Sean's Summer
Journal Entries - Week Four
Saturday, 05 July 2008
To be honest, I can’t remember specifically
what I did for most of the day. Not that I blacked out or anything and I
certainly didn’t have anything to drink, I just don’t think I did anything
specific earlier in the day because I didn’t want to miss the Football
Club
Seoul match
in the evening (soccer, obviously). Some of the Singaporeans (is Malays the proper
term?), especially Nurul, invited lots of folks to go see the game with them.
They wanted to meet at the World Cup Stadium subway station somewhere around
1930. Backward planning puts me on the subway at about 1830, leaving the dorm by
1815, getting ready about 1730, getting to the gym by 1600, etc…
I know I got out of bed around noon. The bars in Korea don’t close
until 0330, but I know I wasn’t there that late. I think I probably got home
about 0130 or 0200 last night. Anyway, I don’t quite know what I did between
1200, when I got up, and 1500, when I went to the gym. I probably got some food
off campus, I probably posted something from my journal on the website, and I
probably cleaned up the room a little bit. I really wanted to try to do
something today, like go to Dongdaemun (East Great Gate), Itaewon, or Yongsan
Airbase, but I think I was just too concerned about being in the right place at
the right time for the game. And rightly so, because World Cup Stadium and the
associated subway station are huge. There’s actually a shopping mall and a
large grocery store under the stadium, too. But besides being concerned about
the time, I wanted to see if Jinyoung would call me so we could go do something
today or tomorrow. I can’t call out of my room except to the front desk or to
another room, so I had to wait and see if he’d call, but after a while I
called him from the payphone in the basement and found out he was working this
weekend. No luck there.
Well, I made it to the stadium at exactly 1930. As I said, the place is
huge, so I wasn’t sure where exactly to go and I didn’t see anybody at the
station, so I figured I’d missed them already; however, they told me they were
going to buy 10,000 won tickets (about $10), cheaper seats, so that narrowed
down their possible locations by about half. Still not saying much. I wandered
in to the ticket area and noticed that there weren’t any 10,000 won tickets
for sale. It was either 8,000 won or 12,000 won. Well, I decided to err on the
side of caution and bought the 12,000 won ticket and headed to my gate. At the
entrance, people were handing out little boards with FC Seoul and Win Seoul
written on it so we could all wave them around and cheer. Conveniently, they
folded up so that it doubled as a fan and you could keep yourself cool. In
addition, when they’re folded up you can smack them on your hand and it makes
a cool “clapping” sound. They were already starting the introductions and
the fanfare when I walked into the stadium, so people were relatively well
situated already, but many of them were standing and cheering. This was going to
be difficult. I stood on the walkway above the lower set of seats for about 5 or
10 minutes. There wasn’t really anyone in the upper sections. The stadium
looked mostly empty, but my guess is that was only because the place was built
to hold a massive number of people. If I had to guess, I’d say there were
probably around 10-20,000 people there. Out of the corner of my eye I caught a
glimpse of a guy with scruffy black hair, not the traditional Korean styles,
wearing a plaid button-up shirt, again not traditional Korean style, running
down the stairs with a beer. I recognized him from my Korean History class, so I
knew he was headed to the group I was looking for. I got lucky.
The first half of the game was great, and the fans are a sight to see.
They’re certainly not as crazy as many countries where football is popular,
like Brazil for example, but Koreans are very close, social people on the whole,
so their chants and dances generally involve some sort of group interaction. FC
Seoul was up 2-0 at halftime. We took the opportunity to find the bathrooms and
get some food during the break, and I ended up talking to a Korean guy for about
30 minutes. The game had already started by the time I got back inside the
stadium, but this guy was interesting. He told me that the game we were watching
was the regional semi-finals match. The opposing team, from Pohang, had been the
national champions the year before, so this was a big game for people in Seoul.
Anyway, the guy told me that he was working on his Master’s degree at Seoul
University and I think he had been overseas to several places. He also told me
that he knew some people from school that just opened an Indian restaurant in
Itaewon and he could get me in for dinner with him and his friends some night.
As I’ve said before, if you can speak a little Korean to the Koreans,
they’ll give you phone numbers, business cards, go to dinner with you,
anything you like. It’s also so much easier for people to approach you when
you’re alone, instead of in groups. I think that’s why I prefer traveling
around by myself in Korea, not to mention the fact that I’m about twice as old
as some of the students. I might give this guy a call later and take him up on
his dinner offer.
