Thanks Wikipedia for teaching me what Yuletide means...

Huzzah! Christmas! I become the most ridiculously sentimental person around this time of year. The slightest mention of it gets me squeeing and glomping anything that vaguely makes reference to the Yuletide ( ;D ) and its festivenosity. Luckily it was I who was Santa this year, so I wasn't squeeing or glomping any old, bearded, and tubby men.

Christmas Eve was unusual!! It started off with Imo making us an unusual breakfast consisting of what I can't remember. But it was set out on the plate with awesome amounts of decorative power. What a rad. Anyway, then we set off to the study room, on the way picking up things like breads and corn from what appeared to be a co-operative food store (awesome) and a Christmas cake. It's a very strange thing for me, but although Christmas isn't the biggest holiday here (pretty small actually), everyone seems to buy a cake for Christmas! What the hey?! It's like: Cake = Western food, Christmas = Western tradition, thus Christmas = Cake times. I am confused. Oh, also, I had an awesome cherry ice-cream from the store we bought the cake from. It was my replacement for eating the crazy amounts of summer cherries I usually consume around this time of year. Oh. Man. I really miss those now.

We then finally turned up to the study room, a little bit late and wishing that a little more snow had fallen in Gangwha for Christmas. Sigh. The rest of the day was spent making cards for each other (we all wrote a message and decorated each one), playing random games and messing around with the kids. I'm not going to really mention the Christmas 'lunch' we had. Let's just say I only ate a billion mini-Snickers because they were the only palatable in sight. And 'cause, shut up, it's Christmas. And then I was a dude in a beard I couldn't breathe through and mittens I couldn't pick anything up with. It was a challenge handing out the bags of scarves each of the kids received. And then the kids wondered why Santa was so skinny (doesn't he eat at all?) and a boy pulled at my beard. I got air, but hopefully I am never Santa again. Don't make me.

After saying a long and sad goodbye to the naughty kids who we almost came to love, we hopped on a bus to Seoul. We followed the Lonely Planet guidebook we have been using quite a bit, to a place in Insadon, the touristy place that I didn't like and then did. Anyway, we had a banquet. A banquet of bulgogi. It was quite impressive! And, most importantly, delicious. It was nice to sit back for a while on Christmas Eve at a relatively nice place and delight ourselves in some damn good food. My penchant to food blag was turned on. Also: the cinnamon alcoholic spirit (moju)that came with the meal was teh rad. I'm so loving the cheap alcohols here. Were you aware? Eastwood, you'd better deliver to me some dodgy store that sells Soju at a good price.

We then looked around a small four-level shopping place that wrapped around a courtyard, that was absolutely buzzing with people. Most of the stores were unique and cool, and we found some places which stock some gifts we'll definitely buy. Sweet. After wandering around the city a bit, taking in the crowds and some hotteok (apparently a special 'diet' one...that was different) along the way, we made it to Seoul Station at about 10:30, ready to take a 5 hour train to another state. After collecting our ticket, and being intimidated by the massive amounts of food people were bringing (seriously, there were grocery bags filled of it), we finally got on the train. With some water and gum. And then came the uncomfortable-my-seat-is-unpredictable-why-can-I-get-no-sleep-people-keep-eating journey to the seaside.

We arrived at the pitch-black beach at about 5:30am. People were abound, food stores were thriving (seriously, people, stop eating at every given moment), and even crappy souvenir stalls decided to open on that cold cold morn. Crazy bastards. We walked up and down on the beach, watching people let off mini-fireworks, people huddle around candles and cakes with lit sparklers, and then discovered that the sun wouldn't rise until 7:37 and that we couldn't last for that long in the cold. So dodgy Udon noodles were had, and we huddled in the tiny station room being squished by people going to and fro from the cold beach to the fooderies. At about 6:45 we scored a sweet spot on some rocks, awfully close to tiny waves that broke on the shore, and trying to conserve as much heat as possible. Also: the cliff in the distance had a giant, what looked to be a P&O liner, ship on it's top. I assume it was a pimpin'-ass restaurant. Or that sea-levels have dramatically decreased on that coastline in the past five years. And then the sun rose, after what seemed to be eternity. The sky got light in beautiful blues and crimsons, the horizon streaked in greys and oranges. Can't really describe it, but the beach is one of the best places to be in the morning.

We then took a short bus ride to a temple, which was a bit average and random, but cool nonetheless because we got to go into the main temple, which you can rarely do. And then to the snow!! WOOT!!! Although, it was more a fake snow field in amongst regular fields of sheep and other things. Like trees. But sledding is way fun! Especially if you're on a plastic doughnut that is over-blown-up and you have rules like "no-hands". Near death = fun. Also, hard-plastic regular sleds are cool too!!!! Because you're like "Whheeeeee, down hill, then wheee! up the mini-hill barricade at the end, and then arrgh! backwards down the mini-hill barricade".

That is all. It was tiring. It was sleepless. But we got back to Seoul that night with nowhere to stay and the last bus to Gangwha gone. So we bath-housed it up! Because you can stay in those places for about $7, soak for ages in different pools bubbling hot and full of green tea. And get pummeled by a spry and mega-strong Korean dude who uses both hands and a foot at times. And then you can sleep there. For $7. The 40-minute beating was extra, but it was a Christmas present to me.

And then this morning we woke up and went to another Banquet in Insadong! OMFG IT WAS THE BEST MEAL I'VE HAD IN KOREA. It was a freakin' Buddhist monk's banquet, that is why. It was vegetarian, it was roots picked off the sides of mountains, it was delicious. One of the best restaurants I have ever been too. Atmospheric and gorram great value. We got something like 20 panchan (side dishes), deonjung soup, some fried stuff, and some rad-ho rice. It almost converted me to Buddhism. Can you beat that? Didn't think so.

This was an awesome Christmas. It was the most untraditional I think I have ever had, but has made me see that breaking away from tradition can still be all types of fun and happy. Woo! Vive la good times!

Merry Yuletide all! Hope you are all well!! *Likes all with an intensity only festivities and likeness for all can bring*

PS Tried to upload photos, but this PC place is shit. The screens are only 19 inch and are CRT monitors. Whatever.

Festive Cheer!

I've had the most haphazard christmas of my life. It totally worked out.

We headed back into Gangwha for Christmas Eve, in order to attend the Christmas party that the study room holds for the kids. These kids really do live in some terrible situations so I'm becoming increasingly touched at how much just buying them some truly awful chicken and pizza does for them. We played dumb games, like spinning 5 times, getting a lolly with our FACE and then eating an onion ring dangling from a string. The kids obviously love that shit. It was sad seeing them for the last time, but we have cards with their sentiments and a whole lot of memories I guess. One of the little girls (we took photos!) was so cute that I wanted to kill her, preserve her and stuff her so I could gaze up on her cute little visage ^__^

On arriving back to Seoul we went and had a banquet of delicious bulgogi proportions! We went to a nice restaurant called Gogung and indulged ourself in probably the best bulgogi I've ever had, awesome Bibimbap, and a bunch of other delicious side dishes! We were also served a traditional alcoholic drink called Moju which is made with Cinnamon. Totally delicious. The staff were all in traditional Hanbok and they gave us an awesome Maesil (asian plum! Thank you wiki!) tea to finish. I am so a fan of banquets.

After that, we took an overnight train to Gangwundo, the coldest part of Korea in order to do something a bit random for Christmas. The train was packed and uncomfortable, but it had a buzz to it that was welcome. I figured the lights in the carriage would be turned off to let people get some freakin sleep, but it never happened. I am not a fan of broken sleep.

I am a fan of beautiful sunrises. It's a nice way to celebrate anything really, you just stand and watch something beautiful just happen. There's something satisfying about it that I can't really quantify. You stand - Sun rises. It was cold as fuckery, and the waves were crashing close to us, but the beach just got prettier as it became light. People let off shitty fireworks and were generally happy. If you had told me that I'd be watching a sunrise on the eastside of Korea for christmas, I would have been very confused. I would probably have guessed I would have been playing PES on christmas day.

We went from there to a temple that sounded really awesome, but when we got there... wasn't. Maybe we've seen too many gorgeous temples, but this one wasn't as good as the rest of them. Modern buildings and weird banners are enough to give it a couple of black marks. It was special in that the temple let us in to the main prayer hall, something I normally have to view through a window. It's so striking being surrounded by candles infront of a huge golden buddha and other statues. The murals and paintings on the screens were gorgeous as well.

Temples are just rad.

The snow-park was random too. After being promised a bunch of different things to do, it only really had a slope that we could sled down. And sled we did! It was like

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

except colder. We lay in the snow at one point and had the most retarded snow fight in history. It was almost like we were both smacked in the face as children and it affected the development of our brains. Good way to spend christmas.

We got in Seoul too late to get back to where we were supposed to sleep, so we crashed at a 24 hour bathhouse. Although this may sound bad, it means I got to soak in a Tea bath and scrub myself uber clean, as well as watch Mia get bashed by a "masseuse". Seriously, dude was cracking her back and pulling at all her joints, making her hug herself and such. She assures me it felt good. I was not game to try getting beaten up. Maybe next time. They have sleeping facilities, but I had forgotten that DUDES SNORE. SHUT IT, OLD DUDE. I'M TRYING TO SLEEP, NOT IMAGINE WHAT FORESTS SOUND LIKE DURING LOGGING.

We woke up uber relaxed, and I ran on a treadmill for absolutely no reason. Then we made our way to Sanchon restaurant. I cannot describe how good this place was. We were served 20 different things. Each was special in its own right. They make authentic temple food. I believe them, because there was a monk eating behind us. I've had some of the things that I was served a million times, and this was like eating them for the first, awesomest time. Look at the photos of the delicious food. Rishi, Jared, Bob, this restaurant is entirely vegetarian. I would have loved to bring you here. I'm going to try and get rich so I can fly you all over.

Good times.

We're planning to see a shamanistic dance known as a "gut" (Pronounched Guhht) pretty much... right now. Anything can happen at these things, they're rare for even Koreans to be able to see and we're watching some of the best dancers. More when we get back. I'm personally hoping they get up on two parallel swords with bare feet and start dancing on them.

Why is this beach is still not clean...strawberry!

