A post about make-up

Like totally hello there!
OMG It's like totally the girliest of all girly blog posts! Yay~

(I know, I know, some of you are gagging. I would too. Please stay. I'm going to accommodate you poor folk with humor to make up for the subject material (hopefully).)

Sorry maybe this post is not that funny...

This is a post about make-up, written by a person who also isn't crazy about make-up (me), but as I've observed Korea's unique cosmetic culture, I've developed many feelings... Hence this blog post about my feelings..

I don't like make up. The main reason my face looks bare 89% of the time is because I'm too lazy to spend time and put on serious make up in the first place.
However, I'm not inept with makeup. Ever since I was an elementary school-er, I had to put on stage makeup in the car on my way to perform with my dance team for assemblies around town. (DV love. Don't stop never give up!)
I know how to not look like a ghost on stage. I know what works for me (ex. eye liner on the bottom of my eye looks like death) and can do serious-effort, nice-ish make-up if I have to.
I also know that I can put on a bit of eyeliner and mascara and cover up my dark circles in under 5 minutes and look decent. Which is much easier and what I do every day.

I don't want to diss fans of make up. I think it can be empowering and look really good on people. I admire some of my friends' skills. Ms. Tasnim, Ms. Odden, Mrs. Allmer-Granat. I'm looking at you~

But back to my feelings, I don't like how gender segregating it is. I don't like watching commercials for lipstick and mascara with women, followed by guys driving cool cars. It makes me feel like since I'm I girl, I get make-up and guys get cars. That's no fair trade. Girls get giant fans blowing their hair and guys get the wind of exhilarating speeds to gently ruffle theirs? Yeah, nope.

The commercials in Korea are of course similar to the above mentioned American ones. One exception is that you'll see male celebrities in skin care commercials as well, since many Korean guys also care about their complexions.

Can you handle all that perfect skin?

Korea has a whole different beauty standard that I don't want to get too in depth with here. There's some things that are very different from American culture, and I hope to explain just to fill in those who are unfamiliar.

Here's a super super brief low-down so no one is lost:
          - Pale, clear skin, big eyes, shapely brows = good
          - Red cheeks, blemishes, small eyes/lashes, pale lips = bad
          - No make-up (mostly just for girls) = sick or tired/hungover and also unprofessional (like you aren't trying)

Now that was general, everyday standards. There's different standards for celebrities (and people who want to look like them)
          - Korean pop music = guys and girls alike with eyeliner, lipstick, foundation (not all the time, but the more you wear the more attention you can grab like:

 G-Dragon just loves to look different~

         Or if the group is going for the equally popular cute look... the makeup can be more natural

          - Korean movies, TV, news = guys also have tinted lips and foundation, but both genders are toned down compared to Kpop (I have wasted way to much time looking for photos for this post. So you can just see more here)

There's lots of material out there in the Interwebs (some more negative than others) if you are curious for more, but this blog is about me and my fantastic thoughts! So let's just get to what I think! Yeah selfishness!

Many things have happened to me as I've spent more time in Korea. Some of these are natural developments that may have occurred just the same in the US, but others are very specific to Korea.

First of all is my opinion of lipstick. I have really thin lips, and always thought that lipstick just makes people notice them even more. I like my eyes more, and always just did eye makeup if I dressed up.
But in Korea I've been converted. GO LIPS

I bought my first lipstick for myself just this spring.
SHINee made me do it.
It was a lipstick pack that SHINee promoted and I originally bought it for the box and promotional perks... But then this fall I actually opened some and started wearing it! I actually kinda like it. It actually looks nice I think. It's a miracle!

How can I not purchase lipstick after seeing this?

Koreans wear lipstick and lip stain quite often and it just looks so good~ Some of my friends back home also post pictures of themselves with lipstick, and they all look so good too. This is one of those things that I assume could've happened back home too, as I matured into an age of lipstick appreciation, but I am pretty frugal and would never spend much on something I don't see as important, so I also can't deny SHINee helped me make the leap.


