Not so lost in translation

A few months ago I finally caught the movie "Lost in Translation." I absolutely loved it. If you're into those fast-paced perpetual action types of flicks, this isn't for you. If you enjoy travelogues and interesting psychological journey types of movies, then this would be right up your alley.

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As a Westerner, being thrown into the middle of a major Asian city has this odd way of affecting you. It's rather humbling. First, the language barrier really creates a 'shell' around the traveler. Then, the fact that we simply just don't look like anybody else in the area has this odd way of really reinforcing the point that you're no longer at home. In America (or Europe for that matter), we don't even think twice about 'sticking out' or appearing unlike anybody else. In this environment, we ARE the attraction. The curly chaotic brown hair, the fluorescently pale skin, the two happy-go-lucky children--we're just instant oddballs around here. Add to this 'ugly duckling appeal' the mandatory 'touristy' outfit I've been forced into wearing (ie Levi jeans, running shoes and turtlenecks) and we really stick out! When in foreign countries I try to dress as similarly as the locale population--just so we can blend in a little better. Unfortunately, here I'm recuperating from a royal achilles heel injury and must wear these 'blazingly-neon-sign-advertising-that-we're-Americans-from-10-miles-away' New Balance running shoes. There aren't any other shoes short of flip flops that I can wear at the moment and it's driving me insane. So, being thrust into a much different culture is quite a humbling experience. Something everybody should experience once or twice in their lifetimes. It really drives home the point that people are different and yet the same no matter where you go. A good lesson to learn in life.

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Pepper grinder we came upon as we walked through the 'hidden' markets of Huam-dong on our way to the much large Namdaemun market. The lady is pouring the roasted 'hot' peppers into the top of the grinder, the blades are visible in the middle (around her knee height) and the pepper flakes (which are used to make the awesome Korean pepper paste that we love so much) dump out into the red bowls at the bottom. We'd walked down this alley many times before and had never ever seen this contraption.

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Today, we ventured out yet again with 2 missions. One was to find another backpack that didn't 'scream that we're American' for our treks out and about the area. The second was to locate yet another geocache in the city--yes, using the subway yet again.

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Locating the backpack...

I had this desire to find a backpack that wasn't so 'rugged' looking yet still served our purposes well. I was looking for one of those sling over one shoulder bags that had a handful of pockets, was comfortable to wear on longish treks and lacked any 'frou-frou' markings. Last time we visited Namdaemun Market (May 05), these sling-bags were all the rage. Every bag store seemed to be selling them. So we were certain to strike it rich again--or so we thought.

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We arrive at Namdaemun Market and trudge along the streets in search of the perfect backpack. We visit at least 20 bag stores (all in a row--something I'll never understand about Korea markets) and never quite find what we're looking for. Along the way, we do find some silk 'slinky' scarves that will help us 'blend in' with the locals a tad more (ha ha)--2 for 2,000Won (about $2.25 for both!)--not bad. Then we continue searching for the backpack that will compensate for the blazingly American New Balance tennis shoes that I'm begrudgingly wearing on my feet. Almost every store owner repeated the mantra--those bags were 'last year', no longer available, this year we have and they'd point to the newer fashions which seem to continue to be the knock off Dolce & Gabana, Chanel & Louis Vuitton stuff they always seem to have in stock. I eventually find 3 bags that are close to what I'm looking for but still not quite 'it'. Then, when I'm about to give up I stop by one more shop and find one that's much closer, a little better quality than the other 3, not so 'sporty' looking yet still functional. I talk the owner down from 39,000Won to 15,000Won (about $18). I kept telling him it was out of fashion and that nobody else would even consider buying it. He eventually agreed to my amount.

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From there, we hop on the metro and take it some 12 stops to a small burough of Seoul (I guess small isn't a good word here as the city's got some 11 million inhabitants squeezed into it--it was just further out of the center 'footprint' of the city). We're in search of yet another geocache. This time we're looking for the Birthday Cache which is a tribute to a child who was born in Sep 05. This is one that definitely looked interesting & certain to be one of the most unique geocaches we've ever found--if we can find it! We arrive at the station, wander around the streets above the station, snag a bite to eat and somehow head straight to the hiding spot. We had a great photo of the hiding spot and used those visual hints to a marked advantage.

