Well I managed to have myself another fantastic weekend, and you lucky folks get to hear all about it! I met up with some Couchsurfers, watched a movie at the National Digital Library, went to a really cool art museum and a history museum, and spent some time with my Korean family! It was fun, relaxing, and exhausting at the same time. So here’s a little bit about it.
First, a traumatic experience. So far, in all my adventures in Korea, I have had the pleasure of using only Western style toilets. Well, my good luck streak reached its painful and almost disastrous end when I had something of a personal emergency in the bathroom of the Express Bus Terminal in Seoul. There comes a time, in everyone’s life, when you have to GO. Not that ‘I think I’ll use this time to take care of some business’ feeling, but that feeling where you’ll swim across a lake of magma to find a toilet. I had that moment as I was getting off the bus. I rushed to the bathroom and found that all the stalls were occupied. Peachy. Just as I was considering the appealing concave nature of the sink, a stall door opened. After punching out several feeble old men to claim the stall (that’s an embellishment, don’t worry) I locked the door and went to put up the toilet lid. But there was no lid. There was no toilet. There was…. well, this:
Stolen unashamedly from some random website
I’d seen pictures. I’d heard stories. But never in my planning and dreams of world travel did I think I would have to use one of these abominations. A heinous mash-up of ancient and modern methods, the squat toilet is something nobody over 5’6″ should ever have to endure. I felt dismay gnawing at my resolve to accomplish my mission, but knew my chances of social survival would be obliterated if I didn’t take care of this emergency S.T.A.T. So I went for it.
I had numerous concerns:
1) Falling in. I was tired. I’d been stuck on a bus all morning, and my legs were just starting to stretch themselves out. Now I found myself in a squatting position with my legs shaking like maracas at a Latin dance party. I had to brace myself against the wall with arms to avoid keeling over backwards onto my keester.
2) Irreversibly staining a perfectly good pair of jeans. You may notice in the design of the torture device displayed above that there is a porcelain shield who’s purpose, I would imagine, is to… contain the spray of debris. Well. I was concerned. The last thing I wanted to do was to show up to meet the couchsurfing group and my Korean friends with a still-drying oil slick covering the back of my pants. And I am so, SO sorry for that analogy. This potential disaster added a sweat-inducing level of paranoia to my uncomfortable situation.
After a spell, I finished unscathed. But I will avoid, at all costs, repeating the experience. I hate these toilets. So much. Next time I’m going to hang my butt over the edge of a dumpster and solve my problem that way.
Anyways, enough of the unpleasantness. I know, I know, I suckered you in with all that talk of a great weekend, and the first chunk is all about something you’d be better off not hearing. It won’t happen again. For a while.
The first item on the agenda for my weekend was to attend a small meeting of Couchsurfers in Seoul. Now, for those of you who don’t know, Couchsurfing is an online social community of travelers who provide or sleep on couches for travelers passing through. You can find couches and the lovely people who provide them nearly anywhere in the world. There’s so many awesome things about this. First off, it is one of the best ways to meet people and get a locals view of the place you’re visiting. Most hosts will spend some time with you and try to show you around or recommend things to try while you’re visiting. Second, it’s free. It’s something of a tradition to bring them a small gift to show your appreciation, but no one seems to expect it. Before coming here, I have only participated in Couchsurfing as a host. I fully intend to crash on a few peoples couches during my stay in Korea… hopefully it happens many, many more times!
I spent some time trying to find the subway exit where I was to meet my fellow Couchsurfers. A security guard was nice enough to point me in the general direction, and I got there only a few seconds late. It was a pretty small group, but all the people were very nice. There was Dan and Min from Korea, Shawn from India, Artem from Germany, and Amanda (who organized the whole event) from Kentucky, USA. In a refreshing change of pace, Amanda and I were the only English teachers. The others were students or worked for companies that had offices in Seoul (or were merely home from work outside the country). That’s one thing about Pohang. It’s quite rare to meet a foreigner who isn’t an English teacher, in the military, or working with Posco.
We walked to the National Digital Library of Korea, which was only a few minutes away. Opened not even three years ago, the Digital Library is part of the National Library complex and provides access to millions of digital works. There are also facilities for watching videos, working with publications, music and video editing, everything. Pretty much anything digital is possible here. Best part? Access is free and foreigners are allowed. Pretty freakin’ cool, eh?
This is only one room…
The goal of the gathering was to watch a movie, so we went through the process of getting a movie to screen in a private booth. It was a little more complicated than necessary, but thanks to the assistance of the Korean speakers in the group, everything got sorted. We decided to watch Tae Guk Gi, or the Brotherhood of War. It’s about the Korean War and the relationship of two brothers caught up in the middle of it. Very good movie and also very sad. Not exactly something that puts you in a peppy mood, so after the movie finished all of us were a little numb I think. Nonetheless, we decided to go for a walk and check out the Silk Worm Bridge nearby.
The rock has a sign engraved saying 11,183 km to Washington D.C. Definitely makes you feel quite a ways from home! The bridge was pretty cool, though you could feel it sway as you walked over it. I don’t like things that do that. I’ll jump out of a plane, but I don’t like swinging bridges!
All in all, it was a great meeting with some people who love traveling and experiencing new cultures as much as I do. One of the amazing things about Couchsurfing is the type of people that it attracts. You get to meet people that are so helpful, friendly, and passionate about traveling. It really is one of the best things my generation has come up with. Among a host of other awesome things 😉
Since I have the uncanny ability to pack my schedule as tight as comfort will allow, I left the Couchsurfers to take the subway to Honghae and meet up with Sejeong and her cousins Im Hyewon and Kim Jinhui at the Trickeye Museum. They were a little late (psh = P) but we made it there with plenty of time to explore. The whole concept of trick art is to take classics and make them into something a viewer can interact with; with often hilarious results. I’ve put together a slide show of the pictures we took. Since this is art, there is some nudity. Deal with it or skip the slideshow. You’ve been warned <3
The next morning we lounged around and played some more games while people prepared for our planned outing to the National Museum later that day. The Kims’ aunts and grandmother came by too, and I taught the aunts the wonders of Uno. I was just starting to learn the Korean game of Go-Stop (very complicated, I was doomed for failure) when everybody arrived. The whole group piled into two cars and away we went. All told, it was me, the Kims, Hyewon, two aunts, their grandmother, and Errol (Seyoung’s husband). We walked around for a while, and only covered a fraction of the museum, but by that time we were museum-ed out. There’s only so much time you can look at old things until you need some fresh air. So, we went out to dinner.
Inside…
Rabbit, the sign of my birthyear.
Can’t help but think of Redwall…
The three Se’s
My Korean family!After that I returned to the Kim’s place and had another relaxing night of TV and talking, again falling asleep on the couch in exhaustion. I’ll be sad when Sejeong returns to America, it was nice to see her again! Sehee will be going to Europe and Seyoung is going to visit her in-laws in the States, so it seems I will be in and around Pohang and the rest of Korea for more weekends in the near future. Which is going to be a great time =) I’m just glad I have an adopted family in Korea that is so awesome!
Nathan has been living and working outside of the United States since 2011.During that time, he's visited more than 40 countries, and can usually be found climbing a mountain or trying to get lost in a forest.
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I shat in a toilet just like that in Turkey! Never considered writing about it, though. Thanks for helping me relive the experience.
Nothing was more awesome than the toilet story. Shouldve saved it for last. I laughed so hard on my busride this morning . Thanks!