Winding up, winding down

I have just spent 9 days in Japan. It is warmer, cleaner and Starbucks makes coffee in under 5 min. Also, it is beautifull, frustrainting and crowded. I love it. Maybe it is because my best friend lives there, or that I love sushi. Anyway, it is never boring. But now, thanks to a killer exchange rate it is murdurously expensive.
I am broke, but I don't regret spending so much money. I just wished I'd taken more pictures. In the cat cafe, at the Karate World Championships or in the subway. Most of the photos I toke doesn't have that much people in them. That is how I like it. Having the city to myself. In fact Tokyo is one size smaller, and with more people than Seoul. The ceilings are lower, the hallways narrower. On the other hand it has a more permanent feeling, like it was acctually here last week and not put up over the weekend.
I will be going home soon. Christmas with my family!!! Had a great time here but now it is time to go home.

Economic crisis hits my bank account

I haven't posted anything in month. But I just have to say that this economic crisis thing (which is followed religiously here in Korea ) has hit my savings. My 5000$ are now about 3000$ ( not counting the exchangerate ) It doesen't exactly make me want to save more, but what else can I do. I'll give it a year or so to recover and if it is still that puny I'm gonna spend it on a month long Thailand trip...
Strangly my US stocks have only gone down 25% while the eastern european ones crashed 60%. The Russian stockmarket is closed since a couple of days which doesn't really fill my heart with joy or confidance.
On the otherhand Mr Brown has declared the Islandic people to be terrorist so maybe this is the week for freakish occurenses...

Choseok

This weekend is one of the biggest holidays in Korea, Choseok. It was heralded by alot of people carring giftsets. Sets, of grapeoil, fruit, tofu etc. Especially fruit, which means the already expansive apples have become alot dearer. Choseok was from the beginning a Chinese harvest festival kind of thing, it is called the Moon festival or Mid Autumnfestival in China. It has alot to do with family. Here in Korea, outside of Seoul the roads are crowded with people trying to get back to there families, or family homes to pay respect to the grandparents and cook copious amounts of food.
Since my mother arrives monday night I get to celebrate Choseok too. This is one of those weekends were missing ones family is common and out in the open. I'm not sure since most of the expats I spend time with are guys ( and guys don't cry right^^) or maybe it's is only me missing them. I get jeoulous when I see sisters argue with their brothers or laugh with their dads but I get my mom on monday so that will make it better! So brother and dad, if you read this (I know mom does) I miss you!
I have moved, again. From my beloved artsy Hongdae to Mapo, an upscale area, were people drive expensive cares and look very corporate. On the other hand there is an Starbucks 2 min walk from my front door, which is were I'm entrenched right now, with a grande cappucino (extra shot expresso! I'm too european for anything else). There is a 4 lane, in each direction, road going by outside, buildings so high and sparkling that they look like a backdrop for a scifi movie, and a 10x5 m screen. Though I miss my family and friends, I only miss Sweden because they live there. Sweden in summer rocks, the rest of the year it feels like a small country villege. On the other hand I can communicate fluently there... I have a new appriciation for immigrants in Sweden, it sucks not being able to express yourself fully

To my friends in the land of the rising Sun

So many great people!

Longing for autumn

I am sitting inside my favorite bookcafe, dreading going home. This despite the fact that it is a 5 min walk. It is hot outside, around 35 degrees. I have always been a strong advocate of summer but soon I will switch sides. On the otherhand, just like in Sweden, koreans become more open in the summer. Alot of festivals, parties and live performances during the night. The amount of money I have spent on iced bevereged could have supported a small third world country. On the other hand eating seems less attractive so I save money that way.

Today is the opening cermony for the Olympics. It is a weird feeling. I spent two years in Beijing, it feels like my city. And when other white people start whining and complaining I tend to get a bit protective. What the heck did people expect? That suddenly a regime who has been more or less all powerfull for 60 years would roll over? If they had, then what? That said, I don't like them very much. On the other hand I think the exposure that the averege chinese will get to the international world because of the Olympics will do wonders for bringing the chinese people into the world community. If that is what they want. Chinese, and americans, are pretty happy with staying at home. They love their countries and the rest of the world is viewed as something kind of strange and far away. Swedish people on the other hand don't love their country, they only like it. And the rest of the world is as close as the nearest airport. That is why you meet swedes everywere you go. Compered to the relative size of the population, swedes are everywere. Somethime I wonder how big percentege of the swedes live as expats.

