Election campaign in Korea: a photo blog

*Scheduled post*

I wish to blog about this on the eve or on the day of election. But I was too busy aka too lazy to do so, so I only drafted this post a moment ago :P

Originally intended to write a serious post about it and post it in my "academic blog", but now I decide to make it a light one and post this in my, you name it, the procrastination blog. XD

On May 29th 2010

One of the annoying campaign vans that made their stops right outside of our officetel and woke us up in case we overslept. Thank you so much, Seoul mayor's candidates.

On May 30th 2010

Another one near our officetel.

On May 31st 2010:

A

And another. This one parked by the roadside (and hey, it's a yellow line there!). With the candidate's cheer-leading team consisted of ajossis and ajjummas, sometimes young guys and ladies too, they lined up in front of their van or truck and start singing, shouting slogans, repeat the candidate's song over and over again, and the candidate would shake hands with passer-bys and so on.

B

A guy in black suit (probably a businessman around the the area) snapping photos.

C

So as the crowds across the street who were waiting for the traffic light turned green. 

And also people like me snapping from our residential unit, haha.

On 1st June 2010:

A

Another candidate.

B

It was driving very slowly.

C

I'm not sure why is this van so clean and white. Campaigning for a clean government? LOL

D

This van didn't make a stop like the previous one, but drove slowly on the road. So we can see how pissed was the black car behind it while the other smart drivers drove to the other side of the lane to avoid the blockage or slow traffic on the "campaign lane".

Some other days in Seoul Special City:

The banners at the City Hall reconstruction site.

On some building

Candidate 1 on Seoul Press Building. 

His banner could be hung on this tall building because... he was the incumbent Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon.

Oh Se-hoon of the ruling Grand National Party was re-elected as Seoul Mayor. The first incumbent to be elected for the second time. 

Wow, that's some achievement isn't it? See the identical smiling face to his poster after the razor-thin win over an opponent (the first female mayor candidate---I wished she had won and made history) HERE.

Local election is nationwide in Korea, so mayors, governors, councilors and education chiefs (wow) were holding their campaigns in every cities and provinces in Korea at the same time. (Source: Arirang---> click on the link to read about the early report on the election day and the interview between Seoul mayor candidates and Arirang, Korea's Global TV.)  

Snapped this when passing by the region between Jinju and Namhae on tour bus.

This was when I realized the election is not restricted to Seoul Mayor election but nationwide.

Near Ssangye temple, Hadong, South Kyongsang (or Gyeongsang) Province.

Inside Jeonju Hanok Village, right outside of Pungnam Gate of Gyeonggijeon, LOL. Blasting the candidate's song, a rendition of a classical song widely known in East Asia, which I know is available in Taiwanese Minnan language.

This is the only election campaign we bumped into while on the tour. If they were going to spam all touristic sites we would be very pissed, LOL.

Photos are copyrighted by me.

Overseen in Seoul: PDA in Korea

PDA as in public display of affection, not personal digital assistant ;)

At the fountain in front of General Yi statue on Sejongno, on election day (Wednesday, a public holiday).

A lovely pair of mum and daughter.

They knew I was snapping photos of them :p

I never took the show of affection among the Korean families seriously, until a fellow Anthropologist-Sociologist friend tells me about it. After some observation, I realized their public display of affection (PDA) is truly more apparent than other Northeast Asian countries.

Korean couple

Korean couple 2

Korean couples have never been shy of showing their affections and intimacy in the public. When they walk on the street you will always see one of the guy's arms around their girl friend's shoulder or waist and another vacant one holding each other's hand, or the girl clinging or leaning on the boyfie/fiance/hubby's arm. And when they're not walking (i.e. waiting for the traffic lights; resting under a tree, hanging out in a park etc), they will hold/stroke each other's face, patting on the head, kissing, and display their lovey-dovey publicly. I only show the moderate ones here because on ethical ground it's better for me to mosaic the intimate couples' faces but I'm lazy to do that. And yeah, I've been shamelessly photographing couples, with hope to get some nice love-themed photographs... without permission.

