Seoul Searching

First Impressions: the beginning of a many-month adventure

While we are walking down the street children often yell "hello" to us as, and then giggle.

One of the things that truly amazes me here is that people are walking the streets at any and all hours. Even children are out playing in the lane past midnight. For a Canadian such a thing seems unheard of...yet here it is quite acceptable. The streets are really safe here though. There is not much concern about crime, which is refreshing. I suppose that explains how parents can let their children play in the streets late at night without much worry.

We spent the day wandering around shopping in the Kangnam "dowtown" district yesterday. It's not really a downtwon in the North American sense, but it is one of many central, commercial areas. There are a lot of arcades in these areas. In one of the subway stations - all of which are essentially like Korean malls - there are a few arcades devoted purely to DDR machines (Disco Dance Revolution). They are machines that play music and you have to dance to the beat by hitting your feet on the right squares. It is sort of reminiscent of the game "twister," in that the floor is a bunch of shapes. Anyway, it is very neat to watch the teens play on this machine, jumping around, hitting the different blocks to the beat of the music. It looks like someone at a concert. I am going to try it sometime, even if it is cause for some laughter from the Koreans as they watch a strange foreigner bounce around at the arcade.

This afternoon we made a trek to the Korean Superstore, or rather something quite comparable. One can buy anything and everything there, and it was quite fun exploring the store. In many areas there were booths set up where you could sample a product. I tried most of them. One woman had these little patty looking things, so I asked if I could try one - or rather gestured, as I can't quite communicate in Korean yet. It was quite tasty. I asked where it was in the freezer, and she pointed to a package. Amidst the Korean writing on the package were the english words, "squid and vegetable patty." You can imagine I was a little surprised. After all, I had just eaten squid. However, remembering how good it tasted, I set my seafood bias aside and threw a package into the cart. So I now have a package of squid patties sitting in my freezer. Surprising, isn't it? Proceeding to another sample booth, I tried octopus strips - sort of like long slices of fish. These were also good! I did not buy any though as my kitchen is not equiped with all the instruments necessary to cook them. You need a big skillet, etc. Finally, I tried what I believe was Korean mundoo. They are kind of like a mix between a perogie and an egg roll. It is a sort of pastry, filled with vegetables. (Gyoza-like, if you are familiar with Japanese food). So, I picked up a package of them as well. I tried to get my roomate, Jen, to sample some of these items, but she refused. She is not at all open to trying new things. She did not even want to venture into the produce and meat section. Her groceries consisted of Coca-Cola, chocolate candies, potato chips, popcorn, popsicles, and lettuce. She might as well still be in Canada. When we went by the milk section, there were samples of chocolate milk available. She said, "oh, you can bet I'll be trying a sample of that!" Sampling chocolate milk... Doesn't that defeat the purpose of sampling? To sample is to try something NEW. Like squid.

When we were in line waiting to pay for our items, there was a little girl behind us. She was tugging on her mother's arm and pointing at us. After speaking in Korean for a moment, the girl said "Hello" and waved, and the mother asked "How are you?" That was about the extent of their English. Jen said that the little girl is probably studying english and was happy to see a foreigner, so that she could practice saying hello. While we are walking down the street children often yell "hello" to us as well, and then giggle. It is kind of cute. In fact, as I was walking here to the internet cafe, there was three little girls following behind me yelling hello.

It is strange, living as a "foriegner." It is funny, not only being referred to as one, but referring to myself as one as well. As we walk around the city, our eyes are constantly scanning the crowds for others like ourselves. However, we see very few. I am told some children in the non-central areas, even some adults, have never seen a foreigner before, which accounts for the many odd stares we recieve.