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Autumn Leaves: Recording the golden years
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Mostly teenagers
but whatever
keeps me rememberin'
keeps it green
2004-03-28 - 12:45 a.m.
Back --
March 17, 2004
The stationery lady was at the subway entrance today,- 2 notebooks for 1,000 won. 'Tis time to start seriously keeping a journal again. I've occasionally jotted notes in my Korean phrases notebook, a wee hip-pocket thing, but the real writing has not been pressing to come out. Today, I looked up a couple expat bloggers mentioned in a recent newspaper article, and realized how much I've missed running off at the fingertips with my "rambles."
This will be rather disjointed at first because I've so many backlogged stories to tell. I'll try and organize it chronologically before I post it. At the moment, I have to leave for my Tuesday gig at Magpie Mountain. If I can get a seat, I'll write on the subway.
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Okay, 20 minutes later I'm on the train. Remembered I hadn't hung out my laundry as I was rushing out the door. I may have made myself late, hope not. If I can spot a taxi, I'll tell them' "Shinjohn Chodungwagyoe-io ko jueseyo." That's Shinjeong Elementary School, across the street from Miss Hahn's academy.
The other day I met a nice young man named Kim Yeong-pyo. Usually I have trouble remembering names, but his translated in my "pigin Korean" to "Dragon-ticket," a marvelous memory-hook. I asked Jim Park later and he smiled and explained that "pyo" can refer to tiger as well as ticket. (Sorta like "wind = air moving" or "what you do to a piece of string.") He also volunteered that Hyun refers to the breadth of the sky or to the darkness of the night sky, depending on context. So I guess Hyundai means "vast greatness." I'm reminded of Montana's nickname "Big Sky." ~ A college student who came to my first class introduced himself as "Sky." Either his first English teacher was an old hippie or his real name is Hyun.
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March 18, 2004
& a.m. (note - write bigger so I can see in a dark PC bang. Or walk down to Siz Orange where the lighting is better. It's about a kilometer from home.)
It's hard to imagine that only 10 years ago most of the land south of the river wa farms. Now it's rows of apartment buildings, mostly twenty-storeys tall. I've mentioned how avidly people garden in plots around the city. Nearly all of the adults I've talked to grew up on farms. Planting vegetables is second nature to them. Home-made kim chi is the rule, too. Convenience stores only sell commercially manufactured kim chi to college students and working folks.
Last week, a store selling all sorts of pan chan opened next to the charity place. So far, the lady who runs it is not getting a lot of customers. It's a sort of deli, but she hasn't gone for serving snacks to lunch crowds as ShipSam Danji is mainly inhabited by retirees and disabled folks. I hope she makes a go of it. She's a very nice woman, but I've got a feeling that her location is wrong.
Two weeks ago was the beginning of the biggest March snowstorm since the Korean Weather Service started keeping records in 1904. I underestimated how much we got at the time. We got 18 centimeters here in Seoul, and, up in the mountains, they got over 2-and-a-half feet of heavy, wet, spring snow. Well over 6,500 hectares of greenhouses were crushed, as well as about 1,700 barns. The army and police units were sent to dig out. Construction equipment(bulldozers, frontend loaders, and backhoes) dug out abandoned cars. Thousands of motorists were stranded overnight on a couple of interstate espressways.
The collapsed barns crushed many dairy cows. The newspapers had photos of policemen digging with their riot shields and soldiers using the slim iron I-beams (that are used here instead of 2x4s to build barns and factories) to lift sections or roof off of downed cattle. It was a disaster for a lot of farmers.
While the government was still assessing snow damages, came the National Assembly's impeachment of President noh. That shocked the country! Personal opinion here: Big egos of the politicians who don't like being fingered for taking illegal comtributions are behind it. The legislators have been hand-in-glove with big business for decades. Now the prosecutors are unearthing how pervasive the slush funds are, since the Noh administration encouraged fair audits. It was bound to come out sooner or later since international financial funds have been pushing for "transparency" to protect their investors.
Thousands of protestors have been holding candlelight vigils, singing folksongs, every night since the inpeachment. Most are young,- college students and families with little children. "This is historic. I want my children to remember it," said one lady. It's really inspiring to see how peaceful and serious they are,- reminds me of 1960s civil rights gatherings. not all Coreans are cynical about government. There is a genuine love for democracy here. It was only 20 years ago that youthful protestors initiated the actions that lead to the downfall of the last dictator.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~More later~~~~~~~~~~I'm starting to make too many typos!
Happy Trails!
~ Sil in Corea
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