Some things I did in April

Some things I did in April. Appreciated spring and all the beautiful blossoms that Korea has to offer this time of year. I went to an impov dance festival. I trained Taekwon-Do with a good friend, Master Vitale who visited our gym. I also wrote the comprehensive exams for my PhD. That was a bit stressful to prepare for, but I'm to say that I passed. I also went to the Joong Gun Memorial Museum, and met with some Taekwon-Do people that visited Korea from different countries, including finally formally meeting a long known acquaintance and now friend. And of course, I did my regular work and started teaching Shakespeare tragedies.

Black Tulip

I live at a very nature-rich place, with flowers blooming wonderfully this time of year. Everywhere it is green again, with splashes of bright floral colours. There are many flowers that grow here; I particularly love the daffodils and tulips. Beside the path towards my apartment I saw this exquisite dark-maroon tulip, so dark it looks nearly black. I feel very blessed to experience such beauty.

Self-Portrait: Snow Walker

Parkour in Olympic Park

This past Sunday I hosted an introductory workshop on Parkour. We met at Olympic Park (South East Seoul) where I showed the attendees most of the basics. We did some precision jumps, a variety of vaults like the monkey vault, lazy vault, turning vault and the like, and also did some wall running. We finished the day with some PK-rolls on some of the grassy slopes in the park. In all, I've been in Korea for nearly four years, but this was the first time to do a proper Parkour session -- I didn't reallise how I've missed it until actually doing it again. How was pleasantly surprised that I could still do the basics with fair ease. I kept myself from doing any crazy stuff. I guess it helped that I'm still quite bruised from a heavy Taekkyeon sparring session I had the previous week. Parkour is such a great workout -- my leg muscles felt sore, in a good way, the days after the jam. The interesting thing about Parkour is that you do not reallise how much you are exercising because it is such a fun playful activity.

Many people (about 16) showed interest to attend the introductory workshop, although only six showed up. I'm guessing that since it was on a Sunday morning most people, when faced between the decision of sleeping in and exercising, chose to stay in bed. If I didn't host the event I would probably have slept in too. Nevertheless, since there was such a big interest I will try and host another workshop -- this time in the afternoon -- before it gets too cold. Unfortunately my Autumn weekends are running out. This coming Sunday I'm going ziplining, sliding with ropes through a forest canopy; the following weekend is Halloween; and the weekend thereafter I'm giving a bride away at a wedding. I also hope to go scuba diving one last time before winter hits us. The last place I'd like to be is in cold water during the winter; I get cold too easily.

Sneeulandskap (Om die draai van my huis af)

Snowboarding in the Heart of Seoul

This weekend the Snowboard Big Air World Cup is hosted in Seoul at the Gwanghwamun plaza – yes, right in the heart of Seoul. There will be a free style show on Friday, an “Infinite Dream Jump” event on Saturday, and Sunday will see the LG Snowboard FIS World Cup, starting at 11:00.

(Image Source: Chosun Ilbo)

I’ll probably show up on Sunday. I'm supposed to meet up with a friend of mine, but why not do both? I'm confident he won't mind to come along as he used to be a snowboard/ski instructor and was probably planning to go there anyway. If you happen to pitch up, come over and say hi. I’ll most likely be wearing my happy orange jumper (but with more clothes underneath, and maybe a beanie and some ear muffs). A group of expats are also planning to go on Saturday as part of Roboseyo’s 2S2 meeting – they’ll be meeting at 2pm at Twosome Place Café close to Anguk Station (Line 3), Exit 1. Just be there at two and look for the foreigners; I'm confident you'll quickly be assimilated into the 2S2 gang.

I'll most likely take my camera and share some pictures here later.

To Autumn

So many other bloggers (particularly South African bloggers living in Korea) are showing their appreciation of the awe inspiringly beautiful autumn foliage. The colours are so striking that one would believe them artificial, as one blogger suggested: “Die kleure is net doodeenvoudig ongelooflik en lyk soms onnatuurlik, so asof iemand oral plastiekblare ‘geplant’ het” [The colours are so unquestionably astounding and looks at times unnatural, as if somebody ‘planted’ plastic leafs everywhere]. Indeed, it looks like a staged scene for a fairytale. Pasted are some “fairytale” pictures I took on the campus where I live.

Autumn is definitely my favourite season, not only in Korea, but in South Africa as well. It might have something to do with the fact that I was born in autumn. Another South African blogger calls autumn a “halfweghuis” [halfway house], a place of recuperation after the summer and a time for preparation before the coming cold. I thought that a beautiful image.

A colleague recently, while both of us were admiring the beautiful colours, told me that she learned from autumn that death need not be ugly. In fact, death can be beautiful, as autumn is beautiful – the leaves are dying, but in their death they are changing into such inspiring colours. Quite a beautiful image too.

Yet another South African blogger, rather appropriately, started quoting poetry. Who better that the poets, and of all the poets the Romantics, to evoke the most striking autumn-images? My favourite is John Keats’ “To Autumn”:

To Autumn

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store?
Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor,
Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep,
Drows'd with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep
Steady thy laden head across a brook;
Or by a cyder-press, with patient look,
Thou watchest the last oozings hours by hours.

Where are the songs of spring? Ay, where are they?
Think not of them, thou hast thy music too, -
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day,
And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn
Among the river sallows, borne aloft
Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn;
Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
The red-breast whistles from a garden-croft;
And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Here are some links to autumn-themed photos I took last year:

• Autumn Self-Portrait
• A Room with a View
• Colourful Theology
• Autumn Colours
• (Natural) Christmas Tree
  

The Dangers of Commuting in Korea during the Winter Season

Me getting cold -- Korean Winter 2006

The thing I probably dislike most about Korean winters is not the cold itself. It is the extreme artificial heating one experience on the public transportation system. Imagine being cocooned in layers of insulating garb: a vest, a shirt, a cardigan or sweater, a jacket, all covered with a down-feather jumper, and add to this a scarf, earmuffs, and a beanie. The description seems excessive only to those that have not been outside on Korea’s coldest days, easily dropping to below -10° Celsius. Picture yourself nuzzled in such apparel, safely protected from the bone cutting coldness outside, and then boarding a bus or subway train that is heated far above what would even be considered moderate summer temperatures. The contrast from the outside is immediately noticeable; it is like stepping into a sauna. But what would be a lifesaving haven for the scantily dressed frostbitten fashion slave that doesn’t know how to dress warmly during the cold season, or for the unfortunate poor that cannot afford clothing, such heated "comfort" becomes a hell, in an almost literal sense, for those that are already dressed warmly.

Lest you become a barbecued chicken—for that is the feeling one gets, steaming away in your layers of clothing—undress is your only salvation. But taking off ones clothes in the confines of a moving vehicle is a task that is in the worst case a dangerous endeavour, and in the least case disturbing for oneself and ones neighbour. Dangerous, because it requires the dexterity and balance of a gymnast to contort oneself out of your cocoon in a vehicle which is continually accelerating and decelerating. Unless you are seated—and in Korean public transport a seat is not guaranteed—undressing while in perpetual motion one can easily become unbalanced and fall, hurting oneself or an innocent fellow commuter. And disturbing, as such stripping often entails flaying limbs which, although accidently, tend to poke and hit those around you—all squeezed together in a confined, incessantly rocking carriage. Apart from the dangers of being cooked alive, there exists also a secondary risk of catching a cold because of the extremes of temperature experienced when coming in and out of the piping hot transportation vehicle.While the Korean transportation system is in one sense one of my favourite things about the country, in another sense it is the context for one of my greatest irritations.

Red Tears