All hail couchsurfing

Couchsurfing during this trip has proved to be a great experience. I have a feeling that the world is shrinking (globalisation, the internet, etc) around each one of us like cellophane, closing us off from one another in our own private bubbles. I am glad to see that it can have the opposite effect as well.

Imagine spending three solid days, including 12 hours in the car, with a guy you'd met less than a week before (and that through being his temporary roomate) and with whom you barely shared a language. We traversed most of Korea, North to South, going to Busan, mostly communicating by sharing food and music. It is a beautiful country, with 40% of the population living in Seoul and most of the rest gathered around urban centres, the majority of the country is mountainous forest, protected as natural park or simply not that useful for humans. In Busan we met with a friend of Jae Moon from his army days named Byong Sung and the guy's Canadian-Australian girlfriend. Both were huge surfers, and we got up at 5am both days we spent with them to go surfing with a few Korean guys. I am astounded again and again by how many Koreans at least understand English, even if they are too shy to speak it, but of course surfing (or, in my case, floundering-with-board) doesn't require a great deal of language. On the first day after surfing Jae Moon and I had brunch and then went out on his jet ski. Like, a real deal jet ski. Only when I complained that my legs were tired (mostly from quaking, partly from trying to keep my balance as I careened over the tiniest waves) did my friend even reveal that the thing had a fold-out seat. Turns out this guy was a competitive motorcycle racer when he was at university--makes sense. I must confess that adrenaline is not really my drug of choice (the whole risk-life-and-limb thing or something) but jet-skiing was an exhilarating new experience. We stayed around the next morning to surf again and clean the ski before starting the long journey back to Seoul. On the way we visited the grave site of the ex-president of Korea, who committed suicide late in May following corruption charges in order to save face. Jae Moon is very politically active in protests and such, and is wildly against the current president, who he sees as coming down too strongly in favour of Western attitudes (yay rich people!) and social control, to the detriment of the average Korean. The old president he viewed as almost a Princess Diana figure, a social champion who was hounded to death by the media.

I am left with a lot of jostling impressions from my trip. First, the Korean sense of hospitality. We spent a lot of time in the jet-ski garage (prime tourist place, I'm sure), and between the employees and customers there and Byong Sung, I don't I payed for a single meal the entire time we were in Busan--all food was eaten communally, and one person always "treated". There is an expectation of reciprocity with the Koreans I imagine, and as a foreigner I at least added some novelty. In such a small and insular country, it is perfectly reasonable to expect that everyone will see each other again and a new person can treat every time. I've been to a few garages with Jae Moon and at each one we are at least given drinks, if not more, with the expectation that we will stay for at least an hour and chat (or, in my case, be chatted about). And Jae Moon's hospitality especially has impressed me--from sharing his 1-room apartment to his trip and all his fancy gear. To be sure, he is taking a year off and therefore in between things and probably bored, but it still seems amazing--we treat our close relatives much worse.

In some ways, when meeting Koreans I think being twenty (22 Korean age--you are 1 when you're born and birthdays follow the lunar calendar) has its advantages, in that it makes me a non-entity. If I were Korean, I would just be finishing my military service and starting university. Childhood is extended here differently from other countries, as people are expected to live with their parents until they are married (sometime before 30), or else live communally in barracks or dorms. After Koreans ask my age they are usually fairly content that they have a decent picture of my life--in Korea, people's paths don't really begin splitting until they finish university in their mid-late twenties, so knowing that a person is 20/22 gives a decent picture of their life.

What else? I'm back with my German host (he teaches German, not English, to clarify--apparently under the Japanese occupation German was mandatory and it remains a big language here, especially as most of their legal system is based on German law), and we've got a second couchsurfer from China coming in tomorrow, which should be interesting. I finished Camus' "The Fall" and found it illuminating and disturbing in that seems to completely fulfill its project: the judge-truly, fairly, and finding fault-all of mankind, while at the same time holding true to its speaker's assertion that memoirs and confessions always seek to hide more truth than they reveal. Because it hid rather than revealing and simply ended rather than resolving I found it incredibly true and honest but unsatisfactory because of it.

