Puppies, Market and Scrap Yard

Notable pictures from Seoul. I came across the most adorable group of puppies in the history of the universe and had to take pictures. The others are just ones I liked.

oh my guard!

Oh geez. My relishing in the moment has caught up with me. Has it really nearly been a month since my last post? So much has happened! I don't really know where to begin.

Currently I'm jiving to some fresh Disco (check it) with my good friend Joel in my gleaming apartment, slowly digesting a full belly of bulgogi, and staying up way too late for a trip arranged to depart from a distant subway station at 7 in the morning. What glorious odyssey commences at such an unruly hour you ask? Why, a pre-arranged trip to the ancient hot springs of Deokgu of course (conveniently located a town away from a nuclear power plant. Why this is mentioned in the trip outline, I have no idea). Hiking, nearby Uljin beach, and an organic food expo (?) await our Korean scenery-craving palettes. In about 4 hours time (probably when I finish writing this entry), we will be on a bus toward the East coast of Korea partaking on yet another indulging experience.

Now, to divulge in past events, I will follow irregular formula and go from most recent to latest. Mainly because I feel like it and I am totally awesome. To start off, my vacation started yesterday with an explosion of fun, as I was invited by two of my Korean partner teachers (Emily and Helen, both awesome) and a former Wonderland teacher named Sue (also awesome), to an all day excursion upon Everland, the Korean equivalent (and semi-rip-off) of Disneyland. The majority of the day was dedicated to Caribbean Bay, a massive water park chock full of slides, wave pools, (actually delicious) peanut butter squid dispensing snack bars, and relex (not my typo) room spas. It was fantastic. Sue, Helen, Emily and Emily's son, (who's Korean name I kept forgetting, so I called him Max), were perfect companions, and even with the semi language barrier, coworker friendships were developed and strengthened. I of course managed to burn my entire torso even with my countless applications of sunscreen and by the time daytime and Caribbean Bay had been conquered, sights were set on a free transfer to sans bathing suit Everland with aspirations of witnessing fireworks and fervent consumption of chicken and beer. Both were achieved and with a subsequent slight buzz, we pranced the park, riding nearly vacant rides and touching everything possible in the plethora of gift stores. By 11pm, bodies and general giddiness had been spent, and we drove home to many infectious tunes of K-pop (seriously, this song is awesome). All in all, a glorious day.

Before this, about a week ago, my friend Joel arrived on a 14-hour direct flight from Chicago and it was so pleasantly refreshing to see a face from home. By his first weekend here, he managed to do more Seoul exploration than I had been able to do in the last month. Luckily, we were together. We went to the ancient village of Bukchon, within the greater neighborhood of Jongno, an area that literally bore witness to the birth of this magnificently historic city. Over 600 years reside in this one region and it is truly splendid. Bukchon, the smaller more historically vibrant region, is situated between two palaces: Gyeongbukgong and Changgyeonggung. Because of our rather impromptu decision to embark on the region so late in the day, we weren't able to see anything inside either palace. But it hardly mattered. The entire exploration that ensued boasted its own illustrious atmosphere, somehow perfectly encapsulating ancient and modern architecture into a seamless flow from one end of the neighborhood to the other. Coffee shops, fashion boutiques, art galleries, and trendy restaurants strewn about winding, narrow and sloping streets satiated our thirst for unique atmosphere. The entire area was so becoming of a side of Seoul I knew had to exist but hadn't chanced upon yet, and experiencing it all with a friend from home made the experience so incredibly worthwhile. Classic Joel and Paul banter was revisited after an overdue hiatus and plenty of stupid inside jokes bloomed in its wake (i.e. the title of this entry). Everything we thought was awesome was immediately commented on with an "oh my god! that's so awesome!" exclamation. It wasn't until we saw some sort of military official standing guard at the entrance of a gated road that an inevitable "oh my guard! that's so awesome!" comment came about. Probably less than 1% of the entire world's population would've found that funny, but to us, it was hysterical. Anyway, Jongno is awesome. I'm definitely going back.

Two weeks ago, the most significant happening was my invitation to skip Mudfest (an event that can be likened to spring break in Cancun: lots of drunken white people compacted into a designated area of a small foreign city, of which little or no attention to cultural etiquette is paid), and join my amazing co-teacher Emily, her husband and aforementioned son Max, on a weekend boating trip to an area of the Han river Northeast of Seoul. Hilariously, our ten o'clock arrival at the prearranged hotel inadvertently threw us into the middle of terrible Tiesto style bass thumping at the outdoor pool. The hotel, a certain Masion de Bali, converts its pool area into an all night club on the summer weekends and doesn't stop playing cheesy (not the good kind), wall resonating music until 2am. We were all already itching to get some rest before the morning's boat ride, but instead did our best to avoid such catastrophic sleeping implications by opting to get a late night dinner along the river bank. All in all, it managed to work out perfectly. The dinner was downriver enough to not be phased by the bass, and was freaking delicious. I was an amateur vegetarian before I came to Korea, but am now a full blown meat addict. I can't help it. I invite any one of you to try and resist freshly battered succulent pork cutlet cut into deliciously crispy strips of pure tender juiciness and dipped into the most distinctly fantastic barbeque sauce you've ever had in your whole entire damn life. It is pretty much impossible.


