Tag: Seoul

I’ve Really — REALLY — Romanticized My Time In #Seoul

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

A long time ago, I lived in Seoul. I was, for various reasons, very unhappy during much of my time there and yet now I have romanticized my time there so much that you would never know. I was going to through a really rough patch for much of my time in Seoul and I guess my wistfulness about it now stems in large part from 1) my desire to be young again 2) my desire to “fix” the problems that occurred while I was there.

Neither is going to happen if I ever go back, sad to say. I honestly don’t want to go back to stay — I am too acutely aware of some major strategic issues preventing that — but I do every once in a while moon over the idea of going back for, say two weeks. There are so many problems preventing me from seriously even vising Seoul anytime soon that it’s comical to even do so.

One major problem is money. If I actually saved up the money to visit Seoul, I would have to, well, think seriously that I could use that money for something far more constructive. So, the conditions would have to be absolutely perfect for me to go, even for a visit. Since that’s simply unlikely to happen, it’s best if I focus on my life in the States. I might be able to visit NYC or maybe even LA every once in a while, but going to Seoul is something that, at least for the time being, I can only dream about.

Idle Mulling Of Seoul’s Haebangchon Versus NYC’s Brooklyn

by Shelton Bumgarner
@sheltbumgarner

I lived in Seoul a few years, specifically in the Haebangchon, or HBC neighborhood. It was all a long time ago and I have romanticized the experience so much that it’s virtually a daydream. But what is interesting is when I finally managed to find myself in Brooklyn, I found it rather meh compared to HBC.

HBC, at least when I was there, was a small and intense community of creative types from all over the world. It was almost like a really, really small college town. There were a lot of older guys dating younger women. Lots of sex. Lots of booze. Lots of drugs. But all of that has very much changed as best I can tell.

It’s all a very different experience now. The place has gentrified to a great extent and I think native Koreans have largely lost their unwillingness to live near expats. So, things are different. It used to be you could get a decent apartment for about $300 a month with an amazing view of the Seoul cityscape. This is, alas, not the case anymore I don’t think.

I really miss my time in Seoul. It was a lot of fun. But that moment in my life is over. I can’t go back. I’ve gotten older and all the energy I felt back about 10 years ago is long gone. I sometimes idly think about one last trip to Asia at some point in the future before I turn 50, but that doesn’t seem likely at this point.

But for the want of a nail, I would still be in Seoul. But it just wasn’t meant to be. My future is — if anything — one of a novelist. It will be interesting to see how things work out.

V-Log: Some Thoughts On Brooklyn

by Shelton Bumgarner
@bumgarls

Idle rambling about Brooklyn compared to Haebangchon in Seoul.