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...