The sickness has lingered for 2 weeks now. It's as much of a get-me-out-of-Korea-and-get-me-out-now sickness as it is the common flu. I'm suddenly repulsed by this place. The people. The staring. The food. The school lunches. The congestion. The congestion on the subway. On the footpath. In shops. In HomePlus. Everywhere but in my apartment. The rudeness. The hurriedness-to-get-nowhere. Slow people who don't get out of the way. The fashions. Seohyeon. My phone. HomePlus. Especially HomePlus. Seaweed. Rows and rows of seaweed. The scarcity of cheese. What they think a "sandwich" is. How they call it a "sandwichy." What they do to bread. (Why don't you just stick shit through my letterbox?) The absence of pubs. The way people give you a menu when you go out for a drink. The traffic. Especially the traffic. That and HomePlus. HomePlus is only over the road but you can guarantee I'll almost get squashed on the way. Even with the green man. I HAD THE GREEN MAN!!!
The guy watching me put my recycling out. The family watching me check my letterbox. The 70 somethings by the river watching me exercise. The food. The stomach cramps. The way I can't even eat toast anymore without experiencing pains. The bottled water. The drunk and crying men at the chicken hof underneath my window at night. Anyone who drives. People who walk at the same time as me. Foreigners. Foreigners who act like Korea is one big college party. Foreigners who love everything Korean the minute they arrive. The way my co teacher expects me to read her mind, after weeks of next to no communication. The way people think soju is just "fun." The way people believe every food increases "virility and stamina." The way some people extend this believe even to soju. Especially when it's the drunken crying man at the chicken hof, who doesn't look virile at all but rather like a drunken late middle aged taxi driver.
The way work has become a God. The neglect of children. The way children are forced to study. The way the volume of study they do robs them of their childhoods. The neglect of wives. The neglect of families in favour of work and social climbing. The way this creates legions of bitter middle aged women. The way they then make being a pedestrian much harder than it should be.
The author points the finger for all his maladies - past and present - fairly and squarely at the ROK.
Yesterday I spent the day at a place called Seodaemun, in the west of Seoul, with travelling buddy Sarah. As keen history students, we both had the desire to investigate the Seodaemun Prison History Hall. This structure was used by both Koreans and Japanese over the 20th Century for incarcerating dissidents to their respective regimes. As the Japanese annexed the peninsula in 1910 they locked up anyone suspected of fomenting rebellion in their new territory. Many Korean nationalists met their deaths in this gory complex. We were able to see the solitary confinement chambers and the execution building - the one part of the complex off limits to photography. We also witnessed the original torture chambers and some techniques which gave me some good ideas for the classroom.
One of the rows of cells at Seodaemun
The new Seoul looks down onto the old. In fact, from the tops of these residential towers it's possible to see down into the old execution house. The willow on the left became famous as martyrs being lead to their death would often grip the tree and cry out in grievance that their land had not yet been freed. In 1992, a passageway was discovered behind the execution building. It had been used by the Japanese to secretly remove the bodies so as to conceal the amount of prisoners they were killing.
I feel that any historical site like this loses its atmosphere when you are competing for the space with a legion of screaming schoolkids who have been forced to tear themselves away from the xbox on a Saturday. It was nonetheless a beautiful Autumn day and the sun shone warmly on us. Looking at the trees and enjoying this more open and less hectic part of Seoul were the highlights for me. Also was spending time with Sarah, and then meeting up with Lianne and Joelle in Itaewon (the foreigners' punching quarter) for some Thai food later in the evening. Every now and then we relive our Thai holiday together.
The author bites down on the straw of his Long Island Iced Tea so as to distract himself from negative thoughts. On the left, all stylish with lovely new hairstyle - Joelle. On the right, my easygoing and lovable Canadian travel pal - Sarah.
Next weekend I go to Busan with Joelle which should be lovely!
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