(Friday last week)
So tonight I’m at a cafe that I think Ambreen and Ausma would love (hey guys!). It’s called Café in the Garden and it’s set up to look like, well, a garden. I’m by myself, which naturally means I chose a romantic little table on a raised platform that is surrounded by foliage and has a little mailbox beside the 2 stairs you have to climb to reach the table. Doing stuff alone in Korea is seen as pretty weird, even more so than at home. There are actually a lot of restaurants in Korea that you just can’t go to alone; they’ll turn you away because its eating food and it would just be wrong for you to do it alone, even if you want to. You all know I like to do stuff alone so it’s funny adjusting to this new business of considering not just what I want to eat, but what I can eat when I’m by myself. I think it’s probably part of why Korea is so dang couple-y. People require people to do stuff with all the time and even best friends don’t want to hang out all day every day. Couples will do that though. Also, people don’t move out til they get married, which is incentive for lots of people (especially for women who are more likely to chafe under parental authority) to get coupled up so they can get out and set up a house of their own.
I’m drinking some nice loose leaf peppermint tea. Something I hadn’t seen before Korea is liquid sugar. It’s clear and sticky and I had to pump it out of one of those bottles they use for snow cone flavouring.
The last couple of nights I stayed up pretty late socializing, which included some quality virtual time with the nerd squad (re: my brothers), some last chance Boggle playing with Bryan and Kelly, and some entertainment by various other fine folks of Daegu. I’m going to Seoul tomorrow afternoon where I will see Brittany, the delightful former Guelphite who I lived across the hall from in first year and spent many an hour playing Dr. Mario (best game ever) with. She’s a star. She lives in another city closer to Seoul that’s about the size of Hamilton and she too will be making the trip this weekend so we will have some reuniting to do. Also, Rasheeda organized a film screening for “Brother and Sisters of South Korea” (re: black people in Korea social group) and I shall be attending. Twill be cool.
There are books at this cafe and you know where there are books I have to examine them, even if I can’t read them. I found one called “36 Celebrities Say...” which is actually excerpts from works by historians, cultural theorists and scientists. There is even a bit of Sartre and de Beauvoir in there.
(Tonight)
Well folks, it’s Wednesday and I am again on the third floor of Angel-in-Us drinking hot chocolate and taking some time to reflect.
Lately other people’s school goings on have been coming up on my newsfeed and I’ve started to feel very slight pangs of academic withdrawal. Yet considering how I’ve been having to work really hard to make myself study every day for the GRE EST, I know I’m not ready to be fully back on the academia train just yet. At least I don’t have to worry about losing my academic inclinations.
This past weekend I went up to Seoul and had a wonderful time reuniting with Brittany. I meet her, her boyfriend, and their very cool buddies (including a delightful Australian couple who have the honour of being the first Australians I’ve ever liked – which sounds bad, but whatever, it’s true) at a wonderful Indian restaurant in the Hongdae area called Yeti where I had biryani, a mango lassi and a couple of chai – heaven. They were there celebrating the going away of their coworker/friend. Post-dinner, we went to a couple of bars and did some delightful dancing (including a glorious I Wanna Dance With Somebody dance explosion from the ladies) before rounding the night off with a noraebang session. I actually hadn’t been to a noraebang (private karaoke room) since my arrival (shameful) so it was sweet getting to do some of my classic (re: horrendously sung) renditions of various songs. Brittany and her super kind boyfriend rescued me when my place to stay fell threw and let me sleep in their hotel room, which was really awesome of them. The next morning we had breakfast and roamed around Insadong for a bit before we parted ways and I headed to Itaewon for the screening of “Africa Unite.” The documentary – which is about the festival in Ethiopian (posthumously) celebrating Bob Marley’s 60th birthday – was quite interesting. There was jerk chicken, which I consumed despite its hotness. I also got to see Adom’s friend Lola and Joy who you may remember from the Basement Jaxx entry, as well as getting to see / meet lots of other Seoul- based black folks. It was quite a thing seeing so many non-military black people in one place in Korea. The screening was followed by a little bit of discussion that R had wrangled me into semi-facilitating. By the time this was all done, I had to head back to Daegu since it was Sunday night and work was a acomin’ the next morning.
On Tuesday, I had my first work organized Korean class. They are during the day so I have to make up the time I miss from work but it’s totally worth it because it is 1) free 2) a nice way to break up the day 3) good for meeting some more / seeing more of some teacher-folk, which I usually only get to do on weekends.
Bryan moved out of his place on Sunday and now doing it up in Thailand, a place where everyone seems to love. Jasmin is already there along with another of new friend, who is there while crazy visa business gets worked out. She’s had a hard time of it since her (now former) school blows like crazy, but she has since quit that wretched place and will start teaching for our company when she returns. I haven’t heard too many horror stories but the ones that I have heard are just nuts. Crazy hours without overtime pay, yelling non-English speaking bosses who steal passports and degrees. Shear madness.
I was really in the mood for some Asha time tonight. It feels really good. I could have stayed at home and watched comedy clips and episodes of Futurama like usual but I think it’s important not to spend too much time in the house during the week because it is bad for morale. A little time in the world helps one think less about work and more about life, which is the best way to do things. There are times that living in Korea feels very strange – just looking down at the street and seeing so much similarity is still so very strange to me.
At any rate, the week is half over and me and my limited funds will be staying in Daegu this weekend. back to the pleasure/pain of hip hop class and the hilariousness of Daegu nightlife.
This entry’s music recommendation isn’t actually k-pop. M-Flo is a Japanese hip hop / dj duo, one of whom is in fact ethnically Korean and this song features Korean singer Alex (who is a part of Clazziquai, who I’ve previously talked about) so the Korean connection is enough for me. I love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWV-JDbRWCI
Bam!
Love,
AAA
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Strange Utensils, Cultural Commentary, and other Ramblings
I hadn’t planned on writing a blog entry tonight but since I had some not so solid plans downtown that seem to have fallen through, I decided to scribble this out on the piece of paper I had jammed as a bookmark into the comic book Adom mailed me last week (woowoo!). I’m at a place called Coffea Coffee. “Coffee Art,” just like coffee in general, is super popular in Korea and I’m sitting across from a wall of coffee competition certificates. I ordered a mango smoothie. It tastes good, if not particularly strong, but what is notable about it is that I didn’t come with a straw but rather a bizarre metal thing. It’s really skinny and long and on one end is a very small shovel-like shape that can’t hold very much. I don’t really understand how one is supposed to drink a whole smoothie with this strange utensil.
Anyway, this place reminded me of something I wanted to comment on: Korea’s strange relationship with germs. As you are mostly all aware, people will often wear face masks when they are sick here. This might lead one to imagine this to be a rather germaphobic society. On the contrary. Korea does not adhere to most of the anti-germ spreading practices most North Americans take for granted. Example: the frequency with which you find home-style hand towels in the bathroom of public establishments, including this one. Or even the fact that I’ve encountered a couple of bathrooms with a bar of soap attached to a metal rod instead of a liquid soap dispenser. Or the numerous stories I’ve heard of people using the same thermometer on several people consecutively without sanitizing it. Add to these the constant horking on the street by people of all ages and you have numerous means of germ spreading that a face mask does nothing to prevent.
As an aside, I just noticed that this place offers “wine ice flakes,” in case anyone has always wanted a Chardonnay snow cone. There’s also a sign on the counter that says “self service” which is pretty confusing.