I am thinking of coming back on Sunday, praying that it being Sunday will keep crowds down. I'm really looking forward to coming back to LA, even just for a month, and enjoying the end of summer. If nothing else, spending all of my time with 25-40 year olds in Korea has made me less scared of being twenty.

Korea Korea Korea

I'm going to Busan in the south of [South] Korea tomorrow with my last couchsurfing host for a couple of days of surfing and jet-skiing that promise to be just as terrifying and cool and motorcycling around Seoul. The last few days have been great, went to the Korean sauna (jim-je-ban) with Cheolseung again and had dinner at his house, and have been going out with my current couchsurfing host, a German professor from Germany.

So, there won't be any updates for a couple of days, but I'm sure I'll be having an amazing experience. Because of when I'm going I won't come to LA on Thursday but instead wait until the weekend or the beginning of next week to come back. For-sure plans in Korea from now: Busan Mon-Wed for the beach and watersports, Cheolseung workshop on Thursday, and a party on Friday. Woot.

Colliding with Koreans

Is what I did at Cheolseung's workshop today. He gets some amazing physicality out of his actors, starting to work on Camus' "The Stranger". Its sad that I'm just starting to get comfortable with all of his actors and only have a few workshops to go, they are fantastic people. We all went out for Korean beer and wings after the workshop.

Today was a pretty relaxed day, caught up on Weeds, worked on my comic book (I'm on page 20! counting title pages, and only have one blank sheet left--oops! Well, finishing volume 2.), and went to a dog cafe! Yes, a dog cafe. Brilliant idea, perfect for an urban area with cramped living space. The cafe has probably 20 dogs of all sizes and breeds roaming around--under tables, on couches, ON tables. All friendly and well behaved, and you can buy them treats along with your coffee. Apparently there is also a cat cafe in Seoul.

Am moving to a new couchsurfer tomorrow, another English teacher but he's from Germany. My current host is going to Busan on the south coast next week to surf and has invited me along, which is an offer I'm thinking may be too good to refuse...we'll see! (and yes, this is the guy with the motorcycle).

Inwangsan Shamanist Shrine

Hah it feels like I went just so I'd be able to title a post that. Got a bit out of Seoul to one of the mountains and wandered around in nature seeing Buddhist/shamanist stuff (the difference seemed negligible to me--there was a temple at the base and if you'd've told me it was all Buddhist I'd have believed it). Lots of very cool stuff, mostly gigantic rocks carved into fantastic shapes just by wind and rain. Good to be out in nature after a while in the city. Went by myself and had good thinking/drawing times. Did the whole thing in flip flops, which unfortunately means my feet are now killing me. Ah well, live and learn. Workshop with Cheolseung again tonight, which should be fun.

Oooh also

saw Harry Potter! (in English, with Korean subtitles). The 6th was my least favourite book, so its kinda unsurprising that I think this was my favourite film. Visually more beautiful than the preceding films, it was tighter and more focused than the book. Excellent acting helped, with really good supporting characters. Of course it didn't work "just as a film" but I feel like this one really found the sweet spot between making a good film with some original content and making a movie for the fans.

Excerpt

from life:

In Korea, the first question people ask after your name is age, not "what do you do?" (aka career) as in the US. I thought this was just because of the culture of age hierarchy, but turns out it runs deeper than that. Talking to a friend who teaches English to Koreans says that they need to know age (aka their status relationship to the person) to even conjugate verbs in Korean. That shit runs deep.

Whew

How can I possibly update on everything? Staying with a very cool couchsurfer--had my first ride on a motorcycle (gulp- Korean drivers), watched a couple plays in Korean (one a very physical traditional-Korean-theatre-inspired adaptation of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream that was good fun if not intellectually stimulating), a drum circle (couchsurfers are hippies! there is nothing more to say.), Korean library (with its own restaurant, vending machines, and a charity shop inside!), Korean sauna (a bizarrely intellectual exercise...made me think a lot about Western cultural norms around nudity, ritual, homophobia, cleanliness, and childhood [parents accompany young children, but only to make sure they're scrubbing hard enough!]). Have just had a far-too-large dinner at Cheolseung's house and am recovering slowly.

So, yeah, talking about Korea...

