Dispatch
Three: Gregarious Strangers
DISPATCH TIME:
Seoul: 11:30 pm Mon 16 June || L.A.: 7:30 a.m. Mon 16 June
(Seoul - R.Carrasco)
- The humidity has finally come upon us. For the first few days of our trip,
the fabled humidity of Seoul, which I had been warned about by everyone, was
nowhere to be felt. But over the weekend it came on with a vengeance. Maybe
that's why I was a too tired to write every day, and why you are getting one
dispatch for three days. It's either that or the jet lag was still with me.
FRIDAY 13 JUNE
If you had to give a one-hour lecture on American culture to a group of foreigners,
what would you tell them?
The Korean academic given
this assignment, Prof. Mee Won Lee of Kyung
Hee Univ., chose to say very little about present day Korean culture. Rather,
she chose to show slides and speak about a centuries-old Korean theatre-form.
I was a bit perplexed at first, but after discussion and reflection later
in the day I realized that her efforts were part of another theme in Korean
life: The effort to honor Korea's 5,000 year history and tradition in the
face of rampant materialism. Many young people, our hosts tell us, do not
know their culture nor traditions, but Chanel and Shaquille O'Neal, a fact
that disturbs many in the adult generations.
After the lecture it
was lunch at a Japanese-style restaurant. We were treated to vast quantities
of raw fish, kimchi, noodles, soups and sauces. The food just kept on coming!
My wife would have been glad: I even took a few bites of raw squid. How is
that for doing like the Romans?!
After lunch we visited
majestic Kyongbong Palace. Then it was
off to the GCS Club, where the GCS national club leader dropped the hammer:
Would we, the participants of the Los Angeles-Seoul travel group, consider
starting a GCS club in our own communities? This, evidently, is one of the
deeper purposes of the trip, to introduce us to both Korea and to the principles
of a worldwide movement for peace. At a participants-only follow-up meeting,
we decided to not make any moves now, but to wait until we had returned to
Los Angeles and been there for a bit before reconsidering.
The rest of the evening
was as uneventful as it was peaceful. The more energetic souls followed a
Seoul-saavy member of our group to a University-town for dinner and (can you
believe it?) Salsa music and dancing. Derek and I retired to our room, still
winging in and out of consciousness (jet lag!).
SATURDAY 14 JUNE
Derek and I finally called home in the morning. One may purchase a phone card
for 5000 won (about 5.7 dollars; the exchange rate is 870 won for one dollar)
that lasts about five minutes. Phone cards may be used at most public phones,
so I used the card to make two calls home, one from the hotel, another later
from "the hood."
We spent half of our
day at a Korean mecca of materialism - the kind Prof. Mee Won Lee and her
colleagues fear - known as Lotte World. Lotte World is so big that I didn't
bother to take photos. Imagine if the MGM Hotel in Las Vegas (the green
hotel with the lion head for an entrance, a block from where Tupac was shot)
was one giant shopping center. Lotte World has a department store, a heritage
museum, six floors of stuff, an amusement park - and people compression unlike
any I have ever seen. I dare say that Seoul, on average, is more people congested
than Manhattan, and inside the department store there were more humans than
air.
Lotte World didn't take
up the whole day. Derek and I took some time to look for "the hood."
Being from Northwest Pasadena, we were naturally interested in seeing where
some of the lower income people in Seoul live. We walked in and out of high-rise
building areas, into back streets, around corners and crannies. What we found
was - families. Many adults watched us closely, we realized later, for their
children would unabashedly walk right up to us and start talking or laughing
at the strangers. But things like graffitti, loitering youths, excessive trash
or urban decay - they must put these in a box somewhere, because they were
sure not visible.
SUNDAY 15 JUNE
In the morning we attended a worship service at a voluminous Presbyterian
church where the Korean president is a member, a church "of standard
charm, inspiring the standard awe." After the service we met a Sun Microsystems
evangelist for the Java platform (gave him my card and email, took his).
Immediately after, Derek
and I returned to the room and slept again! What is it with us? But after
a great sleep, Derek and I got up and went back into the neon alley-ways.
Dinner came on a stick, a ke-bob sort of thing from a street vendor with good
yet untraced meat. We washed it down with a Mystic Lemonade (1000 won, about
$1.15 US).
Then it was on to Pideo
Bang, or Video Room. Pideo Bang is a video store where you not only rent the
movie, but get a private room in which to watch your movie. There is a large
window on one side, so there is not much threat of illicit activity. I chose
a Korean drama. The attendant notified me in a mix of English and hand-gestures
that this movie was Korean only, no English language or subtitles. All the
better. Derek and I watched about twenty minutes before growing tired of playing
Mystery Science Theater with the movie.
I mentioned a few times
that I have been sleepy and weary. I thought it was jet lag, then I thought
it was homesickness. I concluded that it wasn't either. If it is possible
to be unrejuvenated in spirit, then that's what it is. It is rare in Korea
to have a gregarious conversation with a virtual stranger in the way it is
possible in the U.S. Even with our hosts, there is not the same warmth of
spirit I enjoy in Northwest Pasadena or East Los Angeles. I've imagined what
this trip would be like were the location Latin America. I miss that vivacious
spirit. It's part of who I am. I suspect that's part of the reason I'm tired,
a deficit of the spirit I thrive on.
All this is not to say
that Koreans are spiritless. To the contrary, there are enough Koreans laughing
in my general direction that I know they are a joyful people. And if the television
dramas are any indication (are they?) Koreans are also a passionate people.
Once this weekend I was
graced with a spurt of American style public banter. A Korean woman, about
20 years old, approached me and Derek to practice her English. Somehow she
understood culture as well as language. She even looked me in the eye a few
times. We talked for a few minutes, then she wished us well and continued
on her way. We watched her walk away, grateful, until she disappeared into
the density and humidity of the city.
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