We knew what was ahead. Korean New Year is famous for the lines of impregnable traffic on the express-way, and for the previous two days, both the weather forecast and my father-in-law had been warning us about the snow that was going to stop the world that existed around us.

Two hours into our journey along the expressway I awoke with a shudder and snort. The bus was cruising steadily along the expressway at an unfamiliar speed, perhaps over 80 kilometres an hour, and we were passing Munmak, thaat perpetual traffic black spot on the Yeongdong Expressway.

It seemed that the worst traffic we would be encountering along the road would have been in Suwon as we made our way painstakingly through the Friday evening, after-work rush. It was unexplainable, so much so that we found ourselves complaining about the lack of traffic, and the lack of snow.

What is it about holidays that make us worry so much? The actual event itself is fine, but it’s the traffic, or the journey we must make on the way to the celebration, that almost make us want to stay at home, waiting out the days off in the comfort of our own homes with cups of tea and convenience store snacks in great abundance.

Last Chuseok we managed to convince Herself’s mother and father to come and spend the occasion at our place. This time, there was no escaping our duty to journey out to Jumunjin on Gangwon-do’s east coast.

Korean New Year, or Seollal (설날, a word which I cannot, for the life of me, pronounce correctly), is a major holiday. I’m not sure if it is the most important or not, but it is definitely on of two. While I’m a bigger fan of Chuseok myself, maybe something to do with the warmer weather and galbijim, New Year has always been a little more relaxed an occasion in Herself’s household. There certainly isn’t as much cooking.

I was thinking about how we have celebrated Korean New Year and that surely everyone does their best to celebrate it to the fullest. As it was going to be a long weekend, we do our best to get away for as much of it as possible. I thought many people would do the same, which I’m sure many do, but many also do their best to avoid it, too.

The long hours spent sitting in traffic, the expense and effort of putting on a large, flamboyant festive meal, and the fact that many families are small and prefer to avoid the hassle, all seem to be changing how the major holidays are beings celebrated. More and more, people spend New Year outside of the country, or they stay home and avoid the traffic.

For some families, visiting the family on New Year can be very stressful, especially for a woman who has married into the family. I’ve heard on numerous occasions that she can often be treated as a hired hand that is there to function at the beck and call of the mother of the house. Of course I know that this probably isn’t exactly the case, and the way I’m putting it makes it sound a lot worse than it actually probably is.

But, women must often visit her husband’s family first, while her own family must play second fiddle. I’m sure this has much to do with the stressfulness of this occasion for families. I heard from one lady that she really only likes to spend a day or two, at the most, with her husbands family for these reasons, despite driving for four or five hours to get there. It really doesn’t come across as a family sounding holiday when you know these things.

Herself is eternally grateful that my ould pair would drop dead at the thought of her playing kitchen lackey for them over Christmas – they would find it much more enjoyable to employ me to the task!

Most people when they go to find out about a particular holiday they’re not familiar with probably end up on Wikipedia, which will tell you all about the traditions of Korean New Year and why it’s special etc.. Maybe I’m missing out on something here, but it catches me as a more special holiday for children.

There is the sebae, when the younger ones bow to their older family members, and then they get money. There is a small ceremony of presenting the spirits of the dead with a meal, but this can be done in the home and the meal’s contents are slightly different from Chuseok. Families don’t usually travel to the grave as they may often be covered in snow, or it just might be too cold. Then there are traditional games to be played.

Now, maybe we are untraditional here in Herself’s family, or maybe it’s because of the size of the family, and because doing it twice a year is too much work, that we don’t really go the whole hog on New Year. While there are bowls of deokgug for breakfast, lunch, and dinner with more food than you would want to shake a stick at, New Year is a distinctly toned down from Chuseok.

Two years ago this wasn’t the case. We had literally just arrived back from Ireland after a year and a half away. After we got married we left Korea, and this was our first time seeing her family in person since then. This was almost like us returning from our honeymoon. To make the return easier, we decided to travel to Cheonan where most of Herself’s family lived in a small cluster of farm houses surrounded by a grape farm.

On New Years Day, everyone was there. Herself’s 95 year old grandmother, her seven uncles and aunts, their wives and husbands, their children and their wives and husbands, and their children. There was sebaeing to beat the band, money exchanging hands, games, running, screaming, deokgug, galbijim, a hundred other different side-dishes all hand made from the various crops grown in patches of land spread out around the farmland, and myself and Herself existing dozy and jet-lagged in the middle of it.

Every so often, some old friend of the family would appear and great us and everyone else. A bottle of something would be taken out, and more food would appear on the table, followed by stories and laughter. I lost track of where I was and who anyone was, and I don’t think that I can blame jet-lag for this. Here was the celebration of a family holiday that I could compare with my own family ridden Christmases back in Ireland.

Jumunjin New Year celebrations are much more placid and laid back. Today we woke relatively late for here, around 7.30am. Breakfast was served after some final preparations in the kitchen, and then a special table was laid out by the window for the spirits to feast on. Some incense was lit and we watched the television for a few minutes. Afterwards, the big table was laid out on the floor and the rest of the breakfast was brought in – more side dishes, steamed fish, fried fish, and of course, big heavy bowls full of deokgug.

Deokgug is rice cake soup that is traditionally eaten on Korean New Year. It’s quite simple to prepare as far as I know. You boil some water and crack in an egg, put in some stewing beef sliced into small cubes, some chopped spring onion, and rice cakes. It’s a particular kind of rice cake however, and not the kind you see been sold that are all bright and colourful. These ones are long, cylindrical, and quite wide but have been sliced thinly to look like elliptically shaped coins. There may be some other small additions required, but I’m pretty sure this is the bones of it. You let this boil away until all is cooked, leaving everything sitting in a nice thick and creamy white soup from all the ingredients. When you serve it you can throw on some crushed seaweed, sesame seeds, and season it appropriately. Some people like to add some mandu, or dumplings to theirs, as we did this morning, but this isn’t essential (although this is debatable!).