Back to the Olympics. I don't have a TV so for me it is streaming that will carry the day. The olympic fever is present here in Korea but not as high as I thought. Hopefully the opning cermony will go of with out a glitch, and it should be spectacular. Zhang Yimou is not known for producing anything boring or ugly.

My almost-finished tattoo

I did this over the span of two days, in total about 11 hours. And it is not done yet!

Tokyo love

I just back from my Tokyo trip. I'm writing this sitting at my favorite book cafe in Hongdae. Despite the fresh mango juice besides me, the trendy people passing by outside and the comfy chair I already miss Tokyo. It was a trip with so much happning and yet not enough. I experienced my first earthquake, went to the beach and most importantly met my gorgeous, fantastic friends.

I started the trip by being late for my flight. This, I must point out, was not my fault and the only reason I made it was that I always take Murphy in to account when I plan. Three airportexpress busses passed me by, full, until after 45 min waiting ended and I got a seat. I have never been late to check in so I was in full stress alert mode just daring the universe to through something else at me. So it promptly did. In form of the longest check-in line in history, complete with families with toddlers, babes with serious amount of baggage and a group of pissed of french Canadians. More or less jumping up and down (since bording was in 10 min) I prayed to whatever deity was in charge of travelers. And they they answered! Or I asked a high school age looking attendent what I was supposed to do. When in doubt, make sure the people in charge know that there is trouble. He immediently started to look almost as stressed as I was (very gratefying) and after some thinking, pointed me to the express check -in line and told me to wait. Voila, 10 min later I was checked in and sprinting towards customs, immigration and everybody else who wanted to see my passport. My karma was superb and I sailed through all potential hazards. Once I landed same thing. I even managed to get on the Narita express and meet Ida almost hassle free.

As for the earthquake... Ida and I were drinking champange and watching youtube when suddenly we realised that our glasses were trembling. We got a firm grip on them and peered around and then at each other. The conversation went something like this: 'Is it only me being drunk or is everything kind of shaking? Nope, congrats you just experienced your first earthquake.' Not very dramatic.

An other thing that happened was that I met a old classmate from elementery school. How freaky is that? It is small world. He was attendeing the same school as Ida

My camera/phone stopped working the week before my trip so there are not any photos really. Except the ones my friends took. Ida lived in a niiiice suburb with beautifull (but small) gardens. She rents a room in a big house. The biggest drawback was the lack of AC. Since the temperature was around 30-35 C and the humidity crippling it made sleeping pretty hard. The following day I followed her to school and stayed at Starbucks while she had class. Now, in Korea, the people working in Starbucks are super nice but oh so slow. In Japan it took them 30 sec to fix my coffee. On the otherhand it was way more crowded. In general there seem to be more chains and fewer small cafes in Tokyo.

Ida, Cho HyeIm and her friend SongI and I went to Kamakura. This is a beach close to Tokyo, were you can actually surf. It has a nice beach-rebell kind of vibe with almost only younger people. I saw alot of subcultures I've only read about.

Ida and I also went clubbing (of course), shopping and just eating eating eating. Most of the time walking around was a chore because of the heat. Nevertheless we did. And a couple of times I went by myself. Tokyo feels much more setteled then Seoul, more planed, more crowded. Just more most of the time. And even if it has a subway system that takes a Phd to understand, it is pretty friendly and acceseable. Needless to say, I love Tokyo.

Also, besides being a fab city, it has some fab people. I meet so many people that I really missed. Most, and longest, was Mitch whom I haven't seen in 1,5 year. Like all true friends, even if you haven't been keeping in touch that often, the moment you meet it is like no time has passed since last time.

Not now, but when I have a real job and some real money, I would love to live in Tokyo. Just not yet.

The city has become sleepy as people try to beat the heat. Unfortunatly the only thing that can do that is a powerfull AC. Which is why the cafes are filled with people looking for air that is below 30C and does not contain a ridiculas amount of humidity. Siestas are in order! This weekend I am going to a double concert with my favorite artist who is still alive. I am psyched! Other than that I have discovered that the bookstores take my VISA. I spent a large sum on books, since they had a pretty good selection of english books.
I have also been to Lotte world, an amusemnt park. It was great, like being a kid again! All in all it has been pretty fab summer holiday so far!

Starbucks, the greatest place on earth!

