I am back in Minnesota.. for whatever that is worth. I am exhausted because I have reverse jet lag! I had to work at 5am and didn't get to bed til about 11pm and was up at 3:30am. ohh. how I hate this. I did take some random pictures of stuff on my flight home from South Korea. sandy area that looks kinda like a desert the water on the opposite side of the sand - see the characters reflecting from my window! this photo is great! i really like water/mountains the super long bridge in Korea they are building this to be the longest bridge in the country! oh yay! the airport the plane i was about to board We were finally in ALASKA! as the sun was coming up.
Well, folks, I am here in the USA now. I don't feel terribly happy to be here, either. I felt really peaceful in Korea.. I'm sure it was the lack of stress and being in the company of someone who helps me to feel empowered. I can't wait until it is my turn to actually move to South Korea. I know it's a different country with completely different sets of norms but I don't mind. I've been reading about this for about 9 months now! I know a lot and nothing has turned me off of Korea. I can be happy there and have that adventure I have always wanted while I am focusing on my career goals.
I might update this randomly with things relating to Korea, but for now this is the end of my adventure!
This will be the last "from South Korea" blog on here! I am terribly sad to say that. I have loved every moment that I have been here and I feel so calm compared to back home. Things are busy and loud here but after a while it's just routine so no biggie. I love how nice everyone is and helpful. If you are just standing there looking lost, a Korean will attempt to explain or help you get where you are going or whatever you need. Most Koreans know some English and with me knowing some Korean it hasn't been that difficult. I am going to miss seeing Hangul everywhere I go and I will miss the sound of this intersection in the morning. I will miss the walking everywhere. It saves so much money just taking public transportation or walking. Everything that you need is pretty much within a few blocks. For my last day, we took it easy since Saturday was so long. We went to the pottery store so I could pick up some gifts, then we went to check out movie times so we could see one later. Then we chilled in the apartment watching this Chinese movie Eat Drink Man Woman. It was pretty spectacular. She had a rugby meeting so we went there and then we came back to the loft, grabbed a bottle of wine and headed to the park. We ended up going through 2.5 bottles in a matter of 2 hours but it was a lot of fun. I took the kitty along that one of my penpals made me and we took crazy photos of it. It was a pretty awesome day just chilling and goofing off. There are water coolers everywhere, with cute paper cups to drink from. the water fountain and fake seagulls in the mall lunch from Emma's - banana milk, cider, sandwich on fruit bread with ham, cheese, apple, pickle, cucumber, egg salad. it sounds weird but tastes great the backseat of my last cab ride. see - nowhere to hook your seatbelt into! art on the wall at Indigo - western style cafe where Mel's meeting was the many flights of the subway station
the last subway ride.. waiting for the train
kitty goes on an adventure she snuck up on me finally.. a decent photo of us.. and wine bottle #2 and awww.. we can be serious sometimes
Saturday was full of adventure and pain for the Billi. I opted to wear the worst shoes ever and it was a horrible idea. Nine hours of walking was not a great idea. I'm now very sore and have six blisters on my feet. I did have a great time, though. We went to McDonald's for breakfast and then headed to the station to go to the N Seoul Tower.
The little streamy thing, lots of fish in the water Me and a big heart! random comics on the side of a power box thing the street that McDonald's is on The bricks are thrown down on sand and the tree roots hold the sidewalk together, all according to Mel. McDonald's is pretty popular. They don't serve American beef, no worries. the menu board - pancakes and egg mcmuffins the food. we got eggs though we didn't orer them haha a less than fantastic area by the subway station. See, there is poverty everywhere!
Once we got off at the correct station we had a hell of a time figuring out where to go. We walked around to a dead end and then found the correct way. haha. After walking way up this mountain, we caught the cable car to the top so we could 'observe' the city from the top. It was a lot of fun. Our destination.. so far away! i couldn't resist a photo of this advertisement on the optometrist window young girls unchaperoned, does this happen in the USA? NO! The first bit of our travel up the mountain the first flight of stairs! Billi's climbing commentary We are on the cable car... something I've never done and I'm terrified of stuff like this. I was brave! view of the city from the cable car again, a view! a beautiful little building finally, we made it! The N Seoul sign random grass sculpture view from the top
A little tear jerking at times but you know, stuff happens. I thought it was really sweet and romantic how many locks were on the fence. When Mel told me about this when she first got here I thought it was so sweet and romantic. Seeing it myself was fantastic and made me want to lock my love on the fence as well, if only I had a romantic partner. Wow, isn't it amazing the initial few of these locks of love. they are all inscripted with messages in english or korean mushy mushy
There were these smokehouses used to notify Seoul if North Korea ever were to attack. There is a great view from between the smokehouses. Mel leaning against a smokehouse, admiring the city I am too short to get up on the wall, so I stand beside the smokehouse!
