The Crazier Side of Seoul

Later that week I managed to end up in Itaewon, the foreigner district, twice despite never having visited at all prior to that. It became a running joke among the teachers that I was always in Itaewon, a joke that gained in popularity and hilarity after one teacher pointed out that Itaewon is also the red-light district of Seoul.

To be frank, Itaewon didn't impress me much and those two visits are the only visits I plan to make there. I had expected it to be a modern district full of American chains and goods, but found it was actually an older, run-down area with an eclectic mix of decent but expensive restaurants and bars.

The first time I went was on a Tuesday afternoon to visit a travel agent. Her office was two blocks from the subway station, with the first block feeling like China and the second block reminiscent of Wickenden St. in Providence. After meeting with the agent, I met up with Jihoon and Gina, who had recently arrived in Korea after studying abroad in Japan. Jihoon, who was preparing to return to the States, suggested we try a well-known burger place run by a Cornell grad, Smokey's Saloon. Smokey's menu featured edibles such as "Ambulance," "Kiss Me Later," and "Volcano." We ended up at a Dunkin Donuts, which in Korea are more ubiquitous and luxurious than in the US, before calling it a night.

The second time I visited was on a Saturday night with my Filipino friend from the goshitel. He's doing a doctoral fellowship in Korea but, like me, doesn't speak any Korean. Saturday night is apparently when all the Americans come out to Itaewon, as the bars were packed and the streets were full of people speaking in a tongue which was actually intelligible. We met up with some of his Filipino friends to have dinner at a Pakistani restaurant. As a Chinese-American, sitting in that restaurant in the middle of Seoul in the midst of a conversation being conducted in Tagalog as Pakistani music played on the TV overhead, I experienced one of the most surreal moments of my trip thus far.

***

I managed to find out more information about the psycho Korean politician my students have been talking about. His name is Huh Kyung Young, and his outlandish claims include:

-his IQ is 430

-he was a "secret" advisor to former President Park Chung-hee

-he can levitate (which he does by sticking one foot out in the air)

-he can heal arthritis by touching those afflicted

-he met with President Bush, who suggested he become Secretary-General of the UN

-if elected President, Park Chung-hee's daughter would marry him

And his campaign promises? Even better:

-abolish the Korean SAT [no wonder 100,000 Koreans voted for him in the last election]

-to reduce the number of members of Parliament and conduct a mandatory aptitude test for all of them [given the state of the Korean parliament, see above comment]

-to pay newly wed couples about $80,000

-to pay senior citizens about $24,000

-to move the headquarters of the UN into the DMZ

He wouldn't merit any attention but for the fact that 100,000 Koreans voted for him in the last election, and his new rap song has been getting radio airplay.

Huh was put in jail after the last election, for putting out false election promises and defaming Park Chung-hee's daughter. He was just released last month and emerged, he said, having been visited by Michael Jackson's spirit. MJ's spirit encouraged him, a 58-year old man, to release a rap song called "Call Me." The lyrics include:

Look into my eyes

You will be happy

Call "Huh Kyung Young"

You will be healthy

If you shout "Huh Kyung Young" you'll pass your tests

Look into my eyes

You'll lose weight

Gotta love Inspector Gadget. I can't help laughing every time I hear this song. Whether Huh is truly crazy, whether he's trying to start a new cult, or whether he's a genius poking fun at Korean politics is irrelevant- if people around the globe could only hear his song, I have no doubt the world would be a happier place.

North to Go South

After waking up with a stomach full of steak and Korean food the next day, I went to church then met up with Jihoon and Julia to go to Namdaemun (South Gate) market. The gate, which is on the northern side of Seoul past the Han River, was so-named because it sat at the south of historic Seoul, before newer developments like Gangnam arose.

One of the more unsettling trends among young Koreans is matching couple outfits. I'm not talking about couples just wearing similar colored shirts, but about couples who actually wear the exact same shirts (and even pants sometimes). Jihoon says most Koreans choose to eschew individuality in favor of promoting their "coupleness."

On this particular Sunday, however, I noticed a particularly disturbing new trend- friends coordinating their outfits to match not just each other, but also to match the subway. I snapped a quick shot of one such pair on the Green Line.

Disturbing

Namdaemun market is the closest thing to a Chinese market in Seoul, with vendors prominently hawking their wares and streets overflowing with people. Some of the more common items for sale were handbags, suitcases, toys, and (authentic?) fox furs.

We also tried some fresh baos/mandu right out of the steamer, including some kimchi baos- the epitome of Chinese-Korean fusion
But baos alone weren't good enough for a full meal, so we headed over to a restaurant/food stall that Jihoon had seen on TV (although all of the restaurants in that row were advertising how they had been on TV). The dish was sujebi, homemade flour noodles. The owner whipped up a batch of fresh noodles with breathtaking speed, and apparently when she had been on TV she had thrown the noodles into the pot from a couple feet away. We asked her to demonstrate, but she just started bragging about how good she was instead of proving those claims.