After breakfast, I fell back asleep for an hour or two, as did my father-in-law, and Herself’s brother. They are still asleep now. Herself and her mother did play some games for a while, Go-Stop, which is anything but traditional. Herself got cleaned out.

Now? Well a bit like the last time, everyone is either watching the TV or snoring happily on the warm heated floor.

Later, I might try and drag Herself out for a walk down to the beach. It’s probably quite cold, but there are some nice quaint coffee shops that roast their own beans. We’ll shack up in one that isn’t too loud, read for a while, and then wander back up to her folks place for more food.

A lovely, peaceful New Year and I hope you have one too!

Happy New Year!

Area
Dublin – 114.99 km2
Seoul – 605.25 km2

Population
Dublin – 525,380
Seoul – 10,464,051

Density
Dublin – 4,398/km2
Seoul – 17,288.8/km2

Population of metropolitan area
Dublin – 1,801,040
Seoul – 23,616,000

Citizens
Dublin – Dub, Dubliner
Seoul – Seoulite, 서울시민(Seoul simin)

Ethnicty of population
Dublin – 90.85% White (81.25% White Irish, 9.23% White Other, 0.37% Irish Traveller), 3.34% Asian/Asian Irish, 1.12% Black/Black Irish, 1.47% Bi-Racial/Other, 3.22% Not Stated
Seoul – 285,618 foreigners registered in city at end of 2011 (186,631 of these were citizens of the People’s Republic of China with Korean ethnicity)

Administrative Divisions
Dublin – Unicameral area with 13 electoral divisions
Seoul – 25 districts or gu, divided in 522 neighbourhoods or dong.

Rivers
Dublin – Liffey, Dodder (south bank), Tolka (north bank)
Seoul – Han, Jungnangcheon (north bank), Tancheon (south bank)

Number of Bridges Crossing Major River
River Liffey (Dublin) – 17
River Han (Seoul) – 26

Public Transport
Dublin – Luas (2 lines), DART (1 line), Irish Rail Commuter (4 lines) Dublin Bus (172 routes), two major inter-city train stations, one bus station, over 16,000 taxis.
Seoul – Subway/Metro (14 lines) Seoul Bus (653 routes c. 2006) four main train stations, plus numerous smaller stations, six bus stations, over 23,000 taxis

Other Cities Named After:

Dublin – 15
Seoul – 0

UNESCO Honours:
Dublin – City of Literature
Seoul – City of Design, Jongmyo and Changdeokgung world heritage sites

Global Cities Ranking (2010):
Dublin – 44
Seoul – 10

Cities Twinned With:
Dublin – Barcelona, Spain; Liverpool, United Kingdom; San Jose, California, United States of America; Beijing, The People’s Republic of China
Seoul – Ankara, Turkey; Astana, Kazakhstan; Athens, Greece; Bangkok, Thailand; Beijing, China; Bogotá, Columbia; Cairo, Egypt; Guam, U.S.A.; Hanoi, Vietnam; Honolulu, U.S.A.; Islamabad, Pakistan; Bumiayu, Indonesia; Mumbai, India; Moscow, Russia; Paris, France; Rome, Italy; San Fracisco, U.S.A.; São Paulo, Brazil; Sydney, Australia; Taipei, Taiwan; Tokyo, Japan; Ulaanbator, Mongolia; Warsaw, Poland; Washington D.C., U.S.A.

Unfortunately, there is a lack of interesting statistics on drugs, alcohol, and other aspects which define a society available for Dublin or Seoul. These statistics appear to be only available on a national level.

For alcohol consumption rates of Korea and Ireland please follow this Wikipedia link where plenty of details available in the references section.

For drug usage reports and statistics from Ireland visit drugsandalcohol.ie for comprehensive analysis. There appear to be no reports or information available on Seoul or Korea in English.

All facts and figures were found freely on the internet, mostly with thanks to Wikipedia. To maintain free access to information and to prevent censorship, please support Wikipedia’s fight against SOPA by contacting your local representative, or if you live outside of the United States sign the AVAAZ petition.

When I arrived in Seoul first, I didn’t really notice whether the city was hilly or not. In the beginning, my immediate sphere – from my apartment to work, Emart, and Bongwhasan station – didn’t involve too many hikes. What was certainly more obvious was how built up the city was. This affected me more than anything.

This is the kind of countryside I am used to

I come from Meath. Meath is famous for having lots of fields. When I was in secondary school it was assumed that my family background involved agriculture (which it actually did, but that’s beside the point) and that I live knee deep in cow shite seven days a week. Meath is farmland and proud of it. That being said, I hated being from Meath. Maybe it was because I just wanted to be young and urban and cool. Being next to Dublin, there’s a lot of rivalry between the two, not only because Ireland is incredibly tribal minded, but also because they are completely different places with completely different histories. A fair bit of this has to do with GAA. Much of the tribalism surrounding Meath-Dublin rivalry never really appealed to me, although this may have had something to do with the fact that I wasn’t particularly good at football. While I had yearned for city life, I wasn’t prepared for what Seoul provided. From a village of nearly eight thousand people to a city of over ten million people is the change I made.

Driving through Seoul the first time I couldn’t get over how big the city was and how much it kept stretching and stretching. How the buildings didn’t thin out or get much smaller. I also noticed that there was very little, or I should say no open spaces. The longer I spent in the city the more I noticed that, despite there being lots of very pretty green mountains in the distance, there were no parks or places to get some fresh air. At least, there were none that I could see.

