Some of my coworkers are going to Japan this weekend and Kate needed to make a trip to Sinchon to get some things she was going to pack to bring with her. She invited me to come with her. We seriously have the best schedule for errand running because we don't have to be in until 2-3. With short trips out like this, I'm slowly expanding the area that I'm familiar with in Seoul.
Kate got her shopping done, I bought a wallet, and we were headed home with plenty of time to get ready for work. I took a quick shower but was unable to do my hair before I needed to head out the door. This would be a good time to mention that it was 3 degrees yesterday and my coworkers have mentioned previously that sometimes if you walk outside with wet hair in the winter, your hair will freeze. I thought they were being dramatic but this is a real thing that I was not mentally prepared for. I had only been walking a few blocks before I touched my hair and felt that IT WAS FROZEN! It felt like I had too much hair spray or gel in it. It was so weird lol. Lesson learned, always dry your hair before going outside in the winter.
In the evening, I had the speaking class I mentioned last week and this time I showed the class my passport. I feel like I always end up talking about America when I'm trying to take up time. Since the Soellal holiday is this weekend, we've been talking about grandparents a lot in my classes and I mentioned last night that I had A LOT of grandparents. I got the idea from Kate to draw the kids your family tree so I did that also last night and they were amazed. "Teacher! How do you remember all of that!"
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| There's not really a concept of divorce or having children without being married here so my family tree was very exciting to them lol. |
So we got off the bus, they pointed me in the direction I needed to go and I was on my way. I found the right side of the metro track that I needed and got on the train with no problem. The metro seats in Seoul are like the ones in NY where you're just sitting with the car wall behind you and you're facing the people on the other side as opposed to the ones in DC where you're sitting next to one person and there are people 2 people in front of you and so on. So I get stared at a lot. I have chosen to embrace being a foreign celebrity as opposed to staring back at people... which does not work, as I have learned. This one Korean man would NOT STOP staring at me and then as soon as the person next to me got off the train, he moved next to me so he could be even more creepy. He finally smiled at me, so I stopped my death stare and smiled back. He asked me where I was from and I told him America. He asked if I spoke any languages other than English and I was like "No, just English" and he nodded and stopped staring. I assumed he meant that he wanted to talk to me in Korean but then things got weird. He started talking to me in Russian lol. I just stared at him trying to relay the message that I have no idea what he's saying until I gave up and just stopped indulging. When I went to get off the train I smiled at him and he said more things in Russian. This is not the first time someone has mistaken me for Russian and I really need to stop dying my hair so dark if I want this to stop.
So I got off the train and headed to the exit that I was supposed to meet Angela at. This particular station had 12 different exits and I had to get to exit 10. Gangnam station has TONS of shopping in it and I really want to go back so I can buy lots of presents for myself. I was way later than I told Angela I'd be so there was some confusion with meeting up but we eventually found each other. The restaurant her and her friends were eating at was closing in 11 minutes so she let me share her food and margarita and I told her I'd buy her a drink where ever we went next.
After leaving the restaurant we went to a bar first for some cheap drinks. On the way to the bar we passed a bunch of vendors selling street food. Since me and Angela had shared a burrito, I was still hungry. I decided it was time to be adventurous and eat street food. I got one of Angela's friends to order me something and I was given a Fish Cake. It is exactly what it sounds like. Its like a pancake that's re-fried in oil that was used to cook fish. It sounds really gross but I was starving and it was delicious and I could have eaten like 3 more. Only 700 won too! That's like 63 cents!
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| Fish Cake! I'm so adventurous. |
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| We also passed this huge monitor of Psy performing. Psy in Gangnam. It was like seeing Jay Z promotions in Brooklyn. Full circle. Exactly the same. |
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| The little area they put our group in reminded me of a fort you would make as a little kid. You had to crouch down to get in and could only be comfortable sitting on the floor. It was nice because most of the other areas were out in the open but we had our own little secluded corner. |
I love all of Angela's friends. I sat back with my Mai Tai and just took in my glamorous life, which is something I like to do as much as possible. Sometimes... when I'm in Asia... drinking my Mai Tai on the floor with my shoes off, sitting next to a white guy and Korean girl speaking fluent Spanish to each other, I like to laugh at how stressed out I was at this time last year not knowing where I'd be in 2013. I love this city and I have loved my past 3 weeks here. I'm also super excited about all of my future adventures.
When my moment with myself was over, I told Angela I was going to head home. I wanted to make it an early night because I knew I wanted to be productive today. It took me like an hour to fall asleep because there was a mysterious dog/cat outside that was barking/meowing/screaming. I couldn't sleep because I was both irritated by it and trying to figure out what type of animal it was. Then I got annoyed and as much as I wanted to preserve the dogcat species, since there are so few in the world, I was ready to kill it. Then it stopped and I went to sleep.
That was my day! Happy Soellal <3
