Sunrise in Korea

I watched the sunrise in South Korea on my way to China. Standing by the pay phones that I didn’t have the correct kind of money for, I patiently waited as the sky turned pink, then blue again, and finally the sun blazed over the horizon. The sky had stayed pink and blue for so long I wondered if the sun would make a grand appearance, or if it would simply fade in to view as it rose above the pollution. I have no idea what the pollution is like in South Korea, but after waiting I began to worry that the pollution was just as bad as in China and would ruin the event. However, I wasn’t disappointed, and the view from Gate 7 had the sun rising over a small hill beyond the airport bounds.
I have never set foot in Korea, I just stayed inside the Incheon Airport. When I was in high school my band played a song called Incheon that memorialized the decisive battle fought there during the Korean War. It was a fantastic song that was a severe departure from the usual classical fare we played. It used bizarre instruments and had some of the percussionist standing out among the audience.
Experiencing Korean language on the airplane, I wondered why I didn’t come to South Korea. I realize now that I enjoy both the visual and auditory aspects of the language more than Chinese. Maybe I was just momentarily wooed by the lovely flight attendants with their matching hair buns and trim professional uniforms, smiling and being ever so helpful. The short promotional video for Korea that they showed during the flight was also intoxicating; showcasing the beautiful historic buildings and farms, traditional dances and foods, infamous night life, and grandest hotels. How could a person resist? Especially if that person was already asking, “Why am I doing this? Why am I going to China again?”
I have been racking my brain while sitting and sleeping in the airport as to why I chose China and not South Korea, Japan, or the Philippines. One reason I chose China is to learn how to speak the language since China is quickly becoming and rival to the Western. Learning to speak Korean would open doors to study Korean artwork, and no one can deny the issues facing the West in regards to North Korea. To figure out why I chose China I had to recall my college classes. In my foreign policy history classes, China was settled in next to the Big Bear of Russia causing massive anxiety to the US government. China was previously closed to the West, but had opened up and has grown to an unsustainable size. Also, the Great Wall haunted me from my international art history class, as did the small ceramic women playing polo from the Tang dynasty and guardian statues from graves that I had studied at the Joslyn art museum.
Part of me being in China has reason, but the rest was just a random whim that I will never be able to explain.