Ahh the Greeks
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2007
1
41
109
Trip End
Ongoing
Seoul,
Korea Rep.
Friday, May 23, 2008
Characters in Korea:
Achilles
A few weekends ago, after loosing 50,000 WON at the casino (should have played safe and sucked back the free drinks but after splitting three tens I was down and out...dealer had a five :)) a group of teachers and James' Chinese honey and I, headed to the lively part of Seoul laden with a rocking night life. We stopped briefly to grab beer and Soju to enjoy while walking through the streets compliments of the open container laws here. After a brief pause at a musical protest/demonstration for Tibet, we pressed on to Go-Go's, a bar packed with foreigners. At one point I went to get a beer at the bar and struck up a conversation with a guy. His name: Achilles.
"You mean like the Greek hero?" I asked.
"Yep" he said.
Our conversation was good fun and contained lines like:
"Fu*k the banks. I'm not paying back my loans" he stated with utmost confidence.
"Well I would like to return home someday though" I said.
"Well yeah, in that case..." he said.
"I would also like to buy a house someday" I said.
"F"&k that. A house is a trap to keep you in one place" he said.
Touche
Anyways he was a pretty cool guy with a different outlook upon responsibility than I and he is the second person I have met over here who has cut ties with home in such a way as leaving the banks with the debt they draw from those desiring an education.
Madness
All things considered I am not about to make Canada a place only available to me through short clandestine vacations (and the home of my angry parents which would surely result as the collectors come knocking on their door in search of their delinquently negligent son). Kim
Then there is Kim, a 60 something Korean man that I chat with at the gym. Like Ralph, a 50 something super fit man I used to train with back home, Kim is an inspiration to me as he still works out even after 60 years of being on this rock.
I just got in from a night on the roof of our building watching surf videos with James, Matt, James and Neno. James, Matt and I are heading to Busan the first weekend in June to surf with the Seoul Board Riders club. The club operates out of Seoul and it should be a fun time.
I have been kinda cut off from the world outside of my neighbourhood and I need to make a conscious effort to keep in tune with the world and the looming police sate that is starting to grip our planet. I read an article that was in Rolling Stone about a city in China called Shenzhen that is serving as a testing ground for capitalism. They opened the doors to capitalism and the city has flourished, of course not without the man keeping tabs in the form of surveillance in the form of cameras every where. Well at least crime will be controlled and stopped, one might think. But the danger is above that. Once these security measures have been installed, in the name of homeland security or national interest, citizens will forfeit their civil liberties and we will find ourselves thrust into an Orwellian world of control and manipulation in which the powers that be not only control the past but our futures too. Much like the Chinese government does when they destroy the rural villages and farming communities in the name of development and force the underclass from their homes into migratory work within the cities as cheap labour, the only viable option for these displaced people. This cheap labour benefits the affluent and keeps the underclass poor. Ahh, the joys of capitalism.
I wrote most of this today at work during lunch with curious little kindergarteners looking over my shoulder. When asked what I was doing I merely stated that "I was writing to friends and family at home". To know now what I knew then (Pearl Jam).
I'm still dating Eunjung. She is very busy with school so time with her is scarce but nice.
Tomorrow I'm going to see the new Indiana Jones movie. Should be fun.
-Thanks for reading
