Mugs in Seoul Day 1: On Your Left
After being in China for 3 months I am finally in Seoul! I know I haven’t exactly been consistent about uploading anything, but I’ll have extra tie while I’m here, so I’m planning on writing at least a little something everyday, and then at the end I’ll put them all together into one megapost on my actual blog: howimetmyselfblog,wordpress.com. Shameless self-promotion, I know.
First, I have to admit I was really nervous about coming to Seoul, and still haven’t completely shaken them. You see, when going to China, I had already had a year of studying Mandarin, so I could marginally communicate with people. When it comes to Korean, I know like 2 phrases: “hello” and “no,” (Annyeonghaseyo and aniya, respectively). Yet, I love a good challenge, so yesterday at 5am I made the treck to the airport, and spent over 24 hours getting to Seoul from Xiamen (it was the cheapest flight with awful flight times). My flight from Xiamen to Hong Kong was delayed nearly 3 hours, and this was after we had already boarded. My flight from Hong Kong to Seoul was also delayed after we had boarded, but only for an hour and a half. Maybe, I was mostly asleep.
Fast forward to actually getting here! I navigated the railway and managed to get to my hostel by myself! Do you realize how exciting that is?! I was so proud in that moment.
One of the reasons that I am here in Seoul is to visit a friend that was an exchange student living in my residence hall last year. I missed her so much! And, because of my lack of cell phone data, I actually left the hostel to go explore on my own, not realizing that she was on her way there to see me! So after many failed attempts, we finally met up, and caught up with each other over coffee ice shavings and red bean topping. Yum! During this time, we make a list of all of the things I need to do while in Seoul. Do you realize how long this list is?! Thankfully, all but one of them is free, I just have to pay railway fare, which is little more than 1 USD.
Since she had class that night, we went on an adventure today to find me an adapter for my computer, because although I have one for China and a separate one for Hong Kong, I didn’t have one for South Korea. Along the way we tried some yummy pasta samples, found some Cool Ranch Doritos (oh how I missed thee!), and worked on my mission for Oreo O’s. Did you know that South Korea is the only country that they are currently selling in? Well, we get to the E Mart and I find this:
There are no Ore O’s to be found! I was sorely disappointed, but I still have 4 more days to find them. We also went looking across Seoul for an adapter and FINALLY found one after my friend’s hard work. What would I do without her? (I wouldn’t be typing this on my computer, for one…). After all that, we still had enough time for a yummy dinner!
Bulgogi and Bibimbap! My favorite!
Now, I am absolutely exhausted. Getting through airports and walking all around a city really takes a toll on the body. But, I will solve one mystery for you readers. You’re probably wondering why the title of this first installment is “On Your Left.” Well, you see, when you are on the railway, and you are about to come up to a station, the announcer will always tell you - in both Korean and English - what station you are coming to, and what side the door will be opening on. You guessed it, it’s almost always “on your left.”
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