"What is the city but the people?"  - William Shakespeare

~~~~

I know what you’re thinking: "Why, oh why, hast she forsaken us? These journal entries, which we once held so dear in our hearts, did suddenly desist?"   Well, maybe you weren't thinking that, but I have a perfectly plausible explanation, dear readers: I was busy, yo.

As some of you may know, I visited South Korea with my Mother, sister and brother. It was certainly interesting. We had fun times, and some not as fun times. I suspect Charles Dickens would have a line appropriate for this.

We spent a large majority of our time in Seoul, the capital of South Korea.  Seoul is a bustling city, filled with crisscrossing streets, endless streets of restaurants, slightly bizarre museums, and an extensive subway system.  While we were in Seoul, we stayed at one hotel (with rather interesting desk attendants) and travelled throughout the city by subway.  Everyone stuffed their pockets full of numerous versions of the same few maps of Seoul (provided to clueless foreigners at "information desks" which seem to almost be randomly placed throughout the city), and thus began our aimless wondering.

Upon our arrival in Seoul, we had a little trouble finding a hotel. We walked from hostel to hostel, hotel to hotel down shady alleys and around sharp corners.  We even began to see a hotel mirage. Finally we (completely accidently) stumbled upon the "Cara" hotel. The attendants inside were interesting. My mother, known for her hard-core bargaining, stood at the front desk for 45 minutes arguing with the man about the price of our room. We only wanted one room to share (S. Korea isn't so cheap). The man behind the desk waved his arms animatedly and shouted at us: "Hey, hey, youuuu! This roomy, Korean style roomy! Hey you! Cheap... mother, sister, hey, heyyyy." When we wouldn't budge, "Okay, discount, discount! Hey YOU!"  We ended up staying there for the whole time we were in Seoul (about 9 nights).

We spent our time wondering the streets like a lost cause. One morning we were standing in the ally that our hotel resided in, and a small cat banged into my sister's leg at high speed. The cat was trying to squeeze between Katie's leg and an extremely small space, and needless to say, he didn't make it by a long shot.

We visited a palace in Seoul, and had a guided tour. Our tour guide was a little grouchy. She didn't tolerate any "funny business." Our tour group had about 60 foreigners in it, and if there was too much talking going on during her explanations or too many "monkey shines," she cracked her tour-guide whip and shouted at us to keep orderly, and keep in line.

This brings me to explain briefly about our experience with local Seoul people. Since we travelled quite a lot on the subway, we really got up close and person with the locals.  They are quite... busy, shall we say.  I have never experienced so much shoving, banging, and toe stomping in my life -- and I lived in Hong Kong for 2 months, and took the subway everyday there. Seoul during rush hour makes Hong Kong look like a child's playground.

The people (generally, not in all cases, of course) tended to be hurried, rough and unfriendly in Seoul. Outside of Seoul, the people were a little nicer, but still not quite up to China's level of excessive friendliness. China and South Korea are like night and day. I would not presume to understand Korean culture after only 2 weeks there. Heck, I have lived off and on in China for 10 years, and I've just barely brushed the surface of understand the culture.  It takes years to truly comprehend a place and its people and traditions. I may have gotten a bad first impression.

For example, I was given an interesting...hand gesture... at an outdoor shopping area in Seoul (called Namdaemun, I don't recommend it). The vendor got very mad when I asked for a discount. He must have been surprised I knew enough to know he was ripping me off.

We had another interesting interaction with a local, though this was not on the same scale as Namdaemun.  One night we were wondering around the streets. We passed a man in the street, and as we were walking away, he shouted, "Where are you from?" We replied, "America!" He quickly returned to us and began his shpleel.

He was very disorganized in thought and movement. He was carrying a black trash bag full of papers. He excitedly pulled out some fliers and thrust them at us. "Do you believe in Jesus Christ?" he said, handing us papers, written all in Korean. We replied yes, and he said, "You know, all problems in this world can being solved by the Jesus Christ. There is a condition, and that condition is not known by others, but we must solve it! One condition will be solved, you know what?"  We asked what, he said, "That is Jesus Christ."

