this little ajumma goes to hongdae

as i've told some of you - the popularity I incurred during school on Friday was nothing compared to amount of attention my friends and I got on Saturday night.

I have to thank my friend Quinn before anything else, for his genius brainstorming and coming up with the idea of a collective group of ajummas doning the moniker "ajummania". excellent work pal.

and before I tell the story, Hongdae = the are around Hongik University, a large and top-rated art school in Seoul. It has become a major area of partying and night clubs, as well as interesting art boutiques and coffee houses. Obviously, one gets more attention under the moon.

so, even despite the success of my costume at school on friday, we were all a bit apprehensive about bringing 8 ajummas out into the public. Again, I reiterate, KOREANS DO NOT CELEBRATE HALLOWEEN. And even though Hongdae has its fair share of foreigners, and several bars/clubs having halloween parties - the majority of the area's onlookers were koreans. non-costumed koreans.

so we worried about how we might be taken to.

up top I've included a picture of us getting ready. at that point, we had the laughter of each other to share but no idea if we would be laughed AT or WITH or illicit any reaction at all.

turns out, we had nothing to worry about.

quinn, mo and I stepped out of the hostel first. we had on full garb. we were just going to the convenience store down the street to stock up on Soju *** (see future post) *** and come back to the hostel to continue drinking before we went out.

It was immediate. Like a comet had crashed in hongdae still flaming and had three interesting aliens riding on its top. pictures were taken within seconds. groups of koreans around us. we started posing. we started taking it in. we became celebrities within a second.

we called our friends. "no way we're coming back - it's all grand out here - you come meet us" we said.

(you can drink on the streets here. as we did)

the rest of our group came. we sat on a storefront stoop all together. some of us drank. some of us posed for pictures with the various groups that passed by. koreans LOVED the costumes, loved that we embraced part of their culture. loved the attitude we brought with it.

i must have posed for 100 pictures that night. and smiled radioactively in each one. ear-to-ear.

it rivaled a many Madison Halloween nights just for sheer randomness. who knew we'd be such a hit. and not just a hit, but a HIT.

that was just the first part of the evening. the rest was more a blur but featured: dancing on a stage at the front of a club after being kicked off a half dozen times, noraebonging *** (see future post) *** as a group of ajummas, silent disco (everyone dances with just headphones in their eyes, no music played out loud just binaural solitutude)......






alright i'll wrap this up.


Bruce Springsteen - City At Night

(from Darkness On The Edge of Town sessions)

tell me that this doesn't have a wonderful tint of Lou Reed in it. guitar first, vocal style second.



and i'll finish with a quotation.......


"laughter is a fife-and-drum flourish"

-malcolm de chazal



e.g.