I have volunteered for a few things. Probably less than I should. Giving blood, working in a museum, given my time at fete stalls for a Nursing Home ...actually, they're all a bit bourgeoisie now that I look back upon that fragment of a list. Dammit.


Anyway, I feel like I can say that I have done something a bit bigger now, something on a more internationally-minded scale. If you didn't hear about this, you are either unconscious or completely (unintentionally) ignorant of the news like I usually am. Yesterday was voting day for South Korea and voting day is a public holiday, where people generally do nothing. Seriously, only about 50% of the country voted, too. Those lazy bastards rival the Spanish and their own siesta-lazy-habits. So, we decided to not be lazy and head down to one of the many beaches covered in oil to help with the clean-up. I got up at 5 am. Don't even. We got on a bizarrely-decorated bus of happy Christians, ate some strangly fake from-a-packet hotteok (those sugar-filled things I love from the street stalls), and I drank some new bus-sickness medicine. This little bottle of stuff knocked me quite clearly out, which was a good thing, but the fact that it contains caffeine and nicotine freaks me out. Just a wittle, aiight?! I'm already addicted to coffee, so there's no problem there, I just don't want to come home a chain-smoking McSmokey stab...face. SOoOoOo, after I regained consciousness in the freezing air that was breezing off the bay, we trundled over to pile of things sealed in plastic wrapping. From fabric gloves, to plastic gloves, to ponchos, to a breathing mask which let me not breathe at all, and an attractively charming thick plastic jumpsuit-style overalls with attached-to-the-leg-via-electrical-tape gum boots. Or is that gumboots? Or gum-boots? Oh man, we were teh hawtest bitchez outta town (we were in the country).

And then we cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. We scrubbed rocks 'til our fingers ached. I hunched over extremely disheartening puddles of thick, sticky oil, literally scooping up the gloppy mess onto the rags and random clothes donated for the cause, until the fabric was so sodden with filth, it was barely possible to tell whether you were mainly holding the rag or the oil. Keep in mind that we were there ten whole days after the actual oil spill, and of which this particular beach had been occupied by hard-working volunteers for all ten days. Sad, indeed. Especially to think that along the 30% of Western coastline affected, there are still countless beaches which have not yet been attacked. Grah, it makes me sick and angry. What an environmentalist I have become!! (NB: I will probably still drive my tank of a car back home. Sigh, such is the torn state of mind modernity brings upon those who clean oil spills and own tanks.)

We worked all day, and although no visible improvement could be beheld, it felt strangely satisfying. I can clearly see why people devote their lives to things like Greenpeace and other crazy bastard hippy organisations. And so we were touted as 'Heroes' on the ride back home and got hilariously drunk via the brilliant liquid that is Soju with the ajumma we always stay with (who is, if we haven't already mentioned a bajillion times, absolutely awesome great fun cool). We now call her 'Imo', which means 'Aunt', so basically we love her. Sarang Imo!

Gergh, how come I am running out of time!!! Sometimes I hate that I embellish my writing so. So, err, yes. Yesterday we walked around Dongdaemun markets, which is basically just a huge area full of different markets which specialise in different areas and such. I saw as many shoes as I will probably in one space at any one time, I ate Green Tea hotteok (which was rad) and Chrysanthemum bread filled with red bean, and we walked in on the most random out-of-the-back-of-a-car dodgy markets I have ever been to. Seriously, that place was filled with garden implements, jeans, old musical instruments, ancient TV sets (I'm talking 1950s or so), tapes (c'mon Korea, get out of the gorram 80s), knives, and, errrrr, 'adult toys'. Yeah, that was kind of creepy, because there were, like, five stalls in that tiny pavillion dedicated to those 'specialist products'. And they were creepily popular with old men. *Shiver*

Today we went to a student area! Best area yet! Woo!!! ^____^ I do heart student places so. We first went to a "park" (...it was a "park" as opposed to a park, because Korea is dodgy as hell and DOESN'T SUPPLY PARKS WITH GRASS. Seriously, Korea, don't try and cheat me like that again) that is famed for buskers, and we got an excellent comedy duo who sang hilarious songs (via furious translating by my very own automated Korean robot) on guitars and told people to piss off because they weren't clapping. Also, the dude started talking to me in English and as he was asking me where I was from, I completely didn't realise he was talking to me. I looked behind me instead. Good one. After that idiocy, I got a nice rendition of 'Unchained Melody', which is always a cool song to have sung to you. So we just wandered for the day, finding awesome shops (I bought Astro Boy earrings!), and a cool little cafe where everything was handmade (trinkets and food!) where we sat and drank tea and had a mini-selection of cheeses. So Western right now. Anyway, we ended up hanging around that area for ages, had dinner and a bottle of Soju, and then set off with plans for seeing the city lights and to ice-skate.

I DID NOT GET TO ICE-SKATE. >< >< >< NOOOOOOOO!!!!!! Lame x 46.

Damn you population problem. Anyway, the city lights were absolutely stunning, particularly because they follow a little stream that runs through the city centre, and I got strawberries covered in red toffee on a stick. So awesomely delicious, you ain't never tried something as fine.

STRAWBEWWY WUV!!! ^____^ v

NB: I'm postin' some photos up roight now! 68 to be exactle!

I'm not sure what you've heard on the news.

There was an oil spill on the west coast of Korea. The damage was catastrophic. Entire communities were robbed of their livelihood, a catastrophic event that is always more serious than anybody is able to comprehend. They think it'll be 10 years until all these fishing areas will be back to pre-spill levels.

BUT THEN MIA AND I ARRIVED.

And it was still just as bad as before. I spent 6 hours cleaning rocks goddamn it, why won't you go away Oil?

It was presidential election day, electing some douche named Lee Myung Bak, which meant it was a national holiday for all. The (awesome, awesome, AWESOME) lady we're staying with told us that we were going to go to a temple that's only reachable by boat, but BAM a different teacher offers to take us to clean rocks and OFF WE GO.

Volunteer work > Fun > The concept of us being on holiday.

It took about 2 hours by bus, and were one of thousands of volunteers there to try and such up the Oil with cloth. It seems so goddamn futile. Oil washes up constantly as you go to spots that people have already cleaned before. There's still a cm or two of oil layered on top of rocks in spots. Scientists are saying that years worth of clean up have been done in weeks. I have so much respect for the volunteers who are going in day after day. I guess a conscription army is useful for something. The smell of the crude oil is so strong that it's making people sick, and some people are in there, cleaning, day after day.

Dongdaemun market, a huge clothing market at one end of Seoul, was similarly awe-worthy but not as depressing. It seriously never seems to end, with giant buildings full of similar clothes stores as far as the eye can see. I wish that I was exaggerating. I got an awesome watch for 5000 won, which is about 7 bucks, but the battery is dead already -_-. We looked for clothes, but we didn't see that much. Mia got a TOTORO sweater, and I got some cons with stars on them, which makes us both officially consumer whores. Good times. We ended up watching Children of Men in the DVD room because of a vague recommendation of Sam's ringing in my ears and thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed it. Great times.

After watching National Treasure 2 today (please forgive me, oh filmsoc gods, my uncle had the power to choose since he was buying tickets), Mia and I woefully failed at DDR. Oh man, we are so freakin terrible. I was suprised that a crowd didn't gather to watch us suck so goddamn hard. Like a golfball through a garden hose. We played a game that was very similar to Wario Ware, which was welcome despite me losing, and then I got lapped twice by Mia at Daytona. There seems to be a running theme here.

We headed to Daehagno, a very cool area with an odd history. It was the location of Seoul University, the most prestigious university in Korea, before they realised that they could sell the prime real estate they were on and move to much swankier facilities on the outskirts of Seoul. Instead of the surrounding Uni student catering area shutting down, the land that was once a campus has become a thriving youthy place, pulsing with youthiness. No joke. Marronier Park has an Art Gallery and Theatre attatched, and there seem to be about a hundred little theatres in the area, all pimping different stage productions. Little cafe's are hidden away with coffee that I can drink ( :o ) as well as little stores in which to by RADSOME things. The food was suprisingly dissapointing, with nothing engaging to offer, but we are picky, picky fools.

Marronier Park is a bit of a busking centre, but I was a little dissapointed today. Maybe it was because it's winter, but we only spied two groups. Two dudes playing Guitar were absolutely hilarious, yelling at kids, making jokes about how Koreans are too conscious of each other and insisting that some local crazy dude was Japanese to a foreigner while belting out old favourites from the 70s was well worth coming to the area for, while we only heard a couple of songs from a hip-hop trio calling themselves the snow brothers. It was dark, and they had managed to gather themselves a pretty good crowd, bantering while setting up and generally providing a lot of laughter and warmth. I think my favourite area in Seoul so far.

We ended up cooking some Bul-go-gi on a hotplate in front of us, while sharing a bottle of Soju ( You will all be drinking Soju with us once we get back. It's just way too much fun ) then walking through the city looking at the gorgeous and huge lights that have been set up for Christmas. LOOK AT THE PHOTOS. (there's one of me looking mighty ninja) There was some tart singing too, but we didn't really stay around for that. We kept walking all the way to another market and strolled through it as it was closing down. Hopefully we'll get to hit it tomorrow morning. Apparently my cousin wants to buy me food from Outback Steakhouse. He thinks its funny. Lets hope it doesn't actually happen.

I hope the holiday season is treating you all well! I hope you're all seeing each other and constantly telling each other how much you love each other. Also: I hope you haven't died from the awesomeness of seeing Amanda Palmer or whoever else fabulous is in Sydney these days. We have presents for you. And some of you have my concert tickets.

Regardless, Love!

Kerrayzee Koreanz

I climbed a Mountain. Capital.

Booyah! I expect applause...I'm still waiting.

Those who have fear of heights, heart conditions, or are under 16 should not climb mountains. I guess neither should the infirm, something you probably would have described me yesterday. I went to bed the night before, stuffy head, body aching, and attractively blowing my nose every three seconds. Way hot. The night was spent shifting and sneezing and feeling as if I were awake for the entire night (I wasn't), listening to the woman outside my room flick through a textbook and study all through the night for a test the next day. She was pretty cool. Well, she's the wife of a Mountain Pimp, so I guess you've got to be somewhat awesome if your husband has scaled something like 200 mountains.

I digress.

