Stitch and Bitch

So I've taken up knitting (뜨개실/ddugaeshil) again and also gotten into cross-stitch (십자수/shipjasu). After admiring Fran's cross-stitching for a while, I got into it myself after picking up what looked like a very simple kid's craft set with a cross-stitch pattern at Fashion News for cheon won (about 95c) to make a phone accessory. After actually starting it however, I realised a few things that led me to the conclusion that it was a gimmicky piece of crap designed to frustrate and stunt any interest children might have in the hobby. There was no needle provided (fair enough, most people can find at least a sewing needle), the material provided was too small, and they basically just put in the same amount of every colour they had, regardless of actual need, so I ended up with a huge surplus of an orange colour that wasn't even in the pattern and running out of pretty much everything else, including the red for the strawberries about 1/3 of the way through the 2nd of 3 strawberries.
In the end I finished it with what was there just because I'm stubborn and it was driving me around the bend, much to the amusement of my friends who had been seeing me yell at and shake this tiny bit of cloth repeatedly over the course of many days every time something else went wrong, so now I have two red strawberries and one half red with what sewing thread I scrounged out of a hotel sewing kit and half orange. This time however I have a new (better) pattern and the shop I bought it at actually supplied the right colours and a real cross-stitch needle and everything. Actually, the ladies in both cross-stitch shops I've been to (one in Busan, one in Cheongju) were both really nice and patient so perhaps the calming effects of cross-stitching will be able to work their magic for me.

Although knitting certainly won't if the gorgon at the knitting supplies shop I went to is any judge. It's certainly the first instance I've ever experienced or heard of of bullying by knintting, which just goes to show how creative the average Korean ajumma can get when it comes to new ways of making someone else's life a misery and that language is no barrier to doing so. Oh and also that making someone feel awful about themselves is a far superior reward than actual monetary profit as I certainly won't be buying anything there ever again.

About 2 hours of knitting into my new scarf :)

So here I need to introduce my neighbour Edithe, who replaced Lara when she went home to ZA and so lives about 2 minutes walk from my place. Edithe and I hang out a fair bit (she bakes a mean chocolate chip biscuit by the way which is of course a completely incidental fact and in no way incentive^^), and have found that one thing we have in common is the tendency to 'hermit' in the winter months. Since we are a bit isolated from the rest of the city, but live near to each other, hopefully we will at least have some human contact with each other to stop ourselves going crazy. To aid this, Edithe came up with a "stitch and bitch" idea where we can get together with whoever is interested, do some very genteel womanly handicrafts and of course also gossip our little hearts out. Très fabuleuse, oui? As of course neither of us had anything to knit with, a needles and wool-finding expedition was needed. After asking around, I heard that there were actually supposedly quite a few such places in our area (Yongam-dong) so I did a quick search and found a likely looking place a couple of blocks over from my school called 용암뜨게방 ('Yongam Ddugae-bang' or 'Yongam Knitting Room'). Walking in, it looked quite cosy as there were a number of women there doing their own "stitch and bitch" thing looking for somewhere quiet to knit and crochet or who were just learning. Little did we know that the 'bitch' in this case was the woman in charge of the store. After deriding us for not knowing exactly what we wanted (apparently it's not enough just to buy supplies and THEN make up your mind) and that I didn't know the difference between winter wool and summer wool (FYI, the only wool I've ever seen in Australia is what I now know to be 'summer wool' which is thinner than winter wool, probably because, duh, winter wool isn't really needed and I only did this for a few years when I was a teenager for fun), we spent 15 minutes arguing over needles because we didn't want to use the Korean style ones that are short, made of wood and joined with a plastic cord over the ends and dared to ask her to order in some of the Western style ones that are long, separate and made of plastic. By the way, I'm tempted to call this woman Knit Bitch but I'll stick to Knitting Ajumma instead in an attempt to be positive :)

A summary of the argument:
We aren't familiar with them. - You'll get used to them.
We find them hard to use. - They're easier to use.
They're too short, we have bigger hands than you. - You'll get used to it, it's easier because they're smaller.
We don't like the cord at the back, it gets tangled in the wool and catches the stitches (when you have to move your knitting over the bit where the plastic connects to the wood). - You'll learn how to use it properly.
We don't like wooden needles. They catch on the wool. We like plastic more. - Don't be silly - these are better.

