A year in Korea

Too busy to adjust

Well, I'm employed.  I got a dishwashing job at a french restaraunt downtown.  I'm pretty sure this is going to make the summer much more enjoyable, because as nice as it sounds, having nothing to do started to be pretty boring.

Having a Monday through Friday gig makes everything seem normal and familiar again.  I have to say that coming back was never too weird for me (although it really hit home when the bar closed at 2 last night... those in korea know how different that would be).  But about the job, it makes me long for the days when I was an "english teacher" back in Seoul.  The pay was about 3 or 4 times better, and the work was exponentially easier.  Washing dishes is making returning to Korea sound pretty appealling.

But, I'm about to sign a two year cell phone contract with verizon, so it looks like I'll be around here for about that long.

Left Behind

So far, the biggest thing that's bugging me is that I don't know where my place is.  Mostly I'm talking about hanging out with my friends.  I've always had little circles of friends, and not really only held on to one particular group, but rather get my fix here and there, and them move on.  Now that I've seen just about everyone I had planned on seeing once, I don't feel like I fit in with them anymore.  Theyr'e all doing there own thing, which is wonderful, and I'm glad to see that they've all been active and driven while I've been gone, but their growth in the last year excluded me, for obvious reasons, so now that I'm back, I feel like everyone got a running start.  I'm sure this feeling will diminish after a while, and it's part of coming home, but it's a strange feeling.

Anti-clamactically bizarre

Well, I've been home for about four days.  I use 'home' in the most subjective way possible here.  I've had requests to keep the blog going while I figure out what the hell I just did for a year (i was in korea), and how one readjusts to their former location.  I guess I'll do so chronologically.

First and formost, they lost my bags in Taipei.  I was coming from Seoul on the 10th, but my flight got delayed for nearly three hours because of the typhoons in Taiwan (I like telling people that my return home was delayed because of the "typhoons in Taiwan"... it sounds worldly and dangerous).  Ultimately, it was cool, though.  If my flight had left on time, I would have had to kill three hours in the worst place in the world, the Tiapei International Airport.  I've had a couple layovers there, and that place is no better than a series of single-wide trailers welded together.  But no, instead of having a layover, my flight landed in Taipei about 20 minutes after my flight from Taipai to SF was supposed to depart.  In an unprecedented move, they held the plane for me.  Amazing.  I landed in Taiwan and as soon as I walked off the plane, I heard "Mr. Bailey, please follow me.  Run."  So we ran through the generic hallways to my across-the-world flight that was waiting for yours truly.  In retrospect it was fantastic, but of course this meant that there would be no way my checked baggage would make it.  Even though it has been a little annoying and a less-than-perfect process, the last of my bags will arrive, delivered to my doorstep, within the hour, so it's all good in my book.

After spending some time during my layover in SF with a friend, I arrived in Portland at 8 a.m. on the 11th.  By the way, I flew on probably the worst day to try to fly in the last three years.  There was a ban on all liquids on board, and I had to check a bag I could have easily brought with me (on top of that I had to throw away my contact solution).  Anyway, my lovely mother picked me up at the airport, for a dramatic return home.  Except for getting to see moms again, everything was much less dramatic that I was thinking it would be.

As a generally quiet, analyzing type of guy, instead of constantly yelling out "Oh Wow! this is totally different than Korea.  Oh my god!  Paper towels!  Breakfast!" I just kind of sat there.  First of all, to give you an understanding of the sort of time difference I had just gone through, I technically arrived in San Fransisco about two hours before I departed from Taipei (it was the dateline that did it.  the flight was about 11 hours, I think).  I was exhausted, and on top of that i didn't really know what to think.  It wasn't crazy, but it wasn't completely dull either.

Probably the strangest single even I could point to was going out with two of my best friends last Saturday night.  We hit up some of the old spots we used to frequent, and I was totally blown away by how lame I thought it was.  I had been fantasizing how glorious Portland was, and now that I was back, I gained a new appriciation for Seoul.  This is all in terms of nightlife, though.  In the daytime, I'm pretty confident that Portland beats Seoul, but for nightlife, I'm skeptical. 

