Kindness in South Korea
- kirklmiler
- Jan 19, 2020
- 4 min read
When you travel the world, there is a a beautiful truth you will discover if you are open to it. Kindness is to be found in every culture. Sometimes it seems well hidden and tucked away amidst being lost in the translation in another country, however, if kindness is the language you are speaking, kindness seems to magically find its way to you. I have had such good fortune to cross paths with several kind and generous souls along the way who have helped me on my journey. This happened to me a number of years ago when I was in the middle of remote China and kind, helpful, English speaking individuals found their way to me seemingly in the middle of nowhere.
My adventure this past week took me back to visit to Seoul, S.Korea. As another 3 months have passed under my visitor visa, it was time to leave Japan again and hopefully return with no unforeseen obstacles along the way. Leaving Japan and returning for yet a third time within a year is always a precarious roll of the dice depending on the agent one meets in the immigration line on any given day. As I was passing through immigration to leave Japan, it suddenly came to my attention that I had overstayed my visa by 2 days. One of the side effects I have observed from such a long period of solo travel in Japan has been noticing my cognitive thinking abilities and attention to detail have begun to suffer. This is largely due to waking up each day and facing a whole new maze of challenges within a paradoxical culture. Overstaying your visa is one particular detail you do not want to overlook in Japan. My oversight resulted in my being taken in to an interrogation area for questioning, mostly in Japanese, which I did not understand. Fortunately, I have been studying calligraphy and had pictures to show. The agent was a student of calligraphy as well and this brought a smile. This seemed to smooth things over. I have come to experience more times than I can count in my travels that benevolent beings are always watching over me. Within the 30 minutes prior to my flight, we processed an application for extension and somehow got it approval just in time for me to be one of the last passengers to my seat. All turned out well.
My second visit to Seoul took me back to visit my new friends I was so fortunate to meet on my first visit. In a city of 10 million people, these were kind and generous Airbnb hosts who instantly became true friends and within our first visit we were already discussing plans for their trip to Austin. On my entire journey these past 6 months, I have yet to meet two kinder and more considerate souls. To this day, Wisdom emails me to make sure I am eating ok and my health is in good order and I am resting. She joked that women in S.Korea are like having your grandmother take care of you. I cannot say how much I have appreciated her concern across the Sea of Japan.
Seoul, Korea is considered the most densely populated organized country in the world, with an estimated population of 10.9 million people (although this is only the “special city,” with over 25 million in the surrounding area). The density of the city is 45,000 people per square mile. For perspective, if you have begun to feel like Austin is becoming overcrowded, Austin has about 3358 people per square mile. This is a glimpse of the future, although a one-bedroom apartment in Austin is more than three times the price of one in Seoul.
During our short visit together, I was treated once again to warm Korean hospitality. We toured one of the local street markets and sampled several of the food vendors. We then traveled to Pagu Book City, located outside the city in the Korean town devoted to reading, publishing and printing. It is said to have a ration of 20 books per person. I especially liked the mantra of the city, “ “a City to Recover Lost Humanity.” Read more about Pagu Book city here:
From there, we enjoyed reservations at a very famous traditional Korean restaurant. Similar to my birthday, there was no food spared and we were served traditional Bulgoli, Kimchi and other dishes prepared over our burner at the table.
Perhaps the best memory of the day was when my kind friends took me to have my stamp made of my name in Korean. You may remember from my first post about Korea, I was given my Korean name, ‘Gyeong gu’ which means "A concise and sharp expression of truth or feelings or thoughts about life.” It is standard in most Asian countries to sign your paintings and important documents with your name stamp. Now I have my own.
My time in Seoul was short, but deeply meaningful. It reminded me once again of the necessity for connection wherever we find ourselves on our journey. This has been quite a challenge for me in Japan, yet came with such ease in Korea. We enjoyed a game of taking turns asking each other questions about our culture and our ways of viewing the world, which reminded me how different we can be simply because of where we were born on the planet, yet underneath there is much more we share. My friends are excited to come visit Austin, perhaps in the coming year. It will be my gift to show them the kindness and generosity of our culture when the time comes.
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