Happy International Women’s Day! March 8, 2009

One of the things I love about living abroad is experiencing the holiday celebrations and seeing all the similarities and differences.  I got to witness Lunar New Year in Mexico when I lived there in 1997 and it was amazing how similar it was to U.S. Chinatown’s parade and firecracker festivities, except practically everyone involved (from the kung fu performances to the dragon dancers) were Mexican.  Aaahh, how I miss Mexico’s love of any excuse to party!

Today, I got to experience the International Women’s Day event in Seoul.  Although you may be under the impression that I’ve done absolutely nothing except go dancing (from my last post), I actually have found a way to participate in some socially meaningful activities, despite my lack of verbal communication skills.  I started volunteering with the House of Sharing, a place for former “comfort women” to live and receive support (because the women did not receive any comfort out of the situation, we use the term “halmoni” which means grandmother in Korean).  As many of you know, the Japanese government instituted a policy of setting up “comfort stations” where military personnel could get sex.  Many of the women and girls were forcibly abducted or lured under false pretenses (similar to many of the stories from human trafficking survivors).  A majority of the women were Korean, but there were also significant numbers of women from China, Taiwan, and Philippines.  For decades after the war, the issue was buried and the women were forgotten, often ostracized by society and abandoned in foreign countries where they had been taken.  The first Korean comfort woman came out publicly in 1991, sparking an international movement to seek a government apology and reparations for what happened.  Korea set up the House of Sharing as a place where the halmonis could live and receive support.  For more info, check out the House of Sharing website:  http://www.nanum.org/eng/index.html.  

As a volunteer, I’ve been helping out with different outreach and public education events.  One of the advocacy tools of the organization is to educate the broader international community about the issue.  I was lucky that they’ve really focused on including foreign volunteers in their work to outreach to non-Koreans about the issue.  There are tours about once a month for English-speaking visitors (most of the museum is in Korean), and I hope to start helping lead tours soon.  Although I knew about the issue from NAPAWF’s advocacy in the US, it’s been great to learn a lot more deep substantive knowledge about it.  (btw, a book I’m working on is “Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery in the Japanese Military During World War II” by Yoshimi Yoshiaki that’s a definitive account of the issue).

The great thing is that I felt so at home at The International Women’s Day event.  Despite everything being in Korean, it was all incredibly familiar.  Imagine all these booths with different progressive organizations with information about different women’s issues, a stage with performances ranging from speakers to folk singers, and women with placards and signs.  Although I am not particularly fond of outreach, I’ve always been somewhat well-suited for it, and as I’ve gotten older, there’s even less fear in sticking a petition in somebody’s face for their signature.  Not knowing Korean did pose a particular challenge, but I learned how to say “support the halmonis” and then used my incredible pointing and gesturing skills to indicate that people should read the petition statement, sign their contact information, and check the actions they would agree to do.  It was super fun and made me realize that yes, I will always need to be working on community issues somehow.   It was good to be back doing the non-profit thing that I know how to do  :)

The Past 6 Weeks January 15, 2009

wow, i’ve discovered that i really suck as a blogger.  you’ll notice that as i’ve developed more and more of a life here in seoul, i am too busy with my life to blog!  my blog posts are becoming more and more sporadic and pretty soon will probably disappear altogether.  i do not know how “real” bloggers find time to always post something witty and profound.  

speaking of being witty and profound, an organization back home is launching a blog and was looking for guest bloggers.  well, tried to write something witty and profound for them tonight and utterly, utterly failed.  i started, stopped, started again, and then stopped, realizing i really don’t have anything new to say that hasn’t already been said.  i will try again with a different topic in the future.  yeah, that’s right, i just blamed the topic for my writer’s block.

