I have always been drawn to the big cities. The
bustling metropolises and the frantic city life was an exciting invitation to
someone who spent a good portion of his life in the suburbs, reading about the
concrete jungles from socialites who roamed the city like some predator traversing
the jungle with ease. I had decided at an early age that the city life was for
me, I liked the chaos. I liked the nonstop nature. I was going to live there one
day. It was only a matter of time.
This love affair continued, as I grew older. I was
lucky enough to spend two summers in Tokyo, Japan, one of the largest and
busiest metropolises in the world. It was a city that never stopped moving and
always had something to do. Tokyo solidified my love of the big city. I was
convinced that I was going to live here for a very long time.
Events occurred and eventually the option of Tokyo
was no longer a viable one. Like a love that was never meant to be, Tokyo was a
city that I loved dearly, but knew in my heart at the time, was something that
would just not work out.
I turned my sights to Korea, once again aiming to
work in a big city, and immerse myself in the bustle and breakneck speed of
daily city life. Again, it was not meant to be as, my location chosen for me
was not the sprawling city that I had envisioned, but rather the town nestled
in the center of Korea. A town called Gimcheon.
Gimcheon at one point had actually been the second
largest city in the Gyeongbuk province of Korea. Eventually however, its industry
and economy slowed down and the once bustling metropolis became a slow paced
shell of its former self.
My initial reaction was one of slight disappointment.
Despite being one of the largest districts in Korea, a majority of it was farm
land. The actual city portion could be walked within an hour. It was a city in
name only; to me it was a town, a town just like the one I grew up in my entire
life. It seemed that no matter where
I went, the small town life was set to
follow me.
Many weekends were spent outside of Gimcheon. I used
the weekend opportunity to travel to the bigger cities around Korea as often as
possible, not a difficult feat due to Korea’s excellent transportation system
that could you get you from one side of the country to the other in a matter of
minutes. Sprawling cities like Seoul, Incheon and Daegu were my homes away from
home on the weekend. Sundays were always looked at with slight apprehension, the
adventure of the city would have to wait until next weekend, and my small town
needed me back again.
The past weekend was out of character for me. I had
spent a majority of my weekends trying to get away from Gimcheon and explore
but this weekend I had felt compelled to stay. Perhaps it was my mind telling
me to take a break from exploring. Perhaps it was a need to become more
accustomed with my own area of residence. Nevertheless I didn’t purchase
tickets out of town like normal. I didn’t pack for the weekend Thursday night.
I simply went home on Friday and stayed in.
I awoke Saturday morning feeling refreshed and
optimistic. Saturday mornings were usually met with a few seconds of apprehension
as traveling and working the night before would usually leave me exhausted.
This was one of the first times I had slept in my own bed on a weekend. It felt
good, it felt comfortable, it felt uncharacteristically inviting compared to
the hard floors and stiff mattresses of hotels and jimjobangs I had become
accustomed to.
That afternoon I received a call from some other foreign
teachers in Gimcheon. They were planning on spending a night out in Gimcheon
and I was invited along. These were people that I knew fairly well, but not as
well as other people I traveled to visit. They were acquaintances in my town
that I enjoyed being around, but never spent more than a few hours with.
I met up with the group of friends and after a nice
dinner, we ended up walking around the middle of downtown. The sidewalks were
filled with people and couples happily going about their business. The small
shops were lit with bright lights and loud music. School children, free from
the burden of school and studying ran in the street, some of them with ice
cream in hands all of them laughing and seemingly happy to be free of the
pressures of school if only for a day. As I continued to walk and observe the
other people a sense of comfort and content begin to come over me. I was
walking with good company, on a warm and breezy Saturday night. The sky was clear;
the streets were brightly lit and bustling. It was an idyllic evening in my
town of Gimcheon. Never before has a town looked more peaceful and happy. Never
before did I feel more at home while being so far away.
I still love the big city. I love the busy
lifestyle. I doubt that I will ever fall out of love with it. However, that
night time stroll in my little town made me fall in love with a different kind
of living, a life less frantic, but one more comfortable. Life doesn’t always
need to move fast, and this is the town that told me that.
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