may 22nd, 2022--8:51am and waiting for T to wake up
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on may 14th, T, E and i went to everland! it was a bit of a late start with us being tired in the morning. we went to eat brekky at a spot T and i had gone to before, where the breakfast is very american style--i had a waffle and it was so good! full of fruits :D there was also a cupsleeve event happening for a musical actor--ihwa dong is full of musical actor events!
we then travelled to everland using a taxi! it was such a long and bumpy ride T-T i got motion sickness before we even reached everland and got to go on any rides!
it was quite busy but i'd say not to an extent that it was bothersome? the waiting times were pretty long, up to an hour, but the lines would move so quickly as everything was so efficient. the park was also just so large that the business was not noticeable.
T and E wanted to go on a viking ride first. going on even just the swings makes me feel sick, so i decided to sit out. i had to eait for an hour so i walked around and scoped things out! it's kind of like disneyland but there were a lot of pretty flower gardens and stuffs >_<
still... a lot of uphills and on such a warm day,, it killed me T-T
i went back and stood by the ride for half an hour. i didn't notice i was standing by a smoker's pit, and that gave me a headache so i was grumpy for the rest of my wait. but when T and E got off, they were super nice! they told me we can go on any ride i want.. i found this pretty chill ride in the kids' area (oh yeah,, i'm not the best with rides >_< i have to warm up to them!). it went backwards the whole way and was train-themed. honestly, i thought it woukd be scary, but it wasn't at all! it was more just fun and chill !!
we walked around a bit and ate some pasta at a restaurant. T found a hair in her pizza so they gave us a completely new one! they were really kind and apologetic.
everland has this big killer ride that you can see from anywhere in the park. T and E love rides, so of course they wanted to go on it. i'm definitely not on that level yet. if you know canada's wonderland.. this ride was like my leviathan. i think the biggest ride i've been on at wonderland is maybe the mine buster T-T this ride was like the mine buster but so much bigger and longer.. a bit smaller than the leviathan but when we reched the drop, i could see the whole park !
so yeah, spoiler, i rode it.
my knees were so weak as i waited in line, but it was amusing seeing other people so scared for their lives, too. it was like hey ! we're all in this together !!!
on the ride, T sat next to me and held my hand. i warned her, i warned T and E that when i'm on a ride,, my screams don't sound like me. i have a bit of a more low toned voice but my screams come out like Haruto's (if you know him?). he's very low-toned but screams like a 12-year old T-T
the whole ride, i was fearing for my life while T laughed next to me because my screams were apparently hilarious. that ride was so damn long it just wouldn't end !
i hated every second but i was glad i did it. since i paid ₩64,000 to get in, i was like hey, gotta get my money's worth!
we went on another big ride that had a few loops. E sat next to me and this one and even held my hand? the rascal.
that one was more bearable because it was shorter.
oh! i forgot to mention that everland has a zoo, so we took a look at the animals ! i found han jisung (quokka) and E was way too impressed by the capybaras. they had this gated area where alpacas and capybaras were freely roaming, and the capybara literally walked right past us!
sadly, we missed the sea lions and pandas. T was sad but i was content!
we went to a gift shop before leaving (everland has the cutest souveniers. p.s. E and T wore matching headbands .... yikes)
we took the bus home and it was a bumpy ride (stream super bumpy by wei). we were exhausted when we got home but it was a fun day !! we got some snacks from the convenienve store to eat at home before we slept :-]
may 15th was YOSHINORI DAY! i found some cafés in advance and though i was so dead and tired, i managed to leave the house at 1pm after having toast for breakfast. the cafés were oddly far apart so it was a lot of walking for such a warm day, and especially for the day after wonderland, i was truly dead.
the cafés were busy and that made me happy?? usually, i've never seen them this busy. for Yoshi to be getting this much love cheered me up ^^
i saw Tina, a friend of a friend of a friend (ㅠㅠ) ! she looked pretty, as always ♡_♡ i was near hapjeong and the yg café is by there, so i made my way there and a lot of people were waiting by the yg building for treasure. i went into the yg café to buy stuff first--treasure had new merch and i wanted to cop! everything was sold out except for the photobook but it was still such a good purchase ☆_☆ it came with so many things..