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I have come to love starbucks even more feverently here. And not only for their doubleshout iced espresso. They are quiet, have great AC and comfy chairs. Even now that we finely have an AC in the apartment I usually spend a couple of hours there. And the AC is bitterly needed, since both humidity and temperature is much higher than I am usued to. The humitity being the worst. During training or by just walking down the street you start sweating and it doesn't evaporate. Now it is raining outside, so hopefully there will be some improvment.
I have discovered that buying english books is not that expensive here, they are about 60 kr or 10 US. I can live with that. I bought three detective novels by Philip Pullman, the author of the Golden Compass. They were fun, easy reading but not as good as his fantasy books.
The beef hysteria seems to calm down, though I am not sure what the outcome is. I do admire the courage of the protesters, espesially when it went from being protest about beef to protests about the president. However, I do wonder why they choose him at all. You vote for a savvy-not-so-nice guy thats what you get.
Ida was here last week, and it went by way to fast. Alot of eating, drinking and shopping. We are so similar when we are playing tourists. We also went to the Han river upstreams, riding a banana boat. It was a great day and the first time I been outside Seoul since Japan... I ate more korean food during that week than ever, the picture above is from a place that specialize in side dishes!

Summer times are great times and now the sitting and sipping cocktails with your friends outdoor season has begun! Also the photo to the right shows a great korean invention. Bat Bing Soo. Shaved ice with fruits and redbeans. Alot of food and snacks are geared towards keeping you cool. A practise I appriciate more and more as the temperature and humidity keeps climbing.


The madcow craze continues but seem to slow down abit. It has been a bit of a witchhunt crazy which is kind of scary. Even at Seoul National University there has been protests. And that is supposed to be one of the countries leading education centers. Nationalism is a scary thing.

Streetart and streetlife

One sad thing about korean society is how they view individuality. It is not considered a good thing and people who do not conform are looked down upon. All theese photos are from artwork and places in Hongdae area. Here the non conformists gather and it is the mainstream people who stick out. This makes this area alive and vibrant. It also gives it a standing as a party place. I hope this is the mentality that will prevail in Korea, because I belive it makes people more happy. In any case, at least it makes for more intressting fashion and art...

Beef and bird flu

The last weeks a lot of protests about the US beef import has been seen on the streets and in the news papers. Companies selling beef products have been quick to assure that they do only use Korean beef, and none of the supposedly mad cow infected US ones... I'm not sure what they feed Korean cows with, but it is probably not healthy. So now I try to choose tofu or fish.
The weirdest part is that the birdflu has arrived to Seoul. But it does not make the headline were patriotic korean lament their goverments weakness in giving in to US demands. The protection of the domestic market for food products is a huge issue. Most Koreans are willing to pay 4 times the world market price for rice to get Korean rice. I wonder what my economic professor says about that...

With the warmer weathar clothes have become smaller, revealing tattoos. In Korea tattoos are still considered A BAD THING. But in my beloved Hongdae area there is quite a few people, mostly guys, with tattoos.
It is considered bad becasue it is associated with the mafia, and that it desecrates the body thatyour parents gave you. Apperantly smoking, drinking like a fish and not exercising is ok, but a tattoo...It is, along with piercing, technicaly illegal. But not many are arrested. Though early this year there was a famous tattoo artist who were arrested on the grounds that since he is piercing the skin, it is a medical procedure, and therefore he is practicing medicine without a license. Mostly it has to do with young men getting big tattoos to escape military service or be put to light duty. Yes that is right, if you got mafia looking tattoos, you can escape the mandatory 2 year service.
This is just one way in which Korea is changing so fast that the goverment gets left in the dust. The attitude of the younger generation and the old one is widening, and there is no real way to bridge it.
Older people can sometimes be very helpfull, and sometimes very rude.
Anyway, I have been spying peoples arms and legs for tattoos, and ther is obiousvly and artist out there who knows what he or she is doing.
Today I had a Pol Sci class were I acctually understud what the teacher was talking about, an ecconomics class were I did not pay attention and a litterature class were I read. After the two first classes my energy level is pretty spent. Next week is an week of assignments and holidays, since monday is Buddhas birth day! Happy birthday!
Once again I appologies for the bad spelling and incorretct grammar, this time helped along by the fact that I am writing without my glasses and have to squint to see the text...

Summer heatwave

The heat is back. And it have made me realize something. In the winter korean girls wear miniskirts and freezes their legs of, as soon as the weather changed though, the miniskirts were replaced by pants. Maybe this is part of the whole stay as pale as you can craze. A few brave girls have started to tan, to try to look western I guess. Or maybe they are trying to look like Japanese that try to look like californian girls ( there is a subculture of these girls in Japan, I think they are called Gyaru or something like that) Anyway, this is part of the intense love and care they spend on their skin. An other thing I have noticed is that they bring their toothbrush with them to school and brush their teeth after lunch. Very dedicated to dental hygine as well... I love talking to people and hear what they think is strange about swedes. If you have any suggestions I'm all ears!

