The Korean World Series

Okay, so it's not really called the "World Series" here in Korean. They are not so presumptuous, although Korea did win the gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

The SK Wyverns (wyvern?? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wyvern) are playing the Doosan Bears in the Finals of the Korean Baseball Organization (KBO). If you're not familiar with Korean professional baseball, each of the eight teams is owned by a chaebol, a Korean conglomerate, e.g. Samsung Lions, LG Twins, Hyundai Unicorns, etc. Whenever there's a big game, the chaebol dismiss employees from work early, so that they can attend the game. It's like school spirit meets corporate competition, and it comes out most visibly in the group cheering. There's a home side and a visiting side in the stadium. Employees and fans are armed with thunder sticks and homer-hankies and support their team with a half-dozen team songs and chants, all belted out in unison.

My friend Melissa works for SK Telecom, and she was able to score some free tickets to Game 4 for me and a few friends. Score! I was pretty excited. After all, this is the Korean "World Series". And I got to sit in the employee section, which means I got to join the group cheering. Needless to say, I had a blast. Wish you were here!

P.S. The Wyverns won to build a 3-1 lead over the Bears, and the Wyverns closed out the series with a Game 5 win the following night.









We got there early to make sure we got good seats (there's no assigned seating in the employee section).









Jamie (left) and Melissa (right) armed with thunder sticks and wearing their homer hankies!





A practice session! Yes, we did rehearse before the game!





Game time!





The Doosan Bears side





What fire hazard??

Farmers' Market ... Korean style

On my way to work today, I was surprised to stumble on this. It's an outdoor market that sets up shop on this local street near my apartment. Every Wednesday, rain or shine. Or snow?? We'll see.

I thought I was on sabbatical!

Today I attended 5 worship services, a personal record. I was officially introduced as the new English Ministry Pastor at 3 Korean-speaking services (7am, 10am, 11:30am). I led my own service at 11:30am. And then I was the guest speaker at a friend's church at 1:30pm.

What sabbatical??

Lost in Translation

The strangest thing has happened. I'm sure there is no one more surprised than me. But I have a confession to make: Never in my life have I had a more intense desire to be Korean. Of course, I'm Korean by blood. But I mean really Korean, as in Korean-ized, fluent in the Korean language, living and dying by Korea's Olympic fortunes, singing all the pop songs in my sleep, and popping the collar on my polo shirt. Okay, maybe not the collar!

In the last few weeks, I've had several chances to explore various neighborhoods by myself, wandering through labyrinthine side-streets, past countless restaurants, bars and no-rae-bang's. I weave my way through oncoming groups of three, four, five, eight people, wondering where they're from and where they're going and what they're talking about. I walk behind a pair of women who are unaware that I'm eavesdropping on their conversation. But like the proverbial tree falling in the woods, is it really eavesdropping if you can't understand what they're saying?

I've quickly discovered the vast disparity between my intense curiosity about the native Korean experience and at this same time the virtual inaccessibility of Korean culture to me. My short time here has highlighted how NOT Korean I am, between my unfamiliarity with the language and the culture, the habits and practices of the people. This experience has profoundly accentuated my sense of being alone, of not belonging. This is much different than feeling lonely. What I mean by "being alone" is not having a sense of belonging to a people or of having a social "home" where you can fit right in.

This is particularly ironic because I LOOK so Korean (so I've been told). I can remember at least five times people have approached me for directions on the street or in the subway station. If you could see the look on their faces when I speak to them in English. It's as if they heard a Nigerian speaking Mandarin. Yet despite my typical Korean appearance, Korean culture is opaque to me.

I'm truly a "tweener". I've known this for some time, but my experience in Korean has been a vivid reminder of this. I'm not Korean enough to be really Korean, and I never will be. And I'm not American enough to be really American, and I never will be. I am neither/nor. There is certainly a distinct place in between where I feel at home as a Korean-American, but that doesn't subdue the wish to jump in and blend in.

I've enjoyed the experience of looking at Korean culture as a foreigner, with fresh eyes. But it would be nice if I could say that here in Seoul I feel at home with my people.

Skyline and Night Lights

This is the sight that greets me whenever I walk from my apt to the subway station. This is a very typical sight throughout Seoul: clusters of enormous apartment buildings. This is what helps Seoul to achieve its status as the 2nd largest metropolitan area in the world (Note: Tokyo wins by a landslide at 34 million, with Seoul, Mexico City, Sao Paulo and NYC essentially tied for 2nd at around 20 million).






Here are the UFO-themed / Space Needle-inspired versions!






I shot this picture at the train station in Busan, the second largest city in Korea located on the southeastern coast. I liked the look of the one lonely crane.






I shot this pic from a taxi in Gangnam. I've never seen anything like it.






A building near my apartment. Can any of you tell me what these signs say??

Seoul, Seocho-gu, Jamwon-dong

That's how you write your address in Korea. City first - Seoul. District next - Seocho-gu. Then Neighborhood - Jamwon-dong.