AND YET THERE IS A FLY IN THE DELICIOUS SOUP OF KOREAN LIPS.
YES. A FAT, HAIRY FLY.
There is this really really hideous lipstick style that started getting popular last year or so. It's called "그라데이션 립" which is basically "gradation lip" in Konglish, or ombre if you're hip like that. It's way too popular and I think it looks like you are sick and dying. Only the innermost part of your lip is colored and the edges are paled. Not a fan.

 Here's a tutorial if you want to see how terrifying you yourself can look with this style:

And if you prefer a vampire look:

Of course there is tons of variations of this. And some of them look really cool! Like these two:

But the reason these two look good is because you can see the whole lip... It doesn't look like your face is swallowing your lips, or you're a vampire, or you are dying in the freezing ocean after the Titanic sunk.

Yeah. I went there.

This next rant isn't exactly make-up related but it still is a popular beauty product in Korea:
Circle lenses. They are contact lenses that make your eyes appear bigger by enlarging your iris and may actually be damaging to your eyes, that many girls (widely within Asia, but not just Koreans and Japanese, anyone around the world who wants to try something new or is uncomfortable with their self perceived "small eyes") enjoy wearing.
Here's an example of a normal eye vs circle lens-covered eye:

Which side would you rather look at while having a conversation?

AHHHHHHHHHHH

Seriously I am too disturbed by them. It's frightening. It's unnatural. I can't focus on drama plots when the actors wear them. I can't hear how much the cashier says I have to pay if she's wearing them. All I can do is wince and avert my eyes and try not to think about it. Okay, not a all the time. But when they are very large, yes.

Thankfully they aren't really common out in the countryside of Hwacheon, but when I go to more urban places, and especially Seoul, I am confronted with them.

Kpop often use colored lenses for new concepts to get attention. Sometimes they look fine (or in SHINee's case AMAZING because they can do no wrong).

And sometimes they're just begging for attention.

The above group, Red Velvet, was teased about this "white girl" concept for a short while.

With their popularity in KPOP, I can say I've honestly gotten used to different colored eyes, and think that they can look nice sometimes (if the diameter of the iris is more realistically sized) and I think they look better in photos than in person. In person they are seriously terrifying. I like to look at peoples eyes when I meet them to gauge their character and circle lenses are like alien armor. I can't view you as human with ginormous, emotionless eyes.

Sometimes, the above two styles (gradient lips and circle lenses) are horribly combined to haunt my dreams. The selca-taking internet famous ulzzang 얼짱 girls often combine the two. Like this:

But I rarely search through ulzzang photos so my dreams are safe... until I come upon this pairing in a drama. I love Korean dramas. But if I have to watch an actor, especially a main character with circle lenses (hello, I can't see emotion through your giant fake eyes) and lips that I can't look directly at... well I end up pausing the show a lot and collecting myself.

There's this new drama (actually just finished) called "She Was Pretty" 그녀는예뻤다... and the main lead is exactly like that.

Yes, it has a ridiculous plot, like many Korean dramas. And the female lead is an atrocious over-actor, who is supposed to be "ugly" in the beginning (yeah right. Change your bone structure and teeth, then maybe you'll fool the audience...) then poof! For no absolute reason other than she wanted a change suddenly wears foundation and straightens her hair (if that's all the world had to do to be pretty, there'd be different standards of beauty).

I'll stop myself there. I have so many feelings about this, I should really make a blog about drama reviews... There are so many other better dramas out there, so don't be fooled into thinking I always criticize dramas. I only criticize terrible acting that is very well due and plot holes.

But I can't watch dramas all the time with the shaky Internet at my place. SO I sometimes have to entertain myself in other ways. Like sleeping. Or putting on a ton of makeup for fun... (approximately 0.8% of the time)
OR I turn on my awesome old-school Samsung box set TV and watch whatever is on TV... which sometimes is shows like "Get It Beauty" 겟잇뷰티

Again, MAKEUP OVERLOAD. Sometimes it's really funny, like these two fabulous and flamboyant makeup designers, 박태윤 Taeyoon Park and 손대식 Daesik Son, with egos through the roof have to compete with each other for the audience's approval and they are so mean to each other. And while laughing I inadvertently learn a bunch about make-up.

