Mass Freeze, Seoul

A couple weekends ago I participated in a mass freeze in Seoul. I heard about it from a mass email sent by the placement agency that got me here, since one of their other teachers was the organizer. I'd never heard of a mass freeze before--it's when a large group of people converge seemingly naturally in a high-traffic area and at the same time pause in whatever position they happen to be in for a predetermined amount of time. During this time, passersby generally take a moment to realize what's going on, then see that a bunch of people are completely frozen, and react accordingly. Then again at the same time, the freezers unfreeze and continue as if nothing happened.

Although the idea seems like a really awesome plan, and it some ways it was awesome, this was the worst freeze I've ever been to (and yes, yes, also the best).

The first problem was about where exactly to meet. Actually, no. The first problem was my fault--I don't have a Facebook profile and refuse to start one. All of the relevant info for this event was there. I was lucky enough to get a date (question mark?) from Seoul to go with me, and he was able to check the info and sign us up on Facebook. What he told me was posted there was that we were to freeze at 1:30pm on Saturday, September 26, by the COEX Trade Tower. Now, COEX is a huge mall, and even that one "spot" was confusing, because there are a lot of surrounding areas to the Trade Tower.

After killing time nearby and figuring we knew where to go basically, we waltzed into a courtyard with a bunch of foreigners at 1:29, and it happened to be the right place. The dozen or two foreigners dressed in blue (that was the code) that we saw in other nearby places probably didn't make it until a bit later.

The second problem was communication. I'm not sure if it was the organizer's fault, or my date's. Our understanding was that the actual freeze was to occur at 1:30, so when our vibrating cell phone alarms went off at 1:30, we froze. For the first few seconds when no one else stopped moving, it seemed like maybe our clocks weren't all synchronized, but after a bit more time, it was evident there would be no freeze at 1:30. Then I noticed a chick giving a quiet speech (despite holding a bullhorn) behind a bush. Silly subtle speech-giver. So we went over and listened.

Here are some photos of the other people there, listening to the speech:

The COEX Trade Tower. I've had bigger.

The next problem was again the location. Evidently the place she wanted us to all freeze in (which by the way, was nowhere near where we ended up at 1:30 and were told to go) was doing a game show and we couldn't double-book the location. So she decided to change the location to inside the mall, near the center, and it would be delayed until 2:30, for some reason. I was okay with that, though. We were able to grab a quick lunch beforehand.

When we got to the spot at just before 2:30, there were a bunch of people walking around going "2:40! 2:40! Spread the word!" Why the hell would they have to delay another ten minutes? I don't know, but apparently it didn't get spread well enough. According to another blogger who was taking photos and video, some people still started at 2:30.

FINALLY the mass freeze started, though. Because of all my physical issues and the fact that I'd not slept the night before, gotten up wicked early for the bus, then spent five hours on it, I chose a very simple, leaning-against-a-pillar pose. Because I was looking down with a relaxed, neutral facial expression and because the air conditioning dried my eyes out so much that they started watering profusely, I ended up looking very, very sad, I think. Two tears rolled down my cheeks, and I'm pretty sure at least one or two people in the world have photos or video of that happening.

Naturally I don't have any of my own photos or videos of the freeze itself, but there were people around who were specifically asked to do that. Here's a link to a blog of one of those people. He has a lot of other info about freezes from other cities at the top and bottom, and that's also interesting, but the meat of the entry is more towards the middle. I was disappointed to not see myself in any of his videos, nor the ones from someone else that he posted. The best exposure I got there was in a photo of the gathering beforehand outside. You can see me on the left side of the frame in a blue tank top covering my eyes. You can play Where's Waldo and see if you can find me.

http://kimchi-icecream.blogspot.com/2009/09/mass-freeze-in-seoul-at-coex-mall-south.html

That blogger made it out to be a much more interesting event than the one I experienced, but I guess I'm just not an optimist. On the upside, although not nearly as many people showed up as signed up (300-400 signed up on Facebook, allegedly), I noticed in the videos that there were still more people than I realized were there. It thought there were fewer than 100 people who came, since that's how many I saw at the meeting at 1:30, but maybe some people came and went before or after we were there, as other estimated are between 100 and 150 participants.

I tried for a bit to look for other blogs that might have different videos and pics, but to no avail as yet. I'm sad I never got to see my teary eyes, so if anyone is interested enough to help me look, please let me know if you find anything. I guess my location wasn't good for exposure--I was against the pillar in front of the bookstore, and a lot of the video is taken from the area adjacent to my side of it.

Here's a little article about the organization of the event, which I just found via google. Apparently the organizer wrote it, but she also quotes herself in it and writes in the third person. I find that very strange...

http://www.theyeogiyo.com/News/Articles/2009/08/11/Seoul-joins-mass-freeze-movement.php

I had kind of a problem with the idea of wearing blue. It seems slightly unnecessary. Anyone who knew what was going on would know what to do, and the only advantage I can see out of color-coding is that people were able to identify more easily anyone who was involved in the event so they could tell them new locations and times, the necessity of which could of course be eliminated by better planning and organization. It made me feel like we were already sticking out too much to be such a great surprise to onlookers, being that most of us were already sticking out because of our respective races and the fact that over 100 of us were congregating in a relatively small area. I would rather it have been a little less obvious that something was happening prior to the thing actually happening.

