d-Wizz Hankuk Travel Diary [2005]
Day 22 (2005-08-17) / Day 23 (2005-08-18) / Day 24 (2005-08-19) 
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Day 23: 2005-08-18 (Thursday)
In the morning, Jack took me to Pyongcheon (441) subway station, on his way to work. I was heading back to the guest house, but shortly after catching a train, I called Kwon Chang Hee, and learned that he was at Beomgye (442), just one station the other way. I told him I was very close to there, and asked if we could meet soon. He said it was ok to meet now, so I got off the train at “Government Complex Gwacheon” station (439) and went back 3 stations the other way to meet him.
I arrived at Beomgye and waited about 20 minutes. Kwon arrived at about 1010, and said he had a meeting at Sadang (433) at 1100, which was about 30 minutes by subway. As it turned out, Sadang was also on line 2 (226), so it was on my way to the guest house anyway. So we decided to take the subway together and have a chat. At Sadang, we went to a small restaurant and Kwon bought a meal for both of us, even though it was only 1045 and probably too early for lunch. I souvenired a copy of the ordering form, which had the menu printed in Hangul.
We had to eat quickly, as it was past 1100, and Kwon’s appointment was now overdue, so we did not have much discussion. When we had had enough to eat, I took a photo of Kwon outside the restaurant, and Kwon asked a passer-by to take a photo of the two of us. Then he had to leave, so we shook hands and went our separate ways.
I went back to the subway and on to line 2 at Sadang (226). I realised there would not be enough time to go to the guest house and leave my suitcase with all the recording equipment in it before I was due to meet Geenie (김은진: Kim Eun Jin) at City Hall (201) at 1215 for lunch.
So, I continued on the train all the way there, arriving at about 1200. I called Geenie and asked her where we would be meeting. She told me to go to exit #2, and after a little sub-terranean navigation, I found it and surfaced. She was waiting there for me, and we went to yet another restaurant for more Korean fare. Even though I had just eaten with Kwon about one hour before, I was still a little hungry and I was able to enjoy this meal as well.
I presented Geenie with a copy of my Fav Trax MP3 disc, which she accepted with excitement. She held it up proudly as I took a photo of her. I told her about my time in Gwangju with Spike and also my plans to visit Ryan (조정우: Cho Jung Woo) in Busan just before I left Korea (Ryan had problems with his back and was in hospital, so he was unsure if we would be able to meet). Geenie had met both Spike and Ryan in Brisbane in 2004; in fact, Spike and Geenie had been sharemates for a while.
After finishing lunch, we went outside and walked over to the Seoul City Hall, which was covered in Korean national flags, as a reminder of Independence Day just three days earlier. One large flag dominated the front façade of the building, with hundreds of smaller flags completely covering the rest. It provided a very good backdrop for some more photos, so I took a few, but to get better results, we probably should have been a bit closer to the building than we were, as the flags were not very clear. Unfortunately, Geenie only had a short time to spend with me, as she had come to meet me during her lunch break from work, so we did not have enough time to cross the road for a better view. She said goodbye and went back to work, and I (finally) managed to get back to the guest house with all the luggage I had been carrying around for nearly 6 hours.
I didn’t have long to rest at the guest house, however. At 1500, I was off again to Jamsil, to meet 임재현 (Lim Chea Hyun), who is Dave’s (임동욱: Lim Dong Wook) sister. Dave was still studying English in Australia, and his sister had been living with him for a while, but she was now back home in Korea. While chatting with Dave on MSN in Gwangju, he had said that his sister wanted to meet me, but he only had his mother’s mobile number, and not that of his sister. He gave me the number anyway, and I had asked Spike to help me make contact with Lim Chea Hyun via her mother to arrange a meeting. This had been done, and we had agreed to meet at Jamsil at 1600.
I arrived at 1550 and called to discover which exit I should use. We met each other shortly afterwards and she asked me what I wanted to do. I answered rather vaguely, not knowing what my options were. I told her that I needed to be at Suwon at about 1800 for my next appointment, so I needed to leave at about 1700. This gave us about one hour together at Jamsil. I followed her to a café in the subway station complex and she offered to buy me something. I browsed the menu and selected an ice-cream parfait, which was a rare Western flash in my so-far majority Korean diet. It was very delicious, and we talked about my trip and how Dave and I had met in Australia. I gave her a copy of the Fav Trax MP3 version, and she said that her brother had told her about my music (I had given him a copy of the Fav Trax audio CD before I left Australia), so she was interested to hear it for herself.
All too soon, it was time for me to go to my next appointment at Seryu, which was quite a long way from Jamsil, being one station past Suwon (the official end of the Seoul Metropolitan Subway System). Although it was a long trip, I only needed to take two trains, one from Jamsil (216), transferring at Sindorim (234) to line 1 (140) and on to Seryu (P155) - although it was difficult to find a train going past Suwon, despite it being peak hour. Eventually though, I boarded a train bound for Chonan, arriving at Seryu at about 1820.
