New Year's in Seoul, Day One (Tuesday/Wednesday, 12/27/2011 - 12/28/2011)

Note: some of the words in parentheses are easier synonyms of more difficult words, which should hopefully make this easier to read for non-native speakers.

As many of you know, I used my winter vacation to take a short trip to Seoul, South Korea, to visit my friend Soee.  We had originally planned to see each other again during my summer vacation, but a frankly obscene (crazy) amount of work prevented (stopped) her from taking any time off this summer.  This trip was also not without snags (problems) –for one, she had been granted (given) three days off months ago, but a couple weeks before the trip she was told that she could only have one day off.  This meant that she would have to work two of the four days I would be in town, something neither of us were happy about.  Still, we resolved (promised) to make the best of it.

In order to maximize my time (have the most time) in Seoul, I had booked a flight from Narita to Incheon very early Wednesday morning, the first day of my vacation.  The plan was to leave work at about 9:30 PM Tuesday night, catch a train or bus to Koriyama and then take a night bus to Narita.  I knew that I wouldn't get much, if any, sleep, but I figured it was a small price to pay.  This plan immediately fell apart (failed) when I got to the station and found out that I had missed the last train to Koriyama by about an hour and a half.  The station agents were amazingly (very) helpful, however, and after about 20 minutes of scouring (very carefully searching) train and bus schedules managed to find me a route that would get me to Narita two hours before my plane took off.

A short time later I was in Hitachi, and all I had to do was wait for a night bus to Narita to arrive at 4:10 AM.  This was no small feat (task,) however, since that meant a five-hour wait in the freezing cold, and I had no idea which of the many bus stops my bus would arrive at.  The station agent said that it would show up in front of some hotel, but I couldn't find the hotel I thought he said.  I was able to hole up (rest) in an izakaya for a couple hours, thankfully, and get some food, hot tea and power for my phone.  The staff here was also immensely (very) helpful – they provided me with (gave me) tea after the last call for food and drinks, and got three of the cooking staff to help me try to figure out where the bus would show up.  Ultimately (in the end) we were all stumped (confused,) but I was very grateful for their assistance (help) nevertheless (anyway.)  I finally left at 1 AM with the surprisingly small bill of ¥556 (the tea was free of charge) and ventured (went) out into the cold once more.

I tried to go back to the station agent to clarify (check) which hotel he meant, but he had gone home for the night, so I tried a nearby Toyoko Inn.  The front desk clerk also had no real idea, just that it would show up somewhere in the bus lot outside the station, but she did let me stay in the lobby until it arrived.  It wasn't exactly warm there – I stayed bundled up (in warm clothes) for the next few hours – but it did give me a chance to change out of my work clothes, have a few hot caffeinated drinks out of the vending machine and do my best to relax.  I left the hotel about 3:40 AM to search for my bus again, but it was too cold to wait outside for long.  I ducked (went) into a convenience store to get one more hot drink and ask about the bus again (same answer,) then hung out inside while I watched for the bus through the window.

I tried to find out more information about the bus on my phone while I was waiting, and to my dismay (surprise) I discovered (found out) that it was a reservation-only bus.  It finally showed up on the opposite (other) side of the bus lot right on time, and I hurried over to find out if there was any way for me to get on.  Luckily, the driver had no problem with my not having a reservation and charged me ¥3200 for the ride.  I got a couple hours sleep on the bus, though I did also come down with a nasty (bad) case of motion sickness.  I spent the last half hour of the ride doing my best to keep it under control.

At long last, I arrived at Narita, and things went pretty smoothly from there.  I got checked in, exchanged money (¥20,000 for 245,000KRW, which as it turns out was not enough,) and went through security with more than enough time to spare.  I ate a pretty lousy (bad) bowl of ramen for breakfast, and after getting on the plane got another hour of sleep.  I did find out that relying entirely on (using only) electronic sources of entertainment (namely my Kindle and phone) isn't so great during the takeoff and landing parts of a flight, when everything has to be turned off.  When I landed, I also found out that Incheon's Wi-Fi wasn't much good, so I had to turn on data roaming to contact (talk to) Soee.  I turned on data roaming only when I really needed to connect to the internet and couldn't get Wi-Fi because I had no idea how expensive it would be, but I have a feeling that it's going to cost me an arm and a leg (a lot.)  I had underestimated how long it would take to get through immigration and customs and get my luggage, and ended up arriving at Seoul Station at 2:45 PM, much later than the 2 PM we had originally planned on.

Because Soee was working on Wednesday, she had her younger sister Hyun and her sister's friend Hwan meet me at Seoul Station.  Hyun's English wasn't very good, Soee had said (though she actually wasn't too bad,) and Hwan's was better, so he was coming along to help show me around.  We went from Seoul Station to Myeongdong, a major shopping and tourism area near the middle of Seoul, and dropped off my luggage at the Happy Garden Guesthouse.  We had a small communication error (problem) at the guesthouse, as Hyun and Hwan had thought that I had reserved a single room and were confused when the owners told them that my room was a four-bed dormitory room.  They didn't know how to communicate (say) this to me and eventually got Soee on the phone.  I assured (explained to) them that I had intended (planned) to get the dormitory and that it was perfectly fine (okay) with me, solving the problem.  After that, we wandered (walked) through the mazes (confusing streets) of shops and restaurants and had a dish of chicken, noodles, potatoes, and carrots in a soy sauce broth for lunch (I don't know the name of it.)

