O-K…Here’s the new plan! I’m going to write much shorter entries for the time being. I’ve got SOOOOO much to catch you up on…and things here aren’t showing any signs of slowing down until I leave (less than two weeks left).
One of my favorite and most inspired days of this expedition took place on Day 3 of my trip to Seoul. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that for about six hours or so, I was completely alone wandering the streets (or rivers) of South Korea’s capital city.
Don’t get me wrong…it’s been fantastic being here with Chris, and now Paula. I think this was one of Chris’ favorite times also…it’s just nice to explore a new place by yourself sometimes.
After breakfast we decided to venture to the Han River to go on a boat tour. This required a twenty five minute subway ride...which actually ended up being really fun. A bunch of high school kids were playing some sort of game when the winner inflicts pain on the loser. Kind of like the “Free Day Game” at The Cadets. It starts with a game (or tournament of Rock, Paper, Scissor – though, called something else in Korean, obviously). The loser, puts his hands at his side while the winner make their hand perfectly straight (like you’re going to karate chop something). The winner then forcefully jabs his hand (the tips of his fingers, actually) into the head of the loser. As if this wasn’t enough, the winner then takes his palm and BIFS (slaps loser with palm) in the foreheard immediately after the fingertip jab. I took lots of video footage, which only egged them on further.
Thankfully, they never asked me to play!
Once we got to the dock, we learned the schedule we had was outdated. It was going to be another 45 minutes until the boat departed, which would kind of put a dent in our last day here. I decided to wait for the boat, Chris decided to go elsewhere.
The dock area was filled with sporadic trailers that doubled as mini 7-11 type stores. I went on a hunt for some Korean chocolate…found some…and still had 42 and a half minutes left…hmmmm.
I spent a little time watching some high school kids play soccer as they waited for the boat.
Soccer has quickly become my favorite sport to watch…I just love the idea that it’s something almost the entire world shares in common and enjoys together. It seems like everywhere I go people are watching, playing, or drinking beer to soccer. The one exception is the United States…but the sport has definitely been gaining popularity in America over the last decade. I’m looking forward to getting home and getting to a few New York/New Jersey Metrostars’ games.
So I watched the pickup game for a bit and then decided to check out the shops in the waiting area the boats docked at. It was less than 40 degrees, but that didn’t stop me from enjoying a three scoop gelato.
I got onto the boat which (unfortunately or fortunately I’m not sure) was pirate themed. There was a large group of high schoolers (some were the guys playing soccer) on the boat as well. I decided to abandon the warmth of the ship’s interior so I could get a better view outside.
I was thinking I would get a solitary, meditation-like, life changing cruise down the Han River…but it didn’t quite work out like that.
Within two minutes of me going outside, one of the Korean high school guys approached me. “Where are you from?” he asked in slightly broken English.
I slowly explained, “When I go home, I’ll be living in New York City in the United States.”
”HE IS AMERICAN!!!!!” he yelled to the dozen of his friends that were watching from the inside of the ship. They all clapped and then piled outside.
They made a circle around me and just kind of looked. I broke the ice with, “So…you guys are from Korea?” Smooooth…
“Yup, we go to school in Seoul,” one of them responded.
“Ah ok, how old are you?” They responded with mixed answers of 17, 18, and 19 years old.
Next a gentleman who looked about 28 year old or so made his way through the crowd to me. He explained (in FLAWLESS English) that he was an english language teacher for these students and they were on a field trip celebrating their last exam. He asked if they could talk to me for awhile so they could get some real life experience talking english to an American.
Of course I said yes…I had a feeling it would be way more fun than staring at Seoul’s skyline for an hour anyways. We talked about their exam, if they were going to university, what they wanted to study, New York City, what I was doing in Japan, and tension between North and South Korea. Some spoke really great english and I think others were a little shy to try out their skills. I explained to them that I know very little Japanese, but that never stopped me from trying to interact as much as I could with any Japanese people I come in contact with. From my experiences the Japanese seem pleased to see a foreigner even attempt to learn and speak their language while in Japan. If I’m saying something slightly off and I apologize…they’ll usually respond with something like, “That’s ok, we understand you! You speak very good Japanese!” Trust me…that’s
definitely them being polite. I hope Americans have the same kind of reputation, though from my experiences at The Cadets, I know we tended to look forward to the ever popular “L” and “R” mix up.
I think my encouragement worked a little bit because each of the 20 of them talked to me for at least a few sentences (some for more like 15 minutes).
After the cruise (about an hour or so), they decided the class was going to walk me to the subway station so we could talk some more. We exchanged email addresses and I gave them this website. I’m looking forward to keeping in touch with my new Korean friends (one of them is actually wanting to study music in the U.S. someday).
Next stop…Dongdaemun Market.
It was another relatively long subway trek into the heart of Seoul. I got out of the station and what did I see? SHOES.
If you’ve seen that “shoes” video on Youtube…that probably just made you laugh. If you didn’t…no matter…I saw a lot of shoes.
Besides shoes…there was lots of food (street vendors all over the place!) as well as lots of clothing. The best part of it all…since it’s in South Korea…it’s all dirt cheap. The haggling makes it even more fun (and cheaper). There was a GREAT pair of blue and yellow running shoes that I got down to the U.S. equivalent of $8.50 (see Seoul Searching: Part Deux for details on how to best haggle)! It was a major bummer when they didn’t have anything (in the whole store) to fit my fat American feet.
You know what they say about guys with big feet…
They don’t get the $8.50 running sneakers.
After my aforementioned failure, I jumped back on the subway and headed back to the hotel so we could catch the shuttle bus to the airport.
The bus ride occurred during sunset and it was really beautiful.
Seoul is enveloped by mountains, so it was one of those things where – as we approached the mountain range itself – you see the city one second, go around the bend, and it’s all gone in an instant. If I go back in time somewhere, I think it would be an amazing thing to go around that bend into the city before it became industrialized. I can't even imagine what it must have looked like to be wandering through the mountains and unexpectedly stumbling upon that valley. Or to be a part of an invading army as, in a second, an ancient version of Seoul came into focus.
At the airport, I made one impulse by that finished off my wan. Masks are pretty famous here, so at the last second I couldn’t possible live without one.
The flight back to Japan was easy enough. I watched the rest of “Me, Myself, and Irene” and got another stamp on my passport…so all was well. Ooooo and, armed with proof of my flight back to America, I had no problem getting back into the great nation of Japan.
As we waited at baggage claim, I had a short conversation with Coz that has turned into an anecdote that has been told by Yoshie a thousands times since.
Coz:
*pointing to stomach*Are you hungry?
Matt:
*looking at Chris*Always.
So we went to an Italian restaurant in Handa City named “Pastel.” They have something called “The Sweet Set” which consists of tea or coffee, all-you-can-eat pizza (not NY pizza by any stretch of the imagination…but there’s no mayonnaise on it so I liked it just fine), a pasta entrée (I had penne with alfredo sauce, shrimp, and bacon), and then a piece of cake (many options to choose from). Chris and I amazed them with our tireless consumption of never ending pizza.
Yoshie: How much more pizza do you want?
Matt: We will eat pizza until you leave the restaurant or they stop serving it to us.
And we did.
