Gay Pride - Saturday May 31, 2008

Today I woke up early-ish to head to Seoul. There was a Gay Pride celebration (Korean Queer Cultural Festival: Queer Scandal) near Dongdaemun today. I really had no idea how to get there, so I ended up asking about 8 people for directions, but I finally got to the location. I was a bit...early, so I walked around for a bit. I randomly went down into a shopping area near the KQCF and walked underground for a while. It ended up taking me back to the initial subway stop I got off. Ha! Funny how things work in Korea. Well, I had a better way to get back to the KQCF after I met up with Meghan (another Fulbrighter located in Naju).^^ We walked underground versus above ground asking for directions every block. ^_~

Meghan and I wanted to get our faces painted, but somehow we were misunderstood and we got makeovers. It was a terrifying experience. It was the most makeup I've worn since high school...perhaps more. First she cleaned my face with whatever, then there was a coat of lotion, then there was a coat of liquid foundation, then there was a coat of powder, then there was blush and random whiteness on the cheeks, then there was eyeliner...both black and white, then there was eye shadow galore (3 different colors or so), then finally there was a lip gloss-lipstick combo. Holy hell!

We then decided it was time to walk around and buy as much as we could. I forgot to mention my outfit for the day...I didn't really take pictures...so you'll have to imagine it. A red tie with homo-fabulous buttons, an orange headband, a yellow shirt, green leggings, light blue flip flops, a dark blue zip up, and a purple skirt!^^

We met Vernon (another Fulbrighter...from Gwangju perhaps) while we were there. The three of us got Vietnamese for lunch, and I managed to get most of my makeup off minus eyes.

I also met up with Michael (an intern at the Human Rights Commission), Angela (Seoul University Professor and Sharing House Volunteer), Heather (Publisher and Sharing House Volunteer), Maria (Accounting Consultant and Sharing House Volunteer), Joh (English Teacher and Sharing House Volunteer), Malcolm (Coolest Guy EVER! English Teacher and Sharing House Volunteer), his friend Ben and Ben's wife and adorable daughter. I didn't realize they were all going to be there for the parade.

The parade started LATE...about an hour and a half late! There were only about 5 floats or so. One had a drag queen (She was BEAUTIFUL!). The one in front of the foreigners had belly dancers...oo lala. I believe they were there for sex appeal...maybe they were lesbians. Not sure. The parade was only a few blocks and back, but it was fun!

I was surprised to hear that Korea even had a Queer Festival and Pride Parade. Really surprised. The way Korean handles the "gay situation" is to completely and utterly ignore it. It doesn't exist if you don't talk about it...."it's a western phenomena." Well, Koreans were definitely making a statement, "I'm here and I'm queer." Good for them! I was proud to be a part of it. Apparently it is the 8th year for the festival which came to me as even more of a shock. The first year, there were only 40 people in attendance and they all had to wear masks.

This year, those people who didn't want to be filmed or photographed wore red ribbons which is actually quite a trusting method. Everyone who wanted to take pictures had to register as press. If they post pictures or film footage that has people wearing red ribbons, they are to blur out those faces. It was really an interesting method because people were able to wear the ribbons anywhere visible. Well people were wearing them around their necks, on their ankles, on their arms, on belt loops, etc. It's really difficult to see red ribbons on ankles when you are taking pictures of a crowd, but I'm sure the "press" will do the best they can to respect the wishes of the parade and festival participants.

Oh..ha...one of the signs that was being handed out (sadly I lost it at some point throughout the night) said Lee Myung Bak = used condom. Meaning: The Korean president is utterly useless. Which is so much the case.

After the parade, Meghan and I headed to Itaewon to get some food before the gay fun at Club ReBall (the after party). We went to a Mexican restaurant...don't remember the name...Dos Amigos perhaps. Anyway, it was quite the ordeal...orders were lost left and right, people were given the incorrect food or nothing at all (which was our case for a long while). The food was awesome once we did get it though.^^

We ran into a friend of mine who was having a fundraiser for Little Travelers (a grassroots program started in South Africa where women make little dolls as pins and the money that is raised goes toward funding that program as well as raising awareness and financial support for HIV and AIDS programs). This guy, Craig, is really involved in Little Travelers and has done a lot of amazing work to get the word out about the program. The fundraiser tonight was in 3 different locations (The Wolfhound - where we had a VDay fundraiser at one point...the boyfriend of a friend of mine is a partial manager of the pub, B1 - don't know it in the slightest, and Rocky Mountain Tavern - where we had our second VDay fundraiser.) Anyway, I felt like an ass, because I told Craig that I didn't know if I would be able to make it to Seoul or not to help with the fundraiser and then, bam, we run into him and his friends on the street. I couldn't have helped anyway because I was with Meghan, but I still feel really bad about it.

We stopped by The Wolfhound to support the fundraiser at least; Meghan got a little traveler and I got a second one. I bought some for my host sibs and myself back in the day when I first learned about them during the Vagina Monologues. Some random guy came to sit with us, Nick/Nicholas. He's part of the army, but he is much different than a lot of army guys I have met in Korea. He likes hanging out with Koreans, he doesn't really like spending much time around foreigners (he gets enough of it during the week), he's thinking about joining peace corps when he finishes his term this year, and he's a really nice guy. It was fun talking to him. With the purchase of a Little Traveler, there is also a drink special...double house drinks for 5,000 Won. So I got a double rum and coke...soo strong! I know better now.

We left there after a while to go to Club ReBall. It..was...packed! We danced for a while and met up with Vernon. There were people dancing on the tables. It was a good time. Not quite like a gay club in the states, but still fun. There is one small area for gay clubs in Itaewon called Homo Hill. I personally like Soho more than ReBall...ReBall had the fake fog thing going on...too many people, etc. I ran into one of my Wonju friends at SoHo. Hilarious! I also met up with a girl who used to live in Wonju. I only met her a few times, but it was good to see both of them.

Meghan and I peaced out fairly early...around 1:30AM. We finally got a taxi after about 15 minutes of standing around and then the taxi driver didn't even know the jimjilbang we were talking about but he still drove us that way. Expensive taxi ride to get out and walk 20 minutes to ask at a police station how to get the jimjilbang exactly. We finally got there and took showers and spent about 10 minutes in the baths before heading to bed. This place, Sil lo am, because it has like bunk beds and is separated men and women and is super quiet in the rooms. So much nicer than other jimjilbangs I have slept in. I'm pretty sure the whole ordeal ended around 3AM. ^_~