So this is my new neighborhood. I've had a few weeks to explore the surrounding area, and the longer I'm here, the more I appreciate it. Not because of the innovative architecture. Not because of number of notable restaurants, though there are some nearby. Not because I'm in one of the most affluent districts in Seoul. No, it's for much more for practical reasons. I live less than a 10-min walk from almost anything I need:

- work - 5 min walk

- nearest food court - 6 min walk

- nearest subway station - 7 min walk

- 24-hour supermarket - 8 min walk

- Han River Park - 3 min jog

There are other neighborhoods with better restaurants, more nightlife, better views (which are all just a subway ride away). But few neighborhoods can beat mine for convenience.


Today, I was out for my bi-weekly run along the Han River, the waterway that divides Seoul into north and south. At the beginning of my run, I noticed a small crowd had gathered at a miniature amphitheater near the end of the Banpo Bridge. As I soon found out, they were all waiting for the nightly water show. Since 2007, Seoul has been making a major push to renovate the regions along the Han River, adding facilities like parks, basketball courts, swimming pools, paved walking/running and biking paths. And now we have a water show, along with classical music showering the audience from nearby speakers. Enjoy the show!

The Soul of Seoul

Today was a very busy day. I had two major tasks to accomplish, both of which revealed some of the best and worst of Korea.

In the morning, I went to the main immigration office in Seoul to apply for my visa. Now they make the DMV look like a finely-tuned, well-oiled machine! When I arrived, I took a number and waited an hour for them to tell me that I was standing in the wrong line. The problem is that there are no signs or handouts clearly explaining the process. So there was no way for me to know I was standing in the wrong line without ... well, standing in the wrong line. So I went to another building to confirm my parents' status as US citizens, which took another hour. Then I returned to the first building and waited for another two hours to submit my application. I was there for over 4 hours, and the entire process was quite frustrating. So that's the worst of Korea. The lack of organization, the lack of efficient, self-evident systems, the lack of anyone who could explain to me what I was supposed to do.

Now you would think that at an immigration office, they would make it a point to have an English-speaker on staff. At least one. But they didn't, or at least I didn't see one while I was there. So how did I actually figure out the process if no one spoke English? Well, there was a Korean man who was at the immigration office. In his late 50's. A little round in the middle, but not portly. With long, slicked black hair, but not sleazy-looking. He overheard my initial (attempted) conversation with the immigration officer while he was filling out some forms, and he helped to translate betweeen us. It was clear that I didn't understand what the officer was trying to explain to me. So he actually put his own business on hold, walked me over to the other building, and waited with me for the entire hour, so he could explain my situation to the clerk. There were some complications with my parents' citizenship status which would have been impossible for me to resolve without his assistance. And that's the best of Korea. Koreans will occasionally go well out of their way to help you. After we were done, he walked off without saying goodbye.

The second task of the day was fixing my Apple iBook. Korea is dominated by PC's, and I would be surprised in Mac market share surpassed the high single digits. So it was a challenge to find a computer store that could service Mac's, especially since there no Apple Stores in Seoul yet. With the help of my father, I was able to find a service provider in YongSan, the most notable computer and electronics district in Seoul. According to Wikipedia, "Yongsan Electronics Market is a retail area in Seoul, comprised of over 20 buildings housing 5,000 stores that sell appliances, stereos, computers and peripherals, office equipment, telephones, lighting equipment, electronic games and software, videos and CDs." I had the unenviable task of finding that one Apple service provider among the thousands of other stores. In the US, that wouldn't be much of a problem because when you walk into a mall, one of the first things you see is a directory. But imagine a mall the size of a small town without a directory. That's the task I was faced with. I searched in vain for an hour. I finally arrived on the right floor and found the right office number, but the office was empty. Then I asked (in my very broken Korean) the guys in the office next door if they knew where the Apple service provider was located. One of them called the store and got directions for me, and he walked me over to the store in another building. It was a good 10 min walk one-way, but he knew that I wouldn't have been able to find it without taking me himself. When we arrived at the store, he said goodbye and walked off briskly.

Needless to say, it was an exhausting day. But one that I will not soon forget, as it gave me a visceral sense of the soul of Seoul. Unstructured and unorganized, convoluted and enigmatic. But in her bumbling bureacracies and her maze-like markets, there is a stoic warmth, an unrefined hospitality that makes her idiosyncracies tolerable and almost endearing.

Korea's Best Dance Crew

So this is why those little kids were dancing (see post from Oct. 1). Every fall, the school hosts a festival, which includes elaborate and highly choreographed dance routines. And to think, this is where Bi (Rain) got his start!

A Note to My Readership (all 3 of you!)

I will continue my blog with the following disclaimer. I can't do this update everyday thing. There's just too much to do out here, and I have no internet access at home. So I'll have to blog in bunches. Meaning that I will be posting several entries at a time and back-dating them according to the day of the relevant events, not according to the day I post.

But not today. On my way to a Gwanhak San (Mt. Gwanhak) with Ryan Kim and a few other friends. I hope to post (in bunches!) on Monday.

Fighting!

First Day at Work

For those of you don't know, I'm serving as the interim English Ministry (EM) Pastor at Hanshin Presbyterian Church in Seoul (Seocho-gu, Jamwon-dong, to be specific). Wednesday was my first full day at church, which is only a 5 min walk away from my apt. Needless to say, I have no complaints about my commute!

As I approached the church, I heard music blaring from the elementary school across the street and saw flashes of yellow through the metal gate leading to the school's courtyard. This explains why Koreans know how to get down!