Summerstorms

This night it was a bit windy. It rained a little and some thunder to cap it of. I had to close all windows and make sure that they locked. Debris from all the constructionwork going on flew around in the air. All in all it was pretty exciting. I spent the evning indoors, but I guess a few people were out. Yesterday it was Clubday in Hongdae, when you, for a cheap price can go to a variety of different clubs. I was feeling my age and the howling wind and stayed at home, feeling virtious. This morning I was a bit suprised to see that everything was still standing. My roommate says that summerstorms with thunder will be pretty frequent later on. Since I am a huge fan of thunder and lightning I'm pretty stoked. It is the grandest show that nature puts on, and since we have a terrace I will be able to have some of the best seats in the house!
Today I have some Brazilian Jujutsu, that will probably be crowded since midterms are over.
The Koreans are a people who take studing and tests very seriously, I just wished that learning was part of it. So much effort is put into passing tests, that most cafe's last week were full of students. If effort is what counts then the Koreans are the champs!

This is pictures from my campus this last two weeks, everywere there is flowers!
The blue building and the space age looking one is from Hongdae. And the guys are some of the people I train with, having an after training talk.

There is a lot of great wall art in Hongdae, like this one. I will take pictures of the best ones and publish it here. This blog will now become an dedication to my hood! So many good looking details, people and buildings.
The picture of the construction going on outside my window is to show how fast everything changes. And the other one is of my new favorite place, the art and design libery ontop of Coffee Bean.

Concert time!

The §7 th of May I have tickets for one of the greatest Japanese rockbands ever(in my humble opinion)! I am so psyched! The ticket was roughly 100$ but it feels worth it! Hopefully they are as good live as they are otherwise.

Sunshine!

Yesterday it was 27 degrees, today it felt warmer and tomorrow they say will be the same. Me and Cecilia and Monica have found the perfect "study" spot on a big open space, it has chairs, tables and sun "umbrellas" (what ever they are called in english). We sat there yesterday and today, enjoying the sun, chatting and every now and then studing. Today both Monica and Cecilia drew tattoo looking pictures on my leg (cherry blossoms of Monica) and a funky plant looking fantasy looking thing on my shoulder by Cecilia. They are both amazing artists and it looks beautifull.
The best thing about this spot is the lack of people. Koreans, girls especialy, do not want to tan. REALLY NOT. This leaves all the good sunny spots for those of us who wants to. Tan I mean. Exept today I burned. Not badly but enough to invest in some sunlotion.
The lenght Korean girls go to to not tan is amazing. Alot of them cover up, some have umbrallas, some try unsuccesfully to use their books, purses or other parnelia to protect their skin. The amount of effort is on par with what westerners put in to get a tan so I guess it evens out.
Tonight we are going to find a bar with an outdoor courtyard, The temperature should have droped somewhat...

knackerd

After training session yesterday we went for dinner together. In Korea this means BBQ and drinking. Wich we did, and it was great fun. The people are really great and friendly and I got to practise my korean, chinese and charade skills. Today though, sunday, my sore muscles are killing me. Putting weight on my arms feels like a bad idea, however when you sit on the floor koreanstyle it is unavoidable. But I love that feeling. It means that you've worked hard, and though in pain now, it will become better and you will become stronger.
I have midterms next week and economics homework. This weekend was supposed to be dedicated to studing...flunked that one. Spent 2 h with the homework today and still don't understand it... Koreans must study alot of math in highschool cause this is supposed to be an introduction course. But it is fun albait far removed from reality.

The view of Hongdae subwaystation! The area around Seoul National University

New area, new life

I love love love my new neigbourhood. It has back alleys with cute, quirky cafes and bars. Best of all, it is over 2o degrees some days which means you can sit outside or just stroll around. This is the IT area for alot of subgroups. That means the diversity in style is much greater here. It is a cafe lover and shopping lovers paradise!
In school midterms are approching. Juck. I have litterature exam next week coupled with the economics homework. It is going to be a studious weekend.
My brazilian jujutsu class is great fun, though it produces sore muscles in entirely new places. The people are nice and super helpfull which I need. It is already sweaty and april has just begun... Think I will stick to the gym in the summar, they at least has airconditionor...

