A YEAR IN SOUTH KOREA - CARRUTHERS
MARCH/APRIL
At the start of December Carruther's flew out to South Korea to start a one year contract teaching English, these are a selection of emails conveying his experiences.
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Sunday 23rd March 2003
This is a short cultural observation. As you can imagine, hangman is a valuable tool in the English classroom. I use it on a daily basis. In most classes I draw an example of the gallows so that the kids know how to do it. On Friday however, I neglected to do so, and thus they reverted to the version they are used to. I think it reflected an interesting difference in our cultures:
In our version, you draw the gallows and a person being hung. In their version, the gallows is drawn before you even begin guessing letters, and then you do the unfortunate victim. You might think this makes it more difficult, since you have less chances in which to guess the letters, however, in the Korean version, the game isn't over when the victim is completed. Once you've hung one person, you extend the gallows and begin hanging another one. This is repeated over and over again. The idea is thus to hang as many people as possible if you are the person doing the word,and to minimise the number hung if you're guessing.This means that if someone comes up with a difficult word, you end up with a huge mass hanging that resembles some kind of genocidal massacre. It's quite disturbing seeing small children cheering in the face of nine people swinging from a gallows.
Monday 7th April 2003
So, after a period occupied by a degree of mundanity, I have finally managed to do something more noteable than go to work. I've been doing lots and lots and lots of overtime recently, which, while it does my bank account the world of good, does no good for living an interesting life. I decided to do something about it. On Saturday I rose early and headed into Seoul. It was Tree Day, a public holiday when lots of people plant trees or otherwise get back to nature in some way.
Seoul may seem a rather odd choice as far as getting back to nature is concerned, however it is blessed with a few natural wonders, located very centrally, and which stand in stark contrast to the heaving megalopolis around them. My intention was to climb Inwangsan, a modest but attractive mountain in the centre of the city. Having spent about half an hour wandering in confused fashion through the streets of Old Seoul, trying to find the access path (the directions in the Lonely Planet Korea are pitiful to say the least) I eventually happened across a rickety path leading up into an archetypal oriental forest. It was a glorious spring afternoon, and the sun shone down through the trees, bathing the forest floor in patches of golden light. More remarkable was the fact that the relentless noise and bustle of Seoul was for once, absent. Instead of cars, I could hear birds. Instead of diesel fumes I could smell the scent of pines and spring cherry blossom. The latter has emerged in profusion all over the place recently. Every hillside, embankment, and kerbside is resplendant with purple, white and yellow blossom. It's transformed the streets of Uijeongbu from a concrete wasteland flanked by bare twigs, to, well..a concrete wasteland flanked by amazing amounts of cherry blossom. Anyway, I digress.
The path led past granite outcrops, forming natural observation platforms from which to view the city below. The day was still fairly clear (by Seoul standards) so the view was good. Continuing onwards and upwards I found the start of the ascent path proper. I passed a couple of soldiers carrying enormous rifles and looking rather stern. Normally this might have alarmed me, but their presence is a result of the mountain's location. It's slopes overlook 'The Blue House', seat of the Korean Government. The soldiers are there to guard against antisocial behaviour, such as littering, camping, and
firing rocket propelled grenades at the President.
The mountain is also liberally peppered with what I assume are representatives of the tourist board. Just when you think you're in the wilderness, you come across a wooden hut, with men in yellow sashes hanging around outside it. They bow politely and say hello as you pass. Quite civil really. As I ascended, bemoaning the fact that Korea can't seem to have a good mountain without building a staircase all the way up it, the views got better, and the terrain wilder. It's hard to describe the juxtaposition. If I looked in one direction, all I could see were imposing granite peaks, forest covered slopes, and the brilliant blue sky. It could have been a thousand miles from anywhere. If I looked in the other direction, the sprawling suburbs stretched away into the haze, and in the foreground an assortment of skyscrapers and towerblocks rose up to dominate the skyline. Happily, there weren't that many other people on the mountain, so it was just possible to convince myself that I was out in the middle of nowhere. At the summit it was a different story however. Picnic tables overloaded with hikers, jostled for space with tourist board guys and signs saying "No:photo/video". Still, the view was great, and Inwangsan is considerate enough to have an eight foot high chunk of stone poking out of the ground at the summit, just so you can stand on it and REALLY be at the top of a mountain. After an hour or so of contemplation and reflection, I headed down. Back at street level, I decided to get myself lost. In a city the size of Seoul, this I figured, wouldn't be too hard.
For the next hour or so, I wandered down pokey alleyways, winding, residential streets, and quiet, tucked away lanes. It was great to just take in the atmosphere of a normal part of the city, rather than one swarming with sightseers. Royal palaces, mountains and ancient architecture are all well and good, but there's something to be said for seeing the mundane, normal, unremarkable side of a place - which in any case usually turns out to be quite the opposite. The sights, smells and sounds all add up to make a cocktail just as interesting as any tourist magnet. I followed this with a wander around Jongno, a busy, cosmopolitan area, where the streets are lined with stalls purveying all manner of food, as well as others selling CD's, soft toys, watches, and countless amounts of other tat. The sun lay lazily but still warmly in the early evening sky, and the aromas of the various dishes on offer added to the exotic ambience of the whole scene. As dusk fell, sunlight gave way to neon, and Jongno was transformed into a flashing, pulsing, multicoloured playground, overflowing
with bars, restaurants, cafes and clubs. The happy residents of Saturday night Seoul made merry in the streets, and I must admit to making some myself, indeed I didn't get home until midday the next day.
And so, in every sense, Seoul is a city of contrasts. Natural wilderness and peace, live hand in hand with 21st century social life, bustle,noise and 11.5 million people. It's somewhere you'll never get bored!
Sunday 27th April
I've just heard that there are 12 cases of SARS in Korea, with two deaths. Mind you, it's not surprising because it's in 26 countries now. I'm not really arsed, because if you put perspective on it, there are 3000 deaths a day from Malaria! (Mind you, I'm going to a malaria zone on Friday, so perhaps that's not a great comparison!)
In other pointless news, I've just seen an advert for 'Power Diet Shoes'(?!), and the programme on TV at the moment just referred to the 'anals of Confucius' (perhaps they meant annals?). On Friday we had a work night out, and went to a restaurant which had a great menu, including the following:
Cuisines of the Italian Snail.
Poulp noodies
Pork Hock
Cutlle Fish Penut. I'm sure they are all delicious.
Well, as you know, I've got a four day week this week, because I'm off to Thailand on Friday morning (WOOHOO!!). I might try to email while I'm there, but may well not get the chance - so if not, I'll be in touch again after the 14th May.
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