Wednesday, August 04, 2004
Sang-il dong
If you find a map of Seoul and then find Mokdong, look on the opposite side of the map. That's Sang-il Dong. I am living there for the next few days until I roll out of Seoul. I moved in today into the basement of Yun Jung's mother's old house. She still owns it, but only Yun Jung's brother lives there. I left work for the last time today (although I have to go back tomorrow to close my bank account and turn in my Alien Registration Card) and got on the subway and took it to the absolute last stop on the line ... Sang-il dong. I made my way through the maze of streets to the house and let myself in (I had a key).
No one speaks English here. No one. In Mokdong, some of the younger people could talk to you in a little bit of English, but not here. In fact, they don't even believe that I speak any Korean at first. I went into a restaurant and said "one person" and the ajumma looked at me like I was wearing a black cape and biting someone's neck in the moonlight. Finally, she realized that I was speaking Korean and she gave me a table. I ordered and ate, and all that she really said to me was "you use chopsticks very well." But that was just what I wanted. I just wanted to eat some food and be left alone.
Yun Jung won't be around tonight, so hopefully I'll catch her in the morning before I have to make the 100 minute subway trip from here to Mokdong. I'm just killing time until I fall asleep. I tried to take pictures of the neighborhood tonight, but I was too hungry to think about anything other than food.
Right now, I'm in a PC Bang and I think I might hop over to a hof for a beer and some "anjoo" which basically means bar food. There's one nearby called "Beer Space" and it's decorated like the night sky. That might do the trick. If there were one called "Beer Monkey" I would move here permanently.
By the way, I have a traditional Korean bed, which is basically just a matress on the floor. All those years I wasn't actually strange, it was just that my bedroom was in the wrong country. In New York, I have a bed for the first time since I moved out of the dorms and into Katrina's apartment. I bought it right before I left.
I took a bunch of pictures, but I don't think that I will be able to post them until I get back to New York. I have some pictures of my students and I will have some pictures of Sang-il Dong. This place is pretty interesting, and has a MUCH different feel than Mokdong. I wish that I would have been living here instead. Mokdong was too spread out and too open and too modern. This place is pretty ghetto-looking with the buildings all close together. The streets are barely wide enough to walk three abreast yet they are considered two-way for the cars. And sidewalks? These people laugh heartily at such newfangled conviences.
No one speaks English here. No one. In Mokdong, some of the younger people could talk to you in a little bit of English, but not here. In fact, they don't even believe that I speak any Korean at first. I went into a restaurant and said "one person" and the ajumma looked at me like I was wearing a black cape and biting someone's neck in the moonlight. Finally, she realized that I was speaking Korean and she gave me a table. I ordered and ate, and all that she really said to me was "you use chopsticks very well." But that was just what I wanted. I just wanted to eat some food and be left alone.
Yun Jung won't be around tonight, so hopefully I'll catch her in the morning before I have to make the 100 minute subway trip from here to Mokdong. I'm just killing time until I fall asleep. I tried to take pictures of the neighborhood tonight, but I was too hungry to think about anything other than food.
Right now, I'm in a PC Bang and I think I might hop over to a hof for a beer and some "anjoo" which basically means bar food. There's one nearby called "Beer Space" and it's decorated like the night sky. That might do the trick. If there were one called "Beer Monkey" I would move here permanently.
By the way, I have a traditional Korean bed, which is basically just a matress on the floor. All those years I wasn't actually strange, it was just that my bedroom was in the wrong country. In New York, I have a bed for the first time since I moved out of the dorms and into Katrina's apartment. I bought it right before I left.
I took a bunch of pictures, but I don't think that I will be able to post them until I get back to New York. I have some pictures of my students and I will have some pictures of Sang-il Dong. This place is pretty interesting, and has a MUCH different feel than Mokdong. I wish that I would have been living here instead. Mokdong was too spread out and too open and too modern. This place is pretty ghetto-looking with the buildings all close together. The streets are barely wide enough to walk three abreast yet they are considered two-way for the cars. And sidewalks? These people laugh heartily at such newfangled conviences.