We followed up the meal by perusing the American-snack booth and Korea's largest stationery store. And since we were in the area, we decided to wander around Myeong-dong, a modern, high-end shopping area similar to Gangnam.

There were decidedly more street evangelists in this area than in other parts of Seoul

bizarre monkey-man trying to get people to his food stall

he wasn't very successful

The Un-forgotten War

The weekend after immersing myself in the world of Starcraft, I stopped by the Korean War Memorial Museum. Of all the museums I've visited in Korea, this one was my favorite, hands-down, as it effectively immersed the visitor in and dramatized the world of the Korean War, a war which is not "forgotten" here as it is in the US.

At the entrance of the museum courtyard, harrowed statues of soldiers and families greet visitors.

this rock isn't very interesting- I only included it because it's a replica of the real rock

The courtyard alone could have been its own museum and would have been worth the price of admission. Tanks, planes, and other units and weaponry from the North and the South filled the yard, making it a veritable parking lot for these historical vehicles.

inside a carrier plane

On the way into the museum, I saw a little Korean boy randomly walk up to two Americans, look up in awe, and start waving until his mother pulled him away and chastised him.

One of the most noteworthy aspects of the museum, I felt, was how dramatically it portrayed the Korean War, encouraging visitors to root for the heroic South Koreans in their battle against the troublesome North Koreans. The bias wasn't blatantly obvious, and I only realized it was there as I watched the explanatory videos playing throughout the museum. Each video combined archival news footage with dramatic narration and a full orchestra score. I found my spirits falling as I watched celebration of Korean independence from Japanese colonial rule turn to conflict as Kim Il Sung set up an "illegitimate" government in the north, apart from Syngman Rhee's "true" Korean government. And the entry of the Chinese just as the South was about to achieve victory felt like the third act twist in a tragedy.

A number of other presentations in the museum had me casting a skeptical eye. The museum declared that the North had invaded the South and initiated the war, explaining that because South had been unarmed it must have been on the defensive. Yet I remembered learning that a significant number of scholars (including some Korean scholars), albeit a minority, have cast doubt on the claim that the North started the war, arguing instead that the South provoked the outbreak. Because people on both sides are so emotionally invested in the events, however, we may never learn the whole truth. Had I not taken Korean history, I would have accepted the claims in the war museum as fact.

The museum also made sure to inform visitors of the atrocities the North Korean army inflicted on the helpless South Korean villagers. Yet there was no mention of any atrocities committed by Southern soldiers against the North. Somehow I don't think it was all sunshine and rainbows when the South pushed all the way up the peninsula. Yet one of the museum's paintings actually depicted Syngman Rhee being warmly welcomed, celebrated even, in a Pyongyang which had fallen under Southern control.

I only point these things out because the museum was so extensive and involving that I would be remiss not to acknowledge that there was a clearly defined perspective being presented. If the museum had presented a more balanced view, I think it would have been harder to empathize with either side. Even living in the Seoul area, one forgets that Korea is a nation cleaved in two, and also that the split resulted in significant damage to the national psyche. The dramatic flourishes of the museum went a long way towards bringing the dark chapter of history to life.

The museum also had countless maps and diagrams to explain the military campaigns waged by each side, and mannequins to create a sense of being there. The battle of the Han River and the Incheon offensive seemed much more real simply by virtue of my having been to these places, and knowing them as modern Korean landmarks.

There was also a "war re-creation room," where a mock battlefield had been built, and, with the help of lasers, smoke, sound effects, and vibrating floors, visitors could feel what it was like to be in the midst of battle.

One last point of interest from the Korean War Museum was the way General MacArthur was portrayed. Instead of being viewed as a crazy, power-hungry leader, MacArthur was depicted in the museum (and in Korea) as a hero, since he managed to take back almost all of North Korea for the south. The underlying subtext was that President Johnson was a fool for recalling him.

Apparently Chinese soldiers enjoyed playing the drums, recorder, and maracas

dog tags to commemorate the fallen

model of a war-torn village

I was a little dismayed that the first floor had been turned into a playzone for kids- somehow I don't think giant inflatable slides and bloody war stories really mix well

I probably could have spent the whole day at the museum, but as dinnertime rolled around, it was time to head to Gangnam for the academy president's housewarming party/steak dinner. And so I took my leave...

