This weekend marked the beginning of the Lunar New Year. It's something like the second new moon after the winter solstice, and it just so happened that the New Year fell on February 14th. In Korea there is a major highway that connects the north to the south (all in S. Korea that is), and for every major holiday traffic on this main artery gets clogged with commuters. This past Friday I announced to the co-workers that I'm going to Masan for the weekend. Really, there wasn't any kind of planning. It was an impulsive decision. I mean, there was thinking involved, yes. But, really I was overdue for an inter-Korea bus trip. Mrs. Lee and Mrs. Soon asked how and I thought train or bus, forgetting about traffic. Well, all the train reservations were booked, and the only option was to reserve a bus ticket. Thanks to the co-teachers for taking on the task of finding me one online. It seemed my excitement for traveling rubbed off.
I've been at this bus terminal 5 times or so already. Dong Seoul is the name, and this was the secondary entry and take off point I would take when I lived in Masan back in '07. The terminal was busy, to say the least. You can try to describe it with fancy metaphors and stuff, but if it was your first time in the place your blood pressure could easily go up from all the illusions of confusion and chaos. I could only figure that each of the ticket booths are categorized by regions, or 'do' (pronounced as doh), but who knows. The only thing that mattered was that the Masan terminal is located on the second floor and that I snagged the last 7:30pm bus reservation hours before. Overall, it felt good that for the Lunar New Year I took part in the traffic, that I was just another face in the frenzy of families wanting to be together.
The old crew was still there and I was greeted with a big bear hug from Matt. His curly hair and gut made him look like the biggest porn star in Masan. Mr. Lee, the owner of the joint was in the kitchen, running his business as usual and seeing him was pure joy with long and smiley handshakes. He played the blues sets, the kind you can't find in normal bars. Here, you drink like a man because it's here that the guys are losers and it's just something you don't tell women about. Maybe I'm romanticizing about the place, but in Masan there ain't much to do, and if there is a scent of a woman most of the time it's some quiet little bird passing through. Most of the action as far as getting your pants wet is in the red light district where girls shout out at you from behind a glass window pane. They're on display like pink silhouettes laced with apples. No matter how much perfume, the faint smell of cum lingers undetected by a guy that had one too many. It's all good enough if you have just enough in your pocket. None of that business this year, or maybe ever again. It takes too much out of you. Man it was good to see the boys again though. You see, we do simple things there for entertainment. We play pool and shoot darts and listen to the best blues in town, if not the entire country of South Korea. Don, my boxing mate was there too. He teaches up at the University now. He has a million dollar smile, and is still crazy about the curves. The taps of the bag and the shadow boxing, all of it came back and it reminded me how much the impact of fists on leather and flesh meant. You see, once again it's a place where you feel like a man.
Spent the day with Young today. She looked good with her hair pulled back loosely, just enough to cover her little ears. She curled her hair, and I noticed right away her face in the crowd. The funny thing is is that I can't really think of her face when I'm alone, all the details. It's almost like a shifting silhouette that can't be pinned down in my mind. She gets the joke, and laughs at them without hesitation. When she thinks, her eyes become fierce. While watching the movie today, she was anticipating out loud what would happen. Among all the Koreans in the theater, she would laugh out loud first. She knows actors more than I do and that includes the directors, too. When we ate at the Pakistani restaurant her appetite was big and I wonder if she can discern more than just what is good or bad. What will come out of this, I don't know. But I have a lot of work to do at school. And we both agree that snagging a University job would be better than staying at the Middle School.
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