Please Take Your Seat!

         (Seats reserved for the elderly,                      pregnant women, the disabled 
                and the injured)

In all Seoul buses and subway trains, there are seats reserved for pregnant women, disabled or injured persons, and senior citizens. 

But in the news last week, a pregnant woman riding the Seoul subway claimed one of those seats, but was accosted by an older Korean man because he said she was too young to be sitting there. Fearing the safety of her unborn child, she moved away.

And yesterday, when I took the subway on my way to Myeongdong, I noticed a pregnant woman enter the train and took a seat at that reserved spot. But after a few seconds, she stood up and moved to join the other passengers at the regular seats.

I then wondered, was she also afraid that the same thing could happen to her? That an angry and older Korean man would kick her out of her seat?

A few years ago, I asked one of my colleagues in the office who was pregnant at that time on whether some people ever gave up a seat for her in the subway. She said 'no', and just shook her head.

But even in the buses, those seats aren't exactly given up for those entitled to them. Some young passengers would either pretend to be sleeping or pretend to be busy with their smartphones, or would simply ignore an elderly standing next to them. Sometimes, even a mom with a baby getting into the bus would hardly be noticed by those sitting on those seats. According to locals I asked, the signage on those seats is just...a suggestion. WTF?

This means passenger education is needed to teach the riding public about the etiquette to be observed on the bus and in the trains in Seoul.

And how about the etiquette on the planes? Let's not even go there. That's an entirely different story. Ha-ha-ha!

The FEU Dance Company @ The Philippine Embassy in Seoul!

It's very rare to see a Philippine dance troupe perform in Seoul. The last time I saw a performance was during one of the Philippine Independence Day celebrations. But recently, a group of locals and a few lucky Filipinos based in Korea were able to enjoy performances of Philippine dances right in the heart of Seoul.

        (The Karatong dance of Palawan Province)

Yes, geographically speaking, the Yongsan District is situated right in the middle of the city, and that's where the Philippine Embassy is located. And one cool autumn afternoon last week, we were fortunate that a famous, prize-winning dance troupe from the Philippines found time to show everyone why they won the 3rd prize at the 2015 Cheonan International Folk Dance Competition held at Cheonan City in the South Chungcheon Province from October 7 to 11 this year.

         (the Ragraksakan dance of the Kalingas 
                of Northern Luzon region)

(In the dance, the Kalinga maidens balance their labba baskets on their heads. Only with poise and perfect balance can you dance with these. Don't try this at home with your mom's celadon pots.)

The FEU (Far Eastern University) Dance Company, led by its director, Mr. Martin Lopez, and its artistic director, Mr. Edward Malagkit, entertained the crowd of Koreans and Filipinos at the parking space of the Philippine Embassy. As the folk dances required a bigger venue, the multi-purpose hall of the Embassy just wasn't be able to accommodate the formations and instruments, not to mention the pageantry and the energy!

     (The Maranaw Suite of southern Philippines)

Here's a clip of the Maranaw Suite:

So, congratulations and thanks to the FEU Dance Company for stopping by our neighborhood with your lively dances, colorful costumes and music! 

And thanks to Ambassador Raul Hernandez and Vice Consul Ella Mitra for organizing such a rare performance right in the middle of Seoul!

Sa uulitin, po!

(And they dance hip hop, too!)

             (FEU Dance Company members posing 
                         with their fans in Seoul)

A Pinoy @ the Movies: The Martian

       (Matt Damon is MARTE in Español)

When I was in Barcelona two weeks ago, I spotted this Marte poster at a bus stop. If only it was small enough, I could have borrowed it from where it was posted. That day, I asked around whether there was cinema nearby where I could watch it. Sadly, the cinemas were too far from where I was staying.

But instead of watching The Martian at that side of the planet, I was able to watch it closer to home, at the Lotte World Mall, whose cinema claims to have the Guinness World Record for the largest fixed 35mm projection screen. I wonder if having a bigger screen would also make the red planet bigger? Hehe. 

(Lotte Cinema's Guinness Book certificate)

Anyways, on the first few minutes of the movie, I immediately realized that the lead actors, Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain were both in Interstellar. In Interstellar, Chastain was able to reach Saturn, while Damon reached a very far planet outside the Solar System.  And here, in The Martian, they're both content with a planet just next to Earth. Ha-ha-ha! 

