I turned 33 years old on January 1st here in Korea. It's quite depressing, actually. Especially since, in Western terms, I am still only 31. Actually, that's quite depressing too. Where did all those years go? :)
Lindsay, Travis, and I rang in the New Year at a hip hop dance club in a happenin', young part of central Seoul called Hungik (pronounced Hongday). It was fun but anticlimactic since there was no official countdown. The REAL New Year's celebration here in Korea happens on the Lunar New Year (January 29 this year). It will be complete with family gatherings, store closings, and days off work (which I really need since I got no holidays during Christmas).
My Korean teacher and I have become very good friends and last weekend he took me out of Seoul towards the north on a mini road trip. It surprised me, after driving for only 30 or 40 minutes, how quickly we encountered barbed wire fencing around the river that the highway followed. We were at the North. At the DMZ. The most heavily fortified border in the world at the moment between North and South Korea. The DMZ consists of 4 km of mountainous terrain. We drove up one of the mountains on the South side and I snapped a few pictures of some of the mountains in the distance supposedly on North side. Funny how similar the mountains looked. :) There was really nothing out there... a few gas stations, a restaurant.
As we kept driving, we encountered a tiny, commercial village that had a bridge leading to a gate.... the DMZ. We walked up to the gate, which was the furthest we could go as civilians. It was decorated with dried flowers, handmade pictures from children stating "We want to be friends", and peace offerings. It was pretty touching and I had wanted to add my own little memento promoting a more peaceful existance but I had left my purse in the car. About 10 meters from the gate (inside the DMZ) stood a little wooden guard post. I could see the red burn of the floor heater and could hear the guard cough a little amidst the quite music. His job was obviously to watch the DMZ. For what? I'm not sure. But I felt the vibes of standing in a very important and potentially historical place. What's funny is that the small commerical village was actually a small amusement park. So when I turned around to face the village behind the gate, I saw the flashing lights of a ferris wheel and other rides, cotton candy and dried squid food stalls, and heard the screams of patrons going upside-down on the loopty roller coaster. A crazy contrast.... but hey, that's Korea.