July 11, 2005
Kisses 'n' kim chee
Hello! I am in Korea! Good for me, eh?
Hopefully after the untimely demise of my last blog due to my own technical stupidity (and an extremely unhelpful web host) this one will go a little better.
War of the Worlds is awesome and incredibly, incredibly scary. And not BOO! HA! MADE YOU JUMP! scary, which is what most horror movies are nowadays, no, you see it all coming and it still scares the shit out of you. Old school Spielberg. I'm living in a hasook (boarding house) literally right behind the Artreon Theater (a big, relatively well-known multistory theater complex), with at least three other theater multiplexes within less than a block, so I suspect I will be going to movies more often. Not that I'm complaining.
I now have two bylines in the paper! Two even! The first for a Sin City review (blegh) and the second for the first installment of the "break in the intern" column entitled View from the Pew.
Of course I did it on the local Catholic cathedral because, well, write what you know, right? It was actually pretty nostalgic to go to Coffee Bean and talk to the super-super-solemn Korean convert. Reminded me of growing up and meeting the Korean kids at my parish. That's the thing about young Korean Christians-- they're not all conservative, but they are all incredibly serious. Mass is at 9, so hopefully I'll be able to go there and then hit the various Worships of the Heretic Hordes-- I mean Protestant -- churches I'll need to go to for this column. I'm looking forward to it.
Korea is obsessed with this thing called "well-being." As near as I can tell it means, "Pretend whatever you're eating is healthy to make yourself feel better about eating it." Which isn't such a bad idea. When the Catholic dudes were talking to me about the "health and wealth" gospel that Cho Yong-gi preaches at the Yeouido Full Gosepel megachurch here in Seoul (it's one of those be good and God will give you money and good health things), I replied, "What, is that like wellbeing for religion?" That seemed to be very funny to them, though I was half-serious.
I started my Korean lessons this week at a hagwon across from the Anglican cathedral near Deoksugung. Now I have a small fraction of understanding of how difficult it is for the twenty-something Mexican guy in California who speaks no English to swallow his pride and try to learn. It made me feel truly stupid. Every mistake I made in reading was extremely embarrassing. It reminded me of doing multiplication flash cards with my dad in the dining room when I was a little kid. When I couldn't remember the answer and had to work it out I would try to make some superfluous comments and my dad would say, "You only talk when you don't know the answer." I half-expected those same words to come out of my Korean teacher's mouth, and I was fully prepared to cower at them like an eight year-old.
Since I can't communicate with anyone at the breakfast table yet I'm entertaining myself by trying to infer the relationships between the various other tenants in my hasook. The cast: Landlady, landlady's husband and youngest daughter, Chinese woman who lives and works there (but speaks fluent Korean), two other women and one man on my floor and foreign English teachers, one Canadian, one American, who I hardly ever see.
I suspect Man Who Lives On My Floor is the boyfriend of Daughter. Which would be a pretty sweet deal for both of them. The other day people who I'm pretty sure are the older daughter of my landlady, along with her husband and their ADORABLE little boy (looked about 3), came to visit while I was sitting in the common area reading. The kid peered around the piano at me and, silently, we made it into a game. Then he decided running up and looking at me through the bars on the chair and running away again was great fun. I love little kids. They can get away with having fun all the time. And on the way out, in response to his parents' urging, he bowed almost ninety degrees to grandma. This is one of those things I've only ever seen on commercials, because my host family in Japan is weirdly egalitarian (mostly because of Harumi-- the grandma's-- influence, I suspect).
Things I'm getting used to:
Cold showers (the hot water is never on and when it is there's only enough for a tantalizing taste of warmth before it cuts out leaving you feeling even colder, so what's the point)
Next-to-nothing rent (woohoo)
Less privacy (my landlady has at various times busted into my room with mosquito repellant or to close the window or to bring me a fan-- all incredibly nice things that I was happy for, but her being in my room induced this panicky feeling that I'm aware is cultural-- I just felt I had no way to respond because what she had done was just... not done! Oh, and she knocked on the door to the bathroom while I was taking a shower and kept knocking until I put a towel on and opened it-- I think she thought it was a family member in there)
Things I will get used to in a few months:
Kim chee, incredibly spicy food (I am the cliche foreigner in this department, I admit it, but I was pampered by Japanese food for a year, so there it is)
Several other things whose significance I'm sure hasn't hit me yet.
I fly to Osaka next Wednesday night for my visa and stay til Sunday in Kyoto with the host family. Anyone who's there, give me a holler and we'll go karaoke!
Now I must go or miss the train. Which is 800 won (roughly 80 cents). After a 510 yen commute for a year, that makes me very happy.
Posted by b-applegate at July 11, 2005 10:15 AM
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Comments
Ben -
Glad to see that you are back online. I was also glad to hear from your mom and find out that everyone is okay since I had no idea where any of them were at the time of the bombing. Best of luck on your adventures. I'm going to enjoy reading about Catholic (and other) life in Korea.
Take care.
Christopher.
Posted by: Christopher Avanessian at July 12, 2005 8:01 PM
Great to hear from you Ben. You sent it to me on July 11 and that is my birthday and your mom's. I hope she had a good day. I know this is what you want to do but there are a lot of people who miss you. That's what all the memories are for.
Good Luck,
Carol
Posted by: Carol Gallagher at July 13, 2005 8:15 PM
Hey Ben,
What a fantastic adventure! Just don't violate the prime directive :)
Blessings,
Denise
Posted by: Denise Wilcox at July 14, 2005 2:15 AM
Fermentated cabbage, cold showers, peek-a-boo landladies, cultural isolation ... what more could ya ask for? I'm not sure I envy your circumstances (that green spot is held by your mom), but I certainly applaud your spirit! So ma dear, soldier on your fanastic adventure ... dr
Posted by: Dale at July 14, 2005 5:30 PM