Early thoughts on Korea

Well alright, I've been in Korea for around 5 days and thought it was well past time to put down my early impressions. If you're coming to Korea it's pretty much assured you'll get to start your adventure in Seoul (because that's where the big airport is). I must admit, I don't know how to adequately describe it except to say Seoul is F***ing HUge! (Unfortunately I can't say Huge and Beautiful!). Being somewhat middle-aged, I've seen alot of apartment buildings in my life, but it took but one drive through Seoul to INSTANTLY QUADRUPLE THAT NUMBER. Seoul is an endless hodge-podge of uninspiring urban-industrial high-rise apartment buildings. The extent of which still leaves me questioning my senses. It's about an hour bus ride from Seoul to where I am in Songtan (Osan Air Base) and to get between the two you basically travel down one large highway. Along this entire span THE APARTMENT BUILDINGS NEVER STOP, the whole way, all 60 or so miles! This is one of the things that leads me to believe that Korea is country in a hurry, a big hurry. I haven't been here long enough to know where their headed or why they want to get there so fast. In addition to liking their apartment buildings they also like their cars, cars are flying around everywhere.

I haven't been here very long but somehow, someway everything is already starting to feel normal. The one things that ensures that this progression will never be complete is the damn alphabet they use here. Looking at a sign gives you an eerie sense of intimadation and vast puzzlement; you know there is no way to even begin to know what is saying to you, and with the sheer purpose of a sign being a means to inform you, the paradox is complete. Luckily for me and others of my ilk, English is creeping it's way onto many signs.

The people I've come in contact with have all been very nice, but there is still a bit of discomfort within me as I walk around town. Physically Koreans are quite different than the people I've spent my life around and this is still playing tricks with my mind. As I spend more time here it will surely fade, but at the moment it's a feeling I've never experienced. Living in Germany was no big issue because I'm European, being in PNG wasn't a big deal because I've been around black people all my life, never in quite the proportion but it never really made me subconsciously pause. Now the naked old people that would occasionally walk around town made me pause, but that was mostly in the highlands and I did my best to stay out of that place (someday I'll go into one of Joey and I's golden rules, Under No Condition are You Ever to Return to the Village. That statement may mean nothing to you to now, but someday it will).

I'm still in a hotel and thus have access to Korean cable TV and I do believe you can learn alot about a people by what's on their cable TV. I make no judgements here because being in a hotel that sees a lot of foreigners I could very well be seeing the shows Koreans think foreigners want to see rather than what Koreans themselves want to see; more investigation will be required in this matter. There's no way to know what on or what's coming on so I do a lot of cycling through the channels. I typical cycle might look something like this: Korean news show, Korean olympic coverage, Korean olympic coverage, more Korean olympic coverage, bad American movie, bad European movie, BBC, CNN, another bad American movie, english language sports coverage, two unattractive people humping, Woooo what was that? RIght at the end of the cycle is some low grade porno channel that inevitably has two very unattractive people humping away. Be aware when I say unattractive I am not making any kind of racial remark, they have unattractive Asian, unattactive whites, etc... You never really know when it's coming because the channels aren't numbered, there is some crazy Korean character where you would normally find the number. And this folks is where I am going to leave you tonight, with the thought of two very unattractive people humping running through your mind. What does this say about us as people when no matter where you go in the world, Porn is king? The biologist in us might not be surprised by the desire to procreate we share with all the other living things; but boy the conversion that brings it into high society can sure make you laugh and wonder.