There’s something surreal about walking through the streets you grew up on. No matter how many years have passed, if you close your eyes for just a second and let your mind drift, time folds in on itself. Suddenly, you’re back in the days when your biggest priority was chasing after friends. Often for not a particularly good reason, that also definitely wasn’t pre-approved by Mom.
In 2023, I returned to Seoul for the first time in about 12 or 13 years. A number of very challenging family health issues had kept me from visiting, I had even stopped contact with all my childhood friends during those years. But the moment I stepped off the plane into that heavy, humid air, it felt like I’d never left. Whenever I had free time, I’d just walk—aimlessly—turning my head constantly to take in every side street, every restaurant, every pastry shop that caught my eye.
Friends would recommend visiting that beautiful park or lake in the city, but we have tons of that in California. What I wanted was chaos. The busiest, craziest, tightest areas possible jam packed with impatient cars and frowning people in a hurry to get to places while frowning. And it was glorious glorious. The symphony of traffic, winds, sounds, walking, air, cicada sounds were identical to decades ago. Again, it was like I never left.
At night it was even more vivd. The darkness shrouding the streets contrasting with the bright lights inviting you in, car taillights moving away along with the lively pedestrians coming and going… yep exactly the same. It was like some comfort blanket where I felt like I could walk on forever. Probably the streets being safe at night helps too, but thats another, can of worms type topic.
I do however, confess the fact that I’m on vacation(well, I still check Slack and Outlook out of habit) contributes to this, and if I stay longer I’ll probably notice the stuff I’m glad I left behind. But til then its an interesting and refreshing, though a bit melancholy experience I get to go through whenever I visit.
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