I AM SO SORRY. This post dragged on for quite a while didn't it? I kept on thinking of more things to say and well... 

And now we've finished this monster cutesy post! Cue pretty pose:

Next time I'll write about trucks or poop or something to balance the Force on my blog...

Please come back.

-Gab-b-b-beeeeee

Animal Encounters

Hey there!
Sorry, I know you've all been waiting desperately for my amazing tales. Shhh~ don't worry. It's all okay now. I'm back.

I've finally sat myself down and finished writing this one. Hwacheon town has plenty of moths and other seasonal bugs, but that's about all I had to write about last year. Now that my house is way off in the farmlands/mountains I've come across a whole new world. Living in as rural a place as I am now, I've had numerous animal encounters (beyond just farm animals).

If you've read my previous few posts, I've mentioned a few, but that's just the beginning. Since then I've seen many more bugs like praying mantis, grasshoppers, dragonflies, mosquitoes, giant beetle like things, and the plague of gnats every evening. Also frogs, snakes, ducks, cranes, mockingbirds, medium sized blue birds, and more birds I don't know, and river otter....

I'm sorry are you expecting something else? Something large and life-threatening perhaps?

Fear not dear reader, I've had no more pleasant meetings with wild boar.

(all you heartless people expecting my K.O. fight with one should just leave now. Yeah. Or suck it up and continue reading about cute animals that won't kill you)

One more note before we go on, most of these stories I started writing about a month ago... so the days were longer and much warmer. I'll give you a quick update on what the present environment is like at the end of the post. Now let's pretend this is the end of September-ish and proceed!




Let's start with the cutest of all my stories.
I was biking home after picking up some groceries and saw a few people taking a walk on the path in front of me. I slowed down a bit, and they moved to the side, but as I was passing them I noticed a small form that was not human. The family had a very excited puppy, who must've been delusional, seeing me as:

Because as I passed it locked eyes with mine and was basically like:

Then starting running to me, in the opposite direction of it's own humans. It caught up to me then ran, barking along my bike for maybe 20 seconds, then zoomed ahead.

I promptly stopped my bike, hoping the lack of competition would make the dog stop, and I turned to look back at the family I passed. They called out to the little dog... It did not turn around to look back at all despite the calls.

By then the little guy was so far ahead, I felt bad that the family would have to run that far to fetch it. Figuring that me, on a bike, could catch up to the puppy much faster, I started biking again. But still kind of cautiously so maybe the dog wouldn't view me as competition anymore. And of course, as soon as I started biking again, the puppy turned around and saw me biking towards it. I had inadvertently encouraged it to keep up it's ridiculous little race.

Inner Gabby

The puppy ran up the big hill leaving town and continued on down the red bike path next to farm fields. I would occasionally stop hoping the puppy would as well. But it never did. The few times it did slow down and look behind, I was always madly biking and trying to catch up.

I kept on calling out to it: "야! 강아지! 미친 강아지! 이리 와! 그만 뛰어~ 강아지~ 멍이~ 멍이야~"
And it kept running. Quite a few times I lost sight of it only to see it waiting at another bend in the road ahead waiting to sprint ahead like.

I started pedalling faster and faster. It's embarrassing to lose a race to a puppy...
I had lost sight of it for quite a while so I just stopped hoping it would come back. Then an elderly man on a bike went past me. I waited a bit longer... Sure enough the puppy started barking somewhere ahead when the new bike came. It didn't sound too far off, so I parked my bike on the side of the bike path and jogged ahead. The old man had stopped his bike and was staring at the puppy confounded as it barked furiously. (thankfully no longer running)
I apologized to the old man and let him go on his way. Then I picked up the little puppy and started walking back the way we came. Of course as soon as I picked it up, the puppy went quiet and started panting, tongue lolling out happily.