Pansori!

We had a Pansori performance in our Korean Literature class. Pansori is often called a korean one man opera. But it is so much more, and so much better. We had two young women, one improvises on the drum, the other one dramatized a famous story, singing all the different characters. I had beforehand been afraid that it would be boring. It was not. It was fantastic. Faboulous. And gourgous. Youtube does not do it justice. In person it was overwelming. The vocal quality changed for each character. She also told us afterwards that she need to sing at least two hours a day to properly roughen up her vocal chords. She only did part of a famous story, since the full one takes 4 hours... Loved it! I have to find an other performence!
I am moving this sunday to Hongdae, the artsy student area. And I am also trying to solve AND understand my microeconomics homework. It has a lot of graphs in it which is ok. But you also have to draw your own. I always thought that economics was very hands on, but it turns out to be freakishly abstract at times. It is intresting because it is difficult and new, but it is sometimes a bit far away from reality. In a quote from West Wing ' Economists were put on this planat to make astrolegers look good'. This might be my frustretion speaking. Good thing we got a great teacher, because it is gonna take a saint with a degree to explain this to me.
Next week is general election here. This means that there is a lot of trucks with speakers driving around, playing snippets of music and blasting out that their candidate is a true son( seldom daughter) of someplace. They do not seem to belive in having a messege or a mission, or even an opinion. I hope it will not get worse than this, but I am afraid it will escalate until wednsday.
ps. I am really sorry that the spelling is so...bad. I can not get the spellcheck to work.

Tokyo Delight

Me and Ida shopping...

This is from Ueno park close to Idas and Tadas apartment




I just got back from 5 days in Tokyo. So wonderfull, fantastic and super to see Ida again. After an hour it was as if we never been apart.
And Tokyo, oh my! It was both as I expected and not. Definitly have to go there again, and again and again.
Mostly Ida and I have been Bad Tourists. As usual. Had a great time though, and ate some great food, saw many things and bought some
I managed to hit Sakura, cherryblossom, spot on! Pictures don't do it justice. Other than that my favorite was the saturday walk in the huge park surrounding the Meji shrine. Not crowded at all!!
As for being an expensive and crowded city...they can not have been to Stockholm and Seoul is just as, if not more crowded.
Their subway system, and I use the word system losely here, is huge. HUGE. And run by different companies. It makes mazes seem simple. On the plus side, they are on time and clean.
The food, as I had mentioned is more varied than in Korea, since they import much more. Western food is quite cheap and tasty.
All in all, landing again in Seoul was depressing. Not only no Ida, but also no green. As much as I love Seoul, it is an ugly city.

weird day!

On saturday I had volentered to be in a photo shoot promoting the school (with the promise of some cash) . I trudged away to the school around lunch, expecting a dull day. Instead I had a blast, meeting tons of new people and laughing the entire day. We were a group of about 10, 15 students, a man from the SNU foundation and the photographer, his assistent and on and of some other people. We did poses such as ' students gazing in to the future together', 'hand in han walking forward' etc. Me, I had a huge problem keeping my face straight. They said they will send some of the photos so I hope to be able to post them. I met an other JRock fan who informed me that L arc de Ciel will have a concert in may, which we will be attending. And one of the members of the schools coffee club (!!!) a guy who went to Qin Hua ( so we spoke chinese together) and so many other really nice, helpfull people. After a long day of poseing, we got some free meal, korean BBQ, were I had to strain my korean and charade skills. Much to the amusement of the people around me. I am glad I went! Musicvise I got reminded how much I love Fall Out Boys, Linkin Park and other american rock ( the photographers assistant had great taste in music, same as me^^) got introduce to some new J Rock band ( by Dil, the L arc de Ciel fan, also great taste, same as me!) and recomended Hongdae area as the place for live music. With my new music I felt supercharged sunday morning, despite the rain, and took a walk uphill (there is only uphill and downhill in this city). For an extremly late brunch I met a friend of Clara, Jessie, who turned out to be just as cool as I expected. And I got chocolat mousse! (not as good as Andreas, but good enough)
All in all, a great weekend for my social life and a sucky one for my school workload.
No regrets though!

Brilliant weather!

