Seoul Man

05-06-2010
Day 60 of 365: I know, I know...it's cheezy and unoriginal. As you can surely guess, my topic for today is about my recent visits to Seoul, which is only less than an hour's train ride away from Ansan. Believe it or not, it's sometimes difficult to come up with clever titles for every blog entry that are both culturally relevant and easily recognizable by Americans, which make up probably 95% of my readers. Just be grateful I didn't use "Seoul Train" to talk about the subway system, or "Seoul Food" to expound on Korean cuisine. Then there's "Seoul Music", "Seoul Mates" and "Heart & Seoul", which are all admittedly terrible, but they did pop into my head while I was brainstorming. However, I think my favorite blog title that I'm not going to use is, "I've got Seoul, but I'm not a Soldier", referring to the American military base in Seoul (for all those Killers fans out there). So as you can see, I put a lot of thought into this. If you think you can do better (which shouldn't be too hard), feel free to post your cleverness in the comments section. I'm interested to see what other brains can come up with, just don't make me look too bad.

Seoul. I call it the New York City of Korea. At around 16,000,000, Seoul accounts for about 1/3 of the country's population, and is the 4th largest city in the world behind Tokyo, Jakarta and NYC. For a country that is the size of Indiana, Seoul packs them in pretty tight. There are not many traditional neighborhoods here, or in South Korea for that matter. Land is very valuable, and they maximize its potential value by building vertically. Most everyone lives in apartments, for which there are rows and rows of apartment buildings lined up all across the city. The few traditional houses that I have seen are very old looking, but are in what's considered to be upscale areas of the city. As you can imagine, there's a lot to do in Seoul. Having not visited the "Big Sa-Kwa" (Korean for "Apple") during my whole first month in SK, I have recently taken opportunities to explore Seoul each of the last 3 weekends. I've done something completely different each time I've gone, and I still haven't even visited any of the many temples, palaces, bath houses, museums or parks that Seoul has to offer. My first priority so far has been to sample the various foods in Seoul that I can't find in Ansan. I've yet to visit a Mexican restaurant, but I now know that they exist. I've seen a couple with my own 2 eyes. I've even heard that one of them is actually decent. A good Mexican restaurant in South Korea? I'm not holding my breath. If there is such a thing, I'll be sure to blog about it. The second priority has been to explore the many street markets in and around Seoul. From talking to other English speaking foreigners, I've learned that some markets are known for selling goods for extremely cheap, while other places are known for bargaining. In these places, foreigners can get ripped off really easily if you don't know the value of what you're buying. The best strategy is to go in knowing the basic value for things on the street, such as shirts, pants, sunglasses, hats, shoes, bootleg dvd's, etc. If you know this, then it's only a matter of how much over or under the street value you're willing to pay versus what the vendor is trying to sell it for. I bought that blue jean jacket in the photo for 5 bucks. I didn't know the street value at the time, but I figured it was a pretty good deal, plus I'm kind of 80's like that. Bottom line: deals definitely aren't always too good to be true, and foreigners who can also use a little bit of Korean when bargaining goes a long way.

On future trips into the big city, I think I will focus on trying to find my way around on my own. So far I've followed other people when touring the streets, and it doesn't always help me to pay attention to my surroundings. I've got a worn and weather beaten subway linemap that was handed down to me from a friend. This map is special because it's in English, which you can only find in a few places in the city. I call it my "treasure map", and I feel like Indiana Jones whenever I plot a new course to an unexplored part of the city, or make a written note of a special discovery at a certain station. The fact that it's old and barely held together by scotch tape in the creases makes my imaginings even more credible.

So that's my brief introduction to Seoul. I'm sure I'll have more to write about as I continue to familiarize myself with this Korean metropolis. Seoul isn't where Godzilla always attacks by the way; that's Tokyo, Japan in case you were wondering. I'll be going there soon, so I'll look for him. On a different note, I've been in South Korea for exactly 2 months as of today. The first few weeks felt like months, but now it feels like time's moving a little faster. I'm still trying to take advantage of every opportunity I have to try new things and learn the language and culture, which often leaves me feeling worn out at the end of every day. I always feel tired, and I'm not sure if it's because of poor sleep, diet, lack of exercise, general busyness or a combination of all four. I'm experimenting to remedy this. Although there are many special events related to my friends and family back home that I regret not being able to take part in, I feel like my time spent here is still worthwhile as long as I make the best of every situation. One year doesn't seem impossible anymore.