My Band and other Notes

I almost forgot~ On Sunday, I went to the 홍대 (Hongdae) area of Seoul to meet with a band who posted an ad looking for a female vocalist. There were supposed to be two of us girls, but the other one didn't show up. The band consists of two American guys and two Canadian guys. All of them teach English here (I believe). Dave and Nick are American, and Ryan and Matt are Canadian. Their style is a combination of reggae, rock, and slightly folk, with a lot of energy. They were really excited that I can play piano, too, so I had them send me files of the music they've recorded so I can try to write some keyboard parts this week. I have just today and tomorrow.... and I'm lazy today, so I guess I'll head to the piano tomorrow.

This was my first time meeting other foreigners in Seoul. With the five of us walking down the street speaking English and being caucasian, we got a lot of stares. I met three of them at the subway station, and Matt met us at the studio/practice room place. The practice room had a drumset, some amps, a pretty nice keyboard (all options written in English), and three microphones. The door to the room was glass and had a clouded window decal on it for privacy. Said decal was Winnie-the-Pooh themed. Everything in South Korea is a little bit gay by American standards, I think. More on that in a minute.

I found it fascinating that out of the four of them, only one guy was making any effort to learn Korean (I think... he was looking through a flower catalog in Korean). All three of the guys I met at the station ordered in English at a Quizzno's (to be fair, they said they didn't eat American food often). Earlier, I had mentioned that ordering at restaurants is really difficult for me, and they said, "why not just point at things?" Make what you will of that. I see the other kind of American now: instead of integrating, they choose to live a transitory surface life, just making money and hanging out. I'm not saying it's necessarily bad, just that it's the complete opposite of me.

Some interesting side notes:
In Korea, women often wash small articles of clothing in the shower, like socks and underwear. I did that for the first time yesterday. It's not as odd as I thought it would be.
In Korea, instead of having one cell phone battery and charging your phone, you get two cell phone batteries and charge the battery, then just switch them out.
In Korea, when people of different ages go out together, the oldest always pays.
In Korea, the size of your face is important. Small faces are beautiful. As are big eyes and light skin. So, Koreans think I'm very beautiful.
In Korea, women usually care more about a man's height than about his face.
In Korea, instead of having waiters come around intermittently, you press a button on the table when you want service and a doorbell sound rings, calling the waiter.
In Korea, people talk to themselves a lot, especialy old men.
In Korea, people often ask you to compare attributes. For instance, "who is more handsome, him or me?"
In Korea, or maybe just in my area, they think that if you flush toilet paper in the toilet, "there will be a disaster."
In Korea, women judge the character of men in many small ways. One of them is that a good man walks between the woman and the street. Another is that a good boyfriend buys earrings for his girlfriend. Also, the 100-day anniversary is extremely important, so a good man never forgets to do something great on that day.

Anyway, about the gay thing: Korean culture is, by American definition, gay. Men wearing pink and purple, and brightly colored pants, is definitely not strange here. Men often carry handbags. When men speak English, their "s" is often soft and gentle. Sometimes I can't tell the difference between men and women because the hair and clothing styles can be so similar. Men love cute things almost as much as women do, and are not afraid to admit that they love dramas and romantic comedies. Many men walk and assume stances that would be stereotypically gay in America. Men walk around with their arms around each others' shoulders or place their hands on their male friends' backs. None of this is gay in Korea. Koreans are actually quite homophobic in general.

Ah, I also almost forgot a person~
현석 (Hyunseok): He's older than me, of course, and quite tall and slender. I met him quite a while ago, now. He has midterms now so I haven't seen him in a while. He studied American literature and wants to be a financial specialist, if I remember right. I went to dinner in 강남 (Kangnam) with him and then his friend came to meet us and the three of us went shopping. Yes, two men and a girl shopping, and the girl is the one tagging along. See what I mean about Korean culture being American gay? Anyway it was fun and they are both very kind and funny. I hope to see them again relatively soon.

More from the forgotten wonderland

Now I will organize this by people:

미주 (Miju): You all know and love her by now. Unfortunately, after seeing the cherry blossoms with her and her friends, I haven't spend time with her. Our letters are having more and more days between them, and I know she's always tired. I think tomorrow I will go out and find something to buy for her. I don't know what to get that's cheap and will make her smile. I feel bad because I let days go without writing even though I'm not nearly as busy as she is. We were supposed to hang out today, but I woke up too late! I ran into her last night on the way home from hanging out with my friend.

