The Sights, Sounds and…Smells?

With the recent poll on the blog I thought I would be the eyes, ears and nose of of your experience here in Korea.  I really can’t give you the whole experience, but I can give you a small *snicker* taste of Korea.

 

From rolling out of bed to breakfast there is really no difference here than in America.  However from moving from breakfast to the first step into the cold shower does bring its surprises.  You see, the floor in the bathroom is one of only three places in the apartment that doesn’t have floor heating.  The only comfort from cold feet is the seemingly endless hot water pouring from the shower head.

 

Again, nothing really new or exciting between the shower and getting dressed. 

 

Upon opening the door to our apartment onto the stairwell, the first smells hit.  Sometimes it is the smell of fish and rice being cooked from across the hall.  Sometimes it is the musty odor of all the wet ads laying on the floor close to the entry way.  Yet other times it has no smell at all (which I find in some ways to be very comforting).

 

Stepping outside the apartment for the first time in Korea almost made me gag.  If you haven’t lived in a city then you don’t know what kinds of smells are associated with city life.  I lived in Toronto and got used to many of the smells locally in Toronto.

 

Korea is no different.  However, the smells here have different mixtures behind them.  Everything from the cleaning products to the foods, even to the containers products come in play their roll in cornucopia of aromas meeting the nostrils.  The open sewer at the road in front of our apartment always brings its own major wave of smells. 

 

The walk to school is a short one, but the road is far from the even, nicely paved roads on the highways and suburban streets  in the US.  It is an uneven, pot-hole-ridden walk to school (or to any traveling over non-main roads). 

 

Now a walk down the main road is a slightly different story.  There is nothing inherently wrong with the sidewalks.  In fact a stroll down the main road provides many sensory stimuli.  The smell of the squid, octopi, shellfish along with various other fish being sold at the fish market.  The smell of diesel fuel hanging in the air lingers in the nose(most of the cars seem to be diesel).  The sound of the scooters and extremely small delivery “trucks” passing on the road as they dart and weave through traffic.  If you ever have the opportunity to smell silk-worm larva being cooked (they seemed to be eaten much like popcorn…) you will never forget the musty, sickly-sweet smell. 

 

Also, an interesting thing happens as people in Korea pass each other.  Now, Koreans drive on the right side of the road as does US.  The crosswalks likewise are marked to pass each other on the right.  The funny thing is many Koreans naturally want to pass each other on the left.  This gets awkward at time for yours truly.  I find it best to simply stay towards the left and hopefully there won’t be this “no-touch” dance as we figure out how to pass each other.

 

Last, but certainly not least, is the subway.  I will attempt to pull all the stops to describe the complete helplessness that comes with participating in the subterranean, human mass-transit system.  Now, please don’t think it is like this all the time, but there are time its seems the green line (the subway line through Bongcheon) is this crowded.  I don’t think I will ever forget stepping onto the green-line subway one day and completely losing—for about twenty minutes—any preconceived personal space boundaries.  I stand between 6’ and 6’2” depending on what shoes I am wearing that day and how tall I decide to stand.  Needless to say, I am Goliath to about 11 million Davids.  I stand easily a head and shoulders above the average Korean.  This height difference makes for an interesting ride as I attempt to keep my face out of the head of hair in front of me while also keeping my 230 lb. body from turning the people closest too me into the first to fall in a long line of human dominos and making sure that I do not take up more than my allotted space and encroach upon the boundaries of any other person on the subway.  Fun, fun. 

 

Honestly though, it costs usually no more than 1,200 Won (currently, less than a dollar) to go from Bongcheon to anywhere else in Seoul.  Also, if we didn’t use that mode of transportation, then it would be nearly impossible to meet some of the nicest people Korea has to offer.

 

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I would like to take a break and ask those of you that pray, that you would pray for Charity.  She has had some difficulties adapting to some of the food and lifestyle changes and somewhere along the way has picked up an ulcer in lower opening of her stomach (at least that what Dr. Cho said when we went to visit him).  I do not believe it to be a serious health risk, but it is giving her no end of grief and he pain is my pain (or at lest I wish it could be…).  There is a chance that she will have to go in for an endoscopy and I think the thought of that procedure is more frightening than it actually is.  For those that have been reading this blog regularly (and even those that haven’t) I would ask that you might leave a comment of encouragement to her as I know that would mean a lot.  Besides, I always love it when people leave a comment on my blog. :o)

 

 

Lastly, I would ask for your prayers over our testimony.  I do not know if all my students are saved and those that are, may not be living up to their full potential (who really is).  For some of them, I do not think there is a desire to even seek after God.

 

More to come…