"Sakurairo Maukoro"

The highlights of visiting any Asian countries are witnessing relics of ancient history. In Korea and Japan I find myself coming across temples and castles dating back well beyond man made landmarks found in the U.S.

You never really realize how young America is until you come across a site that has been standing for over 500 or more years. Some however, have been rebuilt due to war and destruction, but some have survived through all those years.

Here is a video I made about the older side of the Kansai region - particularly, Osaka, Kyoto, and Sakai.

Also, if you haven't already:

Here are the albums: Click the links!

Japan Part One

Japan Part Two

"Honto No Jibun"

Did you miss me?

Japan is quite the amazing place (and when I say Japan, I mean the parts I saw -- which is not Tokyo). So amazing, in fact, that I'm going to have to write a couple separate posts in order to cover everything I want to.

I'm a bit overwhelmed, but I think I should start with telling you that (like Korea) there is a divide between things old and new. I stayed in the Kansai Region of Japan where you will find such wonderful areas as Osaka, Kyoto, and Nara (unfortunately I didn't have time to see Nara though).



The main part of my trip was focused on Osaka. I did a lot...and I mean A LOT of walking. Japan supposedly has the greatest train systems in the world (I could argue against that in some respects) but they are also not cheap! So, I trekked on foot through bizarre alleys, over bridges, through parks, and quaint neighborhoods.



As I mentioned before there is this cultural divide of new and old. Just as in Seoul, I would stumble across a Buddhist temple right next to a Starbucks. So for this post at least, I will tell you about the new and youthful Japan...er, I mean Osaka/Kyoto area.

Osaka can only be described as "hip". It's a blend of hardworking business people, young professionals, and trendy teenagers. My hotel was in Shinsaibashi in the heart of the youthful area called "Amerika-Mura",  or America Village.

Needless to say, Westerners seem to congregate here amid the hordes of Japanese teenagers and young adults. The first thing I noticed was the fashion. They are more fashion trendy that the youth in Seoul, but in a more daring way. The women cake on the make-up, have dark eye-liner, and dye their hair, wear extensions, or some even wear full wigs.

The men dress in tight pants, and grungy t-shirts, they can be seen often wearing the newest style jacket or hat. They also seem to pay more attention to their hair than my younger sister, which is quite the feat. They are very metrosexual in nature. Some where eyeliner and lipstick, others wear foundation. I even saw a few cross-dressers, which is a rarity to see in Seoul unless you are in Itaewon late at night.

Osaka was very clean, the air felt more fresh and breathable than Seoul, perhaps due to it's location near the sea. There are far fewer people (only around 2 million, compare to the 10 million of Seoul), and due to that fact there was far less congestion in both vehicle, and pedestrian traffic - a welcomed change from being shoved everywhere in Seoul.

I believe Osaka is a rich area (similar to San Fransisco and Boston combined, with a splash of New York sophistication). There were Gucci and Armani stores lining the main street. Behind it lay a parallel covered outdoor mall where one could enjoy anything from a fine hamburger or a cheap pizza, to all you can eat sushi or freshly made ramen noodles. In between those stores was a woman's dream of accessory shops selling shoes, handbags, the newest clothes, and jewelry. Any rich woman with unlimited funds would never leave!

My first day consisted of checking into my hotel and exploring the downtown shopping area. Thanks to the help of the hotel staff, I was directed to a popular all you can eat sushi train. After walking all day (half of which with my heavy backpack) I was famished and gorged myself. The sushi wasn't anything special - seemingly cheap and unoriginal. But for $15 it was worth it. I had to be careful with my spending, what costs $1 in Seoul costs $4 in Osaka - and food has even more of a markup. I found beer in the convenience store for $3 while at a restaurant it was $7-8. In Seoul, most beer in the store is $2 but in a restaurant $5. Those differences add up, especially as the prices increase.

My second day was spent in Osaka focusing on a history museum, and the Osaka-jo Castle (which is amazing). I walked a good 10 or more miles that day (it felt like 50 though). I spent the day in the park and window shopping nearby. I'll post more about the castles and temples later though.

