18 WEDNESDAY

MAY 21, 2008 COMMUNITY

Strutting their stuff at hanbok show

In celebration of Cotton Day last
Tuesday, Cotton USA held a cotton-made
hanbok design contest for expats resid-
ing in Korea. From the many applicants,
10 finalists who successfully demonstrat-
ed the event’s theme of cultural diversity
were chosen to participate in a fashion
show.
The finalists hailed from South Africa,
China, Canada, Australia, the United
Expat living is a page dedicated States, France, Chile, Japan and
Ireland. Pamela Munoz, a Canadian-
to the issues that affect expats'
Chilean participant, said: “There should
daily lives. It is your page,
be more events like this that combine the
where you can share stories about Korean traditional elements with the
your life in Korea. Send story foreign community.”
ideas to Matthew Lamers As one of the chosen finalists, I was
at mattlamers@heraldm.com very excited. I imagined strutting down
the runway in my elegant hanbok, pos-
ing with my supermodel pout to the
blinding flashes of photographers. This
was going to be a fabulous experience.
Valerie Pegay
on Design
out of “Project Runway,” the popular
American reality TV show. Some were
desperately vying for the designer’s at-
tention while others ruffled through a
mountain of fabric samples. The rest (in-
cluding myself) sat quietly looking lost in
translation wondering what we had got-
ten ourselves into.
At 8:30 a.m. on the day of the event,
we arrived backstage at the Grand
Intercontinental ballroom. Panic and
confusion already lingered in the air.
With no dressing room in sight, everyone
got dressed in the shadows. Our num-
bers were dictated and were lined up for
rehearsal.
After two hours of practicing on the
catwalk, the show was finally about to
scene, everyone stood lined up in the still
darkness, clasping their hands in fearful
reflection hoping and praying that all
will go well.
Being a runway virgin, I did not know
what to expect. I had practiced my walk
enough times, I figured, how hard could
this be? Although I was wearing 3-inch
stilettos, my floor-length gown was still a
lot longer than I had expected. I was
about to embark on my catwalk debut —
when someone stepped on my dress.
What other disasters might unfold?
Robert Shepard, an American contes-
tant, has an attack of stage fright and
tells me that he hates being in the public
eye. With over a hundred people staring,
a lineup of photographers and even a
film crew, he succeeds in surviving the
runway plank and returns backstage a
more confident man.
Stephanie Senechal, a French contes-
during the interim performance. She
missed a step and fell to the ground. In
the real world, when you fall on your
feet, you get back up. Like a role model,
she did so with grace.
Feian Downing, a Chinese-British na-
tional, waited nervously while rehears-
ing her answers for the interview at
hand. She enchants the audience with
her innocent charm and obtains second-
place.
In the end, Jenine Lindeque, a South
African English teacher, won first prize.
In explaining her design, she said, “Both
Korean and African traditional wear use
vivid colors in a celebration of the visual
aesthetic, and as a reflection of the
warmth in the characters of both peo-
ples.”
When asked about her life in Korea,
she said, “I have learnt about such a for-
eign culture, while at the same time,

The challenges of It all began two weeks prior at our first

fitting in Yega Hanbok’s boutique. The
chaos resembled a scene
begin. The jolting sound of the Korean
drums shocked through the silence of the
crowd. Like a battle
tant on her way backstage
was blinded when the
lights went out
have taught about my own; the chance to
be enlightened while enlightening.”
(vvalkenburgh@yahoo.fr)

