Expat days

Before moving here, I'd never considered myself an "Expat" or really sure what criteria one had to fulfill in order to be classed as such.
My dictionary says that an "Expat" is "a person living outside their native country", but I think there's a bit more to it than that.

I've lived in a few different countries and have just been a foreigner living in another place. I could integrate to some extent and even speak the language in one case. Essentially, I lived like the locals did.

Here, it's different. Yes, I've tried to speak the language and still do use as little I can get away with it on a daily basis* to ease life without getting too frustrated at not being understood when I'm trying really really hard; I've moved out of the more western-populated area to a little community area where I can say hello to the local shop-owners and xe om drivers in a friendly way**, buy my fruit off a woman who sells it out of polystyrene boxes and moves from one side of the road to the other for reasons beknownst only to her, and peer over at the post-lunchtime draughts game without raising any eyebrows.
But I cannot integrate. I'm a Westerner. I live very differently to the locals. And as such I feel it is more suitable to accept Expat as a label.

Expats behave in a particular way. It is feasible to do certain activities that are either entirely normal in London and not in Thiscity-life; or activities that are completely normal and unthinkably expensive in one's homeland.

My day went like this:
Yoga
Shiatsu massage
Hair wash and dry. That's right - hair wash and dry. I didn't have it cut, just washed for me by somebody else and blow dried. Blow dried by two people at the same time, I might add. I gasp at my own extravagance. (It gets better)
Goats cheese salad lunch (not typical Thiscity fare) in a French café
Visit friend (that's fairly normal anywhere I think...)
Bimble a little in second-hand bookshop and purchase a book
Home, change.
xe om to Old Quarter, marvelling at the tourists en route (That is definitely Expat Behaviour)
Waxing (to cries of "trắng,trắng,trắng!"***) pedicure & manicure. The last two at the same time.
xe om home.
Order food online.
Write blog entry.

Two of these things I had never done before, and I suspect proper "Expats" have their own motorbikes or drivers (economic level depending). But I think I did pretty well in fulfilling my role today, whilst thoroughly enjoying myself in the name of research, of course.

And all for about a tenth of what it would cost elsewhere in the world.
Now for that food that's just arrived....



*which is more than a lot of people 
**and they won't try to sell me anything or insist on driving me anywhere. Usually.
*** "white white white!" which is a prized skin-colour here, so it's ok.

Two cities in South Korea

I love it. I've been in this country for 6 days and in the capital for only 4 and I am not only beginning to understand the written script (things to do whilst waiting for the metro), but also completely capable of going into a kimbap joint, ordering my veggie kimbap, paying and departing with all the necessary pleasantries in a language I knew nothing about a week ago.

This is very different to the part of Asia I actually live in.

Ulsan was my first port of call, reachable by no hassle at all and simply clambering onto a bus at Incheon airport armed with some Tuna kimchee wrap and some fresh juice. There was snow and lots of it. And it was coooold.
I hadn't expected to a. see snow; b. feel real cold; or c. be in a dry climate again for at least the next 12 months, so it was all very exciting.
The bus stopped at a service station on the way down. I could have been anywhere. I had one of those great moments when you blearily, jet-laggedly look about you and wonder "Where am I, really, in relation to anything I actually know?" I could still buy a Cafe Mocha, though, so it wasn't that disorientating...

Ulsan was quiet. It's a city, it was busy - in its way. There were even traffic jams, but these were only noticeable by looking at the cars as there were no sounds, constant tooting, revving or utter chaos, which I am now, surprisingly used to. It was eerie. Nice, though.

I didn't go on this, as I value my life didn't have time, but I thought it worthy of a photo or two:

 

I had some great sushi, some equally great saki, met some nice folk and caught up with some good friends. I also almost froze to death, so decided that some Coat Investment with Silly Hat Additions may be worthwhile, especially as the predicted temperatures in the capital were -10º to -14º C. I successfully changed money and got myself some cheap Korean food using the local language as well (admittedly all written out for me on a bit of paper by my mate, but still...).

Then the trip to Seoul - yay! We could only get first class tickets as it was, to all extents and purposes, christmas weekend over here. The KTX is the Very Speedy Train* in South Korea and got us there in relative comfort in two and a half hours. Then onto the metro - YES! There is a metro! Bliss! -and out in Anguk, the older part of the city, to our guesthouse, a quick dinner search (easy) and then to sleep in a wooden, paper-windowed, floor-heated annex covered in snow and icicles.

Exploration of the city, with another mate, who lives here, began the following day. There was shopping in Insadong (gloves and travel chopsticks), general wandering a-plenty, and a trip to Seoul Tower, which now costs a ridiculous amount to go up to the top, incidentally.

Some views:

They do that thing with padlocks here, reminiscent of the bridge in Paris, only this is Korean style: 

This was followed by a trip to a rather sedate Gangnam, tried to do the photo on the main stretch and (thankfully) failed, dined well, had tetra-brick sake (mistake), fun all round. Hurrah.

The following days consisted of a palace visit:

where I managed to see some be-Hanbok-ed ladies and dressed-up guards:

...more wandering about a completely deserted Seoul, seeing an empty Dongdaemun market, and a thumping Itaewon (ex-pat area ergo Lunar New Year means something else). Bringing me to today, my first day loose in the city without Korean-Savvy friends, during which I visited the National Museum of Korea, closed:

(yesterday was a public holiday)

So I wandered about the lonely and empty grounds, which was actually pretty cool. I, like a friend of mine, have a fondness for lonely places, especially when they are meant to be thronged with people.