It was a long walk back. Our little chase went almost all the way to the army base (over half the way to my place). As I walked I fake-scolded the puppy and sang some random songs. At least the puppy was soft. It was like carrying a really heavy stuffed animal on a long walk.
Eventually I approached the hill at the end/start of the red bike path. That was where the puppy's owners were, searching in the nearby street (probably expecting the worst..). When they saw me coming with the dog they were visably relieved.
I passed over the fuzzy creature and apologized for the trouble as they thanked me. After clipping on a little makeshift leash, we started walking back on the bike path together (they on their way home, and I back to my bike). As we walked we talked a bit.
They joked to the puppy, "Ah, so you like American women?"
And, "Are your ears blocked? How could you ignore us?"
One of the older men asked how long I had been in Hwacheon, saying he remembered seeing me around the past year. We talked a bit about my situation, where we lived, and the weather. Great stuff.

My bike was right where I left it. All the groceries still in the basket. Yay trustworthy Hwacheon!
That was my fun puppy and other story I mentioned briefly in my last post "People of Hwacheon".




And now for a few more animal encounters, all much briefer that the previous story.

First up! I finally got a light for the front of my bike (an essential now that it gets pretty dark around 5:30 as I go home). This encounter was just before I got a light. I was in town later than usual and was biking home well past twilight. My eyes were in super night-vision mode, and if I had big ears they'd be straight up and on alert. (no more wild boars please please please, was my mantra)
Thus I caught a glipse of the extremely elusive river otter.
I saw some at the otter research center nearby last spring.

They are really cute, especially the babies. (photo credit to Amelea~)
But there's something about seeing animals in human environments like zoos and research centers/human-crafted habitats that can't compare to seeing them outside in the wild.
The one I saw was running into the side bushes as I approached. So I just saw a glimpse of it's head, and a much clearer view of its haunches and tail.
Okay. Not a super exciting story. But it was really exciting to see!


For most of early October, there were tons of praying mantis all hanging out on the bike path. I have decided that praying mantis must be the stupidest of all the bugs in Hwacheon. They pose in the middle of the pathway, sunbathing or expecting praise for their form.
They're all like, "Don't I look fabulous?"

And I'm like,

They seriously are the only bugs that don't even move a bit as my monsterous bike speeds towards them. As such, even though I have dodged some, I've murdered way more of these stupid creatures.



Speaking of murdering creatures. Yes, I have killed at least two more frogs (they always come out onto the path when it rains... I'm like, "dude I can't see when it rains! How am I supposed to not run you over??") and one snake. Yes, The snakes in Hwacheon are venomous. No, I did not purposefully think it'd be fun to see who would survive. I was zoned out and jolted back to the present when I ran over a mini pile of rocks. And snakes like to camp out by rocks... so here I am, airborne from my rock-lauch and I land, smack on poor Mr. Snakey. When I biked past the next few days he was in the exact same spot. So eventually I poked him with a stick and yeah. Dead.



Even though I do complain about the bugs quite frequently on my Facebook page (I just really hate mosquitoes okay?) I have seen quite a few bugs that astound me. Like grasshoppers. I've seen grasshoppers in little terrariums and other contexts like It's a Bug's Life...

But I've never seen one fly a significant distance in real life. As I cruise along on my bike, grasshoppers and dragonflies often zoom right next to me or as a few crazy dragonflies did, right in front of my face.

There was one time I parked my bike and I went to sit in a little gazebo-type resting house along the trail. A grasshopper started trying to climb up my rear wheel. It kept sliding back down as it couldn't get any traction on the inner wheel. Then a snake slowly came out from under the gazebo, eyes fixed on the grasshopper. I stood up quickly, and the movement scared the snake back to its hiding place. I quickly shooed off the grasshopper and biked away.

See sometimes I can save lives too!



Final quick note about birds. There's still lots of birds around. Especially ducks. Unfortunately the dozens of cranes I saw have all migrated whereever they go for winter (maybe South.. maybe East or West. Who knows where the secret warm spots of Korea are.) There's just two or three who are either stranded or trying to prove their grit sticking it out in this cold cold weather.

It's gotten really cold. The last two days we've been at freezing or below in the morning. I've already wiped out on a frosty bridge yesterday. I don't think I'll survive when it gets really icy.

