I. L. Chang

My sister and I once asked my mom to give us each a Chinese proverb. For mine, she gave me this: 不要心急, 要積極. which it’s meaning is translated to “don’t be impatient, but persevere”.

Sinchon Station Exit 8

The real beginning started this month. I moved away from the cozy neighbourhood in Gangnam-gu and settled in a more permanent place five minutes away from Exit 8 Sinchon Station. I live on the 14th floor of an apartment shared with two other roommates. There is a bookable exercise room, community room, social kitchen, and various work rooms. As advertised, this is a co-living space which I presume is mostly targeted for university students all around this area. There are three universities very close by and one of them is part of the SKY universities (Seoul National University, Korea University, Yonsei University).

If I head towards the subway station, there are red and grey striped plastic covered tents where vendors are selling teokbokki, soondae, odeng, and hodeok. And a singular vendor selling socks. When I get to the station, it is surrounded by a juxtaposition of things. There is a local market selling fresh produce managed by middle aged aunties and uncles. But there is also E-mart, a big grocery store chain selling produce packaged in organized packs. You can get cheap household items from Daiso or something nicer at the Hyundai Department store. Clothing stores that are not branded can be found among the streets in this neighbourhood or you can find something branded from Korea or from America at the department store.

Bridges

Seoul is divided into north and south by the Han river that runs across the city. Many bridges link the two parts together and I’ve had the opportunity to travel across three in the past month.

Dongjakdaegyo

From when I lived at the villa, I took bus number 0411 across the Dongjakdaegyo bridge to church. The bus lane ran parallel to the light blue metro line 4. Next to you it, you could see the light blue arches run across the bridge as the subway train speeds through. The bus ran at a slower pace and followed behind the train. The Han river glistened in a blue-green shimmer underneath the bridge. To my far left, I could see tall apartment buildings from Yeoui-dong. The sun was setting at the time so the golden yellow yolk spread its rays from behind the buildings with the light blue skies and white fluffy clouds as a backdrop. To my right were more bridges across the Han river.

There is no photo to show for this scene because I was too self conscious to take a photo on the bus for it would give away that I’m a foreigner. The irony is that I am a foreigner yet still crave the feeling of fitting in and not stand out. And it does work in some ways because I have black hair and brown eyes like most people here.

Cheongdamdaegyo

I started a part time job which involved playing with children in English at a day care-like centre in a Lotte Department store. While still living at the villa, I took line number 7 to work which would run across Cheongdamdaegyo. I finally worked up the courage to take a video and captured this picture. It was a cloudy day and spring is approaching with the fine dust rolling in.

Mapodaegyo

On the first Friday of March, I took the Kakao T (equivalent of Uber) to move to the new place I was going to live in. We drove west towards Mapodaegyo and took that bridge across to where the apartment was. Now that I was on the north side, it may be a while before I visit the south side again. Like my friend had said, “if it’s across the bridge, it’s too far.” I suppose if someone was willing to go across the bridges to come meet you, they really wanted to see you.

People

In this homogenous population and society, people watching is hard. Individuality for each person can’t just be identified by ethnicities or looks. Most people here dress relatively similar with not much individual style. Of course, you will get more unique styles in the trendy, touristy, fashionable areas, but if you were walking on the streets in an average neighbourhood, it’s hard to find uniqueness. When everyone appears to be similar, it occurred to me that finding their individual character will require getting to know them intimately – in conversation or in a meaningful friendship.

While I was living in the villa, I shared a room with a roommate. She was a very sweet Brazilian girl who is finishing her third year of University in Sao Paolo. She grew up in a small town north from Sao Paolo and has a big family with a handful of siblings. She has a lot of love to give and many big dreams at 23. I smiled at the reminder of those years. When the actual course of life hadn’t taken place and you could imagine multiple story lines for yourself.

After sharing meals with people who were 10 years younger than me, it was grounding and comforting to share meals with people who were my age. My Korean church friend’s brother and wife took me out on an adventure in Suwon. We waited nearly an hour for bagels at the London Bagel Museum. They were indeed very good. Then we took photos at the instagram-able new Starfield Library.

After that, we went to visit the Hwaseong Fortress. It was a beautiful walk around the fortress and a good history lesson. The weather was nice with the sun shining. While getting to know each other, we were fascinated with our respective experiences. Me amazed at their accomplishment in completing theology degrees and them amazed at me wanting to complete writing my book, and knowing three languages.

Back in 2014, I did a language exchange with someone from Korea. She was practicing English and I was wanting to improve my Korean. When I was searching for my school certificate during the visa application process, I found my notes and letters from her. On a Wednesday night, I met up with her and another friend of hers. Both of them have really cool jobs. Her friend is from the US who has lived in Korea for three years as an English teacher and is now helping run her family’s fishing and cattle farm. My Korean friend has met various kpop idols from her job and have been desensitized. But still starstruck when meeting Billie Eilish. Both shares the woes of a typical supervisor/manager role – the same struggles transcend language and culture.

Perseverance

Because of the change in temperature and also moving to a new place, I got sick. On the first day of moving into my new room, I got locked in and short fused the outlet. I ended up having to cancel work to get everything sorted out. I met some difficulties opening a bank account. Most of my meals are eaten inside my own room or by myself, except Saturday lunch when I work and I eat with co workers. I am slowly running out of the money that I first brought to Korea.

I start to question whether my writing is good enough to be considered for publishing, whether I actually have an idea worth exploring. The language barrier is hard and I start to think about studying Korean again. And then what about money? I need to work more. The once clear vision and goal is now smeared with various realistic considerations. Like my mom predicted about my nature, I am beginning to get impatient with getting to the results. I have completed 1/14 stories. There are 13 more to go and upon realizing that it makes me want to quit. But her encouragement is for me to keep going. Something is at the end of perseverance.