Last night, riding home on the subway, I was looking forward to sitting down and writing a fresh new post, bursting with all the thoughts that were on my mind last night. unfortunately, the powers that be saw fit to lock my office hallway. Now I'm writing this the morning after, and I'm having trouble remembering exactly what I was going to talk about, so instead, you're going to have to settle for fresh pix! I said i would get these up someday. Truth be told, I haven't taken nearly as many pictures as I would have liked so far, and there's a few reasons for that. Part of it is me feeling slightly uninspired and not liking anything I shoot lately, another part is me just wanting to take in everything i see for myself before I start worrying about how best to shoot it. The longer I am here though, the more I learn how much I have yet to see and learn about, which makes me want to start taking pictures again, so maybe this problem will fix itself soon.
The first pic is from this little booth they have near Busan tower in nampodong, basically like a free photo booth, and then it emails you your pic...pretty sweet right? The second pic is the streets of nampodong market, the third is a random garden on the side of a mountain road. I have no clue how the people tending it got up there (aside from hopping the guardrail). Next up we have some random tiki-like statues on that same mountain road, followed by a driving range tucked away in between the shipyards and a mountain.Upon seeing the next photo, you may say to yourself "Holy smokes! Nazi's in South Korea?!?" As it turns out, the swastika is actually an ancient Hindu symbol for peace and harmony, or something along those lines. Only slightly ironic. The next is Alvin in nampdong market once again. This was the first time we went, but I've been back many times since. It's a pretty cool area of town. The last one is the sunrise view from my apartment.
One of the more noticeable differences in culture so far has been the fashion. For men, high water pants and satchels (hand bags, for less progressive readers) are totally acceptable here, and really quite common. I don't mind legitimate satchels, but i draw the line at straight up purses, which i have also seen men carry. I'm actually tempted to get one...at which point you would probably say "ahh dude...that's totally gay," but trust me, it isn't. It's actually really useful when you don't want to carry around a backpack everywhere. That's not saying I would use it back in the states though. One huge difference in women's fashion is how much of a staple skirts and high heels are here. To me, this is nothing but awesome. That's all I have to say about that...for now.
One last note...I finally did karaoke the other night ( known as a norii-bang here, at least I'm pretty sure that's how it's spelled). Turns out it's awesome, just like I expected. Favorite song of the night - "I believe in a thing called Love." The title of the post comes from two places - one being that I sang that song for karaoke...the second being that birthdays/ages are all messed up here (at least from a western perspective). You're age is determined by what year you were born in, and everyone in that year is the same age. You are 1 when you are born, and turn a year older at the lunar new year. So by Korean standards...at the lunar new year I'll turn 24... To me...not very accurate...but...whatever...That's why I came here i guess...to see a different perspective.
Now Listening To:
"Josie"
Blink-182
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