Finishing up the Seoul Chapter

What in the world is it about flying that makes me want to write so much?! I suppose, and maybe I’ve said this before, that actually having time where I can’t surf the internet, I can’t really GO anywhere, means that I have time to actually spend with my thoughts. And it’s just my personality that I want to write when I think… Anyway, I’m on my way home from Korea now. What a wonderful trip.

Honestly, I knew I’d enjoy being back in Korea but you know how sometimes you hype something up and then it just doesn’t live up to expectations? You tell everyone its great because you can’t admit you spent that much time/money on an experience and it’s actually kind of a let down. And its worse because you yourself had such high expectations for it. I was a bit nervous that this would be one of those… 

But, it wasn’t! The whole trip was exactly perfect. For one thing, I love Jessica. She was the perfect hostess and travel companion. I never got sick of her (which is amazing for me, spending two weeks with ANYONE can get old… I need Chelsea time!), and we have a really great balance of personality. She is laid back, go with the flow (but not too much!), and I’m the crazy type-A that needs to plan every day. I was able to allow myself time to recharge and relax because she didn’t mind doing the same. 

It was also nice that I’d been there before and knew exactly what I wanted to do. I never felt like I wasted time, because I had the things on my list that I wanted to do/see, and I was able to do those while also actually relaxing. Relaxation can be hard for me sometimes! This is true in all aspects of my life: if I’m not accomplishing something, somehow, I am wasting time. But that’s not true. This trip was a great time for me to get away from work, get away from real life, and not only enjoy one of my favorite places, but also to simply RELAX.

Being back in Seoul itself was great. I generally try to not go back to places I’ve been before. After all, if I’m going to spend thousands of dollars to go somewhere, I feel like I should go somewhere new! Add to my ever-growing list of countries I’ve been to. And I felt a little like that for this trip. The side-trip to Japan actually was perfect for that reason. I was able to go somewhere new, while also enjoying a city that I love. 

I have a lot of memories in Seoul, obviously. Since I’ve been back in the states, I’ve missed being in Seoul. There are so many things that are amazing about living there! Being back was a strange kind of closure, a year and a half after leaving it. I was able to come back and enjoy what I missed, but also realize that I’m actually exactly where I need to be in life, both physically as well as professionally. Being back in Korea (to live), while fun, wouldn’t be the right move for me. I love Austin, and I love my job. I know I’m in the right place.

Spending a little more time in Seoul was great also, because it gave me a chance to reflect on my time living there, the myriad of experiences and memories I’d made, and realize that no matter where I am in life, I’ll always have those, and Seoul will always have a part of my heart. I hadn’t realized it, but I don’t think I ever got “closure” when I left. In a way, I did. In a way that I was able to cope with leaving, but this trip kind of cemented it. So many complex emotions going on!

Anyway, this is a short entry, I just wanted to jot down how great I’m feeling, despite leaving. I feel like I got everything I wanted to out of the trip, and I’m very much looking forward to going home, being in my own space, and having a bit of Chelsea time!

Don’t worry, though. I’ll be back soon. I’ve got a business trip to the UK and Ireland coming up in two short weeks! I’ll be working for most of it, but as always when I travel, I’ll be blogging :) Plus, I’m going to get to spend my birthday in London with one of my favorite people!! 

Cheers,

Chelsea

Last Few Days in Seoul

Since we got back from Japan, Jessica and I have been seriously enjoying the freedom to do as much (or as little) as we want on vacation. Since these days have been filled with a lot of relaxing, I figured I'd do one blog on the last 4 days or so.

Thursday:

Thursday after we got into Incheon, we decided to wait to change our Japanese Yen to Korean Won until we got into the city to the bank. The exchange rate at the airport wasn't very favorable, so we headed to the airport bus instead. We each had reserved enough won in our wallets to get us a ride home, but the rest was in yen. We caught the bus home without issue. However, when we got off the bus, we walked by Diaso and realized that it was closed. After a moment of confusion, we realized that Thursday was Seollal (Lunar New Year) day. Thursday, as well as Friday right after, are both "red days" in Korea. Basically government holidays where nearly everything is closed. Banks included. We realized that we would not be able to exchange our yen until Monday at the earliest. Oops!! Thankfully most places take my Chase Visa credit card (no foreign transaction fees! woohoo!) so while not ideal, it would be okay.

We headed to her apartment and spent most of the day just relaxing. We couldn't be bothered to make food, and since 99% of restaurants were closed we decided to order McDonald's for delivery. I always thought this was super interesting that they do this in Korea, but never experienced it when I lived here. Jessica's coworkers helped her set up her account a few months ago, and we decided to take advantage of it. After all, girls' gotta eat!

That evening, we met up with Alana, the other foreign teacher in Jessica's school that we had met for Butterfinger's last week, and another girl, Gretchen, for a 4D movie! Jessica hadn't been to a 4D movie yet, and I wanted to see Kingsman, so we got tickets before Japan and went to the theatre Thursday night. We got some butter popcorn and a coke and headed in. We went into the theatre and realized there were some Koreans in our seats. After attempting to tell them to move, we realized we were in the wrong theatre. The four of us all squawking about in the theatre was kind of hilarious. We managed to make it into the correct theatre and got our seats.