Well,
Pohang did manage to score a goal before I returned to the stadium, but by the
end of the game there was no question about who was better. FC Seoul beat Pohang
4-1. In soccer terms, that’s a butt-kickin’. The game ended with the Seoul
team walking to each of the four sides of the field and bowing to the crowd.
There was screaming, chanting, loud music, confetti, and there were flares going
off even as the majority of people were leaving the stadium. I really enjoyed
it. We stood outside and got a few pictures before our group split up. We found
ourselves in the mall briefly and then in the grocery store as we wound our way
out to the subway station. We got on and returned to Anam station, one of the
Korea University stops. I wanted to go walk along the Han river at night, but
nobody else seemed interested and I didn’t feel like going by myself this
time.
We walked to a nearby restaurant and had some dinner (late dinner, I
think it was more because the other guys were drinking). We had some
unbelievable good food, which we all passed around among one another, but I
couldn’t tell you what it was. It had squid in it, just like everything else.
One of the dishes was really spicy, so I thought it was great, but the others
were for dipping in soy sauce. We got a plate of potatoes, too, but we weren’t
sure what it was supposed to be when we ordered it. It turned out to be tater
tots and French fries. After eating everything else, we weren’t sure if we
wanted to be “foreigners” and eat the potatoes, but I poured some of the
left over spicy sauce on mine and ate it anyway. Everyone else thought that was
a great idea and followed suit. It was great, in spite of what you may think. We
all split a bottle of Soju, which I hadn’t tried since coming to Korea. That
equated to about two shot-sized glasses for each of us. It wasn’t really that
good. After dinner, we went back to our rooms and I think I went to bed.
Sunday, 06 July 2008
Sunday was my day to stay home and catch up on reading, studying, email, etc… I was going to do laundry, but I figured everyone would be down there today. From what I hear from my roommate, I was right. Besides, I didn’t have any real laundry detergent. Not much to report for today.
Monday, 07 July 2008
Nothing really significant today, just gym,
class, food, and I did laundry tonight. Some students were watching a kind of
disturbing movie involving a Korean with Cerebral Palsy, or something…maybe
I’ll tell you about that sometime…later.
Oh, I did buy a T-pass today, though. T-pass is
a card, or in this case a mini card that I can hang on my keychain, that you use
to check through the subway gates. It has a chip in it that records how much
money you put into it and it automatically deducts the proper amount when you
pass through the gate at your destination. It cost about $5, but you save about
10 cents every time you use the subway. You just reload more money on the card
at the station when you run out. It’s a handy little tool, especially
considering how much people in Seoul use the subway. Plus, mine is a Korea
University T-pass, so it looks cool. I hear you can use the T-pass for all sorts
of other things, like busses, paying for food, etc… There’s a funny
commercial here on Korean TV for the new T-pass cell phone chip. A guy gets the
phone and as he’s digging for change in his pockets for the bus, the T-pass
registers and lets him on. He decides to try it on a soda machine, and it works.
He uses it on something else, and it works. Then he walks up behind a woman and
tries to touch her with it, but she turns around and catches him and he pretends
to talk on the phone. It’s really quite a funny commercial. Now, since the
T-pass I have is a mini-pass, I don’t think it works on everything, but the
subway is all I really need anyway.
Tuesday, 08 July 2008
I couldn’t get to sleep last night. I don’t know why. I got up at
0800 and showered, etc… Throw down some breakfast and walk down the hill to
class. It’s funny, but by 0900 the humidity is already unbearable. I’m
sweating walking down a hill…it’s craziness. I lost the first hand towel I
bought, so I just drip until I can cool off in the classroom.
Not much to talk about for the day. Classes were interesting, but 2 hours
is just enough to test your patience. I have a break in between classes, too, so
I use that time to catch up on reading, get a small lunch, and do any running
around campus that I need to do. Lunch, for me, usually consists of kimbap, a
rectangular-shaped wad of rice with a little meat and sauce on top wrapped in
dried seaweed, and a small “protein bar”. I wasn’t sure I liked the kimbap
at first, but it grows on you…except maybe the seaweed. Sometimes I’ll go
out and get something from a shop, but it gets expensive fast.