It's surprised to find how mushy the guys are :)

Including this lovely ajossi who fanned his lovely wife at Jogyesa during the Buddha's birthday celebration :)

Victory Korea

I didn't bother to watch the girl bands' World Cup MVs because they look ridiculous on the thumbnails. This one by Super Juniors caught my eyes in the major red outfits and the Dae-Han-Min-Guk wording on their T-shirts. More about what is attractive about the T-shirts after the video:



Dae-Han-Min-Guk is the name of Republic of Korea in their native language. It literally means the "great Korean nation (state)". What intrigues me is the use of Hanja (aka Chinese character 漢字) for the first word "Dae" which means "great". Why not using their hangul (Korean language/alphabet) that they are so proud of consistently in printing/spelling the name? Instead of 대한민국, they use 大한민국. Well, actually they do have all-hanja name: 大韓民國. Despites the little mystery in the use of word, I have to say the T-shirt looks very good and I bet my red-color-loving friends would love these T-shirts, or, the tank top XD
Or love it for the sake of Super Juniors, LOL. 


By the way I like the fact that they use their famous "Sorry Sorry" dance moves in this World Cup song (for people who click on the link to watch the MV, prepare your stomach for the pronunciation of the word "Sorry" XD). I can imagine the other girl bands are incorporating their famous dance moves in their World Cup songs as well^^ And yeah, imagine how funny/irony it is: if they lose, they can blame the 'sorry' dance moves that is incorporated into the 'victory' song, hahaha.

I admit that I like the beats of this song but when I attempted to listen to it for the second time I started to find I don't really like it. May be it is because of the typical-all-nation-craze-patriotism portrayal in the first half of the PV that got me, haha.

Okay, now I'm gotta off to study about Korean strategic issues instead of Korean pop culture.

Reading in Starbucks?

While I was still residing in Kuala Lumpur I heard from my friend about how tranquil and artsy (a high class feeling? LOL) to read a favorite novel or book in Starbucks, sipping coffee and enjoying the classic music played in the background.

Typical Malaysian coffee shop, "Kedai Kopi" or "Kopi Tiam"

(Photo source: ChanChiewSoo's blog)

Starbucks is overpriced in Malaysia and practical people like me never sees sipping a cup of coffee which is less tasteful than local coffee shops but with the price 5 to 10 times greater (no kidding). I only went to Starbucks for the first time at the age of 25 (I'm a dinosaur) with my best friend who happened to settle down in KL and also because we had not seen each other for ages.

Chocolate Lounge at Southern Cross Station, Melbourne

I never visit any Starbucks in Melbourne because this is a city known for its awesome cafés and coffee culture so we rather enjoy a tea or coffee with friends in some nice Italian or simply Aussie cafés. I believe Starbucks is not happening in Melbourne^^

So now, here I am, in Seoul, very surprised to see American franchise mushrooming at almost every corner of the downtown streets. After being treated to a coffee at Starbucks by chance some weeks ago, I realized the price is very reasonable and thought of treating myself to a read-a-book-in-Starbucks experience and see if I would like it.

On one cool, after-rain afternoon, I decided to visit the Starbucks.

Starbucks in Seoul, in between the Central governmental Complex and Sejong Art Center.

Not far away there is another Starbucks -_-"

And many other cafés with glamorous names around.

I walked in, ordered iced coffee and a piece of black forest cake, and chose a seat at the window screen (Mistake 1 and 2, see below). 

The black forest cake that has only 3 blue berries and the tasteless iced coffee because of the far too many ice cubes.

Mistake 1: Don't buy more than a coffee. Because of the inconvenience of carrying a bag with heavy book and the coffee and the cake at the same time to go upstairs, I was left with no choice to choose a seat nearby unless I risk losing my cake or coffee while walking up the stairs LOL. OK, may be this is only me.

Even a motor bike that is parked right in the middle of between two trees can make me feel "oh wow this is a cool symmetrical scene!" and prompt me to take out my camera. Si beh wu liao LOL.

Mistake 2: sitting facing the window is totally attention-distracting, so many funny things happened outside that I could not pay attention on my book. And being a photo-snapping maniac, I can't help to take out my camera when something interesting took place in front of my eyes. More photos in upcoming posts for "Overseen in Seoul" series.

Mistake 3: People talking out loud in Starbucks. I know who comes and goes around me. Asian-looking man and woman were speaking in English to my right. A beautiful OL to my left was retouching her make up and snapping photos of herself afterwards, and then she received a phone call and left. Then a bunch of ajossis sit down at the table behind me and were talking and laughing so loud that the whatever classic music that was playing in the background was drowned to mere mosquito buzzing sound.

I also realized the girl who sat next to me cannot concentrate on her book too. She later gave up the book and staring into emptiness towards my direction.

