"OK洗衣店" ( "OK세탁" )

2009年底，許小臉因為各種場合開始需要穿西裝，我們找到巷子口這家"OK洗衣店" ("OK세탁")。

韓國的洗衣店分兩種，一種僅有收貨店面，衣服是集中送到廠房洗滌，耗時約一周，收費較貴，一件西裝襯衫約3000圜，一件大衣一萬；這種洗衣店店面一般小巧明亮，名稱往往是很時髦的洋文，如 "클리닝" ("Cleaning")，使用電腦紀錄，會開收據。

另一種是個體經營的洗衣店，名稱採用很鄉土的 "세탁" ("Sae-Tak"，漢字為"洗滌")，因自有洗衣設備，1-2天便可取貨；店面一般簡陋，老闆全憑記憶經營，沒有電腦設備更沒有收銀機，一人包辦洗衣和送衣到府(不另收錢)。費用非常便宜，一件西裝襯衫1000圜，褲子2000圜，大衣4500圜起，配件如圍巾、手套、領帶等，常是免費清理。

開始光顧這家店時，許小臉在微軟實習，由於他早出晚歸，送洗這事便由極度反對女人承擔家事的我來負責。每周五下午，我會穿得美美的，把許小臉的衣服送去給洗衣大叔 ( 我們稱他 "세탁아저씨" )，接著前往許小臉上班的江南，跟他碰面吃大餐(也沒多大啦，一餐大慨6萬圜，對我們算大了)。洗衣送衣是一件很平凡的事情，我知道在這片土地上生活的萬萬千千中產家庭婦女也是反覆的做著這樣的事情，這讓當時的我感到非常害怕。只是我沒想到，現在的我會經常想念起前往"OK洗衣店"的那條路。

貌似單純的洗衣送衣，無需交流，但時間一長，總會發生一些事情讓我們跟洗衣大叔產生革命情感。有次許小臉急需取衣，但送衣時間家裡沒人，於是許小臉教我跟洗衣大叔用韓文說"今天晚上我們不在，但衣服一定要拿到，請將衣服放在警衛室"，我從家門口到洗衣店一路上都在背，可開口說不到一半，洗衣大叔已知道我的意思了；當天深夜回家後，警衛大叔相當好心的將衣服送來，我們好生感謝。過一陣子，我們再次拜託洗衣大叔將衣服託放在警衛室，洗衣大叔用他憨直的臉憤憤的說 "那你們得先跟警衛說好，上次託他保管你的衣服，被他兇了一頓，說我把他當管家!" 這下我們才知道，面對住戶笑容可掬的警衛大叔，也是個微權傲慢的化身，心裡對洗衣大叔萬分抱歉。

離開韓國以後，許小臉問我想念韓國的什麼人(親人以外啦)，除了先前提過的造型師민아和MAC彩妝師최수연，就是洗衣大叔了。


(照片上的摩托車是洗衣大叔用來配送衣服的，衣服是掛在後座上的那個架子)

H&M is Landing Singapore - September 3, 2011. Be There.

So it's really here, H&M on September 3rd, 2011.

Orchard Building.

I was present when H&M opened its very first store in East Asia, in Central, Hong Kong, in 2007.

As one of the first 500 visitors I got a pair of Madonna sunglasses and some candies :)

On 27th Feb 2010, the day H&M opened its first store in Seoul, Korea, I was there too. 

As usual, I was among the first 500 and I got a limited edition t-shirt (sorry, no image for that day as it was freezing cold waiting outside and inside it was battlefield - people were mad for Sonia Rykiel for H&M collection). 

It is always an enjoyable trip visiting H&M's several "first stores"; lots of discoveries and thoughts, seeing people's true faces as they pushed and grabbed each other in order to get their target items.

I'll definitely be there, H&M at Orchard on 3rd September 2011.

See You There!!!

(Xu Xiao Lian, 같이가요! ♥)

Plastic Surgery and Singlish (約定俗成)

Sometimes a question is unable to be answered because it's not a valid question. So if we are to give it an answer, it would be a flawed one. 