This appointment had been the result of an interesting set of circumstances, which had begun on 2005-08-07 with Jack. After leaving the church service, Jack had walked with me back to SungKyunKwan University station. On a post near the station entrance was a poster advertising drum lessons. Jack had taken the entire page off the post and given it to me, saying (probably only half-seriously) that I could call the number on there and maybe get a chance to play the drums in Korea. When I arrived back at the guest house, I sent a message to the mobile phone number listed on the advertisement, saying that I was an Australian drummer visiting Korea and I would like to meet if possible. A reply had come back, and we began negotiating a time which was suitable for both our schedules. The person I had contacted did not have good English skills, so there was a bit of a language barrier between us; however, he passed the phone to somebody else whose English was better, and we were able to communicate more effectively. We had originally made an appointment for 1000 on Saturday (2005-08-20), but it had been changed to the current arrangement of 1800 Thursday (2005-08-18).
So, here I was at Seryu, not knowing exactly what I was in for, or even who I was meeting. I didn’t even know their names! It was strange and exciting at the same time. I guess it must have been similar for them, too, but I didn’t think about that at the time.
I was told to wait outside the station and somebody would pick me up. I described the clothes I was wearing, so they could recognise me. While I was waiting, it began to spit with rain, just a little at first, but slowly increasing to a light drizzle. I contemplated waiting inside, but decided against it, thinking that my contact might not see me and call the meeting off because he thought I was not there. The rain wasn’t a bother to me anyway.
I waited quite a while there at the station; the rain eased off slightly, saving me from getting saturated. A black car pulled up and the driver approached me and asked if I was David. I responded that was me, and he invited me to wait in his car while he smoked a cigarette. Shortly, we were on the road. The driver introduced himself as Daniel (윤덕주: Yoon Deok Joo), and we talked about drums together. Daniel had only been learning to play the drum kit for about one year, so he was interested to hear about my drumming techniques and experiences. He said he was taking me to meet the drum teacher whose phone number I had called from the advertisement.
A 10-minute drive from Seryu station ended as Daniel reverse parked his car and gestured for me to follow him. We went down a set of stairs into a room where a drum lesson was taking place. I quickly noticed that it was a church. I was welcomed by Paul (황윤택: Hwang Yoon Taek), who introduced himself as both the pastor of the church, and also as a fellow drum student with Daniel. I had a deep conversation with Paul about churches in Australia, drumming philosophy and general musicianship. He was very interested in what I shared with him.
During our conversation, the other students were practising with a pre-recorded CD, with varying degrees of proficiency. I asked if I could play the drum kit for my new friends, and they were eager to hear and see what I would do, so they readily agreed. I had brought my Blastix, and demonstrated the difference between playing with them and with normal drumsticks. I played for a few minutes, using most of my personal fills and styles to show the extent of my capabilities. The teacher then asked me to play a swing, which I had a little trouble doing, because it is not a rhythmic pattern I play often, but I was “in the swing of it” (pardon the pun) after a while.
Paul and Daniel were impressed with my short performance, and this led to more in-depth conversation about how I play, and what I play. Daniel in particular was interested in the hi-hat 16th technique, and he asked me to teach it to him, so I showed him the written pattern in my notebook and tried to explain it. He found it a little difficult, and after 10 minutes, he still couldn’t play it smoothly, so I told him I would give him a copy of my notes, which he could use to keep practising until he got better. Paul also tried playing 16ths.
We had been enjoying ourselves so much that we had lost track of time - it was now almost 2200 - and I had a 90-minute train journey ahead of me. Daniel drove me back, not to Seryu, but to Suwon (P154), because he thought there would be more trains there. I had a little trouble finding the entrance to the station itself, but eventually I made my way in, and found a train going towards Seoul. Once I was on the train, I called Daniel to tell him so. I had to transfer at Sindorim (140/234) to line 2. The line 1 train arrived at Sindorim at about 2340, and everybody burst out of the doors and began running flat out towards the line 2 platform. I remembered the advice of my sister, “just follow everybody else”, so I started running too. As the crowd of about 200 of us surged down the stairs, we all made it to the platform just as the last line 2 train pulled in. It wasn’t a “sardine train”, but it was pretty full!
I got back to the guest house just after zero hour, sending Daniel a message to say I had arrived back safely, as he had been concerned that I might not have been able to connect at Sindorim.
Phew - what a busy day! I flopped on the bed and passed out.
Day 22 (2005-08-17) / Day 23 (2005-08-18) / Day 24 (2005-08-19)
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