I awoke. Sunlight. Eye burn, Bride of Dracula stylez. Felt average to awful, but was determined that I was to not sit out the scalement of a mountain. Some would say I am "obstinate". I would prefer "determined" but...eh, they would probably be right. Shower. Consciousness. Dress. Shoved the Pocahontas furry-band (not Pocahontas-furry) that the Pimp bought yesterday, of which he also purchased for us gloves and a hat for Mintie that made him look like a paedophile (I am not even joking...way scary), into my pocket. Took a massive wad of tissues. Sneeze.

We got on a bus, and waited at a station for a group of old men to turn up. Waited in the goddamn cold for half-an-hour with the mountain set to be conquered hovering above the skyline behind us. Too many apartments.

My thoughts exactly: Mountain. I will conquer you. I'll take you out for a meal with Mr. and Mrs. Pain. Order up some violent quiche. You want some? Delivered by First Post. The post which hurts the most.

Leg freeze. Undo by walking through slums at the base of the beast. Dogs bark. Tunnel. Concrete path. Upwards.

Oh man. That mountain rained down the pain. It was stunning. It was breath-snatchingly beautiful. But it nearly killed me. It probably would have helped if I had of taken medicine, and had shoes that wouldn't prompt fellow mountain-climbers to exclaim how slippery they would be via various hand-gestures pattered with Konglish. Barely being able to take in oxygen = not so cool. But I made it. I scrabbled over rocks, hang off trees and untrustworthy handrails, and realised how flexible, strong, and how much stamina I truly have. It's nice to realise that we can all be beyond the selves we know. It's amazing that after I almost fainted at the first 100 metre ascent, I managed to climb another 625 more. Imagine that. Having no knowledge of time = helpful! Also: coming down = harder than you would think, and hell on the joints. Oh God. I sound, like, 97. I ache today. I think I need arthritis tablets or something.

No words can describe it. Pictures do almost as little justice. I can see how something like this would be so addictive. The pure adrenaline as you reach the climax of the mountain makes your hands shake and your heart race as you look down at the sheerness of that which has been past many hours before. That didn't stop a 50-something-year-old man doing a gorram freakin' handstand on top of the rock we reached. Please don't do that Mr. Halabuhji (Grandpa). I really don't need to worry about another person up here.

What I won't forget, though, is the gorgeous snow-topped boulders, the wandering leaf-covered stone stairways, and the Buddhist Temples dotted the way through the Mountain. It's beauty succumbs almost to that of the spiritual and if I was not slowly dying I am quite sure I would have converted to Mountainism during my climb.


Correction: Apparently it was two mountains.

It was 725 metres high. It sounds a lot more impressive if you say 2400 feet

I was so excited to be going up a mountain. I remembered scaling mountains as a child, jumping from rocks and shimmying down poles as being fantastic fun. I'd run circles around my parents and their friends, both literally and figuratively, in the awesome atmosphere of a winter mountain.

Goddamn it, I must have been an annoyingly exuberant child. Climbing mountains is hard as shit.

Seriously, when we started walking up the mountain I thought "man, it's not going to be this steep the whole way is it?", considering how steep the incline was. Then the paved bit ended, and we were going up rough wooden steps. Then rough stone steps. Then just... goddamn rocks. And then we were having to climb freakin boulders with the help of a handrail. Or navigate around boulders with a rope. Or just have to magic ourselves around really difficult situations.

After 3 hours of that bullshit, we get to the top, and there's... what? a rock?

It was awesome.

My dads friend is part of a big rock-climbing group called "Blue Mountain". None of them really know why it was named that, but they want to make a trip to Sydney and see them one day. They're are all super-pros at climbing mountains, considering that they climb these giant difficult things at least once or twice a month. My dad's friend reckoned that he'd climbed 200 in his life, some outside Korea like Mt Fuji.

But the pro's decided it was too dangerous to bother going up to the top of the mountain today, and opted to go to a valley behind it instead. My dad's friend decided that if we had come from Australia to climb the mountain, then we were damn well seeing the top.

It was so goddamn scary grappling over rockfaces with only a hand rail and unsure footing to rely on. When I looked down, it dropped right down to ground level. The 18 storey high deathboxes looked like the toys of ants. My dad has sadistic friends.

The thing about describing this is that all the pro's are so difficult to pin down, while the con's are numerous. There's something special about putting yourself through toil for leisure by climbing mountains. There's pain there, to be sure, but if you revel in it, it gives you time to reflect on yourself. It's a testing of your limits, your confidence and your trust in your own body.
Like I said, it's hard to describe. There's also the scenery, which is just as hard to describe. The photos do it no justice at all, but are beautiful nontheless. I guess it seems more beautiful when you've had to earn it inch by inch, and have it hit you when you finally look up from the ground.

Meanwhile, the grandpas who do this regularly have a ball, looking happy to be bounding from rock to rock, even taking photos with Mia and singing as they toil their way down. There's a saying in Korea, there are no bad men amongst those who climb mountains, and it's persuasive. They all seem so calm and peaceful. Good bunch, the lot of them.

That was my deep, insightful mountain climbing experience. I hope you're all well.

It's all real-life...really.

Let me just say this: Soju + Ice-cream (yes, the capital letter indicates that I have now officially deified the substance) = teh absolute win. Especially when the Ice-cream comes in cookies and cream form, and you are getting drunk with people who led protests twenty-years ago. Allrrrriiiightttt.

So we spent the week with rabid small children, who jumped at us, shouted in our ears, and with whom I exchanged translations of English for Korean to cartoon pictures of animals I drew on a whiteboard. Good times. Also: I have now learnt to say "Do you want to die?", which is perfect for those who dare to disobey. Which, y'know, is pretty much everyone below my shoulders at that study room. Those dastardly naughty but, unfortunately, charming children.

Also also: Korean kids = way cuter than white ones. Probably more delicious too.

Although the ajumma we stay most with at the moment is the one who owns the study room, there is also another really nice ajumma who cooks and helps out too. Her daughter and two twins (who are, by the way, real-life NINJAS) come to the study room every day to get a lift home with their Ma and also to hang out with the kids. So apparently the daughter (Song-ah) has taken a real shine to me, loving the fact that she can practise her already good English on a real-life foreigner - not Mintie though, he's a faker. We were both really surprised to find out that she's only in grade six, considering how tall she is, how old she acts, and how good she is at English and all things study. They are all real-life geniuses in that family. It's crazy. ANYWAY, Wednesday day we went to her Elementary School, at which I was inundated by a billion kids who were fascinated with my existence. And I feared for my life when kids literally fell over each other just to see me. *Blush* Totally random. On Wednesday night, after study room times, we went to go see Hairspray which was of fun and happy and had Christopher Walken dancing and singing like a mofo. That dude is such a Dude! What an awesome. We then went and had some chicken feet (eh, pretty good, but cartiledge is way disconcerting to eat), shared a good bottle of Soju (I'm so addicted), and bought, like, 3000 coloured-squares at a 24-hour place (think Officeworks + Coles), which I thought was an unnecessary number of hours to be open. You are unnecessary, sometimes, Korea.

In the morning we went to a Buddhist monastery up on the side of a freeeeezing cold mountain. It was small, but the monks chanting inside the main temple were mesmerising. Also, I made a coin stick to the side of a vertical rock face, and I am now extremely lucky. So, watch out!! After having some good Bibimbap for lunch, despite having breakfast only an hour before, we went and got our study room on.

Study room, I'mma gonna decorate your ass. Apparently being an Art History major makes me qualified to be creative. This logic does not work on me. However, I figured out how to make little Santa stockings using the magic of origami and the power of my brain to work backwards from one I found lying around. I photocopied pages of a stenciled tree I made the kids colour in, and then created a 3D stylez one out of two of the stencils. I got Mintie to get the kids to make colourful snowflakes. They look heaps pretty! And so after giving everyone something to do I sat for the whole day making a huge and colourful paper chain. I also employed cheap azn child labour to cut me strips of paper and hand me the colours I yelled at them in English. My 'teaching methods' are wonderful. Don't even deny. Also, on Christmas Eve I have somehow been relegated to being Santa. This is weird. Am I that old and fat?!

Today was good! Russian realism and abstract art. W00t! It was really damn good, most of the artworks made me want to really go to Russia. There is such a beautifully intense light in most of the paintings, the landscapes are bold and dark, almost with Gothic undertones, and the portraits are real enough to feel their gaze boring through your skull, but impressionistic enough to have an inner dynamism. The couple of Kandinsky pieces just made me want to conduct research on him. Cool dude, that one. We then got some really good hand-made noodles at Myeongdong, and then we headed off to Yongsan for some purchasing. Yerrr. I didn't realised how much buying things makes me feel good. Especially electronic things. I'm lookin' at you Nintendo DS *Bedroom eyes* I'm getting one when I get back duty free (cheaper, would you believe and also with Australian cable), but I bought a 2GB flash so I can download gamez like a h4x0r. Shit yes. Also got a headset. So I can call pplz from the internets. I also got fish-shaped bread with red bean insidey. Yum.

ALSO: WE HAVE PLANS FOR CHRISTMAS. I AM WAY WAY YAW YAW EXCITORORORORORED. Sunrise + Temple + (Snow-Sledding + Mountain-side) = Booyah! Details released soon!

NB: more photos!

ALSO ALSO ALSO: EVERYBODY HAS TO LOOK AT THIS. DO IT. BE AMAZED BY THE INTENSITY OF AWESOME.

BACK TO YONGSAN

OK, we saw Kandinsky today. Two of his paintings + two smaller ones. I can see how one could make an argument for perhaps that being the highlight of my day, considering that I had already been to Yongsan before, but come on. Kandinsky painted sounds on to Canvas, but Yongsan is really freakin big, full of electronics and we bought tonnes of stuff.

WOO!

After getting a Korean windows for my mother, and picking up the almighty PES for myself, we continued the spree by picking up 4 dollar headsets for Skype usage, 2gb R4 DS Ram drive thingies (Rishi, we got you a bigger one, because we got the dude to give us it for $100. Feel free to pay Mia at any time. They're also preloaded with all the awesome games! Unfortunately, the korean versions of the awesome games -_-), a 4gb USB stick , both Grindhouse movies, Battlestar Season 2 and a Korean film.

