Love of Seoul
The Seoul marathon started a block away from where I have been staying. Loudspeakers are going at about six. So, I get up early and watched the start. You could tell that a Kenyan would win. The Kenyans are mentally tough, and with nothing on but running shirts and shorts, they look totally comfortable in the 40 degree cold. (A Kenyan did win, by the way. He unseated the defending champion from China.) After the world class runners started the race, there was an "A" group and a "B" group, with locals. The announcers instructed runners to rub the backs of the runners ahead. A disco rhythm played. Then, per instructions, runners faced the opposite direction, and the rest received back rubs. (The tourist information book states that if you go to a public bath and someone offers you a back rub, that it is a "decent proposal.") This is a country where people scratch each other's back.
I hurry to the Express Bus terminal. I want a bus to Gyeonju, but I buy a ticket for Wonju, departing 9:15. I receive a refund and am sent to the next building, which I know is not correct. I need to change money, which complicates matters-- I have two things to communicate, and communicating one issue is difficult enough for me. I go back and forth between stations, until about 10 a.m., when people who speak better English quickly solve my problems. I leave on the correct express bus at 10:30 and arrive in the ancient capital of Gyeonju at 3:00.
Mr. Kwon at the Hanjin (hostel) lives with his wife, behind glass, behind the check-in desk. He sits on mats on the floor and smiles broadly and offers instant coffee. "CNN is Channel 49." It is good to see a smaller town, after three weeks in San Francisco, Tokyo and Seoul. It is easy to sleep, even if it is on a mat on the floor.
At Gyeongju, I visit the downtown sites-- mounds, statues, parks, ponds, an observatory, forest and ice house. There are free English speaking tour guides who explain about the relics and Korean history, going back 1500 years. I eat good food in places recommended by Mr. Kwon. After two nights, I ask about taking a train back to Seoul and Mr. Kwon gives me a small bottle of an alcoholic drink and tells me to "take an express bus to Daegu, then the train to Seoul will be zip zip."
I buy my express bus ticket ($3.30) and a helpful stranger escorts me to the bus. Just as the bus is exiting the lot, I discover my reading glasses are missing, so I get off the bus (and am refunded my ticket), then go back to the Hanjin, where I find the glasses. I go to the other bus station where I buy Gyeonju bread, then back to the express bus station to use my ticket for the next bus to Daegu. I am never fully confident that I am on the correct bus, or even at the correct station. The bus travels for about an hour. Mr. Kwon told me that the Daegu express bus station is next to the train station, but I don't see the train station. I walk around the block, looking at a map and at street signs. It turns out that I have to go back through the bus station to get to the adjacent train station, which is at least a complete city block in size.
The screens in the train say 263 kph, zip zip speed, and I arrive back in Seoul at 1:00, after eating a box lunch and finishing the latest Harry Potter book. (Is Delores Umbridge modeled after George W. Bush?)
I meet Sook again and give her the day-late White Day gift of the Gyeonju bread and California wine. We meet with her school friend for pork cutlet (which I like a lot), Korean pizza and soju. Then, we go to the tall apartment building next to Sook's family and meet Ellie and Sook's sister, Ungah, for beer, snacks and "One Card". Ellie is a friend of Sook's, with a broad smile, and she runs a small bar where she plays American love song Muzak. One Card turns out to be similar to Uno, except it is played with a standard deck, and the suits are hearts, spades, diamonds and "clovers". Time passes quickly. Ellie and Sook drop me off at the guest house after midnight.
Wednesday, I find the American Embassy in Seoul to be secured with a tank, a vehicle labeled "SWAT Team" and even more guards than at Tokyo. I see no point in replicating my Japanese American Embassy experiment in a second country. (The embassy is just a few blocks from my guest house.)