The third day was spent in Kyoto about an hour northeast of Osaka. That day consisted of more temples and small museums.

The fourth and last day I spent in Sakai, a smaller city south of Osaka between the airport and the city. I wanted to go to Nara, but wasn't sure if I would be able to see things in time given that I had to make my flight.

Here is a video that I hope shows some of the youth culture. I'll be making another based on the older culture of castles and temples shortly.

Here are the albums: Click the links!

Japan Part One

Japan Part Two

"I'm Yours"

I had such a busy weekend.

On Friday, I went out with a bunch of other expats. My friend Ashley had her friend in town, and of course we had to treat her to some amazing Korean foods and later to a bar for beers and soju cocktails.

Saturday, I went with Hwayoung again to see the acupuncturist. She talked me into letting him give me an exam, to which he told me that my back is crooked.....great. But remember he's blind and doesn't take X-rays, so I'm not sure if I should take his word on that...

After the doctor, Hwayoung treated me to free tickets to see the Georges Rouault: Le sacré et le profane exhibit at the Hangaram Art Museum, part of the Seoul Arts Center. I like his style (expressionist) better than Warhol (pop art). It just has more meaning to me and his inspiration comes more from his personal experiences and his feelings on life and death, society, and morality. 

Later that evening I treated Hwayoung to dinner. I had planned for our 100 day anniversary to take her to a nice Turkish restaurant, but the plans fell through. This weekend however, I had the chance. We headed to Gangnam and without reservations got seats at Pasha.  First off, the place is beautiful. It has a wonderful atmosphere of sophistication. Dim candle lights, unique architecture, and vibrant colors. We decided on a set menu to sample all sorts of different foods. It was a little expensive, but well worth it. From Kebabs, to homemade pita bread - I was in heaven. This is the closest to Lebanese food I've had in quite some time, so I made sure I enjoyed it. I met the president of the restaurant, a young Turkish guy who reminded me of a slick car salesman. We got to talking about some of the similarities and differences between the two foods - but we both agreed on one thing. Hummus is amazing. He offered to give me some free next time I visited. I told him I also make my own, but can't find the ingredients (mainly tahini) he told me, it is hard to find, but the best place to buy it is.....at his restaurant. Yes, they sell all sorts of turkish treats, and tahini as well! Assah!

Sunday we went to the wedding of our friends Justyna and Yong. The ceremony was interesting. Different from what I am used to, as it wasn't at a church but rather a banquet hall. This is very common in Korea. Most weddings only last about 20-30 minutes, and then a buffet is served at the hall -- and that is it.

Before the ceremony starts, you can take pictures with the bride or groom in a private room. Meanwhile, you also visit a cashiers desk to give the couple money. The cashiers take your envelope and record your name and how much was given....a bit odd to me, but that's the custom!

This wedding ran a little longer due to everything having to be translated. Even though the hall was beautiful, it had a modern feel to it that reminded me of a Vegas chapel with a fashion runway and changing lights. There were no groomsman, just a best man and maid of honor. Instead, there were escorts provided by the staff at the hall. They seem to dress in a airline stewardress/paramilitary garb which I didn't understand. The even carried swords and did a little fancy show with them when the bride and groom pass by, typical to a military wedding back in the States (but this wasn't a military wedding)...

Wedding ceremonies are typically performed by a educated elder, in this case - a distinguished professor that I assume Yong or his family know. There were also a couple songs that were fairly well done by friends of the couple, and pictures taken after the ceremony.

One thing that annoyed me was the wedding planner. She seemed so focused on making sure things looked good. This is typical Korea - where appearances are everything. The planner would not stop fussing about the dress, making sure everything was where it was supposed to be (in a forceful annoying way), even during the ceremony she would run up and fluff the dress a little. I felt sorry for Justyna in a way because this lady seemed attached to her hip. I'd swat at her like a fly!

After the buffet dinner, many of the young friends of the couple met up at a chain bar called Warawara where we ate and drank some more...(more drinking than eating of course!).

Here's a short video I made:

It was an interesting experience that I'm glad to have seen.