Good times. Everything is absurdly cheap here, and they have a suprisingly good range of DVDs. If anybody wants any burnt TV series or movies, I'm taking orders! Only skimming a little off the top! Seriously though, Mp3 players, Harddrives, anything that isn't too expensive or hard to carry over I'm happy to buy. The 4GB USB cost me 30 dollars, for instance! Woo! Thanks alot sam, forcing me to buy one ^_^

Before that, we headed to the Kandinsky exhibition that was in town. Although it turned out to be more a Russian Masters + Two Kandinskys in a seperate room, the paintings were awesome. I am definitely into shit like landscapes. Who knew? You can take something that you see on a day to day basis, subtly inject some passion, a point of view and pure artistic talent and produce something that makes you feel something inside when you look at it.

Also: I saw a portrait of Tolstoy. dude looks soft.

We went and had some radsome handmade noodles + hardcore Kimchi that burnt my mouth after, which was awesome though. Korea has the market PWNED on 6-10 dollar food that is good.

We've been fed really well on this trip. The people we've mostly been staying with, an old friend of my dads from his protesting days, eat awesome food at home, and they keep taking us out to nice places that they know. We've had some mountain weed fried rice + home made Doenjang soup (I know you don't get it, but it's rad.) and Bibimbap country styles. The after-school care we're at is similarly above average good food. The kids that they get are poorly fed at home, coming from poor or disadvantaged homes. As a consequence, the best food that they get is at the studyroom. Awesome bulgogi, Ton-kat-su and my favourite, Crab soup. I ate so much by my lonesome and I didn't even care.

We made christmas decorations for the kids. Correction: Mia made decorations. What a slave-labour coralling machine she is. Under the flimsy pretense of teaching a child english, she quickly had him slice and sort coloured pieces of paper and hand it to her so she could construct a chain of infinite beauty and seemingly length. With pretty snowflakes made by me, the room is the best it's ever been apparently! The kids are shits, but it's nice to make them happy for a couple of weeks. Even if they won't stop hitting me -_-

The teacher who also serves as the cook loves us though. She drove an hour to the nearest cinema, and we watched Hairspray! I was so suprised that it was huge amounts of fun. The two high school musical kids prove that they can do this type of movie for what, the third time? And all the Hollywood people there for a laugh provide exactly that. People lead such a hectic life here that it's easy to get caught up in the bustle. I forget how escapist the nature of Movies are in general. Also: She fed us chicken feet. I was impressed at the edibility.

She took us to a temple too. The serenity. Although it's pretty much old-hat now, it's still awesome.

Tomorrow, I think I'm not doing much but on Sunday I am climbing a mountain. I am not even joking.

He's singing in KOREAN!!

What else is Korean?

'Twas to be, sir, a country lyfe for us this weekend past. We decided that a restalicious couple of days was deserved, after nearly a month of schooling high schoolers and rushing around Seoul. After being told that we are not to be teaching at the high school no more, though sadly we did not get a proper anyong (baiii) to the kids, we were picked up by awesome ajumma #2 and taken to her house. Her husband is this mad ecological hero of organic farming on this island - the dude is literally the *pimp* of Gangwha. I should have taken a photo; he wears traditional-style clothes and is nonchalent about everything and everyone. Except his wife. She treats him like he's five and basically incompetant. It's fantastic. Anyway, we were fed roasted sweet potato until we were capable only of watching The Host, an awesome Korean monster film by the way, on a laptop in front of a giant fire stove. That night we went to the bath-house again, the same one, which was as nice as ...I was going to put hell there but that doesn't really make sense. It's was just great, okay? There were less people this time, so I at least felt less stared at. We took the laptop with us to finish the movie off, and then we were so tired that we slept there. Seriously, EVERYWHERE needs to have a bath-house that is 24-hour and charges only 5000 won (~$AU 6.50) entry fee. Best Accommodation Ever. The sleep wasn't the greatest, I blame the noisy children running around that, only an hour before, fed me chocolate-filled snacks(Kangcho) while they practised their English on me. Nevertheless, sleeping in sauna = win + intense cleanliness.

After awakening, we got our old-skoool traditional feast for a breakfast on. It was literally in some grandmother's house, and we were served up an incredible array of panchan (side dishes), that were of both tasty and delicious. So much fewd. We then saw the mud flats we saw a couple of weeks ago, although this time the day was clear as we searched through huge binoculars for mud kips...mud skippers and crabs.

We then went to a Buddhist monastery. It was so incredibly peaceful. The grounds had such a stark beauty - particularly that it is getting extraordinarily cold now and those leaves which were once upon a time a canopy many metres above my head, do now crunch satisfyingly beneath my feet - I was almost at once converted. We explored the insanely intricate buildings, gazed in wonder at the millions of candles inside the temples, listened to rumbling of monk prayers that came from within a number of closed off buildings, and drank spring water sent from Buddha's own chalice or, more accurately, from a source deep within or somewhere nearby the mountain we were perched upon. I don't know how water can get so damn good, but it was incredible. So pure!! Nevertheless, we traipsed about the mountainside, stacking a rock, and a wish to go with, on top of many others and their own prayers. Little bits of snow freshly fallen the night before but had not yet melted with the sun's weak rays, gave everything a glisten that charmed the spirits out of me. As we left through a gorgeously big-stoned gate, I found a little dog that was of the utmost cute. So I patted it with glee and smiles.

I then did a very very bad thing. :s I agreed wholeheartedly to eat dog done in the traditional Korean style. Apparently it is only really had in this one dish, called Bosintang. Despite my guilt, however, I enjoyed it immensly. A good nine out of ten paws for me, actually. It is such a gamey meat, like lamb really, and very rich, much like duck. It was so tender, and went well with the delicious soup it came out bubbling in. Don't worry, I still have guilt. I keep reassuring myself, though, that the dogs used are specially bred to be eaten, and are basically 'pig dogs'. The place in which we consumed Bosintang looked to be of the non-dodgy kind, and I trust that the animals were dealt with ethically. I basically have no qualms if this is the case. Also, I still think that my own two dogs are the cutest things out, and I definitely don't think about them now as two delicious pieces of meat on legs. ...Or do I?

Also, I was made to eat soap. Sigh. During my time on this trip I have realised my insane sweet-toothedness. So much so that when the ajumma #1 we are currently staying with gave Mintie two palm-sized circular pieces of soap in a babble of Korean I didn't think to query the apparent label of 'biscuit' he gave them. I think I was pretty desperate for something sweet and, despite the strange smell my nose sensed, my teeth bit down. Laugh Out Loud. Although this action was greeted with a startled "What the hell are you doing?!", I still don't believe that it was unintentional. Also: that was hella amounts of trust right there in my buddy of travel ...now lost. Thanks a lot. Michin Nom (Crazy bastard).

Also: a megabox of photos have been put up. Although the temples and foodstuffs interest me the most, I think you may all be interested in the delightfully pretty photos of Mintie and the bow in his hair. Look out for it!!

Gangwha, the Happy Island!

After having such rollicking adventures in Seoul over the past few weekends, we decided to spend the weekend in Gangwha, the island off the coast of Korea that we've been living on. Despite being an Island, there are massive bridges connecting it to the mainland, so it's basically considered part of the mainland.

My dads friend who we stayed with is a minister, farmer and ecologist rolled into one. He's a dude of some note on this island, being the head of the organic farmers union on this island as well as active in the struggles for democracy in the 70s and 80s. I've heard him tell stories of being tortured that are so funny that I could barely breathe, but he's also kind of a dick. Regardless, he's pulled off shit that I could only dream of being able to do, so I guess he gets some respect.

But because my dads friends are hippy bastards, we saw the most random bunch of shit on this island. We went and saw the fifth biggest mudflats in the world, where it was basically just... flat plains of mud. With crabs, and gulls and spoonbills and things. It was like... man, I've eaten these things. I don't need to go to a poorly built mudflat centre/museum. Then we went to a temple, and it kicked ass.

It was old, and full of actual monks, and the grounds were beautiful. I hope Mia took some photos. We ate roasted chestnuts and wandered around looking at the crazy architecture. I even donated a little money to the monks, knowing that it would be inefficiently spent by those prude buddhist bastards. We drank some of the spring water, and I reaffirmed my belief that temples always have the best water. So fresh and so clean!

WE ATE DOG THOUGH, BITCHES.

It was so damned delicious. We were playing with the most adorable puppy at the temple, just before we left for our delicious dog stew known as Bosintang, so I must admit that I felt a tad queasy as I looked at the meal, but once I started eating my tastebuds overrode my bleeding heart. Gamey, tender with just enough fat, dogs are a delicious animal. Who knew? We then saw some big rocks that had been used as a tomb for about 3000 years. Sure its impressive that old korean dudes pushed 80 tonnes of rock on other rocks, but you know... whatevs ^__^

Having fun at the study room at the moment, we made greek biscuits and they turned out... edibly! it was a nice suprise. Being asked to go out for lunch for NOM NOM NOM NOM, so will keep you all posted more often from now on I hope!

GORRAM...that really hurts!! ><

These past couple of days have not yielded me much sleep. How oh-so-very-lame. You'd think that after the past couple of weeks trawling around to various teacher's houses for homestay, I would be happy to finally get a house to ourselves in the Korean forest, secluded, and about 15 minutes walk away from the school. I was. Until I discovered that the house was monstrously huge and the ondol (Korean system of floor heating) had a life of it's own.

I discovered that I am a true city-dweller. I can stand neither complete and utter silence nor the total blackness that night and it's faint, glistening friends bring when I am trying to sleep. I need sounds of people talking outside my bedroom window, I need a radio blaring it's discontented tunes from up the street, and I need the soft sound that tyres make on the hard, dry road. I need the light of street lamps, the intermittent brightness of headlights, and the slow blinking of a neighbour's various rooms being lit and darkened as they move heavily through their house. Without all this I start at every sound, and freak when my eyes play tricks with light that I know doesn't actually exist. My superstitious nature didn't exactly help for the past three nights, either. And now, I think that the house enacted revenge on my blatant hatred of it's secluded being. Last night was the final night of our stay there, and through the restlessness that the light falling of snow brings to a creakity lumbering house, the floor system's heat fluctuated to a high of unbearable fire. And it was to be, that my arse would bear the brunt of the floor's evil intensity.

I HAVE A GIANT BURN ON MY LEFT BUTT CHEEK.

I am not even joking.