i am excited though about a short story idea that i’m working on.  yep, you heard that right.  having found out i’m an inadequate blogger, i’m going to next find out i’m an inadequate short story writer as well.  sigh.  my friend steven has somehow convinced me to participate in a creative writing project.  i was under the impression that a group of us would write, share our work, and then provide helpful comments (not even reaching the level of constructive criticism – i have very thin skin).    after tricking me into this endeavor, i find out that there is a public reading at the end of this process, with PEOPLE in the audience (as opposed to a much friendlier audience of furniture and/or pets).  the only redeeming quality about this whole thing is the flowing red wine.  steven makes the good point that we need an audience to put pressure on ourselves to write better, but for somebody who has had the creativity sucked out of my life since winning my school’s creative writing contest in fifth grade, it sounds TERRIFYING.  

you’re probably wondering what the hell i’ve been doing the past six weeks.  well, it’s been quite a whirlwind, primarily because it involves a LOT of dancing.  forget the gym membership, i have found a much better cardio workout dancing the night away to hip hop and Kpop music.  unfortunately, with all the second hand smoke i’m breathing though, the health impact is probably a wash.  

There are three women friends here who are like my sisters, and seoul would not be the same without them.   My homegirl from NYC, Uni, is kyopo and  got to seoul around the same time as me.  we have just connected in so many ways whether it’s about art, politics, or life.   I also made two friends from dance class (Jinny and Keum). Jinny actually doesn’t speak that much English so we have these great Chinconglish (mixture of Chinese, Corean, and English) conversations…and charades.  my Korean has expanded dramatically hanging out with them.  of course, it’s nothing useful (let’s go eat cupcakes, i love food, crazy girl), but it’s a start.  

I go out with these three a LOT.  there was a three-week stretch where i went out practically every night, and usually one of these three were with me.  the great thing about clubbing is that everyone there is a decade younger than me and they are a lot of fun.  not burdened yet with failing marriages, mortgage payments, really important jobs, or human beings completely dependent on them, they are just having fun.  and then, there’s me, also having somehow escaped these “grown-up” things, having fun with them.  

okay, it’s very, very late (or very, very early depending on your perspective) and i will continue the updates, hopefully, soon.

Thankful 4 November 27, 2008

I am thankful for…

that’s the journal topic i assigned all my students this week.  i got a lot of amusing responses and a particularly touching one from one of my favorite students.  in an attempt to do what i assign, I am thankful 4:

- my family, who despite our differences and eccentricities, always provides refuge.  my brother and sister especially who have currently diverted attention away from me.

- all the kyopos and filipinos in seoul who took me in

- my decade-younger friends who will still hang out with me even though i have real memories of a time before they were born. 

- the braver souls than me who are changing the world with their actions

- writers who can make conscious the experiences and feelings i can’t express

- yellow, orange, and red autumn leaves on trees

- Dear Cloud, whose music i feel i could listen to forever

- hot cocoa on a cold, grey, rainy day

- any kind of dessert, and my dessert buddies who are always ready for dessert!

The More Things Change the More They Stay the Same November 27, 2008

i have had writer’s block.  i don’t feel like tapping into depressing thoughts, but i must try…

i felt weirdly disconnected to the “historic” presidential election of 2008.  as all my friends were campaigning to finally rid the globe of bushit, i was simply monitoring the happenings through media and internet coverage.  although numerous other countries have already elected women and people of color for the presidency, i was SCARED that the american public wouldn’t be able to make it happen.

I walked into work that day to hear the breaking news that Obama had won!  as a bunch of us cheered and high-fived each other through the hall, there really was a sense of optimism and euphoria.  i was quickly brought back to reality though when my first class of kids showed up.  as i was sharing the happy news with them on the internet, several of them started booing and telling me terrible things about black people. As I started de-bunking “myths” that one boy claimed to have read in a book, another girl pointed to a picture of Paris Hilton and said she wanted the blond girl to be president.  racism is everywhere, but i hadn’t quite witnessed it yet coming from some 7 year olds’ mouths.  it was another moment where i felt all my years of working in public policy were so inadequate.  these kids were so so so young to already have these beliefs ingrained in them.  and you’d like to think that people of color would support each other, but that seems to only be the case in my idealistic dreams (i was told that i was an “idealist” the other day, like it was the most negative label you could pin on somebody).

