So here's a quick rundown of things that I have learned while here for 2 days in Seoul. Keep in mind that I am aware that I'm making judgments after two days, and I don't mean to be harsh:
A. The city is awesome and super clean. Even the subway stations are spotless. Like spit shine spotless.
B. Everyone is fashionable.
-Seriously, it's almost to the point where it's sickening. Like it's cool to people watch and see the fashion trends...but it's a little scary when EVERYONE you pass on the street (and there's a lot of them) are suuuuuper trendy. The hair, make up, heels, purses...you name these girls have got it. The styles all kind of blend together as well. No one really lie stands out. I mean...they do because each person is pulling off a different outfit and hair, but the trend is all the same. I was trying to compare this with kids in NYC, wondering if maybe everyone in NYC is trendy as well, but I think it's different. I guess because in NYC, there are so many different ethnicities, a cultural "melting pot" if you will, that things feel like have variety to them. So where NYC has tons of different cultures, there are styles to reflect that culture. And Well here in Seoul, because Korea itself is a very unified country, lacking the diversity in ethnicity or race, the fashion seems to repeat itself and blend. I guess what I mean is, people are so trendy, and so into fashion that it's like visual overload, and people get grouped into one category of just a "trendy person".
I want to make a point that these are general observations of what I see, and because I can't communicate, I wouldn't be able to put a name and a story to anyone's face if I wanted to. So that's another reason why it's so easy for me to be quick to judge. I realize this doesn't do anyone justice, nor a society of people, but these are my thoughts for now and hopefully I am wrong.
Also, I think it's great that a nation such as Korea (and what little I really know about it) works so well as a unit and as one body. BUT, on the other hand, I mean its unreal the amount of commercialism that is apart of the city of Seoul. The rest of Korea who knows, but Seoul seems suuuper commercial, and very obsessed with looks. My friend Kimberly says that here, people look down on you if you aren't trendy, or fashionable...and I believe it. I can't stress to you enough how fashion consience these people are. I'm truly amazed. I tried to spot at least one person who wasn't trendy...and there was none. From the 80 year olds to the 12 year olds...nada. Maybe this is because what does make someone trendy or not trendy? Would it be that I would have to know the trends in order to judge what is "hip" and what is "not"? Maybe there are those who are un-trendy. Who knows, and I really don't care for that matter, but what I do know is that no girl doesn't have her hair done, or not have on a nice a dress or skinny jeans, heels, makeup, or come with a purse at their side. Oh yeah, almost forgot...the cell phone.
C. There are a billion stores.
D. bargain with the street people. I just got Shan and I a pair of tennis shoes that just came out for fall for $15. Summer shoes are on sale for $7.
E. EVERYONE IN SEOUL HAS A BOYFRIEND/GIRLFRIEND.
-I shit you not, there are so many couples it is insane. It makes me wonder if it's just for the comfort because everyone is "doing it"/it's probably trendy, but G*D damn, I have never seen so many couples in my life, in one day. It's so bad that when you see someone by themselves, you are almost sad for them, because you can probably imagine the pressure to find a significant other. I'm guessing, I really don't know, but I felt a little sorrow for this one kid eating alone. Everyone around him was a couple except for him. :(
With that being said:
F. Boys carry the girls purses
G. They also tend to dress alike. If not the whole outfit, one piece of clothing.
H. Korean food is amazing.
I. Korean bakeries are where its at. Best bread, pastries, and cakes.
J. Food is is cheap. Meals cost about $4 US. This includes a ton of food though.
K. With all the shit talking about the fashion, Seoul does has amazing shopping and stores. The trends are definitely there, however it's still lacking the true grit and grim of the art/hip hop scene. They are however, far superior in the fashionable dresses, heels, and draping shirts than any place I have seen. The trend is a very put-together, classy, or just semi-dressed up fashion. Casual = cocktail dress, or skinny jeans with heals. I haven't seen girls wear flip flops yet. Even those girls who I would consider dress more like myself, still look put-together. Even the hippie look is contrived.
L. Girls who are best friends that are together either shopping or walking, hold hands or lock arms. Threw me off for a little bit. I thought there were a surprising number of open "lipstick lesbians" running around.
M. Korean BBoys are super popular.
N. So are pop-balads.
O. The technology is out of this world. The phones and computers look amazing.
OOOOOOOOOOOoooook, that is all for now. I need sleep. There might be a trip to the public bath houses which should be interesting.
