Their subway is underground in my area of Seoul (deeeeep underground; I literally go down at least 7 flights of stairs and 2 escalators down to get to the subway. Not joking). But in other areas it is far above ground! I didn't realize this until I took the subway out of my little patch of Seoul. The view of the city is breathtaking! You can see the Han River and all it's bridges, and the many buildings and signs. Next time I will post pictures of the view on the other side during sunset. It's so peaceful...I know I look like such a foreigner gawping out the window on the subway while everyone else plays on their phones or sleeps, but whatever :)
And literally EVERYONE is on their phones or else sleeping on the subway. No exceptions, it's really weird. Young kids, old grandpas, businessmen, mothers. All playing on their giant Samsung tablet phones with their cool brightly colored phone cases (they all use a type here that has a flap over the front, so you flip the cover off and then use it...like an iPad cover).
I've noticed I rarely ever see kids around on the streets or subways. I'm talking any kids, ages 0-14. It's Saturday today, and I've noticed a TON of (completely and utterly adorable) little ones toddling about with their parents. Strange since I could count the number of children I've seen this far all week on one hand. It finally dawned on me that its Saturday so the parents don't have work and can bring the little ones out. The question is how come I still don't see slightly older kids? Like 2nd grade age or middle school? Does Korea have school on Saturdays like Japan? I wouldn't e surprised, I would seriously have cracked long ago if I was a student here in Korea. They take it SERIOUSLY @.@
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I know I've been here for a week and all but I still have this stupid little smile on my face that I can't help when I go out on my morning explorations. Because everyone walks here, you see the most interesting mix of people from harried scruffy students with backpacks and sneakers, polished office workers in pencils skirts and tailored suits, giggly schoolgirls in knee high socks, fashionable schoolboys joking around, a few little kids followed by harassed looking mothers, loud food sellers on the sidewalk side, and grandpas/grandpas out running morning errands. I'm not quite sure how to explain it but just walking down the street surrounded by the Korean stores and Korean signs just feels so different! A major difference in their architecture is that I see a lot of shops that are located underground, like that Mad For Garlic restaurant I blogged about earlier. You see the storefront on the street, turn in and immediately go down a set of steep stairs. Way to be efficient when you have limited space lol, we could totally learn from this. Today's coffeehouse was a place called Java City Coffee. It was a lot pricier than I was expecting but the mocha was really good :) The Kimchi Museum is located on the 2nd Basement floor of the COEX mall. I couldn't find it the first time I went, so this was my second attempt lol. It was 3,000 won for admission (a little over $2). I had a lot of fun :) I was super fascinated by all the exhibits and displays considering I actually hate kimchi. I won't eat it, although I have tried. The only time I can handle it is in kimchi jigae. The museum was here to show the history of kimchi in Korea's past and present, and its evolution throughout the years. It was also meant to showcase the various types of kimchi, when they are made and eaten, and for what purpose. I also found an area at the end that had a kimchi tasting area (I passed over it lol) and a microscope focused on a drop of kimchi liquid. It has all sorts of good bacteria in it that keeps you healthy and is good for your body! So interesting...I loved all the different pickling pots and realistic displays of the various kimchis with certain meals. Kimchi is so engrained in Korea's culture...no wonder they dedicated a museum to it :) I learned a lot for something I don't even like to eat!
Itaewon in Korea is known as the foreigner area in Seoul. Think Koreatown or Little Toyko in LA! It's the longest subway trip I've taken this far; because I'm taking a route with less transfers its taking about 45 minutes. I'm sure if I was more confident in my subway navigating skills I could take a route that had more transfers and took less time. For now though, riding the subway here is a novelty and I don't mind :) I decided to check out the foreigners area in Seoul today to maybe find someone who can speak English well and where I won't get stared at for speaking English, like I was the entire time I was Facetiming Sonny in the coffee shop today lol.