Another bit of random cultural commentary: substitution. Korea isn’t into it. See, if you order something in Korea, they fully expect you to take whatever they give you. As in, if you go into a burger joint and say “no mayo, no pickles, no lettuce” of whatever, people look at you like you are crazy. Also, they usually give you your burger with most, if not all ,of the things you said you didn’t want. Similarly, if you order pizza here you are ordering one of whatever combinations of toppings they offer. None of that pick whatever you want business. Even when things are made from scratch (as one would hope their pizza, among other things, is), people just aren’t into the idea of making things to your specifications, even if those specifications aren’t difficult to execute. People I know have discussed this with Korean friends and students, and the response seems to be that the idea of picking whatever you want on your pizza is foreign to them. Word to the wise: people with special dietary needs in Korea have to be super vigilant. I don’t have this problem, but non-pork or meat eaters will order things having stressed that they don’t want meat only to find bacon in their food. So yeah, vigilance.
In other news, last weekend was quite nice, as usual. Friday there were some b-day festivities (also my first time in Daegu showing up at a club by myself and knowing that I would find people I know there, which was nice and made me feel a little Guelph-pang). Then there were some goodbye festivities on Saturday, but those weren’t sad since I know I’ll see Bryan again so it’s not a big goodbye. Sunday was hip hop class and burgers followed by domesticity. Hip hop class was highly strenuous again, but Monday I didn’t feel as bad as I did the week before, which I’ll take as a good sign. I’ve also done the GRE English Subject Test practice test and it went reasonably well. As I told Adom, I don’t think I’ll rock it but I’m confident I won’t bomb it. In more mostly just interesting to me news, there’s this store that I walk by downtown that has this beautiful maroon zip up with a golden tiger on the back that I’ve been admiring for weeks and I finally check the price on it today. 130,000 won. Boo. There goes that that plan. Or maybe I’ll buy it for myself for my birthday present. We shall see. There’s a girl beside me playing with bubble wrap, which makes me simultaneously jealous and annoyed.
Anyway, the space on this piece of paper is almost all gone and I’ve long finished my smoothie (I gave up on the tiny shovel and just drank it once it melted a little) so I should head home.
Today’s music recommendation is one of my favourite dance down the street / private go train dance party songs. It’s by a lady named Lyn. Check check check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG-IPU5Q7pA
Love
AAA
Anyway, this place reminded me of something I wanted to comment on: Korea’s strange relationship with germs. As you are mostly all aware, people will often wear face masks when they are sick here. This might lead one to imagine this to be a rather germaphobic society. On the contrary. Korea does not adhere to most of the anti-germ spreading practices most North Americans take for granted. Example: the frequency with which you find home-style hand towels in the bathroom of public establishments, including this one. Or even the fact that I’ve encountered a couple of bathrooms with a bar of soap attached to a metal rod instead of a liquid soap dispenser. Or the numerous stories I’ve heard of people using the same thermometer on several people consecutively without sanitizing it. Add to these the constant horking on the street by people of all ages and you have numerous means of germ spreading that a face mask does nothing to prevent.
As an aside, I just noticed that this place offers “wine ice flakes,” in case anyone has always wanted a Chardonnay snow cone. There’s also a sign on the counter that says “self service” which is pretty confusing.
Another bit of random cultural commentary: substitution. Korea isn’t into it. See, if you order something in Korea, they fully expect you to take whatever they give you. As in, if you go into a burger joint and say “no mayo, no pickles, no lettuce” of whatever, people look at you like you are crazy. Also, they usually give you your burger with most, if not all ,of the things you said you didn’t want. Similarly, if you order pizza here you are ordering one of whatever combinations of toppings they offer. None of that pick whatever you want business. Even when things are made from scratch (as one would hope their pizza, among other things, is), people just aren’t into the idea of making things to your specifications, even if those specifications aren’t difficult to execute. People I know have discussed this with Korean friends and students, and the response seems to be that the idea of picking whatever you want on your pizza is foreign to them. Word to the wise: people with special dietary needs in Korea have to be super vigilant. I don’t have this problem, but non-pork or meat eaters will order things having stressed that they don’t want meat only to find bacon in their food. So yeah, vigilance.
In other news, last weekend was quite nice, as usual. Friday there were some b-day festivities (also my first time in Daegu showing up at a club by myself and knowing that I would find people I know there, which was nice and made me feel a little Guelph-pang). Then there were some goodbye festivities on Saturday, but those weren’t sad since I know I’ll see Bryan again so it’s not a big goodbye. Sunday was hip hop class and burgers followed by domesticity. Hip hop class was highly strenuous again, but Monday I didn’t feel as bad as I did the week before, which I’ll take as a good sign. I’ve also done the GRE English Subject Test practice test and it went reasonably well. As I told Adom, I don’t think I’ll rock it but I’m confident I won’t bomb it. In more mostly just interesting to me news, there’s this store that I walk by downtown that has this beautiful maroon zip up with a golden tiger on the back that I’ve been admiring for weeks and I finally check the price on it today. 130,000 won. Boo. There goes that that plan. Or maybe I’ll buy it for myself for my birthday present. We shall see. There’s a girl beside me playing with bubble wrap, which makes me simultaneously jealous and annoyed.
Anyway, the space on this piece of paper is almost all gone and I’ve long finished my smoothie (I gave up on the tiny shovel and just drank it once it melted a little) so I should head home.
Today’s music recommendation is one of my favourite dance down the street / private go train dance party songs. It’s by a lady named Lyn. Check check check it out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FG-IPU5Q7pA
Love
AAA
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Making a Home, with the power of dance, food, and nerditude
Greetings, readers. This entry reaches you from the Dunkin Donuts near my house because I decided to opt for close and comparatively cheap tonight. Last weekend was a blast. Friday was a sad occasion in that it was Jasmin’s going away party which, of course, means she’s gone. But the festivities were delightful. A big group went out for galbi first, which was full of deliciousness and socializing. I got to remeet some folks I met at the cabaret and spend more time with some good people. From there we headed to Go Go Party, where one of Melinda’s salsa students, a nice dude named Jamari, was playing some very well chosen music. There was much boogying. Saturday morning I kept it lazy. All I really did was make a short trip to Emart before meeting up with Nakia for some more BBQ action. She also donated some clothes to the Asha-needs-more-nice-clothes fund. We parted ways only to reunite a few hours later for some dancification. For the first time, I had a really, solidly good time at Old School. I also experienced the military curfew for the first time, as a result. It’s actually pretty funny to watch. Once 1:45 rolls around, they start filtering out until there is literally 1/6th of the people in the club left. Then, after two, three fatigue wearing officers appear to do some rounding up. A woman I know once got grabbed by them because they thought she was military and she wouldn’t show them her ID because she didn’t know who they were. It was bizarre dancing while watching them peruse the place for errant soldiers. Then the dancefloor was all ours and we took advantage of it. We were the last to leave. A very successful night.