My next visit was to the War Memorial. Also closed. I managed to get a shot of this beautifully moving statue before my camera died:

There's a better one here with a bit of blurb about it too. It had me captivated for a good half an hour. I saw many tanks and planes (including a B-52) and other vehicles of death before going off in search of lunch (achieved) and meeting the Seoul-based pal for a visit to the Samsung Gallery. This was pretty interesting and gave me a much needed dose of art, something I'm hoping to get more of later in the week while I'm in London.

Shopping, ambling, kimbap later brings us up to date.

I like this country.

*direct translation+
+ nah, I'm joking

Literature is Art

I've just had a lovely experience. I was umming and ahhing about heading over to the Temple of Literature to investigate the calligraphers that are currently in residence and decided, thankfully, to go.
This is (some of) what I found:

I chose a venerable looking gent and with the help of a random reporter managed to make my request.

Whilst I was sat there looking about in amazement and soaking up the very bohemianly intellectual atmosphere, I noticed a chap next to me being thoroughly worshipped by an artist and people in general, so I asked the reporter who he was. He's the most revered Calligrapher in Vietnam and has a PhD in the subject not only in Vietnamese, but also in Chinese. He had a long beard and was, in my humble opinion, cool.

Here he is overseeing his student's work:

It's a shame the picture's a bit blurry.

His student/artist friend decided after we had talked to each other for a couple of minutes (obviously not understanding a word the other was saying) that he wanted to paint me. So he did:

No money was to be given. It was a gift for the new year. I was touched and now proudly have my picture waiting for a home in my home.

I then got interviewed for national TV about my "feeling" about the street with the calligraphers. I explained it in a very wordy and British way and then she repeated "So, how do you feel?". "Good," I replied more succinctly.

Such a lovely afternoon I even walked most of the way home, past Uncle Ho (first time on foot) and then got ripped off by a cheeky xe om. But it is Têt, so I'll let him off.

Chúc mừng năm mới !

Lâu

My Pre-intermediates (as I affectionately call them) decided to take me out for dinner last night as a pre-Têt celebration.
Têt (which should have another diacritic above it, but my keyboard isn't that special) is the lunar New Year (or Chinese New Year as it is generally known in the West, probably to the consternation of other Asian nations). This happens in just under 2 weeks and is a public holiday. Hurrah.

So, after some discussion in the preceding weeks, it was decided to go for "hotpot" *. I've had various thoughts about Hotpot or "Lâu" since I was told of its existence some nine years ago by my lovely Chinese students back in the UK. I've wanted to try it, but in the right place. And obviously with the right people: it is not a solo dish, or at least I thought this was the case, as you share a big pot of hot stock with your fellow dinners and cook your food in it together. This requires a certain amount of mutual understanding and trust, to my mind.

As it was decided on my behalf that Hotpot was what was to be had, I happily went along having images of being sat cross-legged on the floor around a big steaming communal pot, trying not to eat anybody's bit of Thit Bò (beef) and looking directly out over Truc Bach lake.
It was much better. But not as earthy, and possibly lacking in some of the romantic charm that existed in my imagined version. But it was great and saved any possible problems caused by the fact that I've stopped eating meat** and am a bit clumsy sometimes with my chopsticks, having been known to throw mushrooms all over the table when not paying attention...
The restaurant was, well firstly, a restaurant with tables and indoors and everything. We sat on the top floor, overlooking Truc Bach lake (I got that bit right, just not the height), at a modern wooden table which had individual pot-heaters! We got presented with a plate each of random gubbins consisting mainly of mushrooms and vegetables, but also some tofu***, dumplings (meat), sausage and pig fat.
Then we could choose what source of protein we wanted to submerge in the bubbling stock in front of us. I went for salmon - from Sapa, apparently. Nice and, as I was cooking it, was exactly right.
It was a whole interactive and entertaining way to eat, which also seemed to me to be the definition of slow food. You choose your ingredients, you cook them and you eat them. It sounds simple, but this sequence of events makes you focus entirely on what you're eating which is the best way to do it, in my opinion.
The company was pleasant and I was looked after. I was also forbidden from paying anything, which is standard practice, if a little frustrating. I'll return the favour in some way, I'm sure.

It's nice to be teaching adults again.



* note to English folk: this has NOTHING to do with Lancashire hot pot
**this happened in December. I don't know how long it's going to last, and I eat fish. I'm not calling myself a vegetarian, or even a "pesky-tarian" (as a canadian friend calls it) because I'm not - I am just unwilling, for health and lack of knowledge as to the origin of the meat in this country, to eat meat at the moment. It may change any time. It may not. But I'm not going to label myself as having that lifestyle, when I'm not entirely sure that I do.
 My students reacted with a shocked look, akin to the reaction I would expect if I'd told them I had a terminal disease, and asked "but..... why?"...
***Also being avoided after a massive hormonal upset due to replacing meat and dairy with soy products at the beginning of the year. Really - it's not good for you in those quantities.

Lessons of the week

Things I learned yesterday:

It is possible to change money without any form of ID or paperwork in this country.
It is not possible to then pay USD into a USD account without proving that it is yours.
Apparently possession means nothing here, origin is everything.

Interesting.

Especially given that one shows ones status by one's possessions not by one's origin, at least to my eyes.
There are definitely inconsistencies in this society.

On trees

Tonight, when walking down my street to my abode I stumbled across two separate trucks with a fully grown tree, roots and all, on the back of each.

What's that all about then, do you think?

I should be a.......

...fraid?

No. I just, for a whole variety of reasons, took an online "What job is right for me?" test.

Guess what came out top?

It wasn't teacher, surprisingly (I may or may not be being sarcastic there).

Actually the two most suited jobs to me (based on my answer to fifteen questions, and not taking into account qualifications or what I've been wasting time doing for the last 15 years) are
1. Environmental scientist (!!!!)
2. Writer.

Interesting............