Remember This Guy from a Previous Post?

Hannah came to visit and I was  telling her about this strange looking dud we saw at a Mister Donut in Myeongdong.  She wanted to see the picture and when I showed it to her, she was shocked.  She asked me if I knew who it was to which a responded, "a cross-dresser or transvestite?"  "No!" she said, it's Kim Hee-Chul from Super Junior.

Here are a few links about him:

http://bestuff.com/stuff/kim-hee-chul

http://www.justinbieberoriginal.com/1-latest-news/kim-heechul-korean-justin-bieber-takes-over-twitter-for-a-day/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Heechul

Here's a video montage of him:

Here is one of my favorite Super Junior songs.  I wish I would have know that it was him, I think I might have gone up to him and started singing the part of the lyrics,"tan, tan, tan, tan,tan.." so I'm sure Rocketman is relieved we didn't know who he was.  He sure wasn't inconspicuous.

Now, let's talk about maedeup class. Hannah was going to go with me but she overslept and I didn't want to wake her.  I went to class with a stomach ache but determined that it would be my last class.  I brought the three bracelets I had made for my homework.  Her only instructions were to make a three bracelets each using one of the three new knots I had learned.  When my old teacher, Su-Mi, would give me homework, she would draw out the entire bracelet she wanted me to make like dorae, garakji...

I came into the shop and dragon ladey (my new name for my maedeup teacher) had a big smile.  She had made some homemade raspberry drink for me that was sweet and delicious.  I set up in my little corner of her shop and removed the three bracelets.  She looked at each one careful than began to pick apart how I ended each one.  The one I did with a yeonbong maedeup, she said I should have ended with two yeonbong.  The two when ended with garakji, she thought should have ended with yeonbong.  She thought garakji is too big a knot for a bracelet.  I thought she was crazy and I told her that I like garakji and I don't really like yeonbong.

Then she complained about the pink charm bracelet.  She thought the charms were too heavy for the maedeup. I told her Americans like charm bracelets and it was pretty. I wasn't budging on my opinion that she was wrong.  She showed me a different way to do the dorae maedeup when you are working with four cords.  Something she didn't show me last week.  I think I did really well and I like how the bracelets turned out.

We put those aside and started working on knots.  I revisited one that I had never been good at.  It was really good practice for me and she should me a quicker way to tighten which always takes forever.  I didn't videotape since there wasn't any reason to.  But every time a student came into her shop, she would grab my bracelets to show them saying "Becky-she" so I know she was telling them I had made them.

As I was working on a particularly difficult knot, she took out my maedeup book,  and proceeded to go through it page by page criticizing certain pictures which she thought were wrong.  I did ask Hannah about this telling her that in the U.S. this behavior is extremely rude.  She didn't like a lot of things about the book and I told her that was how I was taught and that it wasn't wrong but different.  She kept on page by page until I said to her, "Then you write a book!"  She shook her head and the book and comments disappeared.

We came to the end of class and she gave me a bunch of cording to make two wall hangings.  She then picked up the pink charm bracelet and was mumbling and trying to fit it around her wrist.  It was about two inches too small. Then she put it around both my wrists and I think it was because she didn't believe it really fit me.  Who do you think I made them for?  She sighed alot while playing with the charms and I could tell she REALLY liked that bracelet. 

I was packing up all my stuff while this was going on.  She took the three bracelets and said, "My homework."  I said "ok." You guys may think I have drank too much soju but I'm going back to class next week.  I had a great time even with all the criticism of my book and I learned a lot.  Now, I'm not prepaid so I will pay each week. I'll quit if I just can't stand her anymore which may very well be next week. Also, a reason I would like to continue is that I have soooo much homework with chasu and pojagi that if not for the weekly maedeup homework, I may not do maedeup at all. 

Rocketman thinks I certifiable too but when I explained I really had a good time with the dragon lady, he relented.  I saw this a few knots hanging in her shop that I really want to learn.  I think I can also learn to be more ajumma (assertive) and that would be a good thing for me. I'm not used to being treated badly in South Korea.  I'm always treated like an honored guest and I feel very special.  Maedeup class makes me feel like a normal person with flaws and imperfections which I have.  So let's look on the bright side, I'm sure I'll have a lot more colorful stories in the future about maedeup class.