KOREA. A different experience from China and Japan, of course, as expected--culturally and in mode of travel. China was experiencing a country as part of an entourage, seeing what the government wanted not us but Virginia to see, and talking to a lot of students as they were the ones that could speak English. Japan was a family vacation in every sense of the word.

Korea as of right now I'm experiencing in two facets: first, couchsurfing--in this case, with a half-Korean English teacher who is friends with a lot of the ex-pat and foreign exchange student community, and in this it is actually a lot like visiting Shawn in Egypt and Jordan. Having Cheolseung here makes a huge difference, however, and I've been spending the most time with him. Yesterday I joined his Korean actors for a workshop--absolute trip. He gave all direction in Korean except for direction that was explicitly for me, and all the lines except for mine were in Korean, so that I was acting and reacting with only somewhat known stimulus. Because of the extreme physicality and tension created by silence rather than words it absolutely worked, and all of the actors have at least a very basic level of English proficiency so I'm sure they understood most of what I said. I've proposed two things to Cheolseung to try as challanges: first, making me act in Korean, so that I have lines that I repeat phonetically but have no idea what they mean, trying to make relationships and scenes despite being a foreigner even to the language that I am speaking. And second, having me act in Spanish so that all of them have just as little idea of what I am saying as I have of their words. Both seem like really interesting theatrical experiments in terms of isolation and communication.

Today was a Korean "luck day" (what does that mean? beyond "we eat chicken soup" I have NO idea) so I went out for dinner/meeting/drinks with Cheolseung's actors. My relationship with them reminds me somewhat of my relationship with the Three Chairs Theatre Company--most of them are in their late 20s and early 30s, professional working actors with side jobs who give me a lot to think about in terms of acting and the whole "life--what happens next?" conundrum. Dinner was mostly in Korean with me just trying to figure out basic emotions and relationships from hand gestures and expressions. After dinner we had coffee and went to a room in the theatre school to hang out and have a meeting, and we got more comfortable. I am consistently amazed by the level of English here. I think people hate to use it in the same way that I fought Spanish (mandatory school subject etc etc) but when forced to have very good comprehension and often good speaking ability. After the meeting we went out for some drinks at a local pub, which of course was good social lubricant. Language trembles in the presence of alcohol.

And now? I'm back at the house of my couchsurfing host. I'm looking to move on from this place (it's been lovely, but will be a week soon and that becomes a burden on the host) and looking at options--there is a cheap hostel nearby, as well as other couchsurfers. There are also saunas in Korea that offer the works (steam/massage/etc) as well as places to sleep overnight, so I'll definitely try that out. There is also something called "Temple Stay"--essentially staying in a Buddhist temple for a few days and living exactly as a monk, which sounds utterly terrifying and kind of cool. I have a very Jack Kerouac feeling of homelessness that is both scary and oddly comforting in its "I don't know where I'll be or what I'll do tomorrow"-ness.

Not dead

As per title.

Got to Korea (from Japan) fine--couldn't get the 5pm flight because it was a Korean Air codeshare and they're not oneworld, but ended up getting on a 6.20 flight fine. Talked to a cool korean guy on the airplane who is coming back from school in Canada and offered his place if I wanted to stay, or to go do something. So that's cool.

Cheolseung met me at the bus station, and we went to meet my couchsurfing host (Maria) and her friends and went out to a bar, then back to hers and to sleep.

Too long

China blocks blogspot so it's only now, in Japan, that I've got access again. The last week-and-a-half has been great and eye opening and blah blah blah as traveling should be. I'll try to fill in the gaps and be thoughtful and stuff, but for now I think I'll open with some humor.

Outside Tokyo in the city of Kamakura we visited a Buddhist shrine with a giant (like 70-foot-tall) metal Buddha (new Transformers character?), and looking at the hands in the some (probably lotus) position I thought "Buddha throwing gang signs...why has this not been drawn before?" This is therefore my mission and I will try to upload Buddha throwing a Bloods sign soon. Just too ironic to miss. Meanwhile, a series of possible captions:

"Pretty fly for an enlightened guy"
"Buddhas in da hood"
"B-unit"

and, best for last:

"Buddhacris".

10 points to anyone who gets all of these.