It’s a good day to be on Facebook… and it’s a good day to be one of the 16 allied nations that helped South Korea in their war with the North in 1950.
If you are like me and from one of the allied nations of Turkey, Ethiopia, Thailand, Philippines, Belgium, New Zealand, Colombia, Luxembourg, Australia, Greece, The Netherlands, France, South Africa, Canada, UK, or USA; you too can join in for a romantic evening of speed dating at the War Memorial of Korea commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Korean War!
What better way to meet a future lover, spouse, or partner? It certainly takes away the awkwardness of the first date — where to eat? what movie to see? Now you can simply browse heavy artillery while comparing grenades. And, if you’re lucky, you can snatch your first kiss beside an Armored Amphibious Combat Vehicle.
“This special event is being offered at no cost to participants as a way of showing gratitude and appreciation for the soldiers who sacrificed their youth and lives for the sake of Korea’s freedom and security.”
I just hope someone from Luxembourg is there… to celebrate freedom.
As usual, I got out of work at 11pm on Friday. I went straight to bed because I had to wake up at 5am to catch the bus to Seoul. But I was nervous; I couldn’t sleep. I woke up late and missed the 6am bus.
After three hours, I arrived in East Soul and, after one hour and a few more subway transfers, arrived at my first interview. I was sweaty and due to lack of sleep (and a nice little pimple that showed up the previous day beneath my right eye) my eyes looked like a 53 year old on a three-day drinking binge.
Left the first interview and made a beeline to the nearest coffee shop before heading to the second interview. With everything finished, I collapsed on the bus, only to find myself sitting beside a couple who desperately wanted to watch the television show on full volume — this despite me saying “I hate you” in the international language of The Glare.
After spending 14 hours on buses, trains, and their respective stations, I was ready for bed. But a friend called and we met for some beers. Then friend #2 called and we had more beer. Then friends #3, #4, and #5 called and we headed to a singing room.
After singing Patti Page and Barry Manilow (both to 100 scores), I finally headed home.
On Sunday, a friend and I went to Gounsa — a very nice temple near Andong. I really enjoyed it and can’t believe I waited so long to see it.
As you may or may not know, I LOVE the Wonder Girls.
In Korea there’s no shortage of girl groups (or boy groups), but in my opinion, the Wonder Girls are a step ahead of everyone else. I still think So Hot and Nobody are the best pop songs (and videos) to come out of Korea (along with some Hyori and Son Dambi).
That being said, I was (like all of my 13 year old girl students) so incredibly disheartened when Sun Mi decided to unexpectedly quit the group earlier this year… Of course, what I didn’t account for was that my favorite Wonder Girl, Ye Eun, would step up and fill the void (just try to not love the dimples and mis-matched tights!).
So, I don’t really love this song, but it’s worth it for the video… and seriously, how could you not fall in love with them with these pictures?
After two long days in Seoul walking more than I have ever walked in my entire life, I pulled it together enough to wait it out for the Lotus Lantern Festival Parade. I’m glad I did, because I loved it.
In my former life working in politics, I attended many (MANY) parades. As a rule, I don’t like them… I’ve been scarred ever since I was forced to march for Joe Lieberman with two interns and a Joe-mobile in front of John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards, and their enormous staff. (NB, this was BEFORE either Lieberman or Edwards took their respective nose-dives into meaninglessness… or, at least before Edwards’.)
Aside from the beautiful lanterns and beautiful hanbok — both of which make me incredibly happy — it was so nice to see so many smiles. I don’t typically get too many smiles from Koreans.
It’s not like Tennessee where you have to smile and say hello to everyone you see. And it’s not like Connecticut where you have to smile and say hello to everyone you see (who has the same skin color and socio-economic status)… I just don’t get too many hello’s in Korea. And I’m okay with that (really I am!), but it was nice to have an hour or so of endless waves.
I was also excited to try out my new Canon s90 camera, which I paid way too much money for at the Yongsan Electronics Market — learning the hard way that sometimes free trade agreements canbe quite wonderful.
I’ve always carried cheap point-and-shoots, so I was pretty pumped to finally upgrade to something with more flexibility without being enormous and forcing me to carry the badge of Fake Professional Photographer.
This weekend I spent some time in Seoul to check out the Lotus Lantern Festival. Buddha’s birthday is this month and there are a lot of things going on.
It was very interesting in comparison to American festivals… by that I mean it was A LOT less annoying. Of course, I can never figure out if I’m less annoyed because no one is talking to me or if it’s actually less annoying.
I will give Korea the benefit of the doubt on this one. It was a great festival with booths on lantern making, temple stays, books, etc. Plus, instead of serving fried Snickers bars, they had healthy temple food.
One of the best parts was getting to see a traditional tightrope-walking performance — called jultagi or 줄타기. I had seen this in movies, but never live… and to channel Annie Hall, it was pretty neat!
I had two weeks to plan for vacation and one of my biggest concerns was finding vacation clothes. Mainly, I needed a swimsuit and shorts. And while this isn’t a concern in many places in the world, in Korea, they just don’t carry my size.
