63 Years On - Sunday June 1, 2008

I really can't believe it's June. Time has gone by so quickly.

So, Meghan was gone this morning when I woke up. I called her and looked around for her, but apparently she had gone home early since she lives 5 hours from Seoul. Completely understandable that she wanted to get home, but it would have been nice to know she was leaving. Granted I didn't wake up until 11:30AM. ^_~ It was sincerely the best I have ever slept at a jimjilbang. If you are ever in Seoul and need a good place to crash for the night Sil lae am behind Seoul Station.

I headed out to go to Yongsan where there is an electronics market. At first I had difficulty finding it, so I asked at an information desk. As you get off the subway, you are automatically in a HUGE shopping mall. When I asked the girls at the information desk, they couldn't tell me...probably because they thought I need it explained in English (I can usually handle directions in Korean these days). They called another girl who then creepily asked me if I saw the escalator to my left. Naturally I looked around as if to say, "How the hell did you know that?" Once I got passed the utter confusion, I tried to follow the directions that were given to me. In the back of my mind, I wondered, "How will I know if I find it?" Believe me! You will know! It is ENORMOUS! Thousands of cameras, ipods, tvs, any electronic you could ever imagine or want for that matter. Why was I here? I have been trying to buy a new camera for about 4 months now; I just have sincerely not had time whenever I am in Seoul. There are dozens of counters/small shops where the workers try to beckon you over. I didn't go to the first one immediately inside the door; I thought that was a pretty good step. I'm easily persuaded by sales people. This is a horrible characteristic to have when in a place where you are SUPPOSED to bargain. I went in there wanting a Sony Cybershot, but I left with a Casio Exilim. I honestly didn't know much about the Sony Cybershot when I went in and had arbitrarily voted it number one camera in my heart and mind, so I was pretty open to hearing what the salesman had to say. The guy I talked to was in his late 20's, early 30's and he seemed to know what he was talking about. I also just genuinely have a lot of faith in people; I don't expect them to "screw me over." We looked at a ton of cameras and I finally decided on a BLUE Casio. Blue was not my deciding factor, but it didn't hurt the Casio's shot.^^ He wanted to give it to me for $250 (250,000 Won)...and I got him down to $220 (220,000 Won.) That included the camera, a carrying case, a 2 GB memory card, and a US and Korean charger (I asked for the US charger). I don't think that's too bad to pay. He and I had a good rapport and so when I asked him for that extra $10 off...he wasn't a jerk about it. Haha! The only thing I need to do now is figure out how to work the thing...my old camera doesn't have nearly the settings this one does. All in due time...

Afterward, I met up with Maria at Euljiro ipgu station and she took me over to wear we were going to see 63 Years On, a documentary about the life of some of the "Comfort Women." The documentary was being shown at the Seoul Indie Film Festival (MUCH smaller than PIFF, but a film festival nonetheless). We met up with Joh, Angela, and one of Maria's friends. Heather couldn't come because she had to work (yup...that's right...it's Sunday, and she had to work.) Unfortunately, there were no English subtitles for the documentary. Angela, Joh, and I could occasionally catch some of it because one of the Dutch women who is very outspoken reported on her experiences in English. Apparently, they have a version with English subtitles and a version without English subtitles. They showed the alternate version at a showing in Daejeon (not sure on location), but they wanted to show it in Seoul with no subtitles. The director wants to have a document that presents only Korean because Korea has never taken the steps to create a fully Korean documentary before (at least this is my vague understanding of what was explained). I can understand his wanting something that is completely Korea-made and produced, but having it available to more than Korean speaking individuals allows the words of the halmoni to reach even a broader spectrum of people. We sat there afterward through an hour of questions. After the question session, we asked the director if we could have a copy of the documentary with the English subtitles for our personal viewing and to show at the sharing house (with his permission of course). He made it very clear that this documentary is meant for everyone's eyes; he is allowing it to be shown by anyone who wishes to do so.^^

After the showing, Joh and Angela had to get going, but Maria, her friend, and I went to a little restaurant called Everest (amazing Indian food) near Dongdaemun. If I remember correctly and I hope I do so I can go there often, go out of exit 3 from Dongdaemun, turn left at the first street out of the exit, go up a street or two, and it will be in an ally to the right. The food was so good. I love Indian food and every time I eat it, it reminds me of my Indian friend who used to cook for us in college. He could just blindly throw vegetables, cheese, yogurt, you name it into a dish and it would taste incredible. Miss you, Gork!

Maria's friend (I can't remember her name ㅜㅜ) told me about the 6 months she lived in a kibbutz in Israel. It sounds like and amazing experience, and I'm writing it in my blog to later remind myself that I want to look into that.^^

After dinner, I very much had to head back home. I find myself always getting home late from Seoul, leaving me little to no time to prepare for the next day. I have formed a bad habit of preparing my lessons the day of. Anyway, I got home around 10:30PM and the host fam was already asleep. My host mom's sister NaHee was here this weekend, but I only got to see her for about 10 minutes before I left on Saturday. NaHee is pregnant! I don't know if I have written that before, but she is pregnant!!! So excited!! There's going to be a baby in the family!!