I have survived in terms of no more boar sightings! That first one really messed with my brain though. Every evening/night when it starts to get dim or darker I'm always on 500% alert. Every rustle in the bushes by the bike path makes me tense up (even though it's 90% of the time just a bird or the wind). It's really just the cold I have to fear for survival. I've already doubled up my lower layer and wore four layers on top this morning.

BRING IT WINTER. It can't be worse than last year right?


....

겁난 Gabby us

The People of Hwacheon

Hey everyone!
Happy October!

 Ah yeah.

You know you love October.

I cannot believe it's already October. It seems like I just got back to Korea yesterday. This is also slightly freaking me out because I have a list of goals and things I thought I would do during my second year in Korea and OVER A MONTH HAS PASSED and I'm no where near any of my goals and at this rate I won't even get to half of them and this time last year I was so much more on top of things and and and-
Ok. Stop it, Gabby. 그만. 진짜. 이 사람들이 다 무관심하게 될거야~  ...
I apologize. I've been trying to control my anxiety but as you can see, I feel incredibly inept these days. At least I'm blogging again...

In an attempt to avoid panic attacks and being negative in general, I would like to dedicate this blog post to something wonderful and awesome and also something I have not written much about at all, yet makes up a huge part of my life in Korea: Koreans! The people of Korea!
More specifically:
The People of Hwacheon!
I bet you never saw that coming... It's not like there are blog titles...

Here are a few recent stories involving complete strangers that still made me smile. My first few weeks in Hwacheon were very busy with trying to settle in at my new place, and as stressful as that was to be on my own, trying to figure everything out, I also encountered more and more people than ever before!


First up I have the Barbecuers.

Here they are. All three of them. Obviously Korean...

Not.

After my second day biking into town, malnourished from fear of my gross kitchen, exhuasted after cleaning, biking into town twice for more supplies, and just finishing a mini tour I offered for the new ETAs, I was finally biking back home and then came upon them. The Barbecuers. They were a group of about a dozen or more middle aged Koreans with two big grills set up on the path under a bridge. It sorta-not-really looked like this:

Koreans love BBQ so I had no luck with Google search this time...

The grills and their parked cars took up the whole path, so I couldn't just politely bow as I passed or even walk my bike around. I got off my bike and prepared for an inevitable crescendo of "excuse me"s and zig-zagging that I would have to do to get by all of them.
To my surprise no one even began to move out of my way. Instead I was beckoned to the grill, given a paper cup full of beer, and welcomed like I was expected.
My stomach wouldn't let me say no to this free meal, and I really could use a drink.

Or three.

As watermelon and fresh grilled meat were forced very unwillingly into my hands (this is sarcasm my dears) I chatted with everyone. Yes, Gabby Walti the awkward social encounter queen and speaker of English actually chit-chatted for almost an hour in Korean with drunk strangers. It was fantastic.

The Barbecuers of course wanted to know what I was up to, surprised I could be on my way home through a road leading out of town. I said I was just starting my second year teaching at Hwacheon Elementary and one couple immediately perked up and asked about their son, a fifth grader at my school. The moment they said his name my heart swelled. Of course their son is the sweetest ball of sunshine who always beamed and earnestly asked how I was doing every time I saw him last year. Instantly making my day better. He's one of the students Amelea and I call our dumpling students. They are so small and round with baby fat, makes us want to squeeze them. The couple, being drunk immediately decided to call their son and we talked super briefly on his mom's phone.

"Hello, Gabby Teacher!"

me, basically

"Hello, Min Gyoon! How are you?"

"I am fantastic! How are you?"

"I am very happy. How is your summer?"

"Summer is... fun! Very happy."

