according 2 lifeinkorea.com ‘korea has four distinct seasons’. distinct, meaning ‘not alike; different in nature or quality.’ well, you could have fooled me. this year korea seems 2 have gone straight from winter 2 summer, bypassing spring altogether. it’s 15 degrees today & it was 18 on tuesday (paddies day). you can put that into context when you consider it was -2 last sunday. 18 degrees people... that’s a good irish summers day right there. with a week of those temperatures @ home in july or august we’d have dermatologists warning of the dangers of skin cancer, the environmentalists harping on about the scourge that is global warming, & the authorities screaming of water shortages (on a small island surrounded by the stuff). maybe korea this year did actually have a spring, a 2 week spring that i missed when i was @ home hearing all about the recession. or maybe this is a korean spring (for all the time i’ve spent here i’ve never actually been in korea for the months march through june), one that just happens 2 remind me of an irish summer. whatever it is i’m lovin’ it – summer smells (melting tar on the roads, cooking smells, body odour on the crammed busses, & sewer blowback, something the warmer air exposes in most overdeveloped asian cities) are wafting in the air, the ladies are wearing less, outdoor patios are getting busy & generally everyone seems in a more upbeat mood... with more of a spring in their step, if you’ll pardon the lame-ass pun. last night, for the first time since i got here last october, i even turned off the heating in my apartment, the same heating-challenged apartment that, with its rooftop terrace, is clearly a place that was built for the summer, not winter... & certaintly not a korean one. aggh yes, something tells me this summer could be even better than last years.
so paddies day in seoul (march 14th) was unique, just like i knew it would be. from a sober beginning 2 a forgotten end it went something like this.
i spent the afternoon in a park full of plastic paddies (“yeah, my great, great, great grandmothers best friends second cousin was from somewhere like gall-way... or kill-kenny.. or somewhere... somewhere in, you know, in eye-er-land... where is that anyway?... is it near like, texas? .. & do you guys have, like, real pet leprechauns?”) drinking a combination of free guinness (from a can & poured into small plastic glasses) & shit korean beer (from cans & paper cups) in the company of an aussie (mel) & an american (bran), watching koreans in o’neills jerseys knocking a sliotar about & listening 2 a korean quartette playing traditional irish music. all this was mc’ed by a guy who, although he spoke fluent korean, did so in an irish accent thick enough 2 cut turf. only i was sober, @ that stage, i wouldn’t have beleieved what i was seeing/hearing.
the evenings festivities in seoul’s newest irish bar, the dublin terrace, followed a more familiar, less surreal, course. the fact that the festivites kicked off/resumed @ 8pm & included access 2 unlimited pints of guinness (& unfortunately more plastic paddies) meant that no, i didn’t get 2 see the ireland scotland rugby game later that night (that was wishful thinking from the sober outset).
paddies day wraped up on tuesday evening, the real paddies day, with a few quite beers (it was a work night you see) with uno & bran in the wolfhound irish bar where the same trad quartette from saturday (plus a few guests) made an encore appearance 2 add a touch of ‘authenticity’ 2 the night (the wolfhound is where i’ll find myself @ 2:30am seoul time this coming sunday morning 2 see ireland win the grand slam... comon’ ireland).
check out the pics from paddies day in seoul here (if you’ve seen these pics before it’s cos mel pilfered them on me & published them 2 her fb profile). & i’ll end with a challenge... check out the video below of the wolfhound on paddies night & try 2 convince yourself i wasn’t in doolin instead. good luck... & then learn the meaning of the word sarcasm.
‘livin’ with seoul’ war watch
the north koreans have set a date for the launch of their missil... sorry, communications satellite. armageddon here we come. the daily war siren drills i can hear from the office haven’t started 2 worry me just yet, but only cos it doesn’t seem 2 bother the koreans i share the office with either... & plus i’m still of the impression that this is still largely theater.
what i’m listening 2 right now
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