Second week in Korea

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It's best if I describe things in reverse chronological order, i.e. starting from today and working backwords, rather like Merlin. It's about 1:00 a.m. Sunday here in Seoul, I just got back from the Hongik University nightclub district. I've actually been a bit lonely this past week, although I've made friends with several of the Japanese students, and hung out with a few of the Chinese, and met a couple of the westerners, I don't have a regular group of friends to spend Friday and Saturday nights with. Given that I've been here a whole two weeks, that's not exactly surprising or anything, but still I've been kinda lonesome.

To try and overcome that I went alone to Hongik, famous for its nightclubs. Originally I intended to find the “Bebop Jazz Club” recommended by Lonely Planet Guides, but I failed in that regard, so just kinda wandered around till I saw a bar advertising tequila. I actually ended up in a bar on a different floor that just served beer, so I had a beer, then went downstairs to the bar I was originally planning to go to and had another beer and a shot of tequila, which was fun. Although I didn't find a dance club to hang out at, but that was okay. I didn't get back to my dorm/apartment until after midnight, so I didn't feel like a total loser. And I did see a cafe that served “Hoegaarden” so I'll have to go back there.

Earlier this afternoon I went over to Gyungdong (or maybe its Donggyung) market to buy more fruit. For some stupid reason, there is no proper supermarket around Koryo University, only a collection of little kwiki-marts and fruit stands, so to get vegetables and such you have to walk a half kilometer or so to the market, which is a collection of individual stalls. I went there the first time last week, although it took me an hour and a half because I walked past it at the intersection and kept going the wrong way until I almost reached Seoul City University and realized I was definitely to far past.

I still have a hard time with Korean prices. The Korean currency, the “won”, is 1,200 to the dollar, which makes the the math kinda difficult; additionally, Korea is a semi-developed nation, putting it behind Japan and ahead of China and Thailand. Thus commodity prices are below Japan, and above China's. But within that broad spectrum, what things “should” cost is still a bit of a mystery. I paid 5,000 won for 4 apples, which seemed expensive (slightly over a dollar an apple), but I don't really know. I tried bargaining but the shopkeeper said, “no, this is the price”. I don't mind the price so much, I just worry I'm supposed to bargain. The Market is quite interesting, filled with a lot of fish, and eels, and sea turtles, and various fruits and vegetables, and lots of ginseng. But what was disturbing was the dog-meat.

As you may know, Koreans eat dog meat, however because of the international pressure supposedly they try to keep a low profile about it. But you wouldn't know it from Gyungdong Market, because dog-meat is everywhere there. I passed by at least three dismembered carcasses; with the head and tail still visible. And I passed by one stall with a recently dead but still not yet butchered dog lying on its back. “Jesus Christ” I almost said aloud. Not that I mind the idea of eating dog (I've eaten dog meat in China), I'd be kinda hypocritical if I said it was okay to eat cow but not dog; but I don't really want to look at a dead cow or pig's carcass either.

Friday I ate Indian food for lunch at a little restaurant next to the university with Miho, one of the Japanese girls from my class, and Ryosuke and Yumena, who are in the same level but different sections. It was fun, the Indian woman that served us spoke to me in English but in Korean to them (though I answered back in Korean). It was quite yummy, I might have to go back (although it was kinda expensive, like $7 a person).

My electronic dictionary also arrived on friday. On Wednesday I had lunch with Jin-hui Do, the wife of one of my language partners at the University of Washington, Mr. Sung-shik Shin, who works at the Central Daily, one of the top three newspapers in Korea. Unlike Americans, Korean women do not take their husbands last name when they marry, thus Jin-hui is not “Mrs. Shin” but still “Mrs. Do” (pronounced like “dough”). Jin-hui runs a small graphics design studio, with one employee, who happens to be named “Sun-mi” (she happens to have the same name as the Korean girl I dated the first semester I lived in China). Jin-hui and Sun-mi helped me find a suitable electronic dictionary on the internet, after assuring me that trying to buy one in Yongsan (the premier electronics market in Seoul) would be too expensive since the shopkeepers would see I was foreign. It only took about an hour for us to find a suitable dictionary, but it took a wopping hour and half to figure out how to pay for it. Korea's debit and credit card market is a little underveloped, and I couldn't use my Mastercard, and Jin-hui apparently forgot some password for her bank card, and so went next door to the next office over and asked the woman who worked there if she could use her account, which took some more time as she had to get her password texted to her cellphone. By the end of it I was thinking “f—k it”, why don't I just go to Yongsan and bargain, but we finally got it paid for, and I gave the woman who worked next door cash to compensate her for using her bank account, and we were all set.

