Well finally got back from a great weekend. Quite an odd one too! I took off to Daejon to meet someone I have been chatting to for a while. We drove off to Icheon where the 3rd Ceramic Biennale was being held, which I just had to see.
The drive was long, but I was happy to finally get there and into the exhibition. I was really put off by how many kids there were and how the parents were letting them run wild in a ceramic show; that's like letting a bull into a glass shop!
I finally found Greg Payce's work; a shelf of his vases that use the void space in a rather humorous and intelligent way. The void displayed various figures that was emphasized more so with a video of a camera moving around the pieces to reveal more and more figures right next to the real thing, but, I'm not sure that the audience that was present really got the whole idea???? Anyway he also sent in two rather large pieces that got me wondering... how the hell did he send his stuff to S.Korea from Calgary??? And how much was that???
My friend and I walked around the grounds checking out all of the ceramics that people were selling, some cool stuff but it was rather monotonous to see the same stuff over and over again. I understand tradition, but what about personal identity??? There was one stall that had bright colors; everyone was swooning around the stall in amazement. My friend asked how that's possible... there's so many colors you can do what ever you like, but not so much in Korea!
We had some lunch on the grounds. I really like how well they can set up a restaurant in temporary conditions with great facilities. The food was great we had bo-ri bap (barley type rice with mixed vegetables and hot sauce), dubu kim chi (fresh tofu with kim chi) and Dong Dong-ju (this was a different type than that in Daegu, the color was brown and made from barley and fermented into an alcoholic drink).
My friend dropped me off in Seoul, where I quickly checked into a yogwan (inn) and took a shower. I was quite tired as the sun was hot and it's the first time that I was out most of the day in the sun. Anyway I was hungry and it was only 7pm, so off I went to walk around Insadong looking for something to eat or drink. I called Noah my ex-student. Within the hour we met along with his girlfriend, we went and saw "Star wars" man was I ever confused at the beginning and friggin cold as the air con was on super high!
Sunday I got up early I think cause I actually had sunlight in the room that woke me up, I'm not used to it as my place is so dark as the windows look onto brick walls. I took off and got my hair done, it took a while and wasn't what I quite wanted but I did get a coupon to go again and get what I really want for free. I had sushi for lunch...mmmmm sushi! Then off shopping I went! After walking around like an idiot for a while in search of the lone Mark's and Spencer's I finally found it due to a phone call to my trusty friend Young-joo.
Ooooh Mark's 'n' Sparks how I miss the real thing back in the UK or even in Hong Kong. Anyway I found a few things but the prices, my goodness the prices!!! One top still had the UK price on it at only 25 quid, but the Korean price was 90,000won, which is about US$90, friggin insane! But what is a desperate girl living in the hottest city in Korea to do in the land where my size is difficult to find? So after spending money and realizing that a top and a pair of pants cost more than my sofa!!! I almost cried! But I know that I will be happy when it really gets hot as Canadian clothes are made for the winter!
30/05/2005
25/05/2005
Store Wars and Global Bumping!
Need a laugh? Check out this video Store Wars
Well the plan is to visit the 3rd World Ceramic Biennale.
Still not sure how I will get there, but I’m sure that I can figure it out. It seems that Greg Payce has a piece there; I think that he’s doing some kind of video installation these days, but it would be funny if he’s there. I once saw him when I read that he was giving a presentation in Hong Kong. So I phoned up and told them who I was in relation to Greg (Greg is an instructor at the Alberta College of Art & Design where I attended). So we got front row seats, I say we meaning Cherie and Tanya, my roomies but also alumni. He had quite the face when he walked in and saw us, unfortunately for us we have seen his presentations before, but it was good to have a bit of home in HK. I later met him again a couple of months later at an opening at The New Gallery in Calgary. He actually asked me if we should just start planning to meet instead of just bumping into each other.
You never know whom you could bump into even if you’re living in a tent in Mongolia nibbling on some boiled piece of meat that you’d rather not know about!
Well the plan is to visit the 3rd World Ceramic Biennale.
