Subway: The Blog

A lot of interesting or semi-interesting things go down on the Seoul Metro.

For instance, there are salespeople on trains. Usually ajumma or ajosshi and interestingly dressed, they wheel around a little cart full of 1,000 - 2,000 won items. These items tend to be: Xylitol gum, drain uncloggers, workout armband thingies, pens, scrubbers, and insoles.

There are some outliers, though. The most obnoxious salesperson (who happened to come around after my iPod battery died) was selling a Best of the '90s easy listening CD. The pitch? Wheel in a boom box and play 10 minutes of the CD, quite loud, for all to hear. I was surrounded by people equally unhappy as I, which softened the blow slightly.

However, last Sunday was apparently a popular day for sellin' stuff. It was 8:15 AM, dreary and sideways-raining, and the whole train smelled of wet commuter, sitting and trying to keep to his or her self. In walks a salesperson with their cart. They were selling a little knife sharpener stone. Keep your pointies fresh! and all that. I thought to myself, 'Alright, who in their right mind would be keen on buying a knife sharpener in the early morning on a day such as today?'. However, my finger is clearly not on the pulse of the average Seoul Metro rider. Five people paid up and bought the thing within a few minutes.

Next to me sat an ajosshi, listening to his headphones. He held out a 1,000 won bill and got his knife sharpener. He then proceeded to whip out a fairly large and menacing hunting knife, and sharpen in the entire way down the Bundang line for about 25 minutes. In New York, such a sight would send me fleeing to the opposite end of the train. But it's Korea, so I sat and listened to my Animal Collective and thumb-twiddled, quite unafraid.