And so on. She finally grudgingly agreed to get us some more from Seoul, but kept emphasising that it would take "weeks" for them to arrive. Whatever. So we picked out some wool and she asked if we knew how to cast on and how to actually knit. I do but Edithe doesn't so I asked her to show her what to do (we'd gone through it before with a kids' craft set but the needles were really cheap and splintery and it wasn't very successful). KA cast on in an amazingly efficient way (which I since looked up on Youtube >> and love!) that I hadn't seen before, and then did the first couple of rows to 'teach' Edithe what to do. In about a minute and a half. Edithe's turn. As KA hadn't actually stopped to check that Edithe knew what to do, and also had started her off on a ridiculous knit 2, purl 2 pattern, she was naturally a bit hesitant. Too hesistant apparently, as a pause of longer than about 8 seconds was apparently enough to signal that she wanted KA to snatch it out of her hands and finish the row, all the while firing off instructions in Korean. And yes, I had told her both that Edithe had never knitted before and only knew a little Korean but apparently this was merely a reluctance to do it right on Edithe's part and not an excuse for not being able to immediately grasp and master the art. After a bit she bustled off to interfere with someone else and I tried to actually explain some of her instructions (which I had barely understood anyway) and show Edithe how to make the different stitches. We figured it out and Edithe slowly but surely knitted some fairly neat rows of knit 2, purl 2. We were both excited at what we thought was a pretty brilliant start she'd made to her winter scarf! And then KA came back, tutted at the mistakes, yanked the knitting out of Edithe's hands ("Even children can do this!") and unravelled all the mistakes... back to the first two rows that she'd started us on. Let the memes express my reaction

 Anyway, so we paid 24 000 won (about $23) for our stuff and got the hell out of there. Luckily, purely by chance on my way home from dinner with Michelle I found a fabric craft shop called '니들하우스' ('Needlehouse') that was mostly quilting and cross-stitch supplies, but also had some knitting stuff, so if we're desperate for some knitting help or more wool we can go there and not be made to feel like an ant under a huge ajumma shoe of disapproval. If you are keen to check it out, the address/directions is/are 상당구 용암동 롯데마트앞 우리들클리닉 1층 (first [ground] floor [of the] Woori Clinic [bldg] in front of Lotte Mart [formerly GS Mart], Yongam-dong, Sangdang-gu), t: 043-295-3690. As well as being quite friendly and patiently explaining how to cut and wind the thread onto the spools (she can explain how to do the stitches if you don't already know) the shop itself was nice, brightly lit and spacious, with a lot of tables where you can sit and work. By the way, what do you think of my scarf? I'm too lazy to do the scarf pattern the Knitting Nazi gave us so it's knit 2, purl 2, knit 2, purl 2, knit 8, purl 2, knit 2, purl 2, knit 2. I can't decide if it looks a bit wonky or if it would look better with just a purl pattern in the middle and the regular stitches on the side? Hmm.