Then we grabbed the cable car back down the mountain, walked down many flights of stairs, and started our shopping spree. Mel getting fresh spun cotton candy. on the ride down this was the next car coming down! I can't believe i actually did this.
We went to the underground market and then to Namdaemun Market. Mel bought several items while I was more frugal. Eh. Oh wells. YAY! the underground market inside the market They are rebuilding this from when it burnt a few months ago, so there is a wall of what it used to look like surrounding the entire place. these blankets say MODERN FEEL and COMFORT IN THE HEM. I thought it funny need some blackmarket US goods, GO HERE! leaving the market something was going on, lots of people were outside The police lined all roads, it was intense. i just thought this made a cool photo the swirly thing! where we had lunch I had creamy bacon spaghetti. It was freakin' amazing! Mel has seafood tomato spaghetti more people, a building. police persons. another exciting subway stop
Then we made our way to our ultimate destination - the 63 Building. It is Korea's 2nd tallest building and has a lot of cool stuff inside. She hadn't been there yet, either so it was a lot of fun finding it. I took a zillion photos of the view from the top but will only post a few here for you. We got off at the wrong station and walked about an hour to find it. When we left, we realized there was a closer station about fifteen minutes away!! My feet were blistered and ow and I was so frustrated we didn't realize that the other station would be A LOT closer. You live and you learn, right?! We had planned on taking a night cruise but the next one wasn't leaving for another hour and a half. So, we decided to wait and do it on Sunday.
The first of many signs we had to follow on our long walk to the building the automatic door tells me that the 63 Building is my special story! my first view wow, what a city! See the N Seoul Tower? We traveled across the city. :) this bridge photo looks amazing the sun was going down there is part of the floor that is see through.. don't wear a skirt! from right outside the building. this random sculpture yes, i am tiny compared to a 63 story building this awesome bridge on our walk to the cruise area looking back at the 63 Building. Isn't it fantastic!? a different side of the city. amazing need candy? at the subway convenience store this almost our stop - Songnae Station embarrassing photo of the day, Mel face deep in Watermelon
Nothing exciting happened for me on Friday. It was a chill day and we had dinner at home. Then we went to Bucheon Market so I could see what the fresh markets are like. WOW. I love fish but seeing so much fish and SMELLING so much made me want to gag. If you know me, you know I have a really sensitive sense of smell. It is so weird seeing TONS of fish right across the walkway from clothes stores. I mean, all the clothes must smell like fish. Definitely have to wash them when you get home. (Oh! Did I mention there are NO clothes dryers in Korea? You wash and then hang dry everything. The places you can get dryers are really expensive and apparently don't really dry the clothes anyway. )
need hair/beauty products? take your pick! minnows! get them now! mm.. fishes. ew.
At the market I was able to score several new set of stationary!! I absolutely love the paper here, it is cute and the envelopes are amazing.. besides the fact that you have to tape or glue them shut. hehe. I also bought some amazing socks because I have a sock fetish. We bought a watermelon because they looked so tasty. When we got home we cracked it to eat but something doesn't taste right to me. I can't explain it. It's just not a taste that I really enjoyed.
the lady was "bagging" the melon for us. Mel, the proud carrier of a watermelon in the elevator, she is SUCH a camera hog
Anyway, at the market we were strolling around and something horrible caught my eye. PIG HEADS! I turned my head to the left so I didn't have to look and then there were some on the left side too. By this point I was shaking and crying. There was a time in my life when I didn't eat pork or ham because all of a sudden I realized it actually came from a pig. I might be entering back into that zone! We had to walk past them again to get out and I snapped a photo. If anyone has any idea why a person would actually want a pig head, let me know! yeah - DISGUSTING! in the cab home - the cool castle like building another city shot! (cabbies drive like maniacs and have to slam on the breaks ALL the time) It's blurry but I love it. buildings are awesome.