When I couldn’t find any parks I started to feel like I would go crazy. I walked around and tried to find a little bit of nature around my neighbourhood, but I wasn’t very successful. One day after many effortless searches I found a local map at a bus stop. What looked like a few hundred yards away, as the crow flies, was a big patch of green.  Green usually implied that there was some form of a park nearby, at least this was the case in most countries I had been to. I decided that the next morning I would explore.

Seoul from a height

Making my way through the carpark of the local dong office I came across a small hamlet like collection of houses. Passing through these I could see the trees rising from the ground and stretching up the slopes of a small, sheer hill in front of me. Other walkers passed on their way down, some attired in full hiking regalia and others uniformly dressed in office attire, and equipped with regulation paper coffee cups in one hand and cigarettes limply dangling from their lips. After less than a hundred yards into the newly discovered natural paradise, I was pretty sure that I had found a rival to the Amazon.

While I’ve written about how much this mountain has affected my time in Korea before, I haven’t really encouraged anyone to go and find their own mountain. That’s what this post is all about.

What is waiting for you only a moments walk from where you live

If you ever look at some of the photos of Seoul from a height, one of the most outstanding features is the number of green hills projecting from the grey paste of the surrounding city (follow this link for some stunning pictures from a height of Seoul a sunrise). If you take a look at Seoul through the satellite image on Google Maps, you can get an even better idea of what I’m talking about. There are mountains everywhere.

Don’t expect the Himalayas though. A mountain, or ‘san’ in Korean actually really isn’t a mountain in the traditional sense, but in Korea’s case they are usually quite steep hills that are heavily forested and do take you up higher than all of the surrounding buildings around you, the one exception being Namsan Tower.

Seocho view from Gwanaksan

As far as I know, the majority of these mountains have been developed as not only suitable walking spots, but as complete social facilities. Bongwhasan, for example, had public toilets with running water, there were exercise machines, badminton courts, drinking fountains, and gyms where old men lifted weights and passed the time. All the way up there were well constructed steps, with benches along the way for people to rest or picnic at. Still, despite this sense of over-developed natural amenity, there was still an entire swathe of the mountain where no one went and anyone could escape and get away from the stresses of daily life. The mountain was not a mountain in the traditional sense, but a focal point for the community, and a place where the city dwellers could leave the flashing neon, honking horns, and fumes in the streets behind.

Getting away from the crowds on Gwanaksan

Since my first years in Sinnae-dong on the foot of Bongwhasan, having a local san has been vital to my sanity. Right now I live by Cheongyesan next to Yeongtong-dong in Suwon. Last year there wasn’t much of a san nearby as most of the development seemed to restrict anyone climbing up it. We did make it out to Gwangyosan a few times, but that’s more of a serious climb and we chickened out more often than not. Before this I lived next to Gwanaksan, right beside Seoul National Unviersity, but we found this a bit like Gwangyosan; too serious for casual wandering, and also too busy and loud for escaping the madness! Still it was enjoyable when we got off the main trail and away from the company parties and hiking clubs. Some years ago I lived in Itaewon and had Seoul’s most famous san, Namsan. While we didn’t hike to the top too often, we did explore the park and the area and road around the mountain on plenty of occasions, and we always found it very enjoyable.

Sharing the good times on Namsan

To make the most of your own mountain you have to find it, right? Take a look at your local subway map, or any local map for that matter, and find a green patch. Walk to the green patch and start to walk around there. It’s that simple. You would be surprised what you find. Every little thing you see is different. Everything is unique and specific to that place, and if you open your eyes properly you can see this. Take a moment to ingest it and then leave it and move on to the next new thing. Regardless of how small or how typical it may seem, it is not in anyway the same. That’s why Seoul stands out as a wanderers dream.

From somewhere, up high, in the middle of Bukhansan National Park

If that’s not exciting enough, take a look at the subway map and find the stations that are next to mountains. Usually you can do this by finding a stop that ends in ‘san’, like Bongwhasan (line 6). I did a very rough scan over the subway map and counted around twenty, but that’s not very accurate because my eyes hurt and I’m bad at maths. If this fails you can try some of the bigger trails like Dobongsan and Bukansan, both of which are big enough and diverse enough to avoid the weekend traffic. But whatever you do, make sure your only plan is ‘find the place’.

By the way, I’m pretty sure that you can do this anywhere in Korea.

Your's truly, on top of a rock...

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Part 1: The Instigator – Sinnae-dong, Jungnang-gu
Part 2: Finding My Own Little Mountain

For what it’s worth, If I Had A Minute To Spare is not a travel blog, it’s a personal journal on the internet which charts my own experiences and opinions. I don’t claim to be a travel guide or an expert, I only talk about what I think. Please enjoy these posts for what they are. If you are inspired then please share your story too.

]]> http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/finding-my-own-little-mountain/feed/ 2 conororeilly dunboynefield June 2007 039 June 2007 099 June 2007 096 conor 019 DSC08236 DSC03510 P1010440(1916) http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/ventingcomplaining/ http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/13/ventingcomplaining/#comments Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:37:40 +0000 Conor http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/?p=1541 Continue reading →]]> I’m angry. I’m full of piss and vinegar and I just want to vent it all over the place. But, I’m not going to. I’m going to accept what it is as what it is and allow it all to flow like a river, or something else flowy, and let everything end up as it does. Somewhere, be it happy or sad.

I’ve been debating with myself what to do here: should I rant on about all the shite that I come across on my day to day dealings with the world, or should I try to see things a little more positively and look at life and the world as the eclectic manifestation it actually is? Here’s my dilemma. I don’t want to do either of these.

