Meet Mozi...

Seoul, the capital city of South Korea, is an awe-inspiring, frightening, wonderful, deathly, life-changing place. I shall never be the same again after my visit there on 25 to 27 March. Never the same.

That weekend symbolises the first pay day, the first big trip to Seoul and the reunion of hundreds of Korean English teachers. It was EPIC (no pun intended)! Most of us newbies' tanks were running rather low on Won by 25 March and were desperately in need of a bank account re-fuel.

The epic trip actually began in little Pohang on the Korean east coast, about a thirty minute bus ride from where I live in Heung-hae. Hopping onto the 6:30 pm Pohang-to-Seoul bus, I had serious second thoughts about a five-hour trip after a long week at school. Five of us left from the Pohang Express Bus Terminal, beer and soju in hand to make the trip seem a little shorter. By hour three, I was so tired, I had to take a little nap. It was an incredibly bad idea as when I had to wake up, I was grumpy, cold and unhappy. I had to nudge Scotty every few minutes to keep him from drifting back into 'lala' land. When we arrived at the hostel after an hour-long subway trip after the five-hour bus trip, I was actually ready to simply curl up in bed. It was not to be, however, as the rest of Team Awesome (Claricle, Tashalicious, Kaitles, Christoffle and Hells Bells) were waiting for Scotty and I to arrive. We met the eighth member of the Seoul crew, Jo, also trying to find her way to the hostel. And our Seoul trip began properly at 1am on Saturday morning...

Frightening...South Korea has a population of approximately 49 million people. Well over 10 million of those people live in just one city: the capital, Seoul. It is a frighteningly busy place; there are people everywhere all the time. The subways are full, the streets are crowded and there is never an empty restaurant. The Pohang crowd arrived in Hong-dae, the student area where our hostel was, at 1am. When we walked out of the subway exit, there were so many people. Thanks to Claricle and her excellent map, we were able to navigate ourselves rather easily, I would have thought. Scotty was in charge of directions. If it wasn't for Tashalicious coming to find us, we'd still be wandering around Seoul at this point. Scotty was convinced we had to go the completely opposite way?

After dropping off our possessions, we were off to find somewhere to have a "quiet" drink. Everything was still open. I can see why young people want to live in this part of the country. I did no work at Rhodes and there was nothing to do there actually. In a place like Seoul, I may have fallen seriously off course.

Awe-inspiring...Despite being frighteningly busy, Seoul is also quite amazing. It is such a jacked-up place and very different to where I am living, obviously. In our short time there, we only went to two small parts of the city; Hong-dae (the student area and home of Hongik University) and the shopping haven (Myeong-dong), which has all the fashion stores. I have no knowledge of any of the following places as I cannot afford to even set foot inside any of them but us girls browsed around Zara, H&M and all the little side shops. I took a list of things I needed to buy and came home with nothing to show for it besides a straw summer hat I will probably never wear again (even though it looks quite good upon my head), a head band with a huge black flower attached (which I wear ALL the time) and some red nail polish for the nails that I bite daily! Ridiculous. The fashion of the majority of the Korean youth is rather awe-inspiring, however, and I long to learn something "fashiony" in my time here. It is definitely an area in which I lack serious talent.



Deathly...On Saturday night, after a lovely reunion party with the other teachers in Seoul, we all headed to a dance club, THE dance club in Hong-dae apparently. It was literally a deathly place. We paid some exorbitant sum to get in, only to leave straight away again. I have never been into a building where there are so many people. It was like taking part in a voluntary stampede. You did not have to move your feet at all. You were simply carried with the crowd up the stairs, men groping and kissing you from all directions. It was horrific. And definitely a fire hazard - danger zone - health and safety code red - place! In England, they would have torn that place down long ago for every kind of law infringement. It survives happily in Seoul. I am not sure how there have not been any deaths-by-stampede yet. Most of us came out from the underground hell after approximately four minutes, heaving with anger and shaking with fear. Some of the guys were actually wanting to punch anything in sight. Fortunately, we went straight back to the little bar from Friday night and all was well with the world again.

On Sunday morning, Scotty and I made our way back to the bus terminal to meet our fellow Pohangers and return to the east coast. Not looking forward to the 5 hour bus ride, we decided to have a little lunch before boarding. Stupidly, I sent Scotty to the counter to order two chicken burgers. He came back almost immediately with the purchases in hand. This was to be our second deadly experience of the weekend. It was apparently meant to be a tender grilled chicken fillet on a roll. Unfotunately, it did not seem to be grilled at all, was almost raw and had a revolting soya/kimchi/fish taste to it. Yummy. Even Mozi would not eat it! Never again shall I trust a man to order food when he is hungover and useless. Only joking Scottles!



Wonderful...My thirty or so hours in Seoul were quite wonderful. After a month in the mountains, it was like going to London for a party after caring for a grumpy English granny for 3 weeks. Absolute feedom! We had a brilliant party on both nights and it was so good to meet up with the orientation crew of English teachers again.

In the day on Saturday, we interrupted our shopping spree with a visit to Kraze burger (a Korean burger franchise, I believe?) for lunch and met up with the boys, Jo and Tashalicious who had skipped the shopping madness for a more calm exploration of the surroundings. Kraze Burger's service left a lot to be desired but their food left nothing at all. It was delicious!

We also stayed at a fantastic guesthouse called "Blu" in the Hong-dae area. As the Claricle has been year for over a year, she booked us in for the two nights and promised fluffy duvets and breakfast. We got just that. It was perfectly located and very comfortable. I actually regret not sleeping for more than 2 hours a night in that lovely bunk bed. The peanut butter and jam toast, coffee and orange juice in the morning was close to the best part!

The only "un-wonderful" moment was when I lost my favourite ring in the subway station. After a good search and a very good sulk, Kaitles was able to cheer me up by finding me a new friend. We named him Mozi and he goes everywhere with me these days; my miniature Korean mascot. After a good day's retail therapy, Kaitles, Hells Bells and I stopped at the subway station again. I asked if they had found a ring by any chance. The guard asked me what colour it was and I said it was silver. He gestured that he may have found one and reached down for what could well have been my ring. It was not though...sadness swiftly suffocated my soul again.

Life-changing...Seoul is a place never to forget. It is quite the most overwhelming experience I have had in a long time. With Team Awesome in tow, it was a truly life-changing experience too. When and if I am ever brave enough to return to Seoul, I will make sure it is a cultural trip to see more of the amazing sights and learn from what such an amazing city has to offer. It is certainly a place where dreams come true and money is spent very quickly. I can't wait for Round Two...

(All Seoul photos: by Claire Keet)