After class, I walked back to the room and took a nap. I really needed
it. I usually get back to my room about 1400 unless I go out and do something,
so I slept for about an hour and woke up between 1500 and 1600. I checked email
and sent some messages out. I’m having difficulty finding the person to
certify my enrollment for the VA. No certification = no GI Bill money. I’m not
necessarily great with math, but I get the impression that it’s an equation
that might have some bad consequences. In addition, I’d sent out a couple
other emails during the previous few days and only one person has replied to me.
I’m getting the feeling that nobody’s receiving my emails.
Well, since I didn’t go to the gym this morning, I knew I needed to go
this afternoon. I worked out for about 40 minutes, but the equipment they have
there is mostly the machines, and there aren’t that many of them. It’s
harder to get a good workout in so you feel like you really accomplished
something. Not to mention that it’s probably hotter in the fitness center than
it is outside. Or, at the least, there’s no airflow. That makes it suck.
Well, it was time for dinner. I thought I’d grab something on the way
to “Noi”, the bar I like to go to, and have a drink. The folks at Noi know
me, and if I get there shortly after they open at 1830 there’s nobody there
but me, the owner, and the bartenders, and we can spend some time chatting back
and forth. There was a grilled sandwich (“toast”) place on the way, so I got
a bulgogi burger with scrambled eggs and cheese. Kind of an odd mix, but not
bad. I also stopped at a store and bought a couple more small hand towels to use
while walking around. I try to keep one in my pocket all the time now.
I like going to Noi because it’s a small, out
of the way place and the people are friendly. I can pick up little bits of
culture, the language, and daily life while talking to them, too…or even just
watching and listening to them. I learned how to say “too skinny” a couple
of different ways in Korean (BbaeBbae 빼빼,
or HuriHuriHaDa
흐리흐리하다)
because one of the bartenders and I were discussing music and he started playing
a song by Paris Hilton. Apparently he thought she was hot, and he wanted my
opinion of her. Well, he got it. I told myself I’d bring my dictionary the
next time I came here, but I forgot. I wish I’d had it because it would have
made things so much easier. I hate looking stupid because I have to ask several
times what they’re saying. But, hey, how is that any different from when I’m
in the U.S.? The bartenders take on nicknames, too, so they don’t use their
real names. I can only remember three of the 5 people’s names there. Pio (“Fio”…soccer
player?), Ari, and Endy. Apparently Endy was given his name by Pio, and they
assured me it had to be spelled with an “E” and not an “A”. I don’t
know why. I’ve probably heard the owner’s name once or twice, but I don’t
remember it. He’s about 40 years old and he’s traveled throughout Europe, so
his bar has a slightly Italian theme…but not really (thus the name Noi, I
suppose). We’ve tried playing around in German, Spanish, and Italian, but
neither of us really knows those languages either, so it’s a lost cause. We
always have fun, though. So, now there’s this new girl working at the bar.
They tell me she’s 19, but I don’t know if that’s her Korean age or her
American age. I can’t remember how they work it, but because they count your
date of birth as 1 year old, and because everyone’s age changes at the
beginning of the lunar new year (instead of on your birth date), she would
actually be 19 in the U.S. Or maybe it’s 17. Geez, I don’t know. She’s so
cute, too, but they call her a country girl because she’s from Kwangju and
moved to the “big city” of Seoul. They asked me if I thought she was cute,
and I told them that if all the girls in Kwangju looked like her, I was in the
wrong city. They all got a laugh out of that. Anyway, the point was that she’s
new so she doesn’t have a nickname yet.
Business was really slow at Noi until about 10, but once it started to
pick up I decided to head out. The bartenders won’t have as much time to talk
to me and nobody else at the bar seemed terribly interested in talking to
me…nor I to them, in this case. I returned to the dorm and noticed that I’d
gotten a reply email from Jinyoung in Korean. I didn’t have too much
difficulty reading it, but there were a couple words that I couldn’t remember
and had to look up. I figured since I was up I’d reply to him in Korean. I
finally figured out how to type in Korean on my computer, which I’d tried
doing a long time ago but couldn’t completely seem to accomplish, and began to
type my first true email in Korean. Well, that was an exercise in insanity. It
took me two hours to write a paragraph. I know I could have hand-written it much
faster, but trying to type in Korean without the key labels is really a pain in
the ass. By the time I was done, I could remember most of the keys and I was
getting faster, but I ran out of easy things to say and I was tired. I passed
out fairly quickly, but it was well after midnight.