So when you consider those two nights, you can tell why it’s a bit of miracle that I made it up in time to attend Susy’s hip hop class on Sunday. I even had enough time to skype with my super awesome friend in China first. Susy, who you may recall is Melinda’s salsa co-teacher, is also a very good hip hop dancer (and a martial arts fighter, because she’s just that much of a machine). So she, along with a couple of skilled helpers, is teaching a hip hop dance class every Sunday. So I missed the first couple of classes but made it to this one. And boy did she kick our butts. I was a little late because I got lost, having never found the club it’s at during daytime. I arrived to see 20 or so students engaging in some warm up. Now Susy’s style of warm up is, in fact, conditioning, which translates to squats, crunches, staggered push ups...Yeah. I wasn’t ready. After barely surviving that, we got to the dance, which was a bit more within my skill set. The choreography we are working on is fun and looks good, though it was a tad difficult for me to catch up with the rest of the class. The class includes cool people I already know, cool people I’d seen around, and cool people I just met then. Post-class, some of us went to eat. The crowd was an awesome set of folks who provided much entertainment. Among the new folks were a Guyanese-American video game expert, a super friendly and smart South African woman, and a really cool black American girl who I kept thinking would get along really well with Maanda. It was also nice hanging out with Susy’s boyfriend Nick, who has, among other good qualities, an incredible memory for TV show quotes. To round out the group there was Susy herself, Krissi the very sweet woman from Atlanta who I met my first weekend here, and Matt, another martial arts and dance machine. It’s funny; Sunday actually made me feel as though I really, truly live here more than I have felt before. Maybe it was the non-work related daytime activity or the deliciously nerdy and clever crowd, but I really felt a home this weekend.
Which is what made it worth it when I woke up in pain on Monday. My legs felt like jello and I could barely bring myself to walk to work on Monday and Tuesday. Knowing my overworked muscles needed some help to recover after being utilized more in one weekend than they’d been in months, I made a date with the jimjilbang on Wednesday. I took a long a co-worker who’d never been before. We both got scrub downs. For 14,000 won, you can get the scrubbing of a life time. They are provided by an ajummah who wears nothing but her panties and some oven mitt-esque scrubbers on her hands. It seems like it would be weird, but she is so business-like about it that its actually not weird at all. She really goes to town on your dead skin; you can actually see it strewn across the table. It hurts a little bit but afterwards you feel as soft as a baby’s bottom (which I have heard is very soft). We’d soaked for a long time before getting our rub downs and we were both pretty hungry by the time we’d both had our turn, so we forewent the hot floors and headed home instead.
So yeah, life is good. And this weekend, I’ll be doing it all over again, heaven help me.
Love,
AAA
P.S. Music rec time! I give you Epik High, one of the first Korean hip hop groups I ever liked. One of the rappers has a master’s in English Lit, which is pretty sexy if you ask me. Which you did, with your mind.
Enjoy!
older track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUS-RoxWI_w
newer track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZbxsM9RUtU
P.P.S. I also wrote a restuarant review for Daegu Pockets this week, which shall presumably appear in the next issue. I'll keep you guys updated on that.
So when you consider those two nights, you can tell why it’s a bit of miracle that I made it up in time to attend Susy’s hip hop class on Sunday. I even had enough time to skype with my super awesome friend in China first. Susy, who you may recall is Melinda’s salsa co-teacher, is also a very good hip hop dancer (and a martial arts fighter, because she’s just that much of a machine). So she, along with a couple of skilled helpers, is teaching a hip hop dance class every Sunday. So I missed the first couple of classes but made it to this one. And boy did she kick our butts. I was a little late because I got lost, having never found the club it’s at during daytime. I arrived to see 20 or so students engaging in some warm up. Now Susy’s style of warm up is, in fact, conditioning, which translates to squats, crunches, staggered push ups...Yeah. I wasn’t ready. After barely surviving that, we got to the dance, which was a bit more within my skill set. The choreography we are working on is fun and looks good, though it was a tad difficult for me to catch up with the rest of the class. The class includes cool people I already know, cool people I’d seen around, and cool people I just met then. Post-class, some of us went to eat. The crowd was an awesome set of folks who provided much entertainment. Among the new folks were a Guyanese-American video game expert, a super friendly and smart South African woman, and a really cool black American girl who I kept thinking would get along really well with Maanda. It was also nice hanging out with Susy’s boyfriend Nick, who has, among other good qualities, an incredible memory for TV show quotes. To round out the group there was Susy herself, Krissi the very sweet woman from Atlanta who I met my first weekend here, and Matt, another martial arts and dance machine. It’s funny; Sunday actually made me feel as though I really, truly live here more than I have felt before. Maybe it was the non-work related daytime activity or the deliciously nerdy and clever crowd, but I really felt a home this weekend.
Which is what made it worth it when I woke up in pain on Monday. My legs felt like jello and I could barely bring myself to walk to work on Monday and Tuesday. Knowing my overworked muscles needed some help to recover after being utilized more in one weekend than they’d been in months, I made a date with the jimjilbang on Wednesday. I took a long a co-worker who’d never been before. We both got scrub downs. For 14,000 won, you can get the scrubbing of a life time. They are provided by an ajummah who wears nothing but her panties and some oven mitt-esque scrubbers on her hands. It seems like it would be weird, but she is so business-like about it that its actually not weird at all. She really goes to town on your dead skin; you can actually see it strewn across the table. It hurts a little bit but afterwards you feel as soft as a baby’s bottom (which I have heard is very soft). We’d soaked for a long time before getting our rub downs and we were both pretty hungry by the time we’d both had our turn, so we forewent the hot floors and headed home instead.
So yeah, life is good. And this weekend, I’ll be doing it all over again, heaven help me.
Love,
AAA
P.S. Music rec time! I give you Epik High, one of the first Korean hip hop groups I ever liked. One of the rappers has a master’s in English Lit, which is pretty sexy if you ask me. Which you did, with your mind.
Enjoy!
older track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUS-RoxWI_w
newer track: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZbxsM9RUtU
P.P.S. I also wrote a restuarant review for Daegu Pockets this week, which shall presumably appear in the next issue. I'll keep you guys updated on that.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Playing Catch Up
As promised, midweek make up entry. Right now, I’m not inside at all; I’m sitting on a stage in the middle of the hub of crisscrossing streets of downtown. It’s warm enough today to stay out here for a bit, though I’m sure eventually I’ll get cold enough to go inside. It’s before 5 pm the streets are super busy already. There’s a store across from where I’m sitting called “It’s Skin” which is good, because I totally wouldn’t have known otherwise. On my subway ride over here, I was in the same carriage as a ton of uniformed high and middle school students, and there are a lot of them roaming around here as well. There are bangs as far as the eye can see. Now that the sun is making a regular appearance, I’ll have to think about getting my first ever pair of prescription sunglasses. I’ve never had them in the past, but since glasses are so much cheaper over here I’m definitely going to.
But to the point of this entry: the weekend before last. My entry before last was written Friday night at a point when I wasn’t expecting to go out. But I ended up calling the lovely Jasmin to see what she was up to and, as a result, I ended up heading off to see her at the Holy Grill, thus ensuring that I would not have an early night. I help her and this girl Kristin run lines for the cabaret that they were performing in the following night. That was fun; I miss doing theatre related stuff. After they’d rehearsed, Jasmin and I went off to do some dancing. Due to my totally terrible memory, I can’t remember if anything notable happened that night but I do recall it going fairly late.
