CAVEAT DVMPTRVCK

Certain small things are common here that, from the perspective of American culture might seem quite odd.  Meaning in terms of behavior and practices.

One thing I've seen, more than once, is the well-dressed businessman – slacks, suit jacket, maybe even tie – standing on a corner, hailing a cab or talking on his cellphone… but wearing flip flops on his feet.  I think this is related to the fact that most Koreans take their shoes off upon entering people's homes, and even in some businesses, such as very traditional restaurants.  So people give up the pretense of wearing nice shoes, and just stroll about with socks and flip flop sandals on.

Another thing that I've seen, more than once, is a child walking alone down the street – say, 7 or 8 years old – well after dark, with an umbrella swinging from one hand and a talking on a cell phone laconically, looking for all the world like a world-weary adult heading home from a stressful job.  It's a bit disorienting, given how protective we are in the US of children – but of course the streets are likely much safer here.  And, on the other hand, although children seem in some ways less world-wise here, they are often well-trusted and expected to behave in remarkably adult-like ways, in others.

Happy Mexican Independence day.  Or, really, days – the Mexicans cleverly place their anniversary at midnight of September 15th (this is el grito del padre Hidalgo, in 1810), thus ensuring they have two back-to-back holidays each year, the 15th and 16th.

I've joked that one of the reasons I have always felt such a resonance with Mexican culture is because of the coincidence of el grito with my birthday.  And because I'm now living on Korean Standard time, I decided that, properly speaking, I should celebrate today (16th) since that's when 21:15 Pacific time is actually occurring.  Well, whatever.

To celebrate, I did a load of laundry, listened to internet radio (KCRW of Santa Monica, then the BBC News), and had some ramyeon with cabbage chopped into it.  I'm actually feeling a bit under the weather, like an incipient cold or flu, so I've decided not to go off exploring or challenging myself today, but just kind of lurk hermitwise in my apateu.

Yesterday, I spent the afternoon amidst the infinite grid of globalized small-retailer capitalism that is the Myeongdong neighborhood of downtown Seoul:  people watching, strolling, looking for a bookshop that would give me a fix of my favorite magazine, The Economist (but in this venture, failing).  A man stopped me and asked in halting English if he could interview me – he was holding a video camera.  I almost said yes, but suddenly an attack of shyness made me shake my head and decline politely.  I had visions of myself as some kind of online video spectacle, the hapless foreigner abroad in Korea.

I'm trying to discipline myself and drag out my Korean textbook that I brought with me, thinking I must work on building my vocabulary and making sure I know what to do with those verbs.  But I'm having a bit of a muddle with inertia, and reassure myself I have plenty of time to work on this. 

Annyeonghi gaseyo.

I saw several unusual things today.

Walking to work, I saw a right-hand drive SUV.  I thought maybe it was from Japan – there are auto ferries between Busan and Shimonoseki – but the car had local license plates, so who knows? perhaps just someone's eccentricity? 

Then I saw a woman carrying a large bag of vegetables on her head.  It took me a few moments to realize this was unusual.  It might be that I'm in a very middle-class part of Korea, now, but this is not a common sight.  Yet my recollection of traveling around the country back in 91 is that there were women with large bags of vegetables on their heads everywhere.  So either I'm in the wrong place to see such things, or there have been radical changes in Korean bulk vegetable transport over the last 16 years.

After work it was raining hard.  Fortunately, I had brought my umbrella "just in case," but even still, with the wind and rain, I was rather wet by the time I got home last night at around 11.

But, walking home, I saw a female bus driver.  I actually did a double take.  I remember an exchange with my dad when we were in Mexico in July about the notable absence of female bus and truck drivers there, and just the other day I'd been reflecting that the same certainly applies here.  So, that was an unusual thing, too.

Finally, as I crossed the last major street on my way home last night, dodging raindrops and trundling buses (I've been wondering if there's some kind of traffic-law exemption for buses, here, given how often they run red lights and make contra-indicated right turns), I saw a new MINI and a new Beetle, both dark blue – I shouldn't be surprised, as BMW has dealer outlets here, but I haven't seen any VW dealers yet, and this was the first one of each vehicle that I'd seen here.

These are very banal "unusual" things, but I guess I'm groping for something to write about.

I love the rain – I went to sleep to the sound of the rain through the open windows of my little apateu (=apartment).

This morning, I've been reading Lucian's A True Story – I may have read this a long time ago, but I don't recall, and it was one of the "books in progress" that I threw into my small "books to take with me" pile (which my friends Mark and Amy ended up mailing to me because I couldn't fit them into my luggage, but I wish I'd managed to fit them in, as mailing books to Korea is not a discount proposition). 

Lucian of Samosata is one of the most amazing writers of all time.  The True Story is a veritable 2nd century work of fantasy fiction, in which he explicitly states it the only true thing he will say is that it's all untrue.  My interest in Lucian goes back years, and interrelates with my work in grad school on Cervantes, who clearly was at some level familiar with works by Lucian and his late classical imitators.  In tone and style, it actually reminds me most of something like Mark Twain's Letters from the Earth.

Not sure what I'm doing today.  Going into Seoul today, but what to do?  Want to look for some postcards and/or souvenirs for my nephews, Jameson and Dylan, and perhaps for others, too.

It's been hot the last few days… with the monsoon clouds absent, the air gets hot and steamy, like the East Coast of the US in summer.  Last night, walking home from work, the humidity was so high it congealed into fog hanging between the highrises and hovering over the boulevards.

Some people have asked what I eat, here.

Let's see… in the spirit of the rather reduced calorie intake I've been practicing the last year or so in Minnesota, I still try to eat less than I crave.  It's difficult, but important to keeping my weight under control.  For breakfast I have fruit – an apple or orange or peach, and maybe some bread or crackers, and one of those cold canned coffees so popular here.  Right before leaving for work I have a quick meal of ramyeon (instant ramen noodles) with boricha (barley tea – an odd-tasting tea concoction served cold, kind of grows on you).  I like some of the flavors of ramyeon available, including kimchi and a barley/seaweed thing I found.  I always add even more hot pepper sauce than is already in the mix.  My main meal is at work, as there is always lots of food around that can be eaten during break (around 5.30-6pm).  Generally bibimbap (rice with bits of meat, fried egg, various veggies), or kimbap (rice wrapped in seaweed, japanese-roll style but with fragments of cucumber, spam, fruit, etc., inside).  Lately, something called sundubu has grown on me quickly – a seafood and tofu soup, very spicy and lighter.  One day, Diane brought some home-made american-style spaghetti that was quite tasty.  Lastly, when I get home I have some fruit juice, maybe a diet coke or cold coffee, and some yogurt.  Is this interesting?  Not sure… but when more than one person asks, via email, I figure it's time to put into this blog thingy.

My wireless internet (wifi) that I've freeloading at my apartment has proved less reliable the last few days… perhaps they're catching on?  I definitely downloaded a big chunk of updateware over the weekend with my flurry of OS reinstallations.  Anyway, I'm at the school plugged into a wired internet connection with my laptop.  I may have to look into buying a wifi router and setting it up at the school so I can roam here with my laptop.  That would be convenient, probably worth the investment.