What to do in class when bored...

After a couple of hours my brain is all filled up and can't take anymore... thats when I start regressing.

BJJ 4ever

On saturday I have my first ever BJJ tournement. I am excited and scared. Mostly impatient. Waiting is not my favorite pasttime.

BJJ is usually the reason I get up in the morning. It is my joy and my addiction of choice. My goal is to have fun, and I will do my best to make it so.

King of Pop

I think most people below a certain age and above an other has some kind of relasionship with Michael Jackson. Good or bad. For me, he was the soundtrack of my life since age of 8 and then making reaccuring apperances as I redescovered him every other year or so. Intensely inventive, highly emotional, and with a touch of magic most of his songs stands not only the test of time, but become the measure which other music is judged by.
Songs like Smooth Criminal ( playing right now ) brings back no specific memory since I've listend to it so many times that it becomes a bit blurry.
Now it switched to Maka a Change. Many people mock him. He knew that I think. He didn't make music for the powerfull people, but for everybody else. In essence he was somehow that weird bullied kid in school, but with an almost godgiven talent and drive.
Therefor I am filling my Ipod with all of his music I can find. Not to have an memorial but to enjoy his creation. And his creation, modern popmusic. Because what is life without a soundtrack?

Spring

Spring energize me. I am listning to Veronica Maggio, glancing at the book I was supposed to read and writing this at the same time as I'm waiting for my mom to arrive. Multitasking is the key to a sucessfull life of a lazy person. Because being lazy makes you strive for the most effective solution, thus maximazing the output and minimizing the input.
Every spring here in Sweden I am suprised to have survived once again. The darkness and damp turns into long days and short nights.
From April to September I am a nationalist, I love Sweden. The rest of the year I spend ridiculas amounts of time browsing internet sites for last minute trips anywere else as long as it is warmer. But now, now it is good. No now it is great. So drop by ( C and M that means you!)

Being 17

I think everyone has this one album, or song or artist that defined their teens. For me it is Håkan Hellström. Some love him some hate him. But I still know all the lyrics and I still love them. And when I listen to him I am transported back to high school. Unfortunatly he sings in swedish, because his lyrics are brilliant. How he plays with words, makes new ones up or just reguarly abuse the word order. For me he perfectly captures the feeling of being 17 years old.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJ0_2do-Ykk

Being sick is easier in your home country

That is my theory at least. Just knowing what is possiable or not takes loads of my mind.

Sweden and sunshine

I have been back for nearly 3 months and Seoul is fading fast. Now, as spring is creeping up on Stockholm I will probably stop missing it. It is good to be back, though I miss my friends alot. And the bustling crowds, the energy. Sweden is cool, hip but not exactly fast paced. So now I am of to Body Balance class at the gym were I now work part time. The sun is shining, something only people who have lived most o their lives this far north can appriciate. I am sunpowered and a sunworshiper. And it is sunday.

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...