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.

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? 

Now I’m only doing Organics from the supermarket, which means my hair is more than a tad frizzy but it costs a sixth of the salon products. Colour seems an extravagance so I’m sticking to my mousy brown though, for the sake of my vanity, I like to think of it as honey coloured. "Enjoy your own colour while it lasts," soothed Maire Claire, my wonderful hairdresser on my last visit to her. "Before it goes grey." Well, that’s something, I suppose. I’ve read stories that women’s cosmetics are largely recession proof but I’m not so sure about that. Sure, you wouldn’t give up your face cream but I haven’t noodled around the Clicks nail varnish department for a while because, frankly, I can’t afford to be tempted. Fortunately for men, the metrosexual is SOOO 2005 now that James Bond has got his mojo back. There’s no need for them to have anything other than shaving cream in the bathroom while they filch their wife’s Organics. It’s time for Angelina jolie to get that Very Now frizzy look, methinks. Pic courtesy of cool public domain images website of material published prior to 1923. [poll id="15"]