Korean Doppelgangers
When I first arrived in this country, I must admit that felt as if I was in a sea of faces that were all the same. This city (and its surrounding area) has close to 23 million poeple. However, after a few months in Korea I have started to recognize certain people around town that I see on a regular basis and I constantly think I see other people I know, too.
As I walk through the city, I am sometimes forced to do double-takes because I see someone and I am sure I know them. Now, obviously being in my position it is very unlikely I do know the person I have just encountered on a street in Asia, but my natural, split-second reaction is "What is he/she doing here?" Usually something about their visage or the clothes they are wearing puts a certain thought in my head and for just an instant I think I see a friend. A few days ago I was 100% positive that I saw Larry Frarey in a subway station (true story, and since he's a world traveler it wouldn't be that unbelievable), but it wasn't him. I was also pretty sure I saw my grandma the other day, but it was an Asian instead. It doesn't take long to figure out that I was mistaken, but for a second I feel like I had a visitor from home.
Occasionally I will see somebody and it will make me laugh. I will see a forty-year-old Korean Matt Gold on the subway or a nine-year-old Korean Brett Lentz on the street corner. I will see a twenty-six-year old Korean Bob Hamelin or a fourteen-year-old Korean Ricki Lake. People I recognize are everywhere, only I don't really know them. It's kind of fun to go out exploring and see who I'll meet each day.
This might sound kind of weird, and to be honest, as I read back through this, it doesn't sound all that believable, but the experiences I have had have been shared with my co-workers. They will also see people from their "other life" here in Korea and be positive it is them if only for a few short seconds. There is something about being away from home and so far removed from all of your friends that makes you wish to see them in the strangest of places. I think as I am separated from people I have a vaguer sense of their physical traits and mannerisms, so an Asian substitute can momentarily convince me it is truly them; just somebody that resembles them is enough for me.
So if I see your Korean doppelganger tomorrow, I will make sure to give you a nod and say hello.
Love from Seoul
As I walk through the city, I am sometimes forced to do double-takes because I see someone and I am sure I know them. Now, obviously being in my position it is very unlikely I do know the person I have just encountered on a street in Asia, but my natural, split-second reaction is "What is he/she doing here?" Usually something about their visage or the clothes they are wearing puts a certain thought in my head and for just an instant I think I see a friend. A few days ago I was 100% positive that I saw Larry Frarey in a subway station (true story, and since he's a world traveler it wouldn't be that unbelievable), but it wasn't him. I was also pretty sure I saw my grandma the other day, but it was an Asian instead. It doesn't take long to figure out that I was mistaken, but for a second I feel like I had a visitor from home.
Occasionally I will see somebody and it will make me laugh. I will see a forty-year-old Korean Matt Gold on the subway or a nine-year-old Korean Brett Lentz on the street corner. I will see a twenty-six-year old Korean Bob Hamelin or a fourteen-year-old Korean Ricki Lake. People I recognize are everywhere, only I don't really know them. It's kind of fun to go out exploring and see who I'll meet each day.
This might sound kind of weird, and to be honest, as I read back through this, it doesn't sound all that believable, but the experiences I have had have been shared with my co-workers. They will also see people from their "other life" here in Korea and be positive it is them if only for a few short seconds. There is something about being away from home and so far removed from all of your friends that makes you wish to see them in the strangest of places. I think as I am separated from people I have a vaguer sense of their physical traits and mannerisms, so an Asian substitute can momentarily convince me it is truly them; just somebody that resembles them is enough for me.
So if I see your Korean doppelganger tomorrow, I will make sure to give you a nod and say hello.
Love from Seoul
posted by Kyle at 10:15 PM
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