My Accounts of Typhoon Bolaven

The windows are rattling and the cats are sleeping soundly in the house of Joy. Typhoon Bolaven (태풍 볼라벤) has been blowing its hardest over South Korea since last night and bringing with it hysteria. However, as much as it is kind of silly watching Korean people get all up in arms about this severe weather, safety is usually a good idea. I recall a few years ago when windows blew out in the last typhoon while people were standing near them enjoying the typhoon scenery.

For the most part this typhoon hasn't been too grand or destructive. From what I can see and have walked through. However, it mostly disrupted the everyday schedule.

My school didn't allow the students to attend but teachers were made to come in. This caused many of the foreign staff to request to leave early and at one point people wanted to stage a "walk-out." Yet we were allowed to go at 12pm, and all was well. I'm imagining a lot of people got the day off today, which is a rare sight in Korea. Yet you can imagine we will be making it up at some point.

Last night the sunset was stunning as the sky was alit in lovely hues of pink and blue. The "calm before the storm" I suppose. When I walked to work today, as I tried not to get blown away, I noticed many people taped up "x's" on their window. In Florida people shutter their windows with planks of wood and hunkered down somewhere safe. I think the days of taping up one's window are over out there.

The sky this morning showed dense clouds moving swiftly, which are kind of fun to watch. For the most part I find this typhoon connects us all together. Whether we are at home or in the office, we all are sharing the experience. I hope everyone had a safe journey through Typhoon Bolaven...till next season.

A little action to leave you off with...

Sketch & The City 2012: Spring Outing

The view: A crowded urban exterior in the place called Itaewon.

                                The set up: Easel, art pad, watercolor pencils...

The progress:

Other view:

On Saturday, May 19th, I participated in the first Sketch and the City event for 2012, near the Jankura studio space in Itaewon. I came a little late but had enough time to set up and make something. It was a lovely spring day, with a cool breeze and sunny weather. 

People passing by enjoyed admiring the works in progress, making comments and saying "Wow!" It was a good time and gave me practice.

The final work:

Using watercolor pencils has been a fun new tool I've picked up, but I kind of missed using paint during this event. However, I'm still getting the hang of this medium, so we'll see.

Even if you don't have much experience with drawing or painting, I recommend joining the Sketch and the City events as a way to enjoy the Seoul scene.

A Little Guide to the Rain in Seoul

I'm sure all of us know how to use an umbrella and get around their town in the rain. You look out for puddles and wear proper gear. But it seems surviving the rainy streets of Seoul, can add on a few more challenges. I've come to realize these nuances over the course of living here four years, and thought I would share them with you. Not as a way to complain about life here, but just to divulge my observances. Here we go...

1. Puddles and Splashes:
I've noticed quite often that puddles seem to accumulate on one side of a sidewalk. When this happens you of course want to avoid them, and so end up trying to steer around them. Generally, I have come to see that puddles are random throughout the walking experience, and some can be surprisingly deeper than others.

Splashes can occur if you walk really close to the edge of the sidewalk where it meets the road. People driving their cars don't seem to really notice the big splash they make when they glide past the side walk. This causes whoever is standing there to get a soaking that can occur from knee down, depending on your height. Because I've noticed other people getting soaked and heard tales from colleagues, I've learned to stay closer to the other edge of the sidewalk. In addition to this, you might want to stay a few feet behind the edge of the sidewalk when waiting for the pedestrian light to turn green. Cars turning right certainly are closer to the edge and can't help but cause a splash.

2. Umbrella Etiquette:
In America, even when I lived in San Francisco, people tried their best to give you and your umbrella room. It's a tricky thing to walk down a crowded street with an umbrella hovering above your head that makes the width of you more round. Ever since living in Korea I have experienced the daunting challenge of trying not to get bashed in by other folk's umbrellas. I don't think they mean it intentionally, but people here certainly don't try to avoid you and your umbrella. Now, this is not all the time, as I do experience the occasional dodging of each other's umbrella.

But the typical case is that your umbrella will bump with others and you can sometimes be hit on the shoulder or head by the edge of them. Certainly, it's tricky business to have lots of people get through a crowded and narrow sidewalk, with umbrellas in hand and not have a few collisions.

My advice is to be hyper aware and cautious. Also think about your height and in this case I find being shorter than most people here to my advantage. I can just lower my umbrella a little and glide underneath everyone.

