subway girl #1

when i lived in paris, one of the best parts of my day was taking the metro for 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes at night.  i am a people watcher and while in france, you have many interesting, engaging people to snoop at on the subway.  ill never forget how i played flirty-eyes on a tuesday with an incredibly sexy french man for about ten metro stops, and then had a re-match with said man again on wednesday.  i swore that if we went for three, i would give him my number.  i never did see him again, but his memory lives on.  ill also never forget the random woman who had about 20 butterfly clips in her relatively short hair.  i stared at her head for about 15 minutes, pondering what on earth those clips were holding up.

now that i live in korea and the bus is a quicker way for me to commute, i miss out on a lot of interesting subway folk.  whenever i do take the subway, generally on weekends when im shopping in hongdae, ewha, or itaewon, i always peer at a plethora of riders, searching for that one unique soul to watch more in depth.  but the thing that differentiates koreans from europeans is that their faces are generally more expression-less.  their faces appear blank.  ive been told by students that my face is very expressive and that my eyes could tell a story without actually opening my mouth.  ive never considered this part of my personality, as ive always told stories by opening my mouth.  this occurs far too often.

regardless of my expressive face, koreans tend to remain to themselves, avoiding eye contact with strangers.  i mention this because i became accustomed to playing the flirty eyes game on the subway in france.  perhaps it is ok, as i generally do not find korean men overly attractive and would prefer to not play flirty eyes and then have some psycho dude follow me.  i get myself in enough trouble as is, i don't need to bring any more upon myself.  

i went to hongdae this morning to check out a travel agency.  i needed a quote on a ticket to europe.  i ran to lotte mart for groceries after, finishing my shopping quickly, so as to avoid the madness that becomes of lotte mart on a saturday afternoon.  i ran down to line 4 and was met with a massive crowd of people.  'shit, def not gonna get a seat,' i thought.  when the train arrived, nearly empty, i was rather happy to sit down for the next 8 stops.  no one overly interesting was on the train.  there was an old man who looked like a duck.  he was a people watcher, just like yours truly, and he was certainly watching one pussycat.  i peered back at him, wondering if he really was a korean.  koreans dont usually look like ducks.  there was another old man, who stared out of the corner of his eyes, looking towards the ceiling.  it was almost as if he was looking into the heavens.  his eyes seemed sad, appeared to almost want to cry.  

the people were rather dull.  then along came a girl, about 20, who just had a presence about her.  she was in boys jeans, some funky english tshirt, and a bright red shiny sporty jacket.  her eyes were insane.  big and colored in with green and black eyeliners and shadows.  her appearance was one thing, but her attitude and regard for life was certainly another.  she simply did not give a fuck.  she sat slouched in the second seat from the door, and when the person closest to the door left, she lazily grabbed the side bar and pulled herself over to the end seat.  it was like she couldn't be surrounded by people, for they would exhaust her too much.  one person on her left simply was enough.  she seemed pissed off at the world, yet still had this strange sense of calm.  it was like a man had done her wrong, yet she had shown the son of a bitch by posting naughty messages on his best friend's cyworld page.  

she wasn't like most koreans.  most korean women are proper.  they sit up straight, are neat and tidy, conservative.  she slouched, wore dark makeup, didn't care.  a group of middle-school girls got on the subway, yelling and running around, taking pictures with their cell phones.  this girl looked perturbed, wondering how anyone could be so silly and immature.  maybe she was high.  who knows.  all i know is that she was an interesting character, enough for me to deem it necessary to write about her.  

people watching: one of my favorite hobbies.  i feel that it is my civic duty to perform this hobby diligently, especially because i am constantly watched wherever i go.  little old men and ladies peer at this 'mee-guk,' wondering what she is up to.

relax, im not going to steal your kimchi.