Episode 51: In Which DFM Gets Caught In The Acid Rain Without His Coat And Becomes A Korean Busking Groupie

In 1988 the 24th Summer Olympic Games were held in Seoul.  To commemorate the games a giant park was built around many of the venues from those games.  I thought I'd do my tourist's duty and check out the park today.

On my way out the door I took this picture.  Perhaps I've mentioned it before, but I live at the base of Hooker Hill where all the prostitutes hide inside of non-descript buildings and jump out to offer to "love you long time" whenever you walk by (they have CCTVs fixed on the street, so they can see you but you can't see them).  As if that weren't wild enough, I recently looked across the street for the first time and realized I also live right next to a transgendered bar.  Itaewon is the center of all things that the government has made illegal, which is also why it has the highest percentage of gay bars anywhere in Seoul.

My main goal was to visit the Olympic Museum at the park.  Unfortunately I was not allowed to take pictures inside the museum, but that's okay since there wasn't much to show.  That's not to say I did not have a good time though, but the museum was more about information on past Olympiads than showcasing historic items.  There wasn't anything there that you couldn't find in a book, but since I'm a huge sports history buff I had a great time re-reading all the information I already knew, but in Kongrish.

I finished up at the museum early, so I decided to take a stroll through the magnificent Olympic Park afterwards.  The Park is situated around a tributary of the Han river, and because of all the rain for the last five days the grass was especially green.

Of course, one can't have a cultural event without including some works of "art."  In Canada we just substitute physical art (sculptures, etc.) with Native dancing, so there's really nothing different going on here.

It must be said that some of the pieces were rather interesting.

However, some were just plain... well, as Strong Bad would say, "Iranian art is weird, man."

Germany's contribution to the park was this homage to mechanical precision.  There're even a couple of rulers in there, how fitting is that?

Raise your hand if, like me, this is the first time you've seen a four-person quadracycle.

I wish I had more time at the Olympic Park, but sadly I had to go to a meeting with my boss and coworkers.

I remembered that Friday at 5 PM is the time for subway station performances.  I hustled over to the busking section, but no one was there.  I shuffled away disappointed, but ran into my two busking friends at the escalators.  I helped them set up and we shared a limited conversation in Kongaleserish - a combination of their Kongrish and my Englean - before they started playing.  We exchanged e-mails and they expressed sorrow that I would be leaving Korea soon.  I promised them I would hurry back.  On an unrelated note, would you believe that the man with the guitar is 38 years old?  Asians have the best anti-aging genetics in the World.