The next night was the cabaret. It was a cute, love themed show that was raising money for a Buddhist monastery that runs a home for abused “international marriage women” and men who’ve been injured in factory accidents. Super good cause. There were three monks from the monastery at the show, one Korean, one Cambodian and one Sri Lankan. It was funny seeing monks laugh at the skits. They were introduced by an embarrassingly rambley Australian woman. The venue for the cabaret was this awesome cafe / used bookstore run by a Chinese Canadian woman and her Korean yoga teacher husband. It felt rather like being in Guelph, which was a comment also made by several former Guelphites in attendance. Sweet memories of the Bullring. There was even organic snacks! The performances were really good, especially the scene done by Darrell and Whitney, who are both trained actors. What a pair of stars. For the last scene, they needed an audience volunteer. I was sitting right at the front, beside a teacher for our company named Melvin. Well as soon as they asked for a volunteer, Melvin pretty much rolled me out onto the stage. So I ended up in the show, playing the role of a woman being picked up in a bar. Twas fun. As an aside, non-Canadians who came to Korea to teach get a serious education in Canadianness by being here. Several Brits, South Africans and Americans have mentioned wanting to visit Canada now that they have so made so many Canadian friends in Korea.
Anyway, after the show, me and some folks went for some galbi, which was followed by some – you guessed it – dancing.
Sunday, I headed off to Busan to meet up with Maanda for some kite making action. There’s this Buddhist temple in Busan that puts on monthly cultural events for foreigners and this month’s event was traditional Korean kite making and flying. It was a lovely day. We were supposed to write the things we want to come to us and the things we want to send away for the new year on the kite so that they could symbolically fly to the sky. My kite flew super high and for a good while, but then someone else’s line cut mine and my wishes literally flew away. There we snacks afterwards and Maanda won a prize for her beautiful kite. In fact, when we were making them, this camera dude saw Maanda making hers and was like “it looks like the Jamaican flag,” which was funny but also strange because a Korean who knows what the Jamaican flag looks like is rare indeed. Like every good thing, kite making was followed by galbi with Maanda and her friends from Ulsan who had also taken part in the festivities. Then I caught the bus back to Daegu and wrapped up my delightful weekend.
In other news, most of you are probably aware that Korean figure skater Kim Yun Ah won a gold medal at the Olympics. It would be literally impossible to not know this in Korea because her routine was played on every TV screen I saw all day long and for several days after. Also, her face is everywhere advertising stuff, which was the case before and is even more so now.
So I’ve previously mentioned how segregated our office is. Example: there is a new Korean employee in our department who started about two weeks ago. He has never been introduced to us. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d never even know there was a newbie because we were not informed at all. I’m generally a big believer in proper introductions so I just think its really lame to go about stuff that way. Especially because now there’s the awkward “say hi / don’t say hi” situation. Boo.
Last night, Melinda and I went to the movies. In Korea, movie theatres have numbered seats. This is stupid. In a theatre with maybe 10 people in it total, we were seated right beside and right in front of other people. So we moved, eschewing our correct numbers for more sensible seating. We saw Chloe, the new Atom Egoyan flick. It takes place in Toronto, so it was nice to see home.
And there you have it; you are officially caught up on my life. No narrative gaps.
This week’s music recommendation is a joint from hip hop group Leesang, who have enjoyably scratchy voices. Bam!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOroE3OUoGA
Love,
AAA
But to the point of this entry: the weekend before last. My entry before last was written Friday night at a point when I wasn’t expecting to go out. But I ended up calling the lovely Jasmin to see what she was up to and, as a result, I ended up heading off to see her at the Holy Grill, thus ensuring that I would not have an early night. I help her and this girl Kristin run lines for the cabaret that they were performing in the following night. That was fun; I miss doing theatre related stuff. After they’d rehearsed, Jasmin and I went off to do some dancing. Due to my totally terrible memory, I can’t remember if anything notable happened that night but I do recall it going fairly late.
The next night was the cabaret. It was a cute, love themed show that was raising money for a Buddhist monastery that runs a home for abused “international marriage women” and men who’ve been injured in factory accidents. Super good cause. There were three monks from the monastery at the show, one Korean, one Cambodian and one Sri Lankan. It was funny seeing monks laugh at the skits. They were introduced by an embarrassingly rambley Australian woman. The venue for the cabaret was this awesome cafe / used bookstore run by a Chinese Canadian woman and her Korean yoga teacher husband. It felt rather like being in Guelph, which was a comment also made by several former Guelphites in attendance. Sweet memories of the Bullring. There was even organic snacks! The performances were really good, especially the scene done by Darrell and Whitney, who are both trained actors. What a pair of stars. For the last scene, they needed an audience volunteer. I was sitting right at the front, beside a teacher for our company named Melvin. Well as soon as they asked for a volunteer, Melvin pretty much rolled me out onto the stage. So I ended up in the show, playing the role of a woman being picked up in a bar. Twas fun. As an aside, non-Canadians who came to Korea to teach get a serious education in Canadianness by being here. Several Brits, South Africans and Americans have mentioned wanting to visit Canada now that they have so made so many Canadian friends in Korea.
Anyway, after the show, me and some folks went for some galbi, which was followed by some – you guessed it – dancing.
Sunday, I headed off to Busan to meet up with Maanda for some kite making action. There’s this Buddhist temple in Busan that puts on monthly cultural events for foreigners and this month’s event was traditional Korean kite making and flying. It was a lovely day. We were supposed to write the things we want to come to us and the things we want to send away for the new year on the kite so that they could symbolically fly to the sky. My kite flew super high and for a good while, but then someone else’s line cut mine and my wishes literally flew away. There we snacks afterwards and Maanda won a prize for her beautiful kite. In fact, when we were making them, this camera dude saw Maanda making hers and was like “it looks like the Jamaican flag,” which was funny but also strange because a Korean who knows what the Jamaican flag looks like is rare indeed. Like every good thing, kite making was followed by galbi with Maanda and her friends from Ulsan who had also taken part in the festivities. Then I caught the bus back to Daegu and wrapped up my delightful weekend.
In other news, most of you are probably aware that Korean figure skater Kim Yun Ah won a gold medal at the Olympics. It would be literally impossible to not know this in Korea because her routine was played on every TV screen I saw all day long and for several days after. Also, her face is everywhere advertising stuff, which was the case before and is even more so now.
So I’ve previously mentioned how segregated our office is. Example: there is a new Korean employee in our department who started about two weeks ago. He has never been introduced to us. If I didn’t pay attention, I’d never even know there was a newbie because we were not informed at all. I’m generally a big believer in proper introductions so I just think its really lame to go about stuff that way. Especially because now there’s the awkward “say hi / don’t say hi” situation. Boo.
Last night, Melinda and I went to the movies. In Korea, movie theatres have numbered seats. This is stupid. In a theatre with maybe 10 people in it total, we were seated right beside and right in front of other people. So we moved, eschewing our correct numbers for more sensible seating. We saw Chloe, the new Atom Egoyan flick. It takes place in Toronto, so it was nice to see home.
And there you have it; you are officially caught up on my life. No narrative gaps.
This week’s music recommendation is a joint from hip hop group Leesang, who have enjoyably scratchy voices. Bam!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOroE3OUoGA
Love,
AAA
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Insert Seoul/Soul Pun Here
There’s been a bit of a gap between the last entry and this one so there is a fair amount to say, hopefully a good bit of which I will cover. This entry comes to you from the Dunkin Donuts in Itaewon, Seoul’s international district. I just spent the afternoon getting my hair done by a very nice Cameroonian woman named Princess Thelma. I was rock the Fredrick Douglass look (afro with side part) between when I washed it on Wednesday and today. I’m really enjoying this Dunkin Donuts because it has cream puffs, unlike the stupid DDs in Daegu. And I really, really like cream puffs. Also, my Muslim readers will be interested to know that I am sitting beside the first Korean hijabi I’ve ever seen. She’s with her South Asian-looking husband and their ridiculously adorable toddler. A couple of girls said something to her in Korean and she answered saying “Muslim.” It would be funny if they were asking if she was a nun with a kid.