The movie itself was... interesting. I actually liked the style of it and it was pretty good until the end. I won't go into a lot of detail here, but, ultimately it could have been a lot better. The 4D effects were cool, though. When there was gun fire, you could feel pokes in your back and even on your ankles/feet. There was whooshes of air, and even a little water mist when there was a splash in the movie. It was a fun experience!

When we left the movie, we decided to get some food. We considered going to my old neighborhood for BBQ, but realized that it would probably be closed for New Years. We went to a couple of restaurants in the area and everything was closing/closed. We decided Itaewon would be our best bet for open food, so we took the subway there. We had Turkish gyros which were delicious! Then we went to a bar with way too expensive drinks and hung out for a while. We took a cab home and that was Thursday.

Friday: 

Friday was a shopping day. I don't shop a lot in the states; I don't particularly enjoy it, and I'm pretty frugal. But when you've been saving for a trip and know that you've got money set aside, and there are things you can buy here that you can't back home, well, you let loose a little! We went to Gangnam Station and after having lunch with my former coworker (& soon to be roomie in Austin), we hit up the shops! Mostly I wanted to get some makeup, but I ended up with so many goodies. I got some cute cheap home decor things from Daiso, a pale yellow handbag, 5 pairs of socks (so cute!), another ring to replace mine lost in Japan (this one being 5,000W instead of 25,000), makeup, more makeup, and probably plenty of other things I can't think of right now. But I got a lot of good deals and definitely finished up happy! Jessica is a great shopping partner.

We walked home in the beautiful sunshine, enjoying the weather. That night, we got cute and decided to go out. We wanted to get some American food, so we headed to HBC to get Bonny's Pizza. Unfortunately, we took a little too long to get ready and their kitchen was closed by the time we got there. We went to Phillie's for a burger, but they didn't have any fries (you can't have a burger without fries!), so finally we ended up at Brooklyn Burger. It was delicious!

After dinner, we headed to Itaewon to get some drinks. We ended up at a place called Thursday Party. I have no idea if this place existed when I lived there, but I'd never heard of it. It reminded me SO MUCH of a college bar. It was packed, kind of gross, but cheap and guaranteed to meet people. Within 30 seconds we were hit on, and within a minute of that, got hit on again. Everyone was pretty drunk, it seemed. A British guy and his friend approached us, but I was totally NOT feeling that. Eventually, we chatted with a couple of Korean guys. Around 3am, we headed to a Noraebang, one of the things on my bucket list to do while in Korea again. That lasted a while then we got back to Jessica's place around 6am. Staying out til the sun (almost) comes up - check.

Saturday:

When we finally woke up around noon on Saturday, it was super rainy. Like, disgustingly rainy and so COLD. We agreed that snuggled up in bed with Netflix was in order. While our time back in Korea (since Japan) has been LESS crazy than while in Japan, we were definitely due for a completely chill day. We tried to figure out how to order pizza for delivery, but ultimately decided to just walk down the road to Pizza Etang (my favorite of the Korean pizza places).

I ordered a large pizza (which, to be fair, is actually like an American medium...) and a Coke. I paid, and they kind of wandered away. Jessica waved her arms and was like "Hello! I need to order, too!" The guys literally gawked. I think they were so shocked that we BOTH ordered a pizza. We waited for our pizzas and laughed at how much we get judged by Koreans. We looked up how to say "fat" in Korean (gee-bang) and giggled as we left, each with a pizza box and bottle of Coke.

It was 100% worth the stares and whispers when we got in and got to taste the deliciousness. Also, in our defense, this was both lunch and dinner. Does that make it better, or worse....? We laid in bed, ate pizza, and watched The Heirs (the K-Drama I've been into while in Korea). It was a perfect day for laziness!

Sunday:

Sunday, we woke up "early" (by our recent standards) and decided to hit the jjimjilbang (spa); another thing to check off my list! Jessica is lucky and lives within walking distance to a really nice one. I had read about this place - called Spa Lei - while I was living here, but I always liked Dragon Hill and it was more convenient for me. But, this didn't require any transportation, and it's female only, so we went there instead.

I've always liked jjimjilbangs (after getting over my initial hesitation!) and this was Jessica's first ever time to go! We splurged for body scrubs (an additional 30,000W on top of the 14,000W entrance fee), but so worth it. We went in and tried out some of the baths before getting our scrub. It has been about 2 years since I got a scrub, but the memory came back to me quickly after it began. Certain parts were super ticklish, some were just awkward, but damn they really remove several layers of your poor epidermis!

