The March Movement

'A pinch and a punch for the first day of the month......no returns!' Aaaaah that old ryhme......how I loved being simultaneously pinched and punched by fellow schoolkids, all in 'celebration' of the first day of the month....every month. Thankfully, in Korea, March 1st is even more special.... so special that we all got the day off from school to honour it.

The day marks the 'March 1st Movement', where millions of Koreans took to the streets to protest against the oppressive and brutal Japanese Military Occupation, in 1919. Since the Japanese had occupied Korea they had attempted to totally annihilate national identity - burning the royal palaces, banning the Korean language, clothes, radio, currency, even their names, and placing thousands of local women into sexual slavery as "comfort women" to the Japanese Army. The Japanese police attempted to supress the March 1st Movement through force, killing over 7,000 people in the following months....but ultimately, the Koreans had succeeded, as there followed a marked change in Japanese policy towards Korea, and they lifted many of the oppressive laws.

So with this day of freedom at our fingertips, what to do? Their had been talk of a picnic by the Han river - the wonders of facebook had recruited over 120 eager expats to join force in Soju drinking, frisbee throwing and BBQ eating.....but alas, we had all been too optimistic. Three days of warmish weather last week was mistaken as a sure sign of Spring, and with shorts and sunglasses ready to be whipped out, we woke up to find snow on the ground. And to think I'd had my bikini at the ready.

So instead, we took to the streets in search of Art, and found it at the Leeum Museum of Art, Itaewon.

After shuffling quickly through 3 floors of ancient ceramic pots, trying to look interested, but wondering how interested you can be with pots ('large pot', 'lidded pot', 'small pot', 'water pot') we headed to the contemporary art section and saw some amazing pieces. On display was film, photography, scultpure & paintings... and despite the occaisonal 'red square on white square' (where my sister would say, "but Michelle, it's so much more than just a square.....") there were some great conceptual pieces. Such as Damien Hirst's 'Dance of Death' - a mirrored cabinet lined up with all the medicine an average person takes in their life. Crikey. So we're all druggies anyway.

On leaving the gallery to meet friends for a few bevs, we passed an old Korean women sat on the street in a chair with a ripped American flag around her shoulders, and a sign that read 'Foreigners with drugs, go home or we will kill you'. I wanted a photo but she looked quite serious with her threat of death so I ran away, just wondering what her statement meant. Did she think that all foreigners were American? Or that foreigners are the root of all drugs in Korea? I should have told her that, according to what I'd just seen, she's as much a druggie as the rest of them...

And so the day of the March Movement ended, with drinks and a Lebanese meal. Another school day looming, a new term starting, new classes to teach and new kids to get to know. So far I have a child called Randy and a boy with the best mullet I've ever seen, so things are looking good....