Hello all,

Herewith the latest from my ex-pat South African friend in South Korea with her perspective on a different aspect of life over there.

Regards
Jock McConnachie

There’s this weird dynamic going on here… in addition to being an extremely racist place, korea has traditionally also been totally, as in supremely, chauvinistic (goes back to all the Confucian stuff which is so rigidly adhered to here… )

BUT……. The Backlash>>>>>

“these days” young girls are, for the most part refusing to get married. (!!!!! – You have to understand how traditional this society is to understand the implications of this move)

korean men, especially in the countryside have had to import brides from other countries…
foreigners!!!!!!! arghhh!!!! a total horror in korean society. and being brought about by young korean women themselves…..
another social issue altogether = 25% of babies being born in this “homogenous country” are now of mixed blood (the horror, the horror!!!!)

I have quite a few ambitious, intelligent young women and men – university students – in my conversation classes.
the young men, in a strange, roundabout way, collude with the girls… too complicated to try to explain.

and I say: You Go Girls (and Boys)!!!

CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO – these girls are deserving of worldwide support.
you will not BELIEVE what utter fucking collective, traditional shit korean women have had to wade through to get to this.
on the face of it: sexy pop. underneath it: so much more.

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I had occasion to pop into a sewing shop last week. Remember those? There’s so few of them around these days because they’ve fallen victim to globalisation. Cheap Chinese clothes have literally run them out of town.

This remnant of another age is called Dee’s Den, tucked away behind the Preston’s bottle store in Gonubie, East London, and what a treat it was. It took me right back to my childhood, when I’d head down to the sewing shop in Vincent Park centre to choose buttons or material with my older sister, who was a dab hand on the old Singer passed down to her by my grandmother. Then would come the painstaking cutting out of the pattern while the cat tried to upset the apple cart. Then the tik, tik, tik of the Singer as my sister whipped up a sundress for me or a little quilt for my dollies. Such excitement during the fittings and invariably, you’d get poked by a pin or two.

Dee’s Den is stacked to the celing with all the arcane goodies that make up clothing: piping  and bias binding, zips and plastic tubes of buttons, ribbons and  racks and racks of material. The comforting smell of the shweshwe print fills one corner and I marvelled at the way the assistant made a little cut in the material and then ripped it apart with her hands. Even the sound of the scissors on the counter made me nostalgic.

it’s a damn shame people don’t sew in anymore and that kids don’t learn what goes into making our clothes. Though I hated needlework at school (being left-handed I was a bit of klutz)  I know the difference between a dart and gathers, the weft and the woof and I can fix most things that come adrift in my wardrobe. The shame of it that you don’t bother now. You give it away becuase you can buy another so cheaply.

I’ve got a great idea for a fun feature (journalists are you listening?): To send a group of 20-something gals back to their grandmothers to learn the skills that were once compulsory for all women: sew a quilt, knit a jersey, crochet a blanket, make ice cream or a pie.  I  wonder if any of the young black woman of today could master walking while carrying a load on their heads? 

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My husband opined the other day that you can judge the state of the economy by how skinny boerewors is getting these days. Personally, I’m really feeling the pinch in the hair care department. Not so long ago, I’d splash out on salon products (about R260 for a bottle of shampoo) when I went to my hairdresser. I know that sounds outrageous but it lasted far longer than supermarket shampoo and in really is in a completely different league. You know those silly shampoo ads on TV where Andie McDowell or Sarah Jessica Parker shake their gleaming locks? Well, it only get silky and shiny like that if you use R260 bottles of shampoo (and certainly not the products they are advertising) and shine a blinding TV studio light on it.

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