We enjoyed the jjimjilbang for a couple hours; it was a very relaxing experience! We headed home and decided to go for makgeolli (rice wine), another thing on my list. We found a place within walking distance of her apartment (seriously, she has the best location!). It was called Better than Beef. We got cute, wearing our new shoes we found for 19,000W on Friday, and a good thing too because the restaurant was super nice. Probably the nicest restaurant I'd been to in Korea!

I had read about this place online, so I knew the price range. Thankfully, the information I read was correct. We ordered Samgyopsal (pork belly) for two for 19,000W and a bottle of makgeolli for 12,000W. While we didn't leave super full, the meat was great quality and we really enjoyed the meal. We also got some homemade ricotta that they make in-house (I am given to understand). The meal was great!

When we finished, we decided that we looked too good to just go home! We wandered around a bit until we found a bar and got a drink. This was certainly less chaotic than Friday night, but we still had a great time. I had somek - soju and beer - and it was great! I seriously think that soju makes Korean beer (which kind of sucks by itself) so much better! We got home fairly early - around midnight.

Monday:

My last full day in Korea!! I woke up both sad and anxious to make the most of the day. After another episode of The Heirs (if you can't lay in bed and watch TV on vacation, when can you?!), and went to Myeongdong around noon. Somehow, we managed to spend 5 hours there. I seriously do not know how we did that.

I ended up getting some makeup, a cute top, and (uhhh) some other stuff? I really wanted to find a potato tornado, and I thought for SURE I could find one there, but no luck! This ended up being the only food item I didn't get to eat in Korea that I'd wanted to. We got a snack and then headed back to Jessica's to get ready for my last night in Korea.

We decided to go back to my favorite BBQ restaurant again for my last dinner. Jessica had really enjoyed it, we all know that I LOVE it, and Jessica's friend/coworker Alana wanted to try it. We headed there around 8pm, and thoroughly enjoyed our feast!

When we first got into the restaurant, I'd noticed a table of three middle-aged Korean men looking at us. This in itself isn't strange; I generally just ignore it. One of the guys was REALLY obvious though, so I said Hello to him. He waved and was very happy to talk to me. He told us that he wanted to buy us a drink. I looked at the girls and we all shrugged our shoulders - why not? He called over the guys working at the restaurant and there was some conversation. Ultimately, beer did not appear on our table.

I can't remember who said it, but it was suggested that perhaps the men thought we were... "women of the night". The thought was so preposterous to me, but the next interaction kind of confirmed these suspicions. The man came over to our table and asked if he could sit. We didn't really know what to say, so let him sit at our table. The guys working came over and caught my eye and asked if I wanted them to get him to leave (a prime example of language not actually being necessary to communicate effectively; I knew exactly what he was asking but not a word of English was spoken). I shrugged my shoulders; most of the time when Koreans want to chat with us, its about 5 minutes and they leave. I don't mind satisfying their need to practice their English, or show off to their buddies.

After about 10 minutes, though, I could tell this guy wasn't going to go away. He proceeded to RANK US according to our attractiveness. He even told Alana she looked "strange"! I told him he was mean and we were all most beautiful. He tried to explain himself but we were all kind of over it. I got up to get more sides and told the guys to have him leave now. They came over and said something to him in Korean. A conversation commenced and the guy looked back at me and asked "You told him to tell me to leave?" Ratted out!!! I smiled and said "We need to eat our dinner!" He left as graciously as could be managed when he just got removed from our table.

He definitely went back to his table and talked about us to his friends. I heard "meegook" which is Korean for "American". Also, other tables were watching them and glancing at us intermittently. Greeeeaaaaaat.... We decided to just forget about it and have another drink! After MUCH food and drink, we paid (15,000W EACH!! So cheap!) and headed for our next destination: Dongdaemun Night Market!

Neither of the other girls had been to the market, and I was excited to show them. We took a taxi over from the restaurant. I was disappointed that the tents that usually litter the sidewalks were not there. However, we definitely found plenty of stuff inside the huge buildings full of stalls.

I was looking for two things on this shopping trip: an olive green jacket, and a maroon chunky knit scarf. I found a cute jacket at a stall and asked to try it on. The lady in the stall was nice but definitely a saleswoman. She had the jacket listed at 180,000W. I knew I couldn’t pay anywhere near that price. In my head, I thought I would maybe pay 70,000W for it. I told her sorry, no. I wanted to get Jessica and Alana’s opinions on it, but I also wanted to see other jackets. I did linger a bit, and the women kept lowering her price. She even bagged the jacket up for me and put it in my hands. Literally, she had no shame. At one point (I lingered for probably 15 minutes), she tried to reach into my bag and get my wallet. I smacked her hands and laughed and told her No! 

After much back and forth, Jessica and Alana finally showed back up and I got their opinions. They loved it. By this time, the lady had gone down to 60,000W!! BUT that was her cash price. I needed to pay with a card. We finally agreed to 60,000W on the card, plus 10,000W cash. Less than half the price. I think that once I try the jacket on with the appropriate outfit (not jeans and tennis shoes like I wore to the market), I’ll love it even more. It’s very unique and fun. 