영하 (Youngha): Here's a new face for you all. He's two years younger than I am, and I met him on the same language exchange website where I've met almost all of my friends here (Miju is the only exception). He's incredibly eager to learn English better, although his English is good already. He's also an enthusiastic Korean teacher. So far I met him once for breakfast (I couldn't sleep and he happened to text me at 7:30am) and we talked for 6 hours. Then I met him again yesterday for lunch and he took me to the biggest bookstore in Seoul. Our first breakfast was at a McDonald's which is connected to a "Grand Market" department store. McDonald's breakfast here is healthier and tastier than in America. For our lunch, we hopped on the subway downtown and went to his aunt's Chinese restaurant, where we had 짜장면 (jjajangmyeon), which is noodles in a sweet black sauce, and some Chinese-inspired fried pork, which I forgot the name of but is the favorite dish of two of my friends [The name is 탕수육 (Tangsooyook), thanks 영하]. I tried to take off my jacket at the restaurant, but his mother came hurried over to me and put it back on me. I was confused. He said that in Korea, it's scandalous to show your shoulders. I was wearing a sleeveless shirt. Not even a spaghetti strap, just a wide tank top. Culture difference I should be aware of, eh? 영하 (Youngha) loves maps, books, baseball, and soccer. He always carries a map book of Seoul (maybe all of Korea?), at least one book, and in his wallet he has discount passes for games and club cards for various stores. He's quite tall, probably 5'10~6' if I had to guess. He has millions of questions and wants to tell and show me everything. Actually, as I'm writing this I'm texting back and forth with him because he had a question about something he's studying. He's a quick study and really funny. Time flies when we hang out. :)

기균 (Kigyun): After having lunch with 영하 (Youngha) yesterday, I went home for a while and then went halfway across town again to meet 기균 (Kigyun, pronounced like Kee-gyoon). He's 5 years older than I am. We walked and talked for a while. He's very similar to me, actually, in terms of personality and philosophy. He and I both have that "you only live once" mentality. His English is better than he thinks it is, and he's starting to learn French. At one point in our conversations before, I had said that I like baseball and basketball but I'm no good at them. We walked by a batting cage and he suggested we try. He went first and hit almost every ball. Tall and athletic~ I said I was too terrible and embarrassed, but I tried anyway and just knicked three or four. No hits. He apologized profusely for making me do it. Koreans are like that. I said it was okay because I prefer failure to success sometimes. You can't learn anything from success, and I love learning. We ate some spicy octopus and vegetables simmering in soup, served on a hot plate. I forgot the name of that, too. But, it was ridiculously delicious. We also had some soju (Koreans really like to drink). He was wearing a beanie, which he says he doesn't like to do, because he got a bad haircut recently. I don't know why, but that struck me as hilarious. Anyway, this time I did not miss the last train home. I hope I'll get to see him again this week or next week.

주환 (Joohwan): I haven't seen him for a while, since the photos I posted. He checks up on me via text every now and then. He has midterms until Friday, so on Saturday we're gonna go drinking together.

성동 (Sungdong): He's two years older than I am, and I've been talking to him on MSN since before I came to Korea. At that time, he was studying in Australia, but now he's back in Korea. He lives in the south, and I'm thinking of visiting him in May sometime. He's a great comfort and help when I need it. He made a flyer in Korean for me to post around town for English tutoring because I told him I didn't know how to find students. He said he'll send it to me soon, so I just have to find somewhere to print it. I also have to print materials to teach piano to two people starting next week. I have a mission! I'll ask one of my local friends for help....

It's been too long

Wow it's been a long time. Sorry everyone!!!

Instead of the daily thing, I'll give you some highlights. Basically every day I eat egg fried rice for brunch, go out walking, play piano half of the days, and learn something new about Korea. For dinner I eat some kind of ramyun (Korean ramen).

