In which I take a pilgrimmage I have no business taking

A walk, a subway ride, a trip on the Korail, a cab, and a ferry were all that stood between myself and Naminara Island. Made famous by the Korean drama "Winter Sonata", Nami is a hotspot for couples, but I guess when it's not negative a thousand degrees you can ride bikes through their extensive trail system. You and 12 of your homies can even rent a bungalow on the Han River. From the looks of it, Nami does a lot of work with UNICEF, or as Evan quipped, "I think this island was originally settled by children's book authors.". After prancing through idyllic snowy wonderland, we killed some time waiting for our bus by playing sagu (more like suck-gu), the more popular billiards game here, and drinking complimentary strange sugary drinks. Not bad for a Monday.

TED Talks, I Listen

Not long ago, I took my weekly pilgrimage to Seoul for an independently-organized TED www.tedxseoul.com event. 40 spots had been reserved for foreigners and well over 100 Koreans (with close to 150 on the waiting list). Earpieces were provided for simultaneous English translation, which became a little tedious after the 5^th lecture, but we enjoyed it...and they even put bon bons in our seat to keep us from fleeing the stuffy theater.


A magician choreographed an entire shadow puppet show to the song “The Circle of Life” which was way more badass than it sounds.



My other favorite was a doctor couple who showed their medical design successes, including stethoscopes hidden inside teddybears and candy tongue depressors.

Balloon Pants Buddhist

My dear friend Ji Yeon’s birthday was a couple of weeks ago and we had a 26-person grilled duck dinner for her in Heywha. There’s no “uhh” sound in Korean and the ‘k’ is more like ‘g’, so I thought for a moment I was finally being made to face the dragon and trying dog meat. Most of the group I’ve been absorbed by in Seoul are part of Toastmasters International (a public speaking group) which I’m thinking about checking out next week. This means they’re all extremely interesting, motivated people who I feel really lucky to have found. The dinner then moved to Comfort Zone, a beautiful and cozy neighborhood bar/restaurant with an unattended piano, which led to traditional Korean ballads and sing-a-longs downstairs. The Arkansas Mafia was in full force and Brahm’s cousin (who lives further away in Korea) brought our total to 6 Diamond Staters…a baffling statistic for our ex-pat friends. Hours later, a birthday tiara disappeared and a bear-shaped cake was somehow consumed sans silverware, unequivocal signs of a successful party. A late night street chicken meal and the Korean Slumdog Millionaire capped off our evening. The next morning we walked back to CZ for brunch and Ji Yeon received a cultural lesson (Jem and the Holograms is an important reference). Full of bacon and/or burritos, the four of us headed to Do도 Sun선 Sa 사 , a Buddhist temple in the mountains of Seoul. It was interesting for me to compare the likenesses of Buddha, etc, to what I saw in India. A local monk’s image was found where in India the Dalai Lama would be. Large Chinese zodiac characters were carved into a hallway with pen and paper for message-writing. There obviously were no prayer flags, but I did see a giant prayer wheel/donation pot combo. A long line of chanters stood waiting to throw papers (wishes? attachments?) in a giant fire while attendant monks rang bells. Meanwhile, we took goofy photos because I’m sure Buddha doesn’t care about a little irreverence. It felt really special to be surrounded by the ceremony, the mountains, and beautiful painted, sculpted, or golden artifacts. As we serenely walked down the mountain toward a taxi, a particularly aggressive ajuma (older woman) in balloon pants knocked into Ji Yeon, wandered away, then came back and whispered something to her. Ji Yeon later translated that the woman had noticed she dragged her heels when she walked and advised she’d be a lot prettier if she didn’t.

Green Drinks and Whitney Houston

As part of Seoul's humanitarian organization, Green Drinks, this Saturday an Dukwon Gallery hosted Korea's first screening of the environmental docu-animation The Age of Stupid. The small space was crowded with hipster ex-pats who were invited to browse the gallery's repurposed wares, made from raw material provided by a chain of thrift stores throughout Korea (similar to Oxfam). This was my first visit to Insadong, a very old and traditional neighborhood (even the Starbucks menu is Korean-only) filled with art houses and vendors selling all manner of cool things. We ate in a beautiful Korean restaurant where one of my friends gave us a lesson in Hangul number systems. I can't wait to return to Insadong during daylight for the full market and vending experience.