I was very glad to have my electronic dictionary, its a pain in the but trying to go through a paper dictionary while the teacher is still talking. Plus my dictionary can translate from Korean to Chinese and Japanese as well, which is nice.

Class is pretty difficult, a lot of the time I don't understand what our teacher is saying (we have two teachers, for the first half of class and the second), and a lot of times I seem to answer wrong, or in the wrong format, which is frustrating. Especially the first half teacher will tell me what I said doesn't make sense, but won't explain what part of what I said didn't make sense, so I'm like, “uhhh”. But that is the nature of studying foreign language.

I lot of time when people are talking its like a garbled subspace transmission, i.e. I hear, “------university-----study-----” and I respond with, “sure I study at the university”, hoping thats a logical response to whatever it is they said.

I found out from my language partner Chae-hui (who studied at UW last year) that Dr. Sorenson, the head of Korean Studies at the University of Washing, is actually teaching at Koryo University this summer, which took me by surprise, so last week I went to a little dinner in his honor with a couple of Korean professors and Chae-hui and Suna (a young woman who also studied at UW). On friday I bumped in to Dr. Sorenson at the local coffee shop (The “Coffee Bean”) and subjected him to my obtuse opinions about Korean foreign relations etc.

On about wednesday I met a guy from my university who is also studying at Koryo (Dr. sorenson told me there was another UW student here). Unfortunately he can't remember his new cell phone number, so I gave him mine and perhaps he may call sometime and tell me his. Last week I also met Gary, who's from England (Birmingham I think), and studying Chinese at Sheffield College. He was studying at Nanjing University in China and came directly from there to Korea; quite impressive. We talked a bit in Chinese and English (though I got the sense that he enjoyed speaking in Chinese to an American less than I enjoyed speaking in Chinese to an Englishman, and we eventually switched to English, which I had to admit was a relief; its very hard to express yourself fully in a foreign language).

Wednesday I had lunch with Tomoko, one of my Japanese classmates, who's helped me a lot with stuff I didn't understand; she is also thirty so its nice to have someone to relate to; and with SaSa (pronounced Sisi in Chinese), one of my Chinese classmates. Sa-sa is quite a character, she's from Guilin in Southern China, and quite a foody, the Anthony Bourdain of our class. I don't know how old she is, probably 24 or so, but she looks 16, but has a kinda raspy husky voice that belies her age. Anyway she has opinions about practically all the food served in the area, wants someday to visit Sweden, cause she saw photos of it that looked pretty, and has been so inured by Guilin cooking that she doesn't consider Korean food spicy.

Wednesday evening I had dinner with the aforementioned Mr. Shin and his wife Mrs. Do near Mr. Shin's office, which is near the City Hall (which actually looks like an opera house for whatever reason). We ate barbecued pork that you cook yourself at your table and wrap in sesame leaves or lettuce with spicy “Gochujang” (sort of a spicy red sauce deal). Then we walked along a little river that the President of Korea, when he was mayor of Seoul, had built. Originally there had been a river, but then it was dammed up, and then finally Mayor Lee Myong-bak had concrete canals built to “restore” the river. Along the way a lot of Korean couples strolled, so I guess if I start dating someone I should take her there. At one point they also had some loudspeakers playing a Ben Bennassy song, so that was neat.

On Saturday I went to the Boryeong Mud Festival. Boryeong is a little resort town on the coast of the Yellow Sea (which the Koreans insist on calling the “West Sea” I guess because its west of them), famous for its beaches and gaudy Las Vegas-esque hotels, and of course its mud (the kind you get at a spa, not the kind you just step in). Dad had suggested I go, but I was pretty tired (still kinda jet-lagged for some reason), so I didn't get around to leaving Seoul until about 7:30 p.m., which meant I wouldn't arrive in Boryeong until 11:00. I kinda worried about that, seeing as how I was going on my own and hadn't reserved a hotel beforehand; but so far I haven't really planned hardly any aspect of this trip and have survived, so I figured it would work out.

