Life in Gangseo-gu, Seoul

Since before I got here, there have been police buses covered in riot shields outside the Homever department store beside my apartment building. The store has been a source of much of my nourishment, kitchen stuff, and furnishing. The employees tend to be affable and polite, and greeters smile and bow deeply to customers.

I'd heard that the reason for the police presence is a recent unpopular change in store management - but the people working there don't seem the sort to engage in violent protest.

Today I went in looking for some cheap sushi, and the police - dozens of them - were crawling all over the store. At the entrance were close to fifteen in a line, some standing and some crouching behind their riot shields. They seemed prepared to hold off against a siege. But people were walking calmly in and out of the building in the midst of all this, taking no notice at all of the armed force ostensibly guarding them (us) from some invisible foe.

How strange.


Perhaps an understanding of Kroean would help - I often hear through my window long monologues and sometimes music on loudspeaker - but given that the music comes from the same source as the words and tends to be a Homever jingle, I'm undecided as to whether it's someone passionately exhorting the masses, or passionately extolling the virtues of Homever's broad selection of merchandise.


A FEW MINUTES LATER

I couldn't ignore my curiosity. There were so many officers today and so much noise that I had to check it out. It turns out that today, at least, the police presence is due to a political rally being held outside the store. Koreans hate their president (so I'm told); I'm guessing that the upcoming election resonates with the public. Candidate 3 sure seems to (the candidates are all numbered)... there is a portable stage out there and a crowd of happy cheering people... and a pair of campaign workers, after various speeches and such, got up and did a very jolly dance, jumping side to side, waving arms about, completely in sync, hands always held with two fingers and thumbs extended in a sort of variation on the ubiquitous two-finger sign modified to emphasize that this is for candidate 3. Other campaign workers liined up in front of the crowd, mimicking the dance... and most of the crowd danced along. The only word I could understand in the song was "Hangul!" shouted as part of the chorus - so probably a patriotic campaign song. Very popular. I'm certain a mildly chubby guy in glasses and stereotypical Asian-balding-man hair is a shoe-in, at least in Gangseo. It's nice to see an election campaign like this, where people are actually enthused about particular candidates - this isn't the only dancing I've seen - as opposed to voting against everyone else. You don't see that back home. People CARE. It's almost heartwarming.