He turned to Fritz. "Remember this sentence: "You can get 3 jobs with 3 companies with more than 300 employees within 10 years.""  He had us all repeat the sentence several times, then asked what businesses we were interested in. "For example," he said, waving his hands and dropping several fliers. "A library. You can work hard and become the CEO of a library. The key is learning that sentence!!! Solve this mathematical occasion: you can get 3 jobs with 3 companies with more than 300 employees within 10 years.

"What is the answer to this mathematical occasion?" he demanded of Fritz. Fritz shrugged. "This condition is in Jesus Christ!"  He rattled on for another 30 minutes before we succeeded in making our way back to our hotel.  Before parting with him, he said loudly, "Ackermans, your name is? Ackermans! We will meet on this day, this month in 10 years!!! You will be the CEO of a library! Remember this sentence!!!"

It's just a hunch, but he may have had a few screws loose.

All this so far was very interesting, but the best was yet to come, my friends! One day we took a tour of the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone -- neutral zone between the boarder of North and South Korea).  We went through the USO (United Services Organizations), and there was no kidding around with this.  The tour started at 7:00AM sharp. We took a bus for 1 1/2 hours to the DMZ.  Once we had arrived at the checkpoint to enter the DMZ, pictures were strictly forbidden. We entered a base which held United States and South Korean soldiers. Passports were checked (no Koreans were allowed on this tour).  A US soldier hopped on our bus and accompanied us to all neutral sites.  We visited the Joint-Security area.  Everyone on the tour made two orderly lines. In groups we entered the South Korea neutral zone.  We entered a building, exited out the back and stood on a porch.  In front of us, not more than 100 yards away stood North Korea.  A tall, dull, dirty-white building loomed in front of us.  Behind its dirty windows, the soldier assured us, were North Korean soldiers watching our every move. Contact with the North Koreans was strictly forbidden, of course. No one dared put a toe out of line.

We entered a blue building -- this was a meeting room. Inside were armed S. Korean soldiers, posed in an aggressive stance and wearing dark sunglasses. We were told he would break our arm if we touched him. People scurried hither and thither to take photos with the S. Korean soldier (while holding their breath). One side of the room was technically North Korean soil.

We also visited a peak nearby where we had a clear view of North Korea. We could see a white lookout post, where we were "being watched like a hawk" by the North Koreans. In the distance was the very edge of a propaganda village, which daily shouted phrases of encouraged desertion from the South to the "wonderful, beautiful" North.

We stood on North Korean soil.  It's hard to explain the feeling I had as I stood on North Korean soil. An eerie shiver ran down my spine.  I've never really felt something like that before. I guess I just never had the opportunity to stand on "enemy" soil before that (not that just everyone goes and stands on North Korean soil).

Lastly, we visited a tunnel which the North Koreans dug in an attempt to invade South Korea. This tunnel (the 3rd of 4 tunnels) was discovered in 1978.  At first I thought going down into the tunnel would be like going down into the Scranton coal mine.  How wrong I was, my friends! The tunnel was very dark, very wet, and very small. I literally bent my knees and hunched over the entire time.  The tunnel is also quite deep. A slanted decline lead us down into the abyss of darkness. Most of us ran down the decline (not by choice, but it was so steep, you couldn't help but run). The climb back up to the surface was surprisingly difficult. Even the best of jocks broke a sweat climbing back up. My mother, sister and I all dragged our feet up. We couldn't stop going and rest, though it was temping. We had to keep going. "Keep going," I said. "There's a light at the end of the tunnel!" Shockingly, no one appreciated my puns during the hike back up. 

The tour to the Demilitarized Zone was the most exciting thing I've ever done. I highly recommend it. Nothing says adventure like possibly being shot by N. Korea!

Besides Seoul, we visited cities such as Daegu, Daejeon, Busan, and a few others.

South Korea was interesting, even if some of its people are a little rough. The food isn't the only spicy thing 'round those parts.

Now I've settled down in Shenyang, TEACHING ENGLISH CLASSES (I know, that's an entirely different blog entry), and studying like crazy.

Now, dear readers, I must retire to my bed, to dream of travel and adventure. I've checked S. Korea off my list.

Next stop: Mongolia.

Until next time, Zaijian!

~Monika