Still not sure how I will get there, but I’m sure that I can figure it out. It seems that Greg Payce has a piece there; I think that he’s doing some kind of video installation these days, but it would be funny if he’s there. I once saw him when I read that he was giving a presentation in Hong Kong. So I phoned up and told them who I was in relation to Greg (Greg is an instructor at the Alberta College of Art & Design where I attended). So we got front row seats, I say we meaning Cherie and Tanya, my roomies but also alumni. He had quite the face when he walked in and saw us, unfortunately for us we have seen his presentations before, but it was good to have a bit of home in HK. I later met him again a couple of months later at an opening at The New Gallery in Calgary. He actually asked me if we should just start planning to meet instead of just bumping into each other.
You never know whom you could bump into even if you’re living in a tent in Mongolia nibbling on some boiled piece of meat that you’d rather not know about!
18/05/2005
The Fan Woman
Oh my goodness take a look at the following websites, they're both in Korean though.
http://www.chosun.com/national/news/200504/200504050194.html
http://www.beautyi.com/service/cosmetic/face/20041203052/default.jsp
It's about a Korean woman (stupid) who was once beautiful however most of her appearance was fake; she was addicted to plastic surgery. She was so addicted that she wanted more than what doctors could offer her. She started to do it herself, first she injected silicone, then she used soybean oil and olive oil -- she apparently had voices in her head that would tell her to do it. They say that she has a side effect that has damaged her mentally, but I think she was nuts before! Man she was beautiful, I asked my Korean friend if the woman ever read fairy tales, about how desires in an obsessive way can lead you no where positive but only negative. From beauty to beast! I was so grossed out by the pictures and horrified too to think someone would do that to themselves without any logic.....NUTS!!!
http://www.chosun.com/national/news/200504/200504050194.html
http://www.beautyi.com/service/cosmetic/face/20041203052/default.jsp
It's about a Korean woman (stupid) who was once beautiful however most of her appearance was fake; she was addicted to plastic surgery. She was so addicted that she wanted more than what doctors could offer her. She started to do it herself, first she injected silicone, then she used soybean oil and olive oil -- she apparently had voices in her head that would tell her to do it. They say that she has a side effect that has damaged her mentally, but I think she was nuts before! Man she was beautiful, I asked my Korean friend if the woman ever read fairy tales, about how desires in an obsessive way can lead you no where positive but only negative. From beauty to beast! I was so grossed out by the pictures and horrified too to think someone would do that to themselves without any logic.....NUTS!!!
09/05/2005
Look at me Lantern!
I took off to Seoul for five days. It was both bad and really good, hey I got a cool lantern out of the deal, even though I have practically trashed it while walking through the Lantern Festival in Seoul.
Yummy Cake for Me?
Well it's officially my birthday and so far I dunno what to make of it. Hhmmm....things are disapearing like my cell phone, huge chunks of money, I guess I have my own unique way of helping those around me. I just hope those lucky finders keepers really needed both things like I do! Oh well you win some but you lose a heck of a lot more!
If you're gonna phone me give me some time to run out of my house to answer the call as my new phone has an interesting feature that forces it's owner to run on command, a neat way to exercise, but sometimes it's a bloody pain in the arse! >:(
Well I had better get me self off to bed before I find myself late for work and what a crappy birthday that could be!!! ;p
If you're gonna phone me give me some time to run out of my house to answer the call as my new phone has an interesting feature that forces it's owner to run on command, a neat way to exercise, but sometimes it's a bloody pain in the arse! >:(
Well I had better get me self off to bed before I find myself late for work and what a crappy birthday that could be!!! ;p
02/05/2005
The House We Stayed In
So I spent the weekend in Kangwando with my coworkers from the Continuing Education Centre of the college.
The house we stayed in was amazing, I was so happy to spend time in an open home rather than a closed-in apartment. The air was fresh and the scenery green but Spring has missed us and it already feels like summer. Too bad the swimming pool that was in front of the house was in dismay.
The drive up there was interesting too, stopping at many places on the way, as to drive almost four hours is such a long trip but yet to us Canadians it's just to the next city if you're lucky! The poor driver though how nervous he was, for this was his fourth month at the wheel in a country where driving abilities are interesting and colorful but sometimes the roads are a helter skelter.
