Happy Valentine's Day

My four days in Seoul were a lot of fun. As soon as I arrived in the bus terminal in Seoul I took the subway to the World Cup Stadium to meet a number of ETA friends and watch the Asia Qualifiers match between South Korea and Kuwait. I was pretty excited. Being able to see a World Cup qualifying match seems like an opportunity that doesn't arise too often. Even though it was the Lunar New Year (which I think accounted for the number of empty seats) the subway cars were still packed. When I transferred to the brown line I had to squeeze myself into a packed car. This prompted appalled gasps from the passengers already there, who seemed to doubt the capacity of the train. When the train started up, I felt the forward motion from the numerous people pushed against me before I felt it under my feet.

It was cold of course (too cold for the Kuwaitis, to which some attribute their poor playing that night), but the audience was enthusiastic. Many red shirts in the cheering section behind one of the goals. Every few minutes they started on a different song/cheer. There were also drummers. I think the most impressive part was the fact that there was a stadium-wide wave that circled three full times. Even the upper decks participated. Korea won 2-0 and as I ran to the bathroom to beat the crush of people, I saw others running out the exits, I'm guessing to get on the train early, and fireworks exploded in the air over the parking lots.

On Thursday Rachel, her friend Taejun and I went to the National Folk Museum to try to see some Lunar New Year events. My experience at the museum combined with my experience getting a bus to Seoul from Suncheon (I had to wait over two hours for a bus with space) leads me to believe that the old adage that Seoul becomes a ghost-town during the holidays of Chuseok and the Lunar New Year is out-dated. I've read that more people are taking advantage of the holidays to travel, rather than traditionally going to their hometowns in the country. Or maybe more families live in Seoul than used to. The museums had free admission that day and the place was completely packed. There was a performance going on but too many people were standing around it to get a good look. We stayed there for a short period and then went to the Seoul Selection bookstore, because I was hoping to sell or trade a few paperbacks I'd brought with me. Seoul Selection is a cozy little bookstore, expat-oriented, with cheap used books and also a collection of movies for sale. We had tea there and I made a successful swap: a collection of short stories by Sherwood Anderson, Orient Express by Graham Greene and The Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All--a book which I don't know much about but I hear is good (it's length made it a good trade).

In Seoul I experienced the same problem I had in Malaysia, sort of inverse (I hope it doesn't plague me in Tokyo later this month as well). When you're outside even for a relatively short period of time, it's so cold that you just want to go home, so each day we only spent a little time actually doing things. I got to see friends almost every evening though, which was nice. Friday Rachel and I went clothes shopping in Edae (the neighborhood of Ewha Women's University) and Saturday Rachel had some stuff to take care of so I ended up just sitting in my room in the guest house watching television for too many hours. I sort of regret it, mostly because later I realized there were actually a couple of museum exhibits I'd wanted to see, but on the other hand it was sort of refreshing to watch TV for awhile--I spend so much time back in Suncheon feeling bored or reading, it was a nice substitute. There's almost always an American movie playing on Korean television, though usually it's some action flick featuring Jean Claude Van Damme.

Sunday Rachel headed back to Gochang pretty early, but not before a quick trip to Krispy Kreme, where they always have free donuts to sample. Apparently it's the first Krispy Kreme store in Asia. It was smaller than I was expecting, but it makes sense. Seoul is so dense, it doesn't have room for the big-box store strip malls like 82nd street in Portland, where the only other Krispy Kreme I've been to is located, near a Home Depot and a Circuit City. The guest house we'd stayed at was nice, we were fed two meals a day and the ajumma who cooked for us and the other boarders, almost exclusively Japanese students, were kind and friendly. In Seoul I find I usually get mistaken for a student, whereas in Suncheon everyone knows/assumes I am a teacher (for obvious reasons, I guess). One morning when we were eating kimbap and mandu guk (we'd missed breakfast at the guesthouse) a man sitting at the table next to us complimented me on my chopstick abilities, and I explained that I'd lived in Korea for 7 months. He asked if I was a student and when I corrected him he apologized. It was sort of funny to me that he apologized, since I'm certainly the age of most university students in Korea. But his reaction reinforced my impression that teachers are pretty highly regarded in Korea in general, so to be mistaken for a student instead might seem disrespectful.

Matthias's girlfriend Daniella was in town and she was interested in visiting a Korean bathhouse before she flew to Thailand today, so on Sunday I met up with her in the late morning and we went to a bathhouse in Edae I'd been to before. It was nice to sit in the hot tubs, though I usually find the cold tub too cold and the saunas are so hot and dry I feel like I can barely breathe. I appreciated the sauna more that day, you do feel refreshed once you step out, so maybe it takes practice. Afterwards we got lunch and then I went to the express bus terminal. I'll be back in Seoul next weekend, for Billie's art show on the 18th, which should be awesome.

I got home at 8 pm; luckily the family was eating dinner late and I got to eat with them. I've found, with some disappointment, that upon returning from a trip, whether domestic or international, I never really find myself feeling relieved or excited to be returning. Sometimes I even sort of dread it, not because I don't get along with my host family, but that I just find living in a homestay sort of mildly trying most of the time. But, the point I'm getting to is that even though I never look forward to returning home, I'm always received so warmly by everyone, that immediately any disappointment at having to come back disappears, and I feel like I really am very lucky. Last night the family seemed particularly relaxed, and it was a nice atmosphere to return to. I had a little wine with my host parents and they told me about what had gone on in Suncheon while I was gone (the pet rabbit was moved to grandmother's house in the country; there was a demonstration about middle school student placements by angry parents). Today I woke up late and have slipped pretty quickly into my routine of sitting around reading. Though I did leave the house to buy some Valentine's Day treats for my host sisters.