While I found the movie funny at times due to Damon's character and hate for disco music, its message was actually deadly serious. It's about a human being (Damon) trapped in a planet where nothing grows in sub-zero temperatures and waterless atmosphere, and how he was able to make do with what he had. And the scenes showing the view of space and stars from his lonely planet was spectacular.

Here on Earth, we waste a lot of food and resources, take our environment for granted, and still don't feel any guilt for all these. The scene where Damon, after learning he was trapped on Mars alone, was taking an inventory of his limited food supply and counting the number of sols (a day in Mars) it would last was perhaps a very good reminder for all of us that all the things we are enjoying now on this planet will not last forever. 

As to the lighter side of the movie, it was Damon's optimism and sense of humor that helped him survive being alone with all those disco music left by Chastain, being alone as a martian. You have to watch the movie on how Damon responded when Gloria Estefan started singing to him to "turn the beat around...let me hear percussion!"

And when he started to tinker with all those equipment and gadgets to prepare his trip back to Earth, Donna Summer sang "Hot Stuff" in the sand dunes of Mars.

The Martian is a funny movie with a very serious message, and thanks to my friend Inpyo, I got to travel to Mars through the world's widest screen at the Super Plex G of the Lotte Cinema inside the soon-to-be the tallest building in South Korea, the Lotte World Tower.

The Martian is worth the interplanetary travel, and I recommend you watch it. And if you're fond of disco songs, you may leave the cinema dancing, especially at the closing credits when Gloria Gaynor appropriately sings "I will survive!"

So, did the martian survive? Go watch and you'll find out.

Playing Tennis in Seoul!

My first ever visit to Seoul On my first ever weekend during my two-week visit to Seoul years ago, I was showed around Seoul by Bella and her husband Junggu. When we drove through the Hannam-dong neighborhood in the Yongsan District, I immediately spotted tennis courts  from the car. And even though I couldn't see the actual courts, those high light posts and tall screen wires were a give-away! That time, I knew they were tennis courts! But what I didn't know was that I would be living in that neighborhood, and those tennis courts would just be minutes away from my apartment! Who would have thought that the first tennis courts I spotted in Seoul would be my favorite clay courts in the city?!

And when I finally settled in that summer, I wasted no time and visited the tennis courts one weekend. And over the years, and perhaps a thousand forehands later, I have been playing on the best clay courts in Seoul! Well, since the courts are very good, rental for one-hour is quite pricey. 

According to my tennis friend, Dong-Eun, decades ago, the Korean government promoted the sport of tennis by creating tennis courts all over the country, usually around the neighborhoods. This was the time when the sitting president then was a tennis player himself. Maybe that's why I always see in the Hannamdong clay courts a lot of old ajussis and ajummas still playing in their 70s, and perhaps even in their 80s. Maybe when they were young, that was when the government promoted the sports, enabling them to learn tennis at a young age. And they're still playing well until now! I remember when I used to play at the clay courts of Sogang University, I played doubles against Father Thomas, a Korean Jesuit priest. I was told he was already in his 90s!

                          (Go Seoda of Japan)

So, if you want to polish that forehand and improve that backhand, you can always find a tennis court around a cluster of suburban apartments near you. There are also tennis courts inside the schools and universities. 

In Seoul, the hard courts at Olympic Park (Olympic Park Station, Line 5, Exit 3) and Jangchung Tennis Courts (Dongkuk University Station, Line 3, Exit 6) are probably the best. 

While the neighborhood clay courts may do, the clay courts of Hannam-dong Tennis Courts (those on the 2nd and 3rd levels) are the best clay courts in Seoul. They're located in Hannam-dong in the Yongsan District (Beotigogae Station, Line 6, Exit 3).

                      (Duck-Hee Lee of Korea)

                      (Philip Bester of Canada)

The tennis courts of Olympic Park hosts the annual WTA event where you can see female professional tennis players slug it out against each other. This was the venue for tennis during the 1988 Seoul Olympics where Steffi Graf won the gold medal and completed her Golden Slam that year.