Looking forward to my new and incredibly cute pattern^^

For anyone interested, there is also apparently another knitting supplies shop in Sajik-dong called '오후의 공간' - 'Oh-hui-ui Gonggan' or 'Afternoon Space', 흥덕구 사직동 621-4번지 (#621-4 Sajik-dong Heungdeok-gu), t: 043-213-2138 - which I could only find through Daum maps as it doesn't show up on Google, and there's also a cross-stitch store in Bunpyeongdong called '황실유럽자수' - 'Hwangshil Eurob Jasu' or 'Imperial European Cross-Stitch', 흥덕구 분평동 1305번지 (#1305 Bunpyeong-dong, Heungdeok-gu), t: 043-295-2127. I don't remember the name of the place in Busan, but it was in the Primall in Seomyeon near the Uniqlo store. Considering I only found the nice store by chance from walking past there, and that I see crafty type stores EVERYWHERE for stuff like beading and ribbons and fabric etc, I think if you are interested it wouldn't be hard to find somewhere. I found most of these places just by putting 십자수 or 뜨개실 into Google/Daum search. They must be making a comeback as a hobby I guess - one of my co-workers does quilting and has a bunch of stuff she's made such as a cushion, a hair accessory and a makeup bag around her desk. Pretty amazing :)

So that was my Monday. More to tell you about the other big thing in one of my classes that happened that day but I'll leave it for tomorrow so as not to completely overwhelm you dear reader :)

Oh and the other thing that happened today, I have officially de-facebooked myself! I'm still on here obviously though, as well as skype and contactable through my mobile phone and email and Google+. And yeah, I know it's virtually the same, but I did it for privacy reasons (virtually non-existent on FB) and there are less people on G+ and no-one that I'm actively avoiding but 'friending' to be polite (YET! : p) If you need any of those details, please leave me a message with your number/email address (I don't want to leave mine on an open space where demented Bieber fans people are easily upset.)

What else? Oh yeah, news about my 'husband' - Rain! Aka Bi (pronounced 'bee' not 'buy'). I was too stingy to pay the 80 000 won+ for tickets to his concert but Michelle brought me back some posters and apparently he's doing a free street concert before he goes to the military on the 11th of October. Oh my love, how I'll miss you! ㅠㅠ


Oh and a particularly cute video that made me smile today by a Korean Indie band called 'Standing Egg'. The song is called "Lalala", fittingly so because I believe that Lala herself will enjoy the kitty-ness of this video! And yes, seeing the kitty cut-outs on the apples made me shudder just a little :p A shoutout to seoulbeats for it - thanks! :)

And to finish, some student quirkiness. Firstly, when students see a teacher in the corridor, they usually greet them with a bow or at least an '안녕하세요!' (annyong hasaeyo! - 'hello!'). The more they like you (or fear you) the bigger the bow and the louder the hello, usually, leading to some funny moments I'm sure most foreign teachers can identify with where they start with a bow and an '안녕하세요' before they remember that you're the foreign teacher and switch to a hand wave and a 'Hello teacher!'. This is particularly funny when it happens on the stairs^^ For some reason, since late last year, at my school this greeting now has to be '사랑합니다!' (saranghamnida or 'I love you!'), which we are also supposed to use when we answer the phone. Odd? Slightly. It's not as weird in Korean (note: not AS, but still) where it's used slightly differently and more casually than in English, but it sounds funny and I laugh every time a student says it to me. They know it sounds a bit weird so most of them just say "hello" or "goodbye", but my kids like to joke around and they know that I think it's funny so they whip it out occasionally. Anyway, that's a very long backstory! But it made me smile today because I happened to walk up the stairs through one of my favourite 2nd year girls' classes (although to be fair I heart them all!) and they ALL decided to do it so I had a lovely chorus of "Hello! I love you teacher!"s all the way up the stairs. Haha, small joys^^ How was your Wednesday everyone?

HOME!

Yes, it is true. The eagle has landed, and Amy has come home. And good lord does it feel GRRRRRREEEEEAAAT! Although I'm used to travelling, it's always a little weird for me when I'm overseas for a long time somewhere where the climate is diametrically different to what I'm used to, especially over holiday periods like Christmas and the New Year and it's really different to my memories and habits of how I usually spend that time at home. It makes me slightly homesick and very mopey (not to say anti-snow) to look outside (having first had to defrost my window) and see frost and people wrapped up in six layers of clothing inching across icy pavements when everything is telling me that this is the time of year when people should be walking around in the blazing sunshine in summer dresses, thongs, sunnies and a tan, drinking cold beer or a refreshing gin and tonic on the verandah and listening to the crickets and cicadas chirping. So needless to say, coming home and having a sense of everything being set right again has been absolute BLISS. I haven't worn socks since I got off the plane (I immediately put my thongs on as soon as we landed) or even closed shoes, and I've been gradually crisping my feet and legs every morning by propping them up on the railing in the sunshine as I sit out on the verandah doing the crossword with my dad (who has now also become a sudoku nut but unfortunately with much the same "guess and hope and then blame the paper for making mistakes when it's wrong" technique as he used to have with crosswords).