3. Footwear:
In the past year or so fancy-rain-footwear has become more prevalent in these parts. I'm talking about rain boots.

The fashion ladies of Seoul would probably have a hard time walking down the drenching streets in heels. So I think they have turned to cute or fashionable rain boots. I for one am starting to feel interested in getting my own pair.

Otherwise, it seems difficult to figure out a pair of shoes that will get you through the day without your feet getting soaked. It's not just the rain that falls down on them, the general sidewalk ends up being it's own mini-splash zone.  When it rains in the heat of the summer I usually just truck by, wearing sandals and dry off my feet once inside.

4. Bus and Taxi Embarking and Exiting:
As with the challenging umbrella dodging, getting on or off a bus can be tricky as well. As you know, busses in Korea don't wait for you to take your time folding up your umbrella or getting it ready for when you want to get off. You have to be quick, no matter what the weather is like. This means you often get a little soaked entering a bus or exiting it.

What I find also happens is that if you walk past a bus stop, and there happens to be a bus unloading people. That those people will pop open their umbrellas in your direction. So watch out!

Also I could add how it's tricky to keep your soaked umbrella from touching yourself or others while clinging on to the bus or train. Thankfully some places you visit along the way have plastic covers.

source

Let's hope the rain this summer won't be as drenching as last years (seen above). When no matter what umbrella or shoes you wore made a difference. However, I'm thinking Seoul is very prepared now just in case this happens again. 

Rain, Rain...go away...or stay...or linger...

Seonyudo Park: In the spring time

As you might recall I wasn't having the best of times at the Yeouido Flower festival, and so headed to a familiar park nearby. After checking my digital smart-phone App I found that Seonyudo park was just down the river.

It had been since around 2010 since my last visit and so knew I needed to head there again. Since then a whole new subway line opened, which brings you closer to the park. Seonyudo station lets you exit and walk up a street to a covered bridge, which crosses the great highway.

You might recognize the following view, only with out the filters I applied to it for my blog header.

One of the fun parts of visiting this park is the humped bridge crossing you take to get over.

Spring seemed to be in a jolly mood on this little island in the center of Seoul, as greenery and flowers were found.

I parked myself under a shady tree and had a small lunch of a Caffe Bene sandwich, along with some tteok cakes I picked up. It was a wonderful moment enjoying watching the people pass by, and the pleasantness of a new spring day.

Afterwards, I explored around admiring the flower blossoms. Warning spring amazingness!

The amount of couples prowling about were quite a plenty. It made me wonder how long these relationships would last, or whether the spring air would help keep love strong out there in the love mingling of Seoul.

Otherwise the kids were enjoying the new warmth in the air. I like the following view of Seoul through these yellow blooms.

When you visit Seonyudo park you basically just follow this circular path that takes through the greenery, but then you approach the architectural historic aspects. Not to mention it had mountain peaks taken off, and became a sewage plant. This place is fun to poke around to find all these remnants of history. I found myself at the botanical garden and the sewage treatment remnants.

The park was just starting to get more crowded as I headed out, so I was glad to get some feeling of space in there. On my way back to the subway station, I found myself at what looked like a new minted cafe. Called, "Ipanema" they had a selection of coffees and cool drinks. Staffed by some cute youngins, I enjoyed a blueish lemonade.

I'm telling you, if the rest of Seoul wants to restore itself with these hipster cafes, then I'm all for it! In fact this little stretch of street in Seoul had other cafes and restaurants which looked new, too. Although, many will think it is best to keep Seoul in it's traditional form, I think getting rid of the eye-sore store fronts and million signs, is going to be a blessing.

Anyways, I highly recommend you get out to Seonyudo park, as one of the more green places to visit in this city. You can get great views, have a picnic and cross some fun bridges.

Icicles

It is so cold outside that I noticed little icicles on my eyelashes. The condensation from my breath seems to make moisture build up in beads and then the cold air crystalizes them. An interesting phenomenon indeed, however isn't doing much to make me like winter more.

Spring, come to the land of Korea!

The Freeze Comith

If for some reason you notice that my blog is lacking in photos of fun places in Korea, you can blame the above scenario. The freezing-temps of winter are back again. Granted, this isn't as cold as it could be, but still is cold.

Sorry if I sound like I'm whining, but I'm not much of a fan of winter and yet to be converted.