then, to top it all off, prop 8 was behind all day, and the next morning, the papers finally confirmed the worst.  my home state had just voted to take away the rights from an entire group of people (and as Luna so eloquently discussed – supported the rights of chickens more than hers:  http://lunamania.org/2008/11/17/commentary-in-the-nichibei-times).  i just kept thinking about all my friends this outcome impacted – the wedding of my friends on the first day it was possible in CA, singing “going to the chapel” as they walked through the City Hall chambers; my friend who is fighting for immigrant rights for gay couples and just adopted a beautiful baby girl; my mormon friend who was going against his church’s stance to support his brother’s marriage; other friends who don’t even want to be married, but damnit would like to be the one to make that choice.  in the end, the ballot measure was also a battle for acceptance and even though we were so close, it was heartbreaking to lose.  i kept hoping that the onion would write a funny, snarky article, maybe something along the lines of “prop 8 supporters just jealous of other’s happiness” but even the onion couldn’t find anything funny to say about it.

i have this terrible character flaw where i want to believe that people will do the right thing.  my cynical friend calls it a positive optimism that he can’t stand.  i really thought we were going to win this time.  it reminded me of how i felt in the aftermath of prop 187 days – i was much more naive and idealistic then, but the feeling of disappointment in people was the same.  

now, 3 weeks after the election, my disappointment is starting to spread to Obama as he starts to make his cabinet appointments.  i’ve been studying neoliberalism with a group of friends here, and we learned about how Paul Volcker in 1979 increased interest rates so high that it created conditions that ushered in neoliberalization worldwide.  Well, Obama just appointed Volcker to head his economic recovery advisory board.  He is appointing folks who are supporters of the Iraq War.  He also might appoint Janet Napolitano, governor of Arizona, as head of the department of homeland security.  she has a pretty mixed record on immigrant rights issues.  i remember when she called immigration a “state of emergency” which is about the stupidest anti-immigrant thing you can do as an election ploy.  i want people with experience, but not middle-of-the-road experience.  

somebody tell me some good news in politics back home….

Starstruck October 26, 2008

the Pusan International Film Festival (PIFF for short) is the largest film festival in Asia.  even before coming here, it was something i had wanted to go to.  i finally had my chance, but only after a lot of hassle and planning.  luckily, zack’s friend hooked us up with hotel arrangement and train tickets to get to the festival, and then jay (my favorite korean staff person at work) spent an inordinate time trying to purchase us film tickets online.  we had five people and could only buy two tickets at a time.  at one point, we thought we couldn’t buy a single ticket for the fifth person.  i was ready to curse out korea’s insane couple culture, when he finally figured it out.

armed with our tickets, i excitedly and sleepily got up early (for me) to my first trip outside of seoul. we jumped on the KTX express train, which got us to Pusan in about 3 hours.  it was another example of what transportation could be like in the U.S. if we could get our act together to build something (here’s my little plug to vote for Prop 1A on CA’s ballot!).  the trip normally takes about 6 hours on the bus, sometimes longer depending on traffic conditions.  instead, we got there in half the time on a smooth train ride that even had a beverage and food cart.  we got to take naps, talk, read magazines, and listen to music. i can only imagine how great it would be if there was a bullet train from SF to LA!

once we got there, we were starving and ended up at this really, really cheap joint that sold huge portions of tonkatsu.  steven is 24 and can put food away.  i had never met somebody who can eat as much and is as skinny as my brother, but lo and behold, i found steven in seoul.  i promptly give him half my plate, and as we’re raving about the prices and portions for the food, juli all of sudden realizes that we are surrounded by high school students.  not college, but high school, as in half my age.  no wonder the prices were so cheap!  no matter where i am in the world or how old i am, i think i will always have the poor starving student mentality.  

