Korean Bits and Pieces from the Anecdotal Yokel

Thought I’d post some bite-sized chunks about Korean life…random things and unrelated. Think of them as parts of a slowly-cohering mosaic I will never fully construct.

Lining busy streets are ginkgo trees aplenty. In Korea, they are associated with Confucianism and scholarly traits. They basically went extinct in the wild, but people, especially in these parts, have preserved them. I wish I had taken a picture of them in full golden brightness (something to see, really), but I don’t always think these things through:

I can hear you now: “This would make for a pleasant walk.” And you’re right. Visually, they are quite agreeable. But there’s a hitch, and not just the havoc they play on my allergies.

I remember when I first put two and two together. I was walking with my Sri Lankan sister in the Itaewon district’s “food street.”

It smelled like dog poo everywhere, with no dogs present. For a while, we said nothing. Then, one of us brought it up before eventually figuring out the trees were to blame. They drop this noisome fruit EVERYWHERE.

When you walk the sidewalks here, perhaps with your nostrils pinched, you will likely see/be nearly run over by an entrepreneur granny:

Ladies in this age demographic cruise the sidewalks EVERYWHERE making money. They are known as the “yogurt ladies.” What are they doing? Selling drinking yogurt, maybe some ice cream, energy drinks and juice. Some of them even sell ads on their little carts, like NASCAR drivers. And they will also remind you of NASCAR drivers when they almost mow you down.

In Seoul, near Gwanghwamun Palace, you will come across a mass book reading like this. There are bookcases near the gathering sites with a few titles to choose from.

If you’re out in the suburbs, you can head to the Buddhist temple for a free outdoor fall concert, featuring vocal performers of various styles singing to pre-recorded musical tracks. And you might get a kick out of a bunch of (probably) married ladies swooning over a boy-singer half their age, with matching team jackets, hats, bags, lights and signs, pledging their loyalty.

I had a fellow Sooner here for a visit, and we spent a few days in Busan, on the southeast coast. At the beach, we saw an incredible drone show with a Korean Thanksgiving (Chuseok) theme, and were chuffed to see someone had uploaded that night’s performance on YouTube.

I think we’ve hit our USDA of Korean content for now, so we’ll see y’all later.