I had the GREATEST DAY EVER in Itaewon, it was so much fun!!! There were barely any white people actually, and the ones that were there stood out a lot. I was tempted to try to help the lost looking ones but refrained since I don't know my way around any more than they do lol. Sorry unknown fellow travelers -.- It turns out that today happened to be the start of the Itaewon Global Village Festival!!! There were booths lining all the way up and down the street with food and drinks from different countries. Predictably, the American booth was selling hot dogs hahaha. Pride of our country, they are. It was amazing seeing and smelling all the different foods! There were arts and crafts for the kids and even drum workshops going on. There were so many different people wandering around of different nationalities; to be honest I put on my sunglasses so I could people-watch and not look like a weirdo. Shhhh :)
After wandering around enough, I started walking up and down the sides of the street where there were plenty of shops, places to eat, and street vendors lining the sidewalk. I got the cutest pair of ballet flats (for less than $9??), an FT Island CD and poster I've been wanting, 2 headbands, 2 scarves, and an awesome new backpack. I've been wanting a backpack like this since I came to Korea and saw everyone with them, they are cute, well-made, and huge with lots of zippers and pockets!
If you come to Itaewon, prepare to be complimented a lot. Just walking down the sidewalk, shop salespeople will look you up and down and say "beautiful" to you, or "neomu ipuda" which means very pretty or literally 'too pretty' in Korean. I'm sure they learned that English just for the sake of attracting customers attention lol. I actually got physically hauled into one shop when I glanced at a salesgirl standing outside with free samples; apparently if you show the slightest eye contact with them, they will take it as interest and shove a sample at you and bring you in. It turned out to be a music store though, so I was happy with that :)
There was a big stage with chairs set up where various live artists were playing; since it was in Itaewon it was hosted by an all-English radio station (although it was run by Koreans). I happened upon the stage just as a young rock group was setting up. If any of you know my musical tastes, rock (particularly alternative) is my FAVORITE genre, so I took a seat. The group was called AXIS and comprised of five 20-year olds, four boys and one girl. And let me tell you, that one girl was a BOSS with her guitarwork. I was impressed. The lead singer sounded like Adam Lambert. Rock isn't as prevalent in Korea as in the US or UK as the MC mentioned when questioning the members. They really only have FT Island and CNBLUE to look up to, but its got a growing following. It's how I first got into kpop, since I simply liked the rock music whatever language they were singing in. Talk about opening Pandora's box...@.@ Anyways, they played three songs and were really good! I was that annoying American waving my hands in the air when the lead singer asked everyone to put their hands up and bobbing my head. The Korean crowd was so conservative, I wanted everyone to lighten up. People did; by the end there were plenty of people with their hands in the air with me :) Mission accomplished.
There were parades and costumes and military men and comedy acts and so much going on!! It was so lively and bustling, it just made you smile walking around. I saw these AWESOME Joseon-era costumed guys and I wanted a picture with them, but I asked the only white people around (this suuuper old couple. Definitely a mistake) to take it for me and they couldn't figure out my iPhone -.- By the time I corrected them for the 5th time, my phone had died :'( I'll go by there tomorrow again on my way out to get a picture. This time I'll ask a younger person...or not be retarded and CHARGE MY PHONE before I leave @.@
On my way out I stopped by a stand and got myself some coconut milk/juice; I had seen people carrying them around. My first time tasting actual coconut juice/milk and its in...Korea?!?! I got some funny looks on the subway ride back too...it could have been because I was carrying a purse, a backpack, AND multiple bags, because I was carrying around a giant green balloon (I got passed one during a parade), or because I was carrying around a coconut in my hand that I was sipping from. I'm gonnnnnna say its all of the above :)
On the way home I was pretty tired and kind of feeling nauseous. I realized it was probably because all I'd had to eat that day was a coffee this morning, a boba tea this afternoon, and then coconut milk just now. NOT the best combination for a happy stomach lol. Combine that with the constant swaying and abrupt starts and stops of the subway I took all the way home and you get nauseous (I actually still feel subway-sick right now sitting in my room, the room literally feels like it's swaying back and forth with the movement of the subway...so weird. Like seasick or how you feel after you've just been on a treadmill for awhile; like the world is rushing past you on either side, back and forth, back and forth @.@). All in all though, such a wonderfully fun day :) I'm really happy even though I'm dead tired! Quick background on my destination: COEX Mall is an underground shopping mall located in Gangnam-gu Seoul, South Korea. It is Asia's largest underground shopping mall with an area of about 85,000 square metres. Along with hundreds of shops, the mall houses two food courts, a 16-screen multi-cinema complex, the COEX Aquarium, a large bookstore, and the Kimchi Field Museum. It also features a game area which is used to film computer game tournaments, which are broadcast on local television. There are also stages inside and outside the mall for seasonal events and public appearances by celebrities.
