Subject:
Letter from Seoul
Date: Saturday
23 October 1999 01:31
Rather than
write lots of letters saying the same, I thought I'd copy and circulate
selected extracts from e-mails to Ali. Obviously I'll remove any unpleasantly
romantic or offensive bits, but some things will probably make less sense to
some than others, is that OK? Let me know if you 
want striking from my
list, because I'm filling your hard disk...........
Both days here
have been cloudy, but quite warm, with the sun nearly breaking through at
times. The colour is different somehow, with a general greyness, but bright
colours seem more vivid. It almost feels like a stage designer has planned the
colour scheme - you know how they chose one palette, and all the colours come
from it. It's a kind of charcoal grey/dark but pastel blue palette, with dusty
colours. I'm glad you're coming, because I don't think I can do it justice
really....
[You see
that's what I mean't, because none of you are coming, are you?!]. ......
Each day the
twilight has been the really striking time, and yesterday, I was coming home in
it, and as I went the lights showed brighter. There is a fifteen minute walk
from the University to the Subway, and at the beginning it was like a late
evening Mediterranean scene, with little ramshackle roads and shops, but then
as I got to the station, under huge concrete flyovers, there was a fantastic
market, with spotlights on the stalls, bright fruit, and all kinds of weird
very oriental food. The trees, of which there are loads round the university,
aren't as far gone as in Birmingham, but just turning. Today is Saturday, and
among other things I'm going to find some parks.
So, only just
beginning but already a roller-coaster. At the airport, there is a form to fill
in before the passport check, and another form before customs. With the
passport form you have to wait in a queue, and there is a mark on the floor,
and a nice Korean man with a gun tells people off if they move before being
asked! I was very excited about arriving, in a knackered sort of way, but it
wasn't unbridled joy at this point!
All the
systems actually seem to work very well - there was no horrendous delay, and
the luggage all came out very quickly. There are a lot of people on a Jumbo.
You realise that at Heathrow, as the lounge next to the plane fills up. That's
why it's good to have a babe in arms.
So I came
through customs without trouble; 'sonsaengnim' - Teacher - they called me. Then
there was a vast line of people meeting people, lots of them with signs. I
walked up and down it twice, panicked a little at the thought of not finding my
'short-haired male' amongst an estimated 12 million inhabitants of the airport,
and was very glad when one of the throng emerged, bowing insanely at me -
'Wilson sonsaengnim'? Immediately lost all memory of which hand to shake with
to avoid terminal shame, and just instinctively behaved all hugh grantly, with
kind of mumbles and shrugs. 'JeongHwan Oh?' Nod nod, grab at my trolley to do
everything for me. 'Oppicer' he said, and took me to a very smartly dressed
twenty something, with mobile, who bowed a little less, and was clearly going
to take us. I just followed [this happens a lot]. We seemed to agree on a compromise
where we both pulled/pushed my trolley, not always in the same direction but
seemed satisfactory. I couldn't quite work out the status, but the 'Officer' is
in fact JeongHwan's superior. They are both on the administrative side at the
University. It was his car.
Apart from the
light as mentioned, the drive into Seoul was a little anonymous. Big wide road
full of terrifying driving, lots of concrete to the side, and a very nasty
industrial smell, which I immediately assumed would be ever-present throughout
Korea, but was probably rather local. The signs, including lit up ones, were
all in Korean, of course. Perhaps unsurprising, but they make everything look
very foreign. I was tired, and the two in the front talked to each other, but I
thought, I can't go to sleep now, this is it...the first sight of Korea... I
managed a couple of very stuttering conversations with JeongHwan, ascertained
that yes we were going far, no, not near university [2 hours from, he said - a
fact I kept from you, and fortunately turns out to be a little pessimistic] Was
hungry? Did like Korean food? Yes, yes.
The cars, even
the suits, trendy glasses and mobile phones are very like western ones, and
things only really got Korean in the side streets, though even there at that
point I struggle to say why it looked so different. The garage mechanics in the
dodgy workshops looked exactly the same as the ones in Handsworth, but they
were different.
The arrival at
the apartment was inauspicious. It is down a dark [by then] narrow drive, and
at the end there were a menacing [not really, but to me at the time] group of
staring men in the half-light. These were the builders, just finishing their
day's work on constructing....guess what...my apartment. It isn't actually a
new building, but either they're adding more on top, or mending the roof.
Either way, there is a certain amount of builder-stuff around.