Why? Shite is shite and it should be called what it is. The world is messed up with so much wrong in it, and if we never question these things then they will always stay the same. If you disagree, piss off back into a hole. As long as humans are involved in this planet there will always be disagreement, that’s why politics and religion were invented, to fuel our hunger for lunacy and dissension. But that’s not why I’m angry, or why I’m venting.

But today, courtesy of Mr Roboseyo, an article that appeared on the twitterverse  from Forbes titled How To Be More Interesting (In Ten Simple Steps) brought me spiralling gracefully back down to earth. The list is pretty straight forward and I’m fairly sure that I’ve expressed these same opinions before, maybe not here but quite likely in the real world. What got me the most was the commentary:

1. The inside of the echo chamber is where all the boring people hang out.
2. Let [people] live vicariously through your adventures.
3. It doesn’t matter what you do, as long as you’re doing it. Sitting around and complaining is not an acceptable form of ‘something,’ in case you were wondering.
4. No one is normal.
5. If you don’t give a damn about anything, no one will give a damn about you.
6. If your arrogance is more obvious than your expertise, you are someone other people avoid.
7. Try it out. Play around with a new idea. Do something strange.
8. Do your own thing, and others will hop onto the spiffy wagon you built yourself.
9. If you’re not courageous, you’re going to be hanging around the water cooler, talking about the guy who actually is.
10. Boring is safe, and you will be told to behave yourself.

And a little bit of commentary and elaboration from yours truly:

1. Make the sound. Be echoing.
2. Doesn’t have to be Indiana Jones…
3. Complaining won’t solve anything or make your life better. If you don’t like it, do something better or ignore it. It won’t go away.
4. …except for people who try so hard to prove they are different.
5. Opinions are great.
6. Be humble in your know-it-all-ness.
7. Who knows, you might find something you like…
8. But remember, show that you are doing your own thing otherwise no one will ever notice (keep in mind #6)
9. Consider this from a micro-perspective first.
10. Rules are there to be broken.

What got me the most in this list was number three. This really sunk in more than the rest.

“Complaining won’t solve anything” is a personal motto of mine. I’m always trumping this over anything when it comes to blathering on about personal philosophies, because I generally do my best to adhere to it. For all the giving out you do, what can it actually achieve? That being said, I’m an awful moaner. I give out about everything. Ask Herself.

Of course, complaining can achieve something  if enough people mobilise and see that these complaints are listened to, but unless you really get up and bang someone’s head very little will actually be achieved. Complaining can often be a good way to relieve stress and to feel better about yourself. But as the article in Forbes says, people probably don’t want to hear about. Chances are that the majority of people you meet have their own problems to worry and complain about. So yeah, scream into a jar in future.

“Action speaks louder than words” is obviously a cliché, but there is truth in it. Your life won’t get better if you keep begging for something to happen, you have to remove the thumb and see about moulding your existence into something significant which you can be proud of. There is no one who will do this for you. If you have someone who does this for you, unless you’re seven or something, please don’t read my blog ever again because I don’t want to be associated with you.

As I said, I’m angry. I am pissed off and full of venom. For what reasons I don’t know. I don’t even have anything to be really angry about. It’s just the shit around me that bothers me. This stuff is usually people related. Maybe living in a city doesn’t suit me. Maybe I should get more sleep. Maybe I should stop thinking so much. Maybe I should do something about me being angry and just chill the fuck out. I’m thinking Thailand or Malaysia. My bank account is thinking stay exactly where you are pal. My credit card is winking at me suggestively, with that smug  ‘you know you want to’ look on its face. Herself might deck me if we stay here all winter.

But I’m not going to go on about this, or any of the other stuff. I’m going to get on with my life and try to do it as happily and as positively as I can. I’m going to do things I like doing, like writing poems, enjoying quality time with Herself (currently comatose in the scratcher beside me as I write), having a pint, having vibrant and intelligent human conversation with interesting people (see above), travelling, exploring, tasting new food, and keeping in touch with old friends from Ireland and Korea whom I miss a lot.

If being as happy as can be means getting rid of or avoiding all the stuff that infuriates me, then I will happily do so.

So first things first, no more poxy fuckin’ K pop!

Dear Ireland,

For starters, Happy New Year.

Another year of my life in Korea has passed. This March will mark the seven year anniversary of my first arrival in Korea. It seems like that long. That’s neither good nor bad; it’s just how I feel. If I look back on 2011 I can say that it has been a good year. As well as passing some milestones, it has been productive, it has been exciting, it has been tragic, and it has definitely strengthened my resolve to see things through in the future. But, I don’t really want to go on about how 2011 was when 2012 is here and happening now.

I’m always optimistic about most things in life, and the older I get the more realistic I get about my optimism. For starters, while I still look forward to many aspects of life and adventure, I look at things a bit more realistically. Responsibility is to blame for this. That being said, realistically approaching things does allow for a more fulfilling experience – while the experience itself may not be as much fun as the old drop-everything-gung-ho perspective of the past, the results are better as I’ve planned and prepared adequately leaving me with less to worry about before, during and after whatever it is that is happening. Optimism prevails always, although in a more measured and regulated manner. Let me raise a glass to more of this in the future.

So what has that got to do with the year ahead here in Korea? Well, I suppose there are some things to look forward to but many of these don’t really have any significance here, other than offering me a means of looking back in 12 months and realising how many opportunities I made a mess of. I thought it would be appropriate to look at the year ahead in Korea.

