Riding the subway back to Gangnam has become a daily ritual for me now at the end of my day of exploring/shopping/getting lost lol. I never get tired of looking out at the passing scenery since its still something new and different to me! Here's the Han River pictures I promised :) After I got off at the Yeoksam subway stop, I took a little walk around the neighborhood instead of heading straight back to my hotel. It's really nice out today, humid as ever but the temperatures nice. Sadly I went to COEX today to pick up a peacoat I had been wanting but they were all gone :'( There was only one left in the store window but it was pink and navy blue, and I hate pink :/ I did pick out some fun nerdy glasses to wear around though :) Back at the hotel I was officially tired out from my explorations today and I ordered delivery again. This time I got kimchi jigae, and asked the receptionist helping me order to have them lessen the spicy a little lol. I really shouldn't be surprised at this point, but I was still shocked when I opened the cooler and pulled an entire thing of practically still bubbling jigae, stone plate and stone bowl and all. For those of you who don't know, their "jigae"s or stews are usually cooked in these stone bowls, so when they are brought to the table they are still bubbling and piping hot! How these delivery men manage to travel & deliver these to our doors in such containers, the world may never know...
2 Comments
I journeyed back to Itaewon again today to catch the last day of the festival. The crowd of people was like a million times bigger than when I came on Friday!! Even more of the streets were closed down and there were packed people everywhere on the sidewalks and spilling into the streets. There was a bigger parade today, with what looked like cultural dancers and exhibitions from different countries. It was really interesting to watch! For lunch I went to a place called Rotolo's. They specialized in these cool things that were like half pizza slice and half calzone. I got the combo rotolo which had like ham, olives, lettuce, pepperoni, cheese, etc. in it and it was BOMB. All crispy and thin on the outside and yummy on the inside :) After lunch I went back out to the main street in time for another parade, of historical and cultural costumes of Korea it looked like. I also made a new friend Hyojoon, who was the random person next to me that I asked to take a picture (of me and the cool costume guy!!). It turns out he speaks English and he doesn't even study it!! I was impressed. He is one year older than me and lives in Itaewon, so he says he just picked it up from listening around town. We had fun following the parade down the street until there were too many people and we couldn't see it anymore :( Darn foreigners...heh. On a side note...they're already on Mario Kart SEVEN here in Korea?!? What? When did this happen? Or are we just lagging hardcore in America?? Festival = cheh-chuhn 제전
Friend = cheen-goo 친구 Foreigner = ooee-gook-in 외국인 (for that first sound, it's like putting 'oh' and 'ee" together...almost like a 'w' sound) In a quiet kind of mood tonight; there's this quote from Coffee Prince that I really like that I was thinking about today ( I was looking up tours in Seoul and there was a Coffee Prince tour haha so it reminded me of it).
~ He says his dream is “To see only what I want, to not see what I don’t want; to live joyfully and happily.” ~ I think this is such a great way to look at what you want in life. No material desires per say, no set-in-stone goals...it is to live life so that you want for nothing and only see that which you have or can attain. It indicates that one can see the beauty in the world, and not only the ugly. Although this quote can definitely be interpreted in many ways..Anyone else like it too, or am I just being a little nerd over here with my banana milk? :) Life = seng-hwahl 생활 Dream = ggoom 꿈 World = seh-geh 세계 Happy (I am) = heng-bok-hey-oh 행복해요 So it rained this morning but then stopped for hours, and the ground was completely dry. It was only a little cloudy. I was getting ready to go on a walk and out of NOWHERE it starts pouring! And I'm not talking gentle pitter-patter of lady-like droplets; I'm talking omg-its-the-freaking-apocalypse kind of deafening rain. You couldn't even see very far out because of how thick and fast the rain was falling- it was raising mist on the ground from hitting so hard! Within seconds (I kid you not) the entire rooftop next to mine was completely flooded and exactly 2 seconds after the rain had just started it was thundering and lightening-ing. Is this normal?! I happen to like the rain so I phoned the front desk and asked if they had umbrellas I could borrow. They did and I set off to get some coffee. I ended up at Holly's, this little coffee place I pass a lot tucked in with a bunch of giant office buildings. I got a sweet potato latte, which if you don't like sweet potatoes, will sound disgusting to you. I happen to love them so it was epically delicious; rich and creamy and sweet! I've never had anything like it. It even had little shaved flakes of sweet potato in it to give it a little nuttiness. While I was in the shop, it had stopped raining...and not just stopped, it was pretty much beaming sunshine and bright blue skies