Speaking of planes, I should mention some highlights of my flight(s) home here. The first leg of the trip from Seoul to Shanghai was pretty good, mainly thanks to my plane neighbours Brady and Jihye, also teachers, who were on their way to Singapore and then Malaysia. I was still exhausted from a busy weekend and the anticipation of coming home, but we got chatting over a beer.. and then another.. and then another.. I actually think the stewardess was getting a bit annoyed as Jihye asked for more beer for all of us, as she kept telling us to wait for the drinks cart, but she eventually gave up and gave in. So it was a pretty entertaining flight. Until we got to Shanghai. Our flight had been delayed by about half an hour, which was fine for me with my 7 hour stopover, but it meant that Brady and Jihye now only had about an hour and fifteen minutes to make their connecting flight. 75 minutes? Fine, no worries... in a normal airport. So we said goodbye and off they rushed while I proceeded at a more sedate pace. And then China confirmed my worst misgivings about going through there. Luckily, I didn't contract anything nasty (as far as I know) like I did last time, despite being surrounded by hordes of people with the usual and very charming Chinese habit of hacking, snorting, clearing your throat, coughing and sneezing with no attempt to cover up and all sorts, but that was probably due to my own paranoia rather than luck.

So first of all, the gate we'd come in was a ridiculously long way away from the rest of the terminal - fair enough, it's a big airport. After a nice 15 or 20 minute walk, I reached the "transfer lounge"... which was either non-existent or synonymous with "immigration" because we had to fill in an arrivals card and be processed and photographed before we could go through. I spotted Jihye and Brady in the line ahead of me, and wondered if they'd be rushed through as they would now have less than an hour to get to their next plane once they got through. When it was my turn and I asked where I should go, I was told "third floor" with a hand vaguely waved in a random direction, so I hopefully set off that way and then roamed around looking for a way up, finally spying a "transfers" sign over an escalator. Coming out onto the third floor, it had actually come out into arrivals, which I wandered around until I found someone to tell me where to go. Luckily I didn't have to check in again, but I DID have to fill out a departure card and go through immigration and security AGAIN. And guess who else I ran into with less than 15 minutes to make their flight? I wished them luck (again!) and set off in search of my gate, determined never to fly through China again unless I had absolutely no chance and no money to do otherwise. Waiting wasn't too eventful, although the 7 hours did give me a chance to become intimately acquainted with the swine flu information video being shown on a 15 minute loop. It was very cute and very funny - have a gander! (Unfortunately, I missed the first bit which said "Pay attention! Swine flu comes from America. It's other name is H1N1. What a shame!")

