Thursday, November 23, 2006

Seoul Weekend

So I take the subway to Busan station, where I get on the KTX (Korea Train Express maybe?)which takes 3 hrs to reach Seoul. but wait. the lady who helped me on the train put me in the completely wrong compartement. So when a man comes on and explains to me Im in the wrong seat (perfect english) I explain what happened, and the man in front of me overheard the first man telling the woman he was with (in Korean) what was happening, and he said he was getting off soon so I could just take his seat. this is good because I was on compartement 12 and I was supposed to be on 7. Nice. Anyways. So I get a call from Seung Han saying he will be 1/2 hr late to meet me. This isnt so bad, I have time to make myself feel awake again. Train is tiring. So then we have a game of Where's Waldo on our cell phones when he tries to find me. lol. I say I am hungry and want to drop my bag off at Windflower (where I was staying), but instead we go for a bit of a walk and then go up in a cable car to Seoul/Namsan Tower. The tower has a 360 view of Seoul, very nice.

So then we go back down and meet up with my other friend, Sehyoung, and had dinner. They ordered something way to spicy for me, oh dad you would soooooo love the food here... But it took them forever to figure out somewhere to go, like they were tourists, hehe. So anyways, finally go to Windflower after midnight. Got settled in, watched a bit of a movie and the such.

So slept in Saturday and then went to Insadong which is an older part of the city, lots of traditional things. We just walked down this one street and saw a traditional wedding march/parade (play-acted, not real) and then watched/listened to traditional Korean music, all drums, loved it. Then there was this ceremony, which apparently only happens once a year and we just happened to stumble upon it. So there is this pig head. yes pig head. and its some kind of ceremony for good luck/fortune, etc (Seung Han, please elaborate, ie: leave a comment!!!). During this they asked people from the audience to go up and participate. This one American girl had no clue what it was and they brought her up and she did the whole thing. Afterwards she asked us (Seung Han and I) what she just did b/c we were speaking english. A bit later I talked with her some more and invited her to come along with us for the rest of the day and evening. And she did. (She is Liz and she is from NY) So then we went and met up with Seung Han's friend Seung Jin (from now on, just Han and Jin, too much extra typing over and over). SO they tried to figure out what we could do and we ended up going to Starbucks (I KNOW!) and having Cheesecake and coffe (iced caramel machiato for me) -
we were up on the 3rd floor for something and so Han & Jin (btw, Han is in the white shirt, Jin is in the Eagle 77 sweater) went to get our things, awww how sweet. This was great fun. Seung Jin doesnt speak alot of english, but far more english than I know Korean. lol. But he was joking along with us and seemed to understand everything that was going on (plus I kept telling Han to explain things when we were just talking and there wasnt any expressions or anything). So much for a language barrier. So then we go to drink. And the two guys just cannot figure out where to go. We wanted to eat and drink. Anyways, Jin saves the evening (oh this is the second or third time he knows which way to go, and another certain Korean doesnt...hehe) and we find a great place and order peach soju. Which is only the best drink ever. You'd never know there was alcohol in it til you tried to walk. Then we had a kiwi flavor which wasnt that great and so after Liz and I each finished a glass, we ordered another of strawberry soju (these are all made with real fruit, there are even chunks in it). We had oh deng, which I love, but it was in soup. I dont know how to describe it. The books say its precessed seafood, but that doesnt sound too appealing. Oh deng is really good. its like a cross between a pasta and dough firm like al dente pasta, but bigger in triangles of 2"x2" or in a tube sliced up. I'll take a pic sometime we have it again). So we go to another place and Jin abandons us -yes Jin I said abandon!!- and so Liz, Han, and I drink cafri beer which is yucky and then we had Hite beer which is much better. And chicken salad, which isnt chicken salad but lettuce on the bottom of a plate which you dont eat, and tempura style chicken in a honey mustard sauce. Very good. Then we walk Liz back to where she is staying. And back at Windflower, watched another bit of a movie and the such.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

^ ^ i like this blog very well! kkk see you after you study!@_@

SweetCecilia said...

ur the best. thanks for posting... read the back entries!!