On the first
floor, with a very ornate wooden door, is apartment 201, Changsong Art Villa,
Sochwu-Gu. Inside is a little place to leave your shoes. Observantly, on my
first arrival, I spotted two pairs already there. Aha! Someone else is here.
The detective work was made easier by the volume of the singing from the closed
bedroom. 'Ah, music teacher. She gone soon.' Right. A few dodgy moments here.
The apartment is fine, plenty of room. A couple of problems - washing machine
not plumbed in, no hot water, no phone, [all soon] and loud Korean/Italian
noises with plonky piano in bedroom. Well, I can live with that, or with
her....it wasn't quite what I expected, but they didn't specifically say that
there would be no-one else in my apartment, and it is a crowded country, I
should have realised.... It wasn't until late that night, after our meal, that
JeongHwan explained that she just gave lessons there, and it wasn't until the
next day that Young-ai explained that she would not be back, moved out for
eminent visiting professor. Who? Oh me. When her room was vacated, there was
the phone.
I can't really
maintain this level of detail, and still get out at some point to have more
experiences, so I'll have to gloss over a few things.....a quick meal,
cross-legged and shoeless at a low table. Pulgogi [beef ribs] and kimchi
[cabbage pickled in garlic and chilli], washed down with an interesting drink,
I asked JeongHwan about, strange taste - 'water'.
Slept well,
despite not having any sheets......JeongHwan insisted I get up exactly at 7.00,
set my alarm for me, so he will collect me at 8.00 to set off for the
university. He arrived at 8.30..... trip to University took 70 minutes in the
end..not really any worse than London for crowding, no people with poles
squeezing you in, and very clean and punctual tube.
The Theatre
School of the Korean National University of the Arts is set in woodland, with 
sculptures and exercise
areas, and a lovely pond for contemplation. One thing to contemplate is that it
used to be the headquarters of the feared secret police force, and was the
scene of torture for many suspected North Korean spies...some taxi drivers will
still not go there! They seem to have taken the irons off the walls, anyway,
and it is actually very nice. Beautiful studio theatre, good size classrooms
and rehearsal rooms, and my office is brilliant. Brand new computer and
printer, also table with five smart chairs for tutorials, walls lined with
bookshelves, which look a little sad with the six books I've brought!
Young-ai Choi
[the professor] is very nice, as are the students, whom I have now met. I also
have an interpreter Yumi, who will be at all my classes. She studied at the
Shakespeare Institute in Birmingham, and although early attempts to talk about
the Blues proved unsuccessful, this does give her more in common with me than
anyone else within 5000 miles or so! My contract turns out to be a little more
substantial than envisaged, as you thought, magically extended to 22 hours a
week, but no extra days, it's just they want me to do a concentrated
playwriting workshop, in the evenings of two weeks. I will make sure I do that
before Ali and the boys come out, and it shouldn't be too much of a problem.
Lunch in the
canteen with Young-ai [rib soup and kimchi] followed by glass of hot water and
tissue to wipe mouth. Session with students went very well, I thought. Strange
to have interpreter, but I managed to persuade all to involve her in the class,
which I think is the way to go. More about the students in some later dispatch,
I expect. The afternoon was taken up by getting internet connections. A
computer engineer came over and set up the e-mail address in the office [30
seconds], and on my notebook, [2 hours] Well worth it though. I can now send
e-mails from anywhere in Korea, even alter my website, and pick up messages on
my usual address. On Monday I have to open a bank account for them to pay my
salary into, so I'll practically be a citizen.
Tonight, the
students have kindly invited me to a movement piece, based on responses to the
character of Hamlet, whoopee. I think I will have to watch a certain amount of
stuff in Korean as I go, but I did notice Mickey Blue Eyes was on somewhere, so
if I can work out where I might get some light relief.
Supper last
night was tuna with mayonnaise and coffee Haagen-Dazs. Obviously I did my best
to find dog-meat in the supermarket, but had to settle for that. Finding food
that Eddie will eat doesn't look as if it will be a problem.
I think I'd
better get up now, and go be a tourist. The hot water works, and Jeong came
this morning [he lives 2 hour away!] and found the sheets. Only the washing
machine to go now, and everything will be fine. I'm getting on OK with the
language. I've asked the students to teach me one thing at the end of each
session. Yesterday they taught me their names, and how to say 'you're welcome'
. Now I can count to ten, after a slight hiccough when I paused for indignation
on finding that the word for zero is the same as the word for England - I ask
you. It also means flower though, so that's OK.
Even after all
this, there seems loads I haven't said. Plenty of time though, isn't there.
With love
Pete