in jisan I found more. I ran into an EPIK guy, from orientation, whose name was less memorable than his face, and somehow through smiles and cocktail bag chats our paths converged through the maze of the festival.
and then there were the gyeongsaners i found beneath an umbrella toasting me with buckets and enticing me under their shade to catch up, but instead of catching up, my saipan friend and i followed a diversion down to the creek where our universes crashed head-on with Hoon and Junghwa and Hong, where tequila sunrise and moleskine notebooks presented an arena for some truly epic wandering and wondering. I saw them again this weekend, reunited by a jisan band and the bars of seoul. seoul for the soul, this therapy in the form of conversation and poetry session in a red-boothed bar.
and then there was the pink-haired british pin-up, who I only briefly reconnected with walking down the streets of Seoul, opposite ways, but both stopping for a shout and cheers to our shared memory
and then I revisited the morning, the sunrise service of Jisan, where i met rob and becca, both from different groups, brought together by our circle of singing and drinking koreans enjoying sunrise setting on our festival. becca who danced and ran for drinks with me, i bumped into Saturday night in Hongdae while out with the Hoon and Junghwa, my other Jisaners. And amazed faces said it all just then. and then Mr. Rob, British Rob, with the smile-big-for-life face, just as familiar in Sunday afternoon revelry as he was in Monday morning revelry at Jisan, I ran into him at an Irish Pub in Itaewon.
and then the man getting the rat tattoo while B2K were waiting or their ink, bumped into us on the street the next day, the pain still fresh in his eyes, with some local know-how to get to the yuk (station).
these are not all of them. not even close. Here, I mostly have the recent, recurring ones. The ones in this past month that have rocked me, and them, enough to make a lasting note in each of our lives. I'll give em a whole post ^_^
Almost 49million people in this country, and yet we bounce around and run into each other like charged little molecules, gravity and whatever ions we need to exchange pulling us back into each other again and again. I love the smallness and infinite vastness of this world. I love that I can have a thirty minute conversation with a complete stranger and know that we will both carry it with us, impacted by our words and shared energy for as long as we need to remember it. Even when he's off in Saipan, or she's swallowed up again in Seoul, they carry a bit of me with them.
x
On a side note, it has been ages--AGES, I get it!-- since I have last posted. Sorry. SoKo never stops, never sleeps, and so neither do I.
Quick recap, then revisits, I promise:
Shows I've been to: Major Lazer, International Breakdancing Competition, and Korean Ska Band in Seoul. Pinnacle the International Hustler, and Funk and Soul DJ set in Busan. Hood Internet, Teengirl Fantasy, Handsome Furs in Daegu. Jisan Valley Rock Festival, including Belle and Sebastian, Vampire Weekend, Massive Attack, Pet Shop Boys, Muse, 3rd Eye Blind, a Korean Marley cover band, foam dance tents, a giant pool, sunrise sing-alongs, etc!!!
Festivals: Boryeong Mud Festival (craziest, muddiest party I've ever been to), Seoul International Graffiti festival, Busan Sandcastle festival, some Daegu art festival, Pohang Fireworks festival, Jisan rock festival...I feel like I'm missing some...
And I can't leave out Beijing--7 glorious days exploring past-present-future crammed into one of the most interesting cities I've ever been in. Phew.
School starts this week, but the fun don't stop (but playing around with the language and using poor grammar will...)
