Hei everyone. This was a restful and remarkably uneventful week. I truly don't have much to say about it. If you choose to read this post and are super bored, well, I warned you in advance! If you're looking for riveting content and exciting Korean shenanigans, abandon ship now!
If you're still with me, I'm going to be posting every other week from now on, since I can foresee this happening more regularly now. My honeymoon phase with Korea is over, and I'm ready to settle in a little bit more. Some things of note did happen this week: I finally got my Alien Registration Card (ARC) on Thursday. The photo of me that they put on it makes me look like a femme fatale from film noir. Which is to say that it doesn't look like me very much. Since I finally had my ARC, I went to the bank and got a debit card. I don't have to pay for everything with cash anymore! And I can send money back home to pay student loans. At the bank, the song "Requiem" from Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind was playing. One thing I did do was listen to a lot of music. The walk to and from work affords me an hour or two each day, and it's been wonderful. Maybe this blog will become a review of music! I could have weekly themes. This one would probably be jazz or metal. I played albums by various jazz artists like Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong. Snarky Puppy's upbeat album groundUP. A couple Rush albums like 2112 and A Farewell to Kings. And then a bunch of metal like Scale the Summit's album The Collective, Thank You Scientist's album Stranger Heads Prevail, and The Contortionist's album Language. If you end up listening to any of these for the first time, please let me know what you think! And maybe recommend some music. On Saturday, there was a farmer's market just outside my apartment. There were people at booths selling exactly what you would expect: jewelry, household knickknacks, clothing, produce. They had a live DJ playing music, too. Then I hopped on the train and went to dance class (which is when I listened to all that jazz). After class, Anis was kind enough to invite me to his birthday party, so I joined him and his friends for Korean barbecue in Hongdae. And well, that's the end! I don't even have any pictures! Hopefully I'll acquire some interesting content over the next fortnight. See you later, everyone. :)
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Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! I hope you spent it with good people and ate way too much food. Make sure to let your loved ones know that they're appreciated. Hug them extra tight for me.
As for me, I'm going to start this post by thanking my parents! They have some incredible parenting skills. Seriously, if you need help, go ask those two. They're experts. And it must be a transferable skill because they're also really good at raising kittens! From what I can figure out from seeing them raise kittens, the key seems to be a combination of cuddling, pestering, and constantly throwing them into new situations. Thank you for teaching me to work hard and play/relax afterwards. And for sharing vital life lessons with me, like:
Okay. The blog proper: On Sunday, Trevor and I summited Suraksan. The first quarter of the journey was a steep stone staircase set in the middle of a dense forest that made my legs burn and my heart pound in my ears. Thankfully, the path gradually became less steep and opened onto a tree-lined ridge that dropped straight down on either side. The tree roots leaped out of the ground and dove back into it. They stuck out at odd angles and we had to be very careful of our footwork so we didn't trip over them. The last quarter of the hike was the most strenuous and involved scrambling over boulders using our arms and legs and brains. The final stretch had a handrail of thick steel cable and the rock we were walking on had footholds worn (or carved) into it (picture below). At the top, we rested, ate snacks, and drank in the view. We were high above the sprawling city. The mountains around us looked like sleeping dragons covered by thick green blankets of trees. They sat stoic and silent while the wind danced around noisily. The sun was warm. The breeze cooled our faces. The ledge we sat on was precipitous and made the butterflies in my stomach fly off in every direction like a flock of birds when you run at them. As we made our descent, the sun started to set and the forested mountainside was bathed in gold. Then it was back to work. I listened to Gavin Castleton's album Home during my walks there. A student gave me a whiteboard marker! My co-workers and I went out to an arcade and then for Korean barbecue in Nowon. Trivia Time: In case you've never heard of it before, Korean barbecue is "the popular method in Korean cuisine of grilling meat, typically beef, pork, or chicken. Such dishes are often prepared on gas or charcoal grills built into the dining table itself." They bring you raw meat, and you cook it yourself using a large grill in the centre of the table. It's a very hands-on and social way to eat dinner. This week I wanted to get back into rock climbing, so I began researching Seoul's climbing gyms and stumbled upon a great blog that described the wall I was most interested in. Since I didn't have any climbing partners, I decided to reach out to the woman who wrote it... and I received a reply! After some emailing, we arranged to meet up on Saturday at The North Face climbing gym. Her name is Mai (pronounced like "my", not "May") and she's an incredibly interesting and kind person. We're currently the same skill level and I'm excited to improve with her. For an excellent description of the gym, check out Mai's blog! Although the gym is big, nice, and close to home, I still prefer the route setting in Canada. I don't think they wash the holds often enough here and they almost exclusively use the hand holds as foot holds, so they get really greasy. And the movement doesn't feel quite as intuitive or have a smooth flow. But we saw Kim Jain at the gym! She recently won the IFSC World Cup, so Mai went up and congratulated her. On the train ride home, I saw a guy wearing a hoodie that had a red maple leaf on it and said, "We should all be Canadian". 🍁 :3 After a quick lunch and some episodes of FMA:B, I was off again - this time to go swing dancing. I typically stand on the train and people-watch and listen to music; there isn't much of a view because it's usually underground. Then I felt the train begin to pick up speed and it suddenly burst out of the darkness of the subway into the bright afternoon light. The sun glittered on the river and N-Seoul Tower stood majestically in the distance. My jaw actually fell open. If I had given my route even the barest glance, I would have seen that I had to cross the river on Cheongdam Bridge. But I didn't and I think the view was that much better for being so unexpected. I disembarked at Nonhyeon station, which is near Gangnam, and it was spacious and elegant (picture below). My destination was called The Holic, which turned out to be a brightly-lit basement studio with wood floors and a mirror-covered wall. I connected immediately with a girl wearing deathly hallows earrings (thank you, J.K. Rowling) and she introduced me to other dancers. Everyone watched the graduation performances and then spent the next two or three hours dancing together. What can I say? Everyone was unbelievably welcoming and sweet. I've found a very special community. And I signed up for beginner Lindy hop lessons! If you end up visiting me in Seoul, you can bet your bottom won that I'm taking you out dancing. That's all for this week. Thanks for (virtually) joining me on these adventures. I hope to see some of you face to face sooner rather than later. :) |
AuthorAshley is a Canadian teaching English in South Korea. Although between the Korean, swing dancing, and general life skills, she's probably learning more than she's teaching. Archives
June 2019
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