I know you got Seoul

Oido 2

2009-11-30T00:07:00.001-08:00

Oido 1

2009-11-29T22:26:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I was luckily enough to visit Oido, which is located 30km Southwest of Seoul. It is the hometown of one of our friends, Seung Hye. She was already there as her mother loves her to go home on the weekends (hahaha), so I met another friend of ours, Sihyang, just near the dormitory as she said she would show me how to get there. So after just over an hours travel (which flew by thanks to a good conversation with Sihyang and a phone call to Sihyang from Seung Hye asking her why she didn't answer her phone after about 10-15 missed calls.. kkkkkkkkkkkk), we arrived in Oido. We were picked up by Seung Hye and her father (who was very shy at meeting me! kkkk) and we were taken to their family restaurant to eat. I was then introduced to Seung Hye's mum, who was absolutely lovely. We were shown to where we would eat and sat and chatted for a while. When the food came....... wow, it was amazing! We had a chicken soup and a special dish with fresh fish and sauce and many other things. Although I passed on the seaweed and kimchi .....kkkkkkkkkkk ;-) We washed it down with a bit of Makgeolli.

After a bit of a rest, Seung Hye's mum kindly offered to take us to various places around Oido (as its was safer than letting Seung Hye drive.... kkkkkkkkkk!). So we visited the main coastal part, where the light house (which unfortunately was closed due to the weather) and a fish market are. After this we then went to see a beach which has a few islands that are accessible two times (I think) a day, due to the tide changes. You can see a road that leads to the sea in some of the pics and another sand bank to the other island (I forgot the names, I'll ask Seung Hye later), which became more visible the longer we were there.

We then went to see some other places, where the river and the sea are either side of the road (see pics). After this we travelled back to the restaurant, picking up some cakes along the way. When back at the restaurant, we went back into the room we were in before, which was a lot colder now, so Seung Hye's mum grabbed us a duvet until the heating kicked in! Awesome!!

We then ate cakes and played Hula (maybe spelt wrong), which is a card game. Sihyang and Seung Hye decided there would be a penalty for the loses each time, which in usual Korean penalty tradition..... this meant a flick of the fingers to the forehead! Seung Hye then went on a bit of a winning streak...... did I mention that she is EVIL! kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk I managed to win a few games as I am a bit of a legend at this game (ask Oh-Dong!) so I got a bit of payback as did Sihyang. Then it came to the last game, so we decided that the penalty would be 3 flicks instead of one and double if the game ends without you putting any cards down. Luckily everyone got some cards down..... and then..... yes you guessed it........ the evil girl won.

She managed to hit Sihyang and I in exactly the same spot each time, I'm just hoping it doesn't bruise as some of us don't have a fringe to cover up forehead bruises!

After this, it was time for the three of us to get the train back to Seoul, so we said our goodbyes, gave her mum a hug, her dad was going to but then was too shy. awwwwwww

We were very lucky on the way back as we got the nice warm seats, so no standing like the way there. We had a good chat and a laugh on the way back, talked about the difference between Korean and English eyes and noses kkkkkkkkkk and watched Sihyang try and not fall asleep!

Thanks to Seung Hye and her lovely family and Sihyang for an AMAZING day. This memory won't fade like I talked about in my show, my forehead hurts far too much to forget!

*oh for anybody wondering that didn't pick up on it kkkkkkkkkkkkkkk is Korean chat laughing and the stuff written in the sand is generally bad things about me*

So now here's the pics:

Beginning of New Era - Seoul MOCA

2009-11-26T22:00:00.000-08:00

A week ago I visited an exhibition called Beginning of New Era which is now being held at KIMUSA (The old Defense Security Command Site), which is the same venue that PLATFORM (See earlier blog entry) was held.

I took a few stealth like photos whilst there as I wasn't sure if photography was allowed, it turns out some bits are ok, some aren't (like the coca killer piece.... oops!), managed to keep the photo though hehehehe.

Here's the link to the website:

Beginning of New Era

I had seen a few of the artists shown before at KIAF and also around some of the galleries near Insadong. Some of the work on display was amazing. I wish I could have taken more photos, but I do have the Exhibition book if anybody wants to have a look.

After the exhibition we went to see our good friend Hana, at the traditional tea shop she has a part time job at. We had the Plum Tea that she recommended for us.... it was amazing!

