Heya Google,
Here's a story. One of the happiest times of my life was spent in the most ghetto area of Seoul our mission would send sister missionaries to. It's pretty tough to find real "ghetto" in Seoul, but as far as I knew, Geumcheon was as close as you were going to get. And it was a trilling place to be.
Now, it's important to know that Seoul is one of the safest cities in the world (officially - that's not just me being biased). Never, ever did I feel unsafe wandering its streets (although to be fair, we were never out past 9:30 pm, so...).
Anyway, my point is, "ghetto Seoul" was basically "quirky Seoul"; and it lead to a lot of great adventures.
Like most districts in any big city, Geumcheon had its upscale parts and trashy parts. One of my favorite things to do was to walk through the street that lead from a huge upper-scale apartment complex, through the ghetto-ish part, then out to another classier area.
Every day, my companion and I would, of necessity, traverse this path. And every day, we'd run into something wacky, that you would only ever see in Geumchon. And here are some great shining examples, for your reading pleasure:
The Four-Wheeling Harmonie
In Korea, there are a lot of wrinkly old grandmas (or Harmonie) out there, chasing after children, selling vegetables, dragging cart loads of recycling, or shopping. Most of them prefer to walk, which is perhaps why they are so skinny. You'd rarely see them in a taxi and never on a motorbike like many of the men.
But - there was this one gem of a Harmonie that we would run across every few weeks. Unlike her traditional counterparts, she was pretty darn chubby (basically, fat, but it's rude to call grandmas fat) and she had a very unique form of transportation: a four-wheeler. (The only one I EVER saw in Korea.)
She would plop herself down on this growling vehicle, and as the wind blew wildly through her short curls, with a smug curl of the lip and a twinkle in her eye, she would ride through town all, "That's right. Look at ME!"
We would always wave as she roared passed, and she, very pleased, would nod gracefully back.
Gumbitch Park
Already you're laughing, aren't you? We sure did once we saw the poor romanization of what is really a beautiful name, meaning "golden light." As odd as its name, this small park sat right around the corner from our church building. It was a great place to meet drunken people. Or mothers with young children. A strange mix of demographics.
Every day, you could walk past and see something spectacular. Go by on a Thursday morning, and find six drunken people (both men and women) sprawled across benches, flowerbeds, and pathways, chunks of fork-skewered-watermelon scattered about them.
There were several amusing aspects of this scene. First of all, it was clear they opened the watermelon by smashing it on the ground. Second of all, who uses forks in Korea? No one, that's who. And finally, who drinks so early in the morning that they are fully drunk, have managed to slime up an entire park with watermelon remains, and then pass out - all before 11am? It's a wonderful mystery.
The Shark Lady
Perhaps my favorite sight of all, was the day that we walked past the street market and got an eyeful of something spectacular! This market was nestled in a diagonal alley, squashed between some old, brick apartments and a line of nice shops, including a pizza place, a beauty shop, and a bakery. The end of the market would spill out onto the corner in front of the bakery.
On that corner was a lady that would sell seafood from a large tub of water - mostly clams, muscles, and occasionally little crabs. But one day, we noticed people veering off in her direction, with puzzled looks on their faces.
Now, it took quite a lot for people in Geumcheon to show real curiosity. So, we too started in her direction, only to see her sitting on her overturned bucket as proud as a queen on her throne, with a foam box of ice at her feet. On top of that ice lay a 4-foot baby shark, fully intact with a piece of ice wedged between its jaws, like a hog with an apple in its mouth.
We stared, stunned. Question number one: where did she get this thing? Question number two: who on earth would buy it? But it was gone the next day, so clearly, someone did!
Just Your Average Day
These memories were some of my fondest, although you can be sure they are just the tip of the ice berg. From a re-incarnated Elvis (outfit, motorcycle, and all) to an angry woman chasing a man down the street with a bloody knife in her hand (somehow, that wasn't alarming?), the adventures never ended. I'm grateful for the time I spend in this quirky area, with all it's insane people, drunk people, but most of all kind and wonderful people. (Perhaps their stories will come at another time.)
So in conclusion, I'd like to say thanks, God, for sending me there.
No comments:
Post a Comment