Aino Minako-chan

Today was nothing but going to the airport to head back to Japan. Probably the most exciting thing was that before leaving the airport, I played 5 straight games of a Korean version of Dance Dance Revolution with John in the Game Room of the airport. He kicked my butt. I'd like to think it was a combination of the fact that he has the home version for PS and therefore has more practice, and the fact that I hit the controls too light (even when I KNEW I stepped on the right panel, it didn't register me hitting anything). But in the end, we got off, at which point a Korean guy got on, put it on the highest level, and whipped our asses. [twitching] i will not let 14 years of dance be mocked like this. [flaming fist] SHOUBU DA~! OHHHHHHH~!

Started a whole lot like Monday. Took the subway, then the wild bus to Seoul Nat'l Uni. There, Anthony Banks, husband of Monday's speaker, talked about "Facing the Part: Japan, Korea, and the Politics of Apology." He mainly talked about Namking. It was an incredibly interesting talk that inspired some heated discussion that was even better than the talk itself. After lunch, the girls went off again so the rest of us went to the Korea War Museum. It basically commemorated every war ever in Korea or faced by Korean troops. The museum itself was very interesting, even if rather graphic, and the building itself was AMAZING. But the big surprise was that the two biggest groups of visitors to the museum were A) uniformed military men (that was more than a big intimidating) and B) kindergarteners. Seriously. They were sooooooooo cute and waved and giggled when they saw us and said, "HI~!" They were INCREDIBILY well-dressed and well-groomed (probably half had dyed hair or highlights, I'm so serious). And then their teachers would drag the into the museum and pull them past exhibits, explaining paintings of men spearing each other and dioramas of soldiers bleeding from the neck as a comrade tries to patch their leg wound. And the little kids would look and chatter in Korean to each other, then move on to the next site. It was really amazing. At one point, the teacher lined up the kids on a painted line labeled "38th Parallel" so that another adult could take individual pictures. You had to wonder what the teachers thought the kids would learn from the museum, and what actually registered in their minds. Another part of the museum showed just a constant stream of b/w war videos. The thing that struck me was how much it reminded me of "Memories: Cannon Fodder." Just looking at the film, I couldn't see a thing. It just looked like soldiers firing large guns into a deep mist. It was really a big frightening. War is dum.

That night, we went to an amazing display of traditional Korean music and dance. It was soooooo incredibly beautiful. The musicians and the dancers were breathtaking, and the music was quite unusual since quite a lot of it seemed to be counted in threes. It was just all incredible, so it was probably the highlight of my trip.

That night, a bunch of us went out to dinner for Korean barbeque, then I went out to a bar with the adult folk. The speakers were along, too, so we had some interesting conversations. Dr. Lee is apparently publishing a book soon (as in, tomorrow or the day after) about six years that she's spend chronicling the stories of a North Korean "spy." He was caught as a spy in South Korea, spend 30 years in solitary confinement, and was sent back to N. Korea just last year. His story sounds fascinating, but as Dr. Lee pointed out, Korea is still at war so technically, she should be arrested. She said it very flippantly, almost as a joke, but you could tell that there was a little part of her that was very serious. I can't even imagine having to face up to something like that just to publish someone else's story. I was amazed.

Today we had to head down to Seoul National University for some lectures and tours and stuff. The bus we took from the subway station to the uni was hysterical. We were packed in like sardines, then spent the entire bus ride getting flung from side to side as the bus driver whipped us around corners. We think he was doing it on purpose, but in any case, I swear we were on 2 wheels when we did the u-turn. It was amazing. But we discovered the first thing about Korea right away... things are cheap. I mean, anyting is inexpensive compared to Japan, but Korea was really impressive. Basically anywhere by subway in Seoul is 600-700 won (about $.60-.70). Most cabrides we took were betwen 1600 won to 3000 won. I spent 1000 won on an incredible bacon and omlet sandwich for breakfast. It was a great, super cheap trip. I quite enjoyed that part.
Anyway, Seoul Nat'l. It's pretty much carved into the mountains quite a bit aways from downtown Seoul. And it's HUGE. It's the biggest campus I've ever seen in my life. It just sprawls endlessly; I don't know how people cope with it. It's also apparently really famous for its activism. One of the students we met was telling us what all of the anti-US MD signs said, and where the posters were plasters to the steps to bring awareness to the fact that they weren't handicap accessible, and on and on. It was really amazing.

At the school, we watched an introduction video for the school, then had a lecture by Dr. Hyang Kue Lee on "Educational Perspectives on a Divided Korea." She was howing the different pictures and related stories placed in textbooks after the Korean War. (Although, technically, the war isn't over yet, there's been no signed peace treaty. That... made us all feel good.) Anyway, some of the things that the little kids were being taught in school was amazing. For isntance, there was a big picture called "Which one is better?" They showed contrasting drawings that, very obviously, were meant to "represent" South and North Korea at the time. They showed schools where the left school was a bunch of happy children lined up and learning before a kind teacher. But the right hand side had unhappy, crying children toiling in a yard while a mean man with a whip drove them on. In the religion section, they showed a happy family going to church on the elft, while a somber family bowed deeply to a framed picture of a military man on their right. The blantent propaganda for 1st and 2nd graders in these pictures was simply amazing. It really made you think.

Afterwards, the girls all went off shopping and stuff, so I went with the rest of the group to this big old palace grounds. You just walked around the grounds, but it was really pretty and incredibly relaxing. There were a bunch of old men there, too, talking and playing chess together. I really loved it there. My favorite quote of the tour was when Drew went to take a picture of some men spraying the grass with a hose: "It's a historical reinactment of watering the grounds." I couldn't stop laughing...

One thing I really noticed about Korean people is that they're much more physical than Japanese or Americans even. You always saw girls or guys who walked really close togheter, or held hands, or linked arms. When the Korean students wanted to direct us around, they tended to put their hand on our arms or back and jsut guide us in the right direction. It was all just no big deal. It was a little disconcerting at first with all of the touching, but after a while, you got to kind of like it. There's something really reassuring when people are free with touch like that. It makes you feel really good about life. I think more cultures should adopt a policy of freedom with affection like that.

Welcome to the backnumbered diaries of Minako-chan's Korea trip.

Not too much happened of note the first day. Mainly because our flgiht was 2.5 freaking hours late. And when you're only in Korea for, well, three nights and two days basically, that's not a lot of time left. But we did get 1500 yen for a free lunch, PLUS we saw Mt. Fuji right outside our airplane window just a few minutes after taking off. It was absolutely amazing. I think the highlight of the day had to be when we were standing in line for Korean customs. We talked about Anne Rice, so of course I brought up Christopher Rice who I (very vaguely) knew in like 6th grade when he went to my school in New Orleans. Tony said that Christopher's coming out story was a best-seller. I had never even hear about it. I think Tony summed it up best when he said, "Well, it figures Anne Rice's son is gay." I had to agree with that one. I'm sure Christopher's book is great, but I have to think that in some ways, that had to be the easiest coming out ever.