after that, i joined everyone in waiting and mamaged to see ikon T-T all 6 members! they had finished a schedule and were tired, but seeing Bobby prance inside the building like that made my day:")
i waited a bit more but my body was aching because i was carrrying around my laptop and everything, plus the photobook and Yoshi day goods, so i just went home.
near hyehwa, i went to a curry place. it was reallu good ♡_♡
below are some rough drafts of logs i didn't get to finish,, but i still wnated to upload thos T-T
may 19th, cu breakfast (T made me run!!!), waterfall, viewing point of lava rocks, eat at pasta and omlet, more waterfalls + solo with Annie to last waterfall, onol café, yacht tour, black pork bbq
may 20th, tea museum, innisfree, chungchundang meat croquet,, yum!, to a flower garden/botanical garden, lots of gifts for friends, food market and jokbal, crab cheese, hallabong
may 21st, check our and go up north to new hotel, go to beach, Aileen lost t money card :( Annie brought melted ice cream, ate chicken there and got a duck floatie, came back and went out for seafood
may 22nd, cu breakfast, feet hurting like crazy, went
reporting live from the worst day ever ^^ well, maybe it's an exaggeration.. but let me skip to the worst part. ah, well all of today was bad. so let's start from the top. at 5:30am, T's alarm went off in our jeju hotel. i don't even remember the name of the hotel.. T-T covernant? governant? it was fancy.. but the utilities were so little.. anyways! we rushed to pack and had to squeeze a lot into our small suitcases. T gave me a teabag to shove in and i had to hold her oranges.
i've realized one of my biggest pet peeves is holding people's stuff for them. putting your stuff in my bag because your bag isn't big enough. making me hold your things. it's okay if it's once every now and then, but when i tell you i was abused on this jeju trip and told to hold people's things constantly just so they could have a whole photoshoot or run to the bathroom. of course, i always bring a large bag because i know i'll need it, and these girls asked me to stuff their whole lives in their cause their tight little purses wouldn't fit their water bottles and portable chargers.
it's okay if it's one time but next time, bring a bigger bag. i don't care if it ruins your look. if i'm making a bigger bag work, then so can you.
anyways, somehow we left. my foot still aches like a ,,, [swear word] ,,, so i'm limping and T is speeding ahead. these last 2 days, everyone was always speeding ahead. i think only Annie would wait for me from time to time. i felt so neglected..
we missed our bus and the next one came an hour later, so we got a taxi, or else we'd miss the flight. i paid for the taxi because i felt bad for asking T to check out, but lowkey why did i feel bad? maam always asking me to hold her stuff and order food for her everywhere,, i should've been proud i spoke my mind for once!
at the airport, we check our bags and T goes to the gate while i go to 7 eleven for breakdast. i bought bbang (bread), triangle gimbap and a hershey's choco milk (heavenly, truly). then i hobble back and we board.
someone was supposed to sit in our window seat but there was no one, so T and i had extra room. T knocked out right away but i was mostly awake, listening to Eric Nam's there and back again.
once we arrived we took the 601 straight to our place. it was an hour bus ride and i was separated from T while we rode, since it was a little packed. it was boiling hot when we got off and i don't know by what kind of strength we hauled our suitcases up the uphills and to our rooms but we did!
i only had time to finish eating (since on the plane i only ate my bread,, cause of covid i felt so uncomfy eating) and use the bathroom, pack my bag and leave.
we went straight to class.
we took our korean class and then i remembered i need to apply for my insurance exclusion. basically, since i have my registration card now, i'm enrolled for korean insurance. but i have private insurance, so i needed to show them this so i could be exempt from paying the korean insurance (₩50, 000 per month).