I always brought papers and pens with me so I wrote a reply letter to my friend while gave up on book-reading. So this experience is not too bad though, at last I'm not wasting my time^^

Try again?

Yes, may be! Just heard from a fellow research fellow friend that a Caffé Pascucci nearby our condo is a good place to study. So I shall give this book-reading-in-a-café another shot, and will make comparison between these 2 cafés^^

Caffé Pascucci outside of Yonsei University.

The only shot and it's blurry X_X

Until next time, xoxo

Overseen in Seoul 3

I have no idea if it is intended or unintentionally spelled that way... T_T

If not mistaken, this coffee shop is opposite of Manchester United Cafe and Olive Young beauty shop, somewhere between Jongno 3-ga and Jonggak.

On another note, check out this post and MV about a guy who makes flowers look ugly and his perfect beautiful features can make a girl cry. It's really exaggerated, I know. But this is K-pop. Sigh.

Spring in Seoul 2010

Didn't have time to update much about Spring cherry blossoms like other Korean bloggers did. Now that most cherry blossoms are no more (some are still in full bloom in some areas), only then I have time to upload the photos here T_T

All photos' copyrights by me.

At National Assembly (國會), Yeouido (汝矣島).

The "cherry blossom road" outside of the National Assembly, where the Spring festival is held.

Feel like eating the petals XD

Teacher shows the children: "this is 벚꽃". Yes, don't say "sakura" in front of the Koreans, haha. Nor "櫻花" XD

Class photo~

It's beautiful, isn't it.

Beauties with beautiful flowers.

Ajossi and ajumma also taking photos of flowers with their cellphone or camera. It's trendy to do so.

Unlike our experience in Australia, if we snap a close-up photo of flowers by the roadside or food on our plate, old gentlemen  will ask "why are you taking the photo of the flower/food?" like we're some freaks, LOL.

I'm not sure what's with magnifying the cherry trees.... o__O

But it's cool to have class outside of the classroom^^

Individual graduation photo? They even have the professional photographer to take photos of the students, how nice! 

Korean magpie 韓國喜鵲

They are in black-white-blue color, how interesting!

Wulala

Will be so busy this week that I wont have time to look at any Spring cherry blossoms anymore >_<
Nor the North Korean Freedom Week events, orz
Chasing Friday deadline, fighting!!!!

NKFW is an event that has been held annually in Washington, D.C., for the specific purpose of promoting the freedom, human rights, and dignity of the North Korean people. 

In fact, many of the North Korean defectors who have participated in NKFW in Washington, D.C. in the past, will be hosting events in Korea this year. 

This is the first time NKFW held in Seoul, Republic of Korea.

Overseen in Seoul 2

An advertisement on the bus

I have no idea what it is about so I posted it on Twitter tagging James Turnbull, ask him what it is about because I remember seeing the picture of the woman appeared in his blog. James replied me and apparently it is an anti-narcotic campaign. From what has James conveyed in his blog post, I guess the words in red on the ad means something like "Quit Smoking". What makes this ad interesting is the pink patches on each model's arm; the female model's message is “Now I’m getting married, so it’s time to quit.” (copy from James Turnbull). So I guess the one who's the boxing-glove carries message like "Be healthy, quit smoking" or something like that^^ (And I highly doubt about his triangle-shaped body, his waist is only slightly wider than the width of his face T_T Photoshopped???)

Anyway, I kinda like this advert as it is not using some plastic female model with false lashes and heavy make up with childish colorful display of fashion like most other ads do. Although I'm quite upset that some people regard the female model's face as masculine (and therefore not pretty???), but I'd say she is a nature-looking beautiful lady with no need for double eye-lid surgery. I feel comfortable looking at her, hopefully she'll appear in more ads in the future. Stay true to how majority of Northeast Asians look like, people.

Please do check out James Turnbull's The Grand Narrative, a very informative blog on Korean sociology, media studies and gender studies. He is prompt to reply as well and I thank him for clarifying my past questions :)

p/s: I highly recommend his post on Sex as Power in the South Korean Military. Follow his blog and you will get to read many great posts and writings (academic research) from him.

