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  • Day 4

    Not Today

    June 23, 2022 in South Korea ⋅ ☁️ 70 °F

    Last morning in Gangnam before we move onto our next spot in Namdaemun. We packed up early and I ate a lemon cream donut for breakfast. Nutritious? But delicious, yes. Besides, I didn’t want to drag donuts across town, so…

    Apparently monsoon season is set to start today and with that in mind I feared for the outdoor plans I’d wistfully made weeks ago. Looking out the hotel window, I had just one thought: “Not Today.” Today is gray, today is cloudy and today, the sky looks about ready to open up.

    We took off to the Co-ex Mall in search of a pair of sneakers Nia had had her eyes on the day after we arrived. She found herself unable to live without them but we’d made futile efforts to find the store in the maze of the mall. There was a single pair. In Cinderella-like fashion, she tried them on and the Korean-Cashier-Prince and I smiled at the perfect fit.

    We made our way to Samseong Station and stood gazing at the entangled map of colors that is the subway system. Okay, then. We can do this! And then, there he was — a kind young knight in shining glasses who simply asked, “do you need help?!” There was a brief nanosecond where, for some reason, I actually considered saying no but soon came to my senses and instead said, “I would SO appreciate your help!” I explained where we needed to go and he showed us the route before whipping out his phone and pulling up an interactive subway map to determine how long it should take us. Moments later we were on our way.

    The train came quick enough and we boarded. I reminded Nia we shouldn’t sit in the empty yellow seats designated for the elders, infirm and/or pregnant and we marveled over the fact that no one else sits there either — except said elders, infirm or pregnant! As we crossed the Han River, the rain finally started as a slow drizzle but by the time we appeared from City Hall station, it had progressed to a raging faucet. We ended up buying umbrellas for 5,000 won on our way to eat.

    We found a random spot and it turned into a great random spot! We chose snow crab and wasabi gimbap, Bipimbap and Mandu by pointing to the photos on the menu and in what seemed like no time at all, the food was ready for us. The kitchen staff were all elder women, one came and gestured to put “small, small” sauce into the Bipimbap and she giggled a few times as she helped us get our chopsticks and set up the table. The food, of course was delicious and the dumplings were likely the very best we’ve ever had. We ploughed through the entire meal and I had a quick lesson in how to compliment the chefs. My big moment came as we returned our trays— one of the elder women looked to her colleague when she realized I was about to speak to her. I assume she didn’t speak English but I told her, in faltering Korean, “aju madissoyo” and her face lit up with a smile as big as the moon, knowing now we thought the food was delicious! The rest of the women laughed with us and there were ‘gamsahamnida’s’ galore before we left. It was a moment of connection that I will long remember.

    We went underground shopping in Myeongdong, weaving in and out of small trinket stores and buying what we don’t really need. Like the pair of pants I left with because the elder woman had been so sweet to me. I didn’t feel like I could walk out the store empty handed, so…

    The level of rain we walked back to the hotel in was like no other. Even with umbrellas, everything was wet, down to the bone; looks like monsoon season really is officially here in Seoul. We got to relax in the hotel and have an early night for the first time since our arrival. I’m still hoping to be able to try on Hanbok, but unfortunately no, not today.
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  • Day 3

    Gangnam Style

    June 22, 2022 in South Korea ⋅ ⛅ 86 °F

    When Nia was five and in kindergarten, she’d come home from school every day, singing “heeeeeeey, sexy lady….” She’d break into song anywhere and everywhere and I had zero clue what she was talking about. Little did I know this was actually her introduction to K-pop, through Psy’s anthem, ‘Gangnam Style!’ It’s only fitting while we are here to check out Gangnam, y’know— where it all began 😁

    Nia’s Korean teacher, Stella arranged to pick us up and drive us around her district, or ‘gu’ and the first stop was to Bongeunsa temple. It’s a serene spot, set in what was once mountainous land, right behind the city mall — I guess once you’ve shopped ‘til you drop you can go to the temple and pray for more money. Stella did an awesome job of guiding us through the temple and explaining everything we ever wondered and even in the hot, soupy climate her patience never once wained. The amplified sound of the monks’ rhythmic chanting soothed our souls and followed us from building to building.

    We went next to lunch, which was an eye opening spread fit for queens — and just happened to be owned by a friend of Stella’s mother. Once the food arrives, it keeps arriving for quite some time! Plates upon plates of side dishes, each one expertly prepared by it’s own chef; fresh fried fish, eggplant, bean sprouts, eggs, kimchi, rice — just a handful of the sides I can remember off the top of my head, surrounding the crown jewel…bulgogi beef. And here we were, a couple of Chocolate Chips with Chopsticks, trying desperately to complete the whole meal. If it wasn’t the amount of food that would kill us, it was the cramped hands using those deadly food pincers!!! Thanks to Stella, I can now find my way around a lunch buffet.

    We drove around town — saw K-pop street and the Korean “Rodeo Drive,” before heading to view it some ancient royal tombs. With time still to spare, we crept in rush hour traffic to the Han River, where friends and families gathered for the evening. People in tents, people on bikes, old and young alike converge along the waterfront to watch the sun set as we did, eating Korean fried chicken and drinking beer, (or banana milk) in our case! Stella kept urging Nia to speak Korean and asked a young guy to practice with her — he promptly obliged but Nia was suddenly very shy and appeared to have no knowledge of such a language 🤣 I got to play ‘gawi bawi bo’ which is the Korean rock, paper, scissors and the crew were surprised and amused that I knew what it was…thank you, BTS, I knew it would come in handy some day! I received a balloon for the efforts. When we left, a young boy of maybe four years old broke away from his mother and made a beeline for me. He had the biggest smile and as he approached, he reached up his hand and I believed he was reaching for the balloon. I leaned in closer, ready to hand it to him and instead, his little hand reached for a loc of my hair, which he touched and continued on his escape! His poor mother was mortified and had no reason to be — I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world.

