Seoul through the Beijing scope and an apology letter to China

I have been significantly better at keeping in touch with friends and family as the years go by. I have never been the type to fear losing strength in relationships because of distance. We all have our lives, and even though some weeks, maybe even months pass by without hearing from one another, I don't necessarily feel any less love for those people who have settled themselves in my heart (the corniness, forgive).
I just recently spent a couple of days catching up with said friends and family. And while talking to them about my last two months here in Seoul, I realized that most of them kept making the same comment:

"It sounds so much better than China! You seem happier."

And it got me thinking about my time in Beijing last year, and realized that I had given the impression that I hated it. Which is something that is 100% untrue. There was so much good in China - and I allowed a job to ruin it for me. To this date - 8 months later - I still have a lot to say about the company that I worked for. Which is absolutely unhealthy, because that is done and over with. But I have to admit that I do kick myself on a daily basis for having allowed myself to dwell and suffocate myself on that job. There was so much more I could have done in China, so much to see -  country is huge - and I hate the fact that I just... didn't. And I am insanely sorry to have given off the impression that China is terrible. It isn't. It's massive, it's different, it's got insanely gorgeous places, it's exciting, it's frustrating, it's delicious - it's everything travelers look for in an adventure.

China - I will always regret that year because of how much more I could have done. I will always regret the fact that I let a bad job win - because I am sure I haven't seen the last of bad jobs (more on that later). And I am so sorry for that. 

There are so many things I actually miss about Beijing. It's only been a little over two months of me living in Seoul, and I feel like a lot of my thoughts about this city might be a little premature - but I can't help those little thoughts of how things used to be in Beijing in comparison to here creeping up. And I told myself I wouldn't do this because it's counter productive.

But it gives me something to write about that has been looming in my brain for a while. And what best way to make peace with it than to write about it.

So...

Subway

I'm just going to drop this here so you can get a clear idea 

Without having to really get into too much detail - the Seoul subways is ridiculous. I really picture people planning it like "Oh, there should be a line going here, let's start it... OH WAIT, there's a mountain there ... let's go around, and then let's go back to where we want to go... BUT WAIT! there is also this other very convenient location to drop a transfer... but no... OH WAIT, more mountains!" - I try not to get too frustrated with it, but it just feels like... what kind of planning went into this? In comparison to the Beijing map which is definitively easier to navigate, every time I have to go somewhere through the subway in Seoul I can't help but to really miss Beijing. Also the fact that transfers take forever here as opposed to the 3 - 5 minutes wait in back in Beijing.

Beijing wins this one. 

Pollution

One of the things that I was happy to leave behind in Beijing was the pollution. I can not begin to stress how bad it could get back there. Without going into too much detail, check this short video about what a man did in order to clean up the city. It really is scary... and that in itself makes Beijing a difficult place to settle in, in my own personal opinion. I though that pollution wasn't going to be a problem in Seoul - pero resulta que Seoul no canta malas rancheras. 

Now, it's definitely not nearly as bad as it is in Beijing. In fact, every time I've made comments with my coworkers or my students about the pollution in Seoul they call it 'the yellow dust that comes from China'. Which I find shocking, because it can still get really bad and thick and if what I'm hearing is true then the pollution I'm getting in Seoul has traveled and quite a bit... which is just a reminder of how bad it can get back in China.

I find Seoul to be a very clean city, and I haven't really seen any factories around the same way there were in Beijing. So even though the pollution that is here is not theirs, it doesn't change the fact that it is here and you have to live with it.

Honestly, the pollution can't match Beijing's although it's still very much present here in Seoul - but I have to say that the pollution is not something I miss from Beijing. 

Food

You are welcomed to check my previous post about Korean food in this blog. I love it.
But with that being said, food is probably the thing I miss the most about Beijing. All of it. And I would go back any day for that food. Any day. Absolutely.

So this is a tie. 

Foreign Friendly
I have often come across people who get frustrated while living in a foreign country. I am guilty of this too - "Why do they do this? There is no logic to this!". It's part of the culture shock process and there are days when everything and everyone is bizarre, confusing and sometimes even irritating. This is when I have to remind myself that I'm the foreign one here - I'm the outsider. I don't have to understand or even agree with some of the quirks of a foreign country, but not understanding doesn't equate to being wrong, it just means it's different. And that is one of the reasons why I travel; that is something I'll always be addicted to - finding those differences and being challenged to open my mind and my view of the world. 

However, it is nice to find certain comforts that remind us a bit of home while living abroad - whether it be a movie theater playing English movies or a restaurant that sells damn good hamburgers and fries. Missing home, in whatever way it can - family, food, language, etc - it will kick in, specially when traveling for long periods of time. 

I find that both Seoul and Beijing were foreign friendly in their own way, and incredibly unfriendly in other ways. One of the things I miss about Beijing is the picture menus: every single restaurant I went to in Beijing had pictures on their menus, so that even with the limited Chinese I had I was able to order exactly what I wanted or what I thought I wanted. It has been a struggle to find that here in Seoul, but I do find that people are usually more welcoming and open to help you try to figure things out here. I went to a restaurant a couple of weeks ago (no pictures) and I just decided to point at something and give it a go - the waitress looked at me, shook her head and started fanning her mouth "Spicy, spicy, spicy!". And I gave her the thumbs up and said "YEAAAA" and she kept shaking her head and refused to serve me this mysterious spicy dish that obviously is too hardcore for foreign tongues. And although I wish she would have just believed in me (I CAN CONQUER YOUR FOOD!) I thought it was a really considerate gesture on her part. 


There are plenty of other ways that these two massive, beautiful cities differ, but I would like to explore more of Seoul before making any more premature assumptions. 

There is something very important I'd like to stress on, though... China is cool. China was beautiful and I am very grateful for having spent the time I did there. I am sorry for having given anyone a different idea of the place. 

EF, still not a fan though.