Now all I have to do is find a way to respond to all the people who are asking if the next wedding they'll see is mine and Hwayoungs (whooooooaaaahhh.....slow down people!)

 

"Relax"

As of Monday I am officially on vacation for 3 weeks! That's right, no school and no classes!
I do have to go back to school at the start of February, but as of now have no classes to teach until March. Apparently, I'm going to be sitting at my desk "making lesson plans" (playing online games and talking on Facebook) and "writing a 3 page paper about Korea" (cutting and pasting from my blog).

This week however, I plan on simply relaxing at home, seeing some sites in the city, and treating myself to cheap restaurant dinners and downloaded movies.

Next week however, I'm flying to JAPAN! It's only about a 2 hr flight which is good.

I booked my ticket and reserved a small hotel in Osaka. Since Japan is really expensive, I'm only going for a few days. Also, since I'm going alone, I don't think I could stand being in a city without knowing a single person.

I had also planned on going to Shanghai, China to see my friend Allan who teaches there, however, I found out that I would need to apply for a visa which takes a little time. Also I don't think I really have the funds to spend on flying all over East Asia and enjoying myself! Perhaps I can go to China another day - preferably when it is a little warmer. This week has been freezing so far, with temperatures lingering in the single digits. Not fun!

So, now I need to do some research on what sites to see in Osaka, and maybe learning a little Japanese would help. I'm scared to death about trying to have to find my way around a city I am completely unfamiliar with in a language I can't even read. (At least I can read Korean!)

Ok, maybe this will help......

"I Got You Babe"

On Saturday I accompanied Hwayoung to see an acupuncturist as her back has been hurting her for several weeks. The "doctor" happens to be her best friends father, a man who is basically a 2nd father to Hwayoung. She invited me to come along to see what it would be like. I was skeptical, but wanted to see what this was all about. My only knowledge of oriental medicine is what I've seen on TV.

There was something odd about the doctor though. He asked to shake my hand, and stood really close to me. He started to massage my arm as we shook hands.

"He's taking an interest in me to see if I need his help" I thought.

He next asked how much I weighed, to which I replied "100kg." He spoke to Hwayoung in Korean in an excited tone.

My mental (and absolutely self-fabricated) translation went something like this:

Doctor: 100kg? He's fat!
Hwayoung: He knows he's overweight, but he's lost 10kg in the last few months.
Doctor: 10 kg? Not bad. But maybe I can poke him with needles and make him drink strange medicines made of roots, herbs, and monkey saliva.
Hwayoung: Maybe if he wants. I've been feeding him a lot of different Korean foods on my patented "Korean Girlfriend Diet". I should write a book or open a restaurant!
Doctor: He has no clue what we're saying does he? Ha Ha Ha, silly American!!

As the good Doctor began his treatment, he seemed to stumble about the room. "Was he drunk?"

He had placed his acupuncture pins in his pocket for easy retrieval. He ran his fingers over the dials on the heater he was adjusting. He walked over to me and I looked him in the eyes. He looked at me with one eye, but the other was askew.

"Maybe he has bad eyesight?" I thought. "Then why would he be trusted poking pins into someone's back???"

Midway though the process of making my girlfriend look like a voodoo doll, the two of them chatted away in Korean and eventually he asked if I wanted to have some acupuncture as well. I wasn't about to let this man touch me, as I didn't trust him. There was still something odd that I couldn't positively confirm - but I had a feeling...

After the acupuncture, the Doctor started his massage therapy. He bent limbs, twisted her body, pulled and pushed on her muscles. I practically watched his man mount and feel up my girlfriend in front of my eyes -- but in a professional way of course. It looked rather painful, and tears came to her eyes. Later she would tell me that it is very painful for one day, but worth the relief for the following week.

As the session wrapped up, and Hwayoung was paying the bill the Doctor asked us if he could treat us to lunch, which we agreed. He flipped open a book....and then it all made sense.

The book was written in braille. The Doctor was completely blind.

