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!