Friday Favourite V 13: Soju

At the end of every week I'm going to write down one thing I love about Korea. Last week it was the backhanded and insincere compliments and here is this week's... .

The unlucky thirteenth Friday Favourite on Drifay 13th, I decided to dedicate it to something that could be any foreigners demise whilst in Korea... Soju.

Soju is probably best compared to vodka, although it used to be made out of rice and is half the percentage of vodka. It still has some weird bewitching affect on people, that will have their mouth, body and mind totally out of sync in no time at all.

The Koreans love the stuff, and who can blame them when it's only 60p a bottle? The first time I bought it mistaking it for a bottle of white wine. By the time we went to meet our friends, I knew exactly what I was saying in my head, but any declaration I made was maet with confused, blank stares. Eventually someone asked what I'd drunk, I explained the bottle and logo, and then their faces brightened knowingly and added 'ahhh that'll be soju'.

Since then I've refrained from drinking it neat and drinking it with a mixer instead. The only time we do drink it neat now is when at a BBQ, washed down with Cass. Tasha and I had a crowd of Koreans around us when we sat outside at a restaurant in Haeundae, every time we downed a shot of soju, roll up for the freaky waygook attempting to drink this native Korean drink that's probably good for stamina. (Just like every other Korean food is).

We've found a bar in Nampo that does an amazing strawberry soju cocktail, with a cute youn waitress who shuffles around in her flip flops that are 5 sizes too big and bellows 'I LOVE YOU! WELCOME TO KOREA' Whenever you leave the bar.  Soju has also created many funny memories for us so far in Korea, especially when someone is around to record the consequences...see the video below.

Many a night has been spent in KSU, sat outside Family Mart, having a swift bottle of soju if the night's not turning out as planned. This is one thing I will definitely miss when I move home, and I will never fail to have a little respect for the old guys in Korea that down Soju like it's a bottle of Perrier water, like a boss!

Here's to hopefully another great weekend filled with good friends and happy memories at Boryeong Mud Festival, powered by soju!

Letters from Home

It's always nice to receive little notes from home. I was really happy to get Leigh's note, updating us on all the news from home, including how the Sheffield Steel Rollergirls are doing. I miss everyone alot, but love that I can keep an eye on what they're upto on Facebook. The Crucibelles recently went over to play the Dublin team and won by 2 points, it sounds like an ace game.

She also sent some Werther's Originals which are one of my absolute favourites and I always get addicted to them. I think I managed to eat nearly the whole packet as I was reading the other night...ooops.

She also sent some Bart Simpson fart putty which the kids at school will probably love.

There's nothing better than coming home from work to find a note from home waiting for you. I have a pile of letters that I have written back to people but just haven't posted yet. All the news is probably really out of date now, but they will be on the silver bird back to the UK soon!

Our weekend

Maybe a bit too much support for the roller
derby team going on here...

This weekend I wasn't feeling too upbeat after the news from home and with being sick for a few days, so didn't really do much at all. On Friday night we went for some food at this little restaurant in PNU. It has an amazing outside area that feels like it's almost on the set of India Jones. There are lots of dimly lit corners you can find to sit in, and the trees around the restaurant are very over grown so it feels like you're sat in the jungle, rather than the second biggest city in South Korea.

After a few makgeollis there we went to the Ha Ha Hole in Soultrane in PNU to watch a friend do his stand up. He was really funny (I don't mean to sound so surprised). It was a nice change to take it a little easier than usual, especially as I was feeling so delicate.

Saturday I got up early and ran some errands and then went for some late lunch with friends, before heading home to nap and try and find the next episode of The Wire to watch. There was a big fundraiser for the orphanage at The Wolfhound, an Irish bar in Haeundae which we went to. It had been put on by the gaelic football team and it was soooo unbelievably busy. We eventually got so hot that we went to drink for a while at the beach, then headed back later to meet our friends.

Sunday I had a really really lazy day, I didn't get out of bed until 2, went into Dokcheon and had an amazing salad, followed by a really good kiwi juice, then went to the DVD Bang to watch Toy Story 3. I'm not sure if I've mentioned the DVD Bang on here before, but it's basically a video shop where you also rent a room out with a massive bed/seatee where you can just lounge around and watch the film. It's amazing. I hadn't seen Toy Story 3 before, but I had been warned how sad it was. I don't know if it was because of my mood but I was really not prepared for it!! I was so thankful to Bonnie in the end though! Phew!