Last Wednesday I went to see 벚꽃 (cherry blossoms) with 미주 (Miju) and two of her friends from school. That's what the pictures in the previous post are from. The weather was warm, almost too warm, and sunny. We went to 선유도 공원 (Sunyoodo Park), which is a man-made island in the middle of 한강 (Han River). There are more pictures here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2683709&id=2356262&l=e5df13907c

When we got to the island, there were people filming a reality show which I had ironically watched the night before. It's about a fat rapper and a chubby singer and their significant others (not fat) and they're competing to lose weight. The host is a famous singer. So, 미주 (Miju) was really excited because she loves the host. We watched them film for a while, then had our picnic where they were filming. The director came over to us and asked me to speak to the fat guy in English for the show. So, I was on Korean TV. My friends also got to go on the show just after I did, so we were all really excited. The rest of the afternoon was fun and tiring, scampering around the park taking ridiculous pictures and doing our best to communicate. One of the girls speaks a little bit of Japanese, comparable to my own, so we talked in Japanese a lot. None of them could speak English any more than I can speak Korean. But, it was really fun! After the long day, 미주 (Miju) and I could berely walk up the stairs out of the subway and into our 고시원 (goshiweon).

In my walks, one day, I was walking by a vendor on the street who makes rice crackers. He's in the same place every day and I usually just ignore him like I do the others, but he called out something to me specifically. Something about foreigner girl, you're so pretty, have a rice cracker. Something like that. So I stopped and he talked to me for a while, handing me a free rice cracker every now and then. He tried to seel some to me, and they're cheap but I didn't feel like buying any so I just told him I didn't have any money with me. Well, a week later, I stopped and talked to him and bought some rice crackers. They're so good, I finished them in two days. He told me to come back often. I just might. He's about 50 years old I'm guessing. Good salesman.

One day, I was really upset for no particular reason (maybe stir crazy?) and I decided to go out for a walk around dusk. As I was walking by a Paris Baguette bread shop, I saw and old man drop his lighter while smoking. So, being a nice person and not wanting him to injure himself bending over, I picked up his lighter and handed it to him. He was go grateful that he ushered me into the bread store despite my protests in broken Korean and told me to choose anything to eat. So I relented and chose the cheapest thing in the store: a croissant. At first he just watched me eat it, then he mauled it with tongs and took a couple huge bites, securing crumbs all around his mouth, then shoving it in my face. I was so embarrassed and uncomfortable, and most of all, confused. He was trying to throw out all the English words he knew, like city names and random vocabulary. I was trying to speak in Korean, but he had that unique Korean old people accent that I can't really understand. Finally, when the croissant was almost gone, he got up, said "see you next time" in Korean, kissed me on the cheek, grabbed my boob, and walked out. I yelled "no" and hit his arm as he walked away but then I just sat there dumbfounded. Then I laughed. So ridiculous. That's what I get for being polite. Oh well, no harm done. I asked the girl working if he had given her money. She said no. Good thing I chose the cheapest thing. I asked her if he did that every day, and she said she had never seen him before. All of this in Korean, mind you. I'm improving! ^^

After the old man incident, I was really upset. Why is it that I can get the attention of a sick old man so easily, but there are no young, handsome guys in my area?? I went into Dunkin Donuts for the first time and got an iced mocha. Then I walked around the streets for another half an hour sipping it, desolate. Finally I decided that for the first time in my life, I would drink alone. I asked a random guy on the street, who was taking a break from work so I knew he wouldn't follow me, where a good place to drink was. He told me to go to 소주호프 (Soju Hof). I found the place but it was on the second floor and I couldn't find the stairs. So I asked a random woman how to find the stairs, and she gave me directions. I didn't know the word for stairs, so I made a motion like my hands were feet and I was stepping up stairs with them. Haha. I got there and tried to ask the guy working there where I could sit, but he didn't understand my Korean and he didn't speak much English, so he just said, "wait." So I waited. A woman who could almost be my grandmother came up to me and asked me in English what I was doing. I said he told me to wait so I was waiting. She led me to a table and sat down with me. Turns out, she's the manager. After I had had a beer and eaten a bit, she came back over to chat again. Her English was pretty good. I asked her if I could work for her a little bit, just cleaning or something before or after hours. She said that would be too hard because I can't speak enough Korean to talk to the other employees. But, she called her friend who's an English teacher for children. Said friend came and joined us at the table. Then that friend called her friend, who also came. Those two were about the age to be my aunts. So, I drank and talked with them until like 6am, and got their phone numbers and a potential twice-a-month job. I walked the block and a half home with the sunrise and a smile on my face.


Everything works out in the end. :)