"Good! I like your parents. Your parents are very nice."
silence... hmm was that too difficult? Better let him off the hook... 
"See you Monday!"
"Okay teacher! See you later."
The end.
His parents proceeded to bemoan their small house because they always wanted to host for the English teachers home-stays. They invited me to visit and have dinner but their sweet son must've misunderstood because he proudly told the other teachers at school on my first day back that I'd be living with him this year... Not happening.. sorry Min Gyoon...
The other Barbecuers were mostly old, quite intoxicated, men 아저씨들, save Min Gyoon's mom and two other wives (oh the ladies all had had quite a few drinks too.. they just aren't old men). I awkwardly tried to leave several times only to be fed more/given more to drink. Some of them 아저씨s introduced themselves to me and insisted they were from other countries like the Philippines and Japan (they seemed 100% old Korean men to me) which the others thought was hilarious and I just laughed at their drunkeness, completely missing the joke. One old man tried to flirt saying I should be on TV not in Hwacheon, that I was the most beautiful woman, and other nonsense. I took one look at his easy-going yet surely still offended wife and said men should always say their wives are the most beautiful. Then I can be the second most beautiful.
Score Gabby. The 아저씨s laughed and jabbed at the poor man with BBQ tongs as his wife shook my hand and refilled my cup with more beer.

I'm so glad the Barbecuers stopped me. It might have just been the beer, but I couldn't stop smiling as I biked back home.



Next I have the Americans.

Again obviously from Hwacheon, right?

During Chuseok, the Korean equivalent of America's Thanksgiving, many family members travel from near and far to be with their parents or grandparents in whatever small town they live in. I ran into one very particular family in Hwacheon during the holiday weekend this year.
The Americans and I met first while ordering popcorn before seeing a movie. I was shocked when a young woman approached, speaking perfect natural Engligh, and offered to help read the menu since it was all in Korean and help me order.
Wait! I don't know if I mentioned this before, but last winter Hwacheon got our very own movie theater! It's just one room, so there's only a half a dozen showings or less a day, but it's also less than 5 dollars a ticket and the happening place to be!

I went to the movies with my friend Emily (my first friend to visit me in Hwacheon! 사랑해~) but it was the last showing of the night for the small town theater so it ended pretty late. The little town bus we took to get to my new place doesn't go that late, so we were planning to just split a cab. Expensive but doable.
Before we left the theater we ran into the Americans again. There was this woman with an adorable baby and perfect English, her sister, who also had fantastic Engish, and their mom. They were surprised we could watch a Korean movie and that we laughed while watching it. (It's a really great movie! If you can ever track it down with subtitles do it. Called "Veteran" or 베테랑)

Basically a hilarious cop film with a really horrendous villain. I have never cussed out loud at the movies before, but this villain made me curse him repeatedly.

We gave the standard "English teacher, studying Korea, love Korea" spiel, so they could understand how we were in the theater, but before I could ask about their perfect English (a rarity in Hwacheon) they asked where I live. The moment I mentioned the district they insisted they could give us a ride since they are staying somewhere nearby. It was a tight squeeze, but all of us fit in the car and finally learned that the super cute baby and mom live in Baltimore, with their husband who is a professor at Johns Hopkins. The baby's only seven months old and his American name is Albert, after Albert Einstein because they hope he will be smart like him (how adorable is that?) They just flew back to Korea a month ago for the holidays and so the baby could meet all the family. The whole time we talked the little boy had huge eyes, and we all deducted he was recognizing English again after a while of only Korean. Everyone was so kind and fun and I wish they lived in Hwacheon all year.

And thus we met more awesome people and didn't have to pay for a taxi.

I have one more funny story about biking home and the Hwacheon folk I encountered, but I'm afraid of making this post too long and I know my Wifi is going to disappear any second. I'll try and write again soon.
For now, I'll end this post titled "The People of Hwacheon" with the uncontested most amazing and important person to me in Hwacheon. She was Leanndra's host mom last year, and is now the new middle school ETA, Susan's host mom: 김복순 <3
She is the social queen of town and knows everyone. I call her older sister, Unni, because she likes to feel young. She has also helped me more times than I can count. I could write forever, but I'll just share photos from our latest adventure, hiking Yonghwa-san 용화산 last weekend. I'm so so grateful for this amazing woman!
언니, 지금 읽고있으면 고맙습니다! 언니는 저에게 너무 중요한 사람입니다. 사랑해요!

 Emily, Susan, Unni, and me. 

And the beauty of Hwacheon ;)

Happy belated Chuseok!
- Gabby Teacher