Now I had one last item - the scarf. I wanted this scarf because I had gotten one when I lived in Korea before, worn it to China and all around Korea, LOVED IT, and then lost it at a club. I have never forgotten how much I loved it, so it was the perfect opportunity to get another. The last stall, on the last floor, I finally found one! It was originally 18,000W cash, but I got him to 14,000W card. Could have saved 1,000W if I’d cash, but I needed to save cash to take the bus to the airport the next day. We got home around 2:30am, and went to sleep shortly thereafter. 

What a successful the last night, and indeed the whole last week, in Korea! 

Cheers,

Chelsea

Chelsea in Garosu-gil

Ah... the second day of Seoul vacation! Today was a great day, although slightly less crazy than yesterday. Jessica is now officially on vacation, too, so we decided to make the most of the day.

First, we got up and took our time getting ready. I feel like as I get older, I have less and less time for "getting ready" so anytime I can do it without being in a rush it is a luxury. Once we were ready for the day, we headed to Butterfinger Pancakes - a Seoul hot spot for breakfast. Breakfast in Korea isn't really a thing... most Koreans eat kimchi, rice, fish, and soup for breakfast (and lunch... and dinner...), so there are very few good breakfast places in the city. I know I hated this when I lived here, and where I lived there was literally nothing. At least Jessica is in an area where breakfast is accessible.

I'd heard of Butterfinger when I lived here, but I'd never been since it was so far away. I was excited to finally try it! I wondered if there would be a wait, but luckily we arrived at the right time and were seated right away. Jessica's coworker - the only other foreign teacher in her school - met us there. Her name is Alaina, and I was a little hesitant to share Jessica, but once I met her, my fears were put at ease. She was awesome!

I didn't want to order something that I could easily have in the states, so I got a Waffle Cheese Bake and some eggs. Basically a Belgium waffle with lots of cheese baked on top. Jessica got pancakes and eggs, and Alaina got a meal with a bunch of stuff. The waffle was interesting; I probably wouldn't order it again, but it was good. Jessica's pancakes (which I stole a bite of), were really good. We sat there and chatted and laughed for a while and eventually decided that we should stop holding up a table. When we headed out, there was definitely a wait.

We parted ways with Alaina and headed back to Jessica's neighborhood (the restaurant was a few bus stops away at Gangnam Station) to go shopping! Jessica lives near a main shopping street called Garosu-gil, so we headed that way. I wanted to get a bunch of beauty products for my skin. I've been breaking out more recently, so I wanted to get some Korean face wash and products for it. Also, accessories.

As soon as we got to the street, we saw a small crowd near one of the alleyways. As we got closer, we realized it was a camera crew filming something. Jessica has told me about several different times when she has seen a movie or tv show being filmed in her neighborhood, so it was neat to see it with her. I think that it was actually a commercial because we only saw a couple holding hands walking through the street, then it was done. I got a few pictures of the crew reviewing the footage (couldn't whip my camera out fast enough to get a shot of them filming.)

We went in a bunch of shops and ultimately I got what I was after. I got THREE different kinds of face wash (!!) - one was like 2,500W (around $2.50) and it was made with charcoal which is supposed to be really good for your skin, a deep cleanser, another Bubble Foaming Wash for acne skin that was around 4,900 (around $5). Both of those were from The Face Shop. In that store the worker girl heard us speaking English and came to talk to us. It was super cute, you could tell she wanted to practice her English. She explained some products to us, and I complimented her English. You could tell she was so excited and started to tell me how she is applying to universities in the US and she is working now to save up for it. I asked where she is going to go and she said University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I couldn't help but laugh to myself; I feel like so many of these universities in the (sorry) middle of nowhere get so many foreign students! And what foreign student wants to go to MINNESOTA? Sorry, Minnesotans... it's just random. Anyway, she said she also applied at UT Austin, and I told her that's where I live! I guess she's not going there though. Anyway, we got our products and continued on.

We poked in Forever21 just to look at the accessories, and I ended up getting two necklaces that were on sale for like 900W (less than $1) and 1,900W (less than $2), and an interesting bracelet/ring thing. It wasn't on sale, but it was around $5 anyway and it was kind of daring. I'd only wear it out at night or with specific outfits, but it was cool! I was also looking for tiny rings to go halfway on my fingers - I'm not sure the official name for them, I call them midi-rings but who knows if that's correct. Anyway, didn't find those at Forever, but then Jessica spotted a shop she had seen a bunch of jewelry in, so I looked there and found the perfect one. It was kind of expensive - 25,000W (~$24) but it seemed like good quality and fit perfectly and was by far the cutest one I'd seen, so I got it!

The last stop of the day (we'd been shopping like 3 hours or so by then) was Nature Republic. There, I ended up buying kind of a lot. I'd bought the face wash at the other store, but I wanted like an acne system and Jessica has been using one by Nature Republic and her face is looking great, so I splurged on a bunch of products - face wash, toner, moisturizer, and spot treatment. It is made with BEE VENOM. Like, so weird... Koreans also love products with snail in it, and other random stuff, so weird. Anyway, I'm crossing my fingers that it all works!

