Tuesday, May 27, 2008

Clothes shopping

There are many ways to shop for clothes in Seoul. You can wander your local streets and browse the outdoor street sellers selling their often sub-standard off-the-back-of-a-lorry (or your grandma) floral garb. You can hit the big market in Dongdaemun and battle the crowds and pushy sellers until way into the night, selling all the latest fashions at affordable prices. If you're not looking for the hard sell you might prefer to browse the high street shops of Myeongdong, or if you really have cash to splash you can hit one of the big department stores (Lotte is always a winner) and check out the big brands under sparkly lights.

Whatever way you choose, there is one thing that really leaves my head scratching. What is with the concept of "free size"?? One size fits all? Doubtful.

Admittedly the average Korean has a smaller frame than what we're used to at home. However, you only need to step on the subway to observe that this is not a nation-wide genetic inheritance. There are many people way above this so-called average size, and just as many scarily below it. I guess I'm lucky that I pretty much take this average size, however having proportionally longer limbs than the average Korean I can't guarantee that what I'm buying is actually going to fit. It's frustrating.

Since so much clothes shopping here is of the market variety, to try-before-you-buy isn't always an option. So how are you supposed to know if this "free size" is going to fit or not? Even in actual shops if there are designated changing rooms, what are you supposed to do when the entire shop only sells one size and it's just a smidge wrong for you? Where do all the non free-sizers shop?

In an environment where it seems everyone loves to clothes shop, I just can't seem to fathom this one out.

Sunday, May 25, 2008

Indiana Jon-seuh

It was cheesy. It was long. Obviously a Spielberg movie, but I'm not sure that's necessarily a good thing these days. Was glad to see the map and hat in full flow, though. I'm no Indy connoisseur, having only seen the Last Crusade for the first time last year, so I'm not going to go into a historical rant about poor jokes and references. All I can really say is that: it was cheesy; it was long. If cheesy and long is what you look for in a good movie, it's probably right up your street.

And holy Moses, it got HOT. But not that nice kind of bright sunshine with a nice breeze hot. We're talking full-blown mug. This is the first of it, and it's only gonna get worse. Now my gas bills are down to a sensible price after that long icy winter, I now fear for my forthcoming electricity bills with visions of the AC on high ^^; *sweat*

Friday, May 23, 2008

The Grudge

A while back, Lauren, being a sucker for watching late night horror by herself, called me in to watch the American version of The Grudge with her that she'd scoured out on MegaTV. It was pretty rubbish. Sarah Michelle Gellar flitting about her countryside Japan getting spooked by unforgiving souls in a haunted house.

Having said this, that night I was envisaging black haired freaky girls crawling about my ceiling as I retreated to my apartment...alone... (I like to get into these things and scare myself; kind of like focussing on the spinning background while riding the kiddy rides at funfairs to get some kind of adrenaline rush that you're not supposed to get)

Now the "good" thing about this version of the movie was that they tied up all the loose ends. Sure, it was a horror film so there was a nice spooky cliffhanger, but the story was explained and we kind of understood the reasons behind the 'grudge'. Man kills wife due to unforgiving affair; wife upset. Not too much thinking involved.

On Wednesday, in the company of Alex - a nice, protecting, strong man, able to look after a pathetic girl such as myself - I thought it'd be a good idea to get in on some DVD horror watching. I really want to see the Japanese version of The Ring, having totally been haunted by the American version since I saw it, but if I really wanted to be scared, Alex recommended the original Grudge instead.

From the point of view of not wanting to be jumping out of my skin every other minute, I was definitely glad to have seen the re-make first. It's the lack of music and other devices usually employed to make the viewer comfortable that makes you feel, well, uncomfortable. But in terms of who was going to pop round the corner next, I felt pretty much prepared.

Regarding story line: HUH?? Everyone who goes in the house dies? The woman is a cat? The cat has a grudge? The boy has a grudge? The girl is the girl? The girl died? Where's the man? Who now? What?

Evidently I came out utterly confused and not that inspired. Images of extra hands running through my hair in the shower were forced to the back of my mind and nightmares were avoided.

But now I've dragged this up I'm probably not sleeping well tonight.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

The single red rose

The single red rose, bought off-hand from an elderly lady preying upon young men in hope of conquering their latest target, by an unassuming male making a friendly gesture to a group of his new acquaintances. Why is it, being subject of such a meaningless gesture, that I then feel obliged to adorn myself with the encumbering item, even out of eye shot, when all it will do is ultimately suffer the inevitable and could have just as easily been tossed aside on my home? What is it about this flower that society has ingrained in us? Do we really associate such notions as "love" and "romance" with it? Or is it merely a metaphor for what it may represent: the initial passion that serves only to be admired before it wilts and dies?

If this is the case, the person who you really want to receive such gifts from is the meaningless acquaintance, who will undoubtedly remain that way, from where there is no guilt about the nothing that is attached to the non-existent meaning.