R.I.P Cheonan Warship victims

Yesterday's news:

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak wipes away his tears during his speech to the nation at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, Monday, April 19, 2010. Lee pledged Monday to take strong action against whoever was responsible for a mysterious explosion that sank a South Korean warship last month, amid growing speculation that North Korea may be behind the blast. (AP Photo/Yonhap, Jo Bo-hee) (Jo Bo-hee - AP)

Source: Washington Post

Today I went to National Assembly Library as usual. What is unusual about the very misty morning is the mourning messages around the National Assembly areas.

The mourning message hung on the building of National Assembly. I don't know what exactly is the message but I can read 천안 which pronounces "Cheonan".

The R.I.P. message to Cheonan victims across the road 

Today all Korean newspaper contain titles more or less like this: 침몰 천안함 함미 절단면 정밀조사 착수…남은 절차는 which roughly means "Cheonan sank and the whole country is...."

Daiso

I believe everyone would appreciate a 2-dollar shop while living in big cities with high living cost. This is Daiso (the big red hangeul displayed on top of the entrance), it is located inside of Subway Line 9 Station, National Assembly stop. You'll see it between the corridor of National Assembly exit 1 and the subway track. Each item sold in this store are between 1000~3000 won (equivalent to AUD1~AUD3), definitely a god-send^^ They sell everything from kitchen appliances, cosmetic items, stationaries, to various kinds of equipments and some cute Korean stuffs.

Overseen in Seoul

A protest held in front of Sejong Arts Center, which is next to Central Government Complex, and opposite of some ministerial buildings across the Sejongno Road.

This is the time when I wish I know more about Korean language, because I don't know what are they protesting about T_T

Police on-the-look.

I'd say police in Seoul are very efficient. They are almost everywhere and patrol every corner of the street. You will see policemen on duty every 50-100 meter, no matter which street or road you're on in Seoul City. Perhaps this gives the metropolitan citizens a sense of security (am not sure what Seoul citizens feel about this as I have not came across with any social sciences-related research or reports about this matter).
Reminds me of the time when I worked for social sciences research company and conducting interviews asking people how they perceive about the society, economy, politics, and whatnot :)

Finally, it's Spring in Seoul, 2010

The yellow one is Forsythia, at the National Assembly, Seoul.

Forsythia is the only flower in full bloom so far...and also magnolia.

Cherry trees are not fully blooming...

Better photos in full bloom next week.

Also, check out my other photos on Flickr :)

New Feelings towards Weather

I have different attitude towards different weather conditions after living in Seoul.

Malaysia used to be Okay Hot.
Australia (Melbourne) used to be Damn cruel hot in Summer and Damn Cold in Winter (not on a mountain yet).

Here is the current temperatures (2010-04-14, Wed, 6pm) for cities I've lived in on my iGoogle:

My new feeling towards my beloved homeland: Really hot.
My new feeling towards Melbourne's 15 degrees Celsius: Not so cold, actually it's quite warm.
My feeling towards Seoul (3 degree to 7 degrees Celsius during day time in early Spring): So cold it hurts my nose a lot. I actually sweat when it's 15 degrees Celsius in Seoul.

I should have brought camera out today and QingMing

Today is Abor Day in Korea. In Jongno-gu, there is a protest going on. When I was walking towards the Gwanghuamun Post Office, a group of policemen "jogged" towards my direction. When I was out of post office, they have arrested some protesters who wore yellow vest with words on it which I can't see clearly because they were surrounded by the police. And there is a guy using his handphone to record the whole thing, including when the held-protester arguing with the police.

Along the way, there were people raising fund for aged people in Korea, for UNICEF, for refugees (I think, because I am not very sure of what I've read on their banner)... and the place near the funny blue and red spiral-looking seashell-like thingy near one of the Gwanghuamun exits (see photo below, taken by hubby last month), there are "bouquets" of tree branches... which when I had a closer look at I assumed were cherry tree branches. They were wrapped in yellow plastic papers and lots of people picking them up.

On the way back to the officetel, there was a truck stopped by the roadside and making some announcements through the speakers which I don't understand. As I am typing now, I can still hear som (possibly) police car siren passed by.

What a day.

Today is also Tomb Sweeping Day (清明节 QingMing Jie) for Chinese and Vietnamese (Tết Thanh Minh). While this is a public holiday in Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau (Wiki: Mainland China only followed suit in 2008, WOW), Chinese elsewhere where it is not a public holiday should have done their tomb sweeping yesterday and today would be a memorial day for all chinese to remember our past ancestors. I only followed my parents to tomb-sweeping once, many years after my grandfather passed away in 1995, I think it's in 2001 or 2002. I am not a religious person nor a Chinese who is upholding traditional values. You can say I am branded as a "bad ass" or a bastard Chinese who does not put filial as the main value in my living philosophy which has been emphasized by Confucius since thousands of years ago...