studying abroad
By Jenny Early
My short sojourn in an inter-
national school taught me so
much more than I was expect-
ing. There is always something
torturous about moving to a
new country.
There are some things I will
never forget about my experi-
ence.
1) No one said it would be
easy. Nobody back home, no-
body I met in my first few
weeks, and nobody I lived with
told me this experience would
be a simple move. It’s not.
All those who have packed
up their satchels and moved to
blackboards new know just
how hard it is to start school in
a foreign country. Even if your
school is in the same language
as your last, and even if the
syllabus is the same, interna-
tional schools have an utterly
different atmosphere to the
schools I was used to back in
good old England.
There were people (teachers,
mostly), who preached that in-
ternational schools have an air
of superior acceptance, that
anyone who enters through the
doors will be accepted straight
away into a friendship group
because these groups are used
ties that I can think of where
you can be surrounded by such
astounding people, each who
have very individual back-
grounds, values and ways of life.
Going out on a Friday night,
watching a movie at a friend’s,
going on a train journey to the
nearest big party town, all took
on new shades of meaning and
culture, new aspects brought
by not only the country I was
living in but the people I was
meeting. To let your own cul-
ture and your own thoughts
merge with this mixture is fas-
cinating, and one of the major
perks of studying abroad.
4) Make the effort. It’s so
easy, when faced with a daunt-
ing situation, to cower back
and let it all wash over you
without thinking. This is the
worst thing you can do, trust
me. Find people you have
something in common with,
whether this be the classes you
take, the music you like, the
position of your locker, and talk
things over.
The best way to integrate is to
put yourself out there. When it
comes to work, there is no rea-
son to let it slip because of a new
situation. If you have moved
specifically to study, or for a job,
there is still work to be done. It’s

It takes time to get to know people, to

work out who you work best with and to
build the bonds that are so important.