So on Friday after work I hurried off to Dongdaegu yuk (station) to catch the KTX train to Seoul. I slept most of the just shy of two hours that it takes to get there. It was evening so I didn’t get to see much of the countryside. I took the subway to darling Rasheeda’s house. Rasheeda has a tiny, hyperactive dog who likes to lick socks. After some chatting we headed off to Itaewon to meet up with some her friends. First we went to this little Turkish spot and I had an almost shwarma (right meat, but the other elements weren’t quite right). We ended up talking to this dude who turned out to be from Scarborough. Then we went to a bar that I can’t remember the name of. This really cool girl named Geo (don’t know if I’m spelling that right) was goodbye partying. She was crazy amounts of fun. Then we went to the Reggae bar for a bit before calling it a night. With us was this awesome dude named Lesean (also don’t know if I’m spelling g that right) who, if I remember correctly, is the head animator for The Boondocks, which, like tons of other cartoons including The Simpsons and Family Guy, is drawn in Korea.
Saturday, post-hair doing, I got the chance to check out What the Book, the famous English Bookstore in Itaewon. I didn’t buy anything because I should read what I brought with me first. There was a minor crisis because R forgot her bank card at the Reggae Bar the night before but we went there and waiting until the employees arrived to work and she got it back. The bartenders were two Philipinas and a Thai woman. They were very nice.
Then we headed to R’s place and I took a delightful nap. Then Joy, a very cool woman from the UK, came and we got ready to head out to the Basement Jaxx show. We left late and got lost but we eventually made it to Eden Club, in the basement of the Ritz Carlton in a posh neighbourhood. Like so many Korean clubs (in fact, Korean places in general), it has death stairs. How completely loaded Korean women in stilettos don’t constantly die going and out of clubs, I can’t possibly understand. The club was very big and very packed with lots of young, goodlooking folks. Twas great. Now, Basement Jaxx are actually DJs/Producers so it was unsurprisingly a DJ set not a performance. I haven’t heard real DJing in a very long time. Before Basement Jaxx came on, there was a local DJ and then a performance by a Korean act that I’ve never heard of. There were two singers and two backup dancers, all wearing similar black and leopard print suits and sunglasses. We were right at the front so we got to experience there little dances close up which was fun. After some more of the local DJ, Basement Jaxxx came on and tore up the place. Koreans always face the DJ at clubs, even at normal, non-celebrity-DJ-having clubs. I danced hard and got some great crowd watching in too. There were a lot of hot guys at this show, which was very pleasing. There were also some annoying, sloppily dancing white folks, which was much less pleasing. A black guy from LA came up to us to say hi and tell us he was glad to see other black people. A Korean-Canadian dude from BC also came to say hi to me at one point. People do this a lot in Korea – bond over shared foreignness. K&J went to another club before it was over but I stayed tilt eh end. While I was dancing by myself, I was doing so in front of this big, reflective, black, rectangular pillar. And I was reminded that Korea is, without a doubt, the most looks obsessed country I’ve ever seen. Canada and the US, as bad as they are, have nothing on Korea. So many people stopped to check themselves out using the pillar that I lost count. It was ridiculous. I already knew Koreans loved mirrors as much as they love kimchi but...a reflective pillar in a dark club? And not just quick glances, these were long drawn out studies. For real, Korea? Basement Jaxx wrapped up, closing with a horns rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody (I still remember all of the lyrics, I discovered). Then I went off to meet R&J though I got lost on the way. But I had a nice refreshing night time walk. Walking at night in Korea isn’t generally a big deal. When I finally arrived I found them having a snack in a little food tent. Food tents are all over the place but especially in club / bar areas. Some very drunk Korean-American dudes tried to talk to us. When we left, we walked to the subway and took the first train of the morning, at 5:30 am. That’s right, we took the subway home at 5:30 am after a night out. And let me tell you, the subway was very busy indeed. It was nuts seeing that many people of all ages waiting for the train at that hour. But it makes sense in that it isn’t weird to sleep just anywhere in Korea so presumably some of these people had been sleeping before that time. In fact, at Eden I saw a guy asleep in a booth and no one look at him twice. Considering the fact that that’s illegal at home, it was rather funny to see. On the train, K&J fell asleep on my shoulders while I talked to these two dudes who had carried their super drunk female friend on to the train a couple of stops after we got on. Their friend promptly fell asleep on Rasheeda’s shoulder. One was a South Asian dude from San Francisco in Korea on business and the other was a Korean dude who works for Lotte, one of the companies that owns insane amounts of stuff in Korea.
Sunday, I got up at noon and left Rasheeda’s to go to the train station. I did a little wandering in the area before buying my ticket and heading home. So here I am on the train. I’ve just been informed that I’m going through central Gimcheon by some specially mown grass.
So that was my weekend in Seoul. I had planned to include last weekend in this entry but this is already super long so I’ll just write another entry later in the week and resign myself to being totally disordered. The point is, I had a glorious time in Seoul. And now, heading home to cook for the week and have some quiet time before starting the new week, I am sure I shall be making many a trip to Seoul this year, especially now that spring has sprung. Bizarrely, the arrival of spring always makes me think of this crazy Medieval song that Professor Powell sang to us on the first day of my first university English class. the song is about the arrival of spring and how frisky it makes everyone. It includes a line about bucks farting.
I feel like this weekend has really solidified my love for Korea. It’s such a crazy, chaotic, sometimes utterly nonsensical place and I can’t help but respond to that. And there’s something really interesting about living somewhere as an expat. I think it suits me.
Love,
AAA
P.S. Couldn’t leave you without the usual musical suggestion. This song is Paradise by Eddie, a little R&B number that I quite like. Bam!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1fpGh4qG2g
P.P.S. The countryside is really interesting, by the way. Very hilly, with lots of small fields and tin roofed houses.
So on Friday after work I hurried off to Dongdaegu yuk (station) to catch the KTX train to Seoul. I slept most of the just shy of two hours that it takes to get there. It was evening so I didn’t get to see much of the countryside. I took the subway to darling Rasheeda’s house. Rasheeda has a tiny, hyperactive dog who likes to lick socks. After some chatting we headed off to Itaewon to meet up with some her friends. First we went to this little Turkish spot and I had an almost shwarma (right meat, but the other elements weren’t quite right). We ended up talking to this dude who turned out to be from Scarborough. Then we went to a bar that I can’t remember the name of. This really cool girl named Geo (don’t know if I’m spelling that right) was goodbye partying. She was crazy amounts of fun. Then we went to the Reggae bar for a bit before calling it a night. With us was this awesome dude named Lesean (also don’t know if I’m spelling g that right) who, if I remember correctly, is the head animator for The Boondocks, which, like tons of other cartoons including The Simpsons and Family Guy, is drawn in Korea.
Saturday, post-hair doing, I got the chance to check out What the Book, the famous English Bookstore in Itaewon. I didn’t buy anything because I should read what I brought with me first. There was a minor crisis because R forgot her bank card at the Reggae Bar the night before but we went there and waiting until the employees arrived to work and she got it back. The bartenders were two Philipinas and a Thai woman. They were very nice.