Anyway, here's the pics I could take.

quick beat

2009-11-23T04:42:00.000-08:00

quick song made whilst in Seoul:

only talk to me

samples two well known Korean pop songs... not saying which though!

My work from the International Students Exhibition and a few friends at the opening

2009-11-12T09:46:00.000-08:00

Here's a few photos of my work that I submitted for the Exhibition and an explanation of the work.

I've also included a few photos from the opening and a few pics of some of my Korean friends (Lara, Jae-eun, Nakyung, Hana, Sihyang, Seung Hye) The work shown is mainly illustrations made from my own photographs and either screenprinted (by myself) or painted (acrylic or spray paint stencil). One of the prints is printed in reverse on traditional Hanji paper (which I usually use for Oriental painting) so that it appears through, not on top of the paper. As you can see from the pics, most of the work is faded in some way (as explained in the artist's statement below) I also gave away some free theplaydoeband cd's. The book shown is a guestbook I left for friends to sign. I even wrote guestbook in Korean on the front (not shown), with a little help from my friends!!

Artist's Statement

Explanation:

The work in this show is based on my time here in Seoul.

I have had such an amazing time here, so much so that I have extended the period of which I am staying.

A concern of mine about being here is that over time

my memories of all the places I have visited and the amazing people I have had the fortune of meeting will fade over time,

so I have tried to reflect this in my work.

I have purposefully left out images, backgrounds

and tried to show a fading of images to signify the loss of

memories.

This work is dedicated to all my friends here in Korea,

thank you for all your kindness.

International Students Exhibition, Kookmin University, SK 2009

2009-11-12T09:00:00.001-08:00

Here's a stop frame animation video I made of a piece of work used in my International Art Students Exhibition, Kookmin University, Seoul SK 2009. Thanks to Harriet Carr for help with drawing and for the off/on projector button work (hahahahaha). The music is by Dave Raybould, Tim Oxford and myself (all members of theplaydoeband)

another sketch

2009-10-26T09:32:00.001-07:00

World Cup Stadium... well the outside of it!

2009-10-25T02:21:00.000-07:00

Now this is gonna appear in the wrong order as I did this yesterday and I still have a few places and stuff I have done that has yet to be blogged that happened before this, Oh well!

Yesterday we went to see the World Cup Stadium in Seoul, however...... it took us so long to get there that it was pretty damn late so we only saw the outside! hahahaha.

The stadium is pretty big and contains many shops, eating places and a huge cinema.

At the side of the stadium there is a small Design exhibition building which was pretty cool (see pics after the stadium photos). There are also a few pics from the journey there.

more work

2009-10-18T19:56:00.001-07:00

Jogyesa

2009-10-15T20:38:00.000-07:00

A few weeks back, Haz's housemate Chan Mi took us to visit a Buddhist temple not far from Insadong. You can read all about Jogyesa here. Here are some pics I took of the temple and of the rest of the day. The three Buddha's were massive!

A week or so after this Chan Mi came down with suspected Influenza!

Get well Chan Mi.

Jogyesa 2

2009-10-15T20:17:00.000-07:00

Chuseok

2009-10-08T02:00:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I was kindly invited to spend Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving) with my friend and fellow classmate Insun. (pictured left)

So I met her at 7.30am in front of my dorm and we travelled to meet her uncle, who would be waiting to pick us up in his car. Also in the car was Insun's Grandmother and younger cousin. After about 30 minutes we arrived at the place where Insun's mother's descendants are buried. I was told I was the first foreigner to ever be invited to their family gathering, so I was very honored. Insun only speaks a little bit of English (well she speaks more than she thinks, but is very shy!), but she did really well all day and was so kind to me as were all the relatives that I met. At the gathering I met a relative that had lived in Canada for four years, who could speak English unbelievably well. So he explained to me what was going on. Each family, in this case 13, all give food and pray to their deceased descendants. As you can see in the pictures, I also joined in. I was told that years ago, they used to visit every grave and perform this task, but now the family have built a hall to speed things up a bit! After this, we set tables out and ate and drank. This was about 12.30. Insun's uncle, who had been the Master of Ceremonies for the day invited us to sit next to him and proceeded to keep giving me shots of Rice Wine (which is about 14%). We also ate a variety of Korean food. After eating, we walked around some of the graves. Then in the building the family had, they showed me another room that contained all the family history and gave me a towel with all the family names on. Then it was time to leave so I said my goodbyes.