Needless to say...I got lost. The famous Kraze Burgers and a place called Jackie's Kitchen! It was a dimsum and noodle place that had entire walls dedicated to Jackie Chan!! Must go eat there one day...
Why do their shotglasses have holes in the bottom of them? Not gonna lie, my first thought was that it was so you couldn't sit and babysit your shot, you had to take it right away like a man :D
Also found the Korean equivalent of Urban Outfitters/Anthropologie. It had the same decor, store layout, and style of clothing...weird. Look at the cute bunny beanies though!! :) Lunchtime! I decided on Korean today since I've been having foreign food like Vietnamese and Japanese lately. I had mushroom bulgogi and it was yummy!
After lunch I had such an amazing time wandering around the gigantic shopping area and window-shopping. I stopped by a few stores (Innisfree and Nature Republic, which are EVERYWHERE seriously. It's like Bath & Body Works in America) to pick up some face scrubs and lotion, which I didn't pack any of because I assumed I'd buy it here.
Amusingly enough, I got asked no less than 5 times for directions or some kind of question by Korean passerby. It's simultaneously hilarious and embarrassing to have to say sorry and that I don't understand. They all smiled but looked confused, and sometimes looked back at me as they left. YES I KNOW I LOOK KOREAN but I am not a failed Korean for not speaking the language BECAUSE I'M NOT KOREAN. The older ones always seem more understanding and pat my arm or head when I say I don't understand. A couple times these pretty, power-suit wearing women in the shopping malls or subway station shopping areas would watch me and then accost me trying to propose something to me. I have no idea what they were saying but I always feel bad for having to say sorry. In Nature's Repulic I managed to get a salesgirl who spoke some English and she asked where I was from. I said America, but my dad is Japanese and my mom is Chinese. Predictably she looked shocked and goes "What? Oh I thought you were Korean!" T.T This is getting old. I did see more foreigners here at the mall than anywhere else I've been and at least I don't get stared at like they do. So maybe it's not all bad I fit in. Kind of. People still stare at my clothes. WHAT'S WRONG WITH MY CLOTHES HUH. Their mugs come with these fitted ceramic tops, to keep it warm I assume! So cool.
More of my bathroom obsession: these sinks were all cute, quaint, and homey with individual sinks and mirror decals :) In America, we have mall directories. In Korea, they have interactive mall maps that you can touch and move with your fingers to find places and information. I'm awed.
Also: Mom and Dad they have a Todai!!! :D Also found the Korean equivalent of H&M; same decor, store layout, and clothing styles. Weirdddd.
