The scene of this weekend’s adventures was Daejeon, one of Korea’s largest cities and the one nearest me, and Gyeryongsan, the nearby national park. The players? Colleen, Nika, and me, the seasoned Korean explorers.
The initial purpose of the weekend was to climb Gyeryongsan. It’s small, but fun, and I’ve only been there once before, even though it’s close. Colleen, a new resident of Daejeon, had never been. In fact, she knew almost nothing about the area at all, having only been there for a week. That was going to change.
We set out early Saturday morning. It was already dreadfully hot, but we had plenty of water and the route was shaded almost all the way. Still, we were sweaty messes, each of us completely soaked in sweat after only a little while. The river was no relief, either—it must have been a dry summer here, because there was hardly a trickle (same situation at Seoraksan). Still, we climbed to the top of the highest peak (for climbing; the actual highest peak is covered with cell towers and closed off!).
This is where the public transportation adventure begins. We were finished and back in Daejeon by 2ish, with vague ideas of going to a jimjilbang (a sauna), a movie (to escape the heat), and perhaps out to a meal. The problem was, none of us was familiar with this area of the city and in any case, we weren’t really sure where to go. We caught a bus and realized it was going the wrong way only when it stopped at the terminal station. But all was not lost. We took another one going back, and that was when I spotted it: the ever-elusive mushroom restaurant, the one Kyoung Hee Sam had taken me to a couple times, but I’d never been able to find myself. Success! We ate kilos upon kilos of mushrooms for a ridiculously low price, then caught another bus and subway back downtown. The movie wasn’t for another 3 and a half hours, so Nika and I went back to our hotel (the Honey Park J) to change and shower while Colleen went home (we’d discovered she lived right next door). The Simpsons was funny, though I’d seen it before, and it was interesting to see it with a Korean audience. I didn’t think they would find it amusing, but apparently they did. We may have wasted a lot of time Saturday on buses, between coming to the mountain, going back, and venturing all around the city in search of mushrooms and movies, but we sure did get to know it well!
And today I came back. The trip was much longer than I’d planned—I thought I’d just go over for a day and hike, and instead I stayed two nights—but it was fun to see old friends and test my navigation skills. I can get around almost like a Korean these days, after a year of practice!
Recently, my Pomona email account has been shut down and I’ve had to move all the email messages I’ve received throughout the years and wanted to keep (I’m a memento packrat, it appears). This has made me realize how completely I’ve lost touch with so many people who used to be important to me. I just graduated from college a year ago, and I’m already down to only a couple friends who maintain regular contact. Being home, too, was a rude awakening—I have no high school friends anymore, and only a couple people I keep in touch with in the Bozeman area. It’s depressing to think that years of friendship can drain away that quickly, that we move out of each others’ lives so quickly and don’t turn back. Isn’t there anything worth holding on to? I’m newly inspired to initiate contact, to see what can be recovered, if anything. And thus the letter-writing campaign begins…