Monday, October 15, 2007

Adjashi Afternoon

Adjashi; meaning man, but generally seeming to refer to older men. I spent Saturday afternoon wandering Seoul and found myself in a park in North Central Seoul which I have been to before where the Adjashis gather to play board games. Two games in Particular. One a form of Chinese Checkers and the other somewhere between chess and Mahjong. The place has the worlds highest concentration of old men. I can't prove that except by photo, so here it is. In contrast the man above is sitting in the Palace grounds watching the ducks, far enough away from the maddness that is the Soju'd scene below to be contemplative. The contrast was sublime.

4 comments:

ethan said...

i wonder if our generation will gather in parks to play games. If we do, what games will we play? Will we bring our old laptops along to play board games on the internet with other old men of our generation, so we don't actually have to have personal interaction with them?

beim said...

When I am old, I hope we all gather outside Elim or some other place and still play street hockey. I will be 75 and I am going to hammer some 85 year Opa through the boards. BOOM! Keep your chin up in 50 years, don't say I didn't warn you.

Swallowfield said...

And I thought of the old men that we've seen gathered to play and chat in San Francisco or Paris...or Bear Creek Park in Surrey. I think of Dad/Opa travelling to Greece at 87 with Mama....and of Oma lost in another world for too many years already....Live life to the fullest...live well TODAY.

Roboseyo said...

hey. going through old posts on my blog, I saw your comment and looked up your blog.

i like it -- the re-introduction to the Korea I've lived in for a long time is cool.

I know this park. . . I live right next to it these days.