Sean's Summer


Journal Entries - Week Three

 

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Saturday, 28 June 2008

 

            Today was my rest day. I was going to go to Korea University, but I was exhausted, my feet were killing me, and I had some things I wanted to get done before I arrived at KU. I have a large blister on my left pinky toe, a large blister on my right heel, and a couple smaller ones here and there. I paid for another night at Turumi Lodge and hung out a lot in my room. Laundry is free at the Air Force lodges, and I know I’ll have to pay at KU, so I did laundry, checked email, watched Korean TV, charged the camera and transferred pictures to my laptop, paid my bills online, and I wrote this journal. I fully expect that once I’m set at KU I won’t have quite so much to write about. I can still check in tomorrow at the dorms at Korea University and they won’t really have anything for us until Monday anyway.

Once I’d done all that and had a restful day, I went back out to Songtan to get a few pictures now that my camera was good to go. I stopped in at “Cheers” and played a couple of games of pool with the bartender. He was a really friendly guy and he kicked my butt at every game. I didn’t stay out long, just long enough to see the place one more time and snap some pictures. I wanted to get a picture of a food vendor at her stand in the middle of the road/walkway, so I asked her in Korean if I could, but she said no. So, we talked for a little bit, and after a while she told me that I was a handsome guy. That wasn’t the first time a Korean had said that to me since I’d been here, but that’s Korean culture, too. It still catches you off guard and you wonder what they really want from you. That will take some getting used to. She was just a friendly, older woman and liked the fact that I was talking to her in Korean. I walked around a little more and stopped at another vendor’s cart before I headed back in to Osan. I bought some chicken on a stick, which was awesome, and it only cost 1500 Won, or about $1.50. Very cool. I walked back through the gate toward Turumi Lodge and headed to bed.

 

 

Sunday, 29 June 2008

 

            I took my time getting up and moving, but I was ready to go anyway. I just cleaned up, gathered my things, and checked out. I had to take a taxi to the subway, which was a few miles away in Songtan. I walked into the station and bought a ticket, which only cost about $2. I had to stop to figure out which way I needed to go, and that was a little time consuming just because I wasn’t used to the way they labeled their subway lines. Usually they’re listed as No. 1, No. 2, etc… but most of the signs above the stairways told you which station they were going to stop at next. I had to look at the map to figure out which way I needed to go. I took the elevator down to the tracks because I didn’t want to hit everyone on the way down the stairs with my bags, and I had to wait about 15 minutes for the next train. The Korean system seemed to be easier to figure out than the Japanese system, but that may be just because I could tell what was going on here.

            I had to make two transfers along the way, which I’d plotted out on my mini subway map, and I’d heard it would take about an hour and a half to get to Korea University station. As more and more people started getting on the subway, a few people started talking to me. One older man talked to me for about half an hour and told me about his job as a graphic designer and told me he was going to Seoul to do some betting. He apparently liked betting on everything and he told me he had to keep a constant watch so he didn’t get greedy and get into trouble. He didn’t speak much English, but there was a woman across the subway car from us that happened to overhear us talking and spoke some English. She had to help translate a couple times. I made my transfers and got on the last leg toward Korea University. I happened to ask a woman near me when the next train arrived and found out she spoke English, too. She was living in California, and her daughter just graduated from UC-Berkley, I think, but she was coming to live in Seoul for a few months because of her business and her daughter would be here in a few days. I can’t remember what business she ran, but I think it had something to do with skirts. Anyway, she asked if I knew anyone here in Seoul, and I said I didn’t, so she gave me her cell phone number. She was looking for a place to live in the same area where I was getting off the subway, so she escorted me to the proper station and said goodbye. I thought that was a little odd, too, but it wouldn’t be the first or the last time during my trip.

            So, while I stood outside the terminal with a dumb look on my face staring at the University map, a couple guys walked past. I asked them where I needed to go and as it turned out they were headed in the same general direction. They showed me which way I needed to go to find the CJ-I House, where I would be staying. The University, I knew, was on a hill, but I didn’t realize that when the say “hill”, they mean a small mountain. I started dragging my bags up the hill until the sweat ran into my eyes, I couldn’t see anymore, and I started panting. I’m sure I was only about four blocks from the dorms when I stopped, but I couldn’t keep going. The bags were just too heavy to carry up that “hill”. I sat on the curb until a taxi drove by, and I flagged him down. I was able to tell him where I needed to go, but he had no clue what I was talking about. He’d never heard of the dorms before and he couldn’t even locate it with his vehicle’s computer-GPS. They have some nice taxis, by the way. I guess they’d need to in a city of about 12 million people. We drove around for a bit, asked about a half-dozen people where the place was, but nobody knew. We finally found someone at a security point who could tell us where the dorm was, and I was right…only about four blocks. The roads curve all over the place and there are side streets, alleys, and odd-angled intersections everywhere you look. It’s no wonder we couldn’t find it.