Yesterday I saw my first blooming Magnolia tree. Magnolia being, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful flowers ever, I was really happy. They have magnolia trees all over campus so soon it will stop looking so bleek. The temperature topped 20 C as well, and people have started taking their lunches and coffees outside. But if it is 20 C in march, what will the temperature be in July? The reason for the huge variety of iced drinks and desserts start to become obvious.
The Koreans for some obscure reason, have made most of their internet shopping impossiable for foreginers. You need a Korean social security number. This applies on shoes, clothes and airplane tickets. This is very frustrating. Thankfully I have korean friends, I shudder when I think about what my blood pressure would be ohterwise.
Today is an other glorious day, which by the end, hopefully, I will have a ticket to Japan.

Not much happening, but alot anyway

Spring is definitly here, tomorrow they promise 17 degrees celsius. The big thing that happened this weekend was that Ida and I found a weekend when we both are free, so now I am looking for a cheep ticket to Tokyo for the 26 of March!! Can not wait to see her!
Other than that it has been no big events, though packed with small ones. I am really starting to feel the strain of not training, can not put the palms of my hand on the floor with straight legs any more. My currant room is even to small for a sun salutation... Looking forward to moving and signing up with a gym and a kickboxing club!
I have been away from home for over a month now and I am really starting to miss my family. Other than that my life is filled with so many new experiances that it is hard to know where to start!

air raid...

Today, while out shopping with Marie, my future flatmate, air raid sirens sounded. Traffic stopped, and people started to go to the side of the pavement, we stopped inside a bank... There was also a very assertive older women with a vissle yelling and waving at anyone who stepped out on the pavement. Several people brought down her wrath. It took about 15 min until everything started to move again. Apperantly they have these drills reguarly. It was a bit strange...
I have not figured out yet how to connect my camera phone to the laptop, so my new pictures have to wait!

New place new phone!

I am definitly moving! At the end of the month I will move in with an ultra cool and sweet korean girl. We will live in Hongdae, a more artsy student artist kind of area, also the new party area! We will have a bedroom each, a livingroom and a kitchen. And a roof terrace! And no rent. I will help her improve her already impressive english... This all seems to good to be true. Has I mentioned that she is really nice??? Likes exercising and rock music... wow, my karma from my last life must have been all used up!
Also I finely got a cellphone. Thanks to my sweet neighbour. It took us three days and 7 stores b.ut I am now the proud owner of a SKY ime 130 i think it is called. It has a 2MP camera and a super dictionary. Besides that it has in only 24 h improved my social life alot...

Still no cellphone...

It is good that korean people in general is so helpfull and nice, because the goverment and companies does make it difficult to stay in Korea. They have decided that non koreans are not to be trusted and therefor should be punished. Like getting a cellphone. It is easy if you are a korean. But so far I have spent two afternoons draging a korean friend along trying to get a pre pay phone. After today we gave up. She will buy one in her name and I will give her the money.
The spring has arrived. The weather is almost so warm that you don't need a jacket. Also the amount of different flavour for ice coffee has increased. Alot of focus in korea is put on staying cool during the hot and humid summer. They have great shaved ice flavoured with red beans and fruits. A great alternative for those of us who can not eat milk products...

Busy weekend!

I had my first drinking evening. It was great fun, but since the subway stops at 12 am (almost exactly) it ended early. Fortunatly for me the last station was mine, which ment that my friends that live in an different area had to try to find a cab, fighting against the flood of people. Since it was the last train it was packed...
We were in Kangnam, a nice but a bit expensive area. I spent a fortune on Ice coffee resulting in the need for a bathroom, since the cafe did not sport one we thought we'd be smart and try to borrow California WOW ( an expensive gym) bathroom by pretending to be prospective clients. The plan backfired badly when they hauled out the manager and a translator and tried to make us sign contracts or at least contact info. Lying through my teeth I pretended to be serious (which I would have been if they had an one month trial and not three!) but since I lacked a cellphone...after many twists and turns we managed to extract our selfs. The wisedom beeing: Don't try to be smart! All in all it was a interesting evening.

Shopping as a Korean

I bought my first miniskirt yesterday. It is not nearly as short as some of the (non) existing ones I have seen on some korean girls. But never the less. It is a miniskirt. I have also bought ballet leggings and am contamplating brining back my bangs. This might be me trying to adapt to Korean society and fashion because it is not an attempt to blend in. On that issue I have given up. People stare here less then in China, but instead they give you sideway glances. My new hobby on the subway is trying to catch them looking, wheres they emberessed look away. But in general Koreans are very nice and even helpfull. If I manage to look loste enough I usually get some body to point me in the right direction ( This is were Beijing wins out, the straight streets make for easy navigation, Seoul does not seem to have a single straight street) My asian swedish friends are abit miffed over this, since they alway have to explain that they are not korean. Or if they are, that they have grown up in Sweden. I have no such problems. Older women can be either really helpfull (saving me seats on the subway, stopping anyone else from sitting down) or downright rude (pushing their way to the front of the line) The older you get, the less the rules aplie to you apperantly... The good becomes better and the bad worse.

