Weekend in Seoul

This weekend was South Korea's Independence day. My Korean history isn't that great but I believe they're celebrating their independence from Japan. To celebrate, our Hagwan took Friday off, giving us a 3 day weekend.
Being the lucky people that we are, we happen to have two friends who live out in Seoul, and figured it was a good time to go out and say hello. We left early Friday morning (5:00 AM) so that we would be in Seoul in time for lunch with our friend Summer. We pulled into the station only to find that everything was labeled Central City. This definitely confused us because we haven't been to Seoul yet, and I think both of us figured it would be labeled Seoul, not Central City. Central City is apparently the name of the station/shopping mall that we pulled into, but we didn't find that out until we'd asked some European backpackers if we were indeed in Seoul. They definitely rolled their eyes at us when they told us yes. I haven't encountered that much attitude off of anyone outside of the pre-teen category in a long time. So we rushed off to find a Taxi to take us to Iteawon where our friend Summer lives.

The beauty of spending time in Iteawon with Summer is that she's been in Korea for like 6 years, and in Iteawon for 2 or so. We definitely got the all access pass to the city, learning about everything from where to buy curry, (which I did) and books (we spent like $30 but it was totally worth it) to where the hookers and transvestites go to drink. We took it all in and even had time to eat some very good Mexican food (which doesn't exist in Gwangju, good or bad) and hang out at a nice coffee house. We didn't take many pictures with Summer which is a darn shame, but one that will be remedied the next time we head out to her neck of the woods.

Being that Summer was on a tight schedule for the weekend, and we had another set of friends to see, we then called it a day with our good friend and headed to the military base that is right by Itaewon. It was a short hike to the base and after a few minutes of wandering and asking directions, we managed to make it in and made it to Mandy and Gayer's house. The crazy thing about our trip out to see them is that I've technically known Mandy for years because we went to high school together, and in fact were in Girl Scouts together in Elementary school, but I haven't seen her in years. We had been chatting off and on for the last few months on line because we both live in SK now. I say all of this first of all because I was totally blown away by the immense hospitality that we received while staying with them, but also because I'm beginning to see how strange and interconnected our lives and friendships really are. It seems like more and more I'm finding people that I haven't talked to in years, and finding great connections with them that I would never have guessed would be there. Anyhow, enough of my soap box. Mostly, I can say that it was amazing that they would be so gracious and friendly to people that they in some senses really didn't know.

At the army base, we soon found out that there was central AC, carpet in the houses, American electrical plugs, and Honey Nut Cheerios. I pretty much felt like I was back in the states, other than trying to talk to the guards at the front who kinda spoke English. I had forgotten about all of these things because I suppose the human creature is just pretty adaptable on the whole.

I felt like such a bumpkin the whole time we were there. "You mean you have an oven? You can bake? You have carpet? You have a dish washer? You're towels aren't hand towels?" They even had a car. We got to ride in a car with someone who wasn't a Taxi driver (which basically means we rode with safe drivers.) But besides the strange oddity of having all of these old comforts placed back in my life for a few days, experienced the strange realization that I didn't really want them all that much any more. I mean clothes dryers are way cool, and some days when I realize the shirt I wanted to wear is out on the rack and won't be dry for another day, I wish I had one, but I've learned to cope (and how to use the hair dryer and shower curtain rod. It's rather amazing what you can do with an iron and a hair dryer.) I've learned how to love kimchi, which I didn't think would happen so fast. I'm used to sleeping without sheets because it's just too freakin hot and I'm not going to run the ac all night, not that it would even reach our bedroom. I don't crave Mexican food, or cookies (although I must have had like 10 while I was there) and I enjoy riding the bus and walking except a couple of times when it's been pouring and I've forgotten my umbrella.

I guess the strange thing that I learned this weekend is that for the most part, I don't miss America at all. Now, don't freak, because I miss every single person that I knew back home, and by the way we have a Skype number now so you can actually call me from your cell phone if you want to talk, assuming I have the computer on. But I don't miss the conveniences. I don't miss having a car, or having carpet, or being able to put dishes in the dishwasher. And my body loves not eating fast food all the time. I'm even learning to love coffee, which I never thought I would, but gosh darn it the Korean's have won me over. I've learned that I really enjoy not having much because stuff seems to be a drain for me. It was weighing me down. It was just strange to find that out.

Oh, and the other very strange thing about Seoul is that most of the Korean population speaks some English in the Iteawon district, since that area is mostly foreigners. So we would go into restaurants and I would begin with my broken Korean to order, and they would politely interrupt me in English and ask me if I wanted the large meal or the small meal. I found it rather comical, because you could tell that they thought it was really funny that I was speaking such bad Korean. And Steve and I were really amazed at seeing all of the Waygukens. There were foreigners everywhere especially because of the military base. Here in Gwangju we might see a foreigner outside of ECC once every two days or so. We saw them pretty much every moment of the day in Seoul. It was really funny to be surprised and thrown off guard seeing so many people who looked like us. So on a whole, a better trip could not have been asked for.