"Why can't Korean people appreciate natural beauty?" 

"Why do they always think double eyelid is prettier than single eyelid?" 

Some raised (loaded) questions like these which a lot of times lead to answers like "Because Korean people do not have their own idea", "Korean people only have one single standard of beauty", or "Because Korean society is highly competitive." 

It's obvious all these arguments are flawed - How can you prove "Koreans don't have their own idea", such a metaphysical issue? There are definitely various standards of beauty in Korea; Shin Min Ah (신민아, 申敏兒) definitely does not have big eyes and so doesn't Rain. A highly competitive society itself doesn't suffice to prove the point either as we do not witness the same in other equally competitive East Asian countries.

I used to wonder why some Singaporeans do not use standard English even if they are able to converse in a standard manner, as it's really an ear-sore to hear them pronounce "project" (noun) as pro'ject instead of 'project or pronounce the "d" in Wednesday whereas it should be silent. Please note that I did not talk about "accent"; accent differs, but pronunciation has standard. 

In response to my wonder, common explanations go like "Because Singaporeans identify with Singlish", "Because they are afraid of being viewed as faking Western accent", and etc.

Until one day it struck me that, plastic surgery in Korea and the use of Singlish by Singaporeans have something in common - culture.

It's just that simple. The Korean society has evolved as it is of today, that plastic surgery is so common that it is already part of the culture - when it's culture, people do not think before acting. It has become pretty natural to them - the single eyelid awaits to be made double, and the low nose bridge requires a job.

Same idea applies to Singlish. Those unaware of standard English is not within my discussion, and an explanation for Singaporeans who are aware of standard English but carry on usage of Singlish is also culture, something habitual.

I am saying, sometimes we just don't need to bother over-elaborate. Human beings most of the time do not live with a clear motivation - it's too tiring to do so; rather, they carry on what they are told to do, without questioning it.

However, realizing this does not make me less cynic :)

• What is the Korean National Hairline? 韓國國民髮線按我
• 題外話，我今晚一直想怎麼用英文準確表示"約定俗成"，然後讀到"However the big difference is you are in their country and you are being critical of their lifestyle, so why are you in Sweden ?"...咦，這不就是英文版的"不爽不要來"嗎! 翻譯真是門博大精深的學問~

Fika at IKEA

Left: Early morning in Sweden, puffy face. Just to arrive before
the 10 buck breakfast finishes. Right: I love the 1 dollar set :)

Back in 2007-2008 I was living in Taiwai (大圍), Hong Kong. An ideally frugal afternoon for me was to take train to Shatin (沙田), which is only 1 stop from Taiwai (train fare was about 12 NTD), and spend few hours reading in IKEA cafe, with a refillable coffee and some Swede desserts.

In 2008 to 2009 I was living in Uppsala, Sweden, of course we got an IKEA but simply taking a bus there was luxury to me (about 75NTD) so it wasn't really an option, only when I got some special reason, like a breakfast set of 10 bucks (45 NTD). The 10 buck set includes 2 buns with butter and jam, small salad, bacon, ham and cheese, and refillable coffee with milk. The picture was taken after the Uppsala IKEA was renovated in 2009; the new restaurant has a panoramic view.

2009-2010. There's no IKEA in Korea, so I got no story about their restaurant (however, IKEA products can be purchased via local resellers, like this).

2010 Onwards, Singapore - the IKEA @ Queenstown is the same as I last visited years ago when I was an exchange at NUS. Some updates from the restaurant:

1 dollar cinnamon bun + refillable black coffee

New coffee machine ($0.5). Latte & Cappuccino available ($1.5).

New prices

Auto Ice Cream Machine

Fun place. I had a nice afternoon teatime with my Korean colleague Jessica, chatting about our early 20s :) 

Much Ado About Korean Teens ( 無事生非 )

This is probably a good example of self-centered American thinking. It defines 3 negative aspects of Korean teen's life: academic stress, suicide, single-standard of beauty and the resulting plastic surgery.

