The Admiral

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Downtown Seoul, very near Seoul city hall. Summer is full of activity at the base of the statue of Admiral Yi Sun Sin (이순신). As far as I'm concerned, this is the cultural heart of the city. There seems to be something different planned in this area for every night of the summer, thankfully, giving bored locals and tourists something to do that doesn't involve a television set and perfectly groomed Korean drama stars.

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It's daytime so the fountains blast away while children frolic like they ought to... completely oblivious to the pain in store for them. In just a few years, these kids' lives will revolve exclusively around school and hagwons (학원 - extracurricular study institutes) until their induction into compulsory military service. Upon graduation from college in their mid-20's, a new set of worries involving gainful employment, finding a suitable mate and affording their own children's hagwons, consumes them.

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The fountains take a rest, leaving a near-perfectly mirrored city in its aftermath.

Continuation in a series of real-time, non-archived, posts.