d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 19 (2005-08-14) / Day 20 (2005-08-15) / Day 21 (2005-08-16) 
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Day 20: 2005-08-15 (Monday)
After our morning ablutions and breakfast, Spike suggested we visit the World Cup Stadium, where the soccer was held in 2002. He asked his father to drive us there on his way to work.
When we arrived there, the stadium was not open, and actually looked rather derelict. There were weeds growing between the cracks in the pavers; probably very different to the scenes of 3 years previously, when the World Cup series was in full swing, and Korea was under the grip of total soccer fever. We took a few photos, but we didn‘t stay long; catching two buses to Chosun University, where we again went to the library lobby and sat down. Spike wanted to know a few things from his TOEIC English book, so I became his English tutor for about one hour, trying my best to answer his sometimes tricky and difficult questions about the subtleties and nuances of my native tongue.
After Spike went to the toilet, we left the library and walked to a yoghurt bar, where Spike bought me a yoghurt-based dessert. I had gone very quiet, as I was feeling particularly disturbed by Spike’s scatological snub. Almost nothing was said as we ate and then went to a PC bar where Spike played computer games for about one hour. I tried to do some work, but the computer did not have a USB port, so all I could do was check my e-mail and a few things on the Internet.
My psychological condition was beginning to gnaw at me. I knew this could not continue for very long, because, in spite of what had just happened, Spike was still a very good friend; he had done so much to help me so far in Korea, and it was not good to suddenly “turn cold” on him like I was doing. It was a very difficult struggle in my brain to think what I would do, not wanting to speak, but knowing I had to if I wanted to repair the situation. I began to write in my notebook, trying to explain what I was feeling and why. I wrote about half a page, and then I tried to get Spike’s attention so I could show it to him. He read it and I asked him if we could talk about it some more. After a few minutes, Spike finished his game and we went to another part of the PC bar so he could smoke while we talked. It was very difficult for me to speak about what was going through my mind, but Spike was encouraging and tried to understand me, while still telling me what his opinion was. I realised that my judgement of his scatological tolerance was too high, and the consequences of this were causing me some stress. After we had discussed the issue a little more, I felt a lot better and we shook hands and hugged each other as friends. I apologised to Spike for my behaviour over the previous 90 minutes and told him that, even though it was a disappointment for me, I appreciated his friendship and willingness to listen to me. I said that I understood and respected his opinion and feelings towards scatology, but that he also had to do the same for me. We agreed about that, and then we left the PC bar to have lunch together.
Lunch was not far away, and Spike had invited one of his friends, 한성민 (Han Sung Min) to join us. He soon arrived with his girlfriend 이자연 (Lee Ja Yeon) and the four of us tucked into a large meal together. Afterwards, I took a few photos of Spike, Sung Min and Ja Yeon (in various combinations), and then we went our separate ways. Spike wanted to show me the faculty room in his university, so we began walking... up.
Chosun University is built on the side of a hill overlooking Gwangju City. As it happened, Spike’s faculty building was right on the top, which meant we had a lot of stairs and steep roads to navigate. It was a humid day too, so the atmosphere was weighing us down also, not just our own gravity. But we struggled on and eventually came to a white building. This building had 6 floors, but the elevator only had buttons for floors 1, 3, 5 and 6. When I asked about why floors 2 and 4 were missing, Spike said he didn’t really know the answer, but he that it was probably to save money. He said most people went to the floor above the one they wanted and walked down the ramp. In fact, we would have to do that, because Spike wanted to go to level 4. So we got out at level 5, and walked down. I looked for lift doors on level 4, but there was only a wall where they would have been.
It was still summer vacation time, so the corridors of the building were rather dark and empty. Spike led me towards the end and turned left into a smaller corridor with a door at the end. Inside, he welcomed me to his faculty room. From the window, the city of Gwangju could be seen all around. I asked Spike to indicate where Un-nam was, and he pointed, but said that I probably would not be able to see it because of all the haze. He told me about the rock band that some of his fellow students were part of, pointing to the drum kit and guitars on top of the lockers in the room.
Spike began looking at his Cyworld page on the Internet. He showed me some photos of his travelling in Australia in late 2004. I asked him if he had seen my sister’s Cyworld page. He was interested in looking at it, so I typed in the address, and showed him a few things on it. I also showed him Jamie’s Cyworld page, which included many photos of my trip in 2004 to Sydney and Melbourne.
After this, Spike was tired, so he slouched on the lounge. He said I could continue to use the Internet if I wanted. He also asked me to wake him up at 1630, so we could go for a walk somewhere. Then he promptly fell into a nap.
I surfed the Internet for a while, then I began looking at the books on the shelf about English grammar and lexicology. I pulled one out and began to read about my own language. I became absorbed in reading, and I noticed it was 1635, so I tried to wake Spike. He stirred and said to wait another 20 minutes, so I resumed reading.
At about 1700, I put the book back on the shelf and again went over to my slumbering friend. He rubbed his eyes, looked at the time and got up. Five minutes later, we were heading out of the faculty building, to a place Spike described as “Flag Mountain”, which he said was only a short walk from where we were, although he confessed he had never been there himself before. We followed a road until it ended after about 200 meters, then we turned to the right along an obviously well travelled grassy track. Very soon, we came across a clearing, and Spike indicated this was the top. There were a few people here, mostly jogging or doing exercises. In the centre of the small clearing was a flagpole with a Korean flag on it. There were too many trees to see Gwangju, but on the other side, evidence of civilization was visible in the distance between the mostly green landscape.
On the way back, Spike alerted me to a most beautiful scene in the sky of the sun’s rays penetrating the clouds. I immediately pulled out my camera and took a classic shot. We continued back to the faculty building to collect our things, then we went to have dinner.
Like most of my friends, Spike had asked me what I preferred to eat. Being largely unfamiliar with Korean cuisine, I really had no idea what was appropriate, so I usually told my friends that they could choose something for me. I would trust their judgement, and have faith that whatever they set before me was good, healthy and tasty. I wanted a Korean experience in every way, not wanting to be appeased just because I come from a Western country. As previously mentioned in the scatological sections thus far, this policy about my diet had been remarkably successful, and I was convinced that this would continue. I reasoned that if it’s good enough for Koreans to eat, it’s good enough for me. After explaining all this to Spike, he laughed and smiled. He suggested we indulge ourselves in two famous Korean dishes called “짜장면 (jja-jang myun)” and “탕수육 (tang su uook)”, which looked like chocolate noodles, but was actually quite deliciously savoury.
After dinner we caught a bus back to Spike's apartment.
Day 18 (2005-08-14) / Day 20 (2005-08-15) / Day 21 (2005-08-16)
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