Mel plays the Goo Goo Dolls for them and they actually have learned the words. it is fantastic.
Thursday I spent the day at work with Mel again. Her munchkins were "cooking" which consists of making something educational and then eating it. Yesterday Mel demonstrated to them the making of a butterfly with oranges, tomatoes, and cucumber antennae. The kindergardeners were really driving her insane yesterday. They didn't seem to want to listen to anything. I would have lost my mind and killed one of them at some point, I think. hehe. when kids get bored, they play violin with pencils and hair
Ms Cherry helping with their writing she really does look this lost all the time This is mel's favorite student, she's funny the closest to a dress we'll ever see her! in her apron preparing for her demonstration he is a jokester they wait patiently for her to let them make their own butterfly Ms Cherry's butterflies a student's butterflies - with no bodies haha Show me how we line up!
watch this video. it amazes me how she lets them all read aloud, different books at the same time. I can't handle all of that noise!
For lunch we ate at the little restaurant by her work and I had Donkasu, the same thing I had the first day I was here. I love this dish. It is pork cutlet that is really crispy on the outside. It is served with white rice and baked beans on the plate. The shared side dishes yesterday were fish, kimchi, and cucumbers in red paste. I still haven't aquired a taste for the kimchi. It is way too spicy for my mouth. tear tear. here you see the beans, rice, and pork!
side dishes = kimchi on the far left, fish already eaten from the top bowl, cucumbers, then some mushroom onion mix of yuck. soup in the bowl directly behind my plate for dessert, a mystery popcicle. it was strawberry flavored and DELICIOUS Mel had coke zero and I had pineapple juice
The head directors of Mel's school came in and they gave me 3 sets of 3 pencils advertising the school. hahaha. I think it's great because Mel already sent me some so now I have like 15 of these KC pencils. the older classes are crazy too. this kid never shuts up she's always talking, all day long!
she's beating the knowledge into them he wanted his photo taken! haha
Yes, she ended the class with a game of hangman and the answer was SHUT YOUR PIE-HOLE!
you have to love this one too!
After work, we went to Pizza Muru. This is Mel's favorite pizza place. The crust is rolled into little pizza rolls, so picking up pieces is really interesting. The crust is stuffed with cheese and sweet potato. That was a taste I couldn't get used to so I tore off the crust and ate the yummy pepperoni pizza. It was FANTASTIC! Loved it. I bought some Australian Ice Vod (lemon flavored vodka drink similar to smirnoff) and it complemented the pizza rather well. When we got hungry later on, we went for street food. I have been eyeing these corndog looking things. I looked them up online and it says "hotdog cooked in pastry" so why not. It's only 1,000won so who can pass it up?! It was tasty except the hotdog was super thin and there was 2 inches of pasty. I had to tear the breading off so that I could taste the hotdog. It's double fried too, so nice and crunchy! I forgot the camera so no photos of pizza or corndog thingy.
OH! About the wine I said I'd comment on from a few days earlier - it was way too strong for me and Mel drank the entire bottle herself.
We had dinner at the Sand & Food. I had a chicken sandwich and it was SPICY but tasty. Another random sign from the restaurant Mel getting her hairs cut she has issues getting them to cut her hair really short - it is not typical of women here.
Wednesday wasn't much to talk about. We went to see the new Chronicles of Narnia movie, which was amazing. We had dinner at the Sand & Food and it was tasty. Small sandwiches on rice bread yum yum. I ordered a cherry coke and it tasted like candy, I am curious about what makes it that taste instead of just cherry.
My blowdryer doesn't really work here in case I haven't mentioned it. When I tried to use it the first day it started smoking so I only use it for about 3 minutes a day. The voltage converter thing isn't meant to handle so much volts I suppose. So, I have had the WORST vacation hair ever which is why you don't see too many photos of me doing wild and crazy things. Not that I am actually partaking in anything wild and crazy, though.
