Filed under: fascination , bathroom, design, home, interior
August 13, 2009 • 8:44 am 0
the bed i was looking for
me love! also the purple theme of the bedroom!!
- from crate&barrel
Filed under: fascination
August 5, 2009 • 1:18 am 0
s.h. ideas
DIY cardboard toy instructions for moms: http://bit.ly/1a3XtY
card + stationery + calendar design
etsy for korea
July 8, 2009 • 7:09 am 0
city-trotting
so it’s been about a year since i moved back to Seoul from NYC. i certainly miss NY from time to time for its countless variety for food, fashion, design resources/inspirations – and oh i miss you my friends 
– but i also realized Seoul has become a very interesting metropolitan herself in recent years. so many cute restaurants, coffee shops, and stores are opened, parks and biker lanes are lined up nicely for greener life in the city. so i am relieved that i didn’t end up in an unfortunate return. : )
i had a chance to travel to nearby Asian metropolitan cities, Tokyo & Hong Kong, in last few months, and i noticed when i go to some other cities, now i compare those places to NYC.
Tokyo trip was short, and despite i loved its food and hygienic environment, its culture felt more flat and stiff than what i felt on my several visits made before my days in NY. especially the ‘controlled/groomed’ attitude of people stunned me – people were almost overly nice even on casual interactions which felt awkward to me and sometimes made me even uncomfortable. most were dressed conservatively (solid black suits were the uniform for office workers) except for the funky ’street style’ youngsters. it could be the opposite end of NYC if you put two spots on a line.
tokyo <conservative ——————————– liberal> nyc
on the other hand, Hong Kong was more interesting and diverse than what i remembered from 10 years ago. it definitely felt like a leading international city where you could notice hefty population of blue collar foreigners. i loved the soho area filled with authentic foreign food restaurants – i enjoyed a tapas place which i had hard time finding a good one in Seoul. even the local culture were influenced a lot by the western (british) culture – e.g. restaurants served tea buffet. HK just celebrated(?) its 12th year since its return to China, but my impression was that Shanghai – where I’ve visited in 2006 – was still far less international than HK. if i add HK and Seoul to the comparison line above, it would probably be like this.
tokyo <conservative ———- seoul ———— hong kong ———- liberal> nyc
after spending some years in different cultural environment, i would say though, the critical fact that only matters for life is ‘the value and the attitude you pursue and sustain wherever you are’ not letting the place to define you. altough i admit it is not possible to block out the influences coming from the environment entirely, the components of everyday life is not too different wherever you are: you eat, sleep, love, work.
for me, good people – friends and family -, and positive and active curiosity to the surroundings, *and* trips to other cities to stimulate my curiosities, then i can survive!
Filed under: Versus, scribbles , asia, city, hongkong, seoul, tokyo, travel, trip
November 13, 2008 • 4:34 pm 0
holiday sentiment
it is only the beginning of november, but it is already starting to feel like holiday season – my least favorite yikes! shortly after i achieved autonomy to manage my own schedule for holidays, i realized how manipulating the holidays are to sell companion for candies and carols! i have to admit the time i probably started hating it even more than when i faced valentines’ day without a date was when i moved out to the states far away from family. the excitement and joy produced by social setup was harsh to aliens.
i shouldn’t be bitter about the core sense of the beautiful holidays such as christmas or thanksgiving. having a chance to gather around with family sharing stories and warm food is a wonderful tradition. but everyone knows how capitalism made it into a ugly monster where everything is wrapped up in red and people are forced to shop with unimaginable amount of pressure. there has been too much manner added into the meaning. there’s no nature’s rule that everyone is scheduled to be happy around this end of the year just like trees shed leaves in winter. but the happy carols make you feel like you ’should’ be happy, otherwise there’s something wrong with you. that’s what i hate about holidays. the artificial joy.
korea shares some of the American holidays celebrated world-widely like christmas, and new year’s. we also have thanksgiving but on different date – we go by lunar calendar (august 15th), which changes every year on solar calendar (it was september 15th this year.)
the general idea is the same anywhere for holidays i suppose, families gather and share food and laughter. but i feel the implication is stronger in America because people leave home when they enter college possibly to another city hours and hours away, and don’t get to see their family too often.
whereas koreans stay home normally until they get married. i think it is largely to different size of a land – half of korean population lives in Seoul. So there’s not many other places you would move to. i’m sure there are many other social factors – i.e. koreans are one blood, family-oriented, historically origin village matters, etc. – but i’m more interested in the outcomes generated by the different distance from family.
it is definitely a major social factor when it comes to analyze different behaviors of two culture. it is significant because it is a subject not on the individual level (whether you are cool enough to leave your parents), but it is a social setting (‘everyone’ lives with parents). dating, getting a job, spending money, planning your whole life shapes in a different way due to this living condition.
i hope to continue posting small analysis with interesting episodes on this subject.
the more i compare two cultures, the more i realize it is so important to completely eliminate biased judgment on any side of the culture. it is very easy to favor one you had more fun with, but it is absolutely non-sense to judge just becuase it looks better or you were taught that way. if judgment has to come, it should be coming from your sincere values of life not from your ancient habits or custom. the problem is it is quite tricky to remove your habitual concepts from your valuation. and that is the challenge i am working on back at home these days.