I’m here! I’m safe, and orientation is about to begin. Its 8:18 Korea time and I’ve been up for three hours. So I guess I should start from the beginning, or rather, the middle of my journey.
The Chicago layover wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be. 3 hours seem to fly by for some reason. The only shitty part about having my lay over was the lack of restaurants in the terminals. For some reason there are no places to eat in the international terminal of Ohare…it was weird. I’m used to at least some shitty café, Starbucks, or even TCBY, but alas, there was nothing of that sort. The only thing I could find were little booths that sold Chex mix or M&Ms. So I ended up buying some chex mix in case I needed anything to hold me over.
Honestly looking back, I feel stupid for buying that stuff now, only because Korean Airlines likes to feed you THE ENTIRE FLIGHT. Which was awesome for me, but I was seriously in shock the amount of food that they give out, and the number of drinks that they shuffle around the plane every 20 min.
The flight attendants, A. were beautiful, which I think that both Korean Air and Japan airlines are known for, and B. they were really nice. The entire 15 hour flight, they were on their toes serving drinks and food, selling duty free items (which I still don’t understand) and calling to everyone’s needs. The other thing that was pretty cool, (this is just service oriented) was that every time someone used the bathroom, there would be some Korean Airlines flight attendant shuffling after them, folding the little toilet paper to make a triangle, and cleaning the bathrooms.
I wish I had my camera out during the flight, but they served be bim pap, and beef stroganoff, little Korean pastries, and awesome juice. They had shitty shitty coffee, but really yummy orange and pineapple juice. Everything was on these cute dishes and tea cups, and sigh…nice industrial design.
During the flight I watched a total of 3-4 movies and slept maybe 3 hours. That part sucked, but I really couldn’t sleep. Usually I use the tactic of pulling out the tray table and sticking my head on that, but the seats reclined too far back so it wasn’t an option. I think for the plane ride back I’ll buy some neck pillow thing and just use that, because by the end of the flight my neck was getting a cramp in it. Not to mention my butt hurt SO bad by the end of the flight that I had to use the pillow just for my ass.
When I arrived in Seoul, Anna’s cousin Ujounge came running out of the mass of people waiting to give me a hug and welcome me to Korea. She was so nice! It made me really feel at home and it was great. Ujounge, is about my height and Anna is right, is super nice and warm and really tried to speak English for me because she new I didn’t know any. I was really surprised because she actually new a fair amount, and wasn’t afraid to ask me questions. After picking me up from the airport, Ujounge offered to take me to dinner which was so nice of her. She drove me past her house (so cute), which has its own music studio on the second floor. I got to see her two kids, which one is in 7th grade, and the other is in 3rd and Anna was right, ADORABLE. The little girl is spoiled but she is so cute and so animated that it’s hard not to spoil her.
Ujounge, took me to have real Brou-go-gi and it was delicious. Ujounge’s friend came with her daughter and son, and they all tried to ask me questions in Enligsh to not make me feel left out. I might actually end up teaching Ujounge’s daughter Sarah, and the other little girl English because they just started International School in Seoul, and need an English tutor. I warned Ujounge and told her that I don’t know grammar and sentence structure perfectly, but that I would be happy to teach them conversational English. I think she might take me up on that offer because little Sarah apparently is having a hard time.
In any case, Ujounge moved me in the dorms at the International house which was sooo nice of her, and currently I have just survived my first full day in Korea!
...After orientation...
I must say I am experiencing a little bit of culture shock due to the fact that I had only known 2 words…which now, have become three! I met two really sweet girls, one giel named Won who is Vietnamese and from Texas, and Kimberly who is Korean/American and from New Jersey. Thank god for Kimberly who is fluent, because I would be having a much harder time in the city without her. She helped me set up a bank account, and has pretty much ordered every meal for both Won and myself. I don’t exactly feel helpless…but it’s close. I’m trying though that’s for sure.
So today lets see...I went to orientation which was interesting. First off, there are so many diverse people in the program that I can't wait to meet. Second, I learned that Koreans LOVE to drink at school affiliated clubs outings. Apparently, and by sources such as Anna, Korean kids work their ass off before their entrance exams (to get into school), going to school from 6:30am-Midnight everyday, never having a social life. Then, when they have taken the last exam, and know what college they are gong to, it's like a fucking free fall of boosing it up.
