Seodaemun Prison and my gym-- similarities?
I never thought I’d say this, but Koreans have seen me naked. Yes, naked. No clothes. Have I changed professions? Hardly. This all began with an effort to improve different areas of my life that will really benefit me in the long-term. I previously mentioned how the saunas here are one of the great ironies of such a conservative culture, when you walk in and though there are no co-ed places that (legally) do this, everyone’s naked. I dodged it that time, though, and didn’t look like a big weirdo. However, now I’ve joined the gym. Not that I’m sure it would’ve affected my joining the gym, but I didn’t know how the showers were arranged until after my first workout when I was red, sweaty and my hair was begging to be cleaned; all around nasty, if you will. I went into the locker room to change and shower, but when I walked into what I thought was the shower, it turned out to be a large room with spigots located above a mirror and a shelf, every few feet, divided by a piece of shaped glass about 6” wide. What the hell! At this point, I had no choice. I stripped down and got myself clean, but not before another woman walked into the shower room. It’s not that it was awkward or uncomfortable, it’s just weird to me. I’m not used to walking around in the buff in front of other people. My friends haven’t even seen me naked, even at my most intoxicated moments! And now complete strangers get to. But there’s really no way around it. It would be an hour time investment for me to return home and then back to school (which is just a few doors down from the gym) and then it isn’t free and would be somewhat pointless. The thing is, there has been one older lady in there twice when I was at the gym and she looks at me. Maybe I’m just being paranoid, and I know I’m different from the rest of the people in there (now I just know exactly how different we are), but even after I got out of the shower room and was back at my locker, she continued to eye me from the mirror. You know how sometimes you just feel it? Well, I did. And when I looked up, there were her big brown eyes, reflecting back at me. It’s just so strange! If we’re all gonna be naked around each other and it’s truly no big deal, then it should at least feel like it’s no big deal and not just an excuse to check one another out. Weird.
This past weekend was a fairly eventful one! Friday night was the “going out” part of Amy’s birthday. Being that we were ending one term at school and beginning another, I wound up staying at work late on Friday night, thereby missing the festivities celebrating Amy. However, we met for dinner on Saturday and when she told me that the whole crew stayed out until 7:30am, I sure didn’t regret it!!! I’ve never been one who is crazy about staying up and out all hours of the day and night, especially because I’m like an 80 year old the next day. So Saturday we had dinner at an Italian diner-style place (note on Italian food here: they ONLY use spaghetti noodles. No fettuccini, penne, bow tie, nothin’. Spaghetti only, and it’s more disappointing than you might think!) and walked around Ewha, near the largest women’s university in the world. This area is absolutely GREAT! We found a concentration of Indian and Pakistani-owned stores with some really great finds! I felt like one of the shop-owners and I really transcended a lot of the political excitement between our native countries when we chatted and he cut me a deal on some flip-flops and jewelry. (Yes, I’m still buying flip-flops!) It made me want to go to India when I leave here. It is undoubtedly a great area to work and live for almost nothing while getting experience and the mind-frame of being abroad, but what great shopping they must have!!! Anyway, that was Saturday night. We bopped around and then decided to reconvene on Sunday for brunch.
Amy was dying to eat at one of the International Hotels because she thought that the food would be the best of the best. Well, she chose the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the foreigner section of town and I don’t know how the food was, but they wanted $48 for the morning buffet. We quickly chose another restaurant and though her tea was $10, the food was still very good. After seeing all the fancy, chauffeured cars outside, we were reminded of snobbery and social classes at home that we’ve been removed from for so long. An odd thing to be reminded of. But anyway, we headed out to Dongnimmun where the Seodaemun Prison History Hall is located. For $1.50 we could see the Independence gate, watch tower, torture chambers, prison cells, and all kinds of other things that were involved when Japan occupied Korea several decades ago. After being surprised by a mannequin in one of the prison cells, I decided that the screams from the videos would be more than enough for me and opted not to view them. At the same time, Amy and I looked at one another and said, “No WONDER Koreans hate Japanese so much!” It was so much like the holocaust it was scary! After a few hours at this museum, we headed over to Dongdaemun Flea Market. We’ve been to the shops in this area many times before, but we’d never been in the flea market, which is in a large stadium. I’d read about the flea markets here—you know, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Well, one man’s junk was my junk, too. Not a single thing in here looked worthy of any copper coin I have. There were two places with old record albums and that might be the closest I’d come to making a purchase, but even then it wouldn't hav ebeen for me. So we got out of there, ate some yummy street food, and called it a day! We have a list of touristy sites we’re trying to cover before either of us leave Korea and so far we’re successfully doing it one weekend at a time!
Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed
This past weekend was a fairly eventful one! Friday night was the “going out” part of Amy’s birthday. Being that we were ending one term at school and beginning another, I wound up staying at work late on Friday night, thereby missing the festivities celebrating Amy. However, we met for dinner on Saturday and when she told me that the whole crew stayed out until 7:30am, I sure didn’t regret it!!! I’ve never been one who is crazy about staying up and out all hours of the day and night, especially because I’m like an 80 year old the next day. So Saturday we had dinner at an Italian diner-style place (note on Italian food here: they ONLY use spaghetti noodles. No fettuccini, penne, bow tie, nothin’. Spaghetti only, and it’s more disappointing than you might think!) and walked around Ewha, near the largest women’s university in the world. This area is absolutely GREAT! We found a concentration of Indian and Pakistani-owned stores with some really great finds! I felt like one of the shop-owners and I really transcended a lot of the political excitement between our native countries when we chatted and he cut me a deal on some flip-flops and jewelry. (Yes, I’m still buying flip-flops!) It made me want to go to India when I leave here. It is undoubtedly a great area to work and live for almost nothing while getting experience and the mind-frame of being abroad, but what great shopping they must have!!! Anyway, that was Saturday night. We bopped around and then decided to reconvene on Sunday for brunch.
Amy was dying to eat at one of the International Hotels because she thought that the food would be the best of the best. Well, she chose the Grand Hyatt Hotel in the foreigner section of town and I don’t know how the food was, but they wanted $48 for the morning buffet. We quickly chose another restaurant and though her tea was $10, the food was still very good. After seeing all the fancy, chauffeured cars outside, we were reminded of snobbery and social classes at home that we’ve been removed from for so long. An odd thing to be reminded of. But anyway, we headed out to Dongnimmun where the Seodaemun Prison History Hall is located. For $1.50 we could see the Independence gate, watch tower, torture chambers, prison cells, and all kinds of other things that were involved when Japan occupied Korea several decades ago. After being surprised by a mannequin in one of the prison cells, I decided that the screams from the videos would be more than enough for me and opted not to view them. At the same time, Amy and I looked at one another and said, “No WONDER Koreans hate Japanese so much!” It was so much like the holocaust it was scary! After a few hours at this museum, we headed over to Dongdaemun Flea Market. We’ve been to the shops in this area many times before, but we’d never been in the flea market, which is in a large stadium. I’d read about the flea markets here—you know, one man’s junk is another man’s treasure. Well, one man’s junk was my junk, too. Not a single thing in here looked worthy of any copper coin I have. There were two places with old record albums and that might be the closest I’d come to making a purchase, but even then it wouldn't hav ebeen for me. So we got out of there, ate some yummy street food, and called it a day! We have a list of touristy sites we’re trying to cover before either of us leave Korea and so far we’re successfully doing it one weekend at a time!
Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed
posted by LSULiv | 2:58 PM
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