I'm starting to like PNU more and more though, it's always alot more relaxed night, and I think when we all go together it's really nice to be somewhere where you can have a chat and a dance. I felt a little more rested than usual on Monday morning though, and went to my first Korean class last night! I'm going to be fluent soon, I just know it!!

At Soultrane in PNU

The Pirate Bar

Tasty Kimchi Pajeon that would be even better
without the tentacles

Dan doing his stand up at PNU

Friday Favourite V12: Compliments

At the end of every week I'm going to write down one thing I love about Korea. Last week it was Coupling and here is this week's... .

The other day I walked into a classroom of 5th grade boys. The cutest boy walked upto my desk and from behind his floppy man bangs he looked at me with big brown eyes and said 'Teacher, you're so pretty". I'd love for the story to end there but, after being here a few months, I've now become well aware of the fact that most compliments you receive tend to have a not-so-hidden agenda. He closed the sentence with "...game?" and looked at me expectantly with big puppy eyes.

I mumbled maybe and sent him back to his seat. As I handed out the worksheet for the lesson I noticed the boys whispering amongst themselves. It was only when I heard them count 'One, two three...' that I knew there was some massive conspiracy against me that was about to happen.

'PRETTY TEACHER GAME!" They started chanting. I don't know if I should feel mad that these compliments are so throw away, but I find it hilarious. I never hear them use this tactic on the Korean co-teachers, so I don't know if it's because they think I'm soft, or whether they genuinely believe all westerners have a massive ego that likes to be fed.

As mentioned earlier, I have been here a few months now, so I'm not as much of a celebrity as I first was. The kids don't pull my face close to them to stroke my 'high nose' or 'oooh and ahhh' at the colour of my eyes anymore, the gifts, sticky and warm from the kids' pockets have almost dwindled away. Yet these compliments are fired in both mine and Tasha's direction numerous times in one day.

'Teacher, today your hair looks like rice. I love rice. Rice is nice...Game?" Umm...okay.
'Teacher you're so smart, you're so clever...game?"

Yet, it seems as though the adults haven't noticed the advantages they could get from complimenting people, and just shoot them at you, without wanting anything in return. The music teacher here seems enchanted with us and tries in broken English and the power of mime to get her message across. It usually has something to do with the size of our eyes. Apparently our faces are small too, I never realised that was supposed to be a compliment until I learnt that many Koreans have a fat face complex due to their bone structure. Strange.

Tasha has had to request a male escort to buy hotteok as the man serving her just couldn't stop saying 'Oh My God, Oh My God' at her to the point where it did start to feel a little creepy.

At school it is often at the expense of the other teachers that we get these compliments too. When learning how to compare, my Korean coteacher told the kids to compare us to each other, with very awkward consequences. The kids love nothing better than pointing out to the homeroom teachers, who are like the alpha males of the school, how much taller I am than them. Slightly uncomfortable.

Most of the time the kids are cute enough to not really need to compliment to get what they want, if I hear them trying their hardest to talk to me in English then I'm a bit of a sucker. And hearing their inventive ways of getting what they want never fails to cheer me up, no matter how insincere.

But I think this idea that cuteness and complimenting gets them far is something that viewed as agreeable in Korea,especially for the girls both young and old, and I guess they're just getting some practice in early.

Here's a video showing Korean Aegyo - the skill of being cute to get what you want and I think the girl in the video is already cute to start with.

June

We're already a few days into the new month, which quite amusingly is printed as Jury on our calendar at school. We're absolutely whizzing towards the half way point of our first year in Korea.

Following on from Baskin Robbins being mentioned as one of my Friday Favourites, I decided to give it up for a month. It wasn't actually as hard as I thought it might be, mainly because I replaced B&R with all different kinds of street food that I've been brave enough to try. In the last month I've become a little obsessed with pajeon, hotteok and bibimbap. We've found loads of lovely little restaurants that I can't wait to go back to and try more of now that I am starting to get my head around the food, and the menus.

Speaking of food, I ate in the company of not just the lovely cats at the With Cat cat cafe in KSU this month, but I ventured upto Jangsan to see if the puppy cafe was anything to write home about. It wasn't really, but it did inspire me to finish the dog blog which I'd been planning for a while.