As I said in my last Letter From Korea, I’m now Chairman of the Irish Association of Korea, and there are a few things that should mark my tenancy in this role. The first is the announcement of the winner of the first ever Irish Korean Essay Competition (and hopefully the good news that the Irish government is willing to sponsor it once again). More significant than this will be Saint Patrick’s Day in Seoul. While I have been in the thick of the organisations for the past few festivals, this will be the first time I will be leading the organisational drive. It is daunting, time consuming, blood pressure increasing, but always a real buzz to see the whole machine come to life on the day! Expect a decrease in blogging frequency around early March courtesy of this madness.

This isn’t really that important compared to everything else that is going to happen in the next few months. What inspired this unusually objective blog post behaviour was the release of two CNNgo articles over the past couple of weeks. The first one was 12 Reasons to Visit Korea in 2012, and the second was 50 Beautiful Places to Visit in Korea.

The 50 beautiful places post is a very blunt reminder to me of how many places I have yet to visit in Korea, and of the places I need to go back to. I’ve been all over the country but I still have yet to visit some of the more unique locations in the country. The most obvious example of this is that I’ve never been to Jeju-do. Plenty will scream in shock at this, but it’s just somewhere I’ve never been. I’d like to go. It would be nice, I suppose, although I’m much more interested in visiting Ulleongdo.

The article is a gentle reminder of how much there is to see in Korea and how wonderful it can be to spend your weekends jumping on a train or bus and getting into the countryside. Other places I’d like to visit on this list include Mupo Marsh, Jirisan, and Jeolla-do in general. For what it’s worth, I’ve been to around a third of the places here, or at least close enough to them. It’s actually a good list and you won’t find many on your typical list of places and things to do courtesy of the wonderful guides in KNTO (is that what they’re still called?), who seem to direct everyone to the same places all at the same time. Of course, having a command of Korean, a good sense of direction, and a barometer for appreciating Korean tourist destinations can help, but despite these the adventure is well worth it.

As for the 12 reasons thingy…. Well it being CNNgo it’s no surprise that there is a lack of consistency in the usefulness and quality of information supplied. Sometimes you get the idea that the people who write some of these articles really struggle to come up with some worthwhile things to say and randomly select stuff like you would an choose an apple from a barrel.

It’s true that these are 12 reasons to visit Korea in 2012, but they aren’t really good reasons to be honest. I will do my best to avoid a full scale rant against this article as it’s not really going to do anyone any good. But, I will say a just a few things about each one:

1. Visit Korea year was 2011 and 2012. Shouldn’t it just be visit Korea every year? What difference does a year make?
2. Korea Grand Sale has always been on as far as I can recall.
3. I’m sick of music I don’t like and being told it’s the greatest thing despite it being cheesy and catchy pop music. I can rant more but maybe another time…
4. This will not make my life better, or many more people in Seoul for that matter.
5. Eh…
6. I am actually looking forward to the EXPO, and I’m quite excited about making a trip down to the south coast for this. Might even throw in a trip to an island or two while I’m at it! So, yeah, woot, bring on the EXPOOOOO!
7. Between this and Songdo, I can see the international visitor numbers skyrocketing in 2012…
8. This could be very, very, very cool. The only thing is that there are already countless other high quality film festivals in Korea and considering I’ve never gone to any before, I don’t see myself heading here either. If there are any worthwhile films I suppose I can wait until someone uploads them to youtube. But still, cool and probably worth checking out, but not sure if it’s a particularly good reason to fork out a grand for an airline ticket…
9. Correct me if I’m wrong, but does putting ‘International’ before Marathon actually make it any different from the countless other city marathons around the world?
10. Wow, another thing that has been going on for years will be happening AGAIN in 2012. Better get signed up before it happens again next year…
11. Firstly, how many ‘years’ can you have in one ‘year’? Second of all, so what?
12. Call me narrow minded, but allow me to offer a better alternative to this. Ireland in Summer.

Now that I’ve had a good go at another mediocre list of things about Korea, maybe it would be worth talking about some of the things which will be on everybody’s lips in 2012

1. Elections!!! The most exciting thing about the elections, both presidential and parliamentary, is the actual electioneering on the streets. It’s hilarious! It’s like one big competition to see who can afford the most ajjumas to dance on the side street to some catchy tune. I love it!

But more importantly, this is the year when Korea goes to the polls nationwide, and we will know how popular LMB and his cronies and presidency really are.Most of the criticism of LMB and his administration seems to be publicised by young socially conscious people, but as far as I know, young and those who are socially conscious are in a minority. Not everyone reads blogs and listens to podcasts about how decrepit the country is…. I wonder will there be as big an overhaul as some people are hoping…  And once that is finished, well, let’s let if finish first!

2. North Korea!!! Yes, there’s a new Kim in town (is it cliché to say this yet?). Many are holding their breaths and watching every move, but still they have little notion of what will actually happen. There has been a lot of broad statements sent south by the north about oceans of flames etc. However, I seem to recall that an agreement was made about nuclear weapons and food aid just before the death of KJI.  Maybe this was renounced… There’ll be a lot in the press about the comings and goings of the misbehaviour of North Korea, but how much will actually effect the day to day running of things in the south? Will anything actually change? Dum dum dummmm!

3. The 2012 EXPO in Yeosu. As I said, it could be really good. But, me being an absolute cynic about how things are done here, you will have to listen to me complain for a moment. To start, we aren’t going to hear the end of how great the EXPO is and how great Korea is for hosting the EXPO. And, fair play to Korea it has to be said, but getting the patting on the back over and done with and get on with the job may be another story. It wouldn’t be brash to suggest that the powers that be are in danger of blinding themselves to the fact that they could be making an absolute balls of it. One other thing that will bother me is that there’ll probably be a complete lack of understanding of how non-Koreans (and also non-white westerners) go about life in the world. These things bother me. Am I generalising? Yes. Am I wrong? Maybe. Does it matter if I’m right or wrong? Probably not.