Alternatively, my own notions of love and romance have been tossed aside in favour of cynicism and realism; baby we've been apart too long...

And I should probably chuck that rose; it's obviously bothering me^^

Monday, May 19, 2008

"Once upon a time,

in a coastal village there lived a beautiful girl who used to gather seaweed. In the distance there was a rock called Aebawi where plenty of seaweed grew. One day, this young girl was taken out to the rock by a man in a boat. The man, who had a pact to marry her, promised to return to the rock to pick her up after she had collected seaweed there and he went back to the village. At dusk, she waited for the man to come and take her home, but he was unable to come and fetch her due to wild waves. That very night a terrible storm arose and a large wave struck the rock, drowning the ill-fated girl. From the time of her death, the fishing catches turned bad for the village and so a rumor started circulating among the villagers that it was due to the dead girl's bitter soul. Finally, the people of the village decided to offer carved wooden phallics as a sacrifice inside Haesindang to console the bitter soul of the unmarried girl.
Mysteriously, after that, the village again enjoyed a good catch. The ceremony where wooden phallics are offered is still held even today on the first full moon of the lunar year."

-Samcheok Fishing Village Fork Museum

Possibly number 1 on Lauren's (yep, you're my excuse^^) "to-do in Korea" list (alongside being naked with strangers at one of Korea's hot-spring spas) was to ogle at the giant phalluses at Haesindang's Penis Park. Having got right in there with the saunas and public baths as soon as we arrived in country, it was time to tick box number two and check out the penises.

At the weekend we took the three hour bus journey to Samcheok on the east coast of Korea (which took a whopping near five hours on the way back), and on quickly booking into our quite honestly awesome motel (think wide screen TV, high speed internet and decent sized bed with no holes in the covers for 35 000 won, or approximately £17.50 between two) we hopped on bus 24 (with the help of a couple of nice high school girls) which dropped us outside the park.

Granted, it was a little silly, but some of the representations were undoubtedly constructions of the imagination! It was just a bit bizarre to see little old ladies tending to their seaweed and oh! up on the horizon are some giant penises. Certainly got a bit of a eyeful when we reacted to a "여기요!" (over here!) to be faced with an old Korean man acting out some graphic fellatio... I just can't shake the memory! *cries*

The following morning, while in the area, we hopped on to bus number 60 which took us to Hwanseon cave. So it turns out I'm a little less fit than I thought as I'm sure the climb up the mountain shouldn't have been that tough, but it was so refreshing to get some fresh air and green scenery into my system. The caves themselves were huge, but not that inspiring to a non-geographer such as myself. Still, the signs around really seemed to be clutching at straws in order to maintain the visitor's interest (cave popcorn? Statue of the Virgin Mary -- really??) but certainly made for more amusing photographic opportunities.

Despite the cold rainy long ride home, it was a nice weekend away from the big city. Have developed tonsillitis again though, so that's not so much fun, and I'm a little dubious of that throat-specialist-of-a-doctor I've been seeing since the last dose of antibiotics he gave me didn't seem to solve the problem...

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Teacher's Day

Yesterday was Teacher's Day. At our last hagwon, all presents were banned in order to prevent the excessive competition that the parents would take on to give the best presents. With this in mind, and no such ban at this new school, Lauren and I had hoped for a little more than a few flowers :) Having said that, judging by some of the dodgy pot plants/Lotte merchandise the main teachers received, I'd have rather gone home empty handed than with a bag full of unwanted gifts. Still, always good to feel appreciated; one of my elementary kids wrote me a card saying "You're nice I like you" which was nice.

Today we went out for our first staff meal of the year in aid of the celebration, though I'm not sure who was treating us. The kindergarten owner, maybe. The food was good, but the affair was really boring. In fairness, we make little effort to chat to the other teachers in Korean, but likewise they make little effort to include us in their conversations. Well, why should they, I suppose. We're just a couple of girls who, on the whim of the wild-minded boss, were employed to give token English lessons to keep the school afloat. (I blame the tiredness for the overt cynicism -- apologies.) Anyway, having wondered why we haven't had many (any) staff dos, I realise it's not something I want to encourage...

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

They killed Wash! (i.e. I ♥ Joss)

Life
Somehow life got busy. I don't know how, or when, but not so long ago the days at school were seriously dragging and I was struggling to get through to the next 'checkpoint', be that the next national holiday or kindy field trip. But somehow, I guess since we stopped feeling guilty about leaving over an hour earlier than the other teachers at school, the days are flying by and with them the weeks, and now, months.

But not only that, it seems my Sundays in front of MegaTV have been somewhat limited lately. It's a shame, since I do love a good Sunday afternoon film, but travelling Korea's most "well-touristed" sights, fuelling my growing salsa dancing obsession several times a week, and working on my slowly improving Korean skills seem to be taking up the majority of my free time. Nonetheless, last Sunday I sneaked in a morning film.

