Narrow Vision on Slow Paths

As I've mentioned before, Korea has its fast paced mentality, but it also moves slowly in a beautiful dancing motion when you narrow your vision. Sure, that sounds a bit flowery and a bit too broad for a specific quick deciphering. But, something that I've realized on my long and slow excursions outside my four wall apartment is that in order to take in South Korea, you really need to "stop and pick flowers." And, sometimes literally. In order to grasp this country and shake it in your brain, you need to focus and zoom in until your eyes see pixelated lines and shades, until your vision is numb in utter awe and content, until your focus spills out of the tunnel. And tumbles into another. Stepping out of the main street and wandering into an alley that leads to another alley, tends to take me to a back road that is quiet and serene as watching the world from heights. 

Seoul at Heights

Sure, in the midst of the action, Seoul can be your typical boisterous city with blaring music and business vendors yelling out discounts on their echoing microphones, children running and screaming, ajimas (old Korean ladies with permed hair and flowery visor hats) scuttling about, teenagers laughing and texting and flirting, cars honking, buses zooming by...

but then you climb a hill, or walk further down..a little further..and then a bit more...sound suddenly, completely mutes. As if you're flying above a mountain in a dream and the only sound you can hear is that of your own, inside your mind, gasping for more. 

Some moments of hiking further up the peaks of inner Seoul, I turn to take another glance, just to make sure that deep grey cloud hugging the green mountain hasn't faded into the blue sky. Then there's that serene moment of resting your elbows over the ancient city walls, as if holding onto a blue blanket and talking to Charlie Brown until the sun goes down. Resting at these chunks of walls that notes the original city limits makes me feel that time travel does indeed exist; I'm suddenly not standing in modern day Seoul, that's for damn sure. 

Over these walls, small houses are cluttered below with rooftops in an obvious struggle of not collapsing, rather, they steady themselves with beautiful gardens galore. The only noise heard is the buzz of the monster-sized dragonflies swirling around and around within the city walls. They nearly swat my face in their obtuse angle of flight, showing off their enormous wings. 

Anybody feeling lifeless and dead inside should take a look at Seoul from the top of a hill or the tip of Seoul Tower, and rethink their life. These points of the city is equivalent to recharging your camera battery. It seriously does the same to your inner energy.  

Random Moments of Beauty and Oddity in the Bu (UijeongBU)

I'm not sure why I have this deep and ever growing fascination with, not only South Korea, but Uijeongbu itself. Over the years, I have grown accustomed to walking at a fast pace amongst smile-less people with a void glazed over their eyes, over their bodies. And I come to this tiny city (because after living in large fast paced cities, this is considered a tiny city in my book) to find that I need to slow down. A lot. Almost halt myself and begin by taking baby steps from A to B. Because as much city Uijeongbu seemingly holds, it is a town. A town with tall buildings and copious amounts of people. So, as I walk at the pace of the Uijeongbu-ians, I learned exactly why they walk in such a manner...or at least I learned why I myself wouldn't mind taking my time. Easy. This country is beautiful. And so is the vibe the dwellers set off, especially the children. They have an innocent and pure life in them that I've decided to take in as well. And, while I'm at it, take pictures along the way. Stopping life to take a picture here and there has its extreme advantages. For example, I would never have come across a random naked man at noon thirty, alone on a rock in the stream. (haha) But in seriousness, I wouldn't have thought to pause myself and appreciate the view, the smell of trees and mist and food (and sometimes the disturbing smell of mothballs) and every little whizzing car and laughing child and angry drunk old man.

In Search of the Soul of Seoul

As painfully cliché as the title seems, I have truly been on a search for the heart of Seoul. If you were to strip it clean of the foreign teachers and militia and tourists and businesspeople and world wanderers (aka gypsies), Turkish kebab-stand men and, all who find their way into Seoul...well, then, what exactly IS Seoul? I came to the conclusion that with the oh-so-cool westernized influence and a hub for foreigners to dwell, Seoul's true soul has partially decomposed, leaving a sort of aftertaste not much different from that of a soggy, warm kimbap from 7-11...
Oh...wait, what's that? I'm in Itaewon?! OH! Well, then scratch all that! Pft!
 On a side note, though, us traveling westerners have turned just about every major city and beautiful landmark across the world into a pile of festering poo, right? (And I mean that in a very nice gesture).

So, I'll truly begin with the true beauty of Seoul. Because, no, the culture has NOT been lost. In fact, it's flourishing in the midst of all the Starbucks and tourist shops. And, my god....this enormous city is GEORGEOUS and full of life that has a fast paced international city feel with a Korean heart beating behind the curtains. If you go into Seoul, there is MUCH soul to find. And yes, that of your own as well. :)
I will definitely be posting Seoul trips throughout my SK blogster, but let us begin with my first taste. My first month...seen from heights. (ToBeCont...)

A Bit Of My Uijeongbu Life

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So, this is my life here in my little city of Uijeongbu. Nothing fancy, nothing crazy, nothing extreme. I LOVE it here. I'ts beautiful and clean. Slower than a typical city, but is cluttered with people and more people. And Koreans singing in echoing microphones outside a shop for advertisement. Bars and restaurants. Norebongs (Karaoke) and smoky PC rooms (internet cafes). Fish, vegetable, fruit markets. Scooter delivery drivers on sidewalks, little bitty buses zooming past..

  I've managed to build a social life with great people who are always up for an adventure and are just a call away. A man-made stream runs through the city, with people constantly walking and biking. Slowly. As if each moment, they're capturing life. Snaps of life. Snaps of emotions. Just in snaps. Then they climb back up to the hustle of reality. Downtown Uijeongbu has a new strip in the midst of the market where romance is in bloom and kids splash in the fountains. It's almost like a happy dreamworld bubble where I sometimes never want to leave. Sure, bars and streets are cluttered with American douchebag soldiers (during the wee hours) that make Americans look worse than we already do, but thank the military god for curfew! Whew! And friends and great atmosphere override that negative notion. 

