Assoyo

Yes, I am here. There was some difficulty with power converters, the ones I brought being useless. Apparently those sockets are Old Korea. It seems everything I was told about this country is wrong; everything I was told is Old Korea, or just internet rubbish. I've brought way too much formal wear - it looks like Austinmer in the summertime. Clothes are cheap but cheaply made. Cigarettes are not $20 a pack - they are $3 a pack. This will be problematic. Everyone in my hastily-formed crew smokes; the Korean girls very self-consciously, as it is tremendously frowned upon for them to do so publicly. A three course meal is also about three bucks when split a few ways. Coffee is $4.50 at American-style chains. The bus to Seoul - about an hour and a half from here - is $1.50. Prices, basically, are cheap but erratic.

Four of the Australian TaLK scholars, including me, were seated together on the plane; it took about fifteen minutes for us to work that out. The other two were behind us; that took about six hours to get straight. It was a so-far unique piece of foresight on the part of the organizers of this thing. For all of the first day it was Charming Nicholas, and my god; I felt like quite the experienced traveller. Such a contrast. Once we were in Korea, though, my lack of any language skills became obvious. My new Korean-Australian and Korean-American friends are schooling me up, but I need to throw myself in to the language thing. I feel too dependent at this stage, and whatever this is meant to be about for me, it's something like the opposite of dependence.

The first night here, all of us hitting our third wind, was about a perfect first night in South Korea. Our hastily-formed gang left the university, found the local town, and I was introduced to soju, the national drink, which is so horrible that even Koreans complain about it. Unlike other forms of alcohol, it actually tastes worse the more you drink it. But it's about three dollars for a bottle, containing about six standard drinks. Tastes like nasty vodka. That and some Korean-style fried and barbequed chicken made for a good start, and we bonded. The night finished with karoake. Cool.

The next day Charming Nicholas had mostly dissapeared; me and Junh, one of my new Korean-Australian friends, met up with some American scholars in the morning and I was back to feeling quiet and awkward. I don't know what it is about; something to do with tiredness, some trains of thought, a chemical thing. Some plans were made for a trip into Seoul, but it was day two and it turned out everyone here was ready for the Big Trip Into Seoul. The group became about thirty people, it felt like a high school tour group, and things got ridiculously slow and clusterfucky as we waited for everybody to comprehend the subway system and the like. This greatly frustrated me and two of my new friends, Rosa and Eddie, so we and a few others split off early. Rosa: Korean Australian who speaks a brilliantly fluent Castle Hill vernacular that constantly cracks me up. Eddie: New Jersey Korean-American, who is really lovely and split off early from the Americans and joined our Australian crew, because he was finding the Korean Americans obnoxious.

Those two definately feel like friends, as does Junh. The social thing is definately in flux, though, and it's fascinating to watch as people's truer personalities are revealed and initial relationships change, become deeper or more cautious. So last night, as Charming Nicholas was a bit AWOL, I went back to my room (Eddie and Rosa were staying in Seoul for dinner with relatives). My flatmate is Victor, another Korean-Australian. Victor is lovely but seems very young to me. He thought we had plans with the others, which I thought were vague and not happening, so he went off to meet at the supposed meeting spot while I stayed back. He didn't return until about three in the morning, and I thought I'd got it wrong somehow and had missed a spectacular night, but the reality was different. Waiting alone at the meeting-place, he was befriended by a group of South Korean "students" who took him off into the wilderness somewhere and tried to insist he perform a religious ritual with them. When he demurred and tried to leave they became stroppy and insistent. He had somehow fallen into the clutches of a religious cult and had no idea of where he was, or how to get away. Eventually at three in the morning he "escaped", evading their insistent demands that he now owed them reparation, and threw himself on the mercy of some factory workers drinking at the end of a shift. Who kindly brought him home. Glad I stayed in.

Today it seems Charming Nicholas is back. Shopping at Home Plus this morning with Eddie and Rosa. I insisted on coffee (bringing a bit of my own culture to the table); we merged up with another group of mostly Americans and coffee went for three hours. Back now with my adaptor; off again in twenty minutes for soju at the rather awesome Greek-style amphitheatre in this rather awesome university. The South Koreans do architecture on a big scale.

Serious learning starts tomorrow, but so far, yes, I am having a very good time. Can't believe I am being paid for this - a sentiment a lot of us keep uttering at individual moments of amazement.