Wongok-Dong

The neighborhood I live in, within the city of Ansan, is called Wongok-Dong. It's not centrally located and it's not the prettiest part of the city, but what can you expect? I never assumed that I would be living in the lap of luxury here in Korea. When I first saw my apartment, it was about what I expected -minus the all-important coffee maker, which has since been remedied.

One day at work about a week ago, the director asked me how I slept. I told her that I had had a hard time getting a good night sleep because I wasn't used to the noise of the city. I also mentioned that on the particular night in question I could smell marijuana very strongly on the corner by my house, though I couldn't tell where it was coming from. Ji Won went off talking about how my neighborhood is full of Chinese and Russian immigrants and how they are trouble makers. I didn't think too much of her tirade. Though I understand that Koreans have a strong sense of national identity, I would never personally accept the idea that people are trouble simply based on their nationality. Besides, the people smoking dope are rarely the ones causing trouble, in my experience. And I've never felt unsafe walking around, even at night. If anything, I am fascinated by the counterculture neighborhood I live in. When I walk around, I try to see if I can tell the difference between the Koreans, Chinese, and Russians.

Today was a free day for me -no school and no plans with anyone. Earlier in the week, I happened by chance upon a group of English teachers at a bar. It turned out that they were the same group of people that I had been chatting with on-line. They are a nice group of guys from the US, Canada and New Zealand. We got to talking about the free Korean lessons offered on Sundays near Ansan Station, which is close to my house. No one knew for certain if they were going this week, because it's summer vacation for everyone, but I got pretty good directions and a few numbers of people who go regularly. One of their Korean girlfriends asked me where I lived and when I told her, she was surprised and told me to be careful because there are a lot of foreigners in my neighborhood. A few other people agreed with her. One of them told me that it was like CSI. I laughed, but made a mental note to make sure that I was careful walking around. I suspect that perhaps my town is just a little different and that scares people -especially a pretty homogeneous culture like Korea.

So anyway, plan for today was to go to the Korean class. I was going to head out on my own again and see if I could find the place. I did call two of the guys to see if they were going, but one was not and the other I couldn't get in touch with. I had directions from Ansan station, but I had a feeling that I was actually going well out of my way since it looked like I'd be circling back up close to my house. Not having an exact address or even street name -most of them don't have names- I decided not to take any chances and headed off in the direction I thought the train station was. I gave myself an hour to get there, though I though if I did it right it would only take me half that long. I was glad I had the extra time, because as I headed down a long street which I thought would take me out on the road by the station, I soon had the feeling that it wasn't right. Nonetheless, I walked down to the end. This wasn't right. I looked down the next street in both directions and headed left because it seemed to me like the right general direction I should be heading and it also looked more promising. I made a mental note of the road I turned off of. There was a big pile of tires on the corner -easy to remember. I walked down the following street to the end and looked to the right -no that wasn't it. I looked to the left and just across the street I saw it! Ansan Station! I was a little surprised that it was there. Looking at the map later I saw that the road curved quite a bit when I had thought that it was straight, hence my mistake.

Once I was there, I had no trouble finding the next turn -another left- which led me down a road with mostly foot traffic. My directions said I would know it was the right place because there would be a lot of South East Asians walking around. I didn't really know what that meant until I saw them. They were darker skinned and didn't have quite the same almond shaped eyes. I saw signs for "Restaurant of Thai" and "Hal ah Specialties." Yes, this must be it. It was a slightly different atmosphere here than I've experienced in the rest of Korea. Koreans are great, but it was nice to see some cultural diversity. And there was a pleasing smell -like clove cigarettes- in the air.

When I got to the building where the lessons were supposed to be, I was about 25 minutes early, so I walked around a bit. I found a small park and sat on a bench, looking at my map and trying to figure out a faster was way back to my house, but I really had no idea. It's a decent map, but not great. So I walked a block or two in different directions, trying to see if anything looked familiar. I had a strong feeling that I had literally walked around the block to get next door. I kept having the feeling of being so close, like if I just made one more turn somewhere or walked one more block, I'd be right near my apartment. A creepy guy appeared to be following me for a few blocks so I turned around and headed back to the main, very populated road and he disappeared. But I didn't find a new route and it was time to head to my lessons. When I got there, I headed up the stairs to where I thought the class was supposed to be, but the door was locked. I waited and walked around for a while longer, but no one ever showed up. Maybe it was canceled due to many people being on break this week.

On my way home, I tried one more side street. It felt so right, but after a few minutes, I had walked to one end of the street and didn't know where to go from there. I was starting to get tired and it was so very hot, so I stopped into a 7-11 -yeah, they've got them here!- and bought an iced tea, then headed back the long way. As I walked up the road I came from, I looked down the side streets and I could see the foot traffic from the road I had been on a few minutes before. I was walking parallel to it, about half a mile away. But once I turned I could no longer see it. I climbed to the top of a hill and made my way across an intersection and low and behold, on the opposite corner I saw the 7-11 I had been in just half an hour earlier! I found my shortcut! I was feeling so happy about this and trying to make a mental note of everything I could see around me. It turns out the classes really were just 10 minutes or so from my house, just as I suspected.

Still feeling victorious, an Indian looking guy walking nearby said hello to me in English. I was happy to talk to someone who knew English and said hello back. I told him I was from New York and he told me he was from Sri Lanka. But when he started asking prying questions, I started to feel slightly uncomfortable. He wanted to know where I lived and if I had any friends, to which I gave nondescript answers. I was at a major intersection just across the street from my place at this point and I was waiting for the light to change so I could cross. Then he asked if he could come home with me. I told him very firmly no and he said he wanted to lick me and curled out his tongue and started moving it in and out of his mouth. "Eww, you gross pervert!" I yelled, just as the light changed and I ran across the street. "What? You don't like it?" he called after me, but thankfully he didn't follow me. Just to be sure, I took a longer, out of the way route back to my apartment and stopped in to buy a few groceries next door before heading home.

So, the lesson is that you need to be careful no matter where you go. I never felt threatened by this guy, but I did feel very uncomfortable. I won't give into the Koreans' racist ideas that I live in a bad neighborhood because it is full of foreigners, but Wongok Dong isn't really the best neighborhood in the city. Still, Korea is listed as one of the safest places for foreigners to visit and after living near and spending time in both New York and Baltimore, I feel relatively safe here, so don't worry about me Mom!