I am the only native teacher at my middle school, which is the norm in this country. I feel like a superstar at times, but for the most part I feel welcomed and embraced as equally as I am taking in this adventure into the heart of Korea... or as much as the heart I can get into. And, although I'm slacking on learning their names and language (It's hard! What!!), I've learned a lot about them through their actions and gestures. The children hold an innocence in ways I never saw in my middle school years back home. They also are burdened with expectations that I never endured growing up. 

I've disregarded the thought of using forks and knives in my apartment. And I've hardly touch my Mexican hot sauce. I've decided to do as the Koreans do. Metal chopsticks, kimchi, and...well...rice. Lots of rice. And all the deliciousness in between.

Taps, Transfers, and Trains

After taking public transit for six years, I'd love to call myself an expert, aside from my lack of geographical understanding, my terrible directions. Luckily I have with me my subway map at all times, because NO, I am not even close to an expert. I just pretend to be. The good thing about the Korean transit system is that it is easy enough to follow. And, although I have had to use hand gestures and point to the location I'm headed to multiple times with helplessness in my eyes, I have made it home safely every time. Rather than waiting for a bus for hours on end, as I did in Los Angeles and San Francisco, the buses and trains come every few minutes. On the dot! So, the wary of transferring and waiting is long gone. The trains are clean and untampered with a hand sanitizing machine near each exit, the platforms have sliding window doors, not to protect against accidents, but to protect against suicides. There are refreshments including bitty cans of soda and cheap instant coffee, making the short wait that much more enjoyable. Blasting air conditioning, and insanely funny caution signs, including the one posted above where the man is in shock of his man-purse catching in the door are a few extra bits in the rail package.

Oh, and drinking in the subway is A-OK. Yes!

The sole problem with the transportation is the early last-train departures. So, if you're planning a night out in Seoul, plan a damn good night because you won't be able to hop back on a train until 5:30am. Other options strongly encouraged are a disturbingly expensive taxi or a night at a love motel. I prefer to party 'till sunlight and a good Korean meal before the ride home...the two hour ride home in my case.

"Dae Han Min Guk!"

South Korea rocked until late evening 26 June, when they lost against Uruguay. Those few weeks were filled with bars and streets and restaurants and parks packed with red shirts, red painted faces, light-up devil horns, clappers, and other flashy accessories. With Soju, Makkoli, and crap beer flowing through people's veins and anticipated faces and whistles blowing, and people chanting "Daee Han Min Guk" until the sun rose...it was definitely a memorable couple of weeks. 

The South Korea game experience aside, The World Cup has pushed me to finally experience the full-on night life of Korea, where I spent two weekends stumbling into bar after bar. Some moments fighting against the British on who's going to win the England vs US game, and other moments crazy dancing on the dance floor. In a sweet mixture of partying just to party, and partying for World Cup's sake, I made it home two weekends in a row at approximately 5pm. The next afternoon. Now, those are some good nights to remember, though my memory falters a bit at some points of the night/day. Yet, as to not diminish my money and brain cells and limited days on this world, I don't plan on making that an every-weekend excursion. And, with both South Korea and USA booted out of the games, I've ran low on World Cup party spirit. Good thing Mexico is still in, eh? Oh crap, scratch that. Damn you, Argentina and your Shrek look-alike, Carlos Tevez! What a sad couple of days.

Buddha's Birthday and Lotus Lanterns

21 May marked Buddha's Birthday here in South Korea. So, the week prior is filled with a diverse flavour of Buddhism fun. Celebrated as joyously as Jesus's birthday, Buddha's birthday holds a deep tradition including lantern-making, temple stays and visits, bland monk food eating, and nonstop partying, old-school Korean dancing, traditional costume wearing, and playing an annoying high-pitched horn that splits your eardrums. 

The Lotus Lantern Festival, Buddhist Street Festival, begins with a bunch of walking around testing all the cultural activities and events. Also, taking note of the copious amounts of monks that crawled out of their temple, shook off their meditations for a day, and hung out, ate, and jumped rope.   

By night, all the lanterns are lit up, and you have an amazing array of beautiful lights streaming through a parade. Though, I didn't make the parade...I was too busy drinking makkoli and eating sam-gyup-sal with friends.

But, we did make it to the after party...which was basically where the lantern parade ended and we drunkenly took massive amounts of pictures with the fire-breathing lanterns. This day, from early afternoon to near midnight, was exciting. Fun. Colorful.

Toilet Variety

The public toilets here vary with extremity, much like the Korean way of life. One day you will find yourself wandering into a spotless restroom, with a remote controlled toilet. Temperature controlled toilet seats, blow dryer for your bum, washers and rinsers of all sorts...it's a fantastic toilet experience! On the other hand, some restrooms can be nearly traumatizing, much like the picture above. In this case, there was a fresh roll of toilet paper. At least! Some restrooms are used by both men and women, unisex. So girls can come out of a stall to find a guy peeing nonchalantly in a urinal on the other side of the dingy restroom. Fun experiences...fun. But when nature calls...well..

Korea In Bloom

              

In California, the chaparral plant life grows at the base of the mountains, where wildfires cease the current living shrubs, thus allowing an new species of plant life to bloom from seeds found deep below.
The two months I have been here, at the peak of spring, the plant life has morphed every few weeks. As soon as the last petal of one flower has fallen off a tree, a new beautiful flower has blossomed along the fences. Or sprinkled on the trees. One week, cherry blossom petals are dotting my hair, and the next week an uproar of rose aroma is singing to me every morning on my fifteen minute walk to work. It is beautiful.