Be it negative or not, I do not consider those aspects as "problems" but "culture", whereas in any densely populated society there must be some form of pressure - food, water, spouse, competition, and just that in Korean society it's reflected in education, for teens.  

Some American girls in this film contrasted the American view of beauty and that of Korean, saying that in America people just appreciate the beauty of themselves and of their friends but the Koreans don't. Which is untrue. American teens definitely care big time about their beauty, and they do suffer peer pressure from this.   Maybe the girls in the film are just not aware of the American drama series "Nip/Tuck", which went on for 7 seasons throughout 7 years. 

The filmmaker says:

"When I was in America I never heard that big eye is beautiful or small face is beautiful, and girls in Korea get surgery to become that ideal of beauty, even girls that are already naturally beautiful...em... it doesn't make sense...so I feel like if we can show those girls, give them idols or people who look up to you,  who are a different style of beauty, then we can help convince them that, you don't have to have big eyes or ssanggeupul (쌍꺼풀) to be beautiful."

In the beginning of the film, the filmmaker says she wanted to make the film to "help reduce the stress students receive". In the end, she mentions that this film project (through awareness campaign) includes an initiative to buy cameras to give to Korean students to document their lives.

偶然間看到這個短片，拍攝者是美國女孩，裡面指出三個韓國青少年的問題: 讀書壓力大、壓力大導致的自殺、以及過於單一的審美標準而造就之整容風氣。

與其說這3件事是問題，我覺得就是文化罷了。

人口密度大的地方，生活就有壓力，如食物、飲水、資源、擇偶、就業等，對韓國這個東亞國家的青少年而言，壓力就是反映在教育體制上。片中形容韓國學生每日讀書16小時，我覺得沒那麼扯，聰明的學生用不著16小時，不夠聰明的用16小時也沒用，不管是前者的精益求精還是後者的勤能補拙，讀書時數總有個飽和點，16小時絕不是這個飽和點的代表性數字。

片中找來幾個美國女孩現身說法，說在美國沒有人認為美麗就等於臉小眼睛大、美國人懂得欣賞自己的美麗，囧，不知道"整形春秋"是哪國拍的，還可以拍7年咧。

整容是哪個國家都有的情形，只是普遍程度的差別；韓國要說特別在哪，就是韓國人整容都整得很像，似乎不怕別人看出來。是因為她們審美觀比較單一嗎? 不。我倒是覺得是因為韓國人血統較為單純，整容前已長得相像，整容後實在沒理由能長得太不一樣。

這個影片是典型美國人自我中心思維的實例，作者拍片的動機是"期待減低韓國學生的壓力"、方法論是以美國價值為基準做比較、最後就是清教徒的救世主義顯靈 - 這個project還是個募款活動，募得款項將用來添購攝影設備，提供給韓國高中生來記錄自己的生活，幫助他們認清自我。

(題外話 : 11:46分時的那句話好好笑，哈哈。)

許小臉的台灣 Top 10

物以類聚，我認為這是個很弔詭的概念。

離鄉背井時，我不加入台灣人的社交圈，我交朋友看的是人，和國籍沒關係；若說同國人之間會比較多相互扶持的理由，同理可證，相互傾軋的理由不也多了嗎。

網路上常見各地台灣人妻團體，我跟在韓人妻這個團體感同身受的事情很多，但我沒有辦法將自己定位在"台灣媳婦"，以"台灣女人vs韓國男人"之類的角度看待我的生活，寫一些"台灣人妻在韓國"、"我的韓國老公"這樣的文字(而且我覺得粉肉麻~)。我沒有本錢代表台灣女人(女孩)說話、也沒理由拿許小臉來評論韓國男人就是怎樣。我偏向就事論事，一個行為很韓國我就說它很韓國，而不是說因為它來自韓國所以很韓國。國籍並不天經地義，我更反對用它來合理化不合理的行為。