everywhere you looked! It was like the sky was sying what, who was hurricane-ing on you all less than 5 minutes ago? Not moi...pfft. Maybe weathers always this bipolar here. And I thought Santa Barbara had it bad- but Seoul, you are totally inland! SB was bipolar cuz it was by the ocean...what's your excuse?! On my way home I stopped by a street vendor I've been eyeing for a few days right near my hotel. She was selling what looked like tempura!! Huge stacks and the smell was incredible. Having no idea what they all were, I inspected the piles carefully and then ordered two of what looked like fried kimbap rolls (think delicious but commoner style sushi), two of what looked like giant elongated fried dumplings, and one big round thing that looked like potato. There was one that looked like sweet potato but I don't trust anything that is any shade of orange or red in this country. It is bound to be mind-blowingly spicy, whatever it is. Once home I tried them out and they were so yummy!! The lady thougtfully cut them all up into bite-size pieces for me with scissors after giving my chosen pieces a quick fry to crisp and warm them up. They do that at kbbq places too, and on Korean cooking shows. The kimbap rolls were amazing, with seasoned glass noodles inside them with vegetables. The dumplings were stuffed with yummy pork and various cabbage, carrots, etc. The potato was tasty as well, and nicely familiar to me. The batter she used was very good, not too heavy and with herbs in it so it looked appetizing. I couldn't even finish the whole bag, it was so much! And it only cost about $2! I can tell this is going to be a favorite of mine already...Dangerous. Verrrrry dangerous... Weather = nal-shi 날씨 Street vendors = po-jang-maht-cha 포장마차 Umbrella = oo-sahn 우산 Delicious (to be) = mah-sshi-da 맛있다 My first bowl of actual Korean instant noodles, some cold Chilsung Cider, an inspiring and wonderfully educational experience in Korea so far, and Coffee Prince. Does life get any better than this?? I think not. I'm still in slight shock that this is all real and have to remind myself every so often that yes, THIS IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING. And I have my amazingly generous, smart, understanding, and loving parents to thank for it. Momma and Daddy you guys are the best parents EVER and I love you so much :) Thank you for this opportunity because I know it's costing an arm, a leg, and a Tigger...which considering how fat he is, that's a lot :D Everyone reading this please give Daddy and Momma Sakamoto a virtual hug for me :)
Love = sah-rang 사랑 I love you = sah-rang-hae-(yo) 사랑해(요) Family = kah-joke 가족 Parents = pu-moh 부모 Tried the pho place right by my hotel. Of course, its very cute and sparkling clean inside. Will I ever find a place here that isn't nice and sparkly clean? Perhaps not in Gangnam lol. When you eat out, I've noticed they give you the check right away, pretty much as soon as you order. Another thing I've noticed at the places I eat out is they give you your own pot of iced water or hot tea without needing to ask for it, and even though I'm by myself. I love it, the tiny pots and pitchers are so adorable! Okay I know I'm retarded but I am FASCINATED by bathrooms in Korea for some reason. They are so nice and clean and I love the tall, pretty, solid doors. Each stall is like a cubicle. Not for the claustrophobic to be sure, but I love how private they are. I always hate the super low ones in some public places in America where people can practically see under your door or through the cracks and see you :| The insides are different too; no toilet seat covers but I was prepared for that, and the layout behind the toilet resembles like a built-in shelf or bar to put your stuff on I'm assuming. After eating I hiked up to the supermarket around the corner from my hotel. And by supermarket, I mean market that is roughly the size and shape of my hotel room. Possibly smaller. It's amazing what they can do with such limited room lol, it was packed in there! I bought a good amount of snacks, noodles, rice, porridges, and drinks so I can start to eat in- I can't be eating out every meal and dropping 10,000 won a pop. As the lady was ringing up my giant basket of goodies, she hands me a small plastic bag to put my stuff in. Ummm, lady I don't know who you think you're dealing with, but this little thing aint gonna cut it. After she finishes she looks up confused at me and my tiny packed bag and mountain of stuff on the counter. She goes OH, BIG! and hands me a giant plastic bag. Ah, now that's more like it :) I stagger back to my hotel and the receptionists greet me with amusement because the top of the bag goes higher than my head. Yes yes, I may be small, but I eat like a horse with mad drunchies!!! I have been getting more friendly with the receptionists and various hotel workers who are around. You have to pass the front desk to go in or out of the hotel, and I always smile and greet them or wave. They looked confused and surprised at first, but now they always smile and greet me on my way in or out. I'm sure they rarely (if ever) have people staying as long as I am, and I doubt they are ever foreigners...might as well be friendly with everyone if I'm going to be living out of here for awhile! I'm sure I'll start calling