So, I buckled down and went online to use what I think must be the worst-designed site on the internet: Gmarket. Go there (unless you have epilepsy… seriously); try to buy something. If you can actually find what you’re looking for and make it to the payment section without gouging your eyes out, then you have my eternal praise.
When I ordered, I was sure to order XL in everything knowing that it would probably be smaller than what I find in America. I was right, but I didn’t anticipate being this right.
Black pants, America: size L.
Grey shorts, Korea: size XL.
I understand that Koreans have smaller waists than Americans (everyone has smaller waists than Americans), but in what universe can these shorts be described as an XL…
Enough has been written about Kim Yu-Na’s performance today, so I’ll keep it brief.
It was amazing.
On Tuesday, she broke the world record for the short program (she held the previous record) and today she broke the world record for the free skate (she held the previous record). But she didn’t just break records, she demolished them.
Her total score of 228.56 was 18.5 points ahead of her previous record and 23 points ahead of her second place rival, Asada Mao.
The New York Times had a great article yesterday on Kim Yu-Na and the enormous expectations that are on her to win the gold medal in Vancouver.
Given that Kim is a national hero in South Korea, “her loss or her winning will be perceived as a national loss or a national winning,” said Kyung-ae Park, a political scientist who holds the Korea Foundation Chair at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver.
“If she wins the gold medal,” Park said, “I think it will be a great boost for national pride for Koreans. In a way, it will work as compensation for past humiliations.”
Adding to the pressure is that the other top competitors for the gold are Japanese. Koreans don’t generally get butterflies in their stomachs with the Japanese… something to do with a small colonization thing in the early 20th century with a little forced labor and prostitution thrown in for good measure.
This the expectations game is one thing I am constantly fascinated with in Korea. There seem to be a lot of expectations on everyone, and a lot of the folks I know seem a little bit stressed out by it. I can’t understand any of this because I come from such a different place. I had expectations from my parents to make good grades and be a good kid, but looking back, it was nothing compared to the kids I see here in Korea.
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Of course, Kim Yu-Na beat everyone’s highest expectations in having the best performances of her life, scoring a 78.50 and breaking her own world record by over two points.
Let me just start by saying that the best part of my Korean gym is that they have those fat jiggling machines from the mid-20th century. I love them! I don’t use them (because they are almost always occupied), but I love that they are there.
Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the rest…
At the front desk they have these grey uniforms you can wear (it’s also a jjimjilbang… more on that later). Of course, considering my left thigh is larger than the waist band… I bring my own clothes.
Once you enter there’s this confusing shoe system that took me forever to figure out. When you walk in you take off your shoes to walk in the hallway to the locker room — and in that hallway there are small lockers for your outside shoes. Then, once you’re upstairs at the gym you have to put on your gym shoes. This is actually more confusing that it sounds due to the multiple floors, multiple rooms, and multiple hallways — and trying to figure out which is outside-friendly, sock-friendly, and gym-friendly.
There’s an attendant in the locker room (I’m pretty sure he lives there… not joking) selling shampoo, razors, toothbrushes, etc. He never seems to look at me with anything other than hatred, but I’m used to that.
Also, there’s usually a guy or two asleep on the floor or in a chair or on a bench, which is not a problem unless they’re asleep in front of my locker, which happens from time to time.
And it’s not just a gym, but also a sauna/jjimjilbang, so there are many standing and sitting showers, two hot tubs, one cold tub, and two saunas. And upstairs by the gym there’s a big unisex sleeping room where you just pull up a mat and sleep for the night, or afternoon…
And the gym… the gym is not as nice as what I am used to, but it’s interesting. The aerobic machines all have manual controls with only eight levels. So, if I want to go up a level I have to crank this small wheel — a task that is usually more difficult than the actually exercise.
And as I said before, they have those fat jiggling machines. I haven’t seen the strappy one in about 20 years, and I’ve never seen the one with the wooden rollers. I think these things were proven to not work like 40 years ago, but people seem to enjoy them.
And lastly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of focus on strength building at my gym. This in turn has made me one of the strongest people there. One time while I was resting between sets, a man came up to me, lifted my weights, gave up, then gave me the thumbs up sign (along with several minutes of Korean). Now all I need is a strappy Gold’s Gym tank top, a fake tan, and an attitude.
Now I don’t know a lot about figure skating, but when I watch Kim Yu-na, I know I’m seeing something incredible. And since the ladies figure skating starts this week in Vancouver, I had to give a preview.
She currently holds the world record in the short program, long program, and combined score.
I don’t quite know how to describe her, except to say that she is amazing — an athlete of the caliber we rarely see.
Here’s her world record short program from November 2009:
And here’s her free skate from the world championships in 2009 (with the added bonus of commentary by someone OTHER THAN Scott Hamilton):
It’s a good day to be on Facebook… and it’s a good day to be one of the 16 allied nations that helped South Korea in their war with the North in 1950.
