The parting of ways...

Alas alack woe betides me for my mighty comrade has fallen. Sarah is no more. Well I mean she still technically exists in the world at large but she is no longer an honorary guest of the Korean nation. She is leaving on a jet plane this very day for Australia; home of the koala, the duck-billed platypus and the descendants of thousands upon thousands of Irish criminals.

We spent last weekend in Seoul together before the time came to say our tearful goodbyes. (Of course, this goodbye contained no actual tears as public and indeed private displays of emotion make me terribly uncomfortable. I guess it was more of a hearty parting handshake really...)

Seoul was good fun. We of course got horribly lost trying to find our hostel but with the aid of two spunky young Korean teens we made it there eventually! We stayed in hanok style accommodation so everything was a mite cramped but the ornate roof was ever so pretty.

We hung around Cheong-gye-cheon on Sat evening. Cheong-gye-cheon is a stream that was buried beneath the city until the powers that be decided to disinter it and turn it into a trendy hangout spot for youths. There's lots of funky artwork surrounding the stream and the stream itself is decked out with all manner of footbridges and mini-waterfalls. It is quite delightful to behold. I think the best part of the experience though was happening upon a group of colourfully dressed teenagers who were in the process of shooting a feature film. We looked on in amusement as the funky teens shot a choreographed dance routine beneath a bridge to the tune of a Korean pop song that simply contained the words 'Baby, baby, baby, baby, baby, yoooouuuu' repeated over and over again.

After the river we went to a non-verbal Korean show called 'Nanta.' It's a kind of comedic drumming show set in a kitchen where all kinds of kitchen items - pots, pans, dishes, knives, chopping boards, water bottles, brooms and even the chefs- are turned into percussion instruments. Ahh...theatre...

The next day we journeyed to Jogye-sa: a Buddhist temple nestled in the heart of Seoul. There seemed to be some kind of event taking place as there was a large crowd of people worshipping and the trees surrounding the temple were adorned with a vast array of colourful lanterns. I think I may have been a little over stimulated by all the colours; I felt like a child dizzy on lemonade walking around beneath the rainbow trees.

After the temple we went strolling through a market street where Eoin was accosted by a group of English speaking Korean toddlers who were conducting interviews with foreigners under the watchful supervision of their proud mothers. They all had little notebooks and they asked him a question each such as 'where are you from?,' 'what's your favourite part of Korea' etc and at the end of the interview they all read out a line thanking him for his time in unison. It is common enough for us to be stopped by people wanting to practice their English skills or simply wanting to point at us and shout 'waeguk' (Korean for foreigner.) However, we definitely have seen an increase of interest as of late. Sarah, Eoin and I were hanging outside the local shopping centre one day when a group of teenage girls came over to make sport of us. They kept daring each other to come over and say 'hello' and then they would collapse into giggles at the sight of our risible white faces. We felt like some kind of fancy zoo monkeys being ridiculed by unruly children. Then, on the day we were due to get our bus to Seoul a lady spotted us sitting at the bus station and came over to have a good laugh. She asked Gareth where he was from and when he answered the 'UK' she knowingly nodded and said 'ah yes, Yugoslavia.' She then mocked Eoin's beard and called him a Jew and then shook my hand and said 'hello Monica Bellucci.' I would have found this case of mistaken identity hugely flattering if it were not for the fact that I have long since discovered that in the eyes of many Koreans I look like every brown haired celebrity that ever was because of course all we round eyes look the same. It was quite comical though. Our faces are ripe for parody.:)

Anyway, that is all my news so I shall leave you now to think about what you've done.