Serenity
Reminiscent of my childhood obsession with vampires, I spent a good portion of my revision days at university watching all 7 seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer plus commentaries and generally falling in love with creator Joss Whedon. On chatting to a fellow Whedon fan about Buffy's final villain Caleb, I learned that the actor was the star of another of Whedon's creations: Firefly.

Now I've heard several times over that the show was a flop due to FOX airing the series out of order, and yet a good handful of my geeking acquaintances were selling the series to me. The concept - set in the future after "Earth-that-was" has long been destroyed, a bunch of misfits follow captain Malcolm Reynolds in his Firefly spaceship, taking on whatever jobs they can to rub a few pennies together - honestly sounded a bit, um, crap. Sci-fi isn't my preferred genre of big-screen action, but in true Joss style, the characters are so endearing, and Mal is so dry-humoured and witty, that to this show, too, I became addicted.

So of course watching the follow-up film Serenity was a must-do on my ever-long to-watch list. I am in fact amazed that it took me this long to get around to it.

If I'd not seen the series I'm not sure I'd have been quite as enthralled: even though the plot was well executed I didn't feel all the characters were developed well, and that it was taken for granted that the viewer knew the background of their relationships. (Like, was there any sexual tension between Caleigh and Simon? And where did Inara spring from?!) Nonetheless, Mal's character shone through from the start, and the film resolved all hanging issues nicely. And of course, someone had to die; I can only apologise for the spoiler.

OK, enough rambling about random films I'm watching.

Another national holiday
Yesterday was Buddha's birthday and thus another day off work to take advantage of. Unfortunately due to frolicking in Busan, we missed the Lotus Lantern parade last weekend. Still, last night Lauren and I got to Jogyesa Temple in central Seoul to witness the lighting of the lanterns that have been slowly increasing in number across the country over the past couple of months.

It was a beautiful ceremony, and I was dead impressed at that monk playing that really big drum, but not being of remotely Buddhist origin the mass praying became a bit much for us.

Meeting the locals
Now admittedly people often like to practise their (occasionally limited) English skills on foreign passers-by. You can feel the covert looks on the subway, and can tick down the seconds until they pluck up the courage to engage you and ask the inevitable "Where you from?".

Not quite so covertly, on the ride home last night a bunch of high school boys were rock-scissor-papering it up under my gaze, daring one another to talk to me. Not fitting the usual motives, it actually turned out they couldn't even understand my basic "How old are you?" question despite the fact they've probably been studying English at school for a good several years now. Rather raised some doubt regarding the intense Korean education system. Still, it was amusing watching the boys beating each other up (literally and mentally) and simultaneously handy getting a free Korean lesson in at the same time. As politely as I knew how, I declined the invitation to meet them again...

Pottery making
To back-post even further, on Saturday Lauren and Anne-Sophie, a friend from my Korean class, hit the traffic-logged roads towards Icheon: a small city in the southwest of Seoul famous for its pottery and annual ceramics festival that is currently being hosted. Icheon is also apparently famous for its rice "that tastes so good it needs no side dishes", but it would seem that I'm no rice connoisseur as it neither looked nor tasted much different to the various rice-based creations that are doled out in every food establishment I've visited.

However, rather than a rice tasting day, we booked a pottery tour, of which the highlight was making our own clay creations.

Lauren turned out to be some kind of ceramics master, but without a doubt, despite a self-titled aptitude for arts and crafts, out of our group including the two fellow Brits who'd joined up with us, my attempt was literally the flop as it just failed to sustain any kind of pot-like shape. The nice lady watching over me was even in looks of despair, shaking her head with noises of "어떻게!" under her breath.

Unable to face the failure any longer, I succumbed to my clay and embraced the shape it was insisting on assuming. Still, with a burst in the fiery furnace and a lick of celadon, I'm sure my makeshift dipping dish will serve me well...

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

For the benefit of Cat,

who I know is a big fan of the cheesy K-pop, I post these videos.

Not quite a Tell Me hit, but heard regularly enough throughout shopping centres to get painfully stuck in one's head, the first is L.O.V.E. by Brown-Eyed Girls. This is an apparent attempt at introducing Electronica into the pop scene, though whether they have succeeded or not is largely debatable.

Second we have a long time favourite by Korea's favourite "hip-hop" group Big Bang: Last Greeting. Again, hence the inverted commas, hip-hop is a term loosely related to anything with vague amounts of rap, so the genre is open to dispute. Nevertheless, this one I've been searching for for a while, so it is with great honour that I share it with you :)

Cat, I hope you enjoy, as well as the rest of you cheesy poppin' fans out there.