Then we headed to R’s place and I took a delightful nap. Then Joy, a very cool woman from the UK, came and we got ready to head out to the Basement Jaxx show. We left late and got lost but we eventually made it to Eden Club, in the basement of the Ritz Carlton in a posh neighbourhood. Like so many Korean clubs (in fact, Korean places in general), it has death stairs. How completely loaded Korean women in stilettos don’t constantly die going and out of clubs, I can’t possibly understand. The club was very big and very packed with lots of young, goodlooking folks. Twas great. Now, Basement Jaxx are actually DJs/Producers so it was unsurprisingly a DJ set not a performance. I haven’t heard real DJing in a very long time. Before Basement Jaxx came on, there was a local DJ and then a performance by a Korean act that I’ve never heard of. There were two singers and two backup dancers, all wearing similar black and leopard print suits and sunglasses. We were right at the front so we got to experience there little dances close up which was fun. After some more of the local DJ, Basement Jaxxx came on and tore up the place. Koreans always face the DJ at clubs, even at normal, non-celebrity-DJ-having clubs. I danced hard and got some great crowd watching in too. There were a lot of hot guys at this show, which was very pleasing. There were also some annoying, sloppily dancing white folks, which was much less pleasing. A black guy from LA came up to us to say hi and tell us he was glad to see other black people. A Korean-Canadian dude from BC also came to say hi to me at one point. People do this a lot in Korea – bond over shared foreignness. K&J went to another club before it was over but I stayed tilt eh end. While I was dancing by myself, I was doing so in front of this big, reflective, black, rectangular pillar. And I was reminded that Korea is, without a doubt, the most looks obsessed country I’ve ever seen. Canada and the US, as bad as they are, have nothing on Korea. So many people stopped to check themselves out using the pillar that I lost count. It was ridiculous. I already knew Koreans loved mirrors as much as they love kimchi but...a reflective pillar in a dark club? And not just quick glances, these were long drawn out studies. For real, Korea? Basement Jaxx wrapped up, closing with a horns rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody (I still remember all of the lyrics, I discovered). Then I went off to meet R&J though I got lost on the way. But I had a nice refreshing night time walk. Walking at night in Korea isn’t generally a big deal. When I finally arrived I found them having a snack in a little food tent. Food tents are all over the place but especially in club / bar areas. Some very drunk Korean-American dudes tried to talk to us. When we left, we walked to the subway and took the first train of the morning, at 5:30 am. That’s right, we took the subway home at 5:30 am after a night out. And let me tell you, the subway was very busy indeed. It was nuts seeing that many people of all ages waiting for the train at that hour. But it makes sense in that it isn’t weird to sleep just anywhere in Korea so presumably some of these people had been sleeping before that time. In fact, at Eden I saw a guy asleep in a booth and no one look at him twice. Considering the fact that that’s illegal at home, it was rather funny to see. On the train, K&J fell asleep on my shoulders while I talked to these two dudes who had carried their super drunk female friend on to the train a couple of stops after we got on. Their friend promptly fell asleep on Rasheeda’s shoulder. One was a South Asian dude from San Francisco in Korea on business and the other was a Korean dude who works for Lotte, one of the companies that owns insane amounts of stuff in Korea.
Sunday, I got up at noon and left Rasheeda’s to go to the train station. I did a little wandering in the area before buying my ticket and heading home. So here I am on the train. I’ve just been informed that I’m going through central Gimcheon by some specially mown grass.
So that was my weekend in Seoul. I had planned to include last weekend in this entry but this is already super long so I’ll just write another entry later in the week and resign myself to being totally disordered. The point is, I had a glorious time in Seoul. And now, heading home to cook for the week and have some quiet time before starting the new week, I am sure I shall be making many a trip to Seoul this year, especially now that spring has sprung. Bizarrely, the arrival of spring always makes me think of this crazy Medieval song that Professor Powell sang to us on the first day of my first university English class. the song is about the arrival of spring and how frisky it makes everyone. It includes a line about bucks farting.
I feel like this weekend has really solidified my love for Korea. It’s such a crazy, chaotic, sometimes utterly nonsensical place and I can’t help but respond to that. And there’s something really interesting about living somewhere as an expat. I think it suits me.
Love,
AAA
P.S. Couldn’t leave you without the usual musical suggestion. This song is Paradise by Eddie, a little R&B number that I quite like. Bam!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s1fpGh4qG2g
P.P.S. The countryside is really interesting, by the way. Very hilly, with lots of small fields and tin roofed houses.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Majultob?
Friday night, ladies and gentlemen. So far it’s been a pretty quiet one. I went to Daiso, this Japanese chain store that is like a good quality dollar store, to pick up some picture frames for the gorgeous pics Ambreen sent me. The world needs to see how cute I look in salwar kameez. Then I went on a mission to try yet another café. This time it’s Hollys Coffee, which I’m not particularly impressed with. They don’t have good window seats, so its not super ideal for people watching. It’s actually right across the street from the place I wrote the last entry.
I’ve actually been frequenting this place called Selu Coffee that’s about 3 minutes from work (8 if the intersection acts like a jerk) during break at work, mostly because of their delightful bathroom. 2,400 won is a small price to pay for a warm seat and warm water (and hot chocolate, which is good too). I’ve improved at squatting but sometimes a girl really needs a seat. I also think I’m never going to get used to the whole toilet paper in the garbage can thing. I understand the reasons but I feel horrible for whoever’s job it is to clean that up.
I don’t plan on talking much about work on this blog for a number of reasons, the most important being that it would probably be boring for you to raed (whereas I know you are riveted by tales of toilets and traffic :P). But to speak hypothetically for a moment, let me say this:
Let’s say you work in a box factory and you make, say, 2 million boxes a week. And one day, you’re boss comes in and says he wants to pay you overtime to stay late and make 4 million boxes a week instead. Now you really value your free time and you live quite comfortably, so the overtime pay isn’t that exciting. Later, you find out that your boss wants all that overtime work to be done because he wants 8 million boxes made before he leaves to go lie on a beach for a month. Wouldn’t that make you a little peeved? (As an aside, this scenario has put the “Yo, my name is Joe, and I work in a button factory” song in my head).
In other news, it’s sort of crazy that I’ve only been here for a little over a month so far. It feels like longer. I’ve settled in pretty quickly, I suppose. But I do have to remind myself that it hasn’t been very long because sometimes I feel like I’m not getting started fast enough on some stuff, like taking Korean lessons, but then I’ll remembered that I can hardly expect myself to be on top of everything already. I’ve also just locked myself into taking the GRE English subject test in early April so I’ll have to do some studying for that (boo! hiss!). I have to go check out the university it’s at (Keimyoung, it’s called) before hand so I can know where I’m going and how long it takes to get there. It’ll be cool to get to see a Korean Uni in action. But yeah, the point is, rushing is for suckas. I am pleased with the opportunity to take my sweet time doing things right now.
Oh, you may find this entertaining: there’s this kpop song out right now called “Mazeltov.” Weird, right? Even stranger is the fact that there is no discernable reason for the name. In the song, they mention Mexican girls, Korean girls, Japanese girls – no talk of Jewish girls at all. What’s more, no one knows what the heck mazel tov means over here – people have been asking their students. I can’t imagine that the dudes singing the song know either. So whoever wrote it either randomly chose the word because they thought it sounded fun (pronounced “Majultob” Korean style) or know what it means and think it’s hilarious to confuse everybody. Oh kpop, your use of any language other than Korean is always so crazy.