to, and welcome, new mem- an excellent way of taking your

bers. These teachers seem to
forget they are dealing with
teenagers.
Friendship groups are solid
and in a situation where people
come and go regularly, some
are unwilling to let you in
straight away, lest you leave
immediately and destroy such
a powerful group dynamic. I
soon learnt that developing the
firm friendships I dreamt
about would take time.
Just as in any new place, it
takes time to get to know people,
to work out who you work best
with and to build the bonds that
are so important. No matter how
hard this may seem, along with
all the other types of adapting
you will be doing, the best medi-
cine is to wade through those
first weeks with a smile, and
wait for the mist to clear.
2) Get out of the house, see
the sights. A new country
brings new opportunities, new
people and new surroundings.
As soon as you feel comfortable
with this, you will start to feel
a lot better about the smaller
things. Scouting around the lo-
cal hip venues with friends,
taking a tour of the scenery on
your own. Every little step I
took to becoming more comfort-
able in my surroundings had a
great impact on my life.
I found that I worried less
and less about the fact I was in
a new country, and more and
more about what I was going to
wear into school the next day.
As trivial and ridiculous as it
may sound, this meant I was
adapting, concentrating more
and developing friendships.
3) You’re not just there to
learn your ABC’s. Studying
abroad is a futile pursuit if you
don’t try to learn something
about the country in which you
are at school. It pays to learn a
little from the people you are
working with too, be they inter-
national students from all over
the world, a native of the coun-
try you are in or from your home
town. There are few opportuni-
mind off whatever worries you
may have, and the quicker you
get yourself into the swing of the
work load, the quicker you can
forget your initial qualms about
your new school.
One thing that was really
hammered home after my time
abroad was that time goes very
fast, and before you know it
your day, week, term and year
will be over. It pays to make
the effort while you can, and
not lose sight of what you have
to achieve — be this a new
qualification or simply to gath-
er some new experiences.
5) Embrace it. With so much
going on — new friends, new
country, new school — it is so
easy to forget what an opportu-
nity this is. Not one other person
I knew back home had been giv-
en the chance to finish their edu-
cation in such an amazing way.
Now, through the other side,
if I could only give one piece of
advice it would be this: em-
brace every little thing, every
little quirk — good and bad —
and appreciate whatever it is
you are there to do.
Not only are you getting the
benefit of an education, but
this education is being given in
surroundings that, in them-
selves, can offer some form of
lesson. Like any expat experi-
ence, it is best not to lose sight
of the reason you are where
you are, but to grab every little
opportunity you can to do so
much more than you hoped for.
Go on school trips to other
foreign lands, join internation-
al competitions, dive into the
culture of your country. And
what’s more, become part of
your community and teach a
bit of yourself and your own
background to those around
you.
(ExpatWomen.com)
This article was originally
published in www.expat-
women.com. Copyright Expat-
Women.com. — Ed.
Seoul wine expo raises hopes
Wine expositions are a great
place to go and meet the people
behind the wine we drink. The
Seoul Wine Expo was held over
the weekend in early May and
by most accounts it appeared to
be a great success.
This was not some small ex-
hibition for connoisseurs to
give themselves smug pats on
the back; this was a full-on
publicity exercise with the ob-
jective of continuing the
growth of the wine industry on
the peninsula. The COEX exhi-
bition hall was decked out at-
tractively with all the major
players having a pretty hefty
presence — and there was a
sense that they were out to win
new customers.
The crowd was encouraging-
ly young and there was a no-
ticeable dominance in numbers
of women over men. Smartly
dressed and clutching wine
glasses as they moved from
stall to stall, it was apparent
that they are the future for the
wine market here. It is by mar-
keting heavily to young women
with disposable incomes so
that wine can start making in-
roads into the beer and soju
markets. This means a move
away from the big, heavy red
wines that have their sights set
Dan Ellis
on Wine
on the Bordelaise and a move
to lighter, fruitier wines and,
dare I say it, white wine.
Most of the exporters I met,
French, Italian, Australian and
Argentinean all said the same
thing: that breaking into the
Korean market was difficult.
With all the red tape and the
culturally different business
practices, I got the impression
that the previous few days of
the expo had been somewhat
arduous for them. However, all
expressed great hope in the
growth of the Korean market
and it seems that it is certainly
no longer an afterthought. It is
expected that Korea will ma-
ture into a market much like
Japan.
The heavy presence of Wine
Australia, a body dedicated to
promoting the virtues of
Australian wines was a real in-
dication of how seriously the
potential is being taken. And it
was an Australian wine that,
for me, was the star of the
show. Murray Street Vineyards
is a small boutique winery
based in the Barossa region of
Australia. They had a small
Expats model their personally designed hanbok at a Cotton USA-spon-
sored fashion show. In the front row (from left) are Robert Shephard
(not shown), Jenine Lindeque, guest models Bronwyn and Christina,
Rachel Mooney. In the back row (from left) are Feian Downing,
Stephanie Senechal, Valerie Pergay, Jamie Morse, Mizuno Mio, Pamela
Munoz, Marcie Garinger. Photo by David Smeaton (davidsmeaton.com)
stall fronted by a very friendly Admittedly though, the view of
marketing manager who was a wall is not great, but the ad-
really excited to be in Korea. dition of a projector showing off
The first wine we tasted was some the world’s great vine-
a blend of Viognier and yards is eye-catching and a
Marsanne and it is exactly the good way of brushing up on
sort of wine that I see the new, your wine geography.
wine savvy customers going What makes it so appealing
for. Aromatic, soft and fruity, it a place as a wine drinker is its
is a beautifully executed blend. small, focused wine list. There
The other wines were all red are not pages and pages of
and based on Shiraz, Barossa sub-standard wines to flick
Valley’s classic grape and all through, just a good selection
were equally successful. of well-chosen wines broken
Murray Street Wines are ap- down into country and region
parently available in Emart, categories. It means you can
but unfortunately not my local order pretty much anything
branch, so I cannot advise on without fear of making a big
price. mistake.
The owner, Anthony, is
Sideway Wine knowledgeable, friendly and
happy to help with your
Sideway Wine in Gangnam choice and, being a
(sidewaybistro.com) is some- Frenchman, is making sure
thing of an oenophile’s oasis. It the food offered is up to
sits at the top of the hill behind scratch and will complement
Gangnam Subway Station whatever you are drinking.
and, unusually for many wine With a wine shop of sorts on
bars here, sits at street level site if you pick a cracker for
with big windows letting in lots your evening you can take one
of light. home and enjoy it at your
And it is indeed a light, airy leisure.
space with cream leather sofas
and more traditional bar seat-
ing. Most important of all, it Dan can be reached through
has a terrace for enjoying beau- his website at wine-in-
tiful summer evenings. korea.blogspot.com — Ed.