Co-teacher Emily and I eating Korean BBQ at Masion De Bali

Anyway, the rest of the weekend was notable for the beautiful rolling hills witnessed all along the banks of the Han during the boating trip and Saturday's decision to stay behind and partake in the club (after witnessing countless sunbathing Korean women) with the group's young boat driver friend named Choi while Emily and her family went home. I mean the boating trip is definitely of mention, but uh, this club thing was probably more notable. I was pleasantly surprised/completely confused about being the only westerner among the crowd of rowdy 20-something Koreans. Choi kept insisting I dance and/or talk to any girl I wanted, but with my classic party logic, I insisted on having one more drink instead. One more drink soon turned into "ok I can totally dance with zero inhibition now" and after plenty of garbled Korean phrases, I actually met a girl without turning into too much of an idiot. Honestly, even though enough alcohol was consumed, I was pretty coherent. HONESTLY. Anyway, by the next morning, torrential rain was falling and Choi, being my ride back home, displayed excellent driving skills throughout some pretty serious flash flooding. I guess I should mention I was not his only passenger. Unbeknownst to me, he was talking to one of Eun-Hye's (the girl I met) friends the night before and said he would give them a ride back into Seoul. I was surprised. Within five or six hours of meeting, I was recovering with Eun-Hye, her two friends, and Choi at a restaurant stop eating holy-crap-this-is-ridiculously-spicy bone soup (yes thats right, bone soup) and getting to know new friends a little better.

Ok so at the beginning, I was totally kidding when I said it would take 4 hours to write this. But seriously here I am four hours later typing out my last sentence.

What?

That is retarded.

we are the bourgeoisie and we're coming to town- beep! beep!

I have honestly considered myself to be at least a decently fashionable person throughout my ever delayed awareness of how to look cool. This is not to say I have always looked cool, nor that I am even generally accepted as looking cool even when I think I do BUT, holy crap, I have to say the population of Seoul has by far the most amount of cool looking people I have ever seen in my life. 

After arriving, my fashion sense looked immediately paltry, completely out of step, and totally boring. Before arriving, I thought at least a few of my outfits would funnel me into "ooo, an American wearing American clothes from America!" admiration, but to my somewhat biased dismay, they have not. I am not exaggerating when I say that Korean women (and men) dress in utterly beautiful ways. They manage to pull things off that I don't think westerners would even know how to put on. Like take a few of these pictures I am shamelessly reposting on the internet (it is a bit difficult and creepy as a foreigner to attempt publicly taking pictures of women in a country you've only been in for one month):

 These are not the best examples, but if this at all peaks your interest, go here. This site readily displays pretty much everything I'm talking about and I'm not exaggerating when I say 8 out of every 10 people you see in Korea are dressed as the pictures so adequately display them. 

Also, an interesting side note for this link: 

I found out about it by meeting its owner and her friend at the bars two weekends ago. Her friend, whom I did a terrible job of drunkenly trying to woo, is the model in most of the pictures. Cute right? I just discovered that researching for this entry. 

Anyway, continuing with the impeccable national sense of style that dominates Korea, it is completely within reason that I admit to my love of girls with undeniably sophisticated yet eccentric fashion. Basically anything evolved from Mod (big buttons and high waisted skirts anyone?). In America, this type of sighting was rare and usually highlighted the day. Here, it is literally every 10th girl you walk by. It has essentially been the biggest incentive to adjust my wardrobe accordingly and make myself look a whole lot better in the process (by better, I am of course strictly talking about standards I feel I can more subscribe to a lot more openly, i.e. in Korea, I wouldn't be typecast as 'hipster'). The trends here may be sweeping the globe and clearly represent offshoots of American cultural identity, but here, people just know how to look good with them in a distinctly Korean way. With the country being as small and condensed as it is, it actually seems to be less difficult I think for corporate dominance to set into the practicality of everyday expression (i.e. dressing yourself). America has trends that are unique and fresh in themselves, but far too often get pigeonholed into specific crowds and age ranges. It isn't like that here, and its apparent just walking down the street. I mean seriously, there are 40 to 50 year old Korean women dressing in ways that look fresh and new. I've never seen anything like it. 

Now, throughout this entry, I purposefully avoided talking about a very specific trend here. Just so all seven of my readers will be fully engaged and on the edge of their seats wanting more more more, I will devote a later* blog to it with loads of example pictures just so I can say... to be continued.

so, here it goes...

To Be CONTINUED

*like, a couple weeks from now.

p.s. one free totally awesome souvenir to anyone who can guess the inspiration for this blog's title