Korea!

Beijing's bustling streets gave way to a short but incredible fast (295 km/hr) train ride to the most coastal Tianjin. I didn't explore it much, but rather flew across the Yellow Sea and landed in Incheon Airport just outside of Seoul. I think in the past, I've always traveled by air with lots of luggage so by the time I get to my destination I'm tired and worn out. This trip I make it to my home around noon and felt still fresh. So with almost no transition I went from the streets of Beijing to the streets of Seoul. Perhaps because the architecture is similar (high-rises as far as the eye can see), the temperature wasn't more than a few degrees warmer, or the height and hair-color of the populace are generally not dissimilar that I found myself very surprised by differences in culture and bearing. I can say undoubtedly South Korea has no interest, universal distrust in, or something altogether different with regards to making eye contact (at least with remarkably funny looking foreigners). This was the largest difference I noticed. The other differences seemed less apparent, but I did get a greater sense of cleanliness and uniformity in Korea. If memory serves Korea has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, so I wonder which if any of these generalizations contribute to that.

After a few days in Seoul I made it down to Daegu and then promptly the next day to Miryang, my old home. My old school was either shut down or merged with a mathematics cram-school as well. Later in the day I went to the kendo school where I trained during the weekdays. As I was going up the stairs I found some people coming down the stairs, apparently the school head had guests. I got to see briefly table full of empty dishes and Soju bottles before being quickly whisked out the door to go to a restaurant where the school head continued and I started to drink. I had to use Google Translate to say many simple things since I had forgotten so much Korean. I was forbidden to help pay the bill, a common theme as we went to a chicken-and-beer (a popular combo in Korea) restaurant afterwords. The table was full so someone grabbed my backpack and put it on a seat at the neighboring table. With my whole life in that bag, it was odd to not have it within arms reach, but then I recalled the stories all of the locals and foreigners alike had said about Korea: (maybe) the safest place in the world. After much chicken and drink I was kindly escorted by the whole party to the nearby jimjilbang, which is a budget place to sleep in Korean cities. One of the kind souls even insisted on paying for my jimjilbang stay, which I thought weird, but was in no mind or linguistic capabilities to argue. I don't what it is, but their kindness seems to know no bounds (nor time limits) I feel like I will always have an incomprehensible second family on the other side of the world. Several great pictures and less than a day later I made it to the airport. On to warmer weather!