so... wanna pick some apples?

a simple idea that sprouted anxiety, bore fruits of confusion. It all culminated in the tale: So, you wanna pick some apples?

It starts on a Monday, the loneliest of days, with a group kakao message (kinda like texting). The text was simple, so... do you want to pick some apples? While I didn't answer the question with a simple answer. I much rather beating around the bush on questions than actually answer them, it's a personality trait. I had every intention of answering yes that very day, it wasn't until the push became Wednesday that I committed.

The simple plan however was fraught with subtext. You see comrades, my friend who sent the text was not the person actually planning the trip (nor is it the person pictured above). She left the planning in the hands of her employer; a villain so veraciously vile and villainous that she appears to the naked eye like to be a nice old lady (screams in the background). In the days post-commitment I was exposed to elevating levels of cognitive dissonance. First came the demand for my Alien Card number, and for those unaware it's basically my SIN number, and not something lustfully thrown around.

This action left my friends and I to question the validity of the tour. We heard rumblings about not actually being able to keep the apples that we selected. Our thoughts grew into worries about our purpose, and what exactly was about to occur. A seemingly innocent joke about migrant labour quickly took root. It doesn't take much to realize that I am in fact a migrant worker. It was an oh fuck moment I assure you. Other comparisons arose in the fact that this 'adventure/day labour' started at 7:30am.

With expectations of riding in the back of a pickup truck, I dressed warmly. In fact I did my (totally unplanned) best to capture the essence of my assumed role. I didn't shave, wear deodorant or worry about my greasy hair. I wore layers that could slide off in case of physical exertion. What I didn't do was check the weather (which called for rain, all day), and dressed entirely in absorbent material.

What transpired was so unexpected, that all I could fathom doing was aimlessly wander around (which I sort of got into trouble for doing). We had been signed up for the worst bus tour imaginable. At the ass crack of dawn we piled onto a bus, and were held captive for the next 12 hours. We weren't told anything really, the tour was conducted in Korean. I started to feel like I was on a Korean reality show as my fellow travelers applauded gleefully from the opening moments of the trip. I would like to say more about the trip, but I will offer it to you pictorially. I'd like to see if you can figure it out, remember I signed up to go apple picking.

3 hours in, an oriental medicine museum. (no apples, but!)

 


5 hours in,  a traditional Korean folk village. (Beautiful trees, but no apples upon them)

8 hours in, a national park. (more beauty, including Mulack, and more trees! but still no apples)

10 hours in, APPLES!
(we had 20 minutes select them, had to pay extra, and we spent 21 minutes being choosy. Which held up the tour) 

 

12 hours in, and not pictured, the bus driver grinded the front end off a Toyota Rav4. He took a turn too tight, and the front end of the car fell victim the days randomly strung together events.

Overall, it didn't seem like a tour, it seemed like a series of pit stops. There didn't really seem to be a theme to the day. It was like, hey, there is a museum in that direction, a folk village over there, why not go to that park over yonder and finally, let's stop on the side of a highway (literally, we did) and let people pick apples while the bus drivers take a smoke break.

While the outcome of the day was expected, I did walk away with 6 apples. The price I paid for those apples was astronomical. In the end each apple cost $4 and took 2 hours each to pick. Not a great return either financially or time wise, but proof of a veraciously vile and villainous... villain that lurks inside all nice old ladies (even though she was super nice and bought us lunch).

it's not like i've stopped eating...

치즈 돈가스 (Cheese Donkasu) 

I know the tator-tots look good, but i'm talking about the mass covered in jalapenos. It's not traditionally Korean, in fact it's a Japanese dish. It's a deep friend pork cutlet, with mozzarella cheese stuffed into the middle of the pork, hence why it has cheese in the name!

The meal is great for hangovers, and typically whenever you want a large piece of deep fried pork(some people have that craving). The breading they use is very comparable to a tempura batter, light and flaky.  Most donkasu comes covered with thick gravy, and sits like a lead weight in my stomach.

These photos were taken from my favourite donkasu restaurant near my work. The batter isn't any different, but the toppings are what makes this donkasu special. It's covered in a light soy sauce, with jalapenos, onions and shredded cabbage. It was easily the best I'd ever had. The  meal was cheap as well with a price tag of $6.50. Unfortunately this restaurant has become another victim of turnover, and is now a doll and flower shop.  

                                                

                                                      산낙지 (live, or raw octopus)

This is a Korean dish, and not an overly common one either. I've been told that it is a popular touristy thing to eat, and it's understandable. This marks the second time I have tried the grub and I sucked my parents along to try it as well. 

