Stepping Out into this Terrifying New World

Well, I finally did it. I braved leaving this apartment and venturing out into the Bright Lights, Big City of Seoul.
My host brother YongHee and I went down the street to Olympic Park, built for the 1988 Olympic games in Seoul. While there are several gymnasiums, for the most part it really is one massive park, filled with modern sculpture, wide paths, and benches. It’s like the purpose of Centennial Park in Atlanta combined with the magnitude of Central Park. I had a great time walking through, asking YongHee about all the unfamiliar flora and fauna I ran across.

Afterwards, we journeyed back into the actual city. Seoul is broken up into several divisions that they translate “towns,” even though it’s pretty much solid city as far as the eye can see. We walked through one of these towns on the way back home, past tons of restaurants and businesses. One thing that strikes me about Seoul is the fact that I recognize about 10% of the vehicles on the road. There are Hyundai and Kia makes, but more various and sundry models than they've ever bothered exporting to the US. I’m talking SUV’s and pickup trucks and vans (not minivans, but Ford Astro vans), and cars that look like sedans but are smaller or longer or more modern in shape than anything else. There is not a single American car on the road. I have seen one BMW. There are two whole manufacturers that I didn’t even know about. First is Daewoo, who stopped producing cars in the US. I thought they went out of business, but apparently GM actually just bought them. They’re still going strong in Korea. The other is called Ssangyong, I think. Completely different stuff.

I also love walking past the Italian restaurants (Vino Vino), the French clothes stores (Chevaine) and the odd building that looks like a Burger King but the sign says 버거킹. Overall, the city feels dirty and slummy and unsafe to my preppy, suburban mind, but I am assured that crime is low and that you can sleep on a bench and no one will disturb you. Unlike downtown ATL, I’m still afraid to walk outside alone (but mostly because I'll get myself lost).

The view from my window is the building directly across from us. It's more housing none too different than the one I’m in. At about six in the morning, the windows fill up with women doing the laundry. Off to the left you can see a factory type building. It makes a lot of noise starting at the crack of dawn.

Here is the view from YongHee’s room, across the hall from me. This is the front
of an apartment building. Looks like the front of any other Korean apartment building, right? (for those of you wondering, yes it does.) If you look closer, however, you can see that there is indeed a tennis ball stuck in on of those letters, and it appears that it is the exact same color. This leads me to believe that they decided to paint over it rather than remove it. Interesting…..

Finally, I already have an funny story to equal the famous “Your Mom Says Hi.” YongHee came out of his bedroom yesterday morning in a t-shirt that read
Spring Break
California ‘79
It looked like a regular vintage t-shirt and I thought nothing of it, until I looked closer and realized that in fact it read “Spring Broke.” Who broke it?!? Don’t tell me nobody. Somebody had to break it. Now own up!

Needless to say, I already knew when I asked him if he bought the t-shirt in America that the answer was no.