Things have been a bit crazy at work this last week- not too much I can do, but eh. Mostly it's been a lot of remodeling- my desk's been switched with that of the expat teacher in front of me, and they've generally been playing musical desks with everyone else. Apparently this is something they do at the office every six months or so, changing everything up. Just office micromanaging in action, I guess!
And on top of that, we had a field trip on Thursday. Which took me a bit by surprised, as I had it written down...somewhere, but I completely forgot about it 'til I got to school. Pleasant surprise, too- as not only did we take a field trip, but the kids watched a movie for the rest of the day, so I didn't even have to teach 'til later in the afternoon. Slick!
Of course, I wasn't able to take any pictures, as I forgot my camera, but eh. There honestly wasn't too much to take pictures OF. They took the kids to the Korean Securities Depository. Which, admittedly, had a museum on one floor, but still. Strikes me as an odd place to take a bunch of 6-7 year olds. I'm pretty sure the school picked this museum 'cause it was close more than anything, but still. The kids at least paid attention to the girl giving the KSD talk.
Of course, her talk- along with all of the exhibits- was entirely in Korean. So I just got to hang around and look at the occasional stock certificate or document they had on display. Made me wonder if that's what it's like for the kids whenever I'm talking to them in English. Hm. Even still, it was an enjoyable way to spend a day!
Which brings us to this weekend! I was considering hitting up a rock & roll show on Friday night- but I decided against it, as I was still getting over the last of that cold- not to mention the last Friday of every month is a ZOO in Hongdae. So next time!
But, on Saturday, I got in contact with some mutual acquaintances (read: internet people) and decided to get out of my apartment. Headed into Seoul again, at which point I met up with a handful of other expats, and we all hiked up Nansam mountain.
Nansam mountain's in the middle of Seoul, however, and fairly well developed. Honestly, it was less of a hike and more of a walk- I mean, it was concrete steps the whole way up. Which didn't mean it was EASY, as...well, it had a lot of damn steps. Didn't have to do any bouldering to get to the top, either.
The view was...well, nice-ish, but I still like the Gwanaksan mountain hike better. The top of Nansam mountain is really built up- there's various resturants, lookout points, a small plaza, and so on. Had some guys doing tae kwon do demonstrations- unfortunately, we didn't know when they were gonna do a proper exhibition, so we headed off before we could see them do much more than swing some sticks around and what have you.
Another interesting thing about Nansam mountain is...the locks. Lots and lots of locks. Y'see, there's apparently a tradition for couples to hike up the mountain (or maybe just take the cable car) at which point they clamp a lock onto the fence, and throw away the key. Symbol of their unbreakable love (or the inescapabilitly of it).It was honestly ridiculous, as there must've been a good 50 yards of fence decked out like this.
Which led to us musing over the locks themselves- I mean, what if you just used a cheap little lock? Or a combination lock? Or heck, I even saw a couple of cable locks, which had chains of other locks hanging off of them- were those ones for the polygamists? Who knows!
In any case, we headed back down the mountain, got a bit to eat, and then split up. Having a little bit of time before I felt like heading home, I returned to Yongsan, determined to see the REAL market this time. And, after a bit of searching, I managed to find the real deal! Neato.
It...honestly looked a lot like the electronics market I went to last week. Huh. Though it did have a bit more in the way of grubby character- that's where they had the bootleg movie stalls. Though poking around through those was a bit disappointing, I fear. As anyone who knows me can attest, I'm big into...well, cultish movies. Whereas the bootleg dealers had mostly mainstream stuff. This included stuff that's in the theaters right now, such as The Mechanic, or that Battle: Los Angeles movie. They had a pretty big selection of Korean movies, at least- but given I have pretty much no knowledge of Korean cinema, I didn't get anything.
The video game angle wasn't too impressive either- lots of modern stuff (which looked to be legit), which is fine...but none of the older, more interesting stuff. One guy had some old N64 games (in Korean, even!) but he was the exception to the rule. Really, I'm sure you could find a better selection of stuff back in the States by hitting up Slackers or Vintage Vinyl. Furthermore, it was getting late once I got there, and most of the bootleggers were packing up. Ah well! Thus, I decided to call it an early night and headed home. I know, I'm so boring.
Today, I'm being even MORE boring- just hanging around. Did some grocery shopping earlier today, and I'm probably going to start cooking some proper food very soon. I thought about visiting one of the big palaces today- but I'm hearing that it might get kinda crappy later in the afternoon. That, and I've puttered around enough already that I wouldn't have enough time to take it all in.
So that's what you guys get to see next week! Unless I get distracted by something shinier first.
No comments:
Post a Comment