The traditional practices and activities will die with me (and my hubby, LOL) as I won't pass it down to my kid(s), if I'm going to have any.


Peace.

Where Anglo slang terms come from

Read more to know where does bride-carrying-a-bouquet tradition come from.

Interesting facts from open tread's comments in James Turnbull's The Grand Narrative. Though he is not sure how accurate they are, they are indeed very interesting nonetheless:

WHERE DID PISS POOR COME FROM?

They used to use urine to tan animal skins, so families used to all pee

in a pot & then once a day it was taken & sold to the tannery…….if

you had to do this to survive you were “Piss Poor”

But worse than that were the really poor folk who couldn’t even

afford to buy a pot……they “didn’t have a pot to piss in” & were the

lowest of the low….

The next time you are washing your hands and complain because the water

temperature isn’t just how you like it, think about how things used to

be. Here are some facts about the 1500s:

Most people got married in June because they took their yearly bath in

May, and they still smelled pretty good by June.. However, since they

were starting to smell .. .. . brides carried a bouquet of flowers to

hide the body odor. Hence the custom today of carrying a bouquet when

getting married.

Baths consisted of a big tub filled with hot water. The man of the

house had the privilege of the nice clean water, then all the other sons

and men, then the women and finally the children. Last of all the

babies. By then the water was so dirty you could actually lose someone

in it. Hence the saying, “Don’t throw the baby out with the Bath water!”

Houses had thatched roofs-thick straw-piled high, with no wood

underneath. It was the only place for animals to get warm, so all the

cats and other small animals (mice, bugs) lived in the roof. When it

rained it became slippery and sometimes the animals would slip and fall

off the roof.. Hence the saying “It’s raining cats and dogs.”

There was nothing to stop things from falling into the house.

This posed a real problem in the bedroom where bugs and other droppings

could mess up your nice clean bed. Hence, a bed with big posts and a sheet

hung over the top afforded some protection. That’s how canopy beds came into existence.

The floor was dirt. Only the wealthy had something other than dirt.

Hence the saying, “Dirt poor.” The wealthy had slate floors that would

get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on

floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they added more

thresh until, when you opened the door, it would all start slipping

outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entrance-way. Hence: a thresh

hold. (Getting quite an education, aren’t you?)

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle that

always hung over the fire.. Every day they lit the fire and added things

to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and did not get much meat. They

would eat the stew for dinner, leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold

overnight and then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in

it that had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme: Peas porridge

hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge in the pot nine days old.

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.

When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off. It

was a sign of wealth that a man could, “bring home the bacon.” They

would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around and

chew the fat.

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content

caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning

death. This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so, tomatoes were considered poisonous.

Bread was divided according to status. Workers got the burnt bottom of

the loaf, the family got the middle, and guests got the top, or the

upper crust. Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The

combination would sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of

days. Someone walking along the road would take them for dead and prepare them

for burial.They were laid out on the kitchen table for a couple of days and the

family would gather around and eat and drink and wait and see if they

would wake up. Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running out of

places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and would take the

bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave. When reopening these

coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found to have scratch marks on

the inside and they realized they had been burying people alive. So they

would tie a string on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the

coffin and up through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone

would have to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to

listen for the bell; thus,someone could be, saved by the bell or was

considered a dead ringer.

And that’s the truth…..Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
I will look at the bouquets in the brides' hands and wonder about the bath they've taken: flower bath, aroma therapy bath, you name it. LOL^^

Strawberry~♥

♥Korean strawberries♥

are way better than Aussie strawberries. It's bigger and sweeter---not even a bit of sour!

We bought two boxes of strawberries for ₩4000 (equilevant to AUD4) which are on sale. Smaller boxes are sold ₩3000 for 2. The farmers sell them on their truck at Namdaemun Market. Right now is strawberry season so basically we can get strawberry from almost all grocery stores. However this is really cheap from Namdaemun Market because the shop near our place sell a similar size of box for ₩7000 per box. 

I'm glad we chose big boxes and not small boxes XD

Indulging in sweet strawberries after a lunch or dinner is... heaven    ~(￣▽￣)~