            (The Korean tennis prodigy Hyeon Chung 
                           being interviewed)

See you at the tennis courts!

PS. The photos below were from the ATP challenger event held at the Olympic Park in May, which was won by Go Seoda from Japan. The runner-up was the Korean teenage prodigy Hyeon Chung.

My New Favorite Korean Snack: 씨앗호떡 Ssi-at Hotteok

                 (The hotteok kiosk)

I stumbled upon this snack by accident. I was just passing through the Dongdaemun area one weekend. As I was about to cross the pedestrian lane near Exit 5 of the Dongdaemun Station (Line 4), the kiosk next to the road caught my attention.

              (The lady vendor filling up 
                 the hotteok with seeds)

Actually, it was not the kiosk that caught my attention. It was hotteok! A different kind of hotteok!

Ssi-at 씨앗 hotteok, or hotteok filled with pumpkin seeds, is unique. The one I usually buy from Namdaemun Market is filled with caramelized cinnamon and nuts. This one is filled with different kinds of seeds and sprinkled with brown sugar which means every bite is....crunchy! And filling!

       (The various seeds that go into the hotteok)

Well, upon my first bite, I decided that this ssi-at hotteok would be my new favorite snack. That's why every time I am in the Dongdaemun area, I always get a few to bring home and enjoy it...one crunchy bite at a time. :-)

International Folk Music & Dance Concert @ National Museum of Korea's Yong Theater

As expected,  tickets were all gone in a jiffy! Being a free concert featuring dances and songs from different cultures, the International Folk Music & Dance Concert, organized by the Senior Public Diplomacy Group, was very popular among the Korean and international audiences.

The Senior Public Diplomacy Group is an organization of former diplomats of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Korea, whose main objective is to help promote and strengthen South Korea's friendships and relations with other countries. And I think tonight, they succeeded!

Dances and music from Korea, Mongolia, Brazil, USA, China, Indonesia, Cambodia and other countries were all applauded and enjoyed by the crowd.

Three of the hundreds of audience members, Insook from Seoul, Veronika from Germany, and Terri from Namibia were especially impressed with the kind of show that featured dances and music from different countries. They said they were lucky in the first place to have been able to get tickets, and even luckier to have been able to watch this kind of concert in Seoul.

Thanks to Mr. Ha-Kyung Choi, the president of the Senior Public Diplomacy Group, and to Mr. Tae-Hoon Lee of the Korea Observer, those who sat and filled the 862-seater Yong Theater of the National Museum of Korea in the Yongsan District of Seoul were treated to a Sunday night of international performances that surely helped understand each other's culture.

Looking forward to the next international concert!

Seoul's Trickeye Museum @ Hongdae

Who doesn't like optical illusions? It's like magic, but without the need for a magician. Or a rabbit.

And the Trickeye Museum in Seoul's Hongdae district is about all that: optical illusions. And a lot more!

So, when Trickeye Museum invited guests to their new wing, I just had to sign up and bring along two ladies who I thought would enjoy the visit. Yvonne and Carly were on their last day in Seoul; they were all over the city for a few days for sightseeing, and had to fly back to the Philippines. And on their last few hours in South Korea, they were able to experience the unique type of entertainment and fun the Trickeye Museum offers locals and international visitors alike.

During our visit, we saw moms with their kids, couples, groups of tourists, and international students who were also there to have fun posing with the illusions with their friends.

But for Yvonne and Carly, spending their last few hours in Seoul on and around these unique fantastic scenes that definitely tricked the eyes was the highlight of their visit to Korea.

If you're visiting Seoul soon, or if you're already here, do squeeze in a visit to the Trickeye Museum for added fun, memories and unique photographs to your Korea photo album.

By the way, around the Trickeye Museum lobby, there is portraitist, who can sketch you for a few minutes while you sit. There is also a shop where you can be made-up and costumed to look like a Korean prince or princess.

Here are more of Yvonne and Carlye's photos at the Museum:

The Trickeye Museum is very easy to find as it's just a few minutes from Exit 9 of Hong-Ik University Station of Line 2.

Here's the Museum website for directions, opening hours and other details need for your visit:

http://www.trickeye.com/