(ㄜ，為什麼我不管說什麼常會繞到我反民族主義的立場? 呵呵。)

我只配合我願意接受的韓國文化，也讓許小臉去選擇自己喜歡的台灣文化。許小臉喜歡的台灣文化，不等於韓國男人喜歡的台灣文化。那麼許小臉喜歡什麼呢? 找到了10個證據，排名不分前後，哈。

1. 公館莊大衛的Apple老師

終於說服惜髮如金的許小臉跟我一起去公館莊大衛找Apple老師弄頭髮。期間我心驚肉跳，生怕他不滿意頭髮而使得整趟台灣旅程變得不開心。過程中確實出現一個問題，助手染髮時沒把毛巾圍好，染髮膏沾到他的衣領，他臉色大變(當我知道那件襯衫是15萬圜我才臉色大便)。所幸Apple老師臨機應變，用定型噴霧穩定了染膏，我回家後得以將染膏洗淨，萬幸。

頭髮弄完後許小臉就開始自拍，看樣子對他的新髮型很滿意，優秀的Apple老師染出了他想要的草綠色(我們之前染過很貴的Aveda，但是一點都不綠啊!)。謝謝Apple老師。

公館的莊大衛去年搬到BOX，可以看到很美的夜景
許小臉天生少男臉，還在那邊自拍真的很好笑~

2. 7-Eleven 的 City Cafe

韓國沒有像台灣一樣威猛的速食冷飲文化，許小臉很喜歡台灣隨處可見的便利商店還有即磨咖啡，7-Eleven一杯30~40，比韓國罐裝黑咖啡還便宜好喝。

九份7-Eleven買的冰美式

3. 馬辣

我不喜歡小鼻子小眼睛限時用餐2小時的政策，但馬辣的品質實在不錯，連續三年都應許小臉要求帶他去吃。韓國肉貴，種類少，當他看到馬辣新鮮的肉片、生啤、樽裝可樂、還有哈根達斯的cookie and cream，心花怒放得不得了。 

幹嘛抓我的頭~

4. 繼光香香雞

這是他從韓國的旅遊資料上看來的，不然我還不知道這是什麼玩意。他一吃就上癮，每次在路上看到我都會給他買一份。

很認真的在戳繼光香香雞

5. 阿宗麵線

熟悉的大腸配上神奇的麵條，許小臉認為這個台灣食物很有特色，雖然用餐環境不好，他還是吃得很開心。

6. 鼎泰豐

韓國也有鼎泰豐，味道八九不離十，但正宗還是正宗，來台必吃。這次遇上新產品"蝦肉煎餃"(圖片左前方)，他吃得不亦樂乎，雖然我覺得八方雲集的蝦肉鍋貼比較好吃(這次發現我以前最常去的台北車站地下街的八方雲集已經收掉了，殘念啊)。

7. Arm Bar - 台灣創意品牌Betelnut的T-shirt

這件襯衫要價780，看在它很有誠意的MIT品質，一定要支持的啦。圖案超爆笑，我買給許小臉以後，他一直很開心的"Arm bar~Arm bar"的叫。Betelnut在西門紅樓有店面。

隔天要離台，他很惆悵

8. 李儀餅店

好吃的當然不只這家，剛好這個牌子有我娘的姓跟我的名，感覺特別有緣。韓語沒有F(ㄈ)音，鳳梨酥用韓文拚寫會變成"碰梨酥"，他的韓國親戚都知道每次他從台灣回來會帶很多"碰梨酥"，一種非常好吃的台灣糕點。

9. 遊戲機

許小臉看到投籃機或夾娃娃機都要玩一下，原因不明。

香蕉先生長得好好笑喔

10. 媽媽

許小臉很愛媽媽，包括我媽媽。離台前一天，終於把我極度勤儉持家的客家老母帶來吃一頓 PAUL。這是剛入座拍的，我娘忘了把墨鏡拿掉，她的視力是很正常的啦。