Dog Days

A new season has assuredly arrived here in Korea. The rappers have fled the country (namely G-Unit and Lil Kim), the heat has been ratcheted up a notch, and the cicadas are continually emitting car-alarm like screams, pitying themselves for living brief lifespans of only 14 days or so. And whereas before my writing reflected the classic literature I was reading, I am currently steeped in works like Little Women and The Borrowers, and I have a sneaking suspicion my writing style is beginning to resemble that of a 19th century woman's.

***

Today one of my 6th grade students was absent. He was getting circumcised.

***

Almost all of my students have been talking about a psycho Korean politician who was recently released from jail. I can't remember his name, but apparently this guy has previously run for President and lost. His prominence, however, allowed him to spread the word that he can have out of body experiences, sending his mind into outer space in order to talk to aliens. Apparently he became part of the government, got put in jail, and is now free and ready to wreak more havoc. One of my students told me the guy's more entertaining than Korean comedians.

***

I was wandering around in Insadong today when I realized that traffic on the sidewalk had stopped and that people were swarming around a film crew. Curious, I slipped into the crowd and found that the crowd had formed for none other than Zhang Ziyi, who was spending the day shopping with a Korean friend (or maybe it was for a TV show?). She looked a lot better than the last time I saw her in person, although a bit more perturbed, understandable given the fact that a mob of Koreans were stalking her and taking pictures with their super-advanced camera phones.

When I made my way back down the street a few minutes later, the crowd was still there, laying wait outside the store Ziyi had entered.

Upon researching the matter on the Internet, I found that Ziyi didn't just happen to be in Korea- she's actually here promoting her new movie, Sophie's Revenge (hopefully it doesn't have anything to do with my mom).

***

Two of my favorite cultures converged last month when news broke that a popular Kpop group, Girl's Generation (or SNSD, but I don't know how that would be an abbreviation for "Girl's Generation"), had plagiarized a song by Uzbek singer Dineyra. Take a listen:

Then people realized that the Uzbek singer had actually stolen an early cut of the Korean song and recorded it herself.

This little incident isn't all that surprising, given that Uzbeks have borrowed from Koreans before. Consider GM Daewoo's Damas and Tico models, somewhat popular in Korea:

Damas are the minivans of choice in the Uzbek region of Kyrgyzstan, but Ticos are the all-around vehicles of choice, as evidenced by the picture below, where 80% of the cars on the road are Ticos.

Maybe they feel justified because Stalin basically dumped all the Koreans who were in Soviet territory into Central Asia, which was (and possibly still is) considered a no man's land at the time.

Starcraft Weekend

The weekend of the Brown Club gathering was also the weekend of the eStars Seoul exhibition, a huge convention featuring tournaments for Starcraft, Counterstrike, and other popular games. I learned that the Friday of the exhibition, Blizzard would be allowing visitors to try out the much anticipated Starcraft 2, so after work, I made my way to the convention center as quickly as possible to see if the sequel to one of the best games ever created was worth all the anticipation.

It wasn't.

The preview version only allowed Multiplayer play, and albeit everything was in Korean, but it was still enough to make me realize that Starcraft 2 was basically the same game as the original Starcraft, just with souped-up graphics. Some of the old units and structures have been removed, with new units and structures to take their place. In an effort to avoid advancing too deeply into nerd territory, I'll end my review there. If you want to know more, just ask me.

Sunday was the championship game for the Starcraft tournament, and I knew I had to be there. I remember hearing in high school that some guy in Korea had died from playing Starcraft too long. A quick flipping through of Korean TV channels reveals two stations devoted to airing past tournaments of Starcraft, CS, Tekken, etc. In fact, there's a whole division of sports in Korea known only as "e-sports," meaning that video games are basically placed on equal footing as real-life, physical sports like baseball and soccer. I remember standing outside of a so-called "e-sports stadium" where a Tetris tournament was ending and finding a whole gaggle of girls eagerly waiting for the Tetris players to come out. Come out they eventually did, dressed in matching uniforms and trying their best to look cool. The girls applauded the players and swarmed around them, offering drinks and other goodies so that the gamers could refresh themselves after a long, grueling tournament.

Suffice it to say, I was completely disgusted. And secretly a bit jealous.

It seemed completely preposterous to me that these gamers were being treated like professional athletes just because they could move things around on a computer screen really well. Granted, the amount of prestige afforded to athletes can be on the excessive side at times, but at least those athletes possess some sort of God-given physical gift that sets them apart from the rest. Professional gamers not only garner popularity and acclaim, they can also make hundreds of thousands a year. I couldn't help but think something wasn't right about that.

Then I played a round of Starcraft with Jihoon, who claimed he "wasn't that good," got completely owned, and started to rethink my position. As I consider myself a "not bad" Starcraft player, I was pretty shocked to be beaten so easily, and when I considered that the pro gamers were playing the best of the best, I felt a little more appreciation for them.