we hit the beach.  i can’t tell you how much i’ve missed the beach.  it’s one of two things i really, really miss about LA (the other being film screenings), and somehow i was going to be able to experience both in Pusan.  we had fun taking a bunch of pictures of people on the beach (see my facebook album).  there is something just so wonderful about having the waves wash over your feet and digging your toes into the squishy sand, while watching guys (definitely not korean guys) in g-strings riding jet skis around.  of course, the guys in g-string were soon overshadowed by a swarm of adoring fans surrounding a man wearing a white t-shirt that had a red heart on it.  i took off running with my camera because it’s so much easier to be a hyper-obsessed celebrity stalker when you have no idea who it is.  i have to say everybody else was quite well-behaved, which made it much easier for me to get in for those up close and personal shots.  being a paparazzo was super fun – there is something very satisfying about getting the perfect photograph that captures a person’s smile and personality.  once i got my shots, i was able to find a young woman who spoke english and told me who it was.  i thought she said K Goodman, but i guess his name is simply “gag comedian” and he is funny man with his own television show.

lex and ray joined us later that night (they ended up on the long bus ride because they couldn’t get KTX train tickets) and we all ate fabulous Indian food.  if you had to choose your two favorite cuisines in the world, what would they be?  (lex always picks really great conversation questions).  without a doubt, my choices would be italian and mexican, with thai being a close third-up.  

the next morning, zack and i got up at at the awful hour of 7 am (it’s amazing what i can do when i’m motivated) and got in line for tickets.  i was already very late – there were probably about 35 people ahead of me.  it reminded me of my college days of camping out for basketball tickets.  when i finally got to the front to buy tickets, i was told that each person could only buy a maximum of 2 tickets and luckily zack had come so we could buy 4.  BUT, there were 5 of us so one person would have to sit out of each movie.  i mustered every advocacy trick that i could think of, including even getting incredibly teary-eyed, but this woman was firm.  i gotta hand it to her, she obviously had been hardened by the millions of people begging for film tickets. 

i ended up seeing 3 movies that weekend.  my absolute favorite was called “crush and blush” (even though the Korean title is different), and it is creative, zany, and quirky – essentially my kind of movie.  SPOILER ALERT (skip to next paragraph if you don’t want to hear tidbits of the film):  it’s about a socially awkward, unattractive woman who is in love with a colleague, and she has this horrible skin condition where she gets red, really, really red, really easily.  any sense of anger, embarrassment, or frustration causes her to turn a deep crimson color.  although she is madly in love with this man, he is married and has a daughter.  in true male fashion though, the man also is interested in another teacher at the school (the typical pretty girl) and pretty soon there’s a possibility that he and his wife may end up getting divorced.  The woman with the blushing problem ends up joining forces with his daughter to try to prevent him from being divorced and ending up with the pretty teacher.  randomness, craziness, waiting for godot, and a lot of duplicitous IM sex ensues.   a really hilarious scene in the movie is when the woman is talking to her dermatologist, who she treats as her therapist because she has nobody else to talk to about the situation, and she’s telling him this funny story about how when she’s typing for IM sex, she keeps making typing errors so it ends up saying BOOGER, BOGGER, BUGGER instead of BIGGER, BIGGER, BIGGER.  

we got the added treat of going to a Q&A session with the two main actors and director afterwards.  it’s amazing what they did to make the actress unattractive in the movie (she’s quite beautiful in person).  the director talked about how she wrote the script while she was pregnant so she just kept getting all these crazy ideas that made their way into the movie.  the last question from the audience was the best.  ”you never answered the question raised in the movie – could the man and his wife really have fathered their child.” – you have to see the movie to know what i’m referring to (i don’t want to give EVERYTHING away).

one last highlight was the pusan art biennale had an entire outdoor art exhibit along the beach.  steven and i made it there to see it one night.  we’re taking a ton of pictures because there are so many cool things to capture.  unfortunately, neither of us have tripods so we’re using whatever flat, nonmoving surface we can find to take long exposure shots.  one planter ledge was too high so i couldn’t look through the viewfinder to take a good shot.  i turn to steven and tell him to link his fingers together so i can put my foot in and have him boost me up (just like a cheerleading move from high school).  steven obviously has never done this before as he says “i’ve heard of people doing this” and everything about his body language is just screaming “NO NO NO don’t make me do this.”  not giving him a choice, i stick my foot in his hands and his superhuman strength (i don’t know where it came from in that skinny body of his) just propels me up and forward, until my face stops my momentum in the grass.  

so not only did i bring back some celebrity souvenir photos, but also some cool looking face scratches.  nice.