After boarding my plane and finding myself sitting across from a slack-lipped germ factory who kept sneezing and spraying gross yuk everywhere but into a tissue and coughing loudly, and thanks to the lovely H1N1 video making me even more of a hypochondriac than normal, I immediately covered my face with my scarf as a make-shift face-mask, which I wore for most of the 11 hour journey. The woman sitting next to me seemed perfectly healthy though, and as a bonus, was also fairly lightly built (this sounds prejudiced, but experienced flyers will know the discomfort of having someone three times your weight trying to squeeze past you and most likely over you to get to the toilet multiple times and be as relieved as I was that I didn't have to experience it again). We exchanged smiles and then settled down to wait for dinner. Unfortunately, the people in the row in front of us (the first row) weren't content to simply sit for the announced 15 minutes it would take to serve it. So, being hungry, they decided to have a picnic. The menu? A whole marinated roast goose, vacuum packed in foil. The four of them ripped into it with much gusto while I and the other three women sitting next to me in my row had a fit of giggles at their antics. Luckily the rest of the journey was pretty uneventful as most people crashed out right after dinner, and I didn't have the misfortune to be stuck across from someone with horrific and constant gas issues like I was coming back from America, so it was all good, and a huge relief to finally be home and step off the plane into that familiar mix of Australian summer before the terminal's air-conditioning hits you. It was pretty funny coming through customs and seeing the inevitable crowds of disappointed tourists thronged around the quarantine bins and hurriedly scarfing whatever they could because despite the many signs and warnings on the plane, they only just realised that the (probably very expensive) foodstuffs they brought with them to see them through the wilderness that is non-whatever their own country's cuisine is won't be allowed through Customs. (NB to people who've never been here before - Australia has really strict Customs and Quarantine laws because, duh, we are an island. A big one yes, but an island nonetheless, so you aren't allowed to bring seeds, dirt, shoes that have dirt in them, most animals, fresh food, food not sealed to commercial standards, wood, wood products, plants, tea, grains ... a lot of stuff. If you forget this, you may end up wasting a lot of money on food presents). Immigration was chaos - someone obviously decided that to make their own hellish day slightly less godawful, they were going to pass the bollocks around by making EVERYONE confused and pissy, so none of the signs made any sense, and the officers arbitrarily changed their minds about who could go where and which nationalities and types of passports were allowed in which lanes. But at last I got through and was home! Absolute bliss ^_^

Also, I've already managed to eat my way through a goodly number of things on my wishlist! Baked ham dinner, roast lamb with gravy and perfectly roasted potatoes, trifle (and a chocolate one at that!), nectarines (sadly, or perhaps luckily, due to the rain they are scarce, so I haven't eaten myself silly on them yet), chocolate gelato in Circular Quay with my sister, home-made muesli, smoked salmon bagels, my sister's mince pies - MANY things! And tomorrow I'm making home-made banana ice-cream for my grandad, and then next week my mum's making a pavlova for Australia Day so the gorging is good to continue. Fran thinks she's put on 2 kgs already in the three days that I've been home, and the dogs are overjoyed to have yet another person to scab from.

Ooh and also more importantly!! ...
... Okay, male readers (if any), you should probably skip this part, because I'm about to launch into a shopping story. Yes, it's about underwear, but not in any kind of alluring way - I stress, it's about underwear, NOT lingerie. So sorry in advance, but this stuff is important to women, so proceed at your own risk!

So, ALSO! Something that makes me incredibly happy - UNDERWEAR! I went shopping in Sydney yesterday with my sissy poo, and there was still plenty of stuff on sale from the Christmas/New Year's sales, so I had a field day! For those of you unaware of this fact, comfortable, well-fitting underwear is extremely hard to find in Korea, especially as most knickers are a kind of 'one size fits no-one' (for the most part, Koreans have no butts) and the only place you can reliably buy anything bigger than a B-cup is at American chain stores in Seoul, and even then they don't usually fit that well. Seriously, C-cups are usually advertised as "large sizes!", and everything has the hell padded out of it anyway, so if you are planning to go to Korea and wear underwear ladies, it is a given that you should stock up on it before you go, unless you want to spend the year with some very unflattering bulges and your bosom twice the size you want and perched right up under your chin. So anyway, Christmas money in hand from many people in a very generous family, and having gotten home to realise that contrary to my expectations, I'd actually taken ALL of my non-lingerie underwear with me to Korea and so had not one pair of practical (and comfortable) knickers left at home, I hit up Myers underwear department like there was no tomorrow. $150 later, I was much happier. And then of course, we couldn't go past the clothes floor... ^_^ I was very happy to discover that there were still lots of bargains to be had in the Princess Highway section, one of my favourite brands.

It's good to be home ^_^