Seoul continued: photo by Carlye Vroom

After dinner, we walked sleepily. I felt peaceful. This is really real. That calm and easy feeling came to to an immediate an abrupt halt as we found ourselves walking, without warning,  into the middle of a candlelight vigil turned riot.          There were thousands, and I mean thousands, of soldiers marching around us in unison. It was a sea of synchronized authority; swarms of young Korean men in black uniforms armed with shields and batons (no guns). This is how Korea keeps the peace amongst millions: they send in many more soldiers. 

    It is hard for me to articulate the sensation one feels when you are participating in situation but yet have no real part in it. (The this was a protest of the import of American beef.) Well anyway, I was worried. For the first time in Korea, I was worried.  This could go horribly wrong even though I was only a spectator . . .  but I wasn't. It was my country's beef and I was there. Like it or not I was involved. 

   I'm sure I was standing on the corner with my hand over my mouth and furrowed brow as soldiers amassed all around me. It was then an older Korean man in the crowd reached out to me and emphatically said " Don't worry American, We are Korea. We are with you  and we love you." Amongst the endless procession of troops that kept passing, this seemed to give me little comfort, but the man continued: "Don't worry, we are all together and  we love you  . . . ."  I didn't know how to feel. I felt like a foreigner. . 

    Soon an enormous fire truck surged its way through the crowd. It began shooting enormous amounts of high pressure blue water into the riled crowd. This technique is used to break up unruly gatherings of people. The blue color is so that the police can mark who was involved in the trouble and confiscate them. This was a very intense situation. My Korean company assured me with smiling faces that I was safe, I just couldn't really believe them. They repetitiously reminded me not bother myself with thinking too much of the Korean problems and as quickly as we had stumbled in to the riot, we stumbled out. They shuffled me into a cab and soon we off like the whole thing never happened. We were going where everyone goes post-riot- shopping.