4. Euro 2012!!! Yes, it’s not in Korea but it will be on the telly in the pub in Korea, and most importantly Ireland will be playing. More importantly it will be on in the summer and I can stay up late watching late night games and drinking cold beer. Then when the morning comes along, I can sleep in the full glory of my long-holiday. Did I mention Ireland is going to win it? Yes. It’s true. I read it on twitter.

Anyway, without being to predictive and allowing the world flow in its own special way, these are so far the stand out issues for 2012 in Korea. I could go on about the US elections, but that’s merely a sideshow. I could go on about politics in Ireland but that’s depressing. So, I’ll stick to Korea (and Euro 2012) and a distinct lack of educated guesswork and foresight.

Don’t expect me to pass too much comment on these issues, at least nothing too serious (except Euro 2012 – rants aplenty ahoy!) There’ll probably be very serious things that warrant more attention than these, and there’s probably more I could say on these things I’ve mentioned, but I’m far from an expert and I prefer an armchair view of the world.

So with all this in mind, I suppose I should mention that there’s a chance I could be moving to England in February to do a Phd, and all this will be a distant flurry on the international stage (except Euro 2012), although I will miss the electioneering ajummas…

(What was that I said about looking back in a year at opportunities I made a mess of?)

(In no particular order of preference)

• How much do you really know about something?
  In fairness, as much as an expert you may be, you hardly know everything about one thing. In fact anyone who claims to do this doesn’t really suit my take on anything. But even if you do suggest that you do know everything about anything, do yourself a favour, exclude the word ‘definitive’ and any of its synonyms.
• Are you not just showing off?
  So we get the idea, you know a lot. Congrats. Is it necessary for you to boast about it now? Really, like, well done with spending hours combing whatever field it is that you claim to know so much about. But for you to suggest that these are the best or most important or most significant, and so early in their lifetime, is a little pretentious. How can anyone tell how important anything is until probably at least ten years later? If you look at lists for the best album of the year for example, they’re always full of tripe. Where are the albums I thought were great that weren’t included on this list and why are the albums I didn’t think much of included? If you ask me, you can only really tell if something is good if it lasts, and with music for example, you really only know how good it is if you can still hear it being played on the radio ten years later. Would you like proof? Here is the list for the top 10 selling singles in the UK for 2001. Yes, that’s right Bob the fuckin’ Builder and Who Let the Dogs Out (and yes, I know the Top 10 songs of the year is a poor reflection on the quality of music, this list of number 1′s from the sixties is much more drool-worthy)
• How can you decide that something is the best?
  I respect the fact that you know stuff and that you may have a wide berth of knowledge on a particular subject. But, do me a favour and get off your high-horse and suggest that something is worth one’s time rather than stating somewhere  along the lines that, by the power invested in me by the sun that shines from my almighty arsehole, I declare this list to declare what is the best. It would be fairer and more appropriate if you suggested that, by the power invested in me by the sun that shines from my almighty arsehole, I declare this list to declare what I think are worth your attention, or something like that.
• Is one of the most fantastic traits of human character not the fact that we are all different?
  Isn’t this post a perfect example of this? I don’t like Top 10 lists and I don’t really agree with the institution of them. With that, I will add that they aren’t going to go away. I don’t plan on going away to quickly either, but I do have only five more reasons after this and you can rest assured that I don’t plan on saying much on this once I’ve had my say. All to often, Top 10s neglect the fact that we have our own opinions and our own experiences doing things. Travel is one area where I’ve seen gross injustice paid to the magnificent and not so magnificent. Music and films are probably just as unlucky. Maybe if the writers would write a little more in the first person then this would change my take on this.
• When does anyone have the time to do all of this?
  I often wonder when do people get the time to, for example,  read or listen to music all year, but then have time to analyse and assess the best of the best. Sure, if there is a really small amount of high quality product to choose from then it’s probably an easy enough human effort. This is far from the reality. What I’m giving out about here is the obvious lack of human interaction with what is actually being decided on. I like to think that the person deciding on what is the best is an ordinary person who gets out and enjoys life, interacts with other people – preferably non-top 10 list compiling people – and doesn’t spend every waking minute consuming ratable product whilst systematically analysing, reviewing and giving it a rating that is not effected for a particular taste/distaste for whatever it is that is being reviewed. Remember the music nerds in High Fidelity? Imagine them in real life.
• Does objectifying something not take away from the overall quality and vitality of things?
  By saying something is the best there is a complete lack of respect for all the rest produced. In sport this isn’t a problem because sport is supposed to be competitive and is objective by nature. But with so many other things, like music, literature, travel, art, it classifys quality work as bad, or worse than the contents of whatever top 10 they are in. This doesn’t have a possitive effect at all. I don’t care if you have categories and very valid reasons for deciding the best of whatever it is your best ofing, it doesn’t have a positive effect. There is no room in a top 10 to show how much energy and vitality a community or scene has by showing its top 10. The entire idea of a top 10 is to show the best and ignore those who are working under the radar, innovating, building, experieincng, sharing, teaching, and however else it is that communities grow. Top 10s only drive the focus towards those that already have enough focus while the poor misfortunates battling away for success are ignored. For example, look how badly the top universities selections have effected our impressions on university education.
• Do top 10s not limit the variety available?
  If you never looked at anything but Top 10s, which I have done, or if you go to top 10 lists to help you decide what’s what in terms of catching up on quality music or literature (for example), which I have also done, you would be given a very poor impression of the standard out there. You are basically looking at someone’s idea what is the best, without really having an idea of what the competition is like. Top 10s on their own leave no room for the underground movements or secret locations that, for me, are really special places. They give the impression that there is nothing else out there and that if you don’t experieince these then something in your life is missing. You could call it cultural snobbery. More importantly, they promote a real lack of imagination and encourage people to compare their hit list of whichever ones they’ve done. Personally I’d rather compare wet paint and dry paint.
• Have you not realised that the notion of a top 10 is has-been of a tried and tested means of failed congratulation?
  For all the top 10s, what’s the point of singing and dancing about being included on one list when it turns out that another list which covers the same thing has completely neglected to include you? It’s not much of an achievement if one person (or whatever put the list together) thinks your great and them someone else doesn’t. You’re either good/great or you’re not. Or else what? You probably still have to get on with doing whatever it is you’re doing.
• Have you ever not been included on a top 10 list?
  I haven’t and maybe I’m bitter about this, so bitter that I have decided to publicly decide on the despicability of all top 10s. It’s quite likely I will never be included on one. It’s fair to suggest that I should really be a little bit more open minded about this, but then again at the end of the year I really do grow tired of seeing so many top 10s that I lose sight of what’s actually good and bad, without actually being given a valid picture of what is actually worth my time. Am I bad for not being in a top 10? Am I good for being a grassroots movement of my own? Does anyone else care?