I took the bus, and arrived in Boryeoung the town (which is actually like 5 kilometers form Daechon beach), and ended up taking a taxi over to the beach. The driver asked me where on the beach I was staying, but I had no idea so I just said, “to Daechon!” hoping that specific enough. Korea is still in monsoon season, so as I exited the cab I was immediately soaked (despite my umbrella). I ran over to the first restaurant across the street I saw, it was set up kinda temporary-style, like a German beer tent, but full of people so it looked fine to me. Plus I was starving cause all I had on the bus was some rice cakes I bought at the station and some little mandarin oranges. The server gave me an English menu (I'm white so he presumed I spoke english) that didn't have any prices on it, so I just ordered a beer and some sashimi (Japanese style raw fish). I was served with an enormous plate of what looked like maybe whitefish or mackeral or something else kinda low-grade, and instantly surmised I'd ordered something intended for two or more people (this was confirmed when I got the bill for 25 or so dollars). But I was hungry so I ate as much of it as I could.

Some Korean college students said hello to me, so I jumped at the chance, moved over to their table and asked if they wanted any sashimi, since I had way more than I could eat. We ended up hanging out, which solved my problem of having come alone, and drank Soju (Korean vodka, approximately 20% alcohol). One of the fellows suggested we go dive in the ocean, so we left the restaurant/tent walked down the main drag, stripped to our underwear, and dived into the ocean, to the amusement of onlookers. Nearby was a stage used during the day for concerts and what-not, and they were still projecting black-light onto the ocean, giving it a weird glowing blue appearance. I continued hanging out with these fellows for a bit, until one of the fellows apparently got mad at the other guy cause he made them wait while he took a foto of me and him in front of the ocean. Then one of the other guys helped me find a hotel at about 2:00 in the morning for 45 dollars, and I wished them good health.

The next morning I left the hotel; the “concierge” (the woman sleeping behind the reception desk) wasn't there, so I just left my key there. I walked along the beach, looked at some of the people covered in beauty-spa mud (or regular mud, whatever), and then took the bus back to Seoul. Domestic travel is ridiculously cheap in Korea; my bus from Seoul to Boryeong was 8 dollars each way. So it was a good chance to practice travelling for later; there are a number of other cities and places I should try to go to before I leave Korea.

Last week I hung out with my ex-girlfriend Shan-mei from when I lived in China (She's Korean, her name is pronounced “Sunmi” in Korean; much in the same way that “Michael” is pronounced “Miguel” in Italy or “Mark” is pronounced Markus in Germany). She seemed to be doing well, she got married last year, to my surprise, and is still working at Gookmin Bank. She seems to be on track fairly well, which is more than I can say for myself. She did notice I don't seem to have any direction to life, which kinda hurt my feelings, even though it is true.

I bought a cell phone last week, which was a big relief, that first 4 days I spent with no way to communicate with anybody I knew in Korea other than by e-mail was killing me. I bought a pre-paid “KT” brand cellphone from the shop on campus for about 60 dollars. I didn't really understand what the shopkeeper was saying, so I just gave him some money and he gave me a phone. I guess somehow when the 9 dollars I have deposited into it run out I have to give them more money to recharge. I don't really understand what happens to my phone number after I leave Korea (do I just keep it in perpetude?) But like everything about my trip to Korea, I just kinda figured I'll just do it. I tried but failed to explain to Jin-hui the bizzare experience its been flying utterly by the seat of my pants, more or less going to things or doing things without any clue what I was getting into. But the important thing is I have a cell phone, I'm part of the human race again, Although I have no idea how to set up my voicemail box; I've gotten three calls from unlisted numbers and wondered, “who's calling me?”

Jin-hui was kind enough to loan me some old sheets, which was great; apparently a lot of Koreans just sleep between thin quilts, because that was all I saw at the store. I actually went all the way to the Costco outlet in Sangpung (about 20 minutes by train) just to find sheets and a normal shaped pillow (Korean pillows are small and thick, instead of big and thin like American pillows). I did find pillows, but the only sheets they had were some ridiculously expensive Kirkland Signature ones. But Jin-hui had some old ones she lent me, which was great. So now I've got pillows and sheets, though my bed is still hard as a rock and there's no air-flow through my apartment/dorm so its hot as hades in my room still.

Its hard to believe I've only been here two weeks, it feels like a couple months; whats really hard to believe is that in 8 weeks or so I'll be back in Chicago, and another few days after that back in Seattle.

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Photos

new friends in Boryeong
Some fellows I met at the Boryeong Mud Festival

Comments

[Suna Lee]

Nice Experience!
Hi, Benjamin. I drop by your blog for a while. You got a good place in the web world. Hmm, also, it was hard to believe that I could meet you in Soeul as for me! Enjoy this country as possible as you could.