I am in pain. Even the number of curses I uttered and screamed towards the downwardsness of the ground haven't helped to relieve my hawt ass burn.

That is all.

Get on the...sTEAmtrain!!!! ^___^

Lost this post somehow! But now it's back up! Also lost the comment left, sorry!! :( I don't know who it was from either!! ><



Just do it!

Y'know what's damn good? Tea. Oh Wow. We have had some damn fine teas in the last couple of weeks, the computer teacher gave us some of his own made jam-like substance stuff made out of some sort of untranslatable citrus rind, and the English teacher taught me how to make this amazing ginger tea. Peeling ginger! Adding sugar! And sloshing it around in a massive barrel full of hot water for 10 hours! We definitely enjoyed the fruits of our labours there!! (Wait, do you get it?... fruits?! Oh, wait... ginger is not actually fruit is it. Damn.) The most amazing tea experience though, yet, was at an incredibly awesome Tea House in Insadon. Yes, I did sort of flame that district last post, however I have since changed my view of the area. Sigh. Once again, I prove myself wrong. How I do hate that so! Anyway, after purchasing some radcore chewy taffy-esque substance that is of utmost deliciosity, we stumbled up the seemingly most unreliable and narrow set of stairs I have dared to creak on. We opened the doors on a darkened senseriffic paradise, a place with such eclectic collectibles, it felt like a more crowded, more awesome version of my house. Times one thousand. People sat on a variety of different chairs, the room's random pieces of wooden furnishings creating little alcoves and screens covered in handmade and painted Hanji (Korean paper) creating low cave-like places for those within to whisper and sip tea. The best thing about this place, however, was the tiny birds who flitted around in flashes of yellow, gray, and black, in shadows, and in the fading sounds of their calls. They were so charming that one was inclined to stop talking or suckin' down [one's] darjeeling like Mrs. Nesbit (I actually had plum tea, but, one cannot avoid quoting Toy Story. Ever.) and just stare in naive wonderment at the sheer cuteness of these little dears. The plum tea, by the way, was spectacular. It came out in a rustic looking cup and with a pine nut floating on it's liquid goodness. Mmmmm. And with the tea we were served two Tteok (traditional rice cakes) and these little marshmallowish things made of rice covered in black sesame seeds and little hardened bits of rice. Sigh. I am getting used to the fact that everything is made out of rice. But it was all very good, nevertheless.

Tea on!

There was also a really cool looking 'Free Hugs' dude in Insadon, who I totally glomped. I think he was surprised. Mabes it was the speed at which I came at him. I'm Monsoon Moon, comin' atcha like a beam, like a ray, like a laser. Don't try and stop me. I'm quick like lightning. I'm frightening. I'm comin' atcha like a buzzard. Glompage with strangers = win.

We made our way back that Sunday night to Gangwha, the island off Korea where the school exists, meanwhile I discovering the delights that is known as intense nausea on coaches. I knew I hated bus travel for a reason. Lame. Unfortunately this will have to endure twice a week until Christmas. Fortunately my angel of a mother packed me some ginger tablets for this reason. It was just bad luck that I have only just discovered that I actually had them on me at the time. Although I was pretty delirious for those two hours, so I had no mind to even think of looking in my bag.

So we slept that night with the awesome lady near the North/South Korean border. It appears that we'll be there most of next week, which is an awesome change to crashing in random people's houses every couple of nights. It becomes tiring after...the first couple of times. It's now been something like 10 or 12 different houses. Anyhoo, we spent the next day with the poor kids, playing around and being hung on like trees with bunches of monkeys. I spent the whole day worrying about the Korean bathhouse we were purportedly attending that night, until I got word that we were to have sashimi instead. Whheeeeee! Oh ya, it was great. And then... we went to the bathhouse. Plans changed again, and my worries were back to haunt me. I've been naked with strangers heaps of times. Okay, once, at a bathhouse in Turkey. So I wasn't worried at all about this aspect. I was terrified that we were attending with the ajumma we were staying with and two other girls. I would rather be with old people in the form of strangers than with people I had been talking and joking around with the whole day.

But I was to go in and come out unscathed by the experience. We stripped down, and entered a steamy bath room. We showered and scrubbed ourselves silly, and then sat in a tub at 37 degrees centigrade. It was so relaxing, if not a little bit unnerving in that all the other ajummas were staring at a western girl sitting in the tub with them. I think I am grateful, rather than annoyed, that I can barely understand a word of Korean. We then joined the men in the sauna room, a massive hall-like place with two televisions and mats sprawled everywhere. The fact that I had to wear pink while the guys got to wear blue annoyed me. On most walls of this giant room were massive oven-like structures, each holding a circular room full of people sweating to different temperatures. We baked ourselves in the 56 degrees C room, drank Shikhye a traditional dessert drink made out of, you guessed it, rice. How rice-ist of me. We then boiled our skin in the 61 degrees C salt room. The floor in that one was unbearable to walk on, and as we lay on salt rocks sweat finally dripped off me. How cleansing!! We did not dare to do the 100 degree C room that night, however I think that the bath houses will be visited on a regular basis during this trip. Hopefully. I'm sure we'll burn in one then.

Also: Photos!! XD

SUDDEN UPDATE

The best thing about being in a ridiculously homophobic nation such as Korea is that public bathhouses are much less taboo than it otherwise would be.

We visited one last night, the first time I'd been to one in over 3 years. Considering how n00bish I've been in Korea so far, I was afraid that even getting naked with a bunch of old dudes would be awkward and unenjoyable. Instead, I found that I loved it more than ever.

They're wonderful places, Korean bathhouses. I'd probably never take a friend to one, but as a place where I can take a nice hot, thorough shower, soak in a hot tub, move to an ice water pool, and then back again to another tub, I relax like I'm not able to anywhere else. Sure, everywhere you look there's some old shrivelled dude, but if your like me, the bliss of soaking in such a nice tub at such a perfect temperature is more than enough to cancel that out.

We went in to a Sauna after that, first room being 56 degress, the next one 61. I sweated buckets up on buckets as Mia tried to muster up some moisture on her brow. Once I got out, I felt lighter, healthier, refreshed and alive. I am determined to hit as many bathhouses as I can before I go.

We also headed back to Insadong to visit a Teahouse, known simply as the Old Tea Shop. This place is filled to the fuckin gills with odd bits and pieces to the point that it's hard to get around. Old furniture, korean paper and live birds flit around. I kid you not. I had a nice chrysanthemum tea, while Mia discovered the delights of Plum tea.

It's been good. A couple of days of rest for now! My uni marks have been okay, but unspectacular. Rawr.

No really...Totoro!!! ^___^

It has been an interesting week. I've...been places. Seen...things. And eaten...foods.

 

What times.

 

I would prefer, though, to not talk about the plastic square cheese + fried egg + strawberry jam + rice bread sandwich I half-consumed this morning. Don't ask, and I won't cry.

 

Don't really know where to start. The beginning, mayhaps? Errr...Myeongdong? Yeah. That was a pretty cool place. I forgot to mention last post that that was teh place that we ate massive amounts of street food. Oh, and then we went and got a huge and delicious bowl of Japanese ramen. Mmmmmmm, soup with handmade noodles and a healthy dose of green leafy vegetables. It's a little area of Seoul which is considered 'boutique' but really just had a lot of expensive (and mostly Western) stores; the likes of Gucci, Oroton, and...other things that I care little for. But the vibe of the place was great. The streets are possibly the most crowded I have ever encountered, which was a lot less frustrating and intimidating than I would have imagined. Also, a giant chicken took a liking to my butt with one of it's wings. As in one of those people in furry chicken suits. That was way scary. I hate those dressed-up...things. Urgh. *Shiverrrr*

 

The next day we went to one big-ass palace. Gyeongbokgung is the first azn-stylez palace I have seen, and it was incredibly eye-opening. Such damn huge courtyards and the gorgeous fusion of an Art Nouveau-esque naturalism and strict lines of a minimalist linear style in the building's patterns and organisation was stunning. Also: the sheer design reserved for the roofs of every building really makes you see that the purpose of the architecture was to make you look up to the goddamn heavens; your neck breaks and your mind explodes for the king and his glorious being. Like, y'know, literally and metaphorically.

 

And so, post-palace envy, we wandered away still in awe and managed our way through the backstreets of a much more polished part of Seoul. Y'know those streets that are in theme parks? Too clean and seemingly in mini form? Yeah, it felt like that weirdly. Although I have definitely learnt my lesson with the Korean take on Western food I still have way too many urges to try outlandish claims of authentic European food. Like the bakery, for example, that we walked into in the area outside Gyeongbokgung. After looking like a  ba bo (idiot) wandering around breadstuffs and pastries, for what must have been a curious 15 minutes for the staff behind the counter, I ended up buying a tiny croissant ridiculously overpriced and way too buttery. My excuse for that (not the silliest) purchase was that they had a certificate from the world-renowned and extraordinarily elite Le Cordon Bleu cooking school. Aiiight! Don't lie, otai!?

 

We then headed over to the tourist-trap that is Insadon. On the outskirts we found an awesome Tteok (rice cake) - a dessert that one is easily accustomed to despite it being way heavier than, say baklava or Turkish delight - shoppe, in which we picked up some with red bean in the centre and outside rolled in slithers of dried date. Mmmmmm...you should turn ENVY ON. I'm not the biggest fan of Insadon. I abhor touristy things. And I really have an inner weirdo that loathes seeing other people that are not of the culture I am viewing and taking part in...I know, strange, but I like to at least think that I am seeing things that a lot of other people won't - and I am!! But still...know what I mean? Anyone? The only thing I can see that here (or Dongdaemun, a huge market that will surely be visited soon) will be useful for is for the gifts to bring home; you've just got to have a discerning eye to separate the bullshit artefacts and the genuine articles. Thankfully for you guys, you have two peeps dedicated to that which is quality! Ayup!!! ^________^ You'll all get something awesome, fo sho.

 

So apart from wandering around, and getting hella confused in some absolute dears of tiny alleyways, we decided to go to a speciality dumpling place. It was even I, who six months ago claimed that dumplings and anything involved I had extreme dislike for, that suggested it. And we got a damn tasty meal. Holy Halmuni (grandmother). Why is it that old women in every culture are Absolute Gods when they step into a kitchen. I need to see if I can find a stall in Dongdaemun or Namdaemun that sells these jewels for cheap. I need one for my house! Anyway, suffice to say I was totally convinced by the massive photo on the front door of the shop of an old woman looking kindly into the dough she was kneading. I was further indoctrinated into the dumpling ways from the first bite right up until to the last slurp of soup. Halmuni chuseyo!!! (Give me a grandmother!)  .\/.  Now!

