When you first set foot on the street of the South Korean capital, it feels as though you are at the very heart of technology – huge skyscrapers competing with each other for the (gray) sky, while gigantic TVs posted on the buildings throw music and publicity at you. It is simply fascinating and vibrant!
The subway system is one of the cheapest, cleanest and most efficient in the world. In the center of the city stands large and proud Bukhansan, one of Korea’s tallest mountains (can you believe I took that picture with my cell phone while on top of it?!)
Department stores offer the best technology there is, while Burger King has TV on their cash registers so you don’t get bored during the 2 minute-wait. Handsome businessmen proudly walk to their Mercedes while half-bent women in their sixties are selling gum on the street (they came from the countryside, where they used to work in the rice fields).
Most public parks are equipped with free workout equipment, while greasy Korean food is sold on the street. I once bought a copy of "DreamGirls" for 3 dollars at a stand in a subway station where the movie theater was premiering that very movie.
Medicine in Korea is cheap and overrated – Korea is a society highly geared toward productivity and doctors are very aware of this. Thus when sick, one receives small bags in which shocking amounts of pills ensure that you will be knocked out for a few days, but good to go to work earlier than expected. They’re divided into daily doses, as opposed to back home. Needles can also be bought at any good street market….
At times, being in Seoul is like being in a developing country – that is, the old women pushing a huge wheelbarrow full of recycling that they will later sell. Or the strange insects and seafood sold by street vendors.
Korean food is very healthy (lots of fish and vegetables), and Koreans are very open-minded when it comes to eating – fish eye, cow stomach, raw horse, and all sorts of viscous fish including live octopus. Cabbage (used to make kimchi) is piled up in Kia trucks while ajummas (older women) sun-dry red pepper and carry bags of rice on their back.
In the countryside, ajummas sell anything they can on the street, but how can you make a living out of chives? In Seoul, some roast hazelnuts while others give away free hugs.
Buddhist temples are everywhere, and churches are as present if not more. Red neon crosses illuminate the city at night… it’s spooky.
And if Seoul is blessed with Cheonggyecheon (downtown stream, totally magic at night with all the lights), it also exhibits interesting art, and it promotes shameless pooping, thanks to the “Etiquette Bell” installed in most bathroom and which makes a flushing sound when you’re going for number two.
Starbucks cohabits with cardboard stands selling stolen jackets for 5 or 10 bucks. Taxis are cheap and all over the place, with the latest technology including T-Money (magnetic subway pass), navigator, TV, and credit/debit card machine. But being a cab driver is an easy job to get so reports of rape and mugging are quite disturbing.
Breathing in Seoul is not an easy task. People wear masks for a good reason: air pollution is terrible. While most Koreans blame it on China and its yellow dust, the eternal rush hour (most of the day) doesn’t help either. Fortunately, recycling and composting are mandatory, and the unemployed elderly is hired to clean the sidewalks and subway stations. The city’s streets are almost immaculate.
Impressingly enough, planes are brushing the city as they fly low to a nearby airport. In Seoul, both Gimpo and Incheon airports are less than an hour from the city, and the same is true on Jeju island.
Seoul is advanced and traditional. It is polluted, yet environmentally friendly. It is at times slow, but highly efficient. It’s safe and unsafe.
After living in Seoul for a year, I was fed up – traffic jam, air pollution and the hecticness… I had to look really hard in order to get a glimpse of the moon. I wanted out. I wanted the countryside.
But after spending 4 months on Jeju Island, at a crappy job, with a crappy schedule, no time for myself, making less money than I used to while working more hours, stuck in a rot, being woken up in the middle of the night by either dogs barking, noisy neighbors or drunk men blabbering down the street, I needed a “Seoul fix”.
So I went to Seoul for New Year’s. I couldn’t wipe that smile off my face as I was sitting on the plane, thinking about the 3 days to come: nice hotel with bathtub, catching up with friends, eating at ethnic food restaurants, shopping like there’s no tomorrow, feeling the city vibe while going out, and most of all, being anonymous. No more “hello! Hello!” on the street. Plus, Jeju city is as packed as Seoul, but without the conveninence so...
I got my hair done, bought mittens made in India (not made in China!), shopped all over town, ate French food, bought maple syrup, had a chai latte at the coffee bean, and some fun time out with my friends. We even had fireworks on the rooftop of a bar as the snow was slowly enchanting the city.
It turned out to bequite enjoyable, but I felt somehow incomplete as I was going through the customs at Gimpo Airport on my way back. I didn’t feel like I belonged in Seoul anymore, yet Jeju Island didn’t thrill me as much, and Quebec was just too far away. Suddenly, existential questions clustered my poor weary brain and I panicked.
As we grow to be citizens of the world, don’t we come to feel like we both belong everywhere and nowhere?
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