I had forgotten how annoying drunk Americans (mostly from the suburbs) are.  There were plenty of white people in Seoul, and you could definately tell that they acted differently when out on the town, but I always attributed that to them being in a foreign place, so acting somewhat obnoxiously was a part of that (i'm sure know I was at some points).  But that night in Chinatown, whitey was everywhere, and I was simply not sympathetic to their behavior.  If you're abroad, by all means act a fool, but at home... wow.

Being home has been easier than I had dreaded it to be.  I no longer have to work up the nerve to ask where the bathroom is, or worry about people laughing at me when I speak.  I did accedentily bow to someone the other day, which was funny, but other than that I'm doing fine in my re-adjustment.  The only problem is I don't really have much to do right now, but we'll see what I can do about that.

I'm back...

I don't really feel like writing very much, but i'm in portland.

After flying to Taipei, and San Fransisco, I arrived in PDX around 8:00 this morning.  I'm exhausted and jetlagged, and on top of that I feel totally weird because I'm in America again.  I don't know what to do, but I guess I'll figure it out.

Right now I need sleep, but it feels good to finally be home.  It was a long time coming.

Korea Photos

Yesterday, I finished a week long trip through Dynamic Korea.  They didn't lie.  It is indeed dynamic.  To the mountains, temples, and cities, I brought two Kodak disposable cameras.  I have developed the film, but opted not to get a digital version of the photos due to a new financial policy.  If you are one of the people who I will physically see in the future, rather than clicking a link to view the photos, just ask me and I will show them to you.

I also have some pics I never put up on the blog that are nice as well.  But those are somewhat exclusive.  I can't share everything.  Especially if it's incriminating.

2 Days...

I met my friends Ji-un and Su-Jin today for the last time.  About 10 months ago, when I was really struggling with the Korean language class, I grabbed a little flyer that was taped to a phone booth that said "Language Exchange Partner wanted."  They are two graduate students at the women's university next to Yonsei.  I gave them a call and we all got along really well, and it turned out that grabbing that flyer was a great, defining moment of my stay here.

To me, these two women were spectacular examples of the enjoyable side of Korea.  They were fun, caring, and selfless.  They helped me as I struggled through my Korean exams, and I helped them in their translation classes.  After the first semester, I stopped taking the language class, but we continued to meet, but less often.

Today, they took me out to lunch, bought me a cup of coffee, and even bought me with a  book, filled with amazing pictures of daily life in Korea.  I didn't see that last part coming and I was speechless.

Although seeing them today was fun, as it almost always was (the only time it wasnt was when they were trying to explain the difference between subject and object particles.  that, I didn't care for),  but at the same time, it was also quite sad.  Who knows when I'll come back here, if ever, so it is quite possibly the last time I'll see them again.  I guess I still haven't taken in the idea that at this point in my life, 99% of the people I'll come across are only temporary fixtures and friends.

The idea of leaving Korea has been completely abstract, until today.  Now it feels very real.

But enough sulking!!!  I'm off to see DJ Shadow tonight, which is a nice little finisher to my stay.  Now I just have to pack all my stuff (it's amazing how much crap I've managed to accumulate in a year) and get my self to the airport on time.  I'll leave around 7 pm on the 10th, arrive in SF that night (because of the dateline thing), stay in SF with a friend, and then get to Portland the morning of the 11th.  Freaky!

The Digs

As I did last night, i'll be staying in a place that offers me a floor to sleep on, but I have to turn the lights off at 9 and get up at 3 the next morning.  This is called 'temple stay.'  Right now I'm staying at Heinsa, a temple in the middle of Korea.  My little tour of Korea should be ending soon, and I'm looking forward to getting back to Seoul, and ultimately back to the states (5 days).

More than one Asia?

That's right, I'm saying it.  There's a difference between these countries we group together in Asia.  I'm not calling for any gerrymandering here, but since I'm traveling through rural korea, I can't help but draw on the last time I traveled through small Asian towns then when I went through Thailand and Cambodia.

One of the major draws of the SE asia curcuit is that the countries themselves have a breathtaking amount of natural beauty, and Korea has it's share too.  I will associate 99% of my thoughts about Korea to those of Seoul, but now that it's summertime and the skys are blue and the trees are green, I've come to realize that the rest of Korea is quite nice, and I didn't give it much of a chance to explore.  But since I have traveled through these other countries in Asia (i'm not claiming to be an expert, it's just something i did once), I can't help thinking that there is something lacking here that makes it so low on the list of everyone's "places I want to go this summer."

