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
lördag 13 september 2008
måndag 11 augusti 2008
torsdag 7 augusti 2008
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.
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.
tisdag 5 augusti 2008
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.
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.
måndag 7 juli 2008
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!
lördag 28 juni 2008
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!
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