After my Thursday morning classes we went to the immigration office in Mok-Dong. It is a lot more run-down than the Gangnam area. I keep forgetting that not all areas are as nice as the Gangnam area. We are basically living in the Beverly Hills of Seoul. Prada bags, Fendi, and Chanel swarm the streets, but they still have shops where you can by a nice dress made in Korea that isn't too outrageous. My favorite part is every where you walk you can find shoe stores!!
As I was saying, the immigration office. We head over on the subway, about a 45 minute ride and we walk into the office. We have been told by others you can wait 15minutes and other times you wait for over an hour. We were waiting for over an hour. I had to head back early so that I could get ready for my evening classes, and Patrick stayed behind hoping they would take both of our applications and they did! We will have our alien cards in two weeks. We are aliens?? Sounds so much like an outcast :)
So, I headed back on the subway by myself for the first time. I had to take the purple line for a few stops and transfer to the green line to get off at the Gangnam station. If you're not careful you can end up going the wrong way and I always have to double check to may to make sure I don't end up closer to North Korea. Yikes!! My students have been informing me of the rules on the subway. If an elderly person is on the subway, it is custom to give up your seat. Through observations I have realized that people sleep on the subway because your average sleep time is 4-6 hours. I believe I am around 6, barely. So I tried it out. I fell asleep on the subway!! It's pretty easy when you are approaching the end of the week and you have worked 10-12 hour days. The part I haven't been able to master is Koreans know exactly when to wake up. They have a switch that tells them it is their stop. I kept waking up after every stop scared I might miss it. I feel that I am becoming more of a seoulite each day we are here. Maybe I will get a cell phone that has television access. That would be cool. Or maybe the wake up switch will come with my alien card? Here's hoping.
Last night we went to a pub with a few people Patrick works with. There is a pub in the basement next to Pagoda Tower called Castle Pirahha, it has beer from the Czech Republic. We were watching the opening ceremony of the Olympics with someone from South Africa, Ireland, and London!! How awesome is that? I love being from Oregon, but you sometimes feel foolish being an American. You don't have vocabulary words like "dodgy" when describing places. The great thing about socializing with people from all over the world is they love to talk about politics.
It's insane to hear about what America does affects how other countries are doing. Having President Bush visiting caused quite the stir. The older generations love Bush because he is willing to discuss making peace between the Koreans if North Korea would give up their government. Most of the older people here have family in North Korea. The younger generations don't want a reunion because they are happy with how South Korea is doing and if they unify the countries then their government has to take care of the poor people in North Korean. Very interesting.
A student of mine suggested that I climb a mountain, Pictu. You can go to China and climb over to North Korea. He told me that as a foreigner I don't understand how South Koreans feel about the tense situation between them and North Korea. I asked him if he knew that the North Korean government tells their people that Americans are responsible for their poverty? If Americans hadn't intervened that they would still be one country. He said I didn't think about that. I asked him if he would visit North Korea? He said no, it's too dangerous. So, If my student wouldn't visit because of the tense situation, why would I, an American? He said, good point. I thanked him for the suggestion, maybe some day.
I guess you can take a tour of North Korea. It cost $3,000 for five days. You have a private tour guide and an American soldier that is assigned to protect you. Apparently it is one of the most tense trips you can take. Currently I prefer to spend my weekend or vacation time traveling to interesting and relaxing places. However, maybe after I feel that I have seen all that I should see in South Korea, and a few other relaxing countries like Japan and Thailand. I know Patrick would love it so I can't completely rule it out. How many people can say they have been to North Korea?
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