 

We spent the start of the week sleeping right on the border of North and South Korea. I was shown the incredible expanses of mud flats (one of the largest in the world, I was told) that head out to the Yellow Sea. I was shown North Korean land, literally reachable in ten minutes if swum through the cold and icy sea, through a heavily barbed-wire fence and under the watch of nearby militants. The first house we stayed at was with an incredibly awesome woman who felt like a benevolent aunt, and who runs basically an afterschool place for poor and disadvantaged children from as young as 7 to 16 or so. Although extraordinarily tiring, I am all too happy spend every Monday until Christmas there, being an absolute kid myself, playing and running around with them. It was nerve-racking at first, none would talk to us at first, shying away at any little comment we said. About half an hour later I had about four hanging off my arms, giving me back massages (child labour, wheeee!!!), and gabbling on in fast Korean, and despite my repeated explanations that I could neither understand nor respond, my efforts came to absolute no avail.

 

The second night we stayed with another awesome person, this time the computer teacher from the High School we were to attend for the next three days as usual. Living also extraordinarily close to the border, we were once again waived through the restricted area by armed guards, I having to hide my face a little on the way through as foreigners are generally not accepted into the area, let alone Korean citizens who are non-residents. The dude was great, he took us out to a freaking three-level Kalbi (Korean-style ribs) "castle"...well, that was the restaurants name!!! His two children were adorable, the little girl seemingly thinking I was some sort of secret-holder and trickster. Which, it turned out I was, as she egged me on to poke Mintie and then act as if I didn't. Our fun-having was greeted by peals of her laughter. So cute.

 

Soooo...that was all great. The week at the school went fast, I think I felt as if I were on a high from the past couple of days of being treated so nicely and being so welcomed. The kids at the High School seem to really like us, the second year being the most interested. We usually waste about 3/4 of the time in that class just talking to them. The most awkward question this week (god, I hope there isn't one for every week!!) was asked by a dude sitting right at the front. He asked me which boy was the most good-looking in the class, which I avoided, I thought cleverly, by pointing to a girl to his left. Phewww...I thought. Okay, so who was the second-best looking then? Grah. "God!!! Fine, you!" I exclaimed through rolled eyes and laughter. Although he already held his arms in victory, he had to ask me "True?" before he looked around at a laughing class and smiled. Total LOL FACTORY. But, probably one of the nicest dudes at the school, we played soccer with him the week before.

 

This weekend, though? Contempory Art. It was great to be in amongst it all for a while. Some extraordinarily interesting pieces, a few pieces I recognised, a bit of Warhol, Sherman, and Park, an amazing Korean video artist which a few people had told me to go see while here. What an absolute dude. This gallery loves him, having a whole room dedicated to him and his awesome skillzorz. Unfortunately his most famous work and centrepiece of the big spiral ramp up to other galleries, was not open until next May. As it is a gorram huge sculpture of televisions, I was still damned impressed. I cannot imagine what it would have been like had they all been working. We also froze our arses off taking an open cable car back down to the station, over a huge lake and in a valley surrounded by sizable mountains. FUN!!! XD

 

Electronics. I love markets. I love gadgets. The former fills me with glee and the latter, well, I am a lady so I can't talk about that! Add the two together and I explode. Yongsan is rad. Description from fellow travel friend will suffice, I am sure. Needless to say, we shall be re-visiting. I had strong desires for the laptops I saw there that were no bigger than your average book, but I need to consider my finances before I spend about a thousand on one of these babies. God. I SO WANT ONE!!!111jgkjfdklgjklfjl!!!! Maybe I will just have to settle with a DS. It's tough, really.

 

Mall. We went to the biggest underground shopping centres in Asia, that which is known as COEX. Fascinating stuff. Bombarded with uber-advertising from the moment you step off the Metro, a tunnel leads you into a wonderland of flashing lights, a megaplex of cinemas, and speciality shops from the ridiculous to the sublime. Ridiculous being a pseudo-French market where you pick what you want to eat off the mini-stalls...and then eat. What the hell?! Sublime being the joint Totoro + Nintendo stores. Shit, yes. Much screaming was done. Packed with a katrillion people, you barely navigate your way around the ultrAA-confusing place, re-seeing that which you have already seen and stumbling across some of the more stranger sights. We managed to stumble into a fine food and coffee convention. How? I don't know. We looked at espresso machines, and homemade chocolates, realised that Korea has a long way to go in terms of these goods which we so easily procure in Australia but, nevertheless, managed to score some gelato (Godsend or what?!) which will be the best I will get here. It was no Bar Italia or Gelatomassi in terms of flavours, but the texture was just perfect. As we walked out gobbling it up in excited hiccups, we realised that we totally gatecrashed the place. Everyone there was either a cafe owner, paid visitor, or exhibitor. Hehehehe...that was fun!! I have no idea how we managed to just walk right past the security checking the name tags required to be displayed at all times. *Grins* We do luck out an awful lot.

 

Then it was a DVD bang for our weary legs, and a treat to ourselves for surviving the less-than-nice place we stayed in over the weekend...no details, but let's just say it wasn't the most welcoming reception ever. I was barely even acknowledged. :( Nevertomind, we found a great little place hidden at the top of a building which gave me a whole damn chicken stuffed with a whole chestnut, a date, and some of the most beautful rice I have ever had. The soup was incredible. And it was all washed down nicely with a bottle of Soju. I really like it!! That is all.

 

Totorrroooooooooo.... *squeeglomp!* ^_________________________^

GADGET LUST

Wow, it's been a while since we blogged. We've done so many things, I hope I remember them all.

Instead of hitting up some art goodness, we instead headed to a fucking castle, one known as Gyeongbokgung. I hadn't been there since I was a wee tyke of about... 8 or 10, but I remembered as being kind of dry so I wasn't expecting to be blown away by the majestic majesty of the place. It's just so goddamn big, for starters, with every part of the architecture resembling some sort of intricate hand-painted artisan bullshit that I love so dearly. We wandered around, in general wonder at the awesomeness of the buildings, whilst generally imagining living in that kind of splendour. Who needs electricity when you have a giant paved courtyard, or a house sitting on a lake? Or some claycarved mural thing? Truly cool.

We walked from there to Seouls tourist-trap/delicious food area known as Insadong. Its basically a street blocked off to cars on the weekend where they sell souveniers, traditional korean paper, sell traditional streetfood, have tons of authentic old-skool korean food and teahouses with birds flying around inside. One teahouse used to have a monkey (I'm not joking) but they got rid of it for some reason. We haven't gone to any, but I'm determined to find the one with a squirrel.

We browsed around, and checked out the local art gallery. It was pretty mediocre, looking amateurish at times, but it was a pleasant enough sort of place. We obviously ingested huge quantities of korean food (our money stocks are DWINDLING) and ended up having lunch at a dumpling specialty place which was ++ radcore. Since my grandmother doesn't cook anymore, I have to get my homemade awesome korean food fix elsewhere, and this place was just the ticket. We ended up at a DVD room, as always, and we watched a movie to ease our aching legs. This is becoming a recurring theme. We've gone through My Sassy Girl, Stranger than Fiction, Hot Fuzz and a couple of other great movies. I really do hope they become popular in Australia because they seem to fit my needs for a movie experience much more than a theatre these days.

After that was our first day at the after-school care/study room that we were supposed to be helping out with. The lady that runs the place worked for my dad when he was involved with the whole democracy thing in korea, and was uber nice to us from the get go. It's a non-profit place that is open to any kid who wants to attend. They provide a place where kids get forced to do a bit of study, and then they're free to run around, play with all the books and toys that are around as well as the computers, and are fed dinner at night. Our job is to basically give a shit about these kids, they are poor and disobedient but some of them come from rougher backgrounds and by teaching them a little english, maybe we can help them a little. The kids have a lot of energy, and they aren't exactly angels, but compared the the more formal dry existence at the high-school, it was really invigorating. It helps also that the woman taking care of us is the utmost in awesome. Buying us delicious things like smoked salmon, and generally treating us like her own children.

By the time we got back to the high-school, we were in high spirits, and maybe that's why the week went so quick. We stayed in two different houses over 4 nights, which was hell of annoying, but both houses were uber hospitable. The first house bought us delicious meats for dinner, and then a grandma made us awesome bul-go-gi, while the second had a tiring but cute child as well as cheesecake for breakfast. Eat Mia, EAT! *^___^*

We hit MoCA on the first day of the weekend. It's inside Seouls biggest park, aptly named, literally translating to roughly just that, and were pleased to see a really good selection of art. I was moved, challenged and pleased, often at the same time, and we just wandered around having a look at what Korean art was actually like. I was dissapointed that we didn't get to see one of Paik's major works, Dadaiksun(The More the Better), because some of the ONE BAJILLION monitors that make up the work were broken and the renovations wouldn't be finished till may. It was so impressive in its turned off state that I wonder how amazing it would have been on.

The real star of this weekend however, for me, has been the ALMIGHTY YONGSAN.

Yongsan is a huge electronics market. It basically takes up 20 buildings, maybe more with apparently over 5000 stores. There are pirated DVDs, programs, every mp3 player ever made, used computers, new computers, laptops, CCTV, karaoke machines, and a whole bunch of other stuff. It's just ridiculous. You could walk around and assemble parts for a PC on the cheap and have it assembled in half an hour if you wanted. Or walk through an alley dedicated to vacuum cleaners, or mobilephones or console games. It's basically heaven to me. I ended up buying an iAudio 7, and I plan to go back to pick up a headphone amp on the cheap. Mia has her eyes set on some of those Etymotic 6is that will improve her listening experience, while I'm still tossing up whether to get some speakers and lug them around till I go home. Regardless, I'm looking forward to spending many a day there, just wondering around like an idiot. I mean, I could buy a PC faster than mine for about 3 or 400 dollars. Or buy speakers or headphones that I simply can't get over in australia. It's like a window shopping orgasm x 10 million.