Random Thoughts About Books October 19, 2008

everyone knows that i absolutely adore reading.  ever since i was a shy, quiet, socially awkward kid, i’ve been devouring books.  when i was younger, books were my lifeline to a world very different from my reality.  now, they tend to give me insight that allows me to better reflect on the world around me.

it was sad when i found out the library in Seoul does not carry many English language books (i was hoping maybe it would since so many people are trying to learn English here).  then, i got a huge stash of trashy magazines from a fellow teacher who moved back to the U.S.  the mind-numbing material came coincidentally right after the break-up, so i got to nurse my pain while reading about britney’s downward spiral,  ”who wore it best?”, and “stars are just like us”.  

luckily, i was saved from the literary equivalent of hell.  inexplicably, i showed up at work one day, and there was Another Country by James Baldwin in my mailbox.  all these months later, and i still have no idea who the book fairy was.  

James Baldwin writes the way I want to write, with courage, passion, and fire.  He tackled issues of race, gender, and homosexuality by exposing all the self-hatred, prejudices, fear, and love that people have for each other.  i don’t think i could never be a character in james baldwin’s novels because he requires so much honesty, raw emotions, and vulnerability from them.  as i was reading the novel, there were so many instances where i was riveted by the words (he has excellent word choice) and the intensity of feeling.  the plot was secondary – the whole book was about feeling their pain.   it got to a point where i could not read the book every day because it was just too much.  

i’ve come to realize that i’m a much more private person than i ever thought.  i’m super open about things that others would find embarrassing, silly, or ridiculous, but, when it comes to my true raw emotions, it is very rare that i expose them to the public.  i think i’ve always dealt with personal feelings as if i were at work – never cry or show emotion in front of anybody – even if you’re talking about people who’ve been forced into prostitution for years, people who aren’t going to live without food, people who are struggling to survive, etc.  i always knew that people could be tremendously flawed and still be incredibly loved, but i think i’ve always struggled showing that about myself.  

ironically, this blog has become my most public display of my personal thoughts.  well, thankfully, it’s not really that public since there are only about 10 people who actually read my posts…which brings me to the second book that i’ve read here.  my fabulous friend Janice left Seoul in early September (sadness!), but she left me a copy of Eat Pray Love.  the book’s author set off to live in Italy, India, and Indonesia for a year after a terrible divorce.  she wanted to experience pleasure (eating her way through Italy), devotion (staying at a temple in India), and then finding the balance of the two (finding love again in Indonesia).   the book had a lot of resonance, with the theme of finding your purpose in life and figuring out who the hell you’re supposed to be, and it especially inspired me to go to italy for an extended stay.  most importantly, the book showed me how my own writing could be improved.  although it was on the new york times bestseller list for weeks, the book is essentially a travel blog – some funny stories, a lot of personal reflection, and a description of the food and cultures.  it was really well-written, where you could really experience all the emotions and laugh at the bizarre things in life.  so, take heart readers, i now have something to strive for – a new level of wittiness that will hopefully translate into a bestselling book deal and a trip to italy where i won’t need to work and can eat gelato 3 times a day.

