Wow. The 20th of August will mark a whole month of living in Korea. Let’s see. I guess there is quite a bit to say for my part. I haven’t written anything since before I left and my life is…well, very different. It’s weird, when people ask me what my life is like here, it really doesn’t feel all that different. In terms of practicality I mean. In terms of everyday living. I’m convinced that anyone anywhere could move to the other side of the world, just like I did, and acclimate quite quickly. I challenge anyone who doubts this. Seriously, it all happens so quickly and before you know it, you’re at a grocery store halfway around the world pondering what to buy for dinner….just like back home. Granted, roaming the grocery aisles here and finding dinner is like being a whale asked to find food in a desert. Nothing makes sense. I was so confused that I ate yogurt for the entire first week here.
It was the only thing I recognized and felt comfortable eating. Of course I slowly branched out, although I’m still exploring the grocery store every time I go (which is about every other day). The fish section is a world unto itself. Dead fish with eyes the size of my head are on glamorous display for people to eat. The other day I accidentally ate squid in a bowl of soup at a local gimbap place (rice bowls with a variety of things in them). I politely swallowed it, but I think the expanded size of my eyeballs gave away the internal unpleasant experience. I see squid everywhere, on street vendor carts, as a dead raw appetizer….and I have a street wise sense that it should be avoided at all costs, mostly for its unforgivingly awful smell. My apartment sits halfway up a hill on a little side street across from my school. The bottom of the street reeks of squid and garbage everyday. Seoul is a horrendously humid place in the summer and the heat mixed with humidity and street vendors selling fish makes for a rancid combination on my way home from work each night. Thank god I’m at the upper part of the hill.
I’m convinced that Seoul is the city of randomness. It’s very hard to describe this place for people who haven’t been here, but perhaps these random stories will give you a small hint of what life is like here in Asia. For example: have you ever seen an action movie in which there is a sequence where someone on a motorcycle—and sometimes a car—swerves onto the sidewalk and starts peeling down the sidewalk causing mass chaos?? Well, that is considered normal behavior in Seoul. Mopeds use the sidewalk the way one might use a sidewalk in Asheville to go for a nice stroll downtown. Just two days ago I was walking home and I looked down at my Ipod to change to a new song. When I looked up a scooter was careening at me from just 5 feet away. I literally had to jump out of the way to avoid getting creamed in the middle of the walkway. The man didn’t even look back after his near fatal killing of a clueless American. I nearly had a heart attack and I’m not sure that I will ever look south for the rest of my life when I walk.
The strange part about what seems to me to be quite a hazardous everyday occurrence is that Korean pedestrians don’t care one bit that they have to dodge mopeds and cars every day of their lives. I’ve learned to keep my ear out for the sound of one.
But the cars still get me. Today I was nearly backed into by a large, black SUV that just decided to pull onto the sidewalk and drive for nearly half a block before getting back on the road (he did this so he didn’t have to wait at a red light….and its not illegal).
Coming home from the grocery store my co-worker Rob and I almost got killed by a Korean man in a mini van who literally seemed to be gunning his car directly at us. It turned out he was aiming for his WIFE who was walking right next to us. He peeled up by her, yelled ferociously for her to get in the car. And then for some reason, she stoically complied. Apparently domestic violence is quite common, but man am I glad I didn’t witness a woman get mowed over. Even further, I was glad that I didn’t witness ME getting mowed over in the middle of a ridiculous domestic dispute. I read in the lonely planet that 39% of all deaths in Seoul are pedestrian related…..39%!!!! Do you know how large of a percentage that is??? And my brother thinks it would be great for me to get a moped here….thanks, but I don’t have a death wish.
On Thursday I was having a lesson with a class of twelve 10 year olds about caring for animals. I had them recite to me different examples of how to care for a pet. We went over things like: brushing a dog, giving it a bath, and feeding it. I then noticed sweet little Paige to my left with her hand innocently raised. She contributes often and I enjoy her comments. So I said, “Paige, tell me one way that you can take care of your dog.” She replied innocently, “You can eat it!!!” And with that the whole class burst into laughter. She was joking, but then the other kids chimed in, “oh yeah, dog is good, it taste very good!” I motioned with my hands for them to calm down and I said (while biting my tongue from laughing), “Paige, no, that’s not a way to care for a pet. To care means to help, and if you are eating your dog you are not helping it.”
As much as I was repulsed by the direction the conversation had gone, I was morbidly curious to know more. I had been told that eating dog is against the law here in Korea now. That information had been inaccurate. So I asked the class, “Do you guys eat dog at home?” And several of them nodded. Apparently, it’s not only a food item for the poor, these kids are from very affluent families, and they approach it as some nice delicacy.
Don’t worry; I’m not going to be trying dog anytime soon. Or ever for that matter. And I made Paige erase her illustrated picture of her family eating her puppy for dinner…..
These little anecdotes are just a small picture of what my life is like on an hourly basis. I could fill a book with humorous stories, and I’ve only been here for a month. Perhaps to make my life even more fun and exciting, I started dating a striking Irish woman. Really, when I think about my life, I have these moments where I wonder if there are cameras somewhere. Am I living some independent comedy about a Brazilian-looking lesbian living in Seoul, Korea, dating a pale, blonde, Irish woman also living abroad. The funny part about this part of my life is that although Korea is adamantly against homosexuality, Koreans are quite affectionate with each other while walking. Two female friends routinely hold hands, and even two male friends. So despite both Selina and I being closeted at work (well, my foreign teachers know, but not my Korean boss or co-workers), we can walk the streets holding hands and no one is none the wiser. I find this incredibly ironic and funny. Koreans are oblivious to human sexuality, even the butch-est of dykes would pass in this country.
This Friday I have gotten together a group of co-workers to come and see the X-Files opening with me. It has been out in America since July 25th (and I do not want any Americans spoiling it for me), so it has been torturous for a reformed X-Files feign to wait for so long. I hear that they serve peanut butter squid at the theater. This is the only squid that I will be trying, and I will report back to everyone on how that turns out. If you don’t hear from me for a while, I probably got sick and ended up in a Korean hospital getting some sort of anti-biotic stuck in my ass.
Selina and I are heading to the islands just West of Seoul on Saturday to do some camping with her friends on the beach. Apparently they go there every year and camp on the beach and have a bonfire then go to some local bar and get smashed drinking Soju and singing Karaoke…..
More stories to come….
With love from Seoul!
Lindsey
