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!!