Monday, April 09, 2007

Finally A Post That Isn't About Food

Dear Brothers and Sisters, here we have the Seoul Temple. I wish I could put this building into context for you, but my camera doesn't span that wide. This temple is a little oasis in the middle of a bustling, crowded, 40 story high city. You walk up this alley and there it is. Manicured gardens, moroni in the middle of seoul. I was too winded from hiking up subway stairs and then dodging garbage on the city street to really be blown away by the spirit of the place, but looking at it now, I am reminded of the safety and beauty that I felt there. I've wanted to come here since I arrived in seoul, but finally was able two saturdays ago. thank goodness for temples. Universal houses of God.
And then I came here...Lena will think it's funny that my new hair salon is called Salon Zen. I came here because Johnny and Lucy studied in London. The only girl I've met in Korea with blond hair that wasn't sort of orange said that johnny did it. So I came. They have things all over the wall that say, "Zen is feeling". Oh yes, Zen is feeling. Zen is patient. Zen does not rush. Zen washes your hair 3 times and puts you under a cap-thingy that blows steam out of your head like a cartoon. Zen takes four hours of your saturday. Zen takes 125,000 of your won. Zen is feeling like your hair still looks orange. Actually it turned out ok, but so much for cheap and sassy in Korea. I guess if I'm going to stay blonde, I will just have to get used to it.

As for the rest of the week...Walking home from work, I stopped to listen to some acoustic music on my street. A girl came over and handed me a candle in a cup and suddenly I was a participant in a Seoul Peace Rally. I could have been really moved, (because I'm all for peace, you know?) but the two guys with the punk rock hair singing "How many loads must a man walk down...the answer my flend is blowing in the rind" just made me giggle. I eventually trapped another bewildered onlooker with the charge of the burning candle and went into that GS mart and bought tortilla chips and white bread. How american.
This is my friend Pamela and do you see what's in that picture with sweet pamela? Those are scrunchies. Lots and Lots of scrunchies. Walls of scrunchies. Bejeweled scrunchies. bedazzled scrunchies. Rainbow scrunchies. Flowered scrunchies. And do you know what the people around us were doing? BUYING SCRUNCHIES AND WEARING SCRUNCHIES. They're not just for trailer parks in korea...business women wear scrunchies. Korea is this weird mix of HIGH HIGH Fashion and 1992 rejects. I broke down and bought a hair clip with butterflies on it for use around my house. Let's just hope it stops there.

1 comment:

Hey, It's Ansley said...

That last picture made me think of Bangkok It was like I had stumbled into the land of lost Claire's boutiques.