Wednesday evening, I wander the neighborhood looking for a late snack, and am physically pushed into a restaurant by two Korean businessmen, Mr. Han and Mr. Kim, who pour me Bargirly, offer seafood pizza and talk politics. We were all born in the same year, we discover right away. Mr. Kim spits about the Totko Islands-- Korean islands that Japanese are now claiming for their nation. Mr. Han speaks slowly and distinctly and confirms the gist of what Mr. Kim has passionately told me. (I understood what Mr. Kim was saying, it turned out, without understanding more than 5% of his English words.) There is a tension between the Koreans and the Japanese that has not healed since the 1910 to 1945 occupation, which certain Japanese text book writers are now claiming benefited Korea.
The next morning, I make an Internet phone call to Donna, where I learn that Joe may be transferring to St. Louis, because the airplane maintenance jobs are going to China. (If you can't beat globalization, then join it, I think to myself.) I complete my Yahoo fantasy baseball draft, and now have a team that will occupy me for the next six months. I get Ichiro, Beltre, Pedro, Halladay and Lidge, among others.
My final night in Seoul, I meet Sook one more time for dinner. We sit at the same table of the same restaurant, eating and drinking the same menu items as I did with the two men the night before-- a coincidence.
Next, we go to Starbucks for Sengchan's English lesson, where I fill in as a guest teacher. (Sook regularly gives her younger brother English lessons.) Sengchan likes Science and Mexican food and wants to be a medical doctor. He asks my age and we talk about his trip, two years prior, to the United States where he went to Universal Studios. He impresses me greatly with his English, which I understand with no difficulty. As Sook takes our picture to finish the lesson, Sengchan puts his arm around me, which makes me feel like I belong here in Korea.
Sook and I head one place, then another, perhaps nervously. Sook realizes that she has left her bicycle behind, and we say final good byes near the bicycle and my guest house. How much do we like each other? I very much enjoy her company. We agree on our philosophy and politics, whether I have given an opinion, or not.
Korea is perhaps a little too traditional for its own good. One friend of Sook pays for school by selling doll clothes over Yahoo Japan (think Ebay), but her family encourages toward a more traditional way of making money, which seems like more of risk to me as an outsider. Sook, to some extent, is enjoying the novelty of being in charge of an older man, in an elder dominated, male dominated culture. Koreans value family, learning and work, and all seem to have their hearts in the right place. I would enjoy living in Seoul and I greatly enjoyed learning about Korean culture from Sook and her friends.
If I were a little younger?
I hurry to the Express Bus terminal. I want a bus to Gyeonju, but I buy a ticket for Wonju, departing 9:15. I receive a refund and am sent to the next building, which I know is not correct. I need to change money, which complicates matters-- I have two things to communicate, and communicating one issue is difficult enough for me. I go back and forth between stations, until about 10 a.m., when people who speak better English quickly solve my problems. I leave on the correct express bus at 10:30 and arrive in the ancient capital of Gyeonju at 3:00.
Mr. Kwon at the Hanjin (hostel) lives with his wife, behind glass, behind the check-in desk. He sits on mats on the floor and smiles broadly and offers instant coffee. "CNN is Channel 49." It is good to see a smaller town, after three weeks in San Francisco, Tokyo and Seoul. It is easy to sleep, even if it is on a mat on the floor.
At Gyeongju, I visit the downtown sites-- mounds, statues, parks, ponds, an observatory, forest and ice house. There are free English speaking tour guides who explain about the relics and Korean history, going back 1500 years. I eat good food in places recommended by Mr. Kwon. After two nights, I ask about taking a train back to Seoul and Mr. Kwon gives me a small bottle of an alcoholic drink and tells me to "take an express bus to Daegu, then the train to Seoul will be zip zip."
I buy my express bus ticket ($3.30) and a helpful stranger escorts me to the bus. Just as the bus is exiting the lot, I discover my reading glasses are missing, so I get off the bus (and am refunded my ticket), then go back to the Hanjin, where I find the glasses. I go to the other bus station where I buy Gyeonju bread, then back to the express bus station to use my ticket for the next bus to Daegu. I am never fully confident that I am on the correct bus, or even at the correct station. The bus travels for about an hour. Mr. Kwon told me that the Daegu express bus station is next to the train station, but I don't see the train station. I walk around the block, looking at a map and at street signs. It turns out that I have to go back through the bus station to get to the adjacent train station, which is at least a complete city block in size.
