A student of philosophy

Two days ago I took an express bus to Seoul with my eldest host sister Seo In; I was going to an art showing my friend and fellow ETA Billie was putting on in Hongdae, and Seo In was visiting her mother's cousin and investigating a couple universities in Seoul (Seo In will be starting her second-to-last year of high school in March). On the bus she told me that her cousin wanted to meet me; he was a university student about my age. He'd actually been in Suncheon the previous weekend, but I had been in Seoul then, too. When we reached the Express Bus Terminal in Seoul, it was 5:30 and he wouldn't be able to make it to meet her until 6. I had a little time to spare before the art show, and Seo In seemed sort of nervous about being left alone (her mother had insisted on buying my ticket from Suncheon to Seoul since I'd agreed to ride the same bus at Seo In), and so I hung out with her until the cousin arrived.

He was tall and friendly and eager to speak to me in English, though our conversation followed the usual path; him laughing and biting his fist in exasperation as he tried to form a sentence and me smiling and listening patiently, a little embarassed by how embarassed he was. He seemed very young to me, despite his height and earnestness. Then a friend of his from school showed up, a short, slope-shouldered young man in black-framed glasses and a plaid flannel who spoke English with confidence and completed the image of the universal college nerd when he informed me he was a physics major.

We rode the orange subway line several stops together; they had to transfer to the blue line to get to the musical they were attending, and I had to transfer to the green line to get to the Ewha/Hongdae area. During that time the cousin made more noble attempts to converse with me. I learned he was a philosophy major, 22 years old (Korean age). When I asked him if university was fun or difficult, he seemed stymied but allowed that it was "not fun." Then we encountered another linguistic roadblock as he tried to convey that he was currently on break from school. His Physics friend seemed be enjoying himself somewhat. He turned to me and said, "He is preparing to join the military right now," to which the cousin responded, "No, no no!" I was a little surprised by this reaction, knowing that all young men are required to serve in the military, getting drafted sometime during their university years, if they are students. Then the friend admitted that actually the cousin was against military service. I learned from the cousin himself that he was not going to serve in the military, which meant that he would have to go to prison. He struggled some more as he tried to express his ideology about it---he asked his friend to translate 'faith' for him, but finally he just said that in Europe young men had choices, they were not required to serve in the military. He asked me what it was like in the U.S. and I tried to explain. Above all, I was sympathetic to his situation and impressed that he was willing to go to prison for his beliefs---and surprised that there were no other recourses for him (that he couldn't sue his way out of it, or, as I believe they sometimes do in Israel, do community service of some kind instead). At that point his friend took the opportunity to inform me that he was planning on immigrating to the U.S. as soon as possible and wanted to know if I had any advice for him. He seemed disappointed when I had trouble coming up with any, so I asked him if he had any questions, and we ended up discussing whether or not he'd be able to get a job if he were a student in the U.S. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the cousin looking a bit shamefaced and rueful at the almost pointed overshadowing that was taking place.

When we parted ways the cousin told me that sometimes he comes to Suncheon, and I said I looked forward to seeing him again. My host sister also seemed a little sad that we wouldn't be able to hang out more in Seoul. I headed to Edae to meet a friend and we walked to the art show, which was taking place in a small, basement venue, with live music. A lot of people came, a number of ETAs as well as young Koreans. I was really impressed by Billie's artwork, not to mention her ability to pull this sort of event together as a foreigner. On Saturday I spent a couple hours visiting travel agencies trying to see if I could get a cheap last minute ticket to Tokyo or Osaka, but apparently the idea came to me a little too late, as all the flights were booked. I also paid a visit to the art museum at the Seoul Arts Center, a special exhibit of European paintings, a sort of retrospective. They had a number of pieces on loan from prominent European museums, and I saw some famous works--Monet, a couple Picassos, a lot of Gauguin, some Matisses and "The Death of Marat." I enjoyed the exhibit, though it was pretty crowded since it was Saturday, and there was more than one noisy child (one took a swipe at a museum employee who tried to give him his shoe which had fallen off). That afternoon I caught a bus back and arrived in Suncheon around 9 pm, and went to bed early.

This afternoon I had a conversation with my host mother about her cousin. It turns out he is the son of her uncle who was released from prison last year (he's now at a university in the U.S. as a visiting researcher---the one who taught me how to sit cross-legged in "Chuseok"). The family is pretty worried by the cousin's decision to go to prison instead of serve in the military, because it will make it very difficult for him to get a good job (though I guess if you're a well-established academic it doesn't hold you back much). Apparently the family wants the cousin to study abroad (maybe this exempts him from military service?), but he isn't interested. I got the impression the uncle was a bit consternated by his son's decision, and his involvement in the labor movement, though my host mother noted that her uncle was also a student activist against the dicatorship that ruled Korea under the guise of a democracy not so long ago. My host mother said that since Korea has a shrinking population, the military requirement is particularly serious. When I asked her, If North and South Korea unified, would military service still be required? she responded, "But China!" Looking at Korea's history, its current relationship with China, and the fear many have of Communism, I can understand why the country is constantly on the military defensive, but it's so different from what I'm used---I have to remind myself that the U.S.'s military program, the program of a country with a dense population and all kinds of missiles and bombs to protect itself, can't possibly be the norm.

On Tuesday I head to Busan to catch an overnight ferry to Osaka. I'll be meeting Elliot in Kyoto and then taking a bus to Tokyo for a few days. I might get a chance to write here, but Elliot and his friend Vince also have a travel blog going---you can read it at www.elliotlevin.com.