This is for my friends & family who are reading this and who have told me directly or by message how much they enjoy reading this blog everyday. Like I mentioned before, I started this blog thinking it would just be for me to keep a record and for my family and close friends to keep up with me every once and awhile. Now I am getting messages from tons of friends, some I haven't talked to in awhile! It's an amazing thing, I never thought it would be a way to reach out from over here to all my friends back home. Dajeong even said that reading my blog made her to visit all the places I talked about, even though she's lived here for 20 years :) It makes me so very happy that everyone is getting as much enjoyment out of sharing these experiences with me as I am, and I'm really touched by everyone's excitement & support :) Keep the positive thoughts coming. It's so much fun getting to share all my adventures, but kind of intimidating to know so many people are reading what are essentially the thoughts that go through my head everyday haha ♥ ♥ ♥
고마워!! (koh-ma-woh - thanks) 사랑해요 (sah-rang-hey-oh - I love you!) Whew. Well ladies and gentlemen, you'd better strap in & hold on tight cuz this is gonna be a long one. I'm splitting my last day into two to make it easier to read haha. After a most exhausting and awesomely fun day yesterday, I got back to my room at around midnight here meaning I effectively pulled an all-nighter because I slept at 7:30 AM US time @.@ I fell asleep on the subway back like 5 times, so embarrassing. Probably because of that I woke up at 5:30 AM this morning, much later than usual!! The jetlag is slowly getting better. I met 다정 (Dajeong) at 강남역 (Gangnam Station) at 4PM, and we set off from there to Kyobo Tower, where there's a big bookstore, music store, etc. I lost track of all the different areas we went through since I can't pronounce most of them properly (but I will!! Eventually...) and I bought some single-trip subway tickets since the shops in Gangnam Station were out of the sturdier T-cards, the reloadable charge cards used for subway rides. On my way to meet her I had stopped in Daiso and bought an energy drink, because I knew we would be out late and I'd have trouble staying up...I had been sleeping around 8-9PM here, which is 4-5AM back home. Surprisingly the nice adjumma (middle-aged woman) tried to indicate to me to go get another one saying "Servisu" and "1 plus 1". I've heard of the "service" thing, which was like a free promotion to the customer from the shopowner. So I essentially got a free energy drink in addition to my own! She was so sweet :) Maybe she recognized me from yesterday when I went shopping in there. I heard they love repeat customers. Since today is the last night Kyeong-bok Palace is open to the public at night, Dajeong kindly offered to take me, saying it was too beautiful to miss. We had such a fun day!!! I am so grateful to you 다정; if you are reading this, I had a great time :) She is seriously the sweetest, most patient, and easy to get along with girl ever. Also in case any of you were wondering, we are twins. QUITE LITERALLY. Case in point: 1) We have the same exact birthdays, September 1st except she was born one year earlier in 1989 and I'm in 1990. Weve both never met another person with the birthday of September 1st. 2) We both have little brothers (남동생) who were born in 1993 AND in January (her brother's birthday is January 20, while my brother's is January 17!) 3) We are both short and love to wear heels. All. The. Time. And we love Kimchi Jigae :D 4) We both have mothers who are elementary school teachers! 5) We are both going to be taking classes for our teacher's credentials & taking the teacher's exams. 6) She is so comfortable to be around! She is so easy to talk to and a wonderful host/knowledgable tour guide. Anyways, glossing over our eerie similarities in...well life in general, we stopped in various shops along the way from station to station as we traveled towards City Hall & where Kyeong-bok Palace is located. There were such cute things in the shops!! I wanted to buy everything haha but I restrained myself...kind of :) There are these things called "Media Poles" on this one main street, in which you can take pictures and email them to yourself, among other things! We had fun taking silly photos because we could never get the timing right on it. We settled on a funny one and we agreed to take a better, normal picture next time :D Inside Kyobo Tower it was like a giant Barnes & Nobles meets Blockbuster meets FYE meets Westfield Mall meets Costco. Except instead of food samples, there were people with little tables of electronics or cameras or hairdryers or something lol. The revolving entrance door was funny because apparently with all such doors in Korea, you cannot ever touch the door or it will stop. So when Dajeong went to Las Vegas, she tried to get into a casino through a revolving door and just stood there. However we have to push most of our revolving door haha so the security guard finally told her to push when she asked for help :D She is too funny!! Inside I finally bought a book I've been wanting for awhile "Children of the Sun". I also bought the I AM documentary in excitement before belatedly realizing its region code 3, so I can't even play it in America lol. We are region code 1 :'( Ah well, its released Nov 6 in American I think. As we walked further, we found people all walking in one of the huge streets and noticed it had been closed off. It was the Hi Seoul Festival! There were firecrackers and music and a procession down the street with performers with blue on their faces and even a rockband on a moving truck haha. Dajeong said it was so strange to be walking in the street of such a huge major street, but this was a special occasion. For dinner Dajeong took me to this awesome little KBBQ place. It looked nothing like the KBBQ places I'm used to going to in LA; there were lots of little coffee shop-sized tables with a deep pit in the middle and a hose-like retractable chimney above it. You could move it all the way down to almost touching the meat! So much more efficient in whisking away all the nasty smoke and KBBQ smell you usually get when eating there :) We had yummy pork, some kind of pickled, sweet seaweed salad, and the most amazing kimchi jigae I've ever had in my life. It was called 칠분 김치 찌개, or seven minute kimchi stew because it is cooked in seven minutes! It's spicy and savory and has such an awesome flavor. Dajeong said it was eaten in a different manner than usual in this restaurant; we mashed it in with our rice and put dry strips of seaweed over it and mixed it in. SO GOOD. Everything was, we left stuffed. She taught me how to say "I'm full" but I don't know how to spell it haha. I think it is something like 배 불러요, or pae-bu-reu-yo. In Japanese it is おなかがいっぱい, or onaka ga ippai. Julia taught me that one when she was visiting the US from Japan :) I will see you soon Julia if you are reading this!