After this, Insun's uncle took us to her Insun's grandmother's house, where we waited until the rest of the family arrived. Insun and her cousin then showed me some Korean games and we watched a bit of TV. A few hours later, all her relatives joined us (aunts, uncles, cousins and Insun's Mum, Dad and brother). Some were very shocked to see a foreigner, but they were all so kind and some plucked up the courage to try and say a few words in English to me. We then ate more food and they gave me loads of Soju. I had to hide my shot glass in the end so they didn't fill it up anymore!

Then I joined Insun, her brother and her cousins in another room, where we played some more games. They all wanted to play the Korean version of What time is it Mr Wolf, but the room was far too small, so we went outside to the park and played there. We also played a game of Tig, but nobody could catch me! hahaha

We went back inside for a bit longer and then we all said our goodbyes before I got a lift home with Insun, her mum and her cousin. They asked me how I rated the day out of 10 and I told them 10, which really pleased them. Insun's mum said she would adopt me so I could have a mum whilst in Korea. When they dropped me off, she gave me a hug and said goodbye son in English. Bless her. They also said that they would like to invite me to their house to eat if I have time whilst here. As I said before I felt so very lucky to be invited to spend this day with them.

Many thanks to Insun and her amazing family.

(photos courtesy of Insun)

sketch

2009-09-28T04:19:00.001-07:00

here's a lil' sumthin' I have been working on:

Insadong and a few random pics

2009-09-26T08:30:00.000-07:00

Well today a few of us went to Insadong. Its a bit touristy which felt a bit weird as I'm not that used to seeing "foreigners" hahaha. Its good for shopping for gifts though and it got us out and about. It contains a little shopping arcade which you will see in the photos and in part of the arcade there is a sort of unused lift shaft that contains fake orchids (..... I think, mum I'm sure you will tell me what they really are if I'm wrong! haha) attached to the wall and floor. Further on down the street we came across a group of musicians, that included various percussion, bass player, guitar player, a cool soulful singer and a guy tap dancing on a small wooden platform that was mic'd up adding more percussion. They did a little question and answering session with the singer, percussionist etc going against the tap dancer which was cool (although it made me miss my ol' turntable soooooo much!!). After this (and after a bit of a trek) we went for one of our favourites - Chi-maek (chicken and beer). I've also attached some pics of the footy stadium that is situated right in the middle of campus, which is sort of our hang out.

I wish Hudds had one.

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop)

2009-09-23T19:35:00.000-07:00

COMBO a collaborative animation by Blu and David Ellis (2 times loop)

I know this has nothing to do with my time here, but my friend Gary sent me this link and I was a big fan of Blu's last animation so I thought I would share this. Enjoy....

PLATFORM 2009

2009-09-23T08:03:00.000-07:00

http://www.platformseoul.org/

Yesterday I was lucky enough to visit an art exhibition that runs every year in Seoul called Platform. It was hosted at a place called Kimusa, which is an old Military site. It has not been used for many years and is huge and pretty dilapidated. It still includes all the old halls, doctors rooms and a pretty eery basement, all filled with various art installations. I was taken by some of my Korean friends and between them, they could explain what each installation was about and then translate this into English for me, for which I was very grateful! I was also told that this place had been used for torturing of soldiers many years ago and one of my friends felt a bad presence in a few of the rooms. We also went for a bit of food, we all had noodle soup with spring onions and due to my slow eating, the noodles just kept expanding, much to the amusement of my Korean friends (imo - means auntie and sam - means number 3, my nicknames for them, don't ask!). I bought the brochure for this exhibition, so if anybody wants a look when I get back, let me know. I feel like I'm rambling a bit bit so I'm gonna stop, been a pretty weird day as I wish I was back in the Uk, as today (the 23rd) is Donna's birthday and I wish I could be there to spend it with her.

Happy birthday baby!!!!

KIAF/09

2009-09-20T07:50:00.000-07:00

Well today, thanks to our friend Mr. Cho or Ben as we have now called him, we visited the Korea International Art Fair. There are too may artists to mention and photography was not permitted so I will just provide the link to the website instead. It took a fair few hours to walk around and I still probably missed things.

