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.
I woke up on Thursday morning a little earlier than I had
expected, and since I was all cleaned up from the night before, I decided to
try my hand at solving a long-running problem: updating my iPhone. For whatever reason, my phone refuses to
update on my laptop, and I've been trying to get it updated for the past few
months with no success. I had thought
that I would need to go to an Apple Store in Tokyo, but when I noticed that the
guesthouse's computers had iTunes, I decided to try updating it here. It was a little tricky, what with the menus
being in Korean and all, but I managed to get it updated with relatively little
trouble.
This did cause two problems, unfortunately. Because I hadn't backed up my phone, it erased
all my apps (though thankfully not my app data,) so I had to reinstall many of
the apps I was planning on using on this trip.
The bigger problem I only discovered when I got home and synced my phone
with my laptop – about 90 pictures I took with my phone and two videos were
erased because my phone was restored to finalize (finish) the update process on
my computer. I am glad to have this
phone problem resolved (for now,) though I'm really going to miss those lost
pictures. UPDATE: thanks to a tip from a
friend, I managed to find about 68 of the lost pictures that were taken after I
updated on iCloud. The videos and
pictures I took before I updated, however, appear to be gone forever.
Soee was running a little bit late, so instead of meeting at
Myeongdong Station she came up to the guesthouse at around 11 AM. Cultural differences made themselves known
again as I tried to greet her with a hug and a peck on the cheek, but she just
wanted a handshake. I later apologized
for my faux pas (mistake,) but she told me not to worry about it and that it
was just Korean culture not to do those things.
Our first stop was North Seoul Tower, which was at the top of the hill
very close to the guesthouse. The ground
was still icy in places from the sleet yesterday, and even though I hadn't slipped
on the ice then (though I had joked that I was doing more skating than
walking,) I took a spill almost as soon as we started going up the trail. I wasn't hurt and just got my hand dirty, so
I wiped it off and kept going. It was my
only slip the whole time I was in Seoul, though I was more careful from that
point on. My shoes weren't exactly made
for icy weather.
We could have taken a bus or lift up to the top, but it was
a lovely morning and it wasn't too cold (yet,) so we decided to hike up to the
tower. I'd only eaten a red bean bun at
the guesthouse for breakfast, so Soee got out a snack (the amusingly named
'barley yeast hardtack,' a sort of light cracker) for us to munch on (eat)
while we walked. We found out a short
while later that we were going the wrong way, and after Soee asked for
directions we got on the right path. As
the tower came into view, Soee told me about the rotating French restaurant at
the top of the tower. Apparently, it's
very popular for marriage proposals and celebrating major events, and gives the
patrons (customers) a magnificent (great) view of Seoul. Somewhat unfortunately, it was a little too foggy to see much, but it was still a nice view. I joked that the fog had followed me from San Francisco!
We also saw an amazing group of fake Christmas trees made
from a huge collection of locks and plastic heart-shaped notes.
In Korean culture, if you write a wish on the
lock and clip it onto something, your wish will come true.
According to Soee, they started to do this on
a nearby series of railings a few years ago.
The railings have almost completely filled up already, so they erected (put
up) the frames for the trees to give people more room to make their wishes.
On the way down, I asked about a large,
rounded pile of stones; Soee said that it was very similar, with a wish being
made every time a stone is placed.
Next, we headed to Namdaemun Market, a famous shopping area
that is both gigantic (really big) and mazelike (very confusing.)
I was glad to have Soee showing me around,
because I got lost almost immediately.
Another interesting quirk (trait) of Seoul (and maybe Korea in general)
is the huge number of street vendors, selling everything from clothes to food,
purses to phone accessories and more. I
passed up on a lot of interesting-looking street food because I wanted to find
somewhere to sit down and warm up.
Eventually, Soee found the food section and we stopped for lunch. I was curious about an odd-looking purple sausage
that I had seen at a street vendor, so she ordered that and tteokbokki, a chewy
rice cake in a spicy red sauce. Apparently,
it's a very popular snack and lunch food, though most foreigners hate it because
of the texture. It reminded me a lot of
a savory and spicy mochi, and I rather liked it, which surprised Soee. Not for the last time, she joked that I must
really be Korean!
The sausage turned out
to be sundae, a Korean noodle and blood/black pudding sausage. No relation to the ice cream dish, just a
similar name!
After lunch, we explored Namdaemun Market a little more. I bought a small souvenir for my family, and
we pressed (moved) through a massive (really big) underground marketplace full
of imported American products, clothes, jewelry, accessories, etc.