I looked at Hwayoung and made some obvious attempt as sign language to ask if he was completely blind. "Oh, I didn't tell you? I thought I did!" (she never did).

As I later discovered, he had been blind since he was 5 years old. His wife is also blind. Hwayoung, explained to me that blind oriental doctors are considered to have a special talent for healing, as they have a heightened awareness of sickness and discomfort that they can sense by touch. Apparently this is fairly common. An interesting theory, but I'm not sure if I would be comfortable if this man was a surgeon!

This Sunday marked our 100 days anniversary as well. With the younger generations in Asian cultures, this is becoming a popular thing to celebrate. Also popular is 200, 300, 1000, days as well as annual anniversaries as well.

I wanted to make a good first impression, so I did some planning. We were going to get "couple massages" at the famous Dragon Hill Spa in Yongsan. You can get massages locally for cheap, but I wanted to treat her. Turns out that you can't just get a massage, you have to pay entry fees as well which makes the prices outrageous. Hwayoung wasn't happy with the customer service people. We didn't want to pay the same amount of money to spend the whole day there. We just wanted the massage part. They denied us that option, so she decided that she didn't want to stay there, and would look for another place.

A friend of hers also wanted to say hello, so we met up with her at a popular mall and shopped together. The three of us were hoping to see Avatar at the IMAX, but the tickets sold out quickly, and have been sold out for a while. It is a very popular film and tickets are very hard to get. Instead, we headed to Gangnam to find another spa, or maybe see a movie at a different theater. I had made plans to bring her to a fancy Turkish restaurant called Pasha (we like to try different foods), but we had the chance to get last minute movie tickets that started at dinner time. Not wanting to eat at 9pm, we had a quick bite to eat at a small Chinese restaurant before the movie.

At the theater we watched the movie "Nine". It wasn't that great of a film, and I don't really recommend it unless you really, really, really like films like "Moulin Rouge" and "Chicago".  I'm willing to bet the Broadway show is 100 times better than the film.

All my plans for a romantic day had failed. The massage turned out to be a no-go. The day was interrupted by her friends visit, the fancy dinner was a flop due to timing, and the movie was a bomb.

I did have one more fool proof thing planned...

Later that night, I surprised Hwayoung with a gift. She loved it! 

I told her of my plans for the day, and she felt awful that they didn't work out, but through her happy tears, she told me that I've been the best boyfriend ever, and how much I mean to her.

Yeah.... it was a great day.

"In Too Deep"

Seoul's record breaking snowfall on Monday reached 8"-10". I was amazed at the lack of response from the local and federal government on clearing the roads and sidewalks. (Eventually the police and army were called out to help remove snow in parts of the major cities, especially highways and public transportation systems)

As for my area, you need to realize that Gunpo is a highly residential area. Even though it is a small satellite city immediately south of Seoul, it contains the population of a larger city in the U.S. Gunpo is approximately 500,000 people. Similar in population to that of Pittsburgh or Boston.  With that in mind, imagine that population trying commute to work trudging through the snow, and packing it down in the more popular shopping areas (which only turns it into a thick layer of ice when it starts to melt).

My school unfortunatley still held winter camp, but some schools that my friends work at canceled classes. Some even canceled the entire week of camp! *insert jealous looking face here*

There have only been a few snowfalls. Apparently some people have recalled another large snowfalls in 1995, 1969, and 1937. I'll let the lack of plows slide due to the fact that they only get snowfalls like this seemingly every 30 years or so...

But are some photos I took the following day.

 Stranded cars and trucks that were stuck in the middle of the main road.

(Near Gunpo City Hall)

 A major intersection near my school. 
I think I walked the hill faster than that red bus crawled up it.

The sidewalk near my school. There was no shoveling. 

It is all compacted by foot traffic, and now.... it is all ice!

The city was forced to use backhoes and dump trucks to remove snow from the side of the roads.

Check out the snowy adventures of Simon and Martina (and Spudgy) of EatYourKimchi.com.

 

"Slide"

This weekend was pretty fun. On Saturday, Hwayoung and I found the local bowling alley and played a couple of frames.

