LARA IN KOREA!: FASHION IN KOREA?!

PLASTIC SURGERY

Let's talk about one striking thing which Koreans (at least people in Seoul) are quite known for... PLASTIC SURGERY! As I've mentioned before advertisement for plastic surgery is very common in Seoul streetscapes. In the subway you can see many big billboards advertising extreme make-overs done by skillful surgeons. I've heard, but don't know if it's true, that almost everybody on TV has two jobs: one on TV and one on their nose. The daily encounters with these perfect media people (who almost all seem to have had something "done on their face", is one of the main reasons why we could say that Korea's beauty ideal is op z'n minst a little bit distorted. To pump up one's selfesteem or to raise one's chances for better job opportunities I've also heard it's really not so abnormal to have an eyelid correction or a nosejob (to make the nose more straight and higher). These plastic surgery operations are mostly done with the purpose to look more beautiful and more caucasion in an Asian way.

More about plastic surgery in Korea and Asia (videos):

Plastic Surgery Booming in S. Korea

Asian plastic surgery on CNN

Wonder Girls - Be My Baby (music video)

Above mentioned music video is a song performed by the ultra popular KPOP (Korean pop) girls band 'Wonder Girls'. It's also the tune I wake up with every morning as my roommate made it her super loud wake up alarm tune! :@ Wondering how many Wonder Girls have undergone plastic surgery... :D

A (famous) Korean comedian Cho Woo Yong releasing his before and after photos after undergoing plastic surgery

Advertisement in the Subway in Seoul

SHOPAHOLICS: SHOP TILL YOU DROP!

Some time ago I went shopping for winter clothes. Seoul people are known for their sense of fashion. And it's true I have never seen so many shops in my whole life. In this 10million inhabitants counting metropole three things you will probably never miss: coffee, food and clothes! So a perfect day in Seoul would be... Start with a nice coffee in one of the many coffeeshops, after that continue your lazy day and stroll along the bustling shopping areas for a whole day, meanwhile also visiting some historical interesting sites and finally end with a nice dinner somewhere (where exactly?! as Seoul is quite big you have multiple options: plenty of choice! ;))

Shoe shopping in Seoul (bron: smh.com.au)

DE BRILLENTREND / GLASSES WITHOUT GLASSES

Something else very fashionable in Seoul: glasses without glasses (besides the already strange trend of fake glasses!). As if it isn't bad enough people with perfect eyesights are pretending to wear glasses! I was very surprised when I saw a girl next to me in the coffeeshop wearing glasses without glasses. I've heard it's a trend in whole Asia... The reason for this weird trend -I've read somewhere- would be that Asian people have small eyes... so by wearing glasses (preferly with a big black frame, or an oversized nerdy design)they try to compensate for this... People who need to wear glasses are trying everything to not have to wear them because they think it looks ugly, while more fortunate people with perfect eyesights on the contrary want to wear glasses without glasses... What a strange world we're living in! B)

If you want to get an idea of how South-Korea looks and feels like, you can see this next short video made by David Dutton (a little bit romantic though, especially as it is filmed in slow motion! ;)):

DO YOU KNOW SOUTH KOREA? (vimeo filmpje)

MEANWHILE IN SEOUL

While toes are freezing off in Europe, we are having a quite mild winter in Seoul. It was -17 degrees for only about a week. I was afraid of those harsh winters Koreans are always complaining about. But to be honest whether it's -17 or -5, it doesn't matter a lot: it's just cold. In both cases you need a good hat, some gloves and a warm scarf... that's it. Normal winter temperatures vary from -10 to +7°C, not so much difference compared to Belgium winters actually. This winter snow didn't fall as much as previous years. I guess our earth is really confused or totally f* up. Snow in Italy, superfrost in Europe... Hot in Canada. "What's going on?!", Marvin Gaye would ask himself... Is it true what they say about the year 2012?!

I think spring is about to come. I'm looking forward to have warmer weather, seeing cherry blossoms, meeting my Belgian visitors soon (I hope they'll bring a lot of delicous things... like chocolate and cheese! ;))

Meanwhile... I've finished another ten weeks term of Korean language course. I succesfully made it to the next level: 3급! And I've also passed topik test level 2. For now, I'm enjoying my well deserved three weeks holidays. After these three weeks I'll have ten weeks of intensive language training again.

Next Tuesday I'm off to Jeju, my Korean Hawaii. Can't wait to be there!!!

So long,

Jullie Koreaantje Lara