happens to be the gateway to Lotte World: "A World of Magic and Fantasy".

From the first time we met to the present day I have sung the amusement park's praises to this incessant sceptic, but having avoided it for two years Rob was adamant he would continue to do so. Now on the final stretch of his time in Korea I finally persuaded him - as a general theme park enthusiast - renouncing his absence would be worthy of his time. With girlfriend Jenny and boyfriend Ian in tow, we made it a date and finally got there last Sunday morning.

It continues to be a Disney rip-off (I swear that parade car was playing the Looney Tunes theme) but hosting all the big rides plus a decent number of small ones, it definitely deserves a mark in my 'Theme Parks of Korea' book.

Despite being the largest indoor amusement park in the world[1] the outdoor Magic Island is really where it's all happening. I mean, granted, the Crazy Bumper Cars are indoor (a big selling point for Rob) and considering the small scale of the four storeyed arena the French Revolution does a pretty impressive take on thrilling. But there's no Gyro Swing to whirl you out over the lake, or Gyro Drop to leave you contemplating the size of Seoul 70 meters above ground. Ian claimed he wouldn't be riding anything with Gyro in the name, but of course this was just a pretense.

Despite being a weekend during Korea's only week summer holiday with the sun shining so forcefully we're left to wander how we didn't all result as red as ripe tomatoes, the crowds weren't too hideous to battle. The queues inevitably hotted up as the day progressed, but with such exhilaration from the fluffy characters that sporadically flashed you a wave or the newly sprouted animal ears from the majority of the people, a good rest in line between rides was probably called for.

As long as you can tolerate a bit of waiting, having experienced Lotte World at both end of the year during the two Korean holidays, I don't think this is a place you could ever want to avoid. Besides the dizzying feeling of being on hallucinogenic drugs, that is. But being a country with a strict prescriptive drugs only policy, this is probably as close to the real thing you'll get.

[1] according to the ever-trustworthy Wikipedia

Decisions

After receiving an unexpected PhD offer, I took Ian to contemplate his decision at Seoul Grand Park - Seoul's alleged best zoo. I'd wanted to save all potentially overly couply venues until I was equipped with a strong couply force myself, but instead we had to negotiate the swarms of young families and school outings. I'm not really sure what I was thinking; parents do like to take their kids to the zoo.

Well, the cable car over the lake from the main gate to the animals was definitely worth the ride, and with no one before or behind us it was a serene, peaceful, undisturbed journey. Disturbed, however, is definitely how Ian felt as we went from one insufficient enclosure to the next. It's little wonder the lions were closing in on civil war with only a few paces available to pace between.

Despite the poor living conditions for the animals it was a reasonably well-kept park with cute signs and good facilities for the customers. With priorities clear, if eco-friendly zoos are your thing, I'd stay clear of this one.

Now after a night's sleep, a Chi-Hé-guided tour of Gyeongbok Palace and much deliberation, Ian decided - literally a few hours before the application deadline - to accept the PhD offer. Dr. Ian, eh. We headed to Hyehwa for celebratory beer.

With a 2000cc pitcher for ~W9000, the Bier Halle seemed like an inviting place to start. Having already had a large celebratory dinner, we'd forgotten about that unwritten rule that with any amount of alcohol purchased in a bar, one must order 안주, anju, or some kind of food to accompany your drinks. With all food dishes lounging around the W10,000 mark, it rather turns a cheap beer into a not-so cheap beer. Of course we're talking in won. If you could order four pints and a plate of food for a tenner you'd be doing all right. But we're in Korea. My perception of what's cheap has definitely been distorted over the last year.

One pitcher down, we decided to see what other establishments could offer us. Mildly interested in the Live Jazz Cafe on the opposite street, the W9000 for a 330ml beer and an obstructed view certainly nipped that interest in the bud. It also made the Bier Halle seem exceptionally cheap once more. Still, intent on trying somewhere new, instead we went to Drunken Memory - a bar a couple of doors down. With no purchase of anju necessary and cheap beer available, the place did its job and here the post must end.