            I checked in at the dorm and met a couple of the other students and residents assistants. One of the R.A.s is a beautiful Korean woman whose family lives in Australia, so she speaks English with an Australian accent. That’s so hot. I also met a student from Singapore who checked in at the same time, and his room was just down the hall from mine. We paid a deposit for our keys and key card and went to our rooms with an R.A. to check them out prior to signing for them. I met my roommate, who’s a 24 year-old guy from Florida, attending the University of Florida, named Garrett. Garrett was adopted from Korea as a child, so he doesn’t speak any Korean. He left the room as I was checking in, so I didn’t get to talk to him that much, but we got to talk later in the evening. The CJ I-House (I don’t know what the CJ is for, but I-House is obviously the International House) is a new building, so it’s pretty nice and has some additional facilities that the older Anam dorms don’t have. It has a small workout facility, a small dining room used for breakfast only (M-F), it has a laundry facility, music rooms, a TV room, lots of meeting rooms and assorted nooks and crannies, free internet (network only, no wireless), and has a 24-hour information desk/security officer. It’s a nice building. Our “rooms” consist of a common area and two bedrooms. The common area is just a short hallway, a shower room, bathroom, and sink. The first room is a double room, where my roommate and I stay. The other bedroom is a single room, set up much the same as our room, but obviously smaller. The rooms are in more of an Asian style, with low beds and closets built into the wall. We each have a desk, too, but that’s really about it. They’re nice, but they’re not fancy. The other roommate is named Ali, from Yemen, but he’s a Master’s student, and not part of the international summer program.

            After checking in, I decided to conduct a reconnaissance of the area and learn a little about my surroundings. Everyone I talk to is so impressed that a Caucasian can speak Korean. If I were Korean and spoke the way I do, they’d all be disappointed. Culture. I met Royston, the guy from Singapore, on the way down the hill with 4 Singaporean women, and none of them spoke Korean, so we wandered around for a bit and then I took them off-Campus to have lunch. We found a nice place, but they didn’t have much of a selection. They didn’t anything I was truly familiar with, though I recognized most of what they had, so I tried the regular Bibimbap instead of the Dolsot Bibimbap. I helped the others figure out what they wanted, too, and we all had fun. I thought the Bibimbap was disgusting, though, except for the soup portion that came with it. That was really good. Lunch was relatively inexpensive, especially considering how much food they gave us. Now, I’m a little older than the majority of other students, so I never thought about this, but we spent some time figuring out that the drinking age in Korea is 20; however, Koreans count your age as 1 when you’re born. So, the drinking age is really more like 19 for us. There were a few students that were happy about that. On the other hand, that makes me 35 instead of 34. There’s a silver lining here somewhere, right?

After dinner, I went out looking around town (Anam district). I found a hole in the wall bar named Noi down across the main street through Anam. I decided that was nice enough to settle in and try to feel things out for a while. I walked in and all the bartenders chime in with “uhsuhoseyo”…”come in”, basically. I sat and had a drink, but nobody really talked to me. The place was relatively busy, so I found an empty seat and just hung out for a while. Nobody really said a word to me after I got my drink, though. After about half an hour, one of the women sitting next to me turned around and spoke to me, and I responded in Korean. Well, she liked that and we talked a little longer. Once the bartenders and the people on the other side of me found out I spoke some Korean, they all wanted to talk to me. I found out that the first woman’s name was Luna…or at least that was the English name she went by. Well, she gave me her phone number and said I could call if I needed anything. The other women on my left started talking to me, as well. Boy, the bartenders were egging them on, too. Everyone on that half of the bar was chatting with me. It was a good time. But after a couple hours, I’d decided that enough was enough…I needed to save my energy for the rest of the summer. I went back to the dorm and went to bed.

