Day 6: Say Cheese!

Last night I had a knock at my door, and it was Steven. He was popping by to invite me along with his family to attend his eldest daughter's graduation ceremony the following morning. Pass up a chance to not only experience some Korean culture, but also a car ride? I think not! We left the next morning at 10 AM and drove on over to Bucheon, the city next to Shihung City. (The nearest subway station of the same name, according to Charles, is somewhere in this area...)

Bucheon is at least twice the size of Shihung City and is typical of a Seoul suburb - busy crowded streets, massive freeways, and towering apartment complexes as far as the eye can see... And no matter which direction you turn, in the distance you can see other neighbouring suburbs, and other towering apartment complexes dotting the horizon - a full 360 degrees of megacity. The size of Seoul (and technically I haven't even been to Seoul yet) amazes me each and every day.

Sandy's elementary school was located right smack in the middle of one of these high-rise complexes, and all the parents gathered outside the school, eagerly awaiting for their children to exit. I had been assuming that we'd be attending an actual 'ceremony' of some sort, but there was nothing of it - perhaps the real ceremony is for the students only? Either way, it was really nice to just hang outside in the warm sun - today was definitely the warmest day yet since I've arrived.

Since it was a special occasion, I had donned my classic snazzy blue-shirt/yellow-tie suit get-up, and was attracting much attention. Children ran around me and waved at me, and parents stared curiously from a safe distance. Vendors nearby were selling cotton candy (something I didn't expect to see in Korea) and flowers, and soon it was time to enter the school to seek out Sandy. The school inside was a wonderful chaos of proud parents and excited children, all eager to have their picture taken with their respective teachers, extended families, student peers, etc. Soon we found Sandy and it was our turn to join the festivities. And that's when it all began...

Sandy's mother, Susan, took a couple photos of her with her diploma and flowers, next to myself and Steven. And then a few of Sandy's friends ran over and also wanted to have their picture taken with her...and me.... Next thing I knew there was a virtual line-up of parents dying to take a picture of me with their child, each of them absolutely thrilled to have the photo opp with a foreigner. I must admit that I was enjoying the attention, and showed off my pretty pearlies with my arm around each child, as a good sport would. But then it started to get a little too crowded and became a bit too chaotic, so Steven suggested we head outside the school to take some private family photos outside.

No sooner had we stepped outside and had only taken ONE family photograph, it all started up again. I was soon surrounded by a virtual paparazzi of parents with their cameras and videocameras pointing at me. Instantly I was surrounded by kids who wanted to have their photo taken with me too. And *then* I was being pulled by the arm by housewives so that I could be in their family photos - Sandy wasn't even around at this point! These were families and children that I had never seen before in my life! Steven, Susan, and Sandy just stood aside and laughed, enjoying the excitement and watching me get pulled left and right. I honestly felt like I was a Hollywood celebrity or something! I think I had more pictures of me taken today than even at my *own* graduation!

After the photo shoot, err.... graduation, we went and had a nice quiet lunch at a McDonald's back in Shihung. I'm sad to admit that I was actually kinda *excited* to see a McDonald's, and to find out that it's only 15 minutes walk from my house. The McDonald's is located in a newer area of Shihung City, just a few blocks from the now-infamous Kolon-Mart. The area that Kolon-Mart and McD's is in what they call a "new town". It's an entire virtual city built from scratch - a master-planned community on steroids. Apparently Shihung City has won awards for its town planning in this 'new town' area, and I can see why. The new town is divided into several block areas or sections, each comprising a 4x4 block radius of stores, restaurants, and services surrounded by a ring of massive high-rise apartment towers. Right in the middle of the commercial area is a large outdoor public market, where vendors are selling anything and everything - fruit, small kitchen appliances, clothing, baby supplies, stationery, and of course, SHOES! Mixed in all of this is a well-developed network of trails and bike paths, as well as dozens of parks and playgrounds, and several schools ranging from kindergarten to high school. These new towns are very high density with thousands of people living in a small area, but the roads are designed to funnel traffic quickly out of the core, and the area is well serviced by transit, so it actually seems to function really well. It's like walking through a giant version of SimCity come to life! I wish I had my ol' GSU buddies here to walk through with me and just take it all in. So much cool urban planning geeky-stuff to talk about here!!!

The afternoon was spent entirely playing games again the play room - all I had to do was sit back and watch, or join in for certain games. After dinner I decided to go for a loooong walk through the new town area, right where we had lunch earlier. Once again, the city was a dazzling display of neon lights reaching high into the sky. This time I brought my camera and snapped a few shots - here's hoping they turn out!
I didn't run into any foreigners tonight, crazy or otherwise, but that should change tomorrow... Charles and I are supposed to go check out a bar near Bucheon Station that's popular with foreigners...should be a very interesting night, regardless of what happens... Wish me luck, and stay tuned...