Think of how the Beatles were treated during one of their international tours. How each city embraced them, spent A-rod amounts of money to please them and made sure they were so comfortable that they felt uncomfortable being that comfortable in the first place.
That's how I felt this past weekend hanging out with my mom and a very rich, very generous Korean woman in Seoul.
Friday after school, a private car was arranged to pick me up and bring me to my mom's hotel in Seoul. I was of course late to the pick-up spot. Once I got to the car, I began to apologize to the man, but instead of being angry, he began apologizing to me. I didn't really know how to react. But he did seem extremely apologetic, bowing his head and muttering "I'm sorry" almost 10 times. He must've done something really bad, I thought. "Oh, Don't worry about it," I said to him. Maybe he hit somebody with his car on the way to Chuncheon.
The drive was extremely comfortable. And to make sure it was comfortable, the very rich and very generous woman who arranged the car called me to see if it was actually comfortable. Yes, I told her. It is very comfortable and very convenient. She asked me 5 more times if the car was good enough. Yes, I told her. Riding on the back of a motorbike would've been good enough. As long as it's door-door service. As long as I don't have to move or make any big decisions.
I arrived in Seoul a short while later and saw my MOM! It was very nice to see her after a few months. The hotel was amazing as well. JW Marriot. I had a great weekend with my mom. She had a lot of traveling to do throughout Asia for her job and I was glad she could spend a couple days with me. I love you mom. You are appreciated.
Saturday I saw more of Seoul than I'd ever and probably will ever see. I went to this beautiful palace downtown that once housed kings and queens from the Josean Dynasty. The Josean Dynasty ruled Korea from the late 1300s until Japanese takeover in 1910. The Japanese then attempted to eliminate every part of the Korean culture and enforce their own influences on to the Korean people. Koreans were forced to learn Japanese in school and substitute their nation's history for a foreign one. They were extremely oppressed. Coincidentally, this is also the time when Soju distillers switched the bottle's alcohol content from 20 to 25%.
After the palace, we went to Insadong and Itaewon. These are the major foreign areas in South Korea. My mom bought some traditional Korean items in Insadong and some Adidas sneaks for me in Itaewon. I almost picked out some purple, yellow and white adidas' but felt like those days were over. Can't pull it off anymore. Could I ever? Man, could I ever: #22 on white. Fresh to death.
I wanted to take her to the "I-taewon-der what I'm doing here" street, but thought better of it. It was Halloween night and things could've gotten a little strange. It was only 5 pm and I was already having trouble telling who was dressed up for Halloween or who was just wearing their everyday attire.
At the end of the night, we went to a traditional Korean dance performance. It started off slow, but by the end I was amazed. These performers were great dancers and showed extraordinary rhythm on the drums. It was also interesting to hear the musicians play traditional Korean instruments. We heard a pansori performance and Pungmul show. Pansori involves one Ajama(old korean woman) and a solo drummer. The Ajama narrates a story to the soft beat. Pungmul is much louder with dancing, multiple drums and yelling.
Pungmul performance:
They also brought up audience members near the end. An older Korean man, who looked like he had had about 4 bottles of soju, went up still holding his programs and began doing the twist. He looked like he had no idea where he was. Really funny. If I recall correctly, I think he was wearing pajamas.
We had a nice dinner that night and were all ready for bed soon after. Thank you to Mrs. Shin for a great day and rides to and from Seoul. I was uncomfortable with the level of comfortability. She was a great tour guide and a pleasure to be with. Also, great to see you Mom. Hope the rest of your Asian trip goes well. I will see you next year.
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