Anarchy in the S.K.

Seoul National University students are a reserved bunch of people, on average. No one shuffles to class in pajamas and a t-shirt like they might at GW, no couple dares to do more than hold hands in public, and the chic daily dress code leaves me looking like a country bumpkin. So when I heard that the music department was putting on a rock concert, I had to see exactly how some of the most tightly wound students I've ever met manage to cut loose.


I went to the concert this past Friday night with some other international students and a Korean friend. From the stares we got as we entered the hall, I don't think many foreigners come to the shows.

The music department at SNU, like every other department of the university, attracts some of the most talented young people in the country. Since the band deserved a screaming crowd, my friends and I had to oblige, even if the rest of the students there seemed to have a different way of enjoying rock concerts.


Picture half a dozen foreign students yelling their heads off to covers of Fall Out Boy, the Vines, and "Myeongdong Calling" (rather than London, Myeongdong is a district in Seoul) as well as a bunch of homegrown rock songs, (don't know if they were covers or the band's creation). The rest of the audience gave us a wide berth, creating a ten foot buffer zone between the rest of the SNU students and the crazy foreigners.

The guy in the black shirt just above has to get a lot of credit for getting us excited, he was a drummer for a different band who just couldn't stop jumping around. He and a friend seemed ecstatic that there were exchange students there who seemed to love the music as much as they did.The bassist works in the international sutdent office, I barely recognized her out from behind a desk and up on stage. The biggest surprise was the singers for the two bands that played that night, two guys about my age who acted as though the audience was thousands, not a few dozen. In between writhing on the floor during solos and screaming out a pretty good Bon Jovi impersonation, they managed to jump down from the stage and dance with us.

It was great to see that Korean students have the same love of live music and personal expression that exists on my home campus. I have to say that seeing such a different side of the student body reassured me that I wasn't studying with the pressurized human automatons that a lot of stories at SNU had me believe.

The fact that many songs were in English really threw me for a loop. There were some other international students and many SNU native students there who can understand English, but I was the only native speaker there. Here I was, five thousand miles from home, listening to the same songs I used to play on my ipod on the way to high school.

I'm sure the SNU student band isn't the only one of its kind in the country. Somewhere out there are other bands who belt out solos of 80s glam rock to an audience that may not even understand what they are saying, but who still love the songs.

(photos courtesy of a friend of mine, Iris Youh)

B-Boys, TV

I wanted to wait until it was sure that I was getting this before I posted, but I filmed a part for a tv show on Channel SBS this afternoon. I got a call this past Wednesday from an SBS producer who got my number through my homestay broker. They were putting together a show in a series of educational/entertaining variety shows that are pretty common here. Essentially, I and two other foreigners ate a lot of Korean food until we were stuffed, then chugged a bottle of this medicinal syrup they use here for upset stomachs, all on camera.

The syrup didn't really do anything except leave a strange taste in my mouth, but the producer apparently liked what I did. There was a lot of exaggerated "I'm way too full" acting involved, nothing too complicated. As I was getting ready to leave the little studio where they did the filming, the producer asked me if I would be interested in doing other acting for them, as a part time job. Needless to say, the idea of getting paid to do really weird/interesting things on camera really appeals to me. I got pretty decently paid for the three hours of work today, and I should get about as much as I would tutoring English if they decide to call me back in the future.

I realize that the only reasons why I interested the producer was because I am very obviously a foreigner and can speak a bare minimum of Korean, acting ability doesn't really come into play. I felt a little guilty after she offered me the job because she didn't say anything similar to the other two people who worked on the show, a Malaysian guy and a Japanese woman. Both of them had perfect Korean, maybe a little too perfect for a show that is trying to demonstrate how foreigners interact with a new culture. I will mention it in the future if I ever get a call back from SBS.

In case anyone is able to watch the clip in Korea, (it should be about ten minutes), it will be on channel SBS in early October, I still need to hear about the exact date and time. I will also try to upload it here.

Later in the day, I went to the KB B-Boy World Masters 2008, an international B-Boy competition that goes on at the Seoul Olympic Stadium. Eight teams, including China, Japan, Netherlands, Korea, and France (defending champions) spent a few hours breakdancing in front of a wild crowd. Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera and no clips are up yet on Youtube, but there is some good video up from last year's competition.

