Americans/Celebrities

There's something to be said for being a traveling minority. There aren't a lot of white folks in Seoul, and there are even fewer people over six feet tall. While that second part does not apply to me (in fact, I'm barely average height in Korea), Mr. Rogers frequently attracted wide-eyed stares for the simple fact that he towered over a large percentage of the population. Mia Sorella had warned us a little that people would stare, but she didn't immediately warn us of the other strange facet to being an American in Seoul: parents urge their children to talk to us.


[The candyman can...]

 Yes, that's right. They're pushed to talk to strangers. Why? Because we speak English and those same kids are learning English.

The very first day, both of these -- the stares and the talking to strangers -- were proven to us several times.

Our first order of business for the day was Insadong, an area moderately popular with foreigners. Here, we found shopping options, a Buddhist temple, and plenty of food.

As it happened, sweets came with a show. Scattered down the street were little candy shops -- here, men stretched strings of honey-sweetened hard candy drenched in cornstarch, telling a story as they looped it around and around and wrapped up little bundles of nuts or chocolate. The resulting candy was both traditional (the sweets of kings, apparently) and almost surprisingly good.



It might not look like much, but wow,
was this a good meal.

 Mia Sorella helped us with lunch before abandoning us to get to work. Now on our own, we wandered for Gyeongbok[g]ung, a very large palace a short walk from Insadong.

Here the celebrity status of Americans was fully realized. Two women walked in right before us (from Maryland and Michigan, now living in Shanghai) and not long into their self-tour were taking pictures with kids.

As our wandering continued, this became much clearer. Kids on field trips greeted us, from high school age right down to the preschoolers in their matching uniforms. It was amusing (and at times just a little on the ridiculously cute side). The celebrity status wasn't helped by the fact that having Mr. Rogers around was a little like having your own personal paparazzi.

Seriously.

It was kind of insane.

At least I'm actually smiling in that one. That's moderately rare.

See? Far more normal.

It was a beautiful day, if a little overcast. I found myself astonished by the simple fact that every time I took a picture, I could get a mountain in the background.

It's the little things in life, isn't it?

That night held another food adventure (with a couple more foreigners) and the reintroduction of Soju. Before that, however, we got to enjoy a little of what Seoul had to offer.

Even if the staring was a little disconcerting.