Ajumma Party

Just a quickish update for the moment. Had a classic weekend, although a tad bittersweet. It was the last weekend for a couple of people so we sent them out the best way possible. Definately sucks to say goodbye to people, especially good people, but I guess thats gonna happen continuously while im over here so I better get used to it. As a final send off we had a dress up party, something ive been keen for for a long time. Ironically, the theme of the party was the same as what I would have dressed up as if I could have chose anything; Ajummas (and Ajushis). I will use another website to define them;

Ajumma (아줌마) : A term used to address an adult female individual of married age and/or runs a business or restaurant. The word is used to call older women when in a restaurant or simply when getting a person's attention, but it is best to only call older women this as women of a somewhat younger age may not think of themselves as ajummas yet, especially if they are in their 30s and maybe even early 40s.

An "Ajushi" is the male equivalent.

Now your probably thinking what the hell is so special about dressing up as a middle aged woman. Thats a great question. Well, youve seen the definition, now ill tell you about the stereotype. What I know an ajumma as is a crazy and old woman. Not in their 30's, usually 50 or older, and completely nuts. They turn from complete hunchbacks capable of moving no faster than 14 cm/min, and able to make all walking traffic on the entire path screech to a standstill, to athletes capable of Usain Bolt-like speed as they run for a bus carrying an inflatable swimming pool full of cabbage and green peppers, all the while throwing elbows at anyone in a 5 metre radius. These woman seem to enjoy hurling abuse at anyone that can hear them - foreigner or otherwise - and seem to follow less than stringent hygeine practices. Did I mention they have hunchbacks. Im not joking. Parallel to the ground. They spend a large portion of the day at the market chopping the skin off garlic or shuking the stuff out of clams and oysters so they have their backs down low to the ground to help them, so I guess years of acumulation of led to a back that is no longer straight (havent these people heard of tables?? makes things much easier). It all add to the charm. But I guess the biggest stand out feature of the Ajumma is her clothers. An absolute plethora of tacky floral prints, flouro and mismatching colours. At least the pants or shirt MUST contain 14 different colours, and the fashion conscious ajumma, or the practical one, will wear long sleeves (cooling long sleeves), maybe a mask (i dont know why), and usually gloves. Also vital, and maybe the signature piece of clothing, is the visor, which has minimum dimensions of 1 metre long by 80 cms wide. These things are huge. They make sunbreros look like the little hat that jewish people wear. Again, more terrible colours the better. All in all, the Ajumma is just a standout feature of Korean society and one that gives you great unintentional entertainment everytime you see them.

So now you know why it was so vital that we dressed up as middle aged women. Actually, that whole paragraph was just a cover so that we could dress up as middle aged women and get away with it. In any case, we got about 30 or 40 people dressed to the 9's as Ajummas, most outfits costing about $20 bucks. Pretty cheap for the end result, escpecailly considering some shops were selling shirt for $80!! Im not kidding. These are in crappy little markets too, not in real shops. The $20 layout looks more attractive when u consider the fact that the pants are damn comfy so most people will be wearing them again when winter rolls around. My costume cost about $10 more for the acessories - mask, gloves, weird shoe things - and was a smash hit. Recieved multiple best dressed nominations. Bugger it, I WAS the best dressed there. Did recieve some criticism for some percieved "matching" of colours, but while it may look like there was some matching, I think it is still damn ugly which was the purpose in the first place. And really, when does pink and purple ever look good or ever meant to match?? Drunkedness was achieved via Soju Punch, and I have to say Mum, I think my mates stole your punch recipe because it tasted exactly the same as yours. Soooooo bloody good. It transported me back to home for a while...... and then after a few hours transported me to the toilet a few times. No that didnt happen I held myself together but cant say the same for everyone else - the Soju makes people go nuts and when it is in something that tastes good, allowing everyone to drink it as quickly as possible, its 100% garenteed to get at least 5 people in trouble with their boyfriends/girlfriends or to start randomly breakking things. Gotta love Soju. And Ajumma partys.

So here are some photos from the night, enjoy!!