 

 

Monday, 30 June 2008

 

            We had a welcome ceremony at the Incheon Memorial Hall in the evening, and it involved cheering, dancing, drum performances, and traditional sameulnori dancing/drums. It was quite a show. Most of the day, though, was filled with checking things out, getting used to the area, finding buildings and facilities, going on a tour, etc…

 

 

Tuesday, 01 July 2008

 

 

 

Wednesday, 02 July 2008

 

            We had our first full day of classes. My first class, at 0900, is Modern History of Korea with an older Korean man who’s taught in the U.S. and in Korea. My second class is an International Relations of East Asia course with a University of Pennsylvania professor who worked for the Department of the Treasury, I think…I’ll have to look that up again. This is guaranteed to be an interesting semester, but it may be a lot of work. I can’t tell yet.

            As a side note, one thing you can say about Koreans, especially younger Koreans, is that they are fashionable and stylish…most of the time. It’s not the same style as in the U.S., necessarily, but it’s stylish. Most women wear high heels all the time. The wear them with skirts, shorts, jeans, dresses, slacks, and I’ve even heard of one wearing them with a bikini at the beach. Guys wear jeans and some sort of nice shirt, usually collars or a fancy looking t-shirt with English on it. You can’t really find t-shirts with Hangul on them, by the way. Anyway, the high heels really stand out. You can hear click-clack-click-clack down all the halls wherever you go. And it’s not completely uncommon to see someone trip on the steps periodically. It’s insane.

Thursday, 03 July 2008

 

I went to the gym and headed to class. I was a little late getting ready, so I had to hop on the bus, which I told myself I wasn't going to do while I was here. I wanted to walk and get the full student experience. So my first class went well, I had lunch, and then went to the library to read before my next class. But, when I arrived at the next class, a staff member notified us that it was was cancelled. I had nothing to do now, and it was the weekend, so I wandered about aimlessly trying to find something to do. I finally decided to go to Namsan (South Mountain) by myself. I mentioned to a few people that I was going to go do something, just didn’t know what, and I had some interest from others, but getting in touch with people to schedule anything is difficult unless you buy a prepaid cell phone here. It’s not that expensive, but $80 is still $80 (all inclusive, phone plus one hour of outgoing calls or texts. Incoming is free). I wanted to get to Namsan early enough to catch the daytime view, so I took the subway from Korea University station.

Well, it turned out that I timed it perfectly. I’d basically planned it that way, I just didn’t realize how well I’d planned it. At the top of Namsan is Seoul’s Namsan Tower. I wanted to get to the tower just before dark so I could get the daytime view of Seoul and then wait just a little bit for it to get dark so I could get the night view. It’s about a 30 minute hike up the mountain to get to the Namsan Tower Plaza, and then I had to buy a ticket for $7 to get in to the tower. While I was looking around, though, I noticed that there was a circle in the center of the plaza with mist jets spraying out. Also, I noticed that exactly on the hour they have a light show with surround sound music set up around the plaza, too. Well, that part I didn’t know, but I was certain they had to do it again after dark. I went up the Tower around 1930 and got to see the city, which looks awesome from the tower, by the way, and got my pictures. Seoul is in an interesting location, right in the middle of many mountains, but I wouldn’t say they’re close enough together to call it a mountain range…they’re spread out. If you can imagine, it’s a semi-flat base with mountains randomly scattered about…it’s weird. Well, I came down from the tower about 2040. I had to wait about 20 minutes to see if I was right about the light show, and I was. It was amazing. The light and sound show lasted 10 minutes, and it not only included the mist, the lights, and sounds on the plaza, it also included an additional, synchronized light show projected on the tower. It was unbelievable. I’m so glad I went.

            So, I wandered around Namsan and Namdaemun districts of town for a while and I tried to find Namdaemun (“South Great Gate”, old Seoul city gate), but when I found it, it was all closed up and walled off with tall gates. I’d forgotten that somebody burned it down last year and they were trying to rebuild it. What a shame, losing a piece of history like that. Well, I had nothing left to do here, the market was closing down at Namdaemun, and the subways would be closing down after a while, so I decided to head back to the school. I wanted to go see Hongdae, the college district, but that would have to wait.