    When we finally got back to the hotel, we were dog tired. But on our last evening in Gangnam, I realized I hadn’t done one certain thing. So at around 11pm, I wandered down the street to find the ode to Psy — the Gangnam Style statue. I felt oddly at ease there, at past eleven pm, alone and 6,000+ miles away from home. There was a safety to be felt unlike being in my own neighborhood and it was quite a startling comparison; people walking dogs, small groups of friends chatting, a skateboarder here or a tourist there. I found the statue, lit up for the night and knew that in one day, we’d experienced the old and new, fast and slow, natural and man made, traditional and contemporary, all that is wonderful Gangnam.
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  • Day 2

    The Best Is Yet To Come

    June 21, 2022 in South Korea ⋅ ☀️ 84 °F

    The girl was awake before 3.am. Worse than that, she actually expected me to be awake too. When I finally got up, she was ready to get this shown on the road for our first full day in Seoul.

    We took off in search of breakfast and found a Starbucks among the hustle and bustle of the morning commute, which, with the benefit of hindsight wasn’t the best entry into Korean interaction. With much anxiety, we made it through and Nia actually ended up with the drink she wanted.

    Even at 9am you can feel the heat creeping up and it leads you to wonder why so many people wear black clothes here. We found our way to the Co-ex mall with a stop at McDonald’s on the way. A friend had told Nia that if she were to see one in Korea, she was to take a photo of the menu! We went in and immediately realized our first roadblock was that there was no English in the menu. Yes, I realize we’re in a foreign country but …McDonald’s! Papago for the win though— the language app I had downloaded for the trip came through for us and the counter assistant responded to “I’m sorry, I don’t speak Korean!” with, “okay?”

    The Co-ex mall was a grand place filled with fancy stores and refreshing cool air. We wandered to the Starfield Library, a central spot with shelves a story high filled with books, books and more books! It’s a beautiful place to sit, to read, or to simply people watch — and of course, the obligatory photo op!

    After a quick walk over to Samseong station we bought T-cards. Or at least attempted to, but it took a helpful stranger who instinctively came to our aid as we fumbled with the machine. Minutes later we were on our first immaculate and very quiet subway ride. We reached Jamsil station and, by trial and error the Lotte Tower where we were to meet Nia’s friend from school who lives close by. When Stephanie arrived with her father, they were excited to have us experience the best Korean beef and took us to a wonderful restaurant inside the tower.

    The food was quick to arrive. At the head of the table, the beef was cooked in front of us on what looked like an installed hot plate and the side dishes took the rest of the table space. There’s Kimchi in front of me! We found it already!!! The server brought a huge bowl of Cold Noodles and gestures to cut them with the scissors she’d also brought. I smiled at her but she was having none of that and continued to instruct, pointing to the vinegar. I was about to pour it all into my small bowl of noodles when she yelped and stopped me — then took my noodles and vinegar and dumped it back into the large bowl, stirring everything before serving me a small bowl again. I guess I got that wrong, and when I looked up, I saw she’d gotten a giggle out of it so the laugh was on me and all was well.

    After lunch, we conquered the Lotte Sky Tower, traveling by elevator at what seemed like the speed of light, to the top. The highest building in Seoul at 1,821 feet and with 23 floors it has a spectacular view of the entire city and surrounds. The glass floor is not for the faint hearted, for sure and you can guarantee Nia went out of her way to make a TikTok at the highest point.

    By the time we needed to leave, we were ready — the day had been long. And hot. And busy. We crashed pretty much as soon as we got back and at about 11.30pm, I was awake again (thanks Jet-lag) to the sounds of BTS on tv singing “The Best is Yet to Come.” I don’t know if it was a sign or not because today was really pretty great.
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  • Day 1

    Zero o’clock

    June 20, 2022 in South Korea ⋅ 🌙 72 °F

    We’re here. 6000+ miles, 15+ hours in flight and a snaffu in finding our driver — but we made it to the GLAD hotel in Seoul, South Korea!

    South. Korea!

    It’s been a long time coming and the planning stage was a beast but now we get to enjoy two weeks here in the Land of Morning Calm. A seemingly homogeneous land where VERY few look like either one of us two! This is going to be interesting. So far, even though we know we’re different it feels like it’s the cultural things that are singling us out and not necessarily the color of our skin. Nia keeps laughing at me this evening at the airport— we were going through all the protocols, showing papers when an officer asked if I had a printed Q -code (which I did) There were two lines for the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ and the officer appeared to shoo me away with two hands to the ‘have not’ line. So off I went…except he was looking at me as he had no idea where I was going. So now I attempt to go back to him and he starts to shoo me away again! Dude, which is it?!! Nia’s telling me, “mama — he’s telling to to come!” Turns out, the way in which we might beckon someone to come forward, with palm up and gesturing with fingers is used to animals in Korea and not people! His way of beckoning, two hands with palms down is the way to go…even if it looks like you want someone to leave! So now I know.

    But regardless, so far, so good. We’re loving the immaculate airport with it’s fancy hotel-like restrooms, the 3D billboards of Gangnam, the apparent safety outside at night, the vibrancy all around us and the snacks! There’s so much more I could write, but after being awake for so long, I need to finally sleep the night in a real bed. It’s almost 0:00 o’clock and after leaving yesterday morning, it’s what’s needed for an early start tomorrow!
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