Two Weeks

   I am starting this blog, and I have no idea how much I will be updating it. I've started journals before, and usually stop after a week. Perhaps I will enjoy the fact that a few eyes might see this, or maybe I will be turned off down the road that I am not putting down more personal things. We'll see. The point is, I am writing this first post now, because there are things I have to write, and writing is always good and I need to do more of that. Writing, that is. On the topic of writing I've been doing so almost every day this week, as there is downtime at my job after I'm fully prepared for the day, and there is this maddening gap of time where I can either twiddle my thumbs or actually write something, damnit! It is perfect, exactly what I was looking for at this point in my life. Now I just need to figure out if I can actually hack it.

  Anyways, point is I make no promises for this blog but that it will be here, on the wide wide internet, which in its enormity will probably not mind it being there too much.

Part 1, Or: How I Am Getting On

   Quite nicely, thank you for asking.

   I've figured out all the essentials, such as where the heck you buy things. The giant superstores are hidden underground, which is a change of pace from Arizona where you cannot miss the glowing WALMART upthrust several stories into the sky. The trash, oddly enough, was a complexity that needed figuring out, since you can only throw trash out using certain bags that you must buy from convenience stores, and then you must sort out the trash from the recycle. And it seems people take recycling very seriously here, so I've got to be careful to separate the cardboard from the plastics, as well.

   I haven't quite figured out how to meet people yet, but then I was never very good at that in a country where the majority of people spoke the same language as me. Trying to get out there, and get better at meeting more people is one of the reasons I made this move, and to my credit I've made some effort to explore the city every day.

 Independence Day

   Today was Korean Independence Day, or Gwangbokjeol, celebrating liberation from Japan in 1945. I really would not have known this had I not had the day off from my work today. I suppose I can't blame myself too much, its not like anyone is translating the festivities into English, but it does put into a light the disconnect an expatriate feels living in a culture not his own.

   This brings me to what I believe will be a common theme during my stay in Korea: facing up to your own faults. Not to overgeneralize (but that's exactly what I will do), but Koreans seem to be very direct with questions. For example, asking you whether you are married or not, what religion you are, all within minutes of your first meeting. About any American reading this will think 'That's not so bad,' and it's not, but imagine someone asking such personal questions right away in America. It just doesn't happen. Getting back on track with facing up to your faults, I almost laughed when someone I was getting coffee with asked me my religion, then followed up by questioning why I came to Korea in the first place since I don't speak the language at all. I don't really have an answer to that. Maybe it was a dumb decision in the eyes of others, but with mine I just see a whole country to explore and a year to do it in.

   Another thing I have to face up to is my reasons for being here, and the fact that nothing I'm doing here is automatically praiseworthy. One thing I've learned in my short time here is that I am probably the most common foreigner to ever come to Korea. Pretty much the only thing the government wants foreigners to do is teach, and they're clamping down on anyone who does so much as tutor on off-hours. Also, my request online to find some writers groups near me was met with a comment that half of the people who come to Korea end up failed writers. That's not really news though; all writers are failed writers. Some just pull up their bootstraps and crawl their way out of the muck afterwards. The rest clean themselves off and wonder what the hell they were doing and go make actual money.

   Anyways, duck. I hope this blog doesn't seem too pessimistic, especially having only gotten 2 weeks on, but people who know me know that when my sense of humor isn't grim, it's irreverent. When I look back on whats noteworthy of a day, I usually omit the happy things. Maybe its because you learn more from the muck.

PART 2, Or, Happy Things

   I went to Central Park today, and did my best to get lost. Unfortunately I found the fastest path to the center of the park and then straight out again, but it was a nice walk. Hopefully someone will understand what I thought of immediately when I saw three stone heads lying near a walkway (you can see the third one a little ways back, there). Once I get a phone and a data plan I will feel more confident going further and further away, but for today at least I had a good adventure in a surprisingly large and well-maintained park for an urban area. This is near Seohyeon Station, Bundang. The duck you see above quacked when I said annyeong to it repeatedly, but I think he got offended that I didn't use a more formal greeting and he paddled away with his homies.

   Goals for next weekend include: checking out some more foreigner-friendly bars, trying to order food at a more traditional Korean restaurant even though none of them seem to have English menus and probably not even any pictures I can point mutely at, and a playing of Les Mis at the outdoor arena I saw advertised while I was at the park!

BONUS PICTURE

I hear they go quite nicely together.