If you decide to watch the video(below), you can see the plate move. The octopus was alive a few minutes prior and nerve impulses keep the tentacles twitching, and suckers um... sucking. While not an easy meal to eat, as you to first catch the tentacle, and then make sure the it is fully chewed. You will often find the suckers sticking to the roof of your mouth, and the sides of your teeth.

Honestly, I can understand the fascination with this food, and why it's a popular tourist hang out. But the meal itself is pretty tasteless. There isn't much taste to octopus, it's just a squirming version of undercooked calamari (oh, and not fried of course cause it's raw, duh!).


My parents liked the novelty, and my father was impressed (below) . My mother spent most of the meal shuffling in her seat and gawking at my father and I. She wasn't as open as my friend who decided to give some love to the octopi (right). OCTOPUS LOVE!!

스파게티 (okay, that says sepagehti, and this is an Italian place...)

Jenny's Cafe is a tiny restaurant in Hongdae that serves some of the best Italian food I've had since coming to Seoul. It's usually hard to get a table, and that's usually a good sign in any city. All the food is served with bread that is baked at their bakery (not pictured) which is also amazing. 


I really wish that I could give more words to accompany the pictures, but the food is great, and most of you are aware of what Italian food is. The fettuccine (right) was great, with a thick sauce that was heavy on the cream, and very filling. Actually most of the food in the restaurant's food was rich in flavour, texture and left your pants stretched.

The interior of the restaurant (large above) is really cool, and fits with most niche restaurants in Hongdae, they all have their thing, and this restaurant isn't any different.

The risotto (left) disappointed my friend, as they said they didn't use the proper rice. I have no idea what this means, but I'm sure from all the Hell's Kitchen episodes that I've seen that it would mean that Gordon Ramsey would throw it on the floor. The gnocci (below) was great, and much like the fettuccine, filling.




















Finally, we have a salad (right) that was unreal, and as great and as colourful as it looks. Didn't you know that colour is a flavour? my students would agree anyway, if you don't understand I've been away too long.














A friend of mine once pointed out that I travel by eating desserts. I remember desserts more than any other meal when I travel. Anywho, All of these shots are taken at Coffee Labratory in Hongdae. A coffee shop I've shown before, and one of the highest ranked coffee shops in Seoul.









Above, you can see affogato,or espresso and ice cream. This was amazing, although I prefer the ice mocha (right). Basically the perfect summer drink, haha, opinion.

boiling frog...

I  have such a hard time throwing a football, I don't get it. I think myself into confusion, and when I throw a good spiral I jinx myself. My thought process is kind of as follows. Remember it's not a baseball, it's not a baseball.. okay wind up (like a baseball) grip the laces (kinda like a baseball) at the top of the throw, release. I try to remember what Tom told me as well "If your arm feels weird when you throw it, you know you did it right". However, my arm wouldn't feel weird and the ball would wobble through the air. I'd remember in hindsight that I forgot to point with my lead foot where I wanted the ball to go (again something I learned while playing baseball). I continue with this internal monologue every couple of seconds, and only occasionally would the ball would flow aerodynamically through the air. 

With my skill level, and the unpredictable bounces that accompany any drop of a football, it didn't really surprise me that on Saturday my friends and I were able to carve out a section of grass amid thousands of spectators. While some observers were keen on watching us, and a few children joining us (above), most were there to witness a firework display. I attended this fireworks festival last year, well I partially attended. My friend and I left halfway through because of the insane amount of people gathered. There were no fewer people this year, I just arrived early enough to not be as bothered (think frog in slowly boiling water scenario).

I realized that the pot was becoming full when the 3G network in the park stopped working. It's the first fault I've ever found with any Korean technological system. There were simply so many people in the park attempting to use 3G, that the network couldn't handle the workload. Oh, this overload occurred at around 4pm, four and a half hours before the fireworks were scheduled to start. It was around this time that our football playground became cramped, people would drop their mats (Koreans sit on mats when they sit outside, then they take off their shoes and sit on the mats, while outside. It's strange, I know and I don't have an explanation beyond Korean's aversion to anything 'dirty') and claim victory over their piece of dying grass.

As the people packed in along with the darkness, it was almost time for fireworks. I spent the final hour or so playing around with my camera. Armed with my new tripod and a few tips I picked up from the internet, I positioned my camera where I thought the fireworks were going to be. It turned out that I was a little further away and incorrectly aimed than I originally planned (as you can see from the pictures, above and below). In the end I got some great shots, but was prevented from so many more because of the distance, and the fact that I took all the photos using a 2 second timer (anticipation! YAY).

