Hello, Goodbye!

Today my mum left after visiting me here in Japan for almost 4 weeks. Last night, at the dinner my colleagues had in her honour (!), I learned a new Japanese word: sabishii. I thought it meant 'to miss someone', but now that I look it up, it actually means 'lonely, solitary, desolate'. I wouldn't go as far as to say I'm desolate (no more than usual, anyway.. hehe just kidding), but I WILL miss her. As I told her, I wasn't that sad to leave Australia and embark on this adventure they call JET... but somehow, when someone visits you and stays for more than a couple of weeks, they become part of your life again. And then, when they leave, it feels like something's missing. This is the first time I've lived alone, and although it's been way easier than I expected, there was always something slightly off about it. I guess it's me adjusting to living by myself. Not necessarily sad or lonely, but definitely different.

Anyway, I have many mementos of mum's visit- mostly domestic things! Since she arrived, I have acquired: a table (aka earthquake shelter); a curtain divider for the shower area; pictures for the walls; a Japanese paper umbrella; a newly-cleaned carpet; a NEW futon; and a new frying pan. Oh, and I've been cooked for countless times, had numerous items of clothing and bedding laundered, and the mould cleaned out from a closet or two! Don't get the wrong impression- it's not like I was living in squalor before she got here... far from it. My neighbour commented on how clean my apartment was. But I guess I haven't exactly developed my mother's zest for cleaning!

But far better than these things are the memories of our trips to the Nakasendo (specifically, our hike between the towns of Magome and Tsumago), Matsumoto castle, Takayama, Ise Shrine, Mikimoto Pearl Island, and Nagoya (Neko Maho cafe). Oh, and the memories of me nursing her back to health after she came down with a severe cold halfway through the trip! Which reminds me that I have also acquired a bottle of Vicks VapoRub, some cough medicine and some throat spray...

Now, I better go work on consuming some of that mysterious stew concoction she prepared yesterday, which is apparently supposed to feed me for the next 3 months...

Insert Seoul/Sold/Soul pun here

I made it back safe and sound from the wilds of Korea. Yep, in the past few weeks I've shed my skin flakes all over eastern Asia. Seoul was cool, but I can't say it was the trip of a lifetime. Food was great, onsen was nice, the company was good, but something about the trip fell a little flat with me. I'm cautious saying it, but I think I've become a bit 'Japanized'. I think that after only a few months of living in Japan, even the most hardened foreigner will find themselves adopting (at least to some degree) the impossibly discerning attitudes towards cleanliness, 'politeness' and aesthetics of the Japanese.

Granted, Seoul is a huge, bustling metropolis, whereas I currently live the suburbs of a fairly small city... actually, full-on inaka (country-side) according to the Japanese (but then everything except Shinjuku is inaka to them!) But Seoul came across as kind of dirty, too busy and annoyingly chaotic. I don't know if there was a garbage collection strike while we were there, but you couldn't help but notice the piles of garbage bags, many half-open, on every street corner. There were also people trying to sell you (low-quality) stuff EVERYwhere. Oh, and we got lost trying to find a castle, so we walked all over Seoul (which, by the way, must be one of the world's hilliest cities) looking for the bloody thing.
From the top of a hill after failing to find the castle.
When we finally found the castle (aided by the directions of a very friendly parking attendant), the gates were closed. By that point we had exactly 15 minutes to make it back to our hostel across town for the next activity.

...Which actually happened to be the highlight of the trip- a Korean public bath. Yes, that means you get naked with strangers, something I am well acquainted with now, having developed a fondness for Japanese onsen. I can't say I was a huge fan of the 55 degree sauna, or the hessian bags they placed on our heads before we entered (?!). But the washing and the scrubbing and the being massaged was pretty relaxing. And exactly what we needed after a day of what was for me, sort of disappointing sightseeing.

The day before (just to give you the story out of order), we took a tour of the DMZ, the 'demilitarized zone' between North and South Korea. Unfortunately the tour we took didn't actually go inside the DMZ, like some do, but we got pretty close to it and it was interesting to learn about the situation. The most interesting thing was the way that South Korea presents the situation to tourists. If you were to believe their hype, North and South Korea are about to reunite any day. It's great that they're optimistic, and I'm no expert on the politics, but I couldn't help feeling that it kind of denies the gravity of the conflict.

Oh, and of course the day we visited the lookout point that allows you to see across a valley into North Korea, it rained cats and dogs. The fog was so thick you could barely see a few meters in front of you. The view from the observation deck was a sea of white. So much for binoculars!

I can say that the people in Korea were, overall, really helpful and friendly (the hostel lady, random people who helped us out with directions, the waiter who brought us the best meal ever, the tour guide, the onsen ladies...). Let's just try to forget the old guy on the train that came up to my friend, GRUNTED to her to get up, and took her seat. Our last meal in Korea was absolutely, amazingly delicious, and extremely spicy, of course.

We were wary of the after-affects, namely the "ring 'o' fire" that would strike, possibly while we were on the plane back to Japan, but decided it was worth it. (I was spared the suffering, but my friend wasn't so lucky.)

Pretentious disclaimer: The above is just an account my my own reactions and experiences on a quick, 2-day trip to Seoul. It is by no means representative of Korea and any trip anyone else takes there, and any future trip I might take there, will bear little resemblance to what I experienced this time. I know there are many many amazing cultural and social aspects to Korea that I have no idea about and would love to discover. The negative things I've talked about shouldn't be a reflection on Seoul or Korea in general; they're mostly just a result of the shortness of our trip, the rainy weather on the first day, our slight lack of planning, and my now Japanese-influenced cultural perspective!