The bargaining with the stalls can be fun too. There are no prices listed anywhere in the market, so if you're not on your guard, you can be ripped off here while feeling you got a great price. However, the few stalls I interacted with seem to be jovial enough, if a bit shitty that every customer is trying to squeeze every last penny of savings out of them. Good atmosphere really, all things considered.

Then we hit COEX, a giant underground shopping centre with a bookstore that has an english section bigger than borders. We walked around aimlessly, looking at shitty clothes stores and interesting stationery places until we came across the Totoro store. Attatched to a DS store. I am not even kidding. We both freaked out, yelling out TOTORO! every few seconds while crying due to how crazily overpriced everything was. Mia seems pretty set on getting a DS now, while my dreams of having a bed that is actually a giant Totoro Doll become more and more alluring. Damn you, money constraints. Afterward, we used a DVD room to soothe our legs, and then had some Samgyetang. I haven't had a good samgyetang in forever, and this place gave us the works. A whole ginseng, some jujube fruit (think a date), a whole roasted chestnut and rice were stuffed inside a whole chicken, that seemed to have been simmering since before I was born. The broth was perfect, not needing any salt, and the chicken fell of the bones. So rejuvenating, I felt like I could punch through walls. Instead, the two of us polished off a bottle of soju and lurched home.

Good times.

Would love to hear from you guys and what you've been up to. The blogosphere goes quiet as soon as we leave? What gives?

Crowded places, shrinking spaces

Let me just say now, street food is teh rad. Don't even deny. People standing around huge vats of freshly cooked food, doing most of the cooking before your eyes, vendors yelling the price of their goods of awesome, and locals huddling around the warmth of what was held on these rickety old - but surprisingly sturdy - carts. So far I have had these scrummy fish cakes scrumpled on a skewer, scrummy fish cakes scrumpled on a skewer and cooked in crab water and dipped in chilli, little roasted sweet potatoes, interestingly shaped (and interestingly delicious!) biscuits, and twirly sweet potato on a stick (muchos yum). Everything is on a stick!! And the best of all: hot pastry slash breadsies rounded thingies with deliciously hot brown sugar within. Freshly cooked, Oh My Godfather. Best thing ever. I could eat these all day. Literally. One day I most likely will.

Although...not all of my food experiences on this trip have been this crazy good. In fact, I would surmise that they were crazy bad extraordinaire. After posting yestermorning, we walked around Ewha Woman's University, which is exceptionally huge and had a delightfully awesome Tudor/Gothic-revival quadrangle-type building in the middle. Oh how I love you, architecture! ^__^ It was such a gorgeous university to walk around, corners that appeared one could (I didn't!) tryst within, a monumentally huge boulevard stretching from the entrance to right within the grounds, and the amazingly striking reds and oranges and purples of autumn that occur here (damn you two-seasonal Sydney). Anyway I digress. To the bad food moments, I do continue. It was after that nice walk that we "decided" that it would be a "good" "idea" to get "Greek"..."food". Oh man. I almost took the food in my hand and tried to slit my wrists. But then again, Gyros aren't particularly sharp. I cannae say much. I may try to inflict some sort of self-harm again. Let's just say that to Koreans, Greek food = Korean food + yoghurt. -____- And to make matters worse, I thought that I would have learnt my lesson. I got excited when I was presented with a sign that said "Traditional Artisanal Gelato". Yyyyeah. After running up and down stairs, opening broom closet cupboards in echoing stairwells, which was actually quite funny in itself, the end result did not end in laughter but rather I learnt that pistachio is not always pistachio. It was more...not pistachio. We even had the same sort of experience just half an hour later when Mintie, in mindless desperation, "Freshly Roasted Beans" as well. Lawl. I am putting this in writing now, just to try and sear it more in my mind. Do Not Have Food In A Country That Is Not Traditional, That The Country Does Not Contain Significant Minorities Of, Or Is Not In The Near Vicinity To. Oh man. Can I please learn now and get over my severe cravings of my usual foodnosities?!

So last night we got to know the Seoul Metro more when we met the uncle with whom we will be spending this weekend with. We were led to possibly the best Korean meal we've had this trip, a nice feast in a restaurant with pork cooked on our table and an extreme amount of side dishes and dips to accompany. It was nice, we had a bit of Soju, and then we were weaved through a series of dark and curious alleys up a goddamn mountain. I certainly worked off any alcohol that needed burning in my system...because that's how alcohol works, right?! Anyway, we are staying in possibly the smallest place I have lived (the house in Samoa is comparable, though), privacy is not exactly the top of the pops, and the bathroom is apparently built for dwarves. Which, luckily, means I can stand perfectly straight and not have to worry at all.

Today, and for the first time this trip, I felt more like I was with people who were culturally similar to me. After wandering around a really cool area for something like two hours this morning we headed over to a little arts student-run market. I love arts students. I saw so many things that were of extreme awesome. I bought some porcelain zebra earrings, a painted bottle-cap badge, and two pairs of decorated canvas shoes. So cool. I also realised that I have no practical way to carry these back to my actual luggage, about two hours away. Thanks, irrational buying mind.

In other news, I feel happy to know that there is a train station (and so I presume, suburb) named after me. Yes, friends, the station is indeed called Mia. or 미 아. Actually. Hehehehe... *grins*. Maybe we shall make a trip there for the novelty of it. And so I can take a million pictures of me being all ^___^ v in front of my own name. And so I can make sure that my people are maintaining order in that wondrous land. Work people! *Whip crack* Bring me more twirly sweet potato on a stick!

/dictatorie overlordness

Eeek! Am I usually like that? Dunnae matta anyways! Love to all!

NB: Some more photies postied!

Samsung + Lotte + SK = Korea

Korea is exceedingly good for some things. Korean food for instance, or cheap electronics. What I didn't know was that there was a rad rad market there that rivals any market I've been to in terms of concentrate cool.

Located in front of "Hong-dae" university (Hong-dae? Seriously? Guys, I'm on to you.), we got there about an hour too early and saw a few students unpacking things out of suitcases. Didn't look impressive at all. After wandering the area for a while, finding nothing but dodgy looking food and awesome artsy looking places that weren't open to the public, we returned to see stall after stall of artsy goodness.

Before that, we had really bad gelato. Way lol.

And afterwards we had really bad espresso. Not so lol.

We've been walking around shopping alot lately. Korea is full of awesome consumables. We've obviously been eating a lot of street food like Ho-dduk, which is basically dough with brown-sugariness inside as well as O-dang, fishcake on a stick. Both of these are far more incredible than you would imagine them to be right now. And the amount of ice-cream that Mia can go through is absolutely amazing. It's not even particularly great ice-cream. Although she can't do rice for more than a meal or so a day, I get the strange feeling that she could eat ice-cream at least four or five times a day.

ANYWAY.

Check the photos to get a look at the markety goodness. I loved the Ocarinas on sale, and the guy that wouldn't stop playing "My Heart Will Go On" for every passerby, as well as the various painted shirts, hoodies and shoes. A lot of absurdly cute asian jewlery abounded as well, with little doves, zebras, turtles, cats and a whole variety of korean characters. The bookmarks were so pretty that I don't know how I resisted buying one, while everything else was merely gorgeous but not my thing.

So damned good. I'm glad that we made it, since it was the last one of the year ^__^

After that, we decided to be good tourists and go to Myung-dong, an area that I didn't have many hopes for. It was full of brand-names and shitty stores, as expected, but also had awesome street vendors, really really shitty mugs and awesome amounts of classy food. We ate spicy ramen and we looked at things we could plausibly buy. Narrow streets full of people and stores, it was fun to just get around and be part of the atmosphere.

Staying at my uncles kind of sucks. The room we're staying in doesn't have a door that closes all the way, and the ceiling is so low that we barely fit. And if you remember how tall we are, that's pretty low. However, it kind of rocks because he's my dads younger brother and I basically feel like I can be comfortable without being rude or whatever. The son doesn't talk, and he kind of just lazes around all day, so we can kind of use it as a base to travel the city from.

Tomorrow, hopefully we'll be heading here to get our culture on. Does anyone know anything about Korean art? Jared? *pointed look* Apparently there's a leader of video art named Paik Nam June? Regardless, it should be an awesome day. I enjoy just using the smart card to get around, so I wonder how much fun I'll have doing something rad? WOO.

I just wish the Wilco tickets didn't cost so much -_-

Dduk chuseyo!!!

Gentlewomen and Manlies...I iz learnings Koreans. Whhhaaaa! The title says to you: "Please give to me Korean sweet rice cakes". And for your informations, they are oh-so-delicious. I've had them in Australia (thanks Eastwood!) but these ones were bought for us last night and eaten this morning for breakfast. Oh. Man. Still so damn fresh. A man and a woman were grinding up the red beans as we walked through the shop's door and a man at the back of the shop appeared to be mooshing up a massive saucepan of rice.

So I, with the help of my travel friend, spent almost the whole day yesterday at the school getting my Korean language on. Got my letters (or symbols as I initially wanted to call them :s) almost down pat, got my word order pretty much set, and now I just read the random syllables I can catch off passing signs and billboards. I am quite sure that it is to everyone's great annoyance...so, yeah. Sorry people of Korea. You're putting up with me for two more months. Deal.

Also I am getting used to no suspension in my bedding. Hard floor, why do you want to kill me so? Alas, I am getting used to your unforgiving ways, and my back seems to be in less pain. Relatively speaking, that is.

What else have we done since last postie? Well, I have eaten more rice in the past four days than I probably would in a month. I realise that I am getting pwned hard at eating in general, actually. The English teacher with which we have been staying at is about half my size and eats about twice as much as I.

Speaking of English, we've been "teacher's aids" for a couple of classes. We get asked questions of all kinds, funny, strange, and the outright repetitive ("Have you seen a kangaroo?" etc.). The normal reaction to practically any answer I give to any question is a massive all-class-involved "AHHH WWWOOOWWWW". It's like they are surprised I can actually open my mouth and speak words. Strange. Also, questions like "Do you like to marry?" are just awkward.