So I paused writing for a bit to look through a men’s fashion magazine (cuz you know I never look at the ones for women) and came across some appealing info: Basement Jaxx are going to be in Seoul next weekend. I have decided to go. Very exciting. I totally love Basement Jaxx. Anyway, I think if I buy clothes in Korea it’ll probably end up being men’s clothes; Korean women’s fashion is just way too girly for me (plus men’s clothes probably come in slightly bigger sizes). I can’t wait until it’s warmer and I can stop wearing this dang coat. It’s been good to me, but I really would rather be wearing less clothing all the time. What? I’ll tell you a bit of Korean women’s fashion that needs to die: hairy vests. I just saw this woman in this heinous pink sweat suit thing with a hairy white vest over top. Offensive.
This entry’s music recommendation is a little tune by a group called SHINee, which is pronounced shiny even though it totally looks like shinny. I rather like these kids (literally kids – like many kpop singers, they are ludicrously young). The first song I’ll link is their debut track, “Noona is so pretty” (noona is what boys call either their older sister or familiar girls older than themselves), from a couple of years ago, and the second one is their most recent song “Ring Ding Dong” that boasts some highly nonsensical English lyrics. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HAazRvDP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roughtzsCDI
Love,
AAA
P.S. I suppose I should also link the crazy Mazeltov song. Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkJ9UK3JsQ
P.P.S. I stopped by a little cupcake spot post hot choco-ing and, apart from consuming two small but tasty cupcakes, I’m not watching a couple eat cupcakes, and the dude is eating his cupcake with a spoon. A spoon! Who does? Anyway, I’ve also discovered the secret to desserts in SK: its better to not go with chocolate items because they are never quite chocolaty enough. But other flavours, like the raspberry cupcake I just ate, can be quite delicious and don’t have any associated let downness.
I’ve actually been frequenting this place called Selu Coffee that’s about 3 minutes from work (8 if the intersection acts like a jerk) during break at work, mostly because of their delightful bathroom. 2,400 won is a small price to pay for a warm seat and warm water (and hot chocolate, which is good too). I’ve improved at squatting but sometimes a girl really needs a seat. I also think I’m never going to get used to the whole toilet paper in the garbage can thing. I understand the reasons but I feel horrible for whoever’s job it is to clean that up.
I don’t plan on talking much about work on this blog for a number of reasons, the most important being that it would probably be boring for you to raed (whereas I know you are riveted by tales of toilets and traffic :P). But to speak hypothetically for a moment, let me say this:
Let’s say you work in a box factory and you make, say, 2 million boxes a week. And one day, you’re boss comes in and says he wants to pay you overtime to stay late and make 4 million boxes a week instead. Now you really value your free time and you live quite comfortably, so the overtime pay isn’t that exciting. Later, you find out that your boss wants all that overtime work to be done because he wants 8 million boxes made before he leaves to go lie on a beach for a month. Wouldn’t that make you a little peeved? (As an aside, this scenario has put the “Yo, my name is Joe, and I work in a button factory” song in my head).
In other news, it’s sort of crazy that I’ve only been here for a little over a month so far. It feels like longer. I’ve settled in pretty quickly, I suppose. But I do have to remind myself that it hasn’t been very long because sometimes I feel like I’m not getting started fast enough on some stuff, like taking Korean lessons, but then I’ll remembered that I can hardly expect myself to be on top of everything already. I’ve also just locked myself into taking the GRE English subject test in early April so I’ll have to do some studying for that (boo! hiss!). I have to go check out the university it’s at (Keimyoung, it’s called) before hand so I can know where I’m going and how long it takes to get there. It’ll be cool to get to see a Korean Uni in action. But yeah, the point is, rushing is for suckas. I am pleased with the opportunity to take my sweet time doing things right now.
Oh, you may find this entertaining: there’s this kpop song out right now called “Mazeltov.” Weird, right? Even stranger is the fact that there is no discernable reason for the name. In the song, they mention Mexican girls, Korean girls, Japanese girls – no talk of Jewish girls at all. What’s more, no one knows what the heck mazel tov means over here – people have been asking their students. I can’t imagine that the dudes singing the song know either. So whoever wrote it either randomly chose the word because they thought it sounded fun (pronounced “Majultob” Korean style) or know what it means and think it’s hilarious to confuse everybody. Oh kpop, your use of any language other than Korean is always so crazy.
So I paused writing for a bit to look through a men’s fashion magazine (cuz you know I never look at the ones for women) and came across some appealing info: Basement Jaxx are going to be in Seoul next weekend. I have decided to go. Very exciting. I totally love Basement Jaxx. Anyway, I think if I buy clothes in Korea it’ll probably end up being men’s clothes; Korean women’s fashion is just way too girly for me (plus men’s clothes probably come in slightly bigger sizes). I can’t wait until it’s warmer and I can stop wearing this dang coat. It’s been good to me, but I really would rather be wearing less clothing all the time. What? I’ll tell you a bit of Korean women’s fashion that needs to die: hairy vests. I just saw this woman in this heinous pink sweat suit thing with a hairy white vest over top. Offensive.
This entry’s music recommendation is a little tune by a group called SHINee, which is pronounced shiny even though it totally looks like shinny. I rather like these kids (literally kids – like many kpop singers, they are ludicrously young). The first song I’ll link is their debut track, “Noona is so pretty” (noona is what boys call either their older sister or familiar girls older than themselves), from a couple of years ago, and the second one is their most recent song “Ring Ding Dong” that boasts some highly nonsensical English lyrics. Enjoy!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1HAazRvDP4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=roughtzsCDI
Love,
AAA
P.S. I suppose I should also link the crazy Mazeltov song. Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LTkJ9UK3JsQ
P.P.S. I stopped by a little cupcake spot post hot choco-ing and, apart from consuming two small but tasty cupcakes, I’m not watching a couple eat cupcakes, and the dude is eating his cupcake with a spoon. A spoon! Who does? Anyway, I’ve also discovered the secret to desserts in SK: its better to not go with chocolate items because they are never quite chocolaty enough. But other flavours, like the raspberry cupcake I just ate, can be quite delicious and don’t have any associated let downness.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Getting Lunar
(written Saturday afternoon)
Today’s entry comes to you from the third floor of Angel-in-Us Coffee in downtown Daegu. I’m looking down on the bustling streets of the shopping district, drinking some very tasty (albeit expensive) hot chocolate, or hot choco, as you have to call it here if you want people to know what you are saying. Konglish is a funny thing – there are some English loan words that Koreans use all the time that they will just not understand if you use the English pronunciation. Example: if you get into a cab and say “E-mart ka juseyo” the cab driver will either be confused, or repeat, “E-mah-tuh?” to see if that’s what you meant. You can never underestimate the power of the “uh” at the end of a word that ends with a consonant.
On the same level where I am sitting, across the street is the Canadian Students Association, which is interesting. I wonder what they do? I was actually thinking of doing some investigating into Korea’s academic scene. It would be interesting to write an article for a Korean journal, even if I had to get it translated. Speaking of academics, I did some research the other day and discovered that I could take the GRE English Subject Test in Daegu on April 10th. While I’m vehemently against standardized testing, and I’m not really that into the idea of living in the States, it is worth it to keep my options open.
