Observations of Korea.Seoul is a bustling in modern city—very different from Manila and Bangkok where we were last year. The traffic while often heavy is not INSANE like it was in those cities. The sidewalks are broad, and walking seems easier here. This is a city that is decidedly middle class, with prosperous dapperly dressed folk (to keep pace, I have followed suit (and even put on a suit, for church). I’ve tied my unruly dreads back and smooshed them down into some semblance of neatness. I wear dress shoes, slacks, collared shirts, and more often than not a tie. It’s kind of fun to dress up for change after Saipan where even hotel managers and politicians dress in Aloha shirts for work--albeit in muted colors). In Manila and Bangkok, you feel the third world is just outside your door, sometimes literally—signs of poverty and the premodern world crash up against wealth and modernity. But Seoul is first world without question. There are no animals, and the poor are much more carefully hidden.

It’s early spring instead of the perpetual summer we enjoy and Saipan and for us it is COLD! During the day the sunlight has the weak, gray quality partly because of the time of year and partly because of the haze of pollution.

The people are quite trim compared to the U.S. (and Saipan) with it’s exploding obesity epidemic. You’re hard pressed to find anyone with extra pounds here. Some of the men I’ve dealt with as I struggle with my basic Korean phrase can seem a bit gruff, but in general people are very kind and helpful to us. In my opinion, there are an unusually high percentage of attractive women—all carefully made-up faces, classy, tasteful clothes, pale slender fingers gracefully clutching cell phones and small purses. The children are charming and serious looking in their extremely formal school uniforms (even the girls wear ties!), and I’m amazed to find kids as young 9 or 10 riding the buses quite alone.

I fumble a lot here. I hold my Journal like a security blanket, constantly referring to and rehearsing the basic phrases in Korean and then my mind going completely blank when I approach a merchant for help. Tomorrow, for the first time we will strike out into Seoul without the aid of an ex-pat who lives here. We’ll see how we do. Still, I like Korea a lot so far. I could see us living here.