Even though it's getting hotter and hotter here, the weather hasn't been so great, which means alot less time has been spent beach napping. Although we did head to Haeundae beach for the Sand Festival where I saw some of the biggest sand sculptures that I've ever seen. It was also nice to have the roller derby girls in Busan this weekend and having probably the most laid back practise I've ever been to. I also attempted to go to a yoga session on the beach but was distracted by the proximity of Beached Bar, so ended up going for a few drinks and some chips instead. So, so good!

We tried a few new nights out, including Choryang Chinatown, Crossroads and Soultrane at PNU, the Fix lounge at Dongnae and Club Elune at Haeundae. The latter two being mainly Korean clubs so it was quite funny to see the type of reaction we got when we walked in. We also went to watch the Korean's take on metal at Club Realize in KSU, I don't know how they're so energetic and manage to wave their heads around so vigorously in the heat.

The highlight of this month for me was definitely visiting Soyang Orphanage. Some of the children there were so heartbreakingly sweet, it was hard to say bye to them. I was also really upset to have missed the talk at PNU by a North Korean defector, but luckily Tasha made it and could tell me all about it.

I became the proud owner of my first Konglish tshirt, we hit the markets a few times to scope out some vintage things, and instead I came back with some amazingly cheap dresses. I need to find someone who is willing to do the Korean trend of coupling with me whilst wearing a tshirt showing some ridiculous Konglish. Also, in the underground market I thought that I had managed to lose my purse, I spent a whole week of my life trying to get it back again, and then it magically turned up in the boys toilet at school...very strange.

This next month I'm hoping to hear news that my Grandad is out of hospital, and mostly looking forward to a well earned week off from teaching. Roll on Summer.

Currently...

                    I got this blog inspiration from one of my favourite blogs, Sometimes Sweet.

I'm currently...

Thinking alot about my Grandad. I've just been told he's in the hospital at the moment. I really hope that he is feeling a little brighter soon and might be able to make it home. It's times like this that it's tough being so far away from home.

Watching this weekend we went to watch the The Amazing Spiderman. It wasn't as good as I had hoped, although I loved Andrew Garfield in it, and I'm a massive fan of Emma Stone too, although i think she should bring back the red or dark barnet.

Obsessing over watching the next season of The Wire. I know I'm slow on the uptake of it, the first season is 10 years old now, but I loved every minute of it and I can't wait until I get the time to watch Series 2. Also if you see my previous post I'm still obsessing over Stumbleupon and Pinterest!

Eating Werther's Original with a creme filling. They're immense. All thanks to the lovely Leigh. You should read her blog Doll Parts. I also had the most amazing pizza at a restaurant in Seomyeon, just near American Apparel and can't wait to eat there again.

Looking Forward to starting Korean classes next Monday. It'll be nice to actually be able to do some basic things in Korean, although every day I find that i'm understanding more and more. I'm also looking forward to trying a few more jimjilbangs in the next couple of weeks after a luxurious trip to Spa Land again on Sunday night. Also the weekend, summer break and the Boryeong Mudfest in a few weeks.

Laughing about the fact that we're still such a novelty at Korean clubs. This weekend we went to the Club Fix Lounge in Dongnae where very few other foreigners venture. As soon as we walked in the girls gathered around us and if anything the difficult conversations we have in broken English are endearing. One girl that took a particular shining to us kept thrusting this strange flashing red baton into our hand and trying to shove us onto the tiny stage. She also got the help of her male friend to try and pick me up and put me on the stage when i refused, which only ended very messily as i flailed so much he dropped me and I managed to kick my shoe off across to the other side of the room...By the end of the night it was funny to see the girls peering off over our shoulder and looking very doey eyes toward the guys, I think they may have been after a few English classes!

Reading One Day by David Nicholls. I'm a bit mixed on this, I saw the movie before I saw the book, so I think knowing what's going to happen in the book means I'm not 100% motivated to finish it, yet at the same time want to get it done so that I can move onto the long reading list I have building up.

Perplexed by the fact my purse turned up yesterday. It had been in the boys toilets at school for the last two weeks, and when I looked inside, absolutely everything was still there. Very strange if you ask me...

New Obsession

I've spent alot of time at my desk recently looking at this site. You tell it what you love, click the button and it'll find you a website it thinks suits you. Sometimes it can be horribly wrong, and other times it's pretty mediocre, but every now and then it shows me something I absolutely love.

My productivity at school has definitely gone down since stumbling on this site.

Does anyone want to buy me this in silver or this?

Will anyone take me here to this pink lake, or for a ride on this carousel?

I really love this tattoo.