Come to Bucheon…

Posted on April 30, 2008
Filed Under Korea |

… if you want to meet the most disgusting brutes you’ve ever encountered. I’ve been developing a dislike for this town for a long time, but the events of this evening take the cake.

I now feel no reluctance in describing Bucheon — or at least Yeokgok neighborhood — as the toilet of Seoul. It is the drain where there is collected all the refuse of Seoul city, all the people who could not make it in the big city. People speak badly of the countryside, but to be honest, we had much less trouble in Jeonju than we have had here in Bucheon, and personally, I find Bucheon the most inhospitable of all cities I’ve visited in Korea.

While I have sympathy for all the decent, kind, and polite people I know and interact with here, the truth is, there are a lot of people living here who are little better than turds, who make living happily in the district all but impossible.

Being uneducated is one thing when you have no choice; it’s another when you choose it. Being poor is no excuse for treating other human beings like garbage, and it’s even more shameful to make excuses for others who do it.

Today, I’ve given up on Bucheon. I see the light, why so many other people I’ve known who’ve worked where I do have made a point of being somewhere else on days off and weekends. (Whether traveling, or at their apartment in Seoul.)

Hell, one should take a cue from the Korean faculty — almost none of them live in Bucheon, aside from the clergy who live on campus. (And, one imagines, get no trouble because they go about in their clerical outfits.)

I look forward to the day when I never have to see Bucheon again. I hope that living in this town doesn’t make me (irrationally, but then, that’s emotions for you) sour on the whole country.

(And no, I’m not going to write about what happened tonight, except to say I’m thoroughly disgusted, and that I give up on Bucheon.)

UPDATE: But Lime wrote about it, here. (And there’s even an English section, briefly summarizing it. She left out lots, but anyway, there’s the gist.)

UPDATE 2: Looks like she changed her mind. It’s understandable, I kind of want to forget this crap too. Thanks for noting this, Jeremy!

Comments

4 Responses to “Come to Bucheon…”

  1. Jeremy Tolbert on April 30th, 2008 7:45 am

    Looks like Lime thought better of the post.

  2. gordsellar on April 30th, 2008 10:01 am

    Thanks for mentioning that, Jeremy, I appreciate it.

    And Matt, I got your email and will reply soon. Thanks, I appreciate that, too.

  3. Aaron on May 4th, 2008 2:00 pm

    As I live in Guro, I think I know how you feel. In fact, perhaps we ought to have a “Guro vs. Bucheon” face-off, just to see which area has the higher bumpkins-per-capita ratio.

  4. gordsellar on May 4th, 2008 3:51 pm

    Ugh! Guro! I hate Guro!

    But at least you’re a few stops closer to Seoul! (That means a few minutes less trapped pinned against the traincar window when the trains are crammed on the way home, as they usually always are.)

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