Last month this hour, I think, I was buying toilet paper and other stuff for the new life in this urban city.
To be honest, at first I planned to write a blog then I thought that maybe photo will be enough but now I wanna write again. If not for other people then for myself so that I’d never forget.
For me to be able to come here many kilometres away from my country is a miracle itself. My parents and my whole family is a miracle. I will thank them for the rest of my life for believing in me, for giving me this opportunity. We don’t shit money, we don’t spend it on whatever we want and yet my parents and my brother managed to send me to South Korea. I thank them, I thank God, I thank everyone. Thank you.
Now back to the Seoul...
The first thing I noticed after landing was people on escalators. There was a wide path to go with luggage and yet, people crowded the escalator and moved slowly while we passed them by just normal walking. And this pattern repeats everywhere where’s an elevator/escalator. They will better wait for 10-15minutes the go into crowded place than walk the stairs. We have classes on the 8th floor and use elevator for that and everytime I get sick. That’s how much Im not used to them.
Second one was the smell. It’s just different from Lithuanian one. The streets, the perfume smells different. The air is much heavier, the streets smell either fumes, sewers or some kind of food (mostly boiling oil) and the perfume emanates smell of different types of herbs/flowers that I was used to. It’s not bad, it’s just strange how I felt lost just because of smell. It kind feels like the “family/house” smell, when you got to your friends/acquaintance house and it has that smell but you can’t identify smell of your house and you don’t know how other people “smell” your house... Same happened here. It just felt different and new.
Speaking of smells, some girls in the goshiwon I live cook some special dishes that smell like worn out socks/homeless people. It smells REALLY bad to us, I wonder whether it smells bad to them too...
Third, PRICES and consumerism. You buy 2 of this, you get 1 free. You buy this gallon of milk, you get the second one half the price. Buy 10 for 10.000 won, get 10 free. I haven’t seen in my life other place where you would sign a contract with a telephone firm and get 12 rolls of toilet paper for free or a pack of 6 ramyeon packs... Also, prices 2-3 times higher than in Lithuania - cultural shock.... The faster ou realize this, the less you spend on stuff you don’t even need. We’re kinda glad of our neighbourhood - near university, near 3 big markets, Noryangjin fish market, near Daiso. Remember kids, Daiso is your saviour for small things like pillows, blankets, bowls, etc....
Forth would be the taste. I haven’t eaten enough of Korean dishes but the ones I had (including snacks) were either bland, sweet or hot. Chicken and pancakes were too oily for me while the soup was too greassy. I like sweet stuff but here everything is too sweet. Even water is sweet (talking about water, it’s REALLY bad for our skins....I didn’t need any body oils/creams for the skin back at Lithuania, here I’m planning to buy one). Be prepared if you don’t like any of these tastes.
It might seem that I hate this country. No, not for now at least (I hope that stays forever). I like some old streets, I like how it’s quiet in there.
I like little shops and bars in Hongdae. Each and everyone of them is different and unique.
I like how you can find peace and quiet in the middle of the busy city. We went to the cemetary (for homework) through the path on the mountain near our university (thought it’ll be a shortcut... oh dear... it wasn’t...) and, although, my friend got tired early, i was happy. I was happy with the nature, with the air. Later we found a little temple (photos bellow) and ate our luch by the pond with Koi carps. It was magical.
I like the lights at the night. But at th same time I hate how they block the stars...
I think it’ll be more than enough for this entry. April might be quite a busy month. Can’t wait for that.
Spent some time in the afternoon by the pond with koi carps near a little Buddhist temple. Never had I imagined that I’ll be eating sandwiches and watching koi carps at the same time. Finally felt relaxed in Seoul.
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