Unlucky Girl September 24, 2008

so after my wonderful surprise party and super fun dancing, i woke up the next morning at noon, dizzy!!  oh fuck, my vertigo was back.  for those of you who don’t know, i have vertigo problems.  in the states, the ENT had told me that i had symptoms of 3 possible conditions:  1) benign paroxysmal positional vertigo (BPPV), 2) Meniere’s disease, or 3) inner ear infections.  it doesn’t really matter what it is because there’s not much they can do to treat it or prevent it.  the outcome is always the same – incredible dizziness, loss of balance (i have the hardest time walking), nausea from the dizziness, and if it’s really bad, vomiting from the combination of nausea and dizziness.  fun.

so, once again, i was on my way to the hospital, only this time i was on my way to a hospital in Seoul not knowing any Korean.  this is why everybody should support language access in health care because it fucking sucks when you’re sick and you can’t communicate with a doctor.  my 2 other kyopo friends from work who are bilingual weren’t around, so z ended up taking me.  

besides the language barrier, the hospital looks like any hospital in the US.  actually, it’s probably better than a lot of hospitals in the US because they were actually able to find an English speaking doctor to look at me (i think it would be a lot more difficult the other way around – to find a Korean speaking doctor in the US), the bill was really low, and they actually performed a maneuver to try to get rid of my vertigo, rather than just sending me home with drugs.  

so yeah, they basically diagnosed me with BPPV and even though her English was quite limited, i knew exactly what the doctor was talking about because i’ve done so much research on my condition (www.webmd.com is a great site).  she performed the Epley maneuver on me, which is basically tilting your head and body in different directions to try to move the particle into another part of the inner ear where it won’t disrupt my balance and cause dizziness.  probably more than you ever wanted to know, but as my friend says, sharing is caring.

there were 2 pretty funny moments that even in my deliriously nauseous state, i had to laugh.  one moment was seeing a blanket that had been stolen from Korean Air (you know, those blankets you get on airlines) on one of the gurneys.  how do i know?  because my friend has a stolen one too so i know the print.  the other funny moment was when they gave me an IV (my first!) so my left arm has a needle and a bunch of tape/bandages to hold it in place and you can see the two stamps that i got from clubbing the night before.  

that first night after getting back from the hospital, i slept 18 hours.  whoah, i was either really tired or it was some strong valium.  then monday, i got to go back and get hooked up to these eye goggles that measure your eye movements to see how dizzy you are.  they did the epley again, and then told me to not move my head to the side or up or down.  it’s actually pretty hard to do.  every once in a while i would forget, and then i would remember since this wave of queasiness would wash over me.  

it’s day 4 now, and things are starting to feel normal again.  at least until my inner ears decide to malfunction again…

Lucky Girl September 24, 2008

i have to admit i was a little (okay, maybe a lot) bummed that i didn’t get a chance to celebrate my birthday in my usual style where i get all my friends together.  i was going to pull together something for the following weekend, but it seemed like everybody was busy/not interested.  in other words, as i’m sure most of us have felt at one time or another, the world had moved on and couldn’t care less about my petty needs.  

despite the temporary feeling of neglect, a 34 year old must be mature enough to move on (am i really 34?  how did that happen?).  i had some really fun plans set for that Friday night – dinner with a friend and then hip hop dancing in Hongdae (really, really fun neighborhood that inspires either love or hate among people).  all was right with the world once again…

friday afternoon, z comes into my classroom (yes i don’t work in an “office” anymore) and tells me that he really needs “to talk”.  he asks me to cancel my dinner plans because he has to talk to me right away about something serious.  z says my face expressed this look of horror – all i kept thinking was “fuck, what is this about now?”  

after work, i’m just dreading whatever post-relationship talk we need to have.  uggh, those are never fun.  we’re walking towards his place and i keep trying to probe to get a sense of what to expect.  is he mad at me?  is he dating somebody new?  what??  he just keeps saying that he wants to sit down before we talk.

he had left his umbrella at Ho Lee Chow (a really good chinese food place despite the awful name) at lunch so we walk there to retrieve it.  suddenly, as we’re walking through the restaurant, i realize that there’s a whole table of people i know.  and then, because I’m slow and not expecting it, i start to realize that they’re all there for my BIRTHDAY as everyone’s yelling SURPRISE!  every teacher from work somehow managed to slip out after work and get there before us (z took me the long way in a circuitous route).  being my non-eloquent self, all i could say was “i’m so embarrassed.”  but, obviously, i was all these other happy emotions too.  they were so happy that i was surprised…it’s a pretty hard thing to do when all 15 people work with me and i see them on a daily basis.  

