Some Things I Did in March

It is the end of March. That means I'm shouldering ahead again with work. It is four weeks into the new semester, I'm settling into a rhythm, and getting a sense of my workload for this semester. This is not an easy semester. I'm teaching five content courses: Anglo-American Essay Readings, 19th Century English Poetry, Prose Reading and (Response Essay) Writing, Anglo-American Short Stories, and Film Theory: Cinematic Adaptations of Shakespearean Plays. Apart from my full time job, I'm also working on a PhD and already had to submit two reports. I'm taking three courses this semester. Originally it was four, but I decided to cancel the evening class which started at 7pm and continue until 9pm or later. Seeing as the university campus I study at is over two hours from my house, I just felt that I needed to be more realistic about my time and energy levels. Cancelling that class may result in me graduating a year later, but my general health and well-being is more important to me than getting to write "Dr" in front of my name.

So here is a selection of some other things I've been doing this past month:

Birthday

It was my birthday earlier this month. Since I didn't do anything special for my birthday the previous year (and I can't remember if I did something the year before that either), I decided to invite some people over for a small dinner at my place. I invited about 30 people, but specifically invited them on short notice, knowing that many would not be able to make it. The reason for this strange logic is that I really do wanted them all to share my birthday celebration with me, but my apartment really cannot host that many people. I figured that a form of natural selection will result in few numbers attending. In the end we were around 12 people. A good size. We had three curries (palak paneer, vegetable, and green Thai) and for dessert I made a trifle. It was my first attempt at a trifle, but it came out very good.

While my guests sang to me for my birthday,
just before I dished the trifle.

Capoeira and Martial Arts

Every two weeks I organize a martial arts workshop. Once a month I and / or one of my friends teach one of the workshops, and for the other workshop of the month we try and find some outside instructors to teach something that is not part of our arsenal. Last week Sunday we enjoyed Capoeira, the Brazilian martial art based on Afro-Latin rhythms. It was great fun. Below are some photos of the instructor from Cordão De Ouro Seoul in action.

I'm still training regularly. I recently decided that I need to refocus on core muscle exercises again. Here are some pics of some of the core muscle exercises I do:

SASKOR First Orientation Meeting

I'm chairperson of the South African Students in Korea association and recently we had our first orientation meeting, hosted by the South African Embassy in Seoul. I gave an overview of what we have done since the association was founded towards the end of last year, and then continued to give a presentation about culture shock and reverse culture. Another presenter spoke about "Conducting Research Outside of South Africa" and two presenters facilitated a session on "Finding Jobs, Making Jobs". I think the session went off really well. We already have a Facebook page for South African students currently studying in Korea and will soon launch a website with relevant information for South Africans considering coming to Korea to study.

Bulssang Dance Performance

Last weekend I went to a dance performance by the Korea National Contemporary Dance Company, entitled "Bul-Ssang", which seemed to be a deconstructionist interpretation of Buddhist iconography. It was quite an interesting performance, but I was somewhat disappointed. Honestly, I expected a better performance from the KNCDC.

Steampunk Art Exhibit

I also went to a steampunk exhibit and wrote a bit more about that in my previous post.

Movies

Three movies I watched this month were Noah, the new Captain America, and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Of the three I consider The Grand Budapest by far the best movie, and in fact I think it is one of the best, intelligent comedies I have seen in years. An absolutely delightful film, and I think I might just go see it on the big screen one more time before it disappears from the circuit.

Some of the stuff I did in January

I wasn't very good at keeping track of my activities last year -- leaving some gaps in my blog postings, which of course is unfortunate since the very reason for this blog is to function as a journal of sorts. It is not that I wish to document every part of my life, but at least the highlights, the unusual or interesting moments is worth logging. It seems that this year is starting out not much better. I'm sure I've already forgotten some of the things I've done in the last few weeks. Herewith then, a short list of the highlights I can remember.

Leeum Museum

I went on a date, which included a trip to the Leeum Samsung Museum of Art. Well, it wasn't technically a date. More of a let's-get-to-know-each-other-better-and-see-where-it-goes excursion. (I mentioned the outing before.) I've always wanted to go to the Leeum Museum, but just never actually made the time before. It definitely did not disappoint. We only got to see one of the three galleries. As I understand it, the first gallery include traditional Korean art (that's the one I went to), while the second gallery focus more on modern Korean art, while the third gallery is for special exhibits. I'll definitely go back to visit the second gallery, hopefully soon. Unfortunately were we not allowed to take photos of the artifacts, so the photos below are from areas where I were allowed to take photos.