So as part of this orientation, international clubs got up and spoke and tried to get us to join their programs. One of which, is called the "International Buddy Mentoring Club", or something like that. Anyway, this kid gets up, and pretty much yells in the microphone...I guess out of being nervous/hyperactive...all I know is it about blew my face off. Then this kid went on to explain the little festivities and parties that they offer and explained it as follows: "So we will have this party, where you can meet us, and WE DRINK! YAY!" then there was, "...and the International Mentoring Club will match you up good, like with someone you share things with, (yelling) LIKE DRINKING!"
I WAS SHOCKED. And this was like every club that spoke. I'm thinking dear lord come save me, because these kids are going to drink me under the table. I like to go out, but jee wiz, they have me really scared to go out. The hilarious thing about this situation, is that this school is so prestigious and they are so out there. The classes here are going to be really intimidating, which is good, but I'm really surprised these kids drink as much as they do, and still function.
So I thought that was interesting.
The other things that I have learned is, Koreans really really really want you to eat. They send out a plethora of food, and I really just can' keep up. I went out to dinner with like 6 people last night, and all of them basically ate everything, and looked at me, and was like "you barely touched your food, is everything ok?" I'm sitting there thinking, MY GOD, how can you people eat so much but stay so thin. It's INSANE. Plus,my face wanted to melt off from the spiciness, and in my opinion, eating half of my dish was an accomplishment. ^_^ It was fun though, and a good experience.
What else...So I posted some photos on Flickr. There are pictures of this Korean grocery store that was in the subway station near Yonsei. When you walk into the grocery store, and start looking for food and what not, there are little women everywhere trying to help. Literally they are in every asile of the store waiting to help you and suggest things. Many of whome just like to shove product in your hands and tell you to take it. Some just like to give you free samples. The closest thing that I can compare it to is like a Sam's club that is smaller, with less people hounding you. I guess it's nice in a way, but then again, it's a little bothersome becuase they are in e-v-e-r-y aisle. That was the only place where being white came to my advantage. I just stared at them with a warm smile and gave a little shrugg of the shoulders. In this grovery store, which I guess was also a weird department store on the 3rd floor equipped with nail salon, hair, and a whole wing of shoes, purses, and cosmetics, Won stopped to get mascara. While getting mascara the woman helping Won, looked at Kimberly, and handed her free samples. I didn't get anything, and I'm thinking...it's because I'm white right? Anyways, I asked her what that was, and she said that the woman gave her things to help her acne. I felt bad for her, because she does have bad acne, but a pretty face, and I just felt like it was a little forward of the woman to just hand her that, and to keep commenting on her skin, but I guess it happens, and some people function that way.
Today I think I'm going to head to the shopping district with Kimberly and Won. I really want to shop, and check out more of Seoul. Perhaps the gardens, zoo, or the arts center, who knows. Apparently I missed the Flickr opening that was in Seoul on August 22. That would have been a lot of fun to attend. I guess there were flyers all over Seoul about it, but whatevs.
Okay, enough updateing for now. Buy guys! Miss you all!
Hey guys, so here is the new blog. I at least like the design of these templates better. Not sure how I still feel about this blog site but I'll take it for now. The nice thing is I can hook the site up to my flickr, and be able to post videos from Youtube easily.
So it's 8:05am. I've been killing time since around 7am when I left Shannon and my dad. I thought it would be more emotional that it was, considering both my mom and Shannon cried the night before I left, but it was cool. My dad cracked some jokes, and Shannon and I did the ridiculous handshakes that we do, laughed, and then I left down the escalator. Right now I'm just fucking ridiculously tired. I board my plane in Cinci at 9am. Then I have a 2 1/2 hour lay over in Chicago, then off on my 15 hour plane ride. That should be interesting. I've definitely sat in a car for about 15 hours, but I'm not sure how being on a plan for 15 hours is going to be. I hope to be asleep for at least half of that.
Then, thanks to Anna and her woooooooooooonderful family, I am getting picked by Ujong, which I think I have already mentioned in a previous blog but She's Anna's aunt in Korea! Thanks to her, I don't have to worry about getting a taxi, or worrying about public transportation! I think that it's awesome that her aunt is doing that, and I can't thank her family enough.Well...off to wait for hours. peace in the middle east and put some Seoul in that roll. heh. hehehe. oh goooodness my humor is one in a ga-gilllion.