More of the same.

I have now realised an important thing. Expresso is good. Two expressos are better. And it is cheaper then Latte
School today was more of the same but still intresting
I noticed during Political Science class though that the only ones stating their opinion was Gustav, a german girl and me. We were the only europeans in the class.
Tomorrow I will pick up my passport which means that I can
buy a cellphone! That will make my social life tonns easier

First schoolday

My sence of humor abandoned me around 6 pm on my first schoolday. I was really tired after already have attended three classes, and knowing that I had 3 h of korean left... Fortunatly the preceding classes were intresting and the professors great.
I started my day with Intro. to political science were half the class told the professor straight out that they were mostly there to improve their english... He was understandingly a bit miffed. But there is no exams in this class, just classroom preformence and a weekly essay!
The second class was Principles of Microeconomics that was so packed that people were standingup in the back. I took this as a good sign and was not disapointed. The professor was funny, smart and knew how to deliver information in an intresting way. He seems pretty tough and expect alot but at the same time he really wants us to learn. Both classes I attended with Gustav, a law student from Stockholm University. It was nice to have someone to talk to in a secret language!
The third class was Korean literature. It was a small class of almost exclusivly international students, were Dann and I met a new swedish guy from Uppsala University. The professor seems to enjoy a good argument, and I find myself looking forward to the next class.
All in all I am really happy with my teachers. I had heard so much about how strict Korean teachers are, I don't know if I got lucky, but mine have a good sence of humor and a great willingness to teach.
However, at 6 pm I was tired, hungry and had overdosed on coffee ( I've started taking an extra shot of expresso in my Latte just to get rid of the sweetness). I wanted to go home. Of course I was not on the list for my class, but the teacher told me were to go. Well in the class I met a nice guy from Vancouver (whom I quized about living conditions there). I was mostly afraid since this was the highest level of the evening classes, that I would not understand. The teacher was super though. She spoke almost only in korean, but very clearly and with a lot of bodylanguage and laughter. I am the only girl in a class of about 10. It went well. We covered grammar that I had done before but forgotten. All in all it was a relif. I got home at 10 pm, knackerd, starving but happy. My studentlife in korea has taken of to a great start!
Today, tuesday, I have no classes. A germen girl that I was talking to alot during orientation has moved in two rooms away! And I met two korean girls in the kitchen, and both spoke pretty good english ( alot better than my korean) It turns out one of them lives in the room next to me and is training to be a korean teacher for foreginers at the same place were I take korean!!! If my korean does not improve it will be totally my fault!

Doctor Fish

Sunday I went, together with Cecilia and Jenny to a Doctor Fish cafe. There, for about 15$ you get: A drink of your choice, a pice of cake who is not, and most importantly you get to put your bare feet in a pool with luke warm water. In the pool there is hundreds of small fishes, who will start eating on your feet. It tickles like heck, and the first 5 minutes I could not stop giggling. I will definitly do that again! After we went to a place that specializes in banchans, Korean side dishes. Then we walked some more. The area is called Sinchon and is close to both Hongik Uni. and Ewhwa Uni. So there was plenty of people about. I have never seen so many couples! Koreans find it very important to find a second half that they seem to merge with. Very cute but a bit scary. But the mood was great, since this is the last weekend before school starts.
I also found strawberry pastries that were really really good. Yesterday was a eating day. And after that we went shopping, because korean stores don't close till late, even on sundays. Great country, Korea!

Crafts market

Today Andreas, Cecilia and I went to the area og Hongik university. It is the art and design university of Seoul so the area around it is supposed to be a bit more ecclectic. We did spot a guy in dreads, and several more hip hopers than usual but that was about it. We did however manage to catch the craft market that the students put up every other saturday. A lot of small tables filled with their own stuff. Mostly jewlery but also cool tshirts and handpainted converse! I picked up a cool pair of earings with sculls and roses on them for about 6000 won (50 kr, 9$). It is a nice area to stroll around in though next time I will NOT be sporting 7 cm heels... Like the rest of Seoul, Hongdae is anything but flat. I am a bit worried though. If this is Seoul at its most alternative I think I will go crazy by the end of the year.
This night I was supposed to go drinking with the exchange students and our SNU buddies. I could not find a map online though that covers this area that I live in... So after wandering around aimlessly for 45 min I decided to go home. Well at home I thought I reward my hard work with a phoncall home. Skype sucked so badly though, that my moms voice came out like a marsian...
Other than that it has been a great day, with great weather, great food and most of all great people. Even dared to ask for several things in korean...