When we got home, I was pretty tired from shopping (which is NOT my favorite past time, but I wanted to get some Korean goodies while I'm here), so I took a nap. I woke up at 7pm; how did I sleep so long?! It did feel really great, though, and I forgave myself since I am on vacation after all!

We got up and went in search of dinner. We had decided to just eat at a kimbap shop (I wanted some tonkatsu) but when we got to her neighborhood shop, we walked in and it was CLOSING. At 8pm on a Saturday! So disappointing. We wandered around her neighborhood looking for something delicious, but since neither of us really know Korean, we had to depend on pictures and ended up at a BBQ place (surprise, surprise!) even though we'd had BBQ the last two nights.

We got samgyeopsal (pork) so at least we ate something technically different. It was pretty good but the banchan (the little side dishes you get with your meal) was disappointing. The place was mostly empty so one of the workers cooked all our food for us. I've gotten used to Korean hovering complex (as soon as you walk into a store, following you around said store, naming the thing you're holding in your hand...) so it didn't bother me but it was kind of funny.

When we got home, I used my new Bee Venom goodies and Jess painted her nails while we watched a K-drama - The Heirs. We laughed over the Korean actors attempting to speak English (the first episode is set in California) and the terrible American "acting" along side them. It was a very fun day, and while we really only shopped and ate, it felt very full! I fell asleep exhausted (despite my nap!)

Cheers,
Chelsea

Chelsea in Jangan-dong

Phew! I’ve been in Seoul for around 27 hours by now and it seems like I’ve already gotten so much done. I’ll start from the beginning:

My flight wrapped up without issue. I sat behind two little kids and by the end of the flight, they were very restless so that was a little annoying. I try to have some grace for kids on long flights; if I’m bored, they sure are! Anyway, I was next to a woman who was probably in her mid-60s. She was on her way to Nepal to volunteer for a women’s rights organization. She was so awesome! Apparently when she retired four years ago, she began traveling and realized quickly that being a tourist wasn’t enough for her. She has spent time in Bolivia, Thailand, Mongolia, and Nepal. She said that she tries to do two 2-month trips each year, and usually works with women’s organizations. Talk about inspiring. It really proves that you are never too old (or young!) to make a difference in the world. 

When we landed at Incheon, it was about 5:50pm in Korea but my body was feeling like 2:50am (Texas time). I had taken a short nap - maybe like an hour or hour and a half total - so it could have been worse but I was tired. But I was back in KOREA! And when I got off the plane and saw the sign that said Welcome to Korea and I couldn’t stop smiling! I breezed through immigration and went to collect my luggage. No lost suitcases - success! I made my way out into the arrivals hall and asked an Information booth where to catch the 6009 airport limousine bus to Sinsa. She directed me outside and I waited for around 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. I had known that it would be cold here, but it really hit me when I was standing out there waiting!! So cold!! I connected to a spotty wifi network and let Jessica know I was on my way, boarded the bus, and I was off.

The ride should have been about 50 minutes but because of traffic, it ended up taking an hour and twenty minutes. Jessica had tried to time it to where she could meet me as I got off the bus, but with my delay and us having no way of communicating, I just hoped that she waited for me! When I got to the bus stop, I got off and looked around for Jessica. I was so used to my old neighborhood, which is pretty mild, that this area was intimidating with its sheer masses of humanity and so many lights. I didn’t see Jessica and stood huddled at the bus stop, searching the faces of everyone passing me to see if they were her. No joy. After about 10 minutes, I was freezing my butt off and knew that I was going to have to ask a stranger to borrow their phone to call Jess. I asked one woman, and she looked like I asked her to please follow me off a cliff, and shuffled away from me as fast as she could. The next girl I asked was a bit younger and she still looked at me like I grew two heads when I asked her to use her phone. However, I’m sure the pleading desperation in my eyes must have convinced her I was sincere because she let me use it. 

Once I got ahold of Jessica (she having decided to take refuge in a bank to wait til I arrived, but missing my arrival), she came and helped me with my suitcases and we headed through the maze of backstreets to her apartment. It was so great to see her finally! She has been in Korea for around 8 months now, and I’m her first visitor!! It was so cold, though, and we didn’t really chat much until we got to the apartment and defrosted. By then, I was starving so we decided to catch up over dinner. She didn’t really have any restaurants in mind, so we just picked the first BBQ joint we saw in her neighborhood. They only had one meat choice, so that’s what we got. It was so great to sit and talk with her after so many months of sparse communication, and that only over text. 

After a bottle of soju and a couple of beers (along with the food), we headed back to Jessica’s apartment so I could get some sleep. I certainly needed it and fell asleep almost immediately.

