Still, everyone thinks I’m from our dear neighbor, Russia.
Kicking shoes
I’ve gotten a lot of comments about kicking people when wearing these… Love them ❤
Something pretttyyyy!
싸이!
For almost a year now South Korea has been mostly famous for him… In most countries nobody understood a word (or maybe 3 words) of his most viral music video, but yet it was everywhere.
I discovered Gangnam Style a bit after it was released via Facebook. I had applied an exchange in Korea and new knew the alphabet and a couple of words. I rarely watch the youtube stuff people post on Facebook, but for that time I made an exception. A friend of mine from Denmark had shared it and a bit later one of my Finnish friends did the same. I recognized the writing to be Korean and became curious about what Korean thing would have spread around the Europe… So, I clicked on the link and was amazed, the coolest, most entertaining music video I had ever seen!
And a little bit later it was everywhere… Everyone knew the dance moves and “오빠는 강남 스타일”! ( I’m also practicing my korean writing here.) When I arrived to Korea, Gangnam Style wasn’t really popular anymore, it sometimes played at bars and clubs but didn’t really attract people on the dance floor. Yet, plenty of tourist stuff still sells with PSY…
If I’m going to bring souvenirs for my friends, it’ll most likely be this. 1000 won for a pair of socks is super cheap compared to the prices in Finland. They’re also funny, useful and definitely Korean. Not really my style (I buy most of the things black), but still, good enough. 
Two weeks ago PSY released a new single, Gentleman. And it is now everywhere here. On the following day he had a concert in Seoul, I WAS THERE. Really, a dream come true to see PSY on a live concert here, the show was awesome. Although I understood none of the things he said on the stage, but still, I was happy to pay for the ticket.
Not only was the show as awesome as it was, but it was also a change to get some really cool pics. I gave a try for my fisheye lens as well…
I can now say I’ve seen about 50 000 Koreans dancing Gangnam Style.
High quality advertising.
I’m a business major student but for the past couple of years one of my favorite hobbies has been photography, graphic design, etc. Not that I’m great (just perfect), but I love spotting mistakes others have made.
Anyway, there are these two gyms in Espoo, (the city I live in, in Finland) that every once in a while advertise on the cover of the local newspaper. I couldn’t tell for sure whether the companies were related or not, but fitnessclub.fi had a link to ladyfitness.fi or whatever, so I guess there’s some kind of connection between these two. Here are some of the awesome print ads they’ve published. Enjoy!
Overall the ads are not that horrible (just look really cheap with the stars or whatever), but I just love the way the people on the ads are clipped out of the original backgrounds…
The pen tool wasn’t probably good enough for this… So he/she used the eraser.
I love the extra grayish/black stuff around her arm. I also like the missing piece of her leg.
They probably loved the picture as much as I did, and decided to use it on their webpage.
The designer has clearly done some practicing. The woman’s thumb was probably missing initially…
The same picture from the newspaper cover on their webpage. The woman did have a thumb after all… I couldn’t quite figure out whether the couple on the right was originally on a white background, or if the white stuff between the man’s arm and body is just the towel hanging on his shoulder. Anyway, 19,90€/month is a pretty good deal!
This one is my ultimate fav! I love the way her hair looks so natural with the white and pink on the back. Also the white around her body works quite well.
There was also a poster as awesome as these (probably by the same artist) at the local shopping mall, where the ladyfitness place is located. Sadly it was removed before I managed to get a photo. :<
Some really corny stuff from Namsan, Seoul.
I’ve been to the Namsan tower a couple of times already… But this was the first time during the day time and with a good camera. I’m not really into the lovelock thing (forever alone). But at least I got some really cute pics! I’ve seen lovelocks around the world before, but never as many as in Namsan.
A mailbox for the keys.
I still need to go during the nighttime with my camera and tripod for some awesome pics of the city lights. Although I took some after the sun went down, but without a tripod they didn’t turn out too well… I’d also like to try the fisheye lens I got for my birthday last fall.
Russian?
I’m living abroad now for the third time in my life, I spent a year as an Au Pair in New York and after that one semester in Paris in student exchange. And now in Seoul, studying again in Korea University. Even though I’m pretty much 100% finnish I’ve heard about my “russian looks” countless times… In Finland random people don’t come and ask from where someone comes from, but in many other countries, oh yes!
I don’t consider myself looking finnish and even some of friends in Finland have asked if I’m really originally finnish. Pale skin with a black (dyed) hair is apparently often associated with the Eastern Europe… Not that I mind, I actually love it when nobody thinks I look like a finn as I’m not a big fan of Finland myself (winter sucks, and the people as well). But anyway, while living and traveling in the States people were constantly asking whether I was Russian or Ukrainian. Same happened in Paris. I lived close to Moulin Rouge and Sacre Coeur (big tourist attractions) and sometimes when I went out around my neighborhood, I heard: “Hey, русский/девушка/красивая!”
I’ve often been inspired by these experiences, I even studied a little bit of russian and whenever I’m drawing, it’s every once in a while russian dolls. I sometimes like to take elements to my style from the traditionally russian style of clothing. Now, when in Seoul people ask me from where I come from and I tell them to guess… Too often I’ve heard “Ireland, Scotland, England”… Really, my english is good, but I don’t sound american anymore. :< And here my appearance is not associated with the Eastern Europe. Although it was kind of cool that a girl from Manchester asked if I were british…
So, I went shopping about a week after moving here and found this scarf!
The tag says “made in Korea”, but it’s totally russian style. Ever since, without telling people to guess, they’ve always asked if I come from Russia! I met a girl from Russia about a week ago, when I was wearing the scarf. She was surprised to hear that I come from Finland and not Russia, “because your scarf is really russian style”. 🙂 It’s funny how strong association a piece of accessory can cause. I love it.
Having a mind of a 12-year-old boy.
So, at the moment I’m studying here in Seoul in Korea University. I only go to school from monday to thursday and have plenty of time between and after my classes (no work, no gym). Back in Finland I didn’t have much time to do all the fun stuff I wanted, which mostly includes watching movies, drawing, photographing, etc… So now, finally, I have plenty of time to do what I want!
The weather in Seoul is of course, better than in the land of ice and snow (Finnnland), but still a bit too cold for me to just go out with my camera without having to wear my lovely mittens…. So I’ve decided to stick to indoor activities until the weather gets a bit warmer, which is hopefully next week.
My sense of humor has always been controversial and in too many situations I really have to think about what I can say out loud. I love irony and don’t take my self too seriously. I’m not easily offended, but I know that some people might be. Anyway, probably the most amusing way, for me, to spend time is to watch South Park, my all time favorite TV-show… Been watching it since I was 11 and still it always makes me laugh.
But, after seen all the episodes several times I started to think about other TV-shows I’d like to watch. And the first one that popped into my mind was of course, Jackass! The TV-show that has no point what so ever, but yet, makes me happy. I’ve now watched almost the whole first season and have had soooooo many laughs, I’ve tried to keep it down, since my housemates might consider me a schizophrenic. And I hate admitting that I’m a grown up woman and have been laughing at the same stuff for more than 10 years… Most of my friends prefer Desperate Housewives, O.C., Gossip girl, and all that GIRL crap. I never did.
Now in Korea!
I left Finland almost two weeks ago. I’m going to write mostly about my life here, in Korea but I have a few things from the past I’m going to post here at some point. So far life in Seoul has been a little confusing, although way more interesting than in Finland.
Pink Horrors 