            While riding home on the subway, a guy started talking to me. His name was Jinyoung, but his friends apparently call him Jini, like “Genie”, and he works as a travel agent. He was almost the same age as me, so we were immediately on friendly terms. I’m sure he’d had a couple drinks by then with his co-workers…culture…but he wasn’t drunk. He spoke a little English, but we were able to go back and forth between Korean and English (Konglish) successfully. He gave me a card with his phone number, an increasingly common phenomenon with me. He escorted me to my stop and we walked around for a bit chatting. He bought a huge bottle (jug) of beer and the shop owner gave us two Dixie cups. Apparently this is common. We walked to an alley, not too far from the University, and sat on a short concrete wall and shared the jug. We talked for probably an hour, maybe longer, and decided that we were friends. In Korea, this is a semi-formal ritual and you have to ask if you’re friends. You have to ask if you can call each other “Hyung” (brother), and then you can talk to each other less formally, in “banmal” (half-word). What that means is that you don’t have to use formal or polite endings on your sentences, you just drop off all the conjugations completely. It’s hard for me to do, because you don’t really study it in school. It’s not the polite thing to do. But, with some effort, I was able to make it work. Since Jinyoung bought the first round, it was my turn to buy the second round. This is different from the guy I met in Songtan who bought everything because Mr. Suk actually invited me out, so he paid for everything. We just happened across each other…so I guess we take turns. There’s actually some sort of protocol…I’m still trying to figure that out. Well, instead of going to get another bottle and sitting in an alley, I took him to the only place I knew, Noi. The owner speaks Italian, so it’s an Italian themed bar, and I already know the bartenders, kinda. I’m not a regular, but I’d been there enough for everyone to recognize the crazy white boy that hangs out by himself and talks to everyone. I bought a round for the two of us and we talked some more. Jinyoung was starting to show how much he’d had to drink, so I figured this wouldn’t last that long.

            Well, this is the funny part of the story. There was a woman sitting on the other side of Jinyoung, and Jinyoung asked if I thought she was pretty. Well, she was, and I couldn’t say she wasn’t, so I told him so. I told him that I had no right to talk to her if I couldn’t do it myself and if I couldn’t do it in Korean, plus I came with Jinyoung and we were having a good time together. There was no need for me to talk to her, but Jinyoung decided that he needed to talk to her for me. Her name was Euna and she actually spoke English very well. I kept trying to speak in Korean, but they ALL (including the bartenders) wanted me to talk to her in English. Well, I guess that was ok. We all talked back and forth for a while before Jinyoung decided he needed to leave. I’d told him I’d escort him home when he was ready to go, but he wouldn’t have it. He insisted I stay with Euna and talk. Well, that was ok. Euna was apparently a regular at the bar one night per week and she was friends with the owner. She’d just come back from studying and doing business in China. She was a designer and owned her own business, plus she’d studied Chinese, Japanese, English, and French. She’d worked in France for a while, too. How intimidating is that? I found out later that she was about 40 years old, but she only looked about 30. That’s typical with Asian women, but they have an ETD… Estimated Troll Date. You wake up one morning and they’re suddenly Ocean Toad Ugly. We learned all about that in language school, I think it was a required course from the military instructors. Luckily, it’s not until they hit about 60. Anyway, she told me I could meet her for coffee at 1500 tomorrow at the Gwanghwamun station subway exit, but I never got a phone number. The bar was closing, so we left and went our separate ways. That was quite an interesting night…2 new friends, though I’d say that Jinyoung was probably going to be closer than anyone else.

 

 

Friday, 04 July 2008

 

Well, first thing in the morning I had to go work out. I’d bought a membership for the month to the Tiger Dome, fitness center and assorted other fitness related facilities, so I needed to make sure I went regularly. The main difference between Asian college fitness centers and American ones was that in Asian ones they give you a uniform to wear while you’re training. The shorts and t-shirt are color-coordinated; the shirt is grey with blue sleeves for men and grey with red sleeves for women. The shorts are all black. Another problem is that Asians are mostly smaller than Westerners. They gave me a large shirt and large shorts, which normally would be fine, but their sizes are different than ours. I tried to put them on, but there was no way. I had to go back down and they had to go find some 3X sizes. God, even though I’ve lost weight, I’ve never felt so fat in my life. The 3X fit, but they were a little snug. They were thick, too, so it was really hot, and they were a bit itchy. It almost makes one not want to work out, but I worked my way through it. It’s actually a good thing I wore their uniform because I sweat all the way through it. The heat is still miserable, and getting worse, and it’s the rainy season, so it’s wet and humid. The gym isn’t cooled very efficiently, so it gets very warm. The fitness center isn’t that big, either, but it has just enough equipment to get the job done. Koreans on the whole aren’t big, but now and then you can find one that’s just huge. Rarely, you’ll find an overweight person, but I’m talking about height and musculature. I finished the workout and headed back to my room to take a shower.