On my morning walk today I chose a different street and direction from yesterday and set off. I figure this will be my routine everyday until I have a good idea of how this area lays out with all the locations of stores, eating places, and most dangerous crosswalks T.T Today I found a Korean KFC! All these fast food places here are so much nicer, cleaner, fancier, and of course, not drive-thru lol. It's weird seeing them sitting on a block in between a Samsung store and a bakery. The weather is again beautiful, a crisp 73 degrees and the sun is out with blue skies to accompany it. After wandering for awhile I stopped in one of the many convenience stores for something to drink and got myself some banana milk and mocha drinks. They're the real ones!! Not the Americanized versions I'm used to. Nobody will understand my excitement for this banana milk except maybe Waylie, Jessica, and a few others haha. Most unusually, the cashier here seemed to know intrinsically that I wasn't Korean and didn't speak it even though I hadn't spoken any English. Is it the way I dress?? Someone told me people would know I wasn't from here by the way I dressed...Hm. I'm going to be all self-conscious now. Anyway he held up his calculator with the amount due on it for me after rattling it off in Korean. To be fair, I DO know all my numbers (both sets, the native Korean and Chinese ones) but I can't keep up when they speak so faaaaaast. It's so frustrating. Usually anyone I interact with here assumes I am Korean because apparently I look extremely Korean and start lightspeed-talking to me (??? All the Asians I knew in SB along with most Asian people I've met for the first time thought I was full Korean. So did the adjusshis [middle aged men] I sat with on the plane. Is that what happens when you mix Japanese & Chinese?!). It's quite inconvenient. I listen politely, put a blank look on my face, and then have to say "Sorry, what?". They immediately either look fearful of me (scared I'll speak more English to them b/c they don't understand it haha) or they look apologetic and try to speak Korenglish to me. I actually had one woman legitamately RUN from me in a 7-eleven when I came in to ask for directions, it was pretty funny. I said "hello" instead of 안녕하세요 for some reason, and she immediately bolts and ducks behind her male coworker, who dutifully and bravely looked up directions for me on my phone. Thankfully Wona 선생님 and Diane 선생 taught me directions and how to ask for them so I understood when he told me to walk a block north than make a left and walk two blocks before making a right, cuz his Korenglish was more just straight Korean with a few "yes?"'s thrown in :D Otherwise, I might still be wandering around out there @.@ I decided I'm going to start including relevant Korean words at the end of my posts, so everyone can learn a little bit! It will help me learn more too, since my Korean is still shaky :)
-To drink = ma-shida 마시다 -Drink (beverage) = eum-ryo-su 음료수 -Convenience store = pyun-i-jum 편의점 -Korean (nationality) = han-guk-een 한국인 or han-guk sahram 한국 사람 -Korean (language) = han-guk-go 한국어 -American (nationality) = mi-guk-een 미국인 or mi-guk-sahram 미국 사람 -person = sahram 사람 Waking up at the lovely hour of 2AM having gotten about 4 hours of sleep. I tossed and turned for about an hour before giving it up as a lost cause and watching Korean tv on this remarkably large flat screen. It seriously tickles me how actors and idols we are used to seeing only on YouTube are like EVERYWHERE here. I turn on the tv and first thing I see is a coke ad with 2PM and another ad with Shinhwa. Then the drama comes on and it's Personal Preference with Lee Minho :) Not one of my all time favorites but it wasn't bad. Changed the channel and some random hospital drama came on with the hot gay doctor from To The Beautiful You and the annoying angry dad from Dream High!! We are so isolated in the US :/