It was amazing though.

KIAF/09

Seoul Tower

2009-09-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my two room mates Odong and Yong-Kil took us toSeoul Tower. It has amazing views of Seoul and includes a revolving restaurant. There is an art cube exhibition by the artist Lee Hyuh Jin and also a teddy bear museum. Afterwards we had to rush back as my friend Yong-Kil had an interview and after that football practice and we had been invited to a Korean Play.

As you would expect, the play was all in Korean, but it was still very enjoyable.

After I got back from the play, my other room mate Moo-young explained that Yong-kil had had an accident whilst playing football and he had broken his leg. Then Odong came back and explained that he had just been with Yong-Kil at the hospital (as he had gone with him in the ambulance) and that he had broken his Fib and Tib. I am so very gutted for Yong-kil, although I have only known him a week, I would consider him to be a very good friend and I wish him a very speedy recovery.

Here are the pictures from our day out.

Some pics (including Chang Deok Gung)

2009-09-15T11:25:00.000-07:00

Well today we were taken to Chang Deok Gung by Harriet's housemate Chan-mi and then we walked around Cheonggyecheon. Here are some photos from our day. The ice cream shown is like all Korean ice creams 30cms in size!

bit of footy, some beer and some food with new friends

2009-09-13T03:28:00.000-07:00

well today was very hot, so we sat and watched some locals play footy in the centre of the campus (pics to follow). I was itching to play, so Puy and I started having a kick around with a spare footy. Then the guys playing came over and invited me to play 6 a side, so I joined in. Some of them were pretty good so it was good fun. I haven't play a proper footy game since I broke my leg when I was 17, so i was pretty rusty, but the Korean guys said that I played well.

Well afterwards, one guy who is a dead ringer for Jackie Chan, came over and asked if I fancied going for a beer and some chicken, which is their team ritual after training.

So I said I would, so we went to a locals bar, about a minute away from my dorm. So for the next few hours, I chilled with my new friends Se (I think) or Jackie (Chan) as his friends call him, Andreas and Justin (they have English names as they are Catholics) and another guy who's name I forgot. Whilst there, the guys ordered a couple of pitchers of beer, some fried chicken and some chips. We had a general chat about where each other were from, what they were studying (Korean Literature) and about life in Korea. One of the guys was 25 and he told about how every Korean male around the age of 22 has to do National Service for 2 years. He said that you have four weeks training and then you get moved around South Korea, if you are unlucky you get posted near the North, which is pretty unpleasant and a lot colder. You get 1 month off in 2 years and you are not allowed contact with friends and family. If you play for one of the football teams and you win, then you may also get the weekend as holiday to return to friends and family. 3 of the guys still have all this to come.

Then they asked if I would like to try a local Korean dish (goal beang i - pepper seafood) and a traditional Korean drink called Soju, so obviously I had to say yes!!

They taught me the proper etiquette to drink it (as explained in the wiki page) and as I was older (more senior) I was allowed to receive it with one hand. It was smoother than I thought, but having drank Raki and Poteen in the past I was fairly well prepared. I was then given another full shot of Soju, this time they placed the shot glass in my beer.

They then lined their own beer glass up and placed 4 shot glasses of Soju of each glass, pushing the first one which then had a domino rally effect sending each shot glass into each beer glass.

After more chatting and more Korean lessons, another friend of theirs joined us. It was his last night as he goes to the military in two days. I didn't want to intrude anymore so I said my goodbyes and offered to pay some money, which they refused as it was their treat (they said as it was the first time meeting me it was their present to me) so I walked back to my dorm with Se (who lives in my buidling). We agreed to meet up again for either more food, beer and Soju or another game of footy.

Good times :-)

Letter from Yong-Kil (mentioned in Well I've arrived finally post)

2009-09-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

I didn't know whether to post this or not as it was a letter to me from my friend Yong-kil, as mentioned in an earlier post, but after thinking about it, I have decided I would share it, as I think it sums up perfectly the hospitality shown to us from our Korean friends. Yes, a few things are lost in translation, but the time and effort to write this is greatly appreciated.

message to mum and dad (although I don't mind everyone else reading this)

2009-09-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

(pics shown are one half of my room, me on the top bunk, Odong on the bottom and the view outside which doesn't do the rest of the Uni's surroundings justice, but I love the English pun for the shop name!)

hey you two,

sorry I haven't called, but it is easier for me to use the internet than the phone.