There were a total of 16 people in the house, with the young guys fishing and drinking soju and us girls bored and starting to gossip. I was unsure of the plans or if there were any activities, but it seemed that getting to the house was so important but once we were there we were unsure of what to do next. I wish I had brought my pen and sketchbook as it was an ideal time to catch up in a place so inspiring.
When dinner rolled around and the drunk boys came homec and things heated up and the fun began, everybody was relaxed but the boys actually drank pretty much all the alcohol, as I had only two small paper cups of beer and one shot of soju...thanks guys!
The next day was a bit soggy but the air was so nice it reminded me of British Columbia and it's clouds. So what to do on a rainy day but to play "Go Stop" a Korean card game that I really can't understand my coworkers tried with their limited English, and I tried to watch but then there was money involved and I knew that I would lose so luckily for me the rain stopped and I took off on a walk.
The area around the house was interesting, like a little village full of North American style homes but a mixture of country homes to suburbia and one odd but qauint Korean home. Most of them are pensions, where people can rent during the holiday season, I would certainly do it again.
We finally got moving a few hours later and headed for home but we hit a few attrations on the way. First stop was a Korean Drama Show Set, which actually was very interesting. The set was back in the 1920's and another set was more like traditional Korea. We took millions of photos and had tons of fun acting as well stopping to eat Dubu Kimchi (freshly made tofu with spicy fermented cabbage one of my favorite dishes in Korea) along with some makolli (I posted earlier as to what it is).
We then then hit some caves that I saw just a few weeks earlier but I was still happy to see them again as it was much cooler to be inside than out plus a chance to get photos of what I missed.
I thought that I should also say at this point that I'm lucky to have a friend like Young-joo who lent me her camera as I lost mine just a few days before my trip. I'm still in shock that its gone, especially now that I have this bog!!! :(
And that was that, but next Thurs is Children's day and I'm off to Seoul...happy Sharon!
The house we stayed in was amazing, I was so happy to spend time in an open home rather than a closed-in apartment. The air was fresh and the scenery green but Spring has missed us and it already feels like summer. Too bad the swimming pool that was in front of the house was in dismay.
The drive up there was interesting too, stopping at many places on the way, as to drive almost four hours is such a long trip but yet to us Canadians it's just to the next city if you're lucky! The poor driver though how nervous he was, for this was his fourth month at the wheel in a country where driving abilities are interesting and colorful but sometimes the roads are a helter skelter.
There were a total of 16 people in the house, with the young guys fishing and drinking soju and us girls bored and starting to gossip. I was unsure of the plans or if there were any activities, but it seemed that getting to the house was so important but once we were there we were unsure of what to do next. I wish I had brought my pen and sketchbook as it was an ideal time to catch up in a place so inspiring.
When dinner rolled around and the drunk boys came homec and things heated up and the fun began, everybody was relaxed but the boys actually drank pretty much all the alcohol, as I had only two small paper cups of beer and one shot of soju...thanks guys!
The next day was a bit soggy but the air was so nice it reminded me of British Columbia and it's clouds. So what to do on a rainy day but to play "Go Stop" a Korean card game that I really can't understand my coworkers tried with their limited English, and I tried to watch but then there was money involved and I knew that I would lose so luckily for me the rain stopped and I took off on a walk.
The area around the house was interesting, like a little village full of North American style homes but a mixture of country homes to suburbia and one odd but qauint Korean home. Most of them are pensions, where people can rent during the holiday season, I would certainly do it again.
We finally got moving a few hours later and headed for home but we hit a few attrations on the way. First stop was a Korean Drama Show Set, which actually was very interesting. The set was back in the 1920's and another set was more like traditional Korea. We took millions of photos and had tons of fun acting as well stopping to eat Dubu Kimchi (freshly made tofu with spicy fermented cabbage one of my favorite dishes in Korea) along with some makolli (I posted earlier as to what it is).
We then then hit some caves that I saw just a few weeks earlier but I was still happy to see them again as it was much cooler to be inside than out plus a chance to get photos of what I missed.
I thought that I should also say at this point that I'm lucky to have a friend like Young-joo who lent me her camera as I lost mine just a few days before my trip. I'm still in shock that its gone, especially now that I have this bog!!! :(
And that was that, but next Thurs is Children's day and I'm off to Seoul...happy Sharon!
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