We emerged (came out) close to the Bank of
Korea, and Soee wanted to show me their currency museum, but unfortunately the
exhibit was closed for renovations until January 2nd. We were close to one end of Cheonggyecheon Waterway,
an extensive (big) concrete stream that runs through a large part of Seoul, so
we went over to see the enormous (really big) Christmas tree and small
artificial waterfall there. I also threw
a coin into a small basin and made a wish.
I know that there is no small amount of wishing in Western culture, but
it was interesting to encounter at least four examples of wishing behaviors in
Korean culture while I was there.
Our next stop was Gyeongbokgung, a relatively small portion
of what was once a sprawling (really big) palace complex for Korea's
royalty. A very large chunk of the
complex was destroyed during the Japanese occupation, and there are now roads
and buildings where many of the old structures used to be. We went inside the nearby museum and looked
at a map of the original complex, as well as many of the recently-returned
Joseon-era books that were removed from Korea during the Japanese
occupation.
We had planned on buying
tickets to see the rest of the palace structures, but it was just after 4 PM
and the ticket office had closed for the day.
Instead, we took a bus to Changgyeonggung, another part of the palace
complex. We spent a couple hours
chatting in a small café here because it was so cold outside, and finally left
when it closed. I surprised Soee again
by ordering ssanghwacha, a dark, strong, traditional medicinal tea that Hwan
had gotten for me the previous day when I mentioned my sore throat. It's very strong and rich, but healthy and
(in my opinion) tasty!
I took the subway a few times during my trip, and I was very
impressed with the Korean subway system.
Instead of using paper tickets, you get a plastic card from the ticket
machine. To cover the cost of the card,
you pay a 500 KRW deposit in addition to your fare. After completing your trip, you put your card
into a refund machine and get your deposit back. I didn't know about this the first time and
accidentally threw my card away, but after that I got it right. The ticket machines and signs are all in
English, so it's relatively easy to figure out what to do. Once you have your card, you swipe it over a
card reader and go through the turnstile; exiting at your destination deducts
the fare from your card. You can also
use a credit card directly on the card reader instead of using it to buy a
ticket; credit cards can be used this way on the bus as well. Another interesting thing they did was put up
a plastic wall between the platform and the tunnel, which prevents people from
falling into or otherwise going down onto the tracks. The walls are transparent, so you can see
your train coming, and have a separate set of doors that open when the train
doors do. In addition, to help you gauge
how long you'll be waiting, they have displays that show you where the next
train is. It's all very high-tech,
efficient and well-thought out.
There was an art museum near the café, so we went inside and
spent a short time looking at a free exhibit of Korean abstract art. Neither of us could make heads or tails of it
and weren't really all that interested in abstract art, so we didn't stay
long. Our path then took us down Stone Wall
Road (so named because of the big stone wall, though I forget the Korean name,)
which Soee said was popular with couples because it's said that people who walk
the road will never be broken apart. I'd
expressed an interest in trying bulgogi, a well-known Korean beef dish, so we
headed back to Myeongdong to find a place that served it. We were also trying to find a place for Soee
to recharge her phone because she had to return a call to her office. We didn't end up finding any bulgogi – we
even got seated at one point and tried to order it off the menu, only to be
told that they didn't have it that night – so we went to a nearby Korean
barbecue restaurant instead.
Korean barbecue is really very interesting. In the middle of each table is a slightly
tilted griddle, and you're given raw meat, vegetables, kimchi, lettuce leaves,
and some dipping sauces. You put the
meat on the high end, the vegetables in the middle and the kimchi on the low
end so that the juices from the cooking meat move down and help cook everything
else. Once the ingredients are cooked
enough, you use the scissors at the table to cut it all up into manageable
(small) pieces. Then, you put a few
things in a lettuce leaf, ball it up and do your best to stuff the whole thing
in your mouth. You can also add garlic,
green peppers and a little salad if you like.
It was easily one of the best meals I had in Seoul!
I was feeling pretty worn out after dinner, but I wasn't
quite ready to call it a night just yet.
We explored Myeongdong a little more, and in particular got a very nice
view of the market streets at night from the top floor of a large department
store. We also worked out our plans for
tomorrow: I would check out of the guesthouse and take a taxi to Soee's
family's apartment, have lunch there with her mom and Hyun, then hang out until
Soee finished work. We had originally
planned on me taking the subway, but after talking about the size of my
luggage, Soee decided that a taxi would probably be much easier. I decided about this time that I was too
pooped (tired) to continue, so we went back to the guesthouse and said goodbye
for the night. I wound up moving to a different
room that night because, as one of the women put it, there were going to be
about six girls in all the other rooms and no other guys. I didn't really mind, since it meant that I
got a room to myself again, though they did stay up pretty late talking and
watching TV. I don't think I got a
really good night's sleep the whole time I was in Korea, but I was really happy
to get to spend time with Soee again.
No comments:
Post a Comment