Today was an interesting day. Due to the fact that I can take guilt-free days off (summer vacation started at the beginning of this week) I decided to gather a group of friends together (those who did not abandon me for being a recluse/shut-in during the term) and go to see a friend's art exhibition. The exhibition was excellent. It was at Topohaus, a gallery in Insadong, the artsy area of Seoul. It is unfortunate that my favorite ones are not on the website.
After the exhibition, the craziness set in. One of my friends, an ethnic Korean who is a self-proclaimed "freak magnet" came with me to Itaewon to get some deodorant, which is hard to come by in these parts. On the way out of Itaewon, we hopped into a taxi. The driver was overly concerned about where we were going, which is a good sign that something is not quite right. We found out a few seconds later, that he wanted to know, so he could see if he could get an extra fare to sit in the front seat, going in the same direction as us. He finally got a Canadian girl to get in the car with us, but it took some talking to get her to do it, which was on our time no less as the meter was running the whole time. This is what is called "Hapseung" in Korean, which translates to "Riding together" and is highly illegal. He could lose his license if we complained. My friend and I looked at each other, knowing that this was not going to end well, but we kept silent, mostly because we wanted to know how bad it would become. Kind of like watching a train wreck I guess.
The most important thing to remember in a situation where you do not want someone who doesn't speak your language to know that you are talking about them, is to keep your voice steady and conversational. If you whisper, even if they don't speak your language, they will know. My friend and I were able to keep a steady conversation going about the driver and the situation, and we used this to tell the girl in the front seat the deal. She had an interesting story to tell her friends.
When she got out (after paying full fare, because when this "hapseung" happens, both parties pay the full fare), the driver immediately started to yammer on about how people from North America have fat asses, and how much this pisses him off. He kept saying things like this the rest of the trip, only pausing repeatedly to ask my friend in Korean if she was dating me. We said no. But he really wanted to confirm this point. When we got out, the fare was 6600 won, and we gave him 7,000. He said thank you and waited for us to leave. My friend asked for her change (no tipping in Korea), he called her a miser. As we were getting out, he asked her for a date.
A day in Seoul.
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