Hello Korea

Seoul, with its plethora of cute cafes, delicilous eateries, skinny people, and abundance of stores, has become my new home. So far things have been going pretty well. Besides minor headaches like foreigner registration, the inability to open a credit card account, the language confusion, and the very stringent trash rules, the transition has been going smoothly.

My neighborhood (Apgujung) is really wonderful. There are a bunch of trendy cafes, restaurants, clothing stores, parks, etc. I have a lot of fun looking at all the pretty girls in their cute outfits every morning and evening when walking to and from the subway. Girls running in 4.5 inch heels has become a common sight. I haven't been able to explore too much since I spend almost all my conscious hours at work, but I love it so far.

Apartment:

I love the freedom of not having the stress of studio all the time, granted work is busy and can be stressful at times, once I leave the office, I don't have to think about it too much. I spent this past Sunday afternoon shopping, eating, and spending time at Cafes with Sunny. This one was particularly cute, it's called 5Cijung and is walking distance from my apartment. This cafe's specialty is persimmon flavored blended ice.


Work has been pretty interesting for the most part. The hours are long (as expected) but I'm starting to really enjoy the company of my co-workers. All of them are very good-natured and try really hard to help me with the things I don't understand (which is a LOT). Right now I'm working on an exhibition opening in late November at the HITE building we recently renovated. Wonderfully frightful and exciting, it feels good to design something tangible. Korean office culture is very different from the States. Your co-workers are not only the people you work with but also the people you spend your free time with. This Friday our entire firm is going on a field trip to Heyri Art Valley in the afternoon, eating dinner at Hanilkwan (a restaurant our firm designed) and watching a movie. I can't imagine doing that with the entire frim in the States, even at a small one like HYA.

Yesterday, I went to the new Times Square building (which just opened today) to help with the restaurant photoshoot and was quite shocked by how uneven the pace of industrialization has been. Incredibly similar to the Times Square building in Causeway Bay Hong Kong, this center caters to those with high-end taste and fat wallets. But literally a few feet away from the back entrance is one of the most undeveloped areas of Seoul that I've seen. The shops are falling apart, drunkards line the streets, and there are rows of stores with red lights displaying scantily clad women in the window.

Scenes like this make me reconsider the mechanisms by which cities are developed. Who is behind projects like Times Square both socially, economically, and politically? What good is an expensive new building to the people of this district if most of them cannot afford any of it?