them unni and oppa soon, they are all so nice to me and look after me well :) Hello = ann-young-ha-seyo 안녕하세요 Goodbye (you are leaving) = ann-young-hee-kye-seyo 안녕히가세요 I've decided that every morning I will try a different cafe/coffee shop located around my hotel. There are so many to choose from! Today's is a cute little thing (let's face it, they're ALL cute little things T.T) called CafeBetweenUs. It's airy, spacious and clean inside, with a cozy, exposed red brick wall and pale wood kind of decor. It feels like walking into a favorite college hangout or a comfortable reading den; I automatically love it of course haha. Ordering food that I can't just point to and say 이거 주세요 (this please) always makes me nervous. Miraculously I managed to hold a mini conversation with her for about 30 seconds without her realizing I was American!!! My accent and pronunciation must be marginally improving. While my conscious was running around inside my head pumping her fists in victory, I finally slipped when she said something about "service". While bummed I couldn't keep up with her Korean anymore, I was however really pleased I was getting more free things haha. She was so nice about my not understanding her, so many people I confront with English words are grumpy to me. I think it's cuz they're scared and are hiding it by being gruff but its still nice to still be smiled at after speaking English. I've passed other foreigners in the streets and hear them trying to say thank you and such, and I always cringe thinking that that must be what I sound like when I attempt to speak Korean. Perhaps all my practicing in my head is paying off. The cashier lady finally got across that she was going to give me my latte for free and only charged me for my ham and cheese panini! Ballin. Speaking of grumpy people, that reminds me of this young shopgirl I bought a scarf off of yesterday at Gangnam Station. She was another of the few who still hung around me and tried to me help even after finding out I was American. I've noticed that the more of their Korean I can understand and reply to, the happier they are lol. Anyways, she said something about how I was always smiling and cheerful after she'd followed me around the shop and talked to me for awhile. I told her it was because I was happy! She said I was so lucky and smiled. So maybe the gruffness of the people I've been interacting with is just natural and the norm here? When I'm walking around the streets, my instinct is to smile at every person I pass and say hello if they smile back. But here they don't make eye contact or anything :( I know it must be the culture difference. Another thing I'm learning to do out of necessity is to drink my coffee black. Firstly, there is no such thing as a "coffee" in Korea. That is known as a "hot Americano". Secondly, they do have creamer or milk anywhere, unlike America where they have it on a bar of stuff for you to make your magic potion (Mom I'm looking at you). At Caffe Pascucci, the first cafe I went to, I was so confused I simply asked for a little milk from the barista. She cheerfully complied, even frothing the little tiny espresso cup of milk in the frothier for me so my milk was warm and bubbly. It made my coffee DELICIOUS. But otherwise, it's such a bother to ask every coffee place I go to for milk. I haven't sat down in many cafes like this yet, but I've been getting coffee from everywhere to help me manage my jet lag. Due to this excessive drinking, I therefore concluded that I just have to learn to drink it black. Coffee = kuh-pi 커피 Coffee shop = kuh-pi shyop 커피 숍 Breakfast = ah-cheem 아침 (A) smile = mee-so 미소 Milk = oo-you 우유 A little milk please = chou-keun oo-you ju-seh-yo 적은 우유 주세요 Had my first actual shopping adventure today in the underground Gangnam Station. I forget what they actually term it as, but it was WAY huger than I was expecting. I definitely got lost many times because it was like a giant underground swap meet (but cleaner and nicer of course) with clothing shops and phone counters and bag stores and shoe shops. It was so cool, like row after row and aisle after aisle, I just kept wandering around making random lefts and rights as I went. Eventually I hit a mini-food court and got a boba to sustain my tough shopping exertions :D Some things were expensive but prices were reasonable in most shops. I got a really nice knit white sweater, 2 woven long sleeves, a scarf, 3 headbands, a 2 korean metal spoon and 2 metal chopsticks set, and some pens all for under $50. Including my boba :)