I woke up at 2:30am, completely wide awake. I knew I wouldn’t be able to completely avoid jetlag, so I wasn’t too surprised to be so awake and restless. After much tossing and turning, though, I managed to fall back asleep for a few more hours. When I woke up, Jessica was getting ready for work (her last day before vacation begins!) and she showed me how to lock and unlock her door, and then headed to work. After posting my last blog, I got a shower and got ready for the day. Around 10:30am, I left the apartment to my first destination: the ISA office!

I topped up my t-money card (subway pass) which I brought from Korea to America, and then back again. I caught the subway and alighted at Wangsimni. I followed the directions for the office, and found it without a problem. 

The Seoul staff is comprised on three people -Jonathan, Jaehoon, and Sooji. Jonathan is American born but speaks fluent Korean, as his family is from Korea. The other two are Korean-born. They were all super nice and so hospitable. Their office is still under a bit of construction, as they haven’t been in it for too long and they’re still having interior work done (the building itself is complete!). The office walls are almost entirely windows, and being on the 11th floor, it is actually a wonderful view. It’s really a gorgeous office! We chatted for about 30 minutes, then they invited me to get lunch with them. I decided to go along. 

We went down the road to a restaurant and ended up having bulgogi. I haven’t really cared for bulgogi in the past, but this was really good! It was in a soup with glass noodles, and it had great flavor. We chatted over lunch about my time in Korea, their experiences, ISA, and more. It was really fun to chat with them. Everytime I said something flattering about Korea or Koreans, Jaehoon would BLUSH and thank me! It was hilarious, like I had given him the biggest compliment.

When we left there, we went back to the office building so we could take a few pictures together. We ended up having the contractor who was working in the office take them, and it was hilarious because he was basically like a professional photographer; he took like 5 photos at different angles without even being prompted to. So funny! (And so Korean!)

I left the office and caught a bus to my old neighborhood, Jangandong. I could have taken the subway, but then I would have also needed to get a bus, plus Wangsimni is really big and I’d have needed to walk probably half a mile to even get to the train. Instead, I took a nearby bus (thank you Google maps!!). I got off at the stop across from my old school, SLP. What a SURREAL moment to look up and see the sign, to recognize almost everything. So little had changed (minus the big new cafe right next door!). I was too early for my meeting with Jasmine, and too early to see any of my old students yet, so I popped into the CU - convenience store - to see if I recognized the lady who used to work there that I would buy ramen and Twix bars from. She wasn’t there, so I decided to go up to SLP early and see the teachers. 

I took the elevator up and when I got off, I recognized the “desk teachers” aka receptionist and one of them kind of looked at me like she kiiiinda recognized me, but not entirely. I told her “Chelsea Teacher!” and she might have understood, but I have no idea. She was always an enigma. 

She walked me down to the teachers room and when I poked my head in behind her, Jackie Teacher looked at me completely bewildered. It was like dejavu; literally nothing had changed about the room or about Jackie. It had only been a year and a half, but still, its surreal to return to a place and see that it is exactly how you left it. Jackie immediately began fussing and asking me tons of questions. I told her that I was just visiting Korea, not living here, but I wanted to say hi and maybe see some of my students. We began going over which of my old students were still there, and it turns out that the vast majority of students I still have are on Tuesday/Thursday. The few that would be there today would be in later classes, so 4:10 would be the best time to see them. 

After chatting for a few minutes with her and Phoebe Teacher (poor sap is still there, running that entire school on her back), I left with the intent to return after I visited with Jasmine. Jasmine and I were set to meet at 3:30 at the big cafe, but it was barely 2pm by this time and I didn’t really have anywhere else I wanted to go before then. So, I texted her that if she could come early, please do. Then, I posed up at the cafe, got on their WiFi, and waited.

Luckily, Jasmine got the text and she showed up at 2:45. When she walked up, I seriously didn’t recognize her. Maybe it was the big overcoat, maybe it was the new haircut, maybe it was the braces. Whatever it was, it took me a good 5 seconds to register that she was Jasmine. Then I jumped up and gave her a huge hug (which Koreans seem to think is so weird), and she started laughing. At first she was so shy and I could barely hear her talking. I think she had recently gotten the braces, and so she was maybe talking a little differently than I was used to.

I made her sit next to me instead of across from me, so that I could hear her better, and after a few minutes of niceties, she started to relax and I could see the Jasmine I remembered. Talk about grown up - I can’t believe that it has been a year and a half since I’ve seen her! We chatted for a while about school, academy, her friends, her brother, and some other stuff. I remembered that we were in a cafe, and I asked her if she wanted to get something to drink. She nodded yes and we went to look at the menu. She pointed out a few drinks and then I could hear excitement in her voice when she saw Hot Chocolate. I asked her if she wanted one, and she said yes but it is so expensive (and she was right!), but I told her I would buy it for her. I mean, she’s 11 (American age), I’m sure she can’t afford this ridiculously priced drink. She was so surprised and thanked me a bunch. We ordered and went back to sit down. We kept chatting and then our drinks came and she ate all of the whipped cream off the top - such a kid. When we were finished with our drinks, we took some pictures and she taught me in the art of “cute” in Korea. She also showed me that the most flattering angle you can take a photo from is basically 180 degrees above your head (well, thats a bit of an exaggeration… but not much!). We laughed and took probably 50 or 60 pictures before we were done.