Dave said that he had spoken to you and that dad was on with the bathroom.

Hope everything is ok, really enjoying my time here so far. The people are the most respectful people I have ever come across. We are a bit of a novelty for them at the moment, but it's really nice. They really go out of their way to make you feel welcome. Some are really shy and when they do pluck up the courage to say hi, they get really giggly which is soooo nice.

My room mates are cool, one of them, Odong speaks pretty good english, so he gives me korean lessons and I give him english lesson, which usually means we will be up until 2.30am chatting.

We ventured into a part of Seoul on our own today and did a bit of shopping and went for a bite to eat. The restaurant was more of a place for locals than a tourist place (most of this side of seoul seems to be less touristy, which is actually quite nice), so we had to just try and converse the best we could and order something that was vegetarian (as one of us is), but that meant we would order something we would not usually order, which makes for interesting eating.

We also watched a bit of football, as the Uni has a footy pitch with a running track around it (surrounded by mountains!), right in the middle of the grounds, with seating around it. Some of them were pretty skillful, although some of them just seem to chase after the ball and forget about tactics etc!! We had a good bit of banter with some of them too, which we all enjoy. We might not be able to understand each other perfectly, but the international language of footy and comedy transcends all boundaries. Anyway, I'm off now as I am doing my usual...... making beats. Its 11.20pm here (3.30pm uk time), I might stay up and watch the man u v spurs game (kick off 1.30am!!!), although it would be nice to finally catch up on some sleep.

Take care Jx

PS. Hope floyd is ok

Well I've arrived.... finally!

2009-09-11T00:23:00.000-07:00

So after a pretty long journey we have arrived. The flights with Emirates were really good although trying to sleep was pretty hard. Everything went really smoothly and then we got picked up by some people Puy and Helen knew.

We were all on a bit of a downer yesterday (I don't think the sleep deprivation helped), due to our room situations (some are sharing together which isn't too bad), although their toilet blocked with the first use and caused a bit of spillage (not nice!!) and some of us are sharing with Korean students whose english is ok, not brilliant (although far better than out Korean). When I say sharing, we are literally living in a bedroom with a desk each and 2 bunk beds (four beds), which is pretty cosy to say the least. Also, I am in a dormitory separate from the girls and the opposite sex are not permitted in each other's building, so we can only meet up outside.

Oh, there is also a curfew, doors to the dorms are auto locked at 12 and don't open again until 5am!

But the Korean students really are the nicest people and can't do enough for you, so we are all feeling a bit more upbeat today. Although I had only slept for a couple of hours since setting off on Wednesday morning, I ended up talking to my roommate Odong til' 2.30am, which was cool.

We have also met our Professor, Professor Kwon , who seems really nice and is a fellow baldy hahaha (in korea people seem to describe people by things in their appearance that aren't normal to them eg. the bald man, the tall man which is pretty funny).

We have also been to look around the campus a little bit (pics to follow), which is really nice and has an amazing building for art. We have also been given a list of subjects to choose (3 only, but maybe more later) and I have chosen Oriental painting, Computer Art and Contemporary Art Theory, which all sound amazing so I will try and put any work etc up here if I can.

Well that will do for now as I have a few things to sort out, including trying to learn a bit of Korean as the people really appreciate the effort.

As I was just finishing writing this, one of my housemates has just given me a letter as he cannot speak english very well, but can write better, with a bit about himself, which pretty much sums up the Korean students, very nice and helpful.

here's a few other places you might find me

2009-09-08T09:32:00.000-07:00

http://jwalkersplayproject.blogspot.com/
http://electronicmovements.blogspot.com/
http://www.theplaydoeband.co.uk
http://theplaydoeblog.blogspot.com/
http://www.myspace.com/theplaydoeband

http://www.myspace.com/jwalkerofplaydoe

some of these haven't been updated for a while

어서와 (eo-seo-oa)

2009-09-08T09:24:00.000-07:00

Hello,

well this blog is gonna be used for keeping people updated on what I'm up to in South Korea for the next two months.

So stay posted and I'll write something when I get there.