September 23, 2008 • 9:44 am 1
my another obsession
tiles.
lovely glossy tiles perfectly organized and glued on the wall.
beauuutiful pictures that reminded me of my long-time obsession (from Design*Sponge):
Filed under: fascination , design, love, obsession, tiles
September 14, 2008 • 2:44 pm 0
this is the Subway
One thing I never appreciated but started to since I lived in New York was the subway in Seoul. Whenever I visited Seoul from New York, I was always impressed with its clean and nice facility.
Seoul is a gigantic metropolis (the second largest in the world according to wikipedia), and now it’s looking at 10 subway lines. I used to commute to school on green line which is a circle one, and from home to school it was almost exact opposite point of each other and it took me about an hour each way. 
A few facts I found between New York vs. Seoul subways:
1. Since few years ago, Seoul started building the glass walls at every station claiming it prevents suicidal or accidental falls.
Even before the walls, there were arrow marks on the floor indicating where the doors will be. Not sure how much effective it has been in stopping people to jump off to rails, but at least it probably would stop people from throwing garbage (if it was in NYC). Stations are nicely cooled with A/C, it was almost shocking when I first experienced how hot and chocking it was at subway stops in NYC.
2. There are reserved seats for the elderly just like in New York, but people’s respect for those seats are very strict. If you are not over 40ish, you don’t want to bother looking at the empty yellow seats. I’ve witnessed some old man yelling at a boy who was resting at the ‘unqualified seat’ scolding how rude he was. It is very unproductive to leave the seats empty while there are no old people to fill in with, but people take it as a gesture to show their (enforced) respect for the elderly.
As far as I noticed in NY, people was most of the time reasonable in yielding their seats to the elderly or pregnant women. The ‘respect’ is rooted very deeply in the culture starting way back (like over 1000years?) from Confucianism, which has been updated and watered down over time, but there are still plenty things remained such as this one.
3. A couple of more shots of my home station showing rails and elevator for the handicaps. Hardly notice anyone using it however.. nice to have in case I guess.
4. Most people use RFID cards, usually a general feature of credit cards here or SIM cards in cell-phones.
5. We do get reception on cellphones in subway cars in Seoul. I’ve seen a poll in NYC when the city once considered getting the antenna in the cars, but people were concerned if it would get loud and obnoxious with people talking on the phones. I have to say although, it was true even several years ago, but I feel like the morale has been established, and now it’s hard to find people talking loud in the car. People rather do texting (a lot) or watch TV (through earphones) on their satellite DMB phones.
6. One thing I wish we had here is express lines. It would have made my life so much easier when I had to ride subway for like 2 hours last week to visit another side of Seoul.
Filed under: Versus , comparison, culture, seoul, subway, transportation
September 1, 2008 • 6:43 am 0
your bike is safe here
I never thought of Seoul as ’safe city’ until I experienced New York. I was stunned when I noticed how loosely the bikes were chained on the street in Seoul. People simply chained one of the wheels not even to any post, and no one seemed to worry if they would get stolen. I am also surprised with the noticeable increase on the number of bike riders in the city. You see everywhere high school girls and boys riding bikes after school in their uniforms. Very Asian scenery like you would see in old Asian movies or comics.
If you may know, people are paranoid with their bikes in New York as no matter how heavily you chain them, thieves find their way around to steal them. People make sure to chain every single parts like wheels, seats, or any attachments when they park, and ridiculously enough, they would even carry the seats or wheels with them when they have to run to a deli. (Funny, definition of ‘Theft’ on wikipedia shows exactly how people steal chained bikes.)
Here are some numbers on crime rates in New York versus Seoul I looked up out of curiosity. Predictably, New York shows higher numbers on every crimes BUT rape.. hah?!
Additional news on the new artsy bike racks in New York that came across to me. Nice gesture for those New Yorkers who still love to ride bikes despite the danger of stealing and roadkill!
Another interesting article on Bike Ride festival that just happened in New York. Cute how these fierce New York people can get excited with quite simple courtesy like this.
Filed under: Versus , bike, comparison, crime, culture
• 5:42 am 0
‘versus’ 시작의 고. About this new category ‘versus’
기억도 잘 나지 않는 어린 시절을 미국에서 보낸 것을 시작으로, 그 후 한국에서 성년까지 자라면서도 항상 미국 문화에 익숙하고 관심을 많이 가져온 나였다. 최근 몇 년을 뉴욕에서 보내게 되면서 미국문화에 대한 관심이 실질적인 경험으로 바뀔 수 있었고, 다시 돌아온 한국에서는 최근의 미국에서의 경험을 바탕으로 한국을 새로운 관찰자의 시각을 바라보게 되었다. 이 새로운 느낌과 감상이 일상으로 또 익숙해 지기 전까지 비슷하고도 다른 두 문화에 대한 내 관찰을 적어보고자 한다.
I spent my very early childhood in America, and ever since I’ve been always curious and comfortable with American culture while growing up in Korea. After spending recent few years in New York, my curiosity on American life has become real experiences, and as I returned to my hometown Korea, I’ve been noticing my perspective has been changed as an observer on the culture once I was accustomed to. I would like to write about my new discoveries between two similar yet different cultures until my eyes get dull with this new sensation.