Happy New Year.

]]> http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/the-top-9-reasons-not-to-write-a-top-10/feed/ 4 conororeilly http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/its-the-end-of-the-year-as-we-know-it-2011/ http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/its-the-end-of-the-year-as-we-know-it-2011/#comments Sun, 01 Jan 2012 08:03:28 +0000 Conor http://ifihadaminutetospare.wordpress.com/?p=1523 Continue reading →]]> One of my favourite things about using WordPress is the statistics. They feed my ego like my mammy did with potatoes for my appetite for donkeys years, and Herself now does with rice and kisses. What’s especially great for this appetite is this annual report provided by the good people at WordPress with details of what you have been reading throughout 2011.

For a statistics nut like me, this is delicious! For an If I had a minute to spare nut like yourself, this will also be one of the most exciting reads of 2012, guaranteed.

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 9,500 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 4 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

 

Now, I’ve never been to Sydney but now that I’ve read this I’m going to make it my business to be there one day to see what a sold out performance looks like. If it’s even a quarter the quality of If I had a minute to spare then I’m be impressed.

Click here to see the complete report.

What people and bloggers, are saying about If I had a minute to spare in 2011:

“So so pretty” – Roxanne @ riotheels.wordpress.com

“Eh, my little Deutsche cheri, maybe a menage-a-trois with Berlusconi some time?” – wetcasements.wordpress.com

“whining about turning 30 is for babies” – Jim @ jemurr.wordpress.com

“Such is a matter of opinion as to what is shite or not” – Thomás Ó’Cártaigh

“You, sir, are a racist” – Some anonymity called Ryotaro

“Korea looks JUST like an Irish field” – Peadar O’Donoghue

“I’m always scared of getting displaced by going away long-term but I know that if I don’t I will never be satisfied staying here in Ireland without ever having properly experienced living in another place.” – Kate @ katekatharinaferguson.wordpress.com

“Ireland has come a long way in terms of accepting and recognising the gay community, and Korea will too in the not too distant future.” – a commenter by the name of Sandra

“as the Nun said to the Vicar. It falls in line with so much that ‘Sparkling Korea’ has to offer. All style and no substance. Or as I like to say, ‘All fur coat and nae knickers’.” – Craig @ cbinseoul@wordpress.com

“I see the notorious Bandi and Lunis point card. Perhaps this will be the most common thing that foreigners carry” Jake @ expathell.com

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!” – Simon @ eatyourkimchi.com

It has been a great year writing for all of you and I do hope you all continue to come back.

Here’s to another year of fun and frolics at the one and only, world famous, internationally sought and respected

If I had a minute to spare…

…I would probably say something like this

There is a prevailing thought that I keep encountering in Korea which bothers me. It is the concept that Korean people and people from other countries are so different that their actions must be distinguished as being distinctly Korean. You might think that this is fair, because Korean people do act like Korean people. But what’s the point of making an issue of it? It’s like complaining that the shower you are taking in the morning is sooo wet. Korean people are Korean, so they will act Korean. And, hold on to your hats here because this next comment will blow the roof off, many of them are proud of it! Fuck. Stop the world.

But, then again, I know many Irish people who are also very Irish in their actions. And, again you might have to hold on tight for this one, they’re also very proud of this factor too. While I’m thinking of it, I’m quite certain those who have managed to label Koreans as scandalously acting Korean are also pretty proud of their own national characteristics and how they do things in their country.

This is an overriding theme in conversations I’ve heard over and over again. That Koreans do things so differently that it is apparently a problem. These problems aren’t just in the classroom; they are on the streets, in the workplace, in bars, driving, and on family holidays during the summer. I won’t list the problems because they are irrelevant to anything relating to most of the people who complain about them, and especially me.

What I can’t understand is, where do people come from complaining about things that won’t be changed without moving a mountain? There are so many problems in every country which seem to be labelled as social problems but which are clearly cultural problems. What is the difference? Well, social problems are a lot easier to fix, in fact now that I think about it, social problems can be fixed. Culture doesn’t have problems so how can it be fixed?

I’m not going to be pretentious about this and suggest that culture should not be criticised and I have no right to step on the toes of thousands of year of a society constructing itself. Cultures do plenty of things wrong. Culture is a perfect example of the collective idiocy and narrow-mindedness of humanity, and has caused more deaths and pestilence than road deaths ever will. It may alter on its own thanks to the enlightenment and understanding of the population living under the culture. This is like an organic process. You cannot change it physically.

