Last night I walked around Itaewon, the area around the US Army base in Seoul. My friends Michelle and Jennifer had both been there before (Jennifer's a regular, since her family is military and they live pretty close to there), but it was my first time visiting this miniature oasis of Westernness. Seoul is a pretty cosmopolitan city in general, but this was the first neighborhood within the city I've been to that truly incorporates its KFCs and Coldstone Creameries into its own cultural fabric without seeming self-conscious about it. The three of us first tried to find this Austrian cafe Jennifer knew to have dinner, but after the high prices on the menu discouraged us (although the lovely Austrian maitre d' didn't) we headed over to a cheaper Mexican place nearby.
 |  |
 |  |
The food was relatively expensive and had much smaller portions than we were all used to given Mexican food in the States, but it was worth it. I still miss Anna's burritos, but the craving is a little bit more bearable now.
Then we headed over to this bar called Gecko's, and when I stepped inside I thought I'd gone through some kind of portal back to Boston because it was your typical East Coast classy pub. Dark wood all around, comfy high-backed chairs around round tables, darts boards, white men ... very familiar, although there was a noticeably higher percentage of Asian patrons than you'd normally see. Interestingly, I felt very foreign.
We met some nice Army guys training in Military Intelligence - two from Florida and one from Iowa, and all around 20 years old. Smart (but not bookish) guys who liked to laugh, drink beer, and who brimmed with good ol' devil-may-care American bluster. Two of them appreciated Michelle's growing homesickness for her native Seattle and American cable programming while one had ambitions to start up a social networking website and a restaurant in Thailand. They readily shared their pitchers of Cass (gross watery beer) with us and bought us a few other drinks too, since we were a rather attractive trio of expats. The American military doesn't have the best reputation in Korea, but like most of these kinds of situations it seems like a case of a few bad pieces of kimchi spoiling the jar rather than a malaise affecting the whole outfit. I had a lot of fun talking with these guys and learning about their experiences, and was pleasantly surprised when I dropped the H-bomb (revealed that I'm a Harvard student) and they weren't put off. Stop holding your breath, Dad - nothing untoward happened, and after a while the three of us were on our way back to Jennifer's house to spend the night.
Overall, I liked Itaewon's uniqueness and startling diversity of ethnic foods, as well as the perspectives of the expat population there, but it wouldn't be a place I would want to hang out in all the time. I like Korea for what it is, and being in Itaewon reminds me too much of what it isn't (namely, America). If I ever get sick of Koreans and academics, though, I know where to go to get some Taco Bell.
It's Friday morning right now and I'm getting ready to go on one of this program's most anticipated field trips: the Boryeong Mud Festival! I've never been covered in mud before (well, not for fun/therapeutic purposes), so I'm really excited about this trip. I'll bring my camera!
Finally, here's a funny sign from a clothing shop in Itaewon:
No comments:
Post a Comment