Adventures in Korean Food

Thought id share some of the different eating experiences ive had recently. The first isnt really a single experience, but many, and is actually just a custom over here. The custom i refer to is drinking one's soup directly from the bowl. Now, there are spoons in Korea - no knives or forks - but that doesnt stop this process from happening. I was reluctant to do this for probably the first 6-8 weeks of my arrival, but since then its become a favourite thing of mine. It always brings a smile to face when i bring that bowl to my mouth - partly because im doing something that was never allowed before coming here, and partly because the whole thing seems a bit absurd. But im definately not the precious type so im very comfortable with absurd. In reality, its actually quite practical - there is a soup with nearly every meal and really, who has the time or energy to use their hand in the same repetitive motion 20 times when u can simply drink the whole thing in 3 gulps. Genius. It took some time to get some photos of me doing this; i obviously dont take my camera to every meal; but when one of my friends was showing me some photos while i was eating some dwaen-jang jig-gge (seafood and tofu soup, delicious and a great hangover food) with a lowly spoon, i connected the dots and came up with these.




Had my first serious experience of raw fish last week. My plan for the night was to meet a friend who is leaving the country soon and raid his house of anything he was leaving behind, and then eat McDonalds for the first time since ive arrived. Well, ive had a medium chips and a single bite of someones burger, but this was gonna be the first proper Maccas in about 5 months. I was quite excited for how the night was going to play out, and i took only enough money for maccas coz i planned on coming home afterwards. All that changed when my mate wondered if i wanted to grab dinner beforehand. I said sure, he is leaving soon and in the mood to hang out, drink and eat so I thought why not. He said he was thinking fish, and I thought, "great, i love fish, this will be good'. As we are walking down the street, we looked at the fish resturants - some were pufferfish resturants (no joke) and the others were raw "normal" fish. So I went from Maccas to raw fish in a matter of moments. The meal was interesting - lots of side dishes, some normal, some completely whacky, but they kept on coming. The whacky ones included random large chunks of fruit and vegetables covered in mayonnaise - it looked like potato salad but had cucumber, carrot, prawn meat and the best of all, apple. Yes, apple covered in mayonnaise. Weird. We also were given a plate of small shells. They looked like the tiny pink and speckled cone shaped shells you often find on the beach back home, but where dark in colour. You put your mouth over the small opening and just suck as hard as you can, until the little thing living inside it pops into your mouth. Weird. I was told this can also be sold as barfood. Again, weird. The raw fish was OK. Average. It wasnt very tasty and required some sauces to give it some kick, and there were times when it was in your mouth that you remembered it raw fish and the texture freaks you out a little bit. But it was edible. And expensive. And not very filling. It wasnt filling enough that i had to buy some Ramyeon (2-minute noodles) a little bit later as we were drinking out the front of a corner store. Yes, drinking out the front of a corner store. Most corner/convienience stores have chairs and seat set up in front of them so u can buy some booze and drink it up out the front. Its basically a cheap outdoor bar. Bloody awesome. This was where I had the ramyeon and also where one of my mates ate a hot dog that made him sick for the next 3 days. Yes, he ate raw fish earlier that night, but the hot dog made him sick.


First day of semester today so technically my "holiday" is over, but today reminded me that every day for me is a holiday. I love my job. So bloody easy. And fun. Was in a bit of a crabby mood in the morning but had a smile plastered all over my face when I was in class.

Last but not least, couldnt pass up the oportunity to post this photo


Happy Birthday Mum!!!!!! Miss you heaps and love you lots!

Getting around

Was lucky enough to get 2 weeks holidays during the summer so I went for a bit of a travel through parts of Korea. Ended the trip a little shorter than anticipated but 3 nights camping on the ground in weather that doesnt drop below 25 will make one pine for a comfy bed and an air conditioned room. Getting out on the road reminded me how fun travelling is and how it should be done as often as possible. I was a little tepid going into it because I was by myself and still pretty unconfident in communicating with Koreans, but pretty soon those worries were forgotten. Even though I have had the greatest of fun over the past 3 months, nothing really compares to sense of freedom and excitement that travelling brings. Was lucky enough to meet a few people on the way and have places to stay and people to see when I go to Seoul and Jeju, which are basically the 2 best places to visit in the country.

So I started the trip in Geongju, which is the capital of the old Korean Dynasty. In and around Geongju is the largest concentration of temples, shrines, and all that lovely cultural stuff. Have to say that the scale and impressiveness of the Korean artifacts is not quite on the level as Angkor Wat in Cambodia or most things in Europe, but nice nonetheless. Started off in the main temple - Bulgogsa - set at the bottom of a mountain, then went to the top of the mountain to a Buddha shrine. Bulgogsa was pretty cool, the best part though was a painting in one of the small temples, but you cant take photos of it so I was a little peeved. I had a chance to take a pic while the little old lady guarding the temple went to get some water for her pot, but I figured it was bad karma and I would never be able to reach enlightenment. The Buddha shrine was a bit of a let down because you couldnt walk into the grotto where buddha was sitting, instead you had to look from behind a glass door. I went back into town, in need of a shower more than ever in my life. Got back to the hostel and ran into some Yanks and Canadians so we drank the night away on the rooftop. Really fun night with some cool people.