On cookies and soyamilk.

This is a sweet nation. Both the fashion and the cookies. Not to mention the soyamilk. The amount of bakerys and small shops selling cookies and cakes i huge. Some of it is pretty good, though I have not tried the cakes. The bread is however, only white and almost sweet!
Frozen yogurt places are pretty abundant too. I guess because people have such cramped living space they need a lot of places to hang out and met their friends. The crazy thing is that no matter how many restaurants and coffeeshops etc there is, they are all full during dinnertime and after!

The photo ops in Insadong are many... I am not sure which celebs body I have borrowed

This was from when Young Un and I were walking along the stream in the center. It is really famous but I have forgotten the name. It is a nice place to take a stroll though and it will be even nicer in the summer

Orientated....

It was a looooong day today. But got to meet tons of supernice people. We had info, campus tour and free food. After we went to the local student pub. All in all it was a great day with great people. But now I will sleep cause walking around campus is hard work. They were not kidding when they said that it was hilly and surrounded by mountains. It makes it beautiful but hard to get around on foot.

Meeting up!

Today I met my SNu buddy, Kim Gang I. She is super nice and really cool. Her major is international relations, and she will go for an one year exchange to Stockholm in september!

I also had my placement test today and met some of my future classmates, got placed in Level 3 which is ok. Tomorrow is the big orientation...

I also had sushi with Zhang Dann, my swedish classmate who will also attend SNU and live in the same area as me. In my kitchen I have discovered not only free kimchi but also some other veggies korean style! All I need is rice and maybe some seaweed and I have a complete meal. I love that food is so cheap here, the only problem beeing the lack och proper bread.

From this sunday, when Cecilia, Jenny and Andreas and I went shopping in Mjong Dong. Great shopping area! It was a bit crowded since it was a weekend but I had great time! Seoul is a haven for shopoholics since shopping seems to be the national sport!

Crusing

I went to an area called Insadong today with Young Un. The snow was still on the ground, making walking a bit dangerous. But the sun was shining and that made it all alright.

The area is famous for its art and craft. It is cramed with small stores and galleries, mostly selling korean traditional stuff. So many beautiful things. I think will have to invest in a tea set...

We also saw a guy making rice cakes the traditional way which seems to mean that you beat the crap out of the rice dough with a large wooden hammar. It was great fun and it is an area I will definitly go back to when the weather improves.

I have at last unpacked the last of my things so now I have officialy moved in. I also talked to the manager of the place were I live. His english is better than my korean so communication will be possiable. At this place you get free noodles, eggs and kimchi. All I need, I even figured out how to turn on the stove...

I always thought that the Sun salutation was the ultimate workout because you can do it anywere. Well, my room is too small for it...that is how small it is. On the other hand it has floor heating, one of the great korean traditions!!!! There is a huge fitness center called Jamaica (?) fitness close by, will try to check it out some day.

Paper work sucks, and so does the weather...

It is snowing. Me and my friend were walking around in the snow, trying to find a cafe or a warm comfy spot to wait. We were waiting for our number to come up in the immigration office. It took a total of 3 h. Fortunatly we found a small japanese resturant were we overate on noodle soup.

The snow transform the city. Yesterday, when the sun was shining it seemed welcomning. Today it just seemed cranky. Most people seemed to like the snow even if they had to huddle under the roofs waiting for the bus. I hate snow so I was less thrilled. But hopefully this was the last snowfall for this winter cause spring is definitly in the air!

This is my first post in trying to keep you posted on my stay in Seoul. So far so good, I arrived 3 days ago and the City is feeling less scary. Today I have been to a huge Emart to get things like sheets...

My room is small, very small. But it is clean and it is quiet and the Internet is included, as is noodles in the kitchen and kimchi.

The big mission today is to go to the immigrations office and register as an alian (?!). Otherwise getting a cellphone is impossible. And surviving without a cellphone here is...difficult. I have never seen so many cellphones. Everyone owns one, from the little kids to the ajummas (older ladies). I need one, I want one! A fancy one with a camera and a dictionary!!! Wish me luck, I'll need it...