First Trip into Itaewon

If you’re not a foreigner living in Korea, odds are you’ve never heard of Itaewon. For the rest of us, Itaewon is a sort of “Little America” in the midst of Seoul, or maybe “Little Everywhere-besides-Korea.” In Itaewon, one can find English-speaking travel agencies, banks, banks with teacher-friendly hours of operation, restaurant chains from back home (Burger King or Taco Bell, anyone?), clothes and shoe shopping in sizes that actually fit people who aren’t Korean, English bookstores, and foreigner grocery/food stores for a taste of home courtesy of your own kitchen. It’s a vastly international experience, and English speakers are by no means the only people who retreat there for some escape. It felt a little like I imagine New York City feels, where you can walk down a street and hear a dozen languages as you walk a few blocks past various conversations.

Itaewon is also, in some sections or times of day, or so I’m told, a wretched hive of scum and villainy, frequented by prostitutes and purse-snatchers. It is also the subject of a recent Korean Pop (KPop) music video featuring Korean Pop singer J.Y. Park, which is all kinds of odd and pretty un-P.C. It’s kind of catchy though… If you’re curious, here’s the YouTube video of “Itaewon Freedom.”

April 10 was a Sunday, and a church friend (from my small group) had been asked to play some piano for a foreigner acting troupe that was holding auditions in Itaewon that night. She didn’t exactly know where the destination was, and through a series of events was going to have to head over there on her own after church. It was a dark and mildly stormy night. Since I’d never been to Itaewon and I wanted more time to hang out with her, I offered to accompany my friend there. She said that’d be great and we made our way to the place where the auditions would be held.

Orienteering in Seoul depends greatly on knowing the subway exit numbers. That’s almost as important as an address, if not more so. Unfortunately, we didn’t have an exit number. My friend had been into Itaewon several times before, usually with her husband, and sometimes during the day, so while we had a few landmarks to go by, it was somewhat unfamiliar territory for her and definitely so for me. After taking the wrong exit the first time and texting back and forth with the director whom she’d never met (a mutual friend of theirs had arranged the audition volunteering), we managed to find our way to the room of our destination. It involved a massively steep concrete staircase en route, which I winced up in agony since this was only the day after my hiking trip a couple of weeks ago.

Such… unique smells struck us as we entered the dimly-lit audition room… There were dozens of piled up shoes in the entry way from the many foreigners who had some to audition or make selections for an upcoming production. As we took in the unfamiliar scene, we noticed we had walked in a little late for the auditions. Since their pianist (my friend) wasn’t there yet, they had begun auditions for dancing proficiency, and the occupants were performing some sort of Rite of Spring-esque, Midsummer Night’s Dream-esque, undulating group dance… thing… I thought to myself, “Yes, these are theater people--able to dance without reservation with complete strangers.”

The participants finished the dance and cheered us as they realize their pianist had finally arrived. We got set up in the back of the room (the sweaty smells were a little less oppressive back there), and did our best to get the shabby keyboard working on a makeshift stand with nothing to hold the music. I ended up being a human music stand and page-turner, so it was good that I came.

They had several audition songs prepared, though I don’t remember all of them. One was, “Happiness” from You're A Good Man Charlie Brown and “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King. It was amazing to me that some of the younger people there didn’t really know the lyrics to “Hakuna Matata” since it was sort of “before their time.” It made me feel old, and I think the director did too, since he thought surely everyone would know it… The director so resembled David Boreanaz (who played Angel--the eponymous protagonist of the Buffy spin-off show, and plays Booth on Bones) it was uncanny.

It was fascinating to watch the audition process, which I hadn’t really seen before like that. Home school auditions were… rigged. ^_~ They worked to stay on schedule, made sure people felt prepared before having to sing or speak alone, helped everyone feel appreciated, but gave extra time to those who were more suitable for the skills they had in mind. With people gathering around the keyboard auditioning as my friend expertly played music she had first seen only minutes before, it was a cool experience of an evening. I got pretty good at page-turning too. They were certainly grateful for her musical skill, without which the evening’s goals couldn’t have been met. They also did a few more dance numbers at the end, including one from Grease.

Afterwards, my friend and I decided to stop for some quick dinner in Itaewon before heading home on the Subway. While there was a delicious-looking menu outside a burger restaurant, we settled on Taco Bell, since we both actually liked that chain and hadn’t had it for a while. They don’t have Gorditas, but they did have my favorite—a Crunchwrap Supreme! No cinnamon twists either, though they had nachos, and the melty cheese was a huge treat. I got to get some extra Taco Bell “Fire” sauce for the next time I make tacos at home too. (You know how the sauce packets have silly little sayings on them in the U.S.? Well, these had some kind of saying on them in Korean. I need to translate a couple before I use them).

During dinner, we had a long conversation just getting to know each other better and had to rush to get to the subway before it shut down for the night (made it back in plenty of time, but there’s always that concern on the weekends for those of us who live a little farther from church). Laughter, some tears, good times. I was so glad for the evening and time to visit! It wasn’t a typical Itaewon experience, but it was a good start, and I’m sure I’ll be back to that area of Seoul eventually. Gotta find that English bookstore, after all!