First: Out and About

I'm sure that everyone assumed I would be having the time of my life just kickin' it in Seoul. Little do you know. I don't quite live there but in a neighboring city, and unfortunately without literacy, a car, cell phone, or bank account, I can not access anything. I didn't have to work fora whole week, but I had no business that I could take care of. It might've been considered a "break", but it was less relaxing and closer to torturous. As a stranger in Suwon, I fit the metaphor of the street urchin with his wide eyes pressed to the windows of the fine stores, hoping for scraps and dreaming about a better day to come.

And so I clung to my apartment like an old lady to her shoe until I received my settlement allowance of $240. Emerging from my hibernation, I could finally get a feel for the city and SHOP (oh beloved hobby!!).

First were groceries, which took damn near 3 hours with my illiteracy. I went to the Korean version of Target or Walmart, Home Plus. The cheesy, happy cartoon-like commercials, with the big smiles and funny dance that is a mixture of the Macarena and the Hokey-Pokey, are reminiscent of Sesame Street and Barney. I felt bad after going there because if Koreans and Japanese aren't taken seriously in American culture, it's because of representations like Home Plus that fulfill the stereotype of the innocent, obedient Asian, that Americans in reaction subject to ridicule and domination. It's not that I am an enemy to happiness and sunshine. But I can't help noticing that international perceptions of Asians often include a mixture of admiration for our intelligence and condescension for our inherent weakness. I'm not sure just yet how to characterize "real" Koreans, but I don't think that that can be all.

In reference to the shopping itself, however, I will say that the customer service is not lacking. There were perniciously pleasant greeters and an army of attendants at every possible department of the store, ready to assault me with aid while singing a song. I bemoaned how steep the prices were. It felt like shopping at Publix! $4.50 for hand soap? Lesson Learned: support the small-time vendors, even if it means hitting 4 or 5 stores. Because no one can put a price on a quiet, relaxed, inexpensive shopping experience.
And at the end, my arms felt like they were going to detach from my body. The 6-7 minutes that it usually takes me to get home was 35 minutes today. However, considering I was hauling over 50 lb.s of groceries that whacked me in the legs and entangled me like 4 children, I am proud of myself. No way to communicate, no car, no friend or friendly stranger to help me, no cell phone to call a taxi. Another test of independence, successfully completed.

Since I had to take breaks every 50 steps or so, I decided to crap out on a bench in front of the large recreation center on the way home. Took a vid while enjoying the rest.

I also went walking about my neighborhood, which is quite large and can be likened to Chinatown. Actually, after the last few days I think that much of Suwon is very similar to certain parts of New York City, from the pungent food and sewage smells of Chinatown to the glossiness of the high-end, commercialized shopping and cultural centers. And overall, just as crowded and bustling with activity. But more on that later.

My first observations: Grandparents (and some parents) often like to take the children for walks or stand outside and watch them play. And there are many children, since I live in a large school district. It's really pleasant to watch them as I pass by.
Because of the space issues, everything is crowded very close together here. I have never seen parking this bad before, even New York would be a dream scenario. I am shocked to see drivers park their cars in literally every available square of pavement. Just for example, the parking at the hospital was only the size of the base of my house, with only ONE lane to go in and out. Here's a drawing I made that really shows what that parking lot looked like: All the circles are cars. The blue one is the one I went in with my coworker and the green one is a car trying to get in through the same way we had to get out. So, to get out one must reverse through that curved lane and out into a full-traffic street. It took us 20 minutes to exit the place.

How do the inside cars get out, you ask? Well, when the man whose car was in front of us wanted to leave, he simple pushed the other cars out of the way, to the point where they rolled too far and hit other cars in the lot. O.o <---shocked face Why is this normal?? Not to mention that the drivers here are just as aggressive as the ones in NYC and pedestrians do NOT have the right of way. I mean, you can assume that if you want, but you will get your ass plowed by a bus.

The streets are riddled with shops and restaurants!! I find temptation with every glance and every step. The food is so alluring and some of it quite strange. It amuses me to pass by the shops with live seafood, because it's not your typical fish-and-lobster tank, oh no:

The shoes are so comfortable and still so chic! They do not sacrifice comfort for fashion in my town, I think, because people must walk everywhere but still look good no matter what. While they are small and the streets are stinky, I do like the shops at the market very much. The prices are more attractive with the competition and the selection is vast. But sometimes pleasure is simple: one of my favorite things about it is just looking above to watch the colorful spinners when they catch a full breeze. Here's a video of one of the most dense but colorful market roads in my neighborhood:



One of the down sides is that people spit on the sidewalk a lot here. It's mostly men who hock the loogies. I saw a man who, after I passed him, leaned out from the doorway of a shop and appeared to be vomiting mostly liquid. However, on closer inspection I believe he was spitting out his soup. The whole bowl. Yewww. Yesterday, there was a very tall, 5'8" high school girl who spat her pink gum out onto the sidewalk right next to me. From her full height. While walking. Disgusting.
What is similarly disturbing is the sight of men carrying women's handbags. At first, I misunderstood what my friends said to me and thought that they were holding their wives' handbags. Oh god. The men bought their OWN handbags. First, I saw a man at the hospital who was holding a hot pink handbag. I wrote him off as a mental patient because he was wearing pajamas. However, afterward I saw a man at the park who was toting a green and brown Louis Vuitton handbag. ...WHY?? .........WHYYYY???!?!!!! There must be an answer for this perverse affliction, but as yet I cannot stomach it. On a side note, I am not alone; my two Korean female friends find it an abomination.