Next, my group and I headed to a futuristic white-washed bar called O.I. in Hongdae, where patrons remove their shoes and tiptoe along a plaster-of-paris network of water-filled trenches
to a circular private "room" consisting of floor pillows, a tree trunk table, and gold fiber fringe "walls". Apparently this place hosts a swimming party on New Year's Eve, which sounds promising. After a month of intermittently being served questionable round, neon snacks, I finally gave them a try at O.I...they tasted like Cheet-ohs cheese balls crossed with Crunchberries. After that, we headed to Mansion: formerly a museum and now a gorgeous and sprawling nightclub. It's filled with giant chandeliers, black leather circle booths, and thumping techno, which I've discovered CAN be salsa-danced to. There were 5 (count 'em) Arkansans at this point, an ever-expanding group that has dubbed itself the Arkansas Mafia, or AR in the KR. By then, my friend and I were faced with a dilemma: the subway shuts down from midnight until 5:30 AM on the weekend, so we either had to take an expensive cab ride back to Ilsan or tough it out until the trains started up again. Eckhart Tolle-style, we opted for the latter. Seoul never sleeps, so finding a way to pass the time was hardly a problem. We sweet-talked our friends into accompanying us to a noribang (karaoke room) and sang our little hearts out until the morning light. We then groggily detrained at dawn and with utmost restraint bypassed a 7 AM bulgogi burger at the all too conveniently placed McDonald's. Winter has set in and the brisk walk to my apartment confirmed my plans to evacuate to warmer climes this Christmas. So far Korean women have stalwartly abided their miniskirt urban uniforms and bets have been hedged regarding through just how few degrees Celsius this can last.

11_11

Today is my first experience with Korea’s excessive holidays (and of all things to overdo, I think they’ve got the right idea). For the past week I’ve noticed all the bakeries have stocked sweet breadstick-shaped pastries dipped in chocolate, often with colorful sprinkles and the words, “Because you are loved” or “I want to make you happy” on the package. I know Valentine’s and White Day aren’t for several months, so I’ve been pretty baffled. When I stopped for coffee this morning, she handed me two thin chocolate sticks and said something in Korean that sounded like, “It’s my birthday!”. I mumbled ‘kamsahamnedah’ and smiled, hoping she’d understand I didn’t know the words “happy b’day” in Korean. Turns out she actually said, “It’s Peppero Day!”, a genius marketing ploy in honor of the pastries. If you lay 4 Pepperos next to each other, it looks like today’s date: 11/11. That’s really all there is to it. Thankfully, teachers are among the Peppero recipients AND we had a birthday party, so today has pretty much ruled.

Just a Moment, I Show You a Magic!

As you might imagine, Halloween in Korea is still catching on. My school put on a bangin' party, surprisingly. We combined it with our "World" class, so in addition to pumpkin bowling and face painting, we had two rooms with country-specific games. The kids have pretend passports that they present to "Immigration" when we feature a particular country. For the India room, I brought saffron and clothing from my trip this past June. We had curry and naan, wore headscarves and bindis, and danced to a Bollywood music video. I offered to print off one of my pictures from India, but my boss said the child in the photo looked sad. Editing reality. For the China room, we made shadow puppets for a theater and played with bamboo and string toys.

The trick-or-treat business was a little strange. We took them out to a nearby park and they said the magic words to teachers and parents who were holding baskets of treats. I'm curious to see if the holiday takes off and maybe in a few years they can go to actual apartments/businesses for candy.

Suck My Toes

All day and all night I hear a persistent, melodic cry from some point in the distance. The first few days I wasn’t sure if it was even human. While visiting my friend Robin and his girlfriend, I learned that it’s apparently some dude peddling rice cakes. His catchphrase, by the time it reaches our ears, sounds something akin to the title of this entry and he, in my mind at least, has become legend. Window closed or open, rain or shine, “SUCK MY TOOOOOOESSSS!”. It’s maddening. I’ve plotted ways to silence this man forever. Last night while eating at an outdoor table, Robin taps me and says, “There he is!”. I’m not sure if I want to put a face with my tormenter, but I strain my eyes and finally I see him…no longer disembodied from that piercing wail. I’m smiling…he’s magnificent. Stocky, robed, with a creaseless face despite his age and a shiny bald head, as though one of the Drapung Loseling monks had wandered here from India. Leisurely swaggering along the pathway lined with dining Ilsaners, beaming a beatific smile right back at me and then launching into another whooping SUCK MY TOES.