Tomorrow I will head out towards Sinnonhyeon station so I can revisit Artbox, this cute store Dajeong took me to yesterday. It will be my first subway ride by myself! The thought is intimidating... Adventurous as ever, I choose Thai as my lunch of choice today. I venture down into the Yeoksam Station where there is a pretty fancy mall located underground! Good thing I chose to wear a dress today haha. As mentioned before, the subways stations here are located underground and therefore have many flights of insanely steep staircases to traverse before you can hit ground zero. Now this is not so much an issue going down (although it gives you the impression you will trip and fall 30 feet on your face pretty much with every step you take) but going UP that is the problem. On the real, I could rock-climb up these damn things. Anyways, I managed to order everything I wanted using my little Korean and when it got to me, the food looked amazing. The smoothie was AWESOME, like the smoothest, freshest, most pure mango anything you could dream of, with a hint of spice in it. With this promising start I turned to my dish. The waitress had said something in Korean and indicated the gigantic pile of red pepper flakes sitting on my plate so I assume she meant if you need it more spicy, there are flakes for you. Thanks girlfriend, but I am the wimpiest of wimps when it comes to spicy and I won't be needing those. I must have left my brain in the US because I paid dearly for forgetting that Korea is the CAPITOL OF SPICY SHIT. They are very proud of their little peppers that supposed to be like a thousand times hotter than ours. Well I can now attest to that :/ Literally ONE noodle and a small piece of basil chicken later, I was diving for the water jug, choking (I'm not kidding here), beading perspiration, and simultaneously stealthily glancing around me to make sure none of the other perfectly fine and happily munching Koreans around me had noticed my near brush with Dante's inferno on my plate. HOLY MOLY. I know I'm a baby but this was hot. Like burns your eyeballs and your insides and sears through all gazillion layers of skin you've got in your mouth until you're sniffling like mad and your face literally feels like its turning permanently bright red. Which it did. I have never had anything so hot; you could eat 15 bags of flaming hot Cheetos EXTRA HOT and it wouldn't come close. And the lady wanted me to put more red peppers on this stuff? SERIOUSLY WHAT ARE YOU KOREANS MADE OF?! Naturally I didn't want to be rude by not being able to eat it and I didn't know how to ask for mild so I started eating with the strategizing skills of a general. I would eat one small bite and chew; as I chewed I drank some water on my left, swallowed quickly, immediately slurped some mango smoothie on my right, swallowed, sucked air in and out of my mouth quickly, did a little "I have hot coals in my mouth" body twitching, then did it all over again. Finally I couldn't eat anymore because my stomach was burning and rather ticked off at me so I asked for a box and paid. My nose was runny from the heat so I went to the restroom to blow my nose. It was such a trial I came back to my room to rest for a little instead of going shopping afterwards. But never fear, there is very little in this great, big world that could keep me from shopping for very long... :) Bathroom = hwa-jang-shil 화장실 Food = eum-shik 음식 Lunch = chum-sheem 점심 Stairs = kye-dahn 계단 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 Seeing as when my body thought it was 1AM in the morning, I was running around in the bright sunshine, hiking streets and asking the Asian workers in 7-eleven how to get to Gangnam Station, I was pretty tired by dinner time (They were ASIAN!!! I think this is a first in my whole life. Or is it only in the US that they are always Indian?).
Too tired to even go out to find somewhere yummy to eat (although I really wouldn't have to look farther than my doorstep). Figured I'd try one of the order-in delivery restaurants in the hotel room menu. Went downstairs so the receptionist could order it for me in Korean (I got tonkatsu, with seaweed soup, salad, and sides- one of the few things I could read on the all-Korean menu; FYI tonkatsu in Korean is 돈까스, or tonkassu. This seriously amused me for some reason, I've only ever seen language borrowing done with English words :D) and was told they would deliver it to my room. Imagine my shock when it came in a giant cooler 0.o I had heard they give you real silverware with takeout in Korea and then they just come pick everything up later, but this was seriously sick. The guy only charged me 10,000 won too, instead of the listed 12,000 won! I left a note of thanks and the leftover 2,000 won in the cooler on top of the dishes for when he came back. You don't tip in Korea (in most countries actually, the US is a greedy guts) and all my friends have discouraged me from ever doing so because its "weird", but this seemed to call for a tip anyway. Hey, the guy biked this huge cooler over, lugged it up to my room, then came back later and picked up my dirty dishes and lugged them back, and probably washed them. He deserves it :) After solving some hotel issues and playing linguistic twister with the helpful receptionist and very nice assistant, I've gone out to walk around my neighborhood and explore. Wona 선생님, if you are reading this thank you for all you taught me :) It's harder to use and remember when I'm speaking it here not with you, but I'm sure I'll get better. There are literally coffee shops every other store, it's unreal and awesome. I decided on a very chic and rather spacious one next to a market so I can go pick up some necessaries later that I didn't want to pack. I ordered a bulgogi panini (AWESOME. Only here. So. Awesome.) with a coffee and it was amazing. Also in case anyone was wondering, when I opened my windows this morning the air totally permanently smells deliciously like Korean BBQ. I might or might not be coming back to America.
|
Korea. 한국.10.4 - 11.8 Categories
All
Archives |