It's been quiet at the school. Yearly examinations are just about now, and they are all preparing for a big festival on Friday (today) and Saturday. Unfortunately we'll miss it, which I am a bit disappointed about, but yesterday we got to "party hard" with the teachers. And by "party hard" I actually mean "practise their hilarious dance moves with them for a piece they are putting on for festival times". So there we were, in a plastic greenhouse in the middle of the Korean countryside, listening to synth-ballad music, and standing in a three-row line shimmying and bringing out pretty tame moves. Don't worry, I rocked it as hard as I could...I only wish I had recorded it. Seriously, it seems as though Korea is just one big sitcom stuck in the 80s.

NB: Have posted some photos up in photobucket! Mraow!

Points of interest

• We were sleeping at the house of the English teacher at the school. She lives alone, reads the bible for fun and has an annoying dog that she loves. In short: Crazy dog lady
• The next house we're staying at in this merry-go-round of strangers homes is near the border of North and South Korea. Apparently they get searchlights over their house and there are landmines quite close to them. I don't plan to go for many walks.
• I'm posting this from Ewha, an area close to a private women's university. We saw some cool cons, a lot of starbucks knock offs and I kid you not, a place specialising in Spam on rice.
• I'm really sick of getting up at 6 in the morning. If I am either asleep all day when I get back, or up early and to bed early, you'll know why.
• I think we're going for greek food at lunch. Things don't really change because we move continents. The internet is useful for pulling up deliciousness to eat.
• Apparently there's a place that does a good espresso near COEX, and my body yearns for it. I don't think I've been too cranky thus far. Either that or my crankiness has beaten Mia into submission.

Nothing has really happened here! We're planning to chill out and do some shopping today, head out to a student craft market on Saturday, and then to the tourist trap/antique street on Sunday! Tourism times!

OH HAI I IZ IN YOUR KOREAZ EATING YOUR KIM CHEE

That's right, it's true! More like like LOLKOREANS.

So! Korea. Where to start? The flight was pretty good, the usual lethargy and lack of air is always "nice". We got to read and relax and such after all the...eh, relaxing and gazing at the pr0n that is gadgetry in the airport duty free. I want gadgets!! Anyway, I'm sure I will pick up something awesome at the gorram huge electronics markets we plan to head to in Yongsan. Good times. So the plane! Well, I got to watch a smultzy Korean movie about a young Korean man who was adopted by an American family when his mother died and his father was rather incapable (jailed) of looking after him. It was all family reunification loveness and morals...I could barely deal with it, but it was pretty good. Pretty good in comparison to High School Musical II (oh man, aren't sequels always better x 10000000?!) with which my ears got the pleasure of listening to for about 15 minutes and my eyes got the pleasure of flicking over every now and again only for the benefit of my mouth to make a snide comment. The female protaginist was cute...and that's seriously about all.

Made it off teh plane! Alive and in South Korea. Pretty tired but we had a damn long drive with an uncle who came and picked us up. The car trip took about an hour and a half and basically consisted of weaving in between jammed cars on eight-highways. And then came the stop to buy us bread...? Hmm...don't get me started on the bread. Apparently all that 'Westerners' consume is bread and milk. Crazy, I know! Seinfield: "What's the deal with bread and milk?!" I get offered it at least once a day at this point and it drives me nuts, like a peanut on a bus. I came to Korea to eat Kim Chee and Bulgogi not freakin' bread!!!! Grah...

Oh, and just so you know I now know what it feels like for all you ladies and gentlemen who are affected by mass stereotyping and racism. How suckity and lame. :( But I guess most of you who are reading this are quite white so you wouldn't know it so much in l'australie...

/rant

Anyway, we stayed at le uncle's place for the night. I got to meet le grandmama which was mostly disconcerting due to her ailing mental and physical health, but nice also in that connecting of familial ties to people known way. Make sense? Suck it up. After sitting on a plane for over ten hours, and hence not terribly active, we were forced fed food until we could no longer think. I find that my hardcore eating habits here are completely lost and these people totally outdo me with any munching I may do. Goddamn it. So not used to having rice yet for three meals a day, but y'all know what I'm gonna have to do? Suck it up.

After discovering the delights of a thin blanket on a hard heated floor, and then discovering that I will now have to (uncomfortably) do this for over two months, we got up and had a huge dinner-like meal. Cousins living in the same building came over and joined us with their incredibly cute (I know, wtf, I usually hate children!!??) children, the four year-old son being a total rascal. So damn hilarious that kid, he was way scared of me at first and I was informed that if I had blonde hair he would have totally freaked. But he ran around and opened doors to the -7 degree temperatures outside and pulled at what appeared to be ancient heirloom pottery. TOO MUCH FUNNY.

Plans got fuzzled and we got changed schools and arrangements of sleeping etc. Whatever, I am here for what comes. Despite the crap-ups and decidedly different land and people and situations I am witnessing, I am still having a good time. We got to do a 'hard day's work' (hah! I one-upped you bitches!) of moving and stacking chopped wood at this crazy-awesome (self-built by the people living within) place in the middle of what seemed nowhere. I ate live octopus and awesome roasted sweet potato. I got slightly inebrieted on Soju with a bunch of 50 year-olds who sang karaoke at the top of their screams to the friend jamming it out with laptop and "sex phone" (read: saxaphone). The ajumma (literally: middle-aged woman) at that house was really sweet and was an awesome cook. She then drove us around for half a day looking for pone credit and bought us ice-creams and a megabag of traditional biscuits from a man with a stall outside the equivalent of a Walmart.

So we are now staying at a hippy-ass school. Purely organic food from teh start, giant solar panels, and some interesting kids to boot. Some of them are absolute punks, others quiet and studious; all much the same as the high school we all know and kind of hated but y'know, that's how it goes. We helped out some kids today with their Engrish, helping them write speeches for universities and correcting pronounciation and intonation for a girl competing in a state-wide competition tomorrow. Good luck to her! I find it so difficult to understand the seemingly random way Koreans pronounce things. Mintie is a lot better and discerning what people are trying to say here. It seems that f's become p's, t's become d's, and m's become b's. I feel bad, but I completely mishear things ALL THE TIME. I'm sure I will get used to it. Hey, I'm even getting my Korean on, too! Ah, neeah, kormapsumnida!!!

It's still freezing, and I am adjusting to this very foreign land. I get the feeling that I am experiencing some things a lot of travellers to this country will never get to see. I like that. Things are also scary. You think one azn driver is bad? Try a whole freakho country of azn driverz. Yeah, that's right, I said it. I have even been driving inside the actual vehicles. Hardcore stylez to the maxfactor international.

That's all. I will set up a system now that will make the restricted access at the school okay for us to blag.

Anyonghekasayo!!! Neeahhhh... ^_________^

(Will post some photos soon. Remember to check the photobucket or flickr accounts I have linked to on the side. It takes too long to do it in bloggeh).

Love!

I'm in KOREA. ARE YOU AWARE?

I had forgotten, since my dad hasn't been living with me for about a year now, that he is an unreliable shit.

The flight was good, and we were able to get away with a minimum of fuss from both customs, security and our clingy ass families. There was a way intimidating kid sitting next to us on the plane giving us both the evil eye, I'm not sure if it was for a reason, but she outstared me in every staring contest I dared to engage in. The ten hours went by reasonably fast, with an issue of the Economist and a viewing of High School Musical 2.... well maybe the last one didn't help as much as pain, but it's all the same after 8 hours of whirring jets and tiny food I guess.

We were whisked away from the airport by my uncle who was much funnier, now that he's grown a bit old and senile and he forgets where his keys are. The trip took about an hour and a half thanks to all the traffic and lameness. I pointed out the obvious to Mia, that there were millions of apartment buildings everywhere which she immediately referred to as "deathboxes". I don't think she's used the word apartment yet, to be honest.

After a quick night there, seeing my grandmother who is so frail and senile that its actually kind of painful to think about, we were picked up by my dads best friend, who to be honest is kind of a boorish asshole, but he's taken me in like family and I'm kind of indebted to him. He picked us up, and drove us to where we are now, an island named Gangwha which is connected to the mainland by two bridges, which took him about an hour. We were then fed, fed, fed till we burst in some sort of Karmic display of spite, with sweet potato, Sashimi and live octopus all to be had. GOOD TIMES.

However, my dad rang me and told me that all the plans we had made with the school had fallen through. I'm still not that sure why that is, whether they genuinely couldn't facilitate us, or if someone took ill or something, but it meant that we were at a new school in the area. And they weren't sure if Mia and I could share a room. They thought that perhaps we could share a room with 3 high schoolers.

It took all my self-control to not issue a firm fuck off in both Korean and English, to make sure they would understand.

Instead, I had 3 korean old men take turns in reprimanding me for having the nerve to insist that Mia and I share a room. I waited my turn and then yelled my frustration at them for a little while. My korean isn't very good but I think they got the idea. Of course, this is korea and they're all older than me, so it was so incredibly restrained that I must have come across as being respectful :o

So since then, we've been homestaying at the English teachers house. We would have blogged sooner, but the goddamn government blocks blogger on the teachers internet connection. What gives? Still, we think we have a work around so expect more frequent updatage. We're at a pretty schmick PC cafe at the moment, so this suits me fine, but I assume we don't want to waste the money just because everything looks awesome and works quickly.

The school itself is quite awesome. It's entirely powered by Solar and Geo-thermal power and is filled with hippyness and children. There's only about sixty of them, and they all live in the dormitory with four to a cabin. There's a really intimidating sense of community about the whole thing, and they seem like a very strange bunch of kids. Really nice though, very accomodating, but they don't seem overly eager to make friends. I guess you can't expect much from a bunch of surly Year 10s, 11s and 12s. All the food is organic and grown in the area, and everybody is expected to eat everything on their own plate and wash up their own thing.

Damned hippies.

It's been about -6 degrees here, damned cold weather by any measure. I've had time to play soccer, read Colbert and be mothered by absolutely everyone. It feels like people are either worried about us or wanting to make us feel overly welcome. It's been irritating nonetheless, but it's also been really nice to get away from everything. Conditions haven't been ideal, considering how much unnecessary hassle was added by my dad, but I'm really still enjoying being away from my daily routine. Sure, here I'm getting up at 6 am to go to the school, but I feel like I'm doing something good. Leading a simple life can be nice too.

I feel like I'm still waiting to get into Korea and really see things. Sorry that this post has been so haphazard, I have a terrible memory and I know that Mia will do a much better job of posting the highlights. I've probably forgotten lots of important things.

BUT LOLLLLLLLL