Eventually, I had to go back to SLP and we left the cafe. She walked to SLP with me and then headed to catch her bus. It was so sad to say goodbye; she asked me when I would come back to Korea and I told her I don’t know, but it might be a long time. She promised to keep writing to me, so hopefully we stay in touch for a while :) Who knows, maybe next time I visit she will be in high school or maybe university. What a crazy thought!

It was now 4:10, and I headed back up to SLP again. There were kids running around everywhere and I tried to get a look at some of their faces, but I didn’t recognize anyone. I went into their waiting room area, and Phoebe was getting them organized to go to class. She saw me and called out for Julie and Tommy to come over. Julie was one of my favorite students and I had her from New High Kids 2 (basically the second most basic class after phonics); she was very soft spoken in English, but could certainly get her point across in Korean as I witnessed many time in class. We actually share a birthday and we always got along well. She looked at me for a second without recognizing me, and Phoebe told her, “It’s Chelsea Teacher!” and her eyes got all big and she didn’t even know what to do with herself. I told her to give me a hug and she did. It was really sweet! Then Tommy, another student I’d had in that class who, while very sweet and loud in his English in class, didn’t really know how to have spontaneous conversation. He looked a bit bewildered, and Julie told him again, “Chelsea Teacher!” he nodded that he understood, but definitely didn’t know what to do. His version of a hug was hilariously bad, but they both stood there and kind of talked to me for a minute. When I asked how they were, Tommy immediately responded “I’m fine!” and Julie, while totally giggly, didn’t answer. Then Julie said, in a very measured English, “Teacher, I want to tell you. You look very beautiful and changed!” I couldn’t help but laugh. I told her she was too! They’d both grown about a foot; why do kids do that?! Change and grow?! 

Anyway, they had to run to class so, being that I didn’t really know anyone else there (I’m sure I could have found someone… maybe), I left pretty quickly after that. Jessica was about to get off work and start heading over to my neighborhood, so I walked to the part where I used to live, about a 10-15 minute walk away. It was bright and sunny, albeit cold, but the walk was nice. It was totally surreal to do that walk again; literally nothing had changed. When I got to my area, I walked to the 7-Eleven I used to go to all the time to see if the lady who worked there was around. She always loved me and would chatter to me in Korean. I went in and there was a guy working, and I showed him the photo I took with the lady and asked if she was there. He shook his head no and said something. My first thought was she had died. I must have looked horrified, because he immediately tried to start explaining, but then he realized I don’t speak any Korean and start to search for words in English. I asked, “Tomorrow?” wondering if she’d be there, but he couldn’t give me any response really, until finally he managed “She work today at 15:00.” I took that to mean that she worked until 3, and then went home. Bummer! 

I waited for Jess at the nearby Cafe Bene and stole WiFi for a while until she was at Janghanpyeong station and then we met up. I walked her by my old apartment and I saw my old landlord Mr. Kim. He smiled and laughed in his usual way, and I have no idea if he understood anything I said. We moved on and headed to my favorite BBQ place ever. It was only around 5:30, but there were a few other people in the restaurant. I ordered our food - galmaegisal or pork skirt - and we settled into a booth. The food came and my mouth was watering. The meat, the marinated bean sprouts and lettuce, the dipping broth… nommmz. My first bite was literally heaven. I can’t express adequately how much I’d missed that BBQ the past year and a half. Jess liked it a lot as well, and we stuffed ourselves. It was funny to compare dinner Friday with dinner on Thursday - It was less than half the price and probably twice as much food, and twice as delicious at my favorite place than the other. Success!

Our last stop for the night was my old favorite bar, which is self-service and has a good selection. I supposed that I could get any of those beers back home, so I had my old standby - Cass Light. It was only 7:30, but we were pretty tired by then and decided to head back for a wine night at home. We made the trek home, nearly freezing in the process, but finally made it. Neither of us had much energy by then - it was a matter of walking, catching a bus, getting the subway, changing lines, and then walking some more - and went to bed rather early. We decided to go to bed early in hopes of getting up and having a full day! 

It was a great and FULL first day in Seoul! Saturday will bring shopping and more delicious food as we prepare for Japan on Sunday…

Cheers,

Chelsea

Noise Basement

Well, the 3 day weekend is upon us! March 1st is Korean Independence Movement Day and it's a public holiday. Korea has surprisingly few public holidays, so we have very few days off. While I wish this extra day off would fall a little further into March (since we just had Lunar New Year, and our next holiday won't be 'til mid-May), I was still excited to get the extra day off.

Skiing at Yongpyong

This Saturday, I went on another MeetUp trip, this time to go skiing! I had yet to go skiing in Korea, so I decided to go for it. Skiing is very popular, almost as much as hiking in the warmer weather. Additionally, the 2018 Winter Olympics will be held here so I took the opportunity to hit the slopes where that will be happening in a few years.