At 1430 I left to go to Kwanghwamun. I met Euna at 1500 and walked to a coffee shop she knew well. We talked for a couple hours, mostly in English, but she taught me some culture points that I’d always been curious about but didn’t have anyone to ask that could adequately explain it to me. For example, when Koreans hang up after a phone conversation, it always seems so abrupt. It’s a little like, “talk… talk… talk… talk, CLICK”. There’s no preparation, no goodbye, nothing. Well, apparently there is, but Westerners don’t get it. It has something to do with the intonation you use when you say “yes”, or “ok”, so I understand that part, but they don’t feel the need to actually mention that they’re leaving now. Odd. Anyway, Euna gave me her email address and phone number, and told me we could go out for dinner sometime. We were friends, but not close friends. I could feel that much. She understood what it was to be a “stranger in a strange land”, so she was trying to help me out. I left and headed back to the dorms. Besides, there was a party this evening at Macigo (pronounced Mashigo…double meaning: to get something done, and to drink) put on by the ISC Staff and I’d already agreed to go.

The party was fun, but it felt a little forced at first. There are lots of ISC Staff members, mostly full-time college students that work the summer program to help out foreign students and practice English. The staff members were running around introducing everyone to everyone else in small groups, and then they’d leave and find someone else. It was like a constant matching game. After a while, it wasn’t so bad because more people were showing up and we all started getting into the music and dancing. I met a couple Koreans and one Chinese woman. But they were short-lived conversations. I actually danced once, too, but they happened to film it. In case I hadn’t mentioned it before, all our school activities are filmed. They followed us around for the first couple days with cameras, too. It’s a little weird, but they want to document it for future advertisement and promotion. I think we were on the news, as well. So, there are always cameras all over the place. Well, let me say that filming me dancing is not going to make the highlight reel. At least, it better not. While at the party, I met another Korean guy who was a teaching assistant for the summer, but normally attended Georgia Tech as a post-grad student. I got his email address and contact information, too. I then ran across another couple of people I knew and they mentioned that they were going to Hongdae at about 2100. I’d wanted to see Hongdae the night before, so that really peaked my interest, and I left with them to go to the subway. I found out the next day that they drew prizes from the list of attendees, and if I’d stayed I’d have won an iPod. Oh, well.

Hongdae is a truly unique place. It’s probably a square mile of streets lined with bars, restaurants, clothing stores, dance clubs, and coffee shops. It was very busy and well-lit, signs everywhere, flashing lights, etc… It’s what I would imagine to be a college student’s dream-come-true. Many of the Universities in Seoul are close to Hongdae: Iwha, Yonsei, and Seoul University, to name a few, but Korea University isn’t on that list. We knew we’d have to take a taxi home because this was going to take a while and the subways would be closed by then. I have to say that the place was visually stunning; however, it was still just a college bar scene. Just a very large one. We walked for what seemed like half and hour before settling in someplace with other people from Korea University that somebody knew. Actually, I’d met two of them before, so I had someone to talk to that was closer to my age. It was fun for a little while, but eventually the place was so packed there wasn’t room to move. I stepped outside and met a few other foreigners; one American teaching English, a Swedish guy living in Iraq, and a couple Army guys that I wanted nothing to do with. After chatting for a bit, some of my group came back out and they were ready to leave. I was ready to go, too, so we took a taxi home and went to bed.

One final note, in case you’re ever in Korea…maybe anywhere in Asia…you don’t want to drive. They’re crazy. But it’s nice if you want to see the town. The views were spectacular, as long as you could catch them as you sped by. Seoul is an amazing place. Also, Korea is a case study in contrasts. So much modern, clean, nice stuff and obvious economic prosperity, but the space in between is full of poor street vendors, people sleeping on benches, temporary shops, etc… I’ve seen similar situations in large cities in the U.S., but usually confined to certain areas and certainly not to this extent. It’s very strange. Also, the place is dirtier than Japan. Of course, just about anywhere you go is going to be dirtier than Japan, so that’s not much of a comparison. There are always people running around cleaning up stuff in Seoul, there’s like an entire workforce just for cleaning, but people throw crap wherever they like. You can’t find a trashcan anywhere in town, but on campus they’re all over the place.

 

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