this and that, here and there…

The weekend was a total whirlwind. After a really great day on Friday and delicious dinner, Rosie, Sean and I made an early night of it as we had decided to go hiking in the Namhansamseong mountains south-east of Seoul. One of the particularly cool things about Seoul is the fact that it’s a city that looks like it’s been plonked in the middle of a mountain range. Every way you look presents one or many peaks, although in all honestly, a number of these are simply really big hills, something like Mont Royal in Montreal. Our hike on Saturday was glorious. We got there around 10am and the sun was already warm, and the air felt much fresher than in the polluted city, and was crisp and perfect for a good hike. Hiking is a national pastime in South Korea and we were joined by dozens of the Korean middle-aged, as well as a family or two, all decked out in “hiking gear,” a combination of anorak, sun peak, hiking boots and metal walking sticks. In Korea, as long as you are wearing the gear, you are hiking. Although seeing young women hiking in heels, leaning on their men’s arms for support is not an uncommon sight on the hills around Seoul.

From there, I went to meet a friend of my bro’s from South Africa in an area called Gangnam, another thriving, bustling, store- and stall-filled part of the city. We had a traditional Korean barbecue beef dish called bulgogi which you cook on the barbecue on the table in front of you and wrap in a lettuce leaf along with a bit of gimchi and garlic and some sauce (usually spicy!) that comes on the table. As I may or may not have mentioned before, while I do like a lot of the food I have had here, some of it is a bit much. The gimchi is something to get used to, but apparently once you’ve started to get a taste to pickled (and slightly fermented) cabbage and other vegetables, smothered in chili sauce, it’s hard to go back! Actually, on Saturday night (after a mid afternoon respite at the Dublin bar) I went out for another barbecue meal, this one called pul dak which basically translates to the spiciest chicken you will ever eat. I was crying it was so hot, and Young-Suk, my Korean dinner companion commented that maybe if I ate it every day I would become a dragon. We had to get ice creams to neutralise the intense burning before we had even managed to make it half way through our meal. It was an experience anyhow.

Saturday night was a shitshow. I’m not going to go into great detail, but the English teachers here are crazy partiers, and as booze is cheap and clubs don’t seem to close we managed to set ourselves well on the way to painful Sunday hangovers. I was amused to discover that wherever you go in the world there are punk and hip hop clubs, and we saw the most extraordinary Korean punk show that was almost a combination between cheesy pop and angry sounding lyrics. It was seriously special, I tells ya. We also later ended up at a hip hop club where I ended up dancing with a number of Korean guys dressed in the gangsta getup of many a Canadian or American youth. It was fun dancing with them too, as there was absolutely no possible communication and we all ended up laughing a whole lot.

Sunday was a painfully hungover yet informative day. Rosie and I went to the demilitarized zone on 4 hours sleep to learn a little about the war and what’s going on these days between the South and the North. It was highly informative, yet propaganda-filled. Although every South Korean I ask tells me that they don’t think there will be reconciliation between the two sides within our lifetimes, the short “documentary” they showed us was filled with hope and positivity, and the tour was generally very idealistic and didn’t cast the North in the same terrible light that many of the Southern population tends to. We went to visit one of the four tunnels that the North built under the DMZ, which when discovered came as a huge shock to the South Korean population, as it was a clear sign that the North intended to attack again, and as it stands even today there is a constant threat of war. There is also a huge railway station that stands as a symbol of hope that one day trade can move from South Korea through the north and all the way to Europe. There were military everywhere we went and we were only allowed to take photos of certain things and at certain points, lest we learn what the inside of a Korean prison looks like. Despite the hangover it was an enjoyable trip and has prompted me to try to brush up on my Korean war history, as the more I learn about this country the more I realise there is that interests me.

Yesterday was a day of monuments and statues and markets. I climbed to the top of the Namsan “mountain” and took lots of photos of the city, although the visibility wasn’t great. There were droves of little kids up there, obviously on school trips. Many a chorus of “hi” was directed at me (I also got a “pleased to meet you”), and a group of curious little girls came and peered over my shoulder while I was writing in my journal. When I turned to look they all giggled and said “hi” until their teacher ushered them away. At this point the girl (about my age) at the table next to me said “children say you are pretty woman.” I think I’ve been blushing more since I’ve been here than I can recall every having done so. But the kids are definitely cuter than many I’ve seen elsewhere.