Leaving the event was a nightmare, as fine as I was with being slowly boiled by spectators, I wasn't fine with being trampled by pedestrians. My friends and I waited at least a half hour, and the stampede out of the park was still flowing steady. The subway station at the park was shut down due to congestion, and the bridge across the river had streams of people flowing towards Hongdae. I went against the flow, and returned home. The problem is that I was still traipsing along with a couple thousand other people avoiding the bridge.

when life becomes a movie...

There are several times in people's lives where it can be felt that it reflects a movie. In fact realism is often an intended goal of film makers.  I remember my mother whenever I think of this because she often dislikes movies that are too realistic, and would rather watch body parts fly and explosions rock the screen as the cinema is an escape for her, not a mirror.

The thing I feel bad for, is the 'evil' guys in romantic comedies, although I mean to use this more as an independent thought, romantic comedies are rarely striving for realism. As an audience member you are secretly rooting for the good guy (or girl, I don't want to appear sexist) to win, yet I've always thought about the other guy/girl. In the 90 minute movie we don't really learn what their perspective really is. They could be a decent person, after all they did win a heart, didn't they? (at some point starring in their own romcom) Yes, there are times where they are true douche-bags, but often when people are faced with the end of a relationship they aren't acting rational anyways.

Perhaps it's all for naught, and we should all just throw footballs.... OH... yeah, that's what this post was about, a nifty tripod, and quick shutter speeds.. All stitched seamlessly into (probably) annoying GIF images (click to play). Neither of the images are staged, and both reflect real life. They aren't even really movies, just flashes of last weekend, or as I've come to call it, the entire season of Fall on the Korean peninsula... smile...

over your head... and in your face!

 
May 5th is a very important day in Korea. It is Children's Day and no, that is not a made up holiday. It is an actual federal holiday, and everybody has the day off. Parents are supposed to (and most actually do) spend the whole day playing with their kids. 

Before the holiday, I took the oppertunity to play some basketball (May 4th) while playing, I fooled around with my camera. I was toying with my shutter speeds, and I have to admit, I was rather impressed with the results (pictured right, and below).

The following afternoon (Children's day) myself and my coworkers headed out to Hangang Park for the start of the Hi Seoul Festival. This is a bi-annual event in Seoul, I posted a picture of the fall event last year in my year in pictures blog post. 
th
The festival doesn't really take a lot of time to celebrate Korean traditions, it is mostly like a fringe festival. The street performers (pictured above and below) stand testiment to this, they are all decked out in pink attire, and body paint. They also did not speak, they communicated through beeps, yelps and grunts. From what I could tell their goal was to freak people out. They seemed to thrive on shrieks from the crowd, and the Korean's were very willing to oblige. Three performers walked around the crowd (somewhat) normally, one slinked around on stilts (above right), and one crawled around on his hands. If the first four didn't get you to freak out, the guy on his hands would creep up, and shriek. Being the size of a Korean child, he had a great ability to break into people's proximity bubbles without their knowledge.

While I was taking some pictures, the performers got really close. I was not like the Koreans, and I didn't scream, quiver, or run away, even when they tried to smack me (pictured above). 

In the evening the festival had a free outdoor performance. The show was called 'Rainbow Drops' and the choreographers are from Spain. I say choreographers because the performers are all Korean. The group recruited a whole bunch of Korean volunteers to perform in their show. The first spectacle in the performance was a giant metal wheel that was suspended above the crowd (pictured below left). Then they put the wheel on the ground and the volunteers/performers (V/Ps, as they will now be lovingly refered to) ran inside the wheel like gerbils, and rolled around, all while surrounded by cheering observers (below right).

 
 The second act, and in my opinion the highlight of the show, was when the V/Ps were strung up and dangled above the audience. At first, it was extremely eerie watching them being raised into the crowd. With my vantage point, behind a tree, it looked like the V/Ps were being hung (pictured below left). They also seemed to play that fact up by looking like ragdolls as the process went on. 

 The performers didn't lay lifeless for their whole stint in the air. They came to life and pulled off some simple manouvers. It was very strange, and impressive to watch them do jumping jacks (right), and throw streamers onto the crowd (above right), all while hanging in mid air.

The grand finale had fireworks launch in behind the performers as they were moved back towards the stage (pictured right, & below). It was an amazing sight to behold as the V/Ps dangled with fireworks erupting and lighting up the night sky behind them. A spectacular end to an interesting holiday. 
(more photos of the can be found on my Flickr page)