Saturday was a day for shopping. I went to E-mart and Home-ever and got myself situated. I now have a cd player, a coffee maker and a blender. Life is so good. I only had two cds because I forgot to pack my cd case, but still it was better than the endless silence.
I've been drinking coffee mix, an instant coffee that has the creamer, sugar and coffee all in one convenient little package. It is ok, but not real coffee. Well, as soon as I got home with my purchases, I of course, made some coffee. I made it really strong, put in lots of sugar and milk, and then buzzed around the apartment for a while. I guess the coffee mix doesn't really have much caffeine. Cindy my boss came by the apartment, and we talked for while and I made her some of my strong coffee. She likes to travel too, and we talked about that, and it was most pleasant. My apartment is coming along. I need some plants now.
Sunday I went to downtown Seoul to meet Kristen, my neighbor from KC. I left early, went to Kyobo bookstore and bought a Korean language book to study (still unopened as of this date) and a fun book. I also added to the music collection.
I went to Seoul station and met up with Kristen, and we decided to find Insadong. It is a very famous antique market. We got off on the wrong exit from the wrong subway station, but decided to walk to it, despite the heat. Well we found the jewelry road (here the streets have no name, but each road has the same stuff, so you can give directions by saying, ok turn right at the lamp road, and then go to the house stuff road. Turn left at the office furniture road, etc. ) So went went up and down jewelry road, and then found a shaded sidewalk next to a park, and looked at all the street vendor's things. Then we found another road with an outdoor market, and we found a great place to get chicken on a stick but we never did find Insadong.
We decided that since we found a subway that was on the same line as Sinchon, we would go there. Sinchon is a fairly cool fashionable area with lots of little shops selling all kinds of funky little things, hair dressers, coffee shops, and restaurants. I know how to order a lot of things, but where we went we really didn't know what was what. So we did what any intrepid traveler does, and took the waiter to another table and pointed to what they had. It was a beef rib stew, with mushrooms, pineapples, apples, potatoes and thin noodles. It also had a very very spicy gravy. Oh my god, it was good, while you were eating it, it tasted wonderful and a little bit sweet, but after you swallowed it was like your mouth was on fire.
We decided yogurt drinks were in order when we left. We sat outdoors and watched the people go by, but for some reason I became a freak magnet. All these weird people would stop and stare at me, or try to talk to me in Korean. It was weird, because there are a lot of westerners in Seoul, and you don't really get stared at much most of the time. Then the cutest little black dog even put his head up and stared at me. We of course started laughing. Then I got on the bus back home, and put on my new cds, poured a glass of wine, and drifted off to sleep (it was a good sleep too, because my sinuses were very clear after dinner)
Monday we got lost trying to find the bank where you pay your bills. But eventually we found it, paid up then got an ice coffee and went back to work. My serious scholar didn't smile, but my last class went very well, there is a new student and he is making my lazy boy work. I found a place to get some clothes repaired and hemmed, and all in all it was a very good day.
Cindy and Fiona made a bet with me. If the Koreans win the gold in swimming today (Tuesday) then we (Steve the New Yorker and I) will pay for fried chicken for our evening snack. If the Americans win then Cindy and Fiona have to pay. We will all go in if someone else wins.
And so it goes.
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