Beside the Canadian Students Association is Davinci Coffee, one of the café chains I haven’t tried yet. Their sign says “The top of pride there is Davinci.”
Speaking of strange English usage, I visited a little underground vintage shop earlier. It felt just like one at home, only with smaller clothes. There I found a t-shirt that said “Hereditaty Infulence,” proving that people really need to spell check t-shirts. I also found a pair of those wonderful Pakistani curl toe shoes that I’ve always wanted. They even fit! But when I took them to the counter, the guy, who I think was Japanese, told me they were just for display and not for sale. Alas the day.
On a totally unrelated note, Koreans run a lot. The Korean staff in the office often run from place to place for no discernable reason. And I find the frequency with which Korean women run particularly because so many of them wear such unconscionably high heels all the time. The constant clacking of high heels everywhere will hopefully stop getting on my nerves with time. I’m also becoming my parents in one oddly specific way: I regularly feel the urge to yell “Pick up your feet!” at strangers on the street who inexplicably drag their feet as if they are Igor.
Do it’s Seolnar, aka Lunar new year, on Monday. So happy new year everybody! We get Monday off of work (woowoo!). We also received a little Korean equivalent of a pizza party during afternoon break on Friday. We ate fish cakes and ddukbokki, which is rice cakes in a very spicy sauce. Every major holiday, apparently, everyone gets a gift from the company. This year, we all got two big boxes of seaweed. What, you ask, will I do with two boxes of seaweed? Absolutely nothing since I don’t even really like seaweed. I’ll eat it if it’s in soup or kimbap but I’ll never cook with it or eat it by itself. I’m thinking of mailing it to Kai.
A funny thing about this area is that a lot of the streets look like the sort of streets that would be pedestrian only but they totally aren’t, even the really narrow ones. So even though everyone walks in the middle of the street anyway, you regularly get honked at and have to move to the side. I just saw the McDonald’s delivery guy (yes Mickey-D’s delivers over here) almost collide with another motorcycle.
Yesterday the glorious Maanda came into town because today she and Bryan are off on a ski trip that they tried to peer pressure me into doing too. I resisted, having not skied since the grade 7 ski trip and having absolutely zero confidence in my skill. So instead I’m spending the weekend kicking back, meeting up with folks (including another former guelphite who is coming in from Busan). Tonight I’m supposed to go to my first ever nonforeigner dominated club, which should be fun. I’ll let you know how it goes.
The guy sitting across from me is singing to himself while working on what ooks to be some kind of workbook. A funny thing that’s been happening recently is that I sometimes see people who look like the Korean equivalent of someone I know from back home / elsewhere in the world. Not any close friends yet, but I’ll let you know if I find any.
Okay time to wrap this baby up. Today’s music rec is Taeyang (one of the members of the very popular group Big Bang) with his solo song “Wedding Dress.” Songs with this particular theme (which you can gather from the video even if you don’t understand the lyrics) always do it for me because I can relate to them an embarrassing degree. Goodtimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIt6KCwlFPw
Love,
AAA
p.s. I want you all to know that I really do appreciate any comments you want to leave. I suppose it is hard to comment on someone’s personal ramblings but still, feel free.
Today’s entry comes to you from the third floor of Angel-in-Us Coffee in downtown Daegu. I’m looking down on the bustling streets of the shopping district, drinking some very tasty (albeit expensive) hot chocolate, or hot choco, as you have to call it here if you want people to know what you are saying. Konglish is a funny thing – there are some English loan words that Koreans use all the time that they will just not understand if you use the English pronunciation. Example: if you get into a cab and say “E-mart ka juseyo” the cab driver will either be confused, or repeat, “E-mah-tuh?” to see if that’s what you meant. You can never underestimate the power of the “uh” at the end of a word that ends with a consonant.
On the same level where I am sitting, across the street is the Canadian Students Association, which is interesting. I wonder what they do? I was actually thinking of doing some investigating into Korea’s academic scene. It would be interesting to write an article for a Korean journal, even if I had to get it translated. Speaking of academics, I did some research the other day and discovered that I could take the GRE English Subject Test in Daegu on April 10th. While I’m vehemently against standardized testing, and I’m not really that into the idea of living in the States, it is worth it to keep my options open.
Beside the Canadian Students Association is Davinci Coffee, one of the café chains I haven’t tried yet. Their sign says “The top of pride there is Davinci.”
Speaking of strange English usage, I visited a little underground vintage shop earlier. It felt just like one at home, only with smaller clothes. There I found a t-shirt that said “Hereditaty Infulence,” proving that people really need to spell check t-shirts. I also found a pair of those wonderful Pakistani curl toe shoes that I’ve always wanted. They even fit! But when I took them to the counter, the guy, who I think was Japanese, told me they were just for display and not for sale. Alas the day.
On a totally unrelated note, Koreans run a lot. The Korean staff in the office often run from place to place for no discernable reason. And I find the frequency with which Korean women run particularly because so many of them wear such unconscionably high heels all the time. The constant clacking of high heels everywhere will hopefully stop getting on my nerves with time. I’m also becoming my parents in one oddly specific way: I regularly feel the urge to yell “Pick up your feet!” at strangers on the street who inexplicably drag their feet as if they are Igor.
Do it’s Seolnar, aka Lunar new year, on Monday. So happy new year everybody! We get Monday off of work (woowoo!). We also received a little Korean equivalent of a pizza party during afternoon break on Friday. We ate fish cakes and ddukbokki, which is rice cakes in a very spicy sauce. Every major holiday, apparently, everyone gets a gift from the company. This year, we all got two big boxes of seaweed. What, you ask, will I do with two boxes of seaweed? Absolutely nothing since I don’t even really like seaweed. I’ll eat it if it’s in soup or kimbap but I’ll never cook with it or eat it by itself. I’m thinking of mailing it to Kai.
A funny thing about this area is that a lot of the streets look like the sort of streets that would be pedestrian only but they totally aren’t, even the really narrow ones. So even though everyone walks in the middle of the street anyway, you regularly get honked at and have to move to the side. I just saw the McDonald’s delivery guy (yes Mickey-D’s delivers over here) almost collide with another motorcycle.
Yesterday the glorious Maanda came into town because today she and Bryan are off on a ski trip that they tried to peer pressure me into doing too. I resisted, having not skied since the grade 7 ski trip and having absolutely zero confidence in my skill. So instead I’m spending the weekend kicking back, meeting up with folks (including another former guelphite who is coming in from Busan). Tonight I’m supposed to go to my first ever nonforeigner dominated club, which should be fun. I’ll let you know how it goes.
The guy sitting across from me is singing to himself while working on what ooks to be some kind of workbook. A funny thing that’s been happening recently is that I sometimes see people who look like the Korean equivalent of someone I know from back home / elsewhere in the world. Not any close friends yet, but I’ll let you know if I find any.
Okay time to wrap this baby up. Today’s music rec is Taeyang (one of the members of the very popular group Big Bang) with his solo song “Wedding Dress.” Songs with this particular theme (which you can gather from the video even if you don’t understand the lyrics) always do it for me because I can relate to them an embarrassing degree. Goodtimes.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qIt6KCwlFPw
Love,
AAA
p.s. I want you all to know that I really do appreciate any comments you want to leave. I suppose it is hard to comment on someone’s personal ramblings but still, feel free.
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