i took my last class of the day on zoom as i took the bus home to grab my documents, then walk to dongdaemun and subway to sindorim to go to the nhis centre for foreign residents.
i went into the wrong building and asked for directions--someone kindly redirected me. then, in the right building, i didn't know which floor and had to ask again.
up to the third floor i went! i had to get a ticket and wait in line, i was #313... and was faced with a middle aged man. i showed him my documents and he said i need to get korean translations and come back. my whole heart dropped. it had been such a long day up to that point and i had skipped class to go there. so i asked why he couldn't just look at a papago translation. he said no, i need paper translations. i told him i'm out of time--i was required to pay for the nhis by may 25th, 2 days from now, and don't have time to come back. he said it's fine if i come back later.
i walked away with tears in ny eyes. it had been such. a long. day.
but i didn't want to give up.
i took the subway to a print café so i could print papago translations. honestly, had this been a younger version of me, i would've headed home and cried. i guess i've got some meat on me now--i know how to take things when it all falls apart.
at the print café, i didn't know how to print because everything was in korean. luckily, someone else was in there, too, and i asked them for help. she was so nice and made sure i got everything printed correctly. even though no use came of the documents, i'm still so grateful. she was the first person to show me such kindness that day.
i say 'that day' as if this didn't all literally happen today. it feels like a week ago because of how long the day was.
i took the subway back and the nhis was empty, no wait time! i was met with another middle aged man who asked for my documents.
let me tell you these people spoke no english. in a foreign centre. no. english.
i used my my broken korean and there was still miscommunication. according to him, my insurance is supposed to cover 1 billion dollars. it only covers 5 million dollars, but this made no sense to me. 1 billion dollars is way too high an amount. i kept asking him if he meant 1 billion won, which would be 1 million dollars. he said no, it's dollars. i'm still sure he's wrong, because i remember it being 1 million dollars of coverage that was required.
it wasn't getting through to him, so he gave me a bill for ₩100,000 and told me to pay it at ny bank. i'm pissed and upset and frustrated at this point because it's taken a lot to get there and i have paid $1000 for travel insurance only to pay 100 more.
i accepted defeat and left. only to be met with the hell that is the korean subway durinf rush hour. when i say we were packed like sardines i mean so packed that i could feel everyone's limbs on every part of me. i was pushed and shoved and thrown around and close to tears because it's been such a long day and i just. want. to go. home.
nonetheless, i had to endure it. i got off at hyehwa and went straight to my favourite karaoke spot. it was a weekday so a lot of rooms were free. i sang my heart out to some day6 songs, yelling to clear my head.
i felt a lot better afterward ^^
i honestly had no appetite to eat.. i didn't want to eat but thought i should, since i had only eaten bread and gimbap so far. i found a place called 미정국수. it was downstairs and i accidentally went upstairs at first to a tarot place.
downstairs, these two ladies were running the place. i ordered at a kiosk and honestly don't even remember what i bought! it was a small space but not too busy. i sat at one of those tables that face the kitchen and stretch around.
the food was heavenly :") it was such a large portion for only ₩6,000 and there were a lot of veggies in there.
i headed home after that and went to gongcha for a jeju matcha milk tea. it honestly didn't hit the same, but at this point i was feeling a lot better. my family didn't answer my calls this day and i felt so isolated as T was busy with yet another friend of hers who is visiting from canada (shes a sweetie!). yet, i made the most of it.
that's what i love about seoul. it's so easy to cheer yourself up because there's so much to do! cheap eats, karaoke.. everything so nearby, too.
also, i'm learning that i can be alone. i can do it. it just takes a little more effort and holding out. i held out through all the tears and pain, many months i was feeling so alone and now i'm fine. it's been a month now of me feeling okay and comfy here--not alone and not dying for friends. i'm okay being alone here. i'n okay eating on my own and finding things to do on my own.
if i can do it... so can you ♡
p.s. the laundry machine is broken and i have to find a laundromat.. all my clothes are dirty because jeju T-T
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