My first goal was to establish a daily life in one place, Seoul. Travel was an "extra," meant to contrast that experience, and give a different look at the culture and add some background to the main experience of living in Seoul.
Fortunately, with my brother and sister-in-law, I was able to take a short trip around the country, most of which has already been described. Some final reflections about the trip follow.
The smog.
During the weeks of June that we traveled, the entire country was shrouded in gray haze and smog. Of course, it was worse in the cities, really heavy in Busan, but even in the middle of the country, the smoggy haze was always there. As we traveled through areas of fabled beauty, I pitied the loss of beauty in the air, one of the evident prices of rapid industrialization of the past quarter century.
My Korean
Even after all my study, I found I really could not negotiate even the basics of booking rooms and asking directions with any facility at all. There are pat phrases to use, of course, but it was so easy to forget them (!) - and besides, the proprietors did not know which pat phrases were in Korean Book 1 - and would use different phrases! I could have been more prepared, I should have studied and memorized more... the remorse of the language learner. I shoulda, I coulda...
Greater Feeling of Separateness
That feeling of being new, of not fitting in - that feeling was stronger for me throughout the trip. Of course, we did many activities - hiking, taking boat rides, swimming in the ocean, etc. - but we did these as tourists do, for our American enjoyment. It was great fun - but not always with a sense of deepening participation in Korean life.
The Positive
Feeling of Appreciation for the "one-day excursion"
When we did travel with Koreans, we often observed groups of Koreans out traveling together. These folks were clearly out for a good time; they would chatter and laugh and bring out snacks and just really seem to enjoy themselves. With packs but not suitcases, they usually seemed to be on day excursions. In Korean dramas, the good wholesome families would often take day excursions - in fact, it was a virtue to skip out on whatever daily responsibilities people had to do that day and take a day to go off somewhere and have fun - go fishing, go hiking, have a picnic, go off to an island... not for a long trip, but for a day.
Feeling for Korean "roots."
Pre-Seoul, non-Seoul Korea... older, ancient-seeming sometimes, another world I was barely able to glimpse, but a world that is most likely still in the hearts of many Seoulites. Not so glossy - a world of earthiness, a world that did not so easily slough off the pain of the 20th century, a world where ancestors are still honored and traditions still observed and old ways remembered, a world Seoulites return to on special occasions. This I enjoyed imagining as I observed village after village.
Feeling for Places in Literature
Much of the Korean literature I have read is set in places other than Seoul. There are stories of farmers and villagers; there are stories of wanderers; there are many stories of characters uprooted from one place and landing, and often struggling, in another. So travel helps to make the idea of some of those places and stories more vivid, more real - sometimes more wrenching.
Feeling for Terrain and Its Effect on Korean History and Sense of Identity
Koreans are known for being proud of their culture and heritage; they are proud that, despite the powerful dominance of China and later Japan, they have maintained their separate language and culture. As I travel around Korea, I am struck with how really small it is, how quickly one passes over mountains and through valleys and over to oceans. It really is amazing that that little peninsula has retained its separateness and uniqueness over the centuries. How precious each bit of land, each native inhabitant, each word of the language, each historical site must be. Sometimes foreigners feel excluded from "real" Korean society; they feel that Koreans will never really accept them, never really consider them their equal. Maybe travel helps build sympathy and understanding for the view that some Koreans have of their specialness.
Well, those are a couple of reflections. A week of travel was certainly not long enough.