The screens in the train say 263 kph, zip zip speed, and I arrive back in Seoul at 1:00, after eating a box lunch and finishing the latest Harry Potter book. (Is Delores Umbridge modeled after George W. Bush?)
I meet Sook again and give her the day-late White Day gift of the Gyeonju bread and California wine. We meet with her school friend for pork cutlet (which I like a lot), Korean pizza and soju. Then, we go to the tall apartment building next to Sook's family and meet Ellie and Sook's sister, Ungah, for beer, snacks and "One Card". Ellie is a friend of Sook's, with a broad smile, and she runs a small bar where she plays American love song Muzak. One Card turns out to be similar to Uno, except it is played with a standard deck, and the suits are hearts, spades, diamonds and "clovers". Time passes quickly. Ellie and Sook drop me off at the guest house after midnight.
Wednesday, I find the American Embassy in Seoul to be secured with a tank, a vehicle labeled "SWAT Team" and even more guards than at Tokyo. I see no point in replicating my Japanese American Embassy experiment in a second country. (The embassy is just a few blocks from my guest house.)
Wednesday evening, I wander the neighborhood looking for a late snack, and am physically pushed into a restaurant by two Korean businessmen, Mr. Han and Mr. Kim, who pour me Bargirly, offer seafood pizza and talk politics. We were all born in the same year, we discover right away. Mr. Kim spits about the Totko Islands-- Korean islands that Japanese are now claiming for their nation. Mr. Han speaks slowly and distinctly and confirms the gist of what Mr. Kim has passionately told me. (I understood what Mr. Kim was saying, it turned out, without understanding more than 5% of his English words.) There is a tension between the Koreans and the Japanese that has not healed since the 1910 to 1945 occupation, which certain Japanese text book writers are now claiming benefited Korea.
The next morning, I make an Internet phone call to Donna, where I learn that Joe may be transferring to St. Louis, because the airplane maintenance jobs are going to China. (If you can't beat globalization, then join it, I think to myself.) I complete my Yahoo fantasy baseball draft, and now have a team that will occupy me for the next six months. I get Ichiro, Beltre, Pedro, Halladay and Lidge, among others.
My final night in Seoul, I meet Sook one more time for dinner. We sit at the same table of the same restaurant, eating and drinking the same menu items as I did with the two men the night before-- a coincidence.
Next, we go to Starbucks for Sengchan's English lesson, where I fill in as a guest teacher. (Sook regularly gives her younger brother English lessons.) Sengchan likes Science and Mexican food and wants to be a medical doctor. He asks my age and we talk about his trip, two years prior, to the United States where he went to Universal Studios. He impresses me greatly with his English, which I understand with no difficulty. As Sook takes our picture to finish the lesson, Sengchan puts his arm around me, which makes me feel like I belong here in Korea.
Sook and I head one place, then another, perhaps nervously. Sook realizes that she has left her bicycle behind, and we say final good byes near the bicycle and my guest house. How much do we like each other? I very much enjoy her company. We agree on our philosophy and politics, whether I have given an opinion, or not.
Korea is perhaps a little too traditional for its own good. One friend of Sook pays for school by selling doll clothes over Yahoo Japan (think Ebay), but her family encourages toward a more traditional way of making money, which seems like more of risk to me as an outsider. Sook, to some extent, is enjoying the novelty of being in charge of an older man, in an elder dominated, male dominated culture. Koreans value family, learning and work, and all seem to have their hearts in the right place. I would enjoy living in Seoul and I greatly enjoyed learning about Korean culture from Sook and her friends.
If I were a little younger?
Labels: travel
posted by David Rasmussen at 10:47 PM
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