A Seoul-ful New Year: part 5

Well, well, well... we've reached the final day of my Seoul train.

First, a shot of my room that Breda found for me. Even though it was tiny, it had a fantastic heating blanket, was cleaned daily, and only cost $10/day! And it was only a few blocks from Breda and Gio. A great setup if you ask me (thanks, cuz!)

As is often the case outside the US, the bathroom doubled as a shower stall, which meant that one has to employ constant vigilance for stray puddles when doing one's "business". It also meant that I got to shower in front of the large mirror that served as a wall. 

Which brings me to something that I'm sure I won't deal with enough cultural sensitivity: widespread unabashed vanity. I won't be passing too much judgment (I shan't be a hypocrite, now), just expressing my impressions. 

mirror of Erised: Gio sees himself as Breda

Compared to China, mirrors were ubiquitous in Seoul! I suppose it's fairly standard around the world to have mirrors in bathrooms and elevators, but I'd turn a corner and bam! I'd meet my chiral self in stairwells, subway stations, and next to restaurant doorways. I actually saw two women having coffee together when one pulled an ornate handheld mirror out of her purse to fix her makeup/admire herself. Actually, Breda says that she had to confiscate such mirrors from her students.

I don't mean to say that having an interest in one's image is bad. But it was a tad odd to so frequently have the opportunity to check one's self out AND for it to be so socially accepted. Furthermore, I saw advertisements all over the place for cosmetic surgery (for both genders). Although I may joke about getting "work done" in the future, I think that confidence and self-respect can have a more striking affect than getting nipped and tucked. Of course, everyone is free to make their own decisions (and certainly there are deformation cases that in my opinion warrant surgery), but if we've learned one thing from Hollywood plastic surgery, it's that you should take what you have and just slightly adjust it- not get a face transplant (Jennifer Grey, anyone?). Many of the adverts were shockingly extreme.

Breda says that any girl whose family as any money at all will get at least the double eyelid surgery. Maybe I'm just unaware of how often people in the US get cosmetic surgery, but considering that certain of these surgeries are so common for pre-teens rather than rational adults, I started to feel like I was in an Aldous Huxley novel with a borderline narcissistic society.

Okay, enough of that discussion. Really, the people were very caring and kind and accepting of me, but the vanity was a bit shocking overall.

So for my last day in Seoul, I checked out a great big palace. It reminded me a bit of the Forbidden City, but the color schemes and layout were a bit different. However, as can be seen in the following photo, they followed the feng shui thing were you build a palace with mountains behind and a river in front.

the statue in the center of the photo is of the emporer who commissioned the invention of the Korean alphabet.

To our delight, the palace had hourly military demonstrations where "cast members" marched around in awesome costumes.

look- he's playing a conch! Just like in Lord of the Flies!

then there was a guard chicken.

and very cool tapstries

I've mentioned once or twice that Korean palaces have a bit of a different style to them, and the following photo is a bit of an example.

It's never safe to generalize, but most of the palaces that I've seen in China have looked like a box of crayons exploded on their eaves into intricate patterns. In contrast, many Korean structures have a more subdued color scheme:  earthy colors, and lots of natural wood use.



Korea's mythological guardian creature is Haetae:

Personally, I think he/she looks more like Mr. Snuffleupagus than a fierce guard dog, but perhaps evil Korean ghosts are afraid of being licked and tickled to death (....again).

For my final supper, we went to a Korean bbq place. Thanks to Gio's excellent meat-flipping skills with chopsticks, Breda and I had a constant stream of freshly grilled beef to slurp up. It was pretty awesome.

So that was my New Year's week in Korea! I loved getting to see another Asian country that shares many characteristics with China but definitely has its own brand. And it was especially fantastic getting to spend time with my cousin after 14ish years of not seeing each other. We had plenty of "remember when grandma/grandpa" memories to share (though I really should keep to myself the time when I walked in on my grandma disrobing) and had a great time exchanging stories from our respective parents' points of view ("Well my mom says that your dad was taunting her and that she was totally justified in throwing the flashlight at his head when he won the cat's affection").

I have the best family ever.

A Seoul-ful New Year: part 4

It snowed! I saw the flakes falling on the previous night, and moved by you're-likely-only-in-Korea-once guilt, I got out of bed before dawn (!) and took some photos of Seoul with a dusting of snow.

I've noticed that in Asia snow gets swept instead of plowed or shoveled.

park near Breda's apt.

After the sun rose, I realized that my toes felt like little frozen sausages, so I went back to my room and napped a lil. Nothing enhances appreciation for a warm bed like being chilled to the bone.

Breda has a friend whose family sews hanboks, so we stopped by their shop later that day.

