Seoul International Friendship Day 2010

I went out this nice Saturday weekend with a friend who informed me about this year’s Seoul International Friendship Day. I saw how this event turned out last year and it has been such a fun and memorable event, so it’s never really that hard to check out what’s in store for everyone this time around. The weather was so good today, too. It would be too sick to just stay at home.

It was held at the same venue as last year (Seoul City Hall)-- in that outdoor area in front of the Seoul Hotel Plaza. As usual, a lot of booths were set up though I must say that it has doubled this year. Unlike the previous year when each country had just one booth to showcase everything (food, clothes, handicrafts, etc), this year’s event provided for each country two separate booths for food and non-food (clothes, accessories, handicrafts, etc.) items.

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An Authentic Seollal Family Gathering

Koreans do spend time with their families, too.
And may even invite non-members to the kin, you know =)

The Koreans and the Chinese celebrate the lunar new year on the same day, but Koreans call their first day of the lunar year as Seollal (설날). It's one of the biggest holidays in South Korea and they are spent with lots of food and quality time with the family.

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Happy 25th or 27th, your call.

Unlike last year when I went panicky on how to go about in celebrating my birthday outside the country for the first time, I was more willing to let my 25th year on earth today pass by just like any ordinary day. I wasn’t as excited as how I would normally be, recalling the 23 times that I have celebrated it in the Philippines. And I have my reasons: (1) instant pre-occupation with life and work in South Korea, and (2) acceptance of the difference in birthday norms here and my home country.

I remember sharing my February-4 birthday last year with my male housemate, lucky that the moon told him to take that date, too. For this year though, my housemate’s birthday has moved away to a later date, which I think as of writing, he still has not quite figured out when.

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The New Year 2010 Post

Again, sorry for the lame title.

I am still wheezing my lungs out as I write this, having traveled from a hot afternoon in the Philippines to a freezing evening in South Korea four hours after. See how suddenly contradicting a person’s life could turn just like that? Here I am now in front of my laptop, contacting my parents via Yahoo messager to tell them that I got back safely to my residence here in South Korea. It’s just weird to think that how I am quietly coiled back to my room in Seoul right now actually feels like I have been this way all my life, when just four hours ago and the two weeks before that, I was sanely back to how I have always REALLY been... un-claustrophobic and more able to gas out from my always-laughing mouth. Put simply, back to my old, distinguishable self. Hahaha.

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My Back-to-Pinas Christmas

How does it really feel like going home for the holidays in the Philippines? Okay, it’s not like I have been in and out of the country for ten or twenty years to fully capture this whole “homecoming” and “balikbayan” feeling, but I sure have my personal regard for this sappy home-country longings and returns…

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

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On Speedy Korean Weddings

One of the very first adjectives that I came up with to describe my first few months of stay in South Korea was QUICK— quick, quick, quick on anything! Quick subway travel time, quick (brisk) walking of people on the streets, quick (rushed) polishing of any kind of work. Everything seems to be done in some speed above the normal. But when I said anything, I never thought they wouldn’t spare weddings. Yes, weddings! Weddings where even that simple walk in the aisle by the bride would normally take some time and a couple of yawns from guests already. That of course, had you been in the Philippines. But here? Hell no!

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Saint Patrick's Day in Seoul

I’m of course far from being any breed of Irish (come on), but just the same, my housemate and I spent this afternoon going nosey over at Marronier Park in Hyehwa-dong to witness Saint Patrick’s Day celebration here in Seoul. I read about it in the papers during the week, and the news was just in time for my usual brew on weekend activities to try out. Woohoo!

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Birthday Post

I know. Such a lame title above. Ha-ha.

“Are you at work today?”
“Yeah. I’m chatting with you in the office.”
“Tell everybody that it’s your birthday, so you can make it even for a half-day leave. Tell them it’s the Philippine working culture.”

And all I can do is hold back the giggles. “I am at the office”, I had to remind myself.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

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Snowy Christmas Party with Geniuses

It was snowing a great deal when I woke up with a pair of heavy eyes this day, getting ready to meet up with a friend at Itaewon for a Christmas party. I obviously slept late the night before, and my friend has apparently been sending me text messages a few hours before ten in the morning, when I forced myself up.

I then just remembered. A few weeks prior to this, an office colleague shared to me how the first snow of the winter season is a special day that most Korean couples look forward to, for they treat the first great snowfall of the year as THE giant mistletoe where they can “kiss”, and spend such sweet moments together. FINE!

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The Great Christmas Hope

Who says Korea is not much into bright lights and holiday greetings for the Christmas season? Then hug this early banner. I got surprisingly excited when I saw these lighted words on a Friday November night in Myeongdong— a popular fashion district here in Seoul. Hope suddenly crept into me: Yes, Christmas this year may be far from home, but it’s going to be fine. I’ll get by.

And get that: The greeting already has a pre-wedding cheer for everyone. Haha-- BEST WISHES!

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The Drunkard-- Korean Style

Two things that stuck in me about Koreans, as per stories shared by people back in the Philippines:

1.) Koreans are such workaholics.
2.) Korean men drink a lot.

And well...

Hehe. Okay, to tell you honestly, I don't know why that man has made such comfort in one of those subway station benches, but my, I could just immediately think of one thing: The guy's drunk. Haha.

In the few weeks that I have been here in Korea, I would like to think that I can be witness to how Korean men really enjoy inhaling alchohol. There sure have been dinners spent with colleagues, especially in the few days after we arrived here, and I must say that these men may work their asses out in front of their computers for eight to even ten hours a day, but when they let loose and party, they do mean HARD CORE bar hopping. They get out at seven in the evening, eat dinner and drink beer, sing their lungs out in videoke rooms and drink beer, then have another round in another bar with pure talk and beer. Way to go! Haha.

END OF POST. NO MORE

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Thanksgiving Buggers

Korea is celebrating one of its anticipated holidays from today until Monday. Chuseok or Hangawi is Korean’s very own version of the American Thanksgiving, and this is most emphasized by the time that these Koreans set to visit their ancestral hometowns and feast on the abundant harvest with the family.

As for new expats like me, with just a little over a month of stay here, I had to suffice myself with the goodies that the company gave each employee for the holiday—- a box full of ORION chips and cookies and biscuits to feel the spirit of the occasion. I have no family here to celebrate the holiday with.

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