Salon Du Chocolat

The French founded annual international chocolate trade fair known as Salon Du Chocolat had an exhibit in Seoul, Korea and of course being the dark chocolate chocoholic that I am, I just had to go. I did not splurge -- only bought one tin of quality coco powder. I did, however, get the business cards of some of the prominent chocolatiers in Seoul, and plan to visit their shops one by one. 

Some of the photos I took at the exhibit below includes "clothes", and even "shoes", made of chocolate. 

Immigration Office

The day before yesterday I went to the immigration office to re-issue my identity card which I lost a couple of months ago. During the semester I just never had the time to go by the immigration office, knowing that it is a time consuming ordeal. Well, I arrived at what I thought to be the office a little after 10 am in the morning just to find that the office has relocated so I had to go search for the new location. Luckily it was within a 10 minute walking distance. I guess I got there, say, around 10:30am, and had my forms filled out within maybe 5 minutes. But then I waited until close to 2pm before they got to help me. By then I was ravishingly hungry and bougth a foot long sandwich which I devoured in under five minutes. I need to return in two weeks to pick up my ID card. 

At least my ID photo came out nice.

Photo shoot

A good friend of mine is getting married and had his photo shoot tonight, so he asked me to go by so that I can take some photos with them. I took some selfies in between shoots and sneakily got some of them as well. The photo studio don't allow visitors to take photos.

Restaurants

I didn't take photos of all the restaurants I visited over the last month. I don't eat out particularly much -- usually I cook at home. Nonetheless, seeing as I'm on vacation I went to a restaurant probably about twice a week. Some of the restaurants I went to included a Thai restaurant, an authentic Chinese restaurant (most Chinese restaurants in Korea are Korean-Chinese, rather than authentic Chinese), a fusion restaurant, a beef buffet (after which I came down of a flu -- my body is not used to much meat), and at least two Italian restaurants, the South African restaurant (yes "the" -- there is only one in Korea), and one of those chocolatiers I mentioned earlier. Below are some pictures.

Blues Concert

This past Saturday night I went to a blues concert. Blues being one of my favourite genres of music I couldn't let this one pass, but the real reason I was excited to go was to see one of my all time favourite Korean rock musicians for the first time, Kang-San Eh, 강산에. I've posted about Kang-San Eh on this blog before, shortly after being introduced to his music, and has since accrued a number of his albums. (Watch Kang-San Eh on YouTube.) While the concert included a number of acts, Kang-San Eh's was undeniably the best (I might be subjective). Man, that guy knows how to enchant his audience! Apart for Kang-San Eh, the concert which was titled The Blues Again included Kim Ganju & Ha Hunjin, Jeon Seonggi, Seoul Blues, Lim Jihoon, and Lowdown 30. The photos below are of Kang-San Eh. 

Movies

I also went to see four movies. The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, which I saw in 3D and can highly recommend, particularly to watch on the big screen. Two animations I saw were Tarzan and Frozen. Do not waste your time or money on Tarzan. While the CGI is good, the story is terrible and I found it awfully sexist. Disney's Frozen, on the other hand, was a great treat. The fourth movie I saw was a Korean action, called 용의자 / The Suspect. This was an excellent action movie that keeps its own well along the best of what Hollywood spews out. The lead Gong Yoo who I first took note of in the excellent and disturbing 2011 drama 도가니 / Silenced, and who is generally known for his drama and romantic roles, did a brilliant job at crossing over to the action genre. The film is full of suspense, great chase scenes, and well choreographed fights scenes. Slightly over the top, but in a good way. 

Books

I'm currently reading:

• Bi: Notes for a Bisexual Revolution -- a very thought provoking treatise on the plight of bisexuals.
• Tao Te Ching (SkyLight Illuminations) -- an annotated exploration of the main Taoist text.
• Tomas Transtromer: Selected Poems, 1954-1986 -- officially one of my new favourite poets
• The Tao of Pooh -- an explanation of Taoism by Winnie the Pooh with illustrations.
• Good Omens -- a fantasy fiction about Armageddon.
• The Pleasures of the Damned: Poems, 1951-1993 -- excellent collection of Charles Bukowski's poetry.
• I Was Just Wondering -- a collection of the Christian author Philip Yancey's essays.

Friends

I also spent some quality time with friends -- one of the great pleasures in life.