Fast-paced days

Since I’m here for such a short time, I have this urge to spend every minute I have here constructively. I’ve been walking around different parts of Seoul every day. I’ve been to the huge Yongsan electronics market, Insagong arts and crafts street Youido financial district and the Han River area amongst others. But there is still so much to see. I met an American girl, Annie, who works at the Korea Times as well. She’s been here for quite long already and knows her way around Seoul. We went for dinner one day and got to know the Itaewon district, which is filled with foreigners.

The Cheonggyecheon river at the center of Seoul

I finally got a Korean cell phone activated. If you want to contact me, the number is +821068756583. Receiving calls is free for me, so no worries. Having a cell phone has aided the formation of social networks significantly. I got into contact with Otto, a Finnish guy from HSE that’s working at Finpro who I met at the Korean embassy, and we went out to eat on Saturday in Sinchon (so basically where I live). I also got a first glimpse of Seoul nightlife, as after dinner we joined a group other foreigners at a nearby bar. I met two other Finns, Lauri and Katja, both from Jyväskylä, who are studying here as well. There were also people from Holland, Germany, USA and Korea. The best part was that we were still in Sinchon, so I could just walk home.

Once I got home I checked my email and remembered at the same time that the Eurovision Song Contest was on that same day. I went to the Eurovision website to see whether the results were already in. They weren’t, but I found a link to watch the competition live instead. So I sat at my computer until 7 a.m. cheering for Finland. Sometimes I still marvel at the possibilities that modern technology enables :). But I’m glad I didn’t miss it. After 40 years of waiting, disappointments and humiliation, we finally did it! I’m so thrilled. Congratulations Lordi! And congratulations to the Finnish ice-hockey team as well!

Ted, Minjun and I went to do something that Koreans like to call mountain climbing on Sunday. Basically it means walking around forests with other people. It’s the Korean national sport; they do it all the time. It was a lot of fun. We hiked for the entire afternoon. The highlight for me was visiting a Buddhist temple that’s actually not too far from where we live. I wouldn’t go as far as to describe the experience as spiritual, but there was a certain feeling of tranquility that I got after “meditating” (sitting quietly) in the temple for a while. There was like this one huge Buddha and then 3000 little Buddhas. It was pretty amazing. I hope to get the chance to go another less crowded temple for a longer stay sometime during the summer.

Ted and I at the Buddhist temple

Danny (one of the other interns) and I went to the movies to see The Da Vinci Code. I loved the book, so I had really high hopes for the movie. I was especially excited to see Audrey Tautou in a big American movie. So the disappointment was ever so great once the movie sucked. I mean it was terrible. The adaptation was totally unsuccessful, the general mood was all wrong, the chemistry between Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou was awkward and Tautou gave possible the blandest performance since Brad Pitt played Death in Meet Joe Black. The soundtrack was also so pompous it became distracting. The movie lacked all of the excitement, tension and subtle conspiracy theories that made the novel such an entertaining reading experience. Namdaemun Gate, the entrance to Seoul

All together, the first week has been quite exhilarating. Everyday there was something exciting and different. Met a lot of great people and saw a lot of new things. I know pretty well how to get around the Sinchon area (the one near where I live) and the center area of Seoul. Taking the buses and metros has become easy. I’m getting more fluent in chopsticks, but my Hangul (Korean) is still nearly inexistent.