Anyway now that I've gotten my super Asian moment out of the way, it is time to continue my aimless wanderings around Gangnam. I love being up so early, when the light is all clear and freshly minted. Everything around me is still so new, I feel so playful and excited just walking around! Even in my uber-jet lagged state @.@ Also as a side note, I just discovered my hotel room has a doorbell when the staff brought up more tissues for me. YES, A DOORBELL. It's a very pleasant, musical one too not like the DINGDONG ones back home; just loud enough to hear clearly if the tv is on or youre running water but not loud enough to startle. When I turn the tv off too it has this little charming musical riff as it turns off, like its saying byebye! :) Why does being in Korea make me think about how every single inanimate thing is being cute?!? Spent this afternoon soaking up some more Korean culture around the neighborhood. Also, all those things you heard about how dangerous the Korean streets are to pedestrians?...THEY ARE ALL TRUE. If you are ever crossing a street, path, alley, or crosswalk in Korea you must first look both ways before crossing...then, AS you are stepping off the curb LOOK BOTH WAYS AGAIN. Because chances are, a speeding car with a harassed angry old Asian man in it will come screeching around the corner just as you step off it- and you better haul ass and double-time it back up that curb or you will be a (insert name here) pancake in no time flat T.T I have never feared for my life so many times in 3 hours as I did today on my walk. How they don't all die daily is my question...they must be born with innate crazy driver senses we don't have. Although the drivers in Texas could give them a run for their money.
Needed some things to aid in my existence within my little Asian cave for the next month, so on my friend 다정's advice I set out for 다이소 (Daiso). Think the 99 cent store meets Ross. It was HEAVENLY. I had so much fun :))) Obviously, on my trek there I read my map wrong and took off in the OPPOSITE way where I wanted to go so I was going the wrong way for a good hour. No wonder all the Korean women are so skinny, the streets are all up and down and up and back down again. Its like straight hiking...with a 101's worth of whizzing cars flying by your side continuously. Bought some useful stuff like a washboard and a bar of legit detergent soap to wash my clothes (since there are no laundromats in Korea and there's no way I'm going to have my bras and undies dry-cleaned...). Also bought some less useful stuff, but still awesome! See: the heart stickers above. They're well, you know...I just REALLY LIKED THEM 0:)
I managed to spot a Korean Burger King and McDonalds as well on my hike/stroll/walk/evasion of speeding cars intent on flattening me. And this cool little place tucked in a little niche called Mad For Garlic! The entrance was this narrow walkway that sloped down so steeply that if you look in from the top, you can see the ceiling halfway down your field of vision. I didn't go in, but I WILL :) Another day. So many places, plenty of time ^^
On the Flyaway bus to LAX. Note the awkward face- I am SO NERVOUS. Never flown by myself before; I didn't take this into account when I was all excited to fly before lol. ETA 1 hour to LAX and then the fun begins!
Stuck in traffic, so I took to people-watching from my high perch on this bus. Isn't it funny how everybody on the freeway is all going somewhere different, leading a different life, and caring about different things but all united in this same goddamn traffic? One day I will be one of these people drinking coffee, with early morning tunnel vision, on their way to yet another day of work, and I will see a flyaway bus and remember little 22-year old me who was flying across the world :) So after a long, stressful day of dealing with a hacker from Mexico screwing around with my email account, a last-minute flight itinierary change on me and a temporary freak-out because they hadn't sent me my plane ticket, and packing, re-packing, and re-re-packing my luggage and trying various carry-on bags so that it was within the weight and size limits, IAMREADYTOGO :) In exactly half a day and half an hour (12 hours and 30 minutes for you slow ones) I will be taking off from the United States! I do love flying. I don't think I've been flying since the family reunion in Washington at San Juan Island...and before that I'm pretty sure I only ever flew in my lifetime to Hawaii, Texas, or Kansas to visit family. First international trip; check that off my bucket list. Now if only I could take down skydiving and water-rafting Class 5 rapids...one at a time I suppose :)
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