I learned a few interesting things about Korean eating habits here.  A typical place setting is a spoon and metal (not wooden) chopsticks on a paper napkin, tissue or toilet paper (yes, you read that right – toilet paper has more uses here, and sometimes a roll of it is put on the table.)  Because there are no knives, scissors are often used to cut up noodles or large pieces of meat or vegetables.  Also, a wide array (many kinds) of side dishes are generally served, notably (especially) kimchi, and people aren't expected to eat everything on the table.  At home, whatever isn't eaten is simply put away and put back out at the next meal.  Families usually don't talk during the meal and tend to (usually) eat very quickly.  At first, my hosts thought that I didn't like the food because I was eating more slowly and talking throughout the meal, but I made sure to let them know that everything was delicious.  They weren't used to talking during the meal themselves, though they wanted to try doing things the American way.

After lunch, we visited Myeongdong Cathedral, the largest in Seoul.  They had a very nice nativity scene out front and a large statue of Mary (though they call her Maria in Korea) in the back.  There was also a glass case with many lit candles near the statue; we took one of the unlit candles and lit it using one of the other candles, then made a wish.  The inside of the cathedral was very dark, but it was quite magnificent (beautiful.)  One interesting culture quirk (trait) is that they usually leave up all the Christmas decorations until after New Year's, so there were huge Christmas trees and other displays all over Seoul.

Next, we went north to Insadong, another popular area for shopping and tourism.  It had started to rain a little bit earlier, so we had grabbed umbrellas, and at this point the rain turned into sleet.  We ducked into a sweets shop to chat then wait out the weather, where we had some traditional Korean rice snacks and citron tea.  Hyun and Hwan were eager to talk and ask questions, despite their very limited (low level of) English.  They often had to pause (stop) to translate a word or phrase on their phones, but overall we communicated (talked) quite well.  Hwan also disappeared (left) at one point and returned (came back) a short while later with a gift: a traditional Korean fan that I had admired (looked at) in a souvenir shop.  I was very thankful for his thoughtfulness and generosity!

When the weather cleared up a little (got better,) we wandered around Insadong some more for a while.  I saw some nice possibilities for souvenirs, but hadn't brought my bag (or my camera, probably because I was sleep-deprived) and didn't feel like carrying anything at that point.  We also walked down the Avenue of Gold and Silver, a street lined with jewelry shops, and browsed (looked) through a large bookstore.  They showed me a few English textbooks in a very large ESL section (they looked difficult,) and I saw a Korean translation of Michael Sandel's Justice with a DVD of the lectures.  Soee and I had started watching and discussing (talking about) it months ago, though we only finished the first half of episode 2. I was surprised to see many couples walking hand-in-hand or arm-in-arm, as I had read that public displays of affection were a big no-no (bad) here.  However, I was informed (told) that it was fine for couples, but non-couples don't touch at all.  I talked to Soee a little on the phone that evening, and there was a remote possibility (very small chance) that she might finish work early and come out to join us, but ultimately she didn't and I was far (much) too tired by that point to stay up much later.

For dinner, we went back to Myeongdong and ate at what Hyun and Hwan said was a well-known noodle shop.  It was similar to ramen, but with a chicken soup base, and was served with the spiciest kimchi I've ever had.  It was delicious!  Hyun tried to water it down (make it less spicy) for me, but I assured her that I would be fine.  She stared at me with frank amazement (great surprise) the whole time I was eating it, as if she was expecting me to burst into flames.  She was just as surprised when I asked for a refill!  A pair of tourists at the next table came over to us for help because they couldn't read the menu and didn't want anything with seafood, so we gave them a brief hand (helped them for a short time.)  In the end they gave up and left, but we did our best.  Hyun and Hwan had refused to let me pay for anything all day, which I later learned was because Soee had given them one of her credit cards.  (Credit and cards in general are much bigger in Korea than they are in Japan; while Japan is almost entirely cash-based, my hosts carried next to no cash on them at any time.)

I was pretty beat (tired) after dinner, so we called it a night and headed back to the guesthouse.  I said good night to my tour guides and went inside, where I met some of the other people staying there.  There weren't any other male guests, so I ended up having the room to myself both nights.  I met a few nice young women from China (with 'Western' names like Grace and Julia) who were studying Korean in the city and spoke really good English.  The bathroom here didn't have a bathtub or shower stall, just a showerhead attached to the wall and a drain in the floor.

I finally got a shower, shave and brushed my teeth for the first time in close to 24 hours, then collapsed into bed.  I'd arranged to meet up with Soee the next morning at 10 AM, and I needed to get all the sleep I could for tomorrow.