(official poster)
Korea is pretty famous for its breakdancing, I certainly wasn't disappointed. I was surprised at how many other artists they had performing besides the b-boys. Big Bang, Mighty Mouth, and a few others, all really popular Korean pop artists. The lineup made for strange audience, young girls and middle-aged women who were there for the boy bands, and a crowd of 20 somethings who were there for the b-boys. Either way, I had a great time. They have a half dozen or so similar international competitions here each year, so hopefully I grab my own video and upload it in the future.

In case you are wondering, a Korean breakdancing team was the winner, with the Americans coming in second (we were robbed, as were the French). Breakdancing at this level is pretty incredible, headspins for a minute at a time, double back flips ten feet in the air, it's not really dancing at that point, but it sure is fun to watch.

Doctor Fish

I promised someone that I would talk about another unique experience I've had here, having my feet eaten by fish voluntarily.

At many spas and a few cafes in Seoul there is a sign that says "Dr. Fish." Dr. Fish, as they are called, are actually a species of fish that love to eat dead skin from your feet, dead skin and nothing else, (fortunately). For about five dollars you can go to a cafe, have a drink, and talk with friends while these little guys go to work.

The only picture I have is actually one that I didn't take, I was so distracted during the experience that I forgot to take any shots. This is one that I got from Wikipedia, but it looks the same.

It looks a little strange, and it feels like nothing else in the world, but it's definitely worth a try. I would say the closest sensation is having your feet licked by dozens of scratchy little cat tongues. A funny part of the experience if you do it with friends is that you get to see who has the most dead skin on their feet, as the fish are highly selective about what they eat. When I went, one girl attracted an unbelievable amount of fish, but kept insisting it was only because she wore heels a lot. Funny stuff

National Buddhist Temple

I visited the national Buddhist temple last week, which is in the heart of Seoul.

The building itself isn't very big, and it seemed recently built. My homestay brother explained that all of the older temples in Seoul were destroyed during the Japanese occupation, so now the only place where you can find the ancient structures and granite Buddhas is way out in the countryside.

In the courtyard in front of the temple was a display of paper lanterns, which at first seemed like nothing more than a way to brighten up the area.

But if you look closer from underneath them, you can read the word "OUT." "OUT" being part of the most popular political chant now in Korea, "Lee Myung Bak Out," (Lee Myung Bak is the current unpopular president).

I have even seen the chant shortened to 2MBOUT when it is spraypainted on buildings, (the word Lee also means two in Korean).

Early Morning Concert

Since I moved into my homestay two weeks ago, I have been trying to fit into my family's routine and get to know them well. We all live in an apartment close to the river, in a housing/office area called Daebang. My apartment is actually very close to the famous Noryangjin Fish Market, I'll have pictures of that some time in the future.

My homestay family is just a mother, Hyung Ran, and her son, Hyung Ju, who is my age. My first week with the family they invited me to go to a traditional Korean concert at one of the city's royal palaces. The only catch was that the performance was at 7:30 in the morning, painfully early on a Staurday. Despite being an infamously bad morning person, I put on a smile and accompanied them.

The concert itself was fantastic, it was a type of performance that is actually meant to be enjoyed in the morning, so it was situated on a raised open air platform that highlighted the musicians with the rising sun. I wish I had been a little more conscious, but I managed to get some video.

As you can hear, the music itself is unlike anything western, it was actually a single 55 minute song. The rhythm started out slow, with just intermittent plucking and some very quiet keening on those thin flutes. The video is from close to the end, when the music began to pick up speed.

I also explored the palace complex with my host family, it was great to be in a tourist area in Seoul in the morning, before all of the buses and school groups arrive.


That's me on the left, my host brother in the middle, and my host mom on the right, in front of what I think is a structure built to hold ancestor shrines, I wasn't quite sure of the translation. My host family knows a little English, just about as much Korean as I know, but we speak Korean most of the time. My host brother wants to study at an American business school in the future, so I am going to help him preparing for the Test of English as a Foreign Language exams, which are huge here.

More shots from the palace grounds:

sorry for the hiatus

I've been back in Seoul for about two weeks now, it's been a very busy time. I promise I'll put something online in a few days. I've managed to go to buddhist protests, the national shrine, have my feet eaten by fish, and a few other interesting tidbits.

soon, I promise!