We started today with some waffles from a little kiosk on one of the lanes in Sinchon. Waffles are a popular food phenomenon here; there are plenty of cafes and booths that are specifically centered around waffles. One might think that it'd be easy to find an open waffle place at 10 in the morning, but the two we tried were still closed. Luckily, one of those stores started selling a bit early just for us. An interesting thing you'd notice when in a foreign country is the idea of "start times." Cities are like living things. Like a circadian rhythm in a person, a city cycles through different stages of activity. Rush hour is still a thing here, but not necessarily at the same time as it is in the US. Things often start to get busy, at least around Sinchon and Hongdae, around 10. We usually start our day around 9AM, and between 9 and 10, you can literally see the streets fill with people.
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| waffles! |
The main event for today was a visit to Gangnam. Thankfully, there were no references nor reenactments to PSY's viral hit, Gangnam Style during our visit. I am sure that the Gangnam locals were thankful for that as well.
Like any city, Gangnam has some of its own architectural features that make it special. One building, the GT tower, was designed in a way that makes it look like it's spiraling or waving. Another building is covered in small holes that make it look like Swiss cheese, as our professor likes to describe it. We gazed at the buildings for a bit, but one can only do that for so long because most buildings don't really do anything entertaining.
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| wavy GT tower |
We also visited the Samsung building in Gangnam, which was very fancy and very hi-tech, as expected. Floors lit up, walls lit up, TV screens responded to touches, and everything there from earbuds to TVs cost 50% more than it would anywhere else. We were treated to a little video-powerpoint presentation by an employee that essentially boasted of Samsung's remarkable success and growth via a computerized female voice and an ambient jingle. Samsung's success is serious though. In spite of world economic problems, Samsung seems to have lost little. I know, of course, that the presentation was biased, but success is success, and if you've got it, I think it's okay to flaunt it. The Samsung building was almost like a shopping mall, with many upscale-looking brands and stores, some of which Samsung owned, like the Bean Pole clothing line. When an electronics company can begin to produce its own clothing line, you know they're serious.
After some lunch, we walked a bit on our own, then reconvened and headed over to Garosugil (가로수길), a street in Sinsadong (신사동), which is a ward within Gangnam. The name literally means tree-lined road (I learned this from the international students days before), and it makes sense. There are trees that line the road. Aside from that, this street is famous for its very upscale (and very expensive) retail. The stores are inviting, almost alluring, but the prices - not so much. Walking around, you would immediately notice that everyone is dressed very nicely. High heels, jackets, skirts, dresses, you name it, someone's wearing it (unless it's unattractive or cheap). The street was once not so busy and not so upscale. Before, there wasn't much going on on Garosugil, until art galleries and artists started to settle down and open shop in the area. Before long, the area developed into what it is today.
When you go to Korea, there's a certain topic that you can't avoid, and that's plastic surgery. It's affordable, common, and popular. I don't want to say it's obligatory, but if a teen or young adult were to get it, I don't think anyone would have much problem with it. Walking around Gangnam, especially right down the street from Garosugil, there are many many plastic surgery clinics. It's nothing formal - if you wanted to, you could go get your double eyelids and sip an 8 dollar cup of coffee in the same day. In fact, I saw a young woman today with a bandage on the bridge of her nose sipping coffee in an upscale and popular coffee shop overlooking Garosugil. We also saw a few people with bandages and masks on their faces. To be honest, it was a bit eerie and little unsettling, but mostly just unexpected. From Garosugil to the subway, I couldn't tell you how many signs we saw for different surgery clinics, but there were a lot.
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| 성형외과 = plastic surgery |
Many of the students on the trip had differing opinions on the idea of plastic surgery. Some were appalled by the notion, some were ambivalent, and others apathetic. In the US, plastic surgery is actually not very widely accepted (outside of areas like LA). For one thing, I believe it is not widely accepted because it is not widely accessible. In Seoul, it is relatively affordable and commonplace. Because it's so common, doctors are well-practiced, and frankly, they just get good. In a way, the plastic surgery industry feeds itself.
Having studied some anthropology, I have a slight an anthropological perspective on this. It's not objective, it's actually very subjective, but what I've learned has influenced how I feel about things like plastic surgery. I'm not an anthropologist, I'm a stressed out undergrad, but I do take the things I learn to heart. Culture is in the body. Our bodies tune our cultures and our cultures tune our bodies. A hot soup on a hot day is normal here, but in the US we'd probably pass on that. Food is just one medium through which culture shapes bodies. When it comes to beauty in the US, we are often taught to value the body as it is. We see ads on TV and articles in magazines telling us to embrace our curves and wear less makeup to look more natural (while receiving mixed messages about going on diets and concealing imperfections, but that's a very different yet equally controversial topic). Altering the body makes it unnatural (plastic surgery), and it's generally frowned upon. In Seoul, it's just different. We overheard students on the bus today speaking about other students. It's like when middle school girls talk about who's pretty, who's not, and why. The girls' conversation was slightly different, however. In the US, people would say things like "your hair is pretty," or "you have beautiful eyes." The girls on the bus were talking specifics about other people, like "so and so's chin is pretty," or "x is pretty because of the bridge on her nose." The body is just viewed differently. Clearly, technology and surgery have had probably played a role in the existence of this conversation, but it really demonstrated to me how differently people view things here.
Anthropologists often use "culture" as their go-to answer when discussing differences among peoples. It's not substantial, but it's sufficient. I won't claim to understand the differences either, but it's important to recognize that different cultures have different values, and one may be disgusted by plastic surgery, but I can guarantee that there are people who will be disgusted by the fact that so-and-so didn't get any. One might ask a plastic surgery patient, "how could you live with yourself?", and that may have just been the question they were asking before the surgery.
This blog entry was a little more on the serious side, but it's actually really important to me that we think about other cultures, beliefs, and attitudes before we make judgments on actions.
In Short - Where did we go? - Gangnam
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