Traditional wedding hanboks. The bride wears a pink skirt and green top.
A more modern take is on the right.

During my time in Korea, it became very apparent that many South Koreans embrace modern societies and globalization while maintaining strong ties to the past. In fact, Breda's friend mentioned that many Koreans will have three parts to their wedding ceremony: traditional (such as the pink skirt/green blouse), modern (the white dress with the purple sash), and then reception party.

hanboks for toddlers!

hanbok shoes

It was refreshing to be in a market where locals shop rather than tourist trap markets. Shop owners had food delivered to them by a woman who balanced several meals on her head.

Afterwards we got some nomz (+kimchi!)

man, my legs still hurt from sitting on the ground so much.

My church has a temple in Seoul. In fact, it was one of the first temples in Asia, built in 1981. After Breda and I shopped around other some other markets (buttons, ribbons, and zippers!) and I got some chrysanthemum seeds for King's Mums future collection, we stopped by the temple for a few night photos.

And then, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've been waiting for.... our visit to a CAT CAFE!

Aside: when I opened Lightroom to pull together the photos for this post, I saw that the number of photos taken on this day was greater than 250! "what the heck??" I thought to myself, "What could I possibly have taken that many pictures of??!" Then I remembered that we visited the cat cafe. But do not be alarmed; I've only included a few cat shots for this post. 

Ok, so I didn't actually know before my visit that Koreans had this wonderful and totally reasonable obsession with cats/cat cafes, but I soon learned about it! I'm not sure why the people don't just own cats, thus negating the need for a cat cafe... but then I suppose that being able to get your feline fill at a nearby cafe also makes it so that your home doesn't smell like kitty litter and you don't wake up to the smell of cat food breath emanating from a cat perched over your sleeping head. at any rate, we found three cafes within a three block radius, so we had our pick.

First, a panorama. how many cats can you count?

a cat cafe in all of its glory.

I spy with my little eye THIRTY-FOUR cats. And yes, that is a cat walk hanging from the ceiling.

Now some macro shots.

maybe I can sell this to Cat Fancy?

Breda has a bit of a cat allergy, but she was miraculously cured during our visit! Either that or she patiently held her breath while I rolled around on the floor with the kittehs.

The cats could smell my fondness for felines and they curled up on my jacket! I guess the feeling of euphoria I experienced was what some people look for when they swim with dolphins.  

A Seoul-ful New Year: part 3

For Lunar New Year's Eve, a group of cousin Breda's friends and I rented a chateau/cabin/pension out the in South Korean countryside. We grilled meat/veg skewers and played Scrabble, and then because we're old, we were basically in bed by 10:30. Arpit and I rang in the New Year by watching an episode of Seinfeld. This was moderately more exciting than my Western New Year's Eve where I fell asleep on the couch until 12:05 while Tanu and Mengchen watched Pirates of the Caribbean in 3D. I'm pretty much a rock star.

Self pity aside, the cabin was really fantastic. We slept on the floor--which is apparently the way Koreans do slumber--but the floor was heated, so any discomfort on my part was overshadowed by the feline-like method of curling up on the warm floor.

 One phrase I heard quite a bit was "blah blah blah It's good for your health!" Included in these admonitions was to sleep on a marble mattress. yep, you heard right. stone.

Sleep Number: infinity.

 After our country excursion, Breda and I visited a lil village museum that houses traditional structures from around Korea. For New Years activities, they hosted quite a few folk games.

the STICK GAME!

the father would get the top spinning and his daughter would just start whacking
at it relentlessly.  She may have enjoyed making her dad re-start the top more than
actually playing with the toy.

tying New Year's wishes to be read by the wind.

KIMCHI POTZ.

 We found the main stage where several young men in traditional attire were banging drums and twirling streamers from their hats. Admittedly, it looked a little silly but must've taken quite a bit of coordination.

Then a group of break dancers rushed the stage and I anticipated a battle of the boy bands. But, alas, they worked together in an odd anachronistic mash-up.

The time came for demonstrations! Being one of the few white people in the crowd, we stood out easily. To Breda's delight, she was chosen to do a plate-spinny-thing.

so much glee. 

magical Breda is magical.

They appreciated her help so much that she got hugs and lots of attention. She loved it.

Quite a few food stands sold snacks outside the village. My favorite: red bean-filled fish-shaped waffles.

My least favorite: boiled silk worms that smelled like musky dust.

"good for your health." yeah, right.

Our bones started chattering with the setting of the sun, so we headed over to a BATH HOUSE (no pictures allowed). The hour preceding pajama attire consisted of lounging about nude in different saunas. I made the mistake of dipping into an extremely hot bath, so I turned quite a few heads as the hairy pink blob as I walked by. I may like attention, but even that was a bit too much.