Yukhoe and some Hangul

This week has been really great. I've been writing mostly about Beijing, but in the mean time some awesome things have been happening as well. It was so nice to only work 3 days after I got back from China, and then have another weekend! On Saturday I got my hair highlighted again at Hair & Joy; it looks really good! It was at the point where my kids would ask me "Teacher, why is your hair brown here (points at roots) and yellow here (points at ends)?" In my defense, I think they only noticed it because they are so unused to seeing people with blonde hair. It probably looked like quite a contrast to them, but I don't think other westerners noticed THAT much....

Onnuri

I haven't been going to church recently. I can't say exactly what it was, but I wasn't feeling at home at the church I'd been going to. But, I miss church. So this week, I scoured the internet for English services in Seoul. I found a few large churches, but I really wanted something specific. I wanted to be sure that the church's beliefs and values were aligned with my own. So, I finally found the website for Onnuri English Ministry, which has campuses in two locations. I decided to go to the location near Yongsan held at 4pm on Sunday.

First Day of New Classes

This is my 100th post. Wow. I can't believe that I've written so many, or that I've been here long enough to have that much to say! It is so close to halfway. It's bittersweet. In the next month, I'm going to be losing Erin (she will go to Germany to be with her family), but we will get a whole new group of teachers. I know that I'll find someone in there that I can bond with, but I'll definitely miss Erin. And while it's so exciting knowing that I've made it halfway through, and only a little more than 6 months to go, it's also a bit sad to think about leaving. As much as I miss home and basically everything, I think I've done well in making this my life now. But, there is a time for everything under the sun...

Schedule Changes

Well, today I got the news I've been waiting for all week. Starting next week, we will have a new class schedule. I've been praying and praying that I get rid of Henry's class, and that I keep my 3SAP kids. So here's the breakdown of what happened:

(Korean) Kids Say the Darndest Part II

My kids are just hilarious sometimes. Sometimes they are total pains in the butt, but on the whole I like them. Which is saying something, because I know a few morning (kindergarten) teachers who say they genuinely like approximately 0 of their students. I'm lucky, because I've got some good ones... Since the last time I wrote about their hilarity, I've been attempting to keep a list. Of course, this list has been spread out over probably 5 different scraps of paper, stuffed into various pockets, and subsequently lost. So, I'm going from memory here...

A Good Day

Today was just a good day. A really, really good day.

(Korean) Kids Say the Darndest Things

I wish I had begun a log at school, of the things my kids say to me. I'm sure I would have a lot more funny things to tell about, but I did make special note of two things today that made me laugh out loud in class.

The Rosie Diaries: The Smell of a Hog

I just realized that I have neglected to do a "Rosie Diaries" entry since I initially got Rosie! I mean, I think I have mentioned her in some other posts, but she really does need her own entry. Things with Roise have been up and down, but not nearly like with Reggie. In general, I would say that Rosie and I get along well.

Korean Essentials

Jjimjilbang: a large, gender-segregated public bathhouse in Korea, furnished with hot tubs, showers, Finnish-style saunas, and massage tables.
Noraebang: small rooms, rented by the hour, which contain microphones, TVs, tambourines, lighting, alcohol, and songbooks. Think: karaoke (but in Korean) that is only with your friends/coworkers (not in front of an entire restaurant or bar)

Post Office

Yesterday was another good day of vacation, albeit a slightly less active one. Erin and I needed to go to the post office, and decided to go together. I needed to send a few things back to my mom and Michael, and Erin needed to start shipping her things back to her family (namely, her clothes). After a relaxing morning taking my time getting ready, we met around 2:30. I had a bag of things to mail, and Erin had 2 suitcases.

War Memorial

I can't believe it's already my third day of vacation! It feels like it just started. I guess because Christmas was a holiday, it didn't feel like that should actually count against my "vacation" (ha!) and also because I was quite busy! Yesterday, I laid in bed all day and, while that was relaxing, it certainly wasn't a good use of my time!

Winter Woes: Part II

I guess I have to admit it: I'm sick. I don't really get sick that often. But let me tell you, being sick alone in a foreign country without momma here to help, or anyone for that matter, makes however sick you actually are 10x worse feeling. I woke up with a sore throat on Sunday, but was able to fight it off Monday and Tuesday. But Tuesday when I got home from the base, it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Christmas

I'm attempting to get back into the routine of blogging on a consistent basis. This break should provide enough material to write on, but it's when the routine resettles itself come January that will be my real test of endurance. Maybe I should start just blogging my opinons, or ideas. We'll see! For now, it's Christmas here in Seoul...

A Pre-Christmas Weekend

I think I am still a little bitter that we have to work on Christmas Eve. I mean, not bitter... but, it makes Christmas not as exciting, I guess. I shouldn't let something like that affect how enjoyable my Christmas is, but knowing I still have another day to work before I am truly on vacation is really hard. It's been a good weekend, though.