{Seoul} City Adventures

I have never been to Seoul before this trip, so it seemed natural for me to stay a few more days after the installation was completed; this way I can explore the city a little bit. The way the city has preserved the heritage buildings fascinated me, because unlike Beijing, the palace is quite humble in Seoul. Its walls are lower, and the paint less shiny. When walking in Insa-dong, one can also see traditional houses juxtaposed immediately next to modern galleries. It makes a very interesting walk. My mind was traveling through time as my eyes wandered on the street. The rest of Seoul seemed quite homogeneous--condos and office buildings make up most of its urban fabric. The major streets are four to six lane wide, making it very difficult for the pedestrians to cross. Though when I turned the corner and find myself in a neighborhood lined with little stores and cozy cafes, the scale of the city suddenly changed. I felt comfortable and the city around me seemed tangible and relevant to my tiny body.

{Seoul} Epiphyte Chamber Install

I've put my Thesis aside since October to work full time on organizing the ACADIA conference that happened at the architecture school at the end of October. As soon as the conference was over, I packed my bags and boarded a plane with the rest of the Philip Beesley team to put together an installation sculpture at the MMCA Seoul. We got over the jetlag pretty quickly because having very little sleep prior to traveling half way across the world helps with adjusting one's sleep schedule.

For the first 13 days while in Seoul, we climbed scaffolds, assembled glass chains, put together spars and fiddled with electronics. Although we spent most of our time in the museum, we've gotten to see glimpses of the Korean experience--we dined on the floor and watched a shaman performance to say the least. With many many wonderful hands and help, the installation turned out incredible. You can see more pictures of it here. P.S. I heard it will be on the December issue of Korean Vogue!

Cottage life

I always complained that every time I went to a cottage it would be raining, but not this time. We spent the most beautiful summer weekend at Geoff's farm back in July. The water was warm and the dock was very well utilized as a hub for sun bathing, reading and great company.

As the leaves are changing colours these days, I can only reminisce the hot summer we've had. I'm looking forward to the fall. Hikes and layered clothes in this weather especially make me excited.

{Roxton Road Parks} Wednesday, West of FH Park

I was on a mission this afternoon. I had planned to work on my thesis abstract while enjoying a fine cup of coffee in a hip coffee shop, but to much of my disappointment, I forgot my wallet. What's better than coffee in a fine afternoon I thought? A walk in the park and neighborhood I'm so invested in would be pretty lovely. With my film camera in hand this time, I decided to walk west from the park this time. Crossing over George Ban Park, a saw a humble playground right across Ossington Avenue. As I approached it, the building next to it appeared to be a school. I later found out on Google it's the Ossington Junior Public School. I followed a side path between the end of the row houses and the playground and found myself in the back of the school in a lush school garden. There are small plots of gardens next to the school building, and across from those is a series of stepped gardens with a variety of vegetables neatly planted and labeled--kale, cauliflower, tomatoes and many of which I could not name. Turning a corner I found the space opened up and there are more stepped gardens to my left. To my right are the backyards of houses and in the middle of this open space situate another playground. The school seems quite; I guess it is because of the summer break, though the gardens are kept very well.

Half a year in a roll {2}

I love anything nostalgic, so you can imagine how excited I was when my mom handed me a Yashica camera that my parents used to use when I was a baby. I never knew my parents were into photography, but apparently my dad used to shoot with a medium format! Sadly, he doesn't know what happened to it after we've moved so many times.

Similar to the other roll, this one stayed in the Yashica for about half a year as well. But, when I was taking it out last week, I accidentally opened the chassis halfway through winding the film and ruined a couple photos. I thought the whole roll might not turn out at all, but I was so relieved when the photo lab technician told me my total came to be $17.34 (if nothing came out I'd only need to pay $3+hst ), he must have thought I was weird when I presented myself with a big smile.  Anyway that is why this post jumps from Christmas market to this spring's Jane's walk. You can see the first photo is marked by my mistake, but the imperfection makes it better, I think.