Sunday, we met some friends and went to see the Andy Warhol exhibit at the Seoul Museum of Art. 

I like a lot of his work (except his films), however, I'm not impressed with most modern artists. It seems like it's mostly who you know, and not really how creative you are. I hate the feeling that I'm looking at something that I feel as though I could easily make myself. I also hate that feeling that the artist is basically conning me into believing that I'm not cultured if I don't understand their art. Warhol once said "Art is what you can get away with". I think that sometimes he's getting away with putting a photo on canvas, and adding color, and then making everyone think he's super special and talented for doing so.

Really? This is art?

 After the exhibit, we went ice-skating nearby. There were far fewer people that when Hwayoung and I attempted to go on Christmas Day. It only cost us $1 to do so (including the skate rental), and gave us an hour of skate time. My feet were killing me from the uncomfortable skates, but it was pretty enjoyable regardless.

 For dinner, our friend Chang escorted us through some dark alleys and sketchy store-fronts to a famous chicken soup restaurant. It was pretty good!

You can click this link for all the pictures.

At this moment, Gunpo is practically shut down on this Monday afternoon due to the fact that it has been snowing all day. I would guess that there is approximately 6 inches of snow that has accumulated. From what I hear, this is a lot more than the area is used to. Hwayoung told me that her commute was insane this morning as the subways were packed and the buses are late because they are having complications from the accumulation. Apparently, this is the largest snowfall since 1937! Amazing, since I think of it as an average snowfall back in Connecticut!

I think that it is funny that there are no plows or salt and sand being put on the roads. The vehicles merely pack down the snow and drive over it. This morning I saw a bus try to climb a hill at a snails pace, and multiple cars stuck in the middle of the road. I couldn't help but laugh and think to myself that this was just another typical "Korea moment" that didn't make sense to me. No city workers shoveling the main walkways and no private companies hired to remove snow outside shopping centers. Instead, a couple of employees outside the businesses would shovel a couple feet outside the doorways so their customers could at least enter the building.

Luckily, most schools are on vacation, but for some of us ESL teachers, many of the schools (such as mine) have winter camp. I trudged up the hill, stepping in the footprints of others as the sidewalks had no signs that they would ever be shoveled or plowed. About half of my students showed up covered from head to toe. The heat in my classroom was not working well today, so I was a little cranky. I let the students leave early in hopes that they would play in the snow, and that I could get home early and curl up in my warm bed with a good movie.

"It Was A Very Good Year"

Happy 2010!

Koreans celebrate solar new year on January 1st - aslo called Yang-nyeok Seollal (양력설날) or more commonly: Seollal (설날)

Korean New Year is typically a family-oriented holiday. The three-day holiday is used by many to return to their home towns to visit their parents and other relatives where they perform the ancestral ritual known as charye (차례) (worshiping of ancestors). Many Koreans dress up in colorful hanbok. Tteokguk (떡국) (soup with rice cakes) is commonly served.

Many Koreans greet the New Year (both Western and lunar) by visiting East coast locations such as Gangneung and Donghae in Gangwon province, where they are most likely to see the first rays of the New Year's sun.

Near city hall, selected people in Seoul help to literally "ring in" the new year by ringing the toll bell at Bosingak. People from all over come to see and hear it as the clock ticks down the seconds until the New Year. It is similar to seeing the ball drop in Times Square. People in the streets shoot off roman candles and other fireworks too (which is now illegal to do so, but the police can't enforce it).

 

My New Years was relatively quiet. I originally wanted to go into Seoul, but then did some more research into what the experience would entail. It was going to be -13 degrees Celsius, windy, and wall-to-wall people cramming every nook and cranny within a half mile of the main event site.  Last year there were protests against the much disliked president Lee Myung-Bak, and riot police were called out creating a panic. (I didn't want to ring in the New Year by being cold, uncomfortable, and possibly trampled to death).

Instead, Hwayoung and I had dinner and watched a The Blind Side. Maybe next year we'll stake out a coffee shop closer to Bosingak to watch the festivities.

Here's a video I put together about 2009: A Year in Review