Wednesday, 09 July 2008
I slept in late again; I just couldn’t wake up. Not a huge surprise, I
suppose. I got out of bed at 0800 instead of my regular alarm time of 0600. I
missed the gym this morning, but I showered, cleaned up, ate breakfast, and
walked to class. Thankfully, going to class is downhill. Walking back from class
is all uphill, and it’s steep, but at least I can change out of my sweaty,
nasty clothes when I get to my room and cool off for a while. My first class is
Modern Korean History, and that tends to keep my attention. Plus, my blood’s
usually pumping from exercising in the morning and then walking down the hill.
The Korean instructor tends to jump around a little bit with his timeline, but I
can generally follow him without too much difficulty. It’s in English, of
course, but he’s not a native English speaker so sometimes the lecture points
drag on while he tries to explain them. My big problem is usually between
classes. Once I finish whatever running around I need to do, like getting lunch,
I have time to sit and read. That’s great, but there’s something about
sitting and reading at that time of the morning, plus the humidity and heat, and
then the dull drone of muffled voices around me in the lounge that just makes me
want to sleep. So, sometimes I’ll start nodding off while I’m reading a
textbook or an article, but I generally don’t actually pass out. Today,
though, I finished my readings and had another half hour before class, so I
snuggled into my chair and fell asleep. I woke up just as people started getting
out of class and I noticed two of the Singapore University (NUS) women were
sitting across from me reading. We said hi and I asked them if they enjoyed
watching me sleep, then I headed off to class again. My second class is
International Relations of East Asia. The instructor is American, so she
doesn’t have the same drone to her voice as my first instructor. No worries.
We have more discussion in this class, too, so the participation keeps my
attention.
I returned to my room after class and checked email again, and then I
wandered about for a while before going to the gym. I just went to the little
gym at the CJ I-House because I was only going to do some cardio. They don’t
have the elliptical riders, though, and I didn’t want to do 30-45 minutes on a
treadmill, so I got on a bike. I just wasn’t really feeling it today. After 20
minutes I decided I was done and went to find some dinner. I picked up some food
from the Anam mart below the Anam dorms just down the hill from our I-House and
walked back. There was a group of people I knew outside waiting for food, since
we can’t take delivery food into the dorm (but we have kitchens on each
floor?), and I sat with them for the rest of the evening. They gave me a little
bit of their food, too, so that was nice. They’d ordered spicy stew with
squid, I think it was Jjambbong (짬뽕?), and then 2 bean stews. The food is actually good, but I can’t imagine
eating it all the time. We talked to a bunch of people as they entered and
exited the dorm, too. It was a slow night, but high in social intercourse. Good
times. I heard that next week is midterm week, too. That was a bit of a shock.
It doesn’t seem like we’ve been here that long, but classes only last a
month. I’m really going to miss this when it’s over.
I returned to my room and wrote more of the journal. I know I’ve been
bad at keeping up on it, but even though I’m having a great time and I'm
learning a lot, it doesn’t seem to be as eventful or interesting in print as
my first couple weeks.
Thursday, 10 July 2008
I’m
going to have to start writing the short version. I don’t have time to keep
this up.
We
had classes again, then I decided to head out and do stuff on my own because
nobody else was around. Most people have class until 1800…I get out at 1430. I
went to DongDaeMun, East Great Gate, where the HUGE shopping district is. It
wasn’t all that great for me because I didn’t need to do any clothes
shopping and there wasn’t much else there to look at. Besides, people started
to shut down some of the main street shops at like 1900. I was going to go
straight to Itaewon, though I wasn’t sure I really wanted to, but I decided
that I needed to at least check out DongDaeMun to see if it was worth going back
to later. Well, that’s still to be determined.
So
I went to Itaewon, the international district. I did some shopping and spent
more money than I wanted to, but I got a couple of nice Celadon vases and a nice
handmade wooden box for a total of about $69. Celedon is only made in Korea,
from what I understand, and the color is only obtained from the clay here and
from the special way they cook the vases. Well, I didn’t have much else to
keep me here because the area isn’t that big and it was just late enough that
some of the interesting shops were shutting down. It was party time here for the
locals and the military folks. They were starting to come out of the woodwork.
