The Association of Retired Grandmas Who Make People Look Bad

So, this update is full of things in Seoul that are very different from the States. One, there are free beer samples in the grocery stores. This is a plus, except that with the exception of imports, EVERY beer is a lager. There are no dark beers, or ales of any kind. But I digress. Free beer samples are great.

There are no tubs for showers. This is not ubiquitously true of Seoul, but it is the definite majority. To save on space in the one-room apartments that many people (including families) live in, the bathroom is the shower. Also, the washing machine drains into...the bathroom. So, shower shoes are a must, as we have been brushing our teeth or straightening our hair when a torrent of water 1/2" high comes rushing out of the back corner and viciously attacks us.

There is random exercise equipment everywhere. You're walking through some random cluster of buildings. Exercise equipment. You go for a walk by the river, exercise equipment. You go hiking in the mountains, reach a false summit, and there's exercise equipment. It's not like the equipment in a normal private gym or anything, but everyone uses them. In public. Exercising in public is just an accepted part of life here. I have not had the courage to try more than a cursory nod to this equipment. Maybe one day I'll Grandma-up.

We have been trying to hike around the neighborhood, which is fun and engaging, but we have discovered an unsettling fact. There is an Association of Retired Grandmas Who Make People Look Bad. All the old women come to the outdoors and green spaces, just walk around, talk, socialize amongst themselves, etc. However, they also make people look bad, like my wife and me. We are in our mid- t0 late twenties, and these Grandmas are totally schooling us. by beating us up the mountains. A bunch of REI clad, North Face wearing grandmas are coming down off the mountain before we've even set foot on it. We go scampering up, and they keep coming down. I have no clue where they came from, but they just kept coming. I don't know when they started, but we started at 10 in the morning, and they are wrapping up their morning walk. We're sweating like Richard Simmons to get up this hill, and they just calmly walk by "Anye Haseo. Anye Haseo." without so much as the idea of sweat coming to them. Like it's perfectly natural for everyone and their grandmother to be out scaling a piece of rock that belongs in Yosemite.

To say that I felt humbled is a bit of reach, but I was embarrassed for sure. When was the last time you went hiking and got passed by the retirement home welcoming committee? I am sure that this will not be the last we see of the ARGWMPLB, but I'm hoping their powers of embarrassment stay out in the mountains.

Post Script - the 'mountains' here are really just hills, no higher than 2,500', but there are many of them and they make for good hiking.