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This geocache was quite unique--yet another first for us in our history of letterboxing & geocaching. It was actually hidden on the 3rd Floor stairway of an apartment complex---IN A KIMCHEE POT by the front door!!! That was definitely a first for us--we'd never before found a geocache or a letterbox in a Kimchee pot.

What made it even more interesting (if you can believe it?) is that while we were logging into it, somebody from the adjacent apartment steps out to do something and catches us 'in the act' of moving around the contents of the cache. Hmmm...we thought we might me in trouble. Instead the wife of the cache's owner nods at us approvingly, rushes back into the apartment, grabs a camera and snaps our photo. Then, she runs back in yet again and brings out her newborn son--to whom the geocache is dedicated--and thrusts him into my arms to snap yet another photo of the kids and me. Kimhan I Rang is an adorably cute 6-month old baby boy. We exchange photos for a bit--using our hand & arm signal language skills we've mastered so well in Korea. Ugh--when will I ever catch on to this language??? She absolutely fills rnrB's & trkr's pockets with candies and chocolate dipped pretzel cookies! How incredibly nice!!! I feel like such a dork in only having a few pieces of chewing gum to trade in return. Note: buy more trade trinkets to hand out to folks on our excursions!!!

What a neat experience! We trade our GotWake trackable compass for a Malaysian 50 Sen coin. This coin also serves as our CacheBoxing stamp impression for our visit. So, our CB F count is up to a whopping 5 now.

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We head back to the metro the same way we came to the cache BUT things have changed. Seems there's a large crowd of school-aged children just hanging around this one building along the way. One calls out "Hello, where are you from?"--an experience that happens almost anytime we pass by Korean school children. I presume this happens because some English teacher somewhere has encouraged them to practice their English skills whenever they see a Westerner. Well, we stop to practice our 'lowly' Korean language skills in return and quickly learn that this group of children is standing there waiting to attend English lessons that start in 20 minutes! Wow--so we get barraged with all sorts of English phrases and enjoy the opportunity to interact with the kids. trkr is totally in his element--he's hem-hawing with the best of them, quickly gets caught up in a game of tag and somewhere along the way gets a pocketfull of candy from these kids. rnrB is a little more reserved but eventually warms up to the group of kids. Practicing our language skills always seems much easier when you're around children--for some reason it feels like they're a less 'threatening' audience. Dare I mention that somebody had taught them some more 'colorful' parts of the English language? Hmmm...I wonder if their English teacher is a teenager or really enjoys gangsta rap music...

We eventually make our way back to the metro and work our way toward Seoul Station. There's another geocache that's rumored to be in the area that just happens to be on our route 'home'. We plod along on the 1+ mile walk up and down hills, around sky scrapers, tall cathedrals, elevated highways and things. Somewhere along the way we see Mr. Mentally challenged, drunk off his booty, homeless guy who decked the really nice gentleman in the park two days before. I quickly grab the kids and dodge down a different alley than the one he is in. Can't be too protective--as we've seen how unstable this jerk has been to folks who speak his language. No knowing what he'd do with the 'meguksaram' wandering aimlessly around his neck of the woods! We poke around a bit looking for the additional GC but no luck. That's okay--it's an area that we'll revisit repeatedly during our travels in Seoul--it's on the way to the BIG subway stop of the city--so we'll try again sometime later.

Finally, in recognition of DC's famous Cherry Blossom Festival that must be happening right now, I snapped this photo of some gorgeous cherry trees in Seosuman Park adjacent Seoul Station this evening. They're absolutely lovely this year! We're still waiting for the cherry trees atop Namsan Mt to start blooming--hopefully those photos will appear in a few days!

Happy Spring!!!