When I am alone I think a lot about my future as an expatriate. It is something that I am really looking forward to. I am falling in love with Korea, but I realize being on vacation here and living here are two completely different things. I have been learning Korean for about 5 months now through a private tutor and I start official classes at the University of Minnesota in August. By the time I graduate, I hope that I am able to handle basic conversations. Being here has been fantastic for getting used to the sounds of words. I love it that I can pick out a word when someone is talking to us. I like being able to read a lot of things even if I don't know exactly what the words are. (Mel says she likes having me at her disposal to correct her reading skills haha) I am scared of living here, too, because I don't have a support network. I'd really have to be on my own and handle all my situations with my own strength. In the days that have been emotional for me here, I haven't been able to just dial someone and talk about it. I have to email and wait a day for a response, if I get a response. That is a definite adjustment for me but it's nice. Not having a cellphone and being on call for work all the time has been one of the major perks about being here. I am hoping that I can get a job other than teaching after my first year here. I want to do other things with my life, but that is a definite stepping stone.
Stepping into what? I have no idea. I don't know where I'm going exactly but I'm looking forward to getting there!
This is going to be an intensely photo based post. Tuesday I actually was brave enough to venture to the bus stop alone and take the bus to the subway and then figure out how to get where I was going. This adventure was made easy by Mel giving me some detailed directions. She only left out a few minor details. There are a few things I want to mention about transportation here. First of all, you get on at the front of the bus but you exit it in the middle. This was confusing, no one had told me that. Secondly, the cabs have shoulder strap seatbelts in the back but you aren't supposed to wear them. Most of the cabs i have been in don't even have buckles to buckle the strap into! The first time the cabbie laughed at me and said something about it to me in Korean. Getting in and out of subway stations should be easy.. it's actually confusing. There are too many exits lol. I don't think I'll get lost leaving my exit again as long as I remember it's by the earring store. My breakfast, strawberry flakes with apple chips
Once I got off the subway in Incheon I went directly to my left where the tourist center was. There was a super nice, older lady there who spoke English and she explained the types of tours to me and how to go about getting on and off if I wanted to. I paid my 1500won and then hung out for an hour waiting for my bus to arrive. Across the street was Chinatown but I didn't wander over just in case I got sidetracked and missed the tourbus. my lonely subway ride
getting off the subway
CHINATOWN WELCOME TO CHINATOWN
Once I was on the bus, an older man sat me down and was asking me all sorts of questions. He was telling me that he'd been to California 3 times and was asking me where I was from and if I had a poy-friend. haha. I love the b/p sounds here. He asked me if I was going to go eat fish with chopsticks. This confused me a little but I found out why he was asking me just a short while later. This is Wolmido Garden, very pretty Incheon Inner Port - the largest port in the Oriental countries, according to the guide, and 6th largest in the world. another view of the water and port a huge ship this says CLEAN INCHEON - there are signs everywhere about how clean cities are this is part of Yeonan Fish Market, it's very well known.. and the old man wanted to take me to lunch here.. however I stayed on the bus The entrance to In Spa in small letters it says In Spa a sign for another city we were going into these AMAZING mountains
a better view of how rocky they are if you need a mechanic, go to one of these places cool architecture at Songdo Park ( i think that's where this is) In Songdo there are signs for stuff everywhere In Songdo again - the #1st World some HUGE buildings yes, the building says I'm Nature - this sort of English is on buildings everywhere you go oh look! the POLICE! this is a cool sign in Namdong an autobody shop, the red sign in small letters says "Happy Auto Life"
i think this is the Incheon flag, they were flying everywhere we were stuck on a blocked street for a longtime, and this is what was out my window! the Munhak Stadium, some world series sort of games have been played here typical buildings and then my tour was done! and back to the subway
When I arrived at Songnae Station, i had to pee. So I tried the bathroom for the first time. Luckily I had tissue and there was also a roll outside. Talk about interesting! now, I wait for the bus when I got off at the wrong stop, I had a chance to see lots of sculptures on my walk home like this awesome one of hands! We had Nepalese food, I got the chicken korma - its drumsticks, not dramasticks and it's served in a bowl with creamy marsala sauce and i had garlic nan with it. DELICIOUS
a visual of greatness! the bread went fantastic with the curry fresh fishes anyone? these are EVERYWHERE the Batman bar haha a stop sign Bucheon, at night
Hope you are all enjoying this blog so far. I'm always impressed with how many photos I take and I bet some of them aren't as interesting to you as they are to me, but oh well. Today it is super rainy so I have no idea if I will go out, if I do it will be to something inside, for sure. No random outside walkings for me today!
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