::A Geek in Korea::

Today’s trip to Seoul was a little different. I did my shopping, then I met up with a friend that happens to live in the ‘burbs of Seoul. He was in my wedding, and showed my family a great time. We hadn’t had time to catch up since then, with him working to pay off his own wedding, and I never having time to visit due to a busy schedule. We met in COEX mall and saw a movie. It was rather good. We got to chat about married life, catch up on how we had been, and had a good lunch. I had a great  time.

After that, I headed back to the train station to go back to Daejeon. Had the day ended there, I might have had a rare pleasant day in Seoul. If only that was the case.

For a city that claims to be the sophisticated center of Korean culture, some of the people can be down right crude. On the walk from one station, transfering subway lines, I saw several dozen homeless people staggering around drunk, hopping over ticket machines, and basically going about their homeless ways. Cursing, spitting, and drinking in the subway is what these people do. There are homeless people in Daejeon, but they don’t tend to be as vocal.

As I walked in the subway to the next station, A man wearing a suit smoked a cigarette underground despite the thousands of "no smoking" signs posted everywhere. I saw students were hopping over fences and going through barriers to avoid paying for subway tickets. On the trains, people were sucking their teeth, popping their gum, and speaking loudly on their phones. All these things drive me crazy. This is all typical behavior you see around the city, and also happen in Daejeon. The difference in Seoul is that there are ten times more people doing these annoying things around you at all times. The best you can do is simply put on some music, go numb, and try to ignore it. I didn’t feel like listening to music, so the small annoyances started to build on me.

When I finally got to the train station, I queued up for a ticket. The man in front of me was ordering tickets for a small group of people. When he  found out the price, he flipped out, started screaming, SPAT on the ground, stomped around grinding the spit into the ground, and called the attendant all sorts of names that aren’t very nice to say to a woman. Imagine a enormous two year old with a foul mouth, designer suit, and sunglasses. I just stared in shock. He didn’t even appear to be drunk, just extremely short tempered. The woman selling the tickets was amazingly composed, counted his money, and handed him his tickets without a word. The manager behind the counter clerks gave little notice of the man’s antics. It must be more common than I want to believe.

As much as I’ve found myself to live comfortably in the city I live in despite my country upbringing in the States, I honestly can’t take much of Seoul. It’s too big, and every time I visit the place I come back to Daejeon with a nasty headache caused by the people, the pollution, and the city itself. I always wonder how long I would have lasted in this country if I had attempted to live in Seoul when I first arrived. I’d probably gone home not long after blowing my entire savings on games in Youngsan electronics market. It’s best things ended up like they did.I only make treks to the city every few months at a time to replenish my dwindling my various English media supply and keep my sanity.