I have been in Korea for just under three days now. And I am very happy with it. I've realized that I like to be different. I like to be physically different. I am content to be somewhere where I don't speak the language, where I don't know the customs and where I have to spend every waking moment learning something new. At least at this moment, I think I want to live in an environment that in and of itself challenges me.
I flew from LAX to Japan on Thursday, which was humbling. Normally, flying terrifies me. Actually almost everything terrifies me a little, if not a lot, I just don't like to admit it. But for some reason, the lengthy flight didn't scare me at all. It felt right.
This could be attributed to the size of the plane, which was quite massive. I like that. I feel that a huge plane is less likely to crash, and if it does it will have more historical and social significance, which I find emotionally comforting for some reason. Dinky planes make me much more nervous. I imagine they crash every other day and no one gives a toss, because how can one little dip shit tin can of a bullshit plane expect to go up against the entire sky, gravity, the clouds, the air, the all of it? I feel better in a more substantial vehicle of flight.
I flew from Japan and arrived in Indochen, South Korea at 9:45 pm, where my recruiter Kim was waiting to pick me up. He was exhausted because Indochen (which is right outside of the capitol Seoul) is five hours away from Ulsan, the city I will be living and teaching in. He was very kind but sort of perpetually lost and so we wandered around the parking garage until we located his car and then took off immediately in the wrong direction. This frustrated him so much that he had to pull off the road and have a menthol cigarette. Then we got back on the road and sped South.
The five hour drive to Ulsan consisted of Kim playing me lots of old American music and explaining nuances of Korean culture, such as the concept of "bally, bally" which literally translates into to "hurry, hurry" and which is how Koreans apparently fashion their lives: focused, driven and most importantly, very quickly. As Kim went through all this with me, he managed to illustrate the point by driving in a manner that I have already come to recognize as distinctly Korean. Which I realize most people may lack the context to thoroughly comprehend. Trust me when I say that you are blissful in your ignorance.
One distinct feature about the roadways and main highways in Korea is that they have electronic checkpoints set up every couple of kilometers equipped with cameras that snap pictures of cars that are driving about the speed limit. This is on the one hand brilliant, because it frees up the Korean police to worry about things other than speeding (although what that is exactly escapes me as there are no guns in Korea and very little crime).
On the other hand, however, this is utterly idiotic, because Korea is so technologically over equipped that every driver can purchase devices that warn drivers of an impending check point and that inform the driver of exactly where he/she can speed and where he/she stop speeding. So basically everyone drives a million miles an hour and then slows to the speed limit at the check point before speeding to the next one. Kim was no exception.
Geoff met us near the University (the lunatic waited up until four fucking a.m.) and came with Kim and me to inspect my little apartment, which is amazing in many respects, but most specifically in the respect that it is all mine! This will be the first time in my life I'll get to have my own place, where my own neurotic clean up tendencies will be the only ones I have to cope with. I have a little stove and a little fridge and a little sink and a little closet and a little washing machine. And it's mine mine mine!
The bathroom has a sink, a toilet and cabinetry, but no real shower. The way this works is that a nozzle comes attached to the wall of the bathroom and the floor of the bathroom is tiled and has a central drain. You shower simply standing in the middle of the bathroom, having hopefully had the forethought to remove items such as toilet paper rolls and bathmats and towels previously. Its very efficient. Everything in Korea has thus far struck me as efficient.
After Kim left, Geoff and I got a taxi to his place which was, of course, substantially larger and better furnished then mine. His bed is bigger. His fridge is bigger. His kitchen is bigger, his living space, closet and floorspace are all bigger.
However, my place is cozier and I have a drying rack. I pick my battles.
14 years ago
