Bopping and jamming in public spaces...

On Saturday I was killing time while the very kind man in the computer shop was converting my new laptop from Korean to English, essential really, and so I found myself in a book shop. Why I went in there in the first place is a mystery as all the books were in Korean, but I did and boy was it fun.

First of all there was a rack with toothbrushes and toothpaste on it. Does that strike you a weird? Because it deffinitely made me laugh loudly and then try to hide because people in the shop were staring at me. Why was that there? Did the shop owners feel as though the dental hygiene of their customers was important if they were going to read their books? Or was it simply a whim? I'm going with whim. And I jolly well liked it, not often you can buy books and toothbrushes in the same shop.

While also in this same wonderful shopping centre, which I might add spans an entire block and has a sports centre, a subway station and a four storey electronics market in it, I also meandered into the middle of this wonderous complex only to find an outdoor entertainment area full of chairs and screens and signs saying "Hong Kong festive". Still not sure what that means, but there was a fashion show and then a live band. It was the band that caught my attention. At first it was just a man on the stage playing a piano and singing a gorgeous song...which started to sound familiar. It was a fabulous song which I still cannot place but I did hum along in a manner which made people feel as though I knew it. Then he rocked the place with a rendition of Bob Dylan's "Knocking on Heaven's Door". I was in my element. I just sang along loudly (I was the only white person for miles and the only one singing, but I was too happy to care and continued to warble away) and swayed violently to the music. Never would I have imagined rocking to a legendary song like that in a shopping centre in South Korea, it was beyond wonderful and I am so happy one cannot predict random momentous occasions like that. However I do wonder what sort of impression I'm leaving in my wake as I go through Seoul. hmmmmm.

Not only do I sing loudly and jam in public at midafternoon concerts I have begun gently bopping on the trains. I cannot help it. Whenever I meet up with Christine it entails a 35minute train ride, minimum. Now this means I can get in some serious ipod time and I love my music. I am also incapable of just listening to music, my knees just start to bounce and then I'm gently nodding my head to the beat and sometimes I even forget that I'm not in my apartment by myself and I actually move my feet. Which is tricky when the train is full as moving one's feet more often than not entails moving in space and then one inevitably bumps into people...so while you were just quietly bopping and possibly being inconspicuous before, when you bump people you no longer retain the possibility of not drawing their attention to you and your strange behaviour. I am leaving a trail of weird stares and shaking heads in my wake. oh well.

While I am on the topic of dancing I may as well talk about my clubbing escapades in Seoul. There is a local club that we frequent called Clubby Bar Slang, it is situated in a neighborhood near me called Beomgye (pronounced Bum Gay - I kid you not! Honestly I guffawed so loudly the first time I heard that that I almost choked). So Slang as we affectionately call it has a mini stage as part of the dance floor and I dance on that stage like I'm a rock star. I like to pretend that I'm in a music video when I find myself on the stage. It is the most fun in the world. Now Danielle and I know the manager, Judy, and she likes us and she seems to love the way we dance, so she sometimes lets us get onto the bar and jam away for all the world to see. Now that makes me feel like a frikkin rock star. I am never so happy as when I'm on that bar jamming with Danielle. ahahhahahhahhaha.

Sjoe my life is just full of dancing at the moment. I am starting traditional Korean dance classes next week. I am beyond excited. They are private classes with a master!!!! (I just don't think I can add enough exclamation marks to that statement!) I pinch myself often when I think that this is happening, because I still can't believe I have managed this. I am going with a Korean friend, Mimi, that I made through a fellow teacher, Emily, and then Christine Balt from Rhodes who is now teaching in Seoul. So there will be the 3 of us and a master and Mimi will be the translater. Will keep you posted on this. Woop woop.