The 2 pogodas (mentioned in a moment) are on either side of this photo. Main temple.



Actual proof I was there - even asked the guy in Korean to take the photo; sa-jin jjik-eo ju-se-yo? All the temples and pagodas are inside here.



These 2 things are called "pagodas"

Next day was a bit of a later wake up than anticipated due to the late night. Got up to rain but decided to soldier on check out the stuff in the downtown area. First was this area where the Ancient Kings and Queens were buried. The coffins were laid and then covered with tonnes and tonnes of soil until they formed hills. This is basically what the Pyramids are, instead the pyramids arent made of dirt. The next thing was an ancient observatory built in 700 AD called Cheomsongdae. Its only about 12 metres high, but is a major artefact in Korean history. Basically it was built to study the stars, but I personally reckon you could "study the stars" much better from the tops of one of the many mountains nearby.



Later that day went to the inland city of Daejeon. Ended up staying for 2 nights, not because there was so much to do, but because it fit in better with getting to the music festival on the weekend. While here I did do some cool things though; firstly, I went to a baseball game. The Hanwha Eagles are the worst team in the league and played like it, but it was still a good game. Saw a Home Run which was cool, and got a real appreciation for what baseballers do, because I havent seen a live game since the days Newcastle had a team. The Korean league is really strong as well - they won the most recent World Baseball challenge - so it was quality baseball. Couldnt believe how fast the pitcher throws that ball and I think the Catcher has by far the most difficult job in the sport - maybe even in any sport. Wasnt bored at all as the game dragged on either which is a little suprising considering I cant watch a baseball game on TV for more than 10 minutes. Was hanging on every pitch, and the thought of either missing a cool play, or catching a foul ball or a home run ensured my eyes were always fixed on the game. The other interesting thing I did was go to a public spa - jim-jil-bang - and it was maybe the most bizarre experience of my life. Actually, I would say it was the most homosexual thing ive ever done without it being homosexual. This made having a group shower after a football or hockey game seem straight. First thing you need to know is that everyone is naked - from 8 to 80 years old. Even then people at the front desk are naked. This jimjilbang was fed by hot springs and there was various pools of varying temperature, outdoor pools and saunas, and you basically just walked from pool to pool starkers. There was no shame from anyone - no one trying to cover themselves or be inconspicuous when inspecting another person. It was downright weird. At times hard to really enjoy yourself. But I soldiered on and had a good time. The worst part though was anything that involded sitting on something - bench or chair - and realising what had been resting on it before hand and how many times that had occurred.


Downtown Daejeon


On the Friday I got myself to Jisan Valley Ski Reosrt for a 3 night music festival. The set up of the festival was really cool - literally in the Valley - so you had the mountains rising up all around you. At the bottom of the main runs, where the chairlifts and the ticketing and food buildings are, there was a massive, massive pool where you could hang out by all day. First time ive seen this at a concert and I must say it was one of the coolest things ive ever seen. The weather was so insanely hot, and the shower lines so increadibly hot, that sitting by the pool and cooling off was a gift from God. The stages were spread between the chairlift area and further up the valley and just provided such a unique and cool setting. The only problem was the festival orientation was narrow and long, not central and condensed, so we had to walk maybe 15 minutes from our camp to the stages, which doesnt seem like much but when you forget something, is a bloody long way to go for it. The organisation of the food, drinks and playing times was great, choice of music excellent, and the general set up and atmosphere really fun. No dickheads causing trouble or generally jacking off, everyone just having fun and enjoying themselves. I feel sorry though for anyone leaving on the Sunday night as the lineup for buses was probably 1,000 people long - and this was for pre-organised buses too! Lucky I had nowhere to be the next day so I could stay the night and leave the next morning. Walking up and down that line all I could hear from stressed and worried people on their phones was "I have summer camp at 9 in the morning!!". There was a problem with camping another night and that was actually camping. The weather never got below 25 even in the middle of the night, so that meant the tent never got below 45. I slept in my underpants with nothing on top of me (on the ground to by the way) and couldnt make it further than 8am on any morning, even though I would have slept for less than 4 hours. Basically, every moment of the festival was great, except for the times I was in the tent.




The Gift from God






Dance stage - notice the ski runs behind it

Camping; so bloody organised these Koreans!!


Main stage

Cant wait to head out again soon!!