they filled me in all the background planning – the hiding in different classrooms to figure stuff out, the trip to the bakery to pick out the girliest pink cake they could find, the brainstorm of possible excuses to get me there (that’s where the “i need to talk” scenario was generated).  

what can i say?  it was one of the sweetest things that somebody has done for me.  i have been so, so lucky to have such special friends, no matter where i am in the world.  this year, it was especially significant since there were moments where it was so hard to be somewhere different.  hopefully soon, i’ll be posting a page about all my friends in Seoul so all those at home can see the family that i’ve made here.

then, it was time for cake – a really, really girly cake with pink frosting and white whipped cream and a ribbon around it.  strawberry tiramisu.  yummy!  then, off for chilling in the park with our drinks of choice and dancing in hongdae until 5 in the morning.  

i’m a very lucky girl.

Going Under the Knife September 18, 2008

In a previous post, I talked about how my new residence is right in the middle of the plastic surgery capital of the world.  I had no idea prior to coming here that just about anything you’d want to do to your body is so incredibly common here.  Just the other night, I found out a whole lot more as I kicked it with a few kyopos (term for Korean Americans) who work in the beautification business.  their company sells dermal fillers (it’s like botox) that’s used to smooth wrinkles, fill out sunken cheeks, and plump up your lips.  Korea is the number one market in Asia, and they easily make over half to three-quarters of their business here.

why is it so popular in South Korea?  nobody can really tell me why except that it’s become so acceptable that parents not only approve, but also encourage their daughters to get procedures done.  a Times article said that surgeons estimate that at least one in 10 Korean adults have had something done. I’ve heard that it is really common for high school girls to get plastic surgery as a graduation gift.  I’ve also heard that because the culture is so competitive, parents actually fear that if their kids don’t look good, they could be losing out on opportunities.  guys aren’t immune from this beauty standard, but it’s obviously much more prevalent among women.

as someone who has always been into looking natural, this whole phenomenon is so fascinating to me.  it’s just so wrong that the ideal of beauty is so incredibly focused on a Western ideal, including the double eyelids and pale skin.  i much prefer the variety that humans come in.  read this article (i think it was done a few years ago) for an interesting summary of the issue:

http://www.time.com/time/asia/covers/1101020805/story.html

In the story, they actually mention my neighborhood – they spell it Apkujong – and the busy avenue named “Plastic Surgery Street.” Here are some photos to capture the blatant ads for plastic surgery everywhere, including the subway station.  I hope to get photos of the women I see walking around with bandaged noses or eyes.

this poor woman features prominently in two ads in the subway, both showing her before and after looks:

 

then, there are a million other ads with all these male doctors touting the benefits of plastic surgery…

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here they all are lining the steps down into the subway:

pretty crazy!

Happy Chuseok2 September 14, 2008

in a very cool way to celebrate chuseok, my friend annie invited a bunch of “homeless” people to a chuseok party at her apartment.  then, she took us to a performance at the Seoul Arts Center that celebrated chuseok.  she was so great in making everyone feel so comfortable, and i felt like i got to experience chuseok, even though i don’t have family here.

 

 

the performance was really amazing, with lots of folk songs and dancing.  here are some pictures:

 

the first dance (Gyeongpungnyeon) with the women in the bright colored costumes was one that was performed at the court feast for chuseok.  the second picture is of some real farmers (not professional actors) singing a folk song (Pocheon Menari) and performing a play about farming – it’s a lot of backbreaking work!  the last picture is of an awesome dance (my favorite – Ganggangsulae) where all the women move so quickly to a really melodic folk song and they look like they’re gliding on stage.  the photo shows one part where one woman walks across the backs of everyone else.  how cool it is to learn some of the traditions of the moon festival!