Wandering
Trip Start
Sep 24, 2005
1
4
10
Trip End
Oct 25, 2005
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Sunday, October 2, 2005
On Saturday Josh and I wandered around Seoul a bit. We headed through Ewha women's university on the way to ride the subway, and there we witnessed some sort of ritual. About twenty women were standing around in costumes. They wore white... pajamas, for lack of a better term; that's what we'd call them in the United States. Over that they wore sashes of yellow, red and blue, and some wore big, white, Russian style hats. They were banging an off-kilter, deep rhythm on various percussion instruments. Young people were lined up to pass through a gauntlet of the drummers to one girl wearing a white dress. When they reached her she would pour them something to drink. They would consume the liquid, drop to their knees and touch their foreheads to the ground.
... So, maybe not so weird. It was the school drumming band doing some beginning of term spirit or hazing ritual. I include it because at first I thought it was a Korean wedding or some sacred-ish rite. Eyes of a foreigner. I've often ascribed deeper and more exotic meanings to things in Korea than they have any right to.
We ended up taking the subway to the area around Seoul National University. We wandered around the streets there, which were nothing exciting. There was a book festival with booths in white and banners in red, but it was closed down for the night when we got there. We ended up stopping at an English pub for dinner and bought a $7 Guinness each.
We got home and Josh went to bed. I was typing away at the computer when I saw something scurry across the floor of our apartment. I got up to investigate and found a spiny bug about three inches long. I took pictures of it, but none of them came out (damn camera is being a real pain in the ass). I then picked up a shoe from the entry way (we're not allowed to wear shoes in the apartment) and smashed the critter. Afterwards I took a better look at its corpse. It reminded me of a large but thin potato bug with about two dozen long, pointy feelers all over its body. It was more creepy dead than alive because its body and the limbs that came off when I crushed it all twitched in death throws and made faint, weird scratchy sounds. I placed the shoe back in the entry way and sat back down at the table with my skin crawling. It didn't help that I was watching 'Freddy vs. Jason' with Korean subtitles on television at the time. I thought for sure that I'd have nightmares, but none came.
On Sunday Josh moved out. He's just in the next building over right now, but I was still pretty bummed out. My loneliness has been bad enough even with a roommate. I can't imagine it'll get any better without one.
The apartment he moved into is small but cozy and in many ways nicer than the one I'm renting, since it's not filled with various junk of the landlords (Josh had a full dozen suitcases on top of the dresser in his room that our landlords had not bothered to move out). It does smell strongly of cigarette smoke though.
During the day on Sunday we decided to take the subway over to the Anguk station, where a guidebook I brought recommended a neat walking tour. As we rode the line I was struck by how outgoing Josh is when it comes to trying to use his language skills. He's remembering a lot of Korean from a time he studied here ten years ago, and he can communicate at a very basic level. On the subway he saw a young kid reading a book and started trying to speak with him in Korean, asking what he was reading and how did he like it, etc. I watched with some fascination. In one sense I was awed by his ability to jump in, apply and practice his language skills, but on the other hand I thought it was strange and honestly rude to butt into a complete stranger's life like that.
By the way, I thought I'd mention that I underestimated on Josh's age. He's thirty-four, which makes for some weird conversations in terms of generational references. I'd say he acts much younger than his age, however, and we get along fine. He has an odd sense of humor that I enjoy. He often times launches into stories that are complete bullshit but have just enough plausibility to give you a second's pause. It's pretty amusing stuff. The other trouble I have around him is that sometimes I have to tip toe around topics when it comes to my concerns here. Josh is still working on a graduate degree due to his constant changing of professions and study topics, which rarely last for more than six months at a time. He is, in many ways, in a position that I absolutely do not want to find myself in eleven years from now, and I'm trying to be careful to make sure he doesn't know it. I'd hate to be thirty-four and not have a real goal for my life or any major connections to speak of.
The walk was nice. The rained cleared up on Saturday night and Sunday was comfortable and sunny. We passed a lot of neat buildings, but unfortunately I forgot my camera (I kicked myself a lot for that, troublesome and unreliable though it is). My favorite of them was a huge Korean style building painted and cleaned to a meticulous white. We tried to enter the grounds but were politely warned away by a security guard. The house was in a large compound that must be something very important. The property is surrounded by about three dozen visible guards on both sides of the street. It has a white metal fence that surrounds it, and we walked most of its length on the opposite side of the street (we weren't allowed on the other side). We passed by a number of amazing looking buildings within the compound, all a beautiful white. The largest was down a gated street. It was a huge white palace with a navy blue tiled rooftop in the Korean style. There was another one near it that was built in more of a classical western style, with while pillars. In the background of all this there is a forested hill. In spots the trees give way to rock facing that is marbled with grey lines of hardened sediment. It's a very beautiful place.
I've been unable to confirm it, but I suspect that we passed the residence for the President of South Korea. The South Korean White House, so to speak.
We saw some other neat things too. There were a few houses with intricate paintings in greens and reds underneath the overhangs of their tile roofs. We also passed by a similarly painted drum roped off beneath a pagoda. We walked down streets lined with trees and with Korean flags everywhere (another reason why I think it was probably the President's house) and through a park where a few kids were dribbling a soccer ball. Josh tried to get them to kick it to him to no avail, whereas I just kept walking.
We talked about various things. One seemed very telling to me. As we wandered around and spotted cool looking buildings Josh and I started talking about houses and places that would be nice to live in. He described a place that he had visited that was a valley with houses along all of its sides running down towards the center. He said that he'd like to live in a place like that, and that he had always liked the idea of living in a valley. I said that I'd rather live on a hill because I like the view. It struck me at the time that was a fair way to describe our personalities. Josh likes the idea of living in a valley because he is extroverted. A valley filled with houses is a very communal setting. The houses all look in upon one another. I like the idea of living on a hill because I am introverted. I like the view that I get from being on a hill. A hill with houses on it has its residences facing outwards, away from each other and focused on the scenery.
Ironic, isn't it? These days I'm looking for a valley, even though a valley itself wouldn't fit my character or mindset.
I find that thought depressing.
We eventually found a subway and returned home. I like the subways in Seoul. A lot of them have neat things to see. The one we traveled back from had a carved granite relief of an imperial procession, and down near the tracks there was another granite statue of a man riding a lion.
On our way through the station we passed a young Korean, probably of middle school age. He was wearing a brown T-shirt that said 'Fuck Bush Supreme' and had a picture of a hotdog in a bun with mustard and ketchup. Political statement or disguised vulgarity, you be the judge.
Nothing else of note happened. I did a lot of thinking during the day and into the night, even as I was doing other things. I didn't come up with any answers. I'm afraid of coming home, even though I don't see any reason to stay. I think in the short term I would be best off in the States, where I could take a break and try to sort things out. But I don't think I could be happy more than a few months doing at home with nothing on the horizon. I get antsy when my life isn't moving forward. So stay or go, I feel like I'm wasting my time either way.
Maybe I just need time to sort things out.
Tomorrow Josh heads off to Japan to get a problem with his visa taken care of at the American consulate in Kyushu (it's a pretty simple thing but can't be done in-country). I'm going to go with him to see the sights a bit. If my camera cooperates, this time I'll have pictures.
Regards,
Jonathan