When the freeze broke (I think I was one of the first to unfreeze, actually), we were all supposed to go on doing whatever we had been doing before as if nothing happened, as I mentioned above. Not everyone can avoid being douchey, though, and a number of people clapped and hugged and did silly things, as my date and I walked into the bookstore and most of the other people continued on their own ways. There was supposed to be a postfreeze party that you had to sign up for on Facebook, but we didn't go. These people seemed like mostly people I would only freeze with, not actually associate with. What an asshole.

Jinha Beach

Although I knew that Ulsan has beaches that are nice and swimable, they always seemed so far away and hard to get to, so I never went. Emily and her friends went to Jinha Beach in Ulsan last weekend, however, and I found out how simple it is to get to at least this one. There's a bus that actually goes right by my house (although we all met on the other side of the park this time) and takes not too long to get there. It was a nice half hour ride there from the park, but ended up being a full hour back to my house with the extra distance and late afternoon traffic. Still, it's closer than Haeundae and only costs a buck to take this bus.

The beach was pretty empty, since the weather wasn't really hot that day. Here are some shots of the beach:



I walked over to this little island. The water at the time was no higher than knee deep. It was pretty rocky and kind of dirty over there, so I just checked it out for a few minutes. I noticed the water was a little deeper when I came back, so I'm glad I didn't stay long.

The few people who were at the beach that day were doing sports that involve wind, sails, and the ocean:

It was EXTREMELY WINDY. Here's the third in my series of Alia Holding up Her Beach Clothing to Show You How Windy It Is:

In fact, it was SO windy that I didn't enjoy myself much. The sand was stinging my skin, so I had to put my pants and shirt back on, and everything was getting either blown away or covered in sand the whole time. It wasn't hot enough to go swimming (for me; Emily went), and I was pretty much sitting there listening to the rest of the group (who were camping there that night) talk about stuff and fume and seethe at nature. I left after about three hours; I had to go, anyway, to get ready for a date.

Despite not having a good time, it was good to get outside and find out another good place to go in Ulsan. I probably won't get to go to the beach for swimming anymore this year, since next weekend I'm going to Japan, and after that it will probably have cooled down. But I'll know for next summer, and I'll have a lot more beach time then than I have the last couple summers (or frankly, the last like, ten or fifteen summers)

My Latest Apartment

Here's m'kitchen:



It's a real room this time, that isn't a kitchen-in-a-hallway, or a kitcheonette, like the last two times. This kitchen is almost a square. The fridge is wicked wide. Maybe I'll add a pic of the inside.


Here's the foyer and bathroom:

I DON'T like the bathroom. It's so small that it's always wet from the shower, and the stupid idiots put the towel rack directly across from the shower head, so I had to hang my own hook in there to keep my towel from getting wet while I shower. The floor is also flat right by the drain, so water puddles right there and never dries up, even if most the the rest of the floor is dryish. The sink is also flat, so the water sits there and makes the sink all bacteriaey.

Four-corner living room photo action:

Notice the empty spot below for another wall hanging. The scroll exists, but is lost somewhere in Heather's house, along with a couple decorative fans and my damn umbrella. I'm holding out hope I'll find them eventually.

You can see two coat racks in two of the above pictures. They came already on the wall. I'm not really a fan, but they've come in useful for my hats and jackets and belts and bathrobe.

Here's the infamous DRUM washer on my smaller-than-usual balcony:

My balcony looks out onto the entrance to Diagon

Alley:

I like the apartment, except for a few things that bug me, like the bathroom, and the fact that I had to set the living room up so my back faces the tv when I'm sitting at the desk. It makes it hard to watch a movie and blog at the same time, for example. I might just start using the laptop on the bed, though. But I can't watch a movie when I'm cooking or doing dishes. Watching movies is very important to me. I've been listening to music whilst in the kitchen lately, though, and music is also important, so I guess it's okay.

I do wish my place wasn't in the boondocks, though. I'll post some pictures of the immediate area as soon as I have time during the day to take the camera out there.

O-Man Won

Remember how I used to say/complain how the highest bill in Korea was the 10,000 won note, which, relatively speaking, is equivalent to about ten dollars? Well, not anymore, baby. Czech this out:

This bill made its debut on June 23, making it the first new issuance of currency in Korea in 73 years (when the 10k bill was introduced), according to Korea.net. It took a year to design it. The chick on the one side is the famous Korean writer, calligrapher, and artist Shim Saimdang (1504-1551), and is the first woman to be pictured on Korean money. The other side shows the image of a famous painting she did of some grapes and branches. I see it, but it looks more like a ship to me. Shin Saimdang's son, a famous Confucian scholar, is on the 5,000 won note.

I'm not sure how good your monitor's color is, but you're right to notice how similar the colors of the FIVE thousand won bill and the FIFTY thousand won bill are. Coincidence? I sense a scam here. At least the pictures are drastically different, and the sizes, though less noticeable, also vary among all the bills.