How I look on life is influencing me in this little (somewhat polite) rant. The way I see it, there are some things in the world you can do nothing about. The weather, if you get fired from your job, if someone treats you unfairly or discriminates against you, having no clean socks, all of these are examples where despite how much you whine and moan nothing is going to change. So, you just have to deal with it.

Complaining about anyone for being sooo anything is a perfect example. So what if a person is so much like the rest of the people in the country they have lived in all their life, share the same ethnicity with all the people they have ever known, and have gone through the same schooling and social gardening system? They are still people. They are still individuals. They still make descisions. They definitely have their own problems. They are still there and you have to deal with it, regardless of how good or bad an effect it has on your life. Or you can decide not to deal with it and piss off somewhere else.

Here is a collection of photographs I took on my phone this morning walking down to the supermarket. Most are taken from inside or fairly close to the apartment.

When I first arrived in Korea in 2005 I was based in Jungnang-gu, which is on Seoul’s most north-eastern extremity. On face value, there wasn’t really much going for the place but it was close to the Costco in Sangbong, so I used to walk down to it every so often to get more cheese. I also found a little hill, which was often described as a mountain, next to me, which I would wander up regularly because I had the mornings free. This mountain was called Bongwhasan, and the subway station at the end of line 6 is named after here. When it was a little warmer I would also walk to Bongwhasan to take the train into Itaewon. This was as adventurous as I got back then. After a while, I got a little bored with seeing the same things.

Jungnang-gu, Seoul

I first started walking around in the morning after I got up and had breakfast. This was usually after I realised that having all this morning time allowed me plenty of freedom to go out and do stuff, and then come back in time to go to work at two or three o’clock. Staying in bed late into the morning just wasted the whole day. Later, when it was hotter I would walk around at night as I finished work around nine o’clock and didn’t really feel tired. I would walk for hours sometimes.

During the day I would leave the apartment around nine o’clock and head up the mountain. Sometimes, around half way up, I would veer off and wander around the side of the mountain and try to find a new path. Then I would wander down to the street at some stage and walk back to my apartment, take a shower, eat lunch, and then go to work.

The longer I spent in that area the more I wandered up and around the mountain and the more I found thinner and less visible pathways snaking into the mountain. One of my favourite aspects of this mountain was that it was covered in old Korean War concrete fortifications, and as I hiked around I often allowed my imagination to drift. When I came down I would often just take some unknown track and find neighbourhoods less familiar than before. But, I could always find my way home because all I had to do was follow the foot of the mountain around and I would make it back to my own neighbourhood.

Old Korean War fortificatons on Bongwhasan

At night I would go for long walks. These would start off on trips to E-mart or Costco, but I soon got bored with these and started to just wander further and further. During the summer the streets would be busy with people sitting out on the street drinking and socialising. Markets and other spaces would be still open, and it was cool enough to wander around compared with the suffocating humidity during the day. This corner of Seoul was full of things I felt I would never see elsewhere; not only were there fish tanks full of fish but also turtles and octopus, there were pet budgies and the likes for sale in cages, as well as indescribable animal limbs in baskets outside butchers. As far as I was concerned this was everything.

Taken in Dongdaemun-gu somewhere

There was something about the streets that got me. They weren’t glamorous or pretty, in fact they were the opposite. There wasn’t anything particularly unique about them, and in fact many were so similar in their layout, and the only thing that stopped me from recognising this was the fact that I couldn’t read or speak a word of Korean. Even today I still get excited in a busy markets or streets and Herself has to control me so that I don’t go running down another unknown alley.

Back then I liked the sweet smells of sewerage from the drains and from the food cooking from the back of restaurants. I never worried about the open grease trap that the street was been used for, or that the scooters and cars would often use the footpath as a shortcut. They were things that could be stepped around. Many times I walked to buy an English newspaper from the one shop I knew sold them, and then decide that I would walk the long way home by completing a large loop patched together by various streets intersecting each other, often only luckily patched together by guess work. Because I had no way of measuring, I never knew how far I walked every day. I had a set of landmarks linked together and that was all I needed to know.

Deokbokki stand - could be anywhere in Seoul

Seeing these small intricate parts of this tiny corner of the city I lived in got me hooked on exploring Seoul. I haven’t explored that much of the city, in fact it’s only a tiny proportion of it because there’s so much to see. But, I still can’t help wandering, I just wish that I did it more these days.

The little neighbourhoods are what excite me the most. The ones with their own local market and all the same chain stores and local independent shops open late, a street full of bars backing onto a stack of love motels, and always with a constant hectic pace. All an apparent self sufficient economy apathetic to what the neighbours a few kilometres over are probably doing. And all of them have something unique and interesting about them.

Taken near Moran Station

I don’t live in Seoul anymore and I’m happy where I live today. But during those three years I used to love getting lost, as the expression goes, but lost in a place that is so closely knit together that you can always find your way around even when you don’t speak a word of Korean. I walked around a lot in my three years living in Seoul, and I don’t wander around that much anymore. This series of posts that I’m going run will be a memoir to these wanderings around Seoul.

There are some more qualified to talk about this than me, and all I am going to do here is tell my stories of exploring different parts of the city. Some parts will be famous, some less so. I hope that as I go through some of these places I can point you in the direction of some people who are better equipped to guide you safely and skilfully through this massive city.

But, for now you’re stuck with me.

Part 1: The Instigator – Sinnae-dong, Jungnang-gu
Part 2: Finding My Own Little Mountain

For what it’s worth, If I Had A Minute To Spare is not a travel blog, it’s a personal journal on the internet which charts my own experiences and opinions. I don’t claim to be a travel guide or an expert, I only talk about what I think. Please enjoy these posts for what they are. If you are inspired then please share your story too.