I. L. Chang

“There are better things ahead than any we leave behind.” – C.S. Lewis

14:37 Incheon Airport

There was a fear I didn’t want to bring to words because saying it out loud made it sound real.

I was relieved to be alive when we landed. The recent plane accidents reminded me how close I am to the end of my life. There are far too many things I still want to do and see. I bargained with God. Not yet, please. Not yet.

A team Canada of some parasport was sitting near me. Possibly on their way to a competition. Throughout the flight, the attendants wheel over a chair through the narrow aisle to help some of them to the lavatory. Despite physical inconveniences, they found a way to play sports and take the plane. They have another level of courage I do not have.

Perhaps, everyone is close to the end of their life. To be alive is a joy and a gift from God. I want to remember that each moment is precious; not to squeeze productivity out of it but rather to live with fullness.

Nonhyeon-dong, Gangnam-gu

For the first three weeks, I am living in a villa that is right between the commercial and residential area. I am surrounded by store signs that read, “Cermaics”, “Tiles”, “Daerim Bathroom”. Just two minutes North of the villa is a main street called Hak-dong ro. The main street is a street that sells furniture, the upper middle class kinds. I see many clean, minimalist modern store fronts and even spotted a Pottery Barn and West Elm.

If I walk along this road west for another seven minutes, I reach a main intersection with Gangnamdaero. Then if I travel south along Gangnamdaero for two large blocks, it will lead me to Gangnam station. This main street is bustling any time of the day but more so when the sunsets and the night falls. Tall blue-greyish tinted glass window buildings line the main street in an organized fashion. The bright horizontal white and yellow signs tell you the names of dermatology clinics, plastic surgery clinics, and dental clinics. On this road, I spotted a Tim Hortons. A much fancier version of it.

The road on the main street is wide. Each direction has three lanes of traffic and in between, there is a bus lane. Buses come in a few different colours and each one with multiple different routes and numbers. There are the green ones, the blue ones, the red ones and the yellow ones, each one serves a different purpose to get you around the metropolitan area. Taking the bus in Seoul reminded me of the times my aunt took my sister and I on the bus to go shopping in Guangzhou. She took our little hands and pushed past anyone who wants to budge in line, making sure we got on and had a seat.

Southwest of the villa I am staying in is a cozy neighbourhood with many other villas, an elementary school, convenient stores, laundromat, coffee shops, clothing shops, restaurants, and bars. During the day time, it is quiet when I walk through this part, a contrast from the main streets. The roads are narrow and does not have a distinct intersection, it merges from one to another. Delivery motorcycles, pedestrians and cars all share the same path. I’ve done a few things in this neighbourhood that made me feel like home; I washed my laundry at a coin laundromat, bought some household items from Daiso, and bought some groceries at the GS market.

In the evening, the restaurants and bars are filled with chatter. Lights are turned on to the brightest setting and some are even flashing. Steam from people’s breath and the food can be seen through the clear patio tent extended from the store front. Groups of three or more are either gathered outside smoking or walking towards their restaurant of choice. Most of them are men with long black coats. Most likely salarymen who just got off work wanting to grab something to eat and drink.

Here are some interesting observations around the neighbourhood. With each turn of the curved roads, it may lead you to a steep uphill. Not a surprising terrain to navigate considering the city of Seoul is surrounded by mountains. Various thick and thin electricity lines run between poles like webs across the top of the buildings. Cars are parked on the side haphazardly. It is normal to catch a waft of sour sewer smell while walking the streets. Blue, white or orange plastic bags of garbage lay on the side of the grey bins with orange lid (used for food waste), waiting to be picked up. Recyclables in plastic bags and green nets are also waiting patiently to be collected. It is only with some research that I found how extensive the waste management system is in Korea.

The First Days

I had terrible jet lag. On the second day, I slept at 5:30 pm for 8 hours. I cried missing my family and friends and the familiarity of my old life. But I told myself, since I’m already here, I will be courageous. One task a day is a productive one. And so in the first two weeks, I have registered for my residence card, bought toilet paper, ate Korean barbeque with my roommate and her friends, and interviewed for a part time job.

Jamwon Hangang Park

12 years ago when I came to Seoul as an exchange student, my favourite part of the city was the Han river that runs across Seoul. The parks that were near the river reminded me of False Creek in Vancouver. There was a familiarity of home and it comforted me. After the interview for the part time job, I went to one of the Hangang parks. It was a quiet and cold Tuesday afternoon, clear skies and crisp air. The dry, yellow grass and shrubs were exclaiming to the passerby, “it’s still winter!”

Cafe Comma, Hapjeong

Of the places I explored, my favourite was this book cafe I went to. The day before going to this place, I noticed my week was empty. My roommate was in Japan and I didn’t make plans with anyone I met. I thought, maybe there are Meet Up groups of people in Seoul who are doing creative writing. I searched and there was one! The group was meeting on Monday night at this cafe called Cafe Comma in Hapjeong. The meeting was at 7:00 pm and the group would get dinner after the meet up.

At 6:00 pm, I took the subway there. When I reached the subway station and saw the amount of people waiting for the train, I realized it was rush hour. I almost couldn’t get out when it was my station. It was a long way to the cafe but I arrived.

I walked into the cafe and no one was in sight from the Meet Up group. I wasn’t sure what to do. Go eat? Stay? I decided that since I was here, I might as well do some writing.

The cafe had 6 floors and the interior was like a library. I chose to sit on the basement floor where there was a large shelf lined with Korean books. On an empty stomach and a 7,000 won earl grey tea, I opened my laptop to start writing.

Home

I ate dinner after writing and came home around 11:00 pm. From the main street, I turned into the small street. I hugged my long Super Puff coat tightly against the freezing wind. Up ahead was a convenience store. It was dark all around except for the white light coming from this store. The lime green and purple neon sign read, “Nice to CU”.