That Sunday was the championship of the e-Stars Seoul tournament, so I thought I'd see how the best of the best played.

I still find it funny how much spectacle was involved. Two garrulous announcers provided constant commentary throughout the match, and although I had no clue what they were saying, the emphases in their voices were enough to kick the excitement level up a notch.

Before the match began, each player "warmed up" in his private booth, clicking his left mouse button as rapidly as possible (I kid you not) while maintaining an intense gaze at the computer screen. The favored player even displayed a professional glamour shot overlaid with the words "Maestro of Zerg."

As this game would provide footage for the 24-hour Starcraft channel, a few cameras stationed around the room were capturing footage for the broadcasts. These cameras kept returning to the token white guys, who ate it all up while going crazy for the camera.

On the other hand, when the cameras turned to the Koreans, most of them demurely covered their faces.

Finally, after towers of smoke were shot into the air and equally tall flares ignited on stage, it was time for the battle to begin.

The championship consisted of three games, and no game lasted longer than twenty minutes. It wasn't until the main screen began to show what was actually happening on each player's monitor that I realized how good these guys were. Whereas when I play Starcraft, I usually have a little downtime when nothing's happening, or wait to see if my army will beat my opponents, the professionals were clicking nonstop at a rate that had to be about twice per second. Their deft maneuvering out of tricky situations and into strategic positions was almost as thrilling to me as watching a superhuman athlete perform some extraordinary feat. I also realized that these players modified their strategies for each round, using different combinations of units in anticipation of the units his opponent would use. This approach didn't differ much from using different plays in other, legitimate sports. And with this discovery came the realization that these players probably studied their opponents' past games- after all there were channels devoted to airing old tournaments- which was not all that different from players in sports studying opposing teams' strategies.

The icing on the cake, however, was the audience. Whenever one player was about to launch a surprise attack on the other, or the tide suddenly shifted from one to the other, the entire crowd would gasp. And once that attack was in motion, the audience would cheer as loudly as spectators at a pro sporting game. It was a totally different experience watching a Starcraft match with an awed, engaged audience than watching it on TV. The fact that most of the people in the audience were in middle school or high school didn't make an ounce of difference.

Ultimately, the self-dubbed "Maestro of Zerg" won the tournament. I was a little disappointed, as I had been rooting for his opponent to win. Nevertheless, as I left the convention center I realized that perhaps the glorification of Starcraft wasn't such a crazy idea after all.

Brown Koreans

Two Saturdays ago, the Brown Club of Korea hosted a Brown Gathering at the Seoul Club in central Seoul. A country club of sorts, the Seoul Club seems to be one of the premier social clubs in Korea for people (especially foreigners) who have so much money they don't know what to do with it. In order to join, one has to be invited by two current members, then pay an initiation fee of 50,000,000 won, or about $40,000.

The Brown Gathering was attended primarily by current students, as well as incoming freshmen and recent and old alums. The Club President kicked things off by welcoming the freshmen and congratulating them on getting in, since only 20 or so Koreans got in out of hundreds who applied. He added that even Emma Watson from "Harry Potter" decided to go to Brown, because "it's the place where dreams come true."

Next, we all went around the room and introduced ourselves- just like orientation except it was all in Korean. I basically said, "I'm Cameron. I don't speak Korean. Thank you." On the other end of the spectrum, Pauline gave a spiel about World Vision and the work that she's doing and ended by telling everyone to "follow their dreams" (in English, thankfully).

Initially, I was excited that the servers were bringing out Mexican food, but i was sorely disappointed once said food reached my mouth. The guacamole hit the spot, but the enchilada was about the size of my fist and tasted pretty bad. Maybe they were trying to prepare the freshmen for the Ratty.

We were able to meet a good number of freshmen, and it was almost surreal hearing them express their nervousness at going to Brown, asking where the good places to eat are, and what cell phone service to use. Jihoon and I met a freshman who was even loopier than Julia (in a good way) and who seemed interested in joining CHC.

As the gathering drew to a close, we deliberated as to whether or not to stop by a famous bakery in the area. Wonhoe was hesitant to go, as he'd seen reports that the bakery had unsanitary conditions, but one of the K friends objected, as it was owned by his family friends. With this assurance, we decided to try our luck.

The bakery has been around since before the Korean War, so it's one of the older buildings in Seoul. Even the inside of the place seemed out of place in present day Seoul, rather, it struck me as fitting in better in pre-Communist China.

we weren't allowed to take pictures inside (for fear of exposing the unsanitary conditions)

Wonhoe and Pauline took off from there, and Jihoon and I headed over to the COEX area. Along the way, we took a brief tour of Jihoon's old high school, then stopped at the Buddhist temple across from COEX.

Finally, we stopped off at COEX for a round of Korea's national pasttime, a game of Starcraft.