Friday, June 10, 2011

I love short weeks!

So Monday, June 6 was Memorial Day in Korea and I spent a lovely weekend on the beach (with the exception of my trip to Cuba in June I don't think I've ever spent a weekend on a beach in June).  There was a sand festival on Haeundae beach in Busan with what seemed like the rest of the country.  Quests for Mexican food took place as the restaurants were either fully booked or running out of food.  My legs were buried in the sand and I partook in chicken fights on the beach and ended up covered in sand.

Usually I find short weeks go by the slowest.  You're craving the weekend because you know its right around the corner but somehow the days drag on, and not to mention Daegu has never been hotter.  I'm reduced to wearing skirts to school (which would never happen back home) and fanning myself with a free fan I picked up from some salon promotion.  But somehow, this week would make me believe its full moon week. 

The Monk who verbally accosted me
I had a monk approach me in a coffee shop (where there were only two of us: myself and a Korean) and the monk came up to me begging me for money.  The Korean was yelling at him; he never budged, the coffee shop owner came and told him to leave; still no budging, but just kept asking me for 잔원 (1,000won) and that he was poor.  Finally the owner started dragging him out to which he was still begging for money AND the Korean was yelling at him and I kept saying "anniyo" (meaning no), until he finally left.  Weird.

The Brown Crowd
I live in an area with a fairly large immigrant centre.  There are Indians, Pakistanis, Nepalese, Thai, Vietnamese, Malaysians and the list can go on.  However, whenever I come across (what I am now deeming) the Brown crowd they do nothing but stop their conversations and stare as I walk by.  I either just pretend to be on the phone or put my iPod louder as I ignore them.  Recently, I walked past a man in the morning lighting up his cigarette.  The moment I walked past him, I swear it was like verbal diarrhea- words spurting out of nowhere in a sudden burst, and just when you think it will end, there's more!  It started with a "hi! hello!" so I say hi, then "how are you? what's your name? where are you from?" so I just walked quicker and said "Canada".  That's fine.  Just a little weird.  But the other day I was walking to school and saw a car slow down and a brown face pop out and he literally watched me as I walked past him.  Very creepy.  Sometimes its a little too much.

T-Class Coffee
There is an abundance of coffee shops in Korea.  A new one opened up so I went with a friend to check it out.  The menu made me laugh:

So, if you get the coffee therapy (which I did), you get this herbal concoction.  You dip it in your Americano for 5 seconds.  Then drink your Americano.  Then get a glass of hot water which you then steep your herbal concoction in and gulp that down.  It is awesome and very intriguing especially when the names of your drinks are Menstrual Leave, Haggard Face and Blood Type. 

No Whitening!
The best things about beauty stores are the many freebies (or as they say in Korea "service") products you get with your purchase.  Well, I went in and made sure I asked for non-whitening products.  All flustered and flabbergasted with the fact that a waygook was in the store with the insane idea of not wanting a whitening product, they took me around until I decided on what I wanted.  Then when it came down to giving me the freebies, they went on an insane search of products that did not have whitening products in it.  Every time they dropped something in the bag they'd look at me and say "Non-whiten okay?".  It was the funniest maybe most bizarre things to happen to me, but it did make my day!

Thursday, June 2, 2011

30 Day Song Challenge

So one of the new trends on Facebook is the 30 Day song challenge.  Every day you rack your brain for a song that is supposed to represent that day.  Instead of posting it up on my Facebook wall erasing all the other memorable posts I have up, I decided to put it here

Day 1: Your favourite song
Jem- Maybe I'm Amazed

Day 2: Least favourite song
Probably the large majority of hip hop songs that have been released over the past five years

Day 3: A song that makes you happy
Michael Jackson - Way you Make me Feel
Frankie Valli - Beggin

Day 4: A song that makes you sad
Snow Patrol - Run
Damien Rice - Blower's Daughter

Day 5: A song that reminds you of someone
Boney M - Rasputin

Day 6: A song that reminds you of somewhere

Coyote Shivers - Sugar High
Shivaree - Goodnight Moon

Day 7: A song that reminds you of a certain event
Rob Zombie - Living Dead Girl
Daft Punk - Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

Day 8: A song you know all the words to
Queen - Killer Queen and Bohemian Rhapsody

Day 9: A song you can dance to
Prizna - Fire

Day 10: A song that makes you fall asleep
Enigma (not anything from MCMXC a.D)
Pretty much any classical music

Day 11: A song from your favourite band/singer
System of a Down - Aerials
Led Zeppelin - Fool in the Rain
Enigma - Sadeness
Spice Girls - Lady is a Tramp
Queen - Radio Ga Ga
Madonna - Justify my Love
Day 12: A song from the band/singer you hate
Nickleback - How you Remind Me
Celine Dion - My Heart will go On
Justin Bieber - Baby, baby, baby
(Isn't it weird that they're all Canadian)
Rebecca Black - Friday 
Day 13: A song that is a guilty pleasure
Britney Spears - Toxic (or pretty much anything from her)
 
Day 14:  A song no one would expect you to love
Considering nobody really pegs me fo the type to listen to hard rock, and I do think he's one of the smartest people in the music industry
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People

Day 15: A song that best describes you
No Doubt - Just a Girl

Day 16: A song you used to hate but now love
Beatles - Blackbird
It wasn't until I heard Rachel Evan Woods sing this song in Across the Universe that I saw it being something other than annoying

Day 17:  A song you hear often on the radio
<insert any Canadian popular band you know of here>
<insert any K-Pop song you may know here>

Day 18: A song you wish you heard on the radio
Nine Inch Nails - Closer

Day 19: A song from your favourite album
Sweet - Ballroom Blitz
Off the album Tales from the Crypt: Bordello of Blood

Day 20: A song you listen to when you're angry
Kelis - I Hate you so Much Right Now

Day 21:  A song you listen to you when you're happy
Pretty much anything by Daft Punk, JUSTICE, Arcade Fire or LCD Soundsystem

Day 22:  A song you listen to you when you're sad
Bettie Serveet - Lover I don't have to love

Day 23:  A song played at your funeral
Israel (IZ) Kamakawiwo`ole- Somewhere over the Rainbow (I'm also drawing blanks for this)

Day 24: A song played at your wedding
Spirit of the West - Home for a Rest (which I just learned now that its sung by Canadians!)
Elton John - Crocadile Rock or a likewise Jive-based song by Elvis Presley which WILL be my dance with my father.

Day 25: A song that makes you laugh
Mike O'Connell and Dr. Ken - What's it Gonna Be?
or almost all Weird Al songs

Day 26: A song you can play on an instrument
Flute - Somewhere out There
French Horn - Africa (not the song by Toto, but an orchestral piece)
Guitar - Ode to Joy (but with no chords)
Piano- Jingle Bells

Day 27: A song you wish you could play
The Entertainer

Day 28: A song that makes you inspired
Journey - Don't stop Believing (I'm drawing blanks at the moment)

Day 29:  A song from your childhood
Theme song from Jem
Bobby Darrin - Mack the Knife
Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs - Wooly Booly

Day 30: A song that makes you want to change the world
Band Aid - Free the World