That was my cue to leave, but I didn’t want to take off just yet. I was sure
there was something left to do, but I didn’t know what. Well, I’ve found
that the best way to find stuff to do is to go find a nice, local bar. Which I
did.
The
Seoul Pub is frequented by soldiers, apparently, but also by many foreigners. I
met a Korean who’d been a KATUSA in the Army and worked as a translator. Once
I started talking to him, the bartenders decided I was ok, and so did an older
gentleman and a drunk who had a birthday party there tonight. That’s always
the way it works; once I start to speak Korean, I’m ok…but until that point,
I’m just another foreigner. The older gentleman had been working on his law
degree but had to quit to take care of his children. He was very well educated
and we had a discussion about Hanja (Chinese Characters), so everyone was
impressed with my ability to read/write in Hangul AND in Hanja, to at least a
basic level. He had to get someone else who studied Chinese to make a Hanja
translation for me at one point. I stumped the law guy. The drunk just played us
“Starry Night” by John McLean on his guitar. The best way to meet people is
to just go hang out someplace new and sooner or later something interesting will
happen. It’s inevitable in Seoul, apparently.
Well, after talking to the former Korean KATUSA for a while, an American
named Chris came in. Here’s where you all in Kansas have to pay attention. He
is about the same age as I am and he grew up in Hutchinson, where I went to the
police academy. His brother, however, is currently working at Free State Brewery
and has been working there for something like 9 years. His name’s Ian. Well,
Chris had been an employee with Samsung for many years after he graduated from
Harvard. He returned home and stayed for a few years, then decided he needed to
go back to Seoul to make a new life. He had some great stories and had some
great contacts with the Korean corporate world.
So, by this time I’d already missed the subways. They close somewhere
around midnight. I was going to have to take a taxi home anyway, so I decided to
stay and talk to Chris for a while. The Korean had to leave, so I didn’t get
to talk to him much longer, but he said I could call him anytime and I could
crash at his place or he’d go hang out with me as long as his girlfriend
didn’t have him for the weekend. Well, about that time, an Indonesian woman
came into the bar and had a drink. There was a Japanese businessman not far from
her that had given up on the girl he was hitting on because she passed out, so
he started to talk to the Indonesian woman, named Robin (seriously). Well, she
wasn’t obviously thrilled about that, so she started talking to Chris and I.
She convinced us to go to another bar that stayed open all night so we could
chat. It was a little quieter, but not much. We didn’t last long after that
and called it a night…and I think Robin liked me.
Friday,
11 July 2008
OK,
Friday I planned to go on the field trip with the rest of the class, but I
decided to sleep in instead. I woke up and figured I’d meet them there, but I
couldn’t remember which of the several palaces they were going to, and I
didn’t want to just guess, so I went to Kyungbokgung. I’d decided that I
wanted to go see Kyungbokgung long ago, so this was my opportunity. The other
palaces might be a little different, but I was under the impression that this
was the primary one.
I spent the day at Kyungbokgung and the palace museum and then headed
out. I could tell you a lot of stuff about the place that just wouldn’t do it
for you unless you were there or saw the pictures. Besides, a lot of it is
similar to the other Korean palaces (and even somewhat similar to the Okinawan
palace) and I’ll just end up repeating myself. Well, I noticed that there were
lots of riot police lining up in buses along the street…but then I realized
that it wasn’t localized to this street, it spread for blocks and
blocks…maybe even a few miles. I could probably recall somewhere in the
neighborhood of 30-40 busses spread down side streets, up the main streets,
around intersections, down the next block, etc… It was unreal. I didn’t
realize until later that this was the location for the big “Anti-American
beef” protest and march route. I’d seen the gathering downtown a week or two
before and asked a policeman if he thought it would be ok if I went and looked
at it…it felt kinda creepy…and his response was “I don’t think that
would be a good idea”. That was enough for me.
I
went back to Itaewon to have dinner with Robin. I think we walked around for a
while, too, but I don’t remember now… The weather was starting to change. It
wasn’t quite as humid at the moment, but it was going to rain very soon. I
just didn’t know when. My feet were killing me after walking all afternoon
yesterday and most of the day today. I knew that tomorrow would be worse when I
went to Suwon Fortress, south of Seoul.