As I was thinking about this today, I kept coming back to the phrase, "loss of innocence."  The amount of charm an experience has quickly decreases when Korean tourists come around.  I experienced this in Cambodia, too.  The korea tourist fits a strict definition.

Korean tourists are mad.  Everything is a photo op, everything is an opportunity to use new high-tech hiking gear, and everything is a place that should be viewed in a single file line.  As I was walking through a park yesterday, willing to sell my seoul for a swimming hole, I thought how perposterous my idea was because if there was a good river for swimming somewhere, there would be at least 4 million people there.  Thats just the way it works here, at least July-August.  A friend told me that no one travels here until the first day of summer and throughout.  So the day before summer, an invitation to the beach would probably be replied with something like "are you crazy?  it's practically winter."

But this relationship that has appeared freaks me out a bit.  Cambodia/Thailand > no domestic tourists > good.  Korea > swarms of domestic tourists > bad.  Does a place become less appealing when its citizens obtain the economic power to become tourists?  That's probably not entirely true, but there's something right about it, too. 

As westerners, we love the 'other.'  And it's nice to see someone living in a hut because we don't have to do it.  The more that people strive to work for conglomorates like Korea's Samsung, or Hayundai, the less I really want to have anything to do with them.  Call it selfish if you like, because that isn't all that wrong.  I'm being entirely selfish when I say that as a traveler/tourist/backpacker/ connesieur of UNESCO World Heritage sights, the more people try to be like Americans, the less I really want to have anything to do with it.

If i wanted to spend my time around corporate tools, I could have gone to Beaverton.

Kyeongju

I've spent the last two days in "open-air museum" that is Kyeongju, Korea.  It's an interesting place and I have to say that the pace of the city appeals to me.  The 'quickly quickly' mantra of Seoul weighs down on me pretty heavily, and if nothing else, slowing down back home seems nice.

Most of what I've seen are temples and tombs that date back to the early days of Korea.  A couple of the temples I've seen today have been dubbed "world heritage" sights by UNESCO, which is a pretty cool title if you ask me.  Just going there makes me feel like a bit of a diplomat.

Also in the town there are scattered tombs that look like perfectly formed hills throughout the city.  One (and maybe all of them, i don't know) was excavated to discover artifacts that date back to 400 (+/-) AD.  Thats pretty old.  To give perspective, these tombs are about 47m in diameter.  Pretty big.  I'll post pictures when I get them developed.

As this place is not Seoul, there are not as many foreigners here, even though it is quite touristed.  I was sitting under a tree trying to cool down (it's really really hot) a kid walks by with his dad.  He stares at me and tugs on his dad's shorts and says in Korean either "He's really American." or "He's really American?"  I'm not quite sure which.  His mom encouraged him to say hello, so he came up to me and asked "hi are you," to which I replied "i'm fine, thank you. and you?" (this is the common responce to 'how are you' here).  He proceded to ask me a list of things that he wanted to know, all of which concerned what I liked.  The first being, "Do you like chicken?" This went on for a while, but i'm traveling alone, so I welcomed the company.

13 days

I sat down with some friends last night for a little get together with the folks that came here last august.  We all went took classes together fall semester, and for one reason or another managed to stick around.  There aren't many of us left, and I haven't really kept up with all of them, so it was nice to hang out.

The best part of it was catching up with a guy we affectionately refer to as "old mike."  He's not old, but in his late 20's, which caused some of the hong kong students to call him dad.  He's traveled and lived in China for several years, been all over the U.S. and has some knowledge about going away and coming home.  I told him that I was nervous about going home.  Nervous that everything has moved on without me, and changes will have taken place that I won't be able to understand because I've been away.  I don't want to feel like a stranger in a place I used to feel so comfortable. 

He kinda laughed at me and told me I had it completely backwards.  "If anything," he said "it's that when you go home, you have to worry that it hasn't changed, and eventually you start to think it never will."  For the short term, at least, I'm glad to hear it.  I didn't know what to expect when I came here, and now that I'm returning, I have some loose idea of what it's going to be like, but no real clue what to expect.

Today is my last day of work in Korea, which is nice.  I think those kids were going to give me an aneurysm.  To shed the last of the days away, I'm leaving Seoul (which has been soaking wet lately), and going to check out the Korean countryside.  It's a mad rush to the end, and I think this will be a good way to go out.