The more prevalent purpose of this post is due to the fact that I am alone in the school with nobody but the non-English speaking art teacher (a very nice girl, but conversation is a tad stunted...and mostly in Korean if that gauges the level of communication), while the kids and teachers alike have gone off for a picnic. This field trip was ironically postponed a couple of weeks ago due to bad weather, though I couldn't help noticing that really huge downpour a few minutes ago.

I had to stay behind due to the one 50 minute class I have to teach this afternoon to a bunch of elementary kids. I'm sure they're all off having fun (I'm not bitter, really^^), but I'm kind of enjoying the time off lounging about with lesson plans, coffee and the internet out of the rain...

Monday, May 5, 2008

Taking the bullet to Pusan

Today is Children's Day. I can't say I'm well acquainted with the concept since the UK don't host any such day off, but Wikipedia has taught me that it's not an unknown holiday across the globe. I shan't complain.

Since this year the 5
th of May fell on a Monday, Lauren and I took advantage of the glorious spring weather and long weekend by grabbing a couple of KTX tickets down to Pusan.

KTX stands for Korea Train Express. Reaching speeds of 300kmph (or approx 180mph) we got down to Korea's second biggest city at the opposite end of the country in a measly 2 hours 40 minutes. I guess due to the bank holiday the train was pretty much booked out by the time we got to Seoul Station on Saturday morning, but we managed to get a couple of "standing tickets" that allowed us to sit on those not uncomfortable seats between carriages. It wasn't a bad deal.

Pusan, or Busan depending on who's romanising, is, essentially, a big industrial harbour. Despite having the second largest population in Korea, in the 48 hours we were there we noticed a distinct absence of cosmopolitanism in this fishing port city. Not that it was a bad thing by any means. It was great to see the sea and ride from one end of the subway to the other in less than an hour.

As we stepped off the train we noticed it was "much like Seoul, but hotter". Thus, we headed to the beach. Certainly having lived in this country where white skin is not only maintained but actively sought, sunning myself is not currently high on my agenda. I was surprised, then, to see masses of flesh roasting itself on the sand; less surprised when I observed it was all attached to Korea's western counterparts. On a stroll down Haeundae beach on a sunny Saturday afternoon we were sure we had encountered more Westerners than on your average day in the foreign district of Itaewon.

Now, behold the following excerpt from the Lonely Planet, or The Book as we now mockingly refer to is as:
"Remember the Simpson's episode when Homer ate blowfish and was told he had 24 hours to live? This restaurant serves that fish. A worthwhile restaurant for anyone who wants to experience a seafood delicacy and earn bragging rights: 'I ate poisonous fish and survived'."
Despite scorn for those necessary books that travellers clutch to them like babies, we wanted to earn those bragging rights. So we did. And just for the record, I ate poisonous fish and survived.

Saturday evening we headed to Gwangan beach for a night-time stroll by the beautiful Gwangan bridge, and on spying the big wheel in the distance, we went to Meworld for a romantic view over the city. I asked Lauren if she had something to tell me, but alas, no confession of love this time^^ Randomly Lauren recognised a university acquaintance along the beach -- a long way to come for a chance meeting I suspect.

On Sunday we took the subway/bus up to Beomeosa temple. Settled back into lush scenery, it was a beautiful getaway, and with Buddha's birthday on the horizon, the temple was adorned with colourful paper lanterns making for pretty decorations.

Not yet templed-out, after a quick pajeon (spring onion pancake) lunch we took the cable car from Geumgang Park to the top of Geumjeong mountain. From here we decided to embark on the hike past Nammun village (where there were old men playing foot-volleyball - that's football with a net), down a long rocky slope, and up a demoralising road to find Seokbulsa: a temple with many Buddhist images carved into rocks. It was an effort to reach, and debatable as to its worth, but it was certainly an achievement to have found.

Instead of braving the climb back, we hitched a lift with a couple of guys who "happened" to be going to the same spa as us. Hurshimchung is allegedly the largest jjimjilbang in Asia, but the saunas and baths didn't seem so much bigger than our local spa. Still it was great to soak the aching limbs and bum around in the pyjama-like attire that they provide you with.

That evening, as Lauren was flicking through channels on the TV in our cosy motel room, she came across this: Nudlnude. This is a Korean cartoon-style pornography film - short clips of someone's wacky imagination, not leaving much to ours. If you decide to click on the link fear not; I have been unable to find any video clips.

This morning we embraced the blue skies and took a trip up Pusan tower to behold the size of the city and the beautiful view of the port. And before speeding our ways back to Seoul on the super-duper train, a trip to Pusan wouldn't have been complete without a wander round the fish market. With most of the produce still being alive, the smells weren't as pungent as I'd feared they would be, and the array of sea life available to the consumer was large.

All in all, a lovely weekend away; relaxed and enjoyable - and the weather is so beautiful at the moment that I'm not even dreading work tomorrow^^