Seoul Train

It’s been a little longer this time, so I’ve got a longer post for you. Yeah, I’ll get a camera soon, too. I hope.






Hey! The capital of South Korea is called Seoul! And that sounds like the English word “soul”! I’m probably the first person to ever discover this crazy random happenstance, and as such, I will abuse my discovery ad nauseum in this post. And then you will never hear this particular wordplay from me ever again.

So

I didn’t know there was another living seoul in my building until after my first full day teaching seoulo on Friday. I was walking with my coworker to the train station and bumped into a group of them sitting at a table on the street just down the block from my apartment. The first week is rough, they all told me, and it was nice to have people there that understood my situation and could conseoul me for a while. But time was short, because we had a bus to catch. Let me backtrack.

My coworker had told me that there was a party in Itaewon to which she should take me. Itaewon is the Americatown of Seoul, but its really a Foreigntown, known for its many western-style bars frequented by American seouldiers. My coworker was showing me how to meet her there the next night. It was a wonderful idea, one that would finally help me break out of my iseoulation. Except she had forgotten a few important details.



1. I have no cell phone. If I get lost, I will be wandering around like a lost seoul, with only my trusty guidebook and my wallet to protect me.

2. I don’t speak the language. Which makes it difficult to even order a meal in a restaurant. I would probably sell my seoul for the ability to speak Korean at times like this.

3. I will be by myself navigating the subways. I might be able to seoulicit help from friendly English-speaking passengers, but it’s unlikely.



But all things considered, the subway was fine. She filled me in on work secrets on the way, but I had to promise not to tell a seoul about them. I arrived in the city exactly as planned, and was taken out for a traditional Korean dinner. Let me explain something about eating in Korea. For some reason, the cultures in Asia decided that using a knife or fork was a bad way to go about eating, and one should instead take two wooden sticks and pinch the food between them. Koreans, however, think the rest of Asia seould out with disposable wooden chopsticks, and they opt instead for slippery metal ones. Because they’re not difficult enough when they’re wooden, of course.



I met many wonderful English speakers at the party, and was wonderful to be able to pour out my seoul as to how difficult the world is when you don’t speak the language. I learned that makkoli (ricewine) and soju (weak wheat vodka) are seouluble in thin yoghurt and seven up (yeah, freaked me out too), and then everyone went looking for other bars to go to, and not a seoul was left that I had originally known. So I took a taxi back, but he dropped me off in the wrong area. Well, it was a dark night of the seoul, and I didn’t know the area, so I found a local cabbie who knew the exact apartment building. My night of Seoul searching had come to an end. Problem seoulved.



*throws up a little*



Now that THAT’s done, on to Sunday!

Sunday was spent getting over a sore throat I had come down with over the last couple days. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone out to a party feeling a little under the weather, but I’m not really in a position to turn down opportunities to meet people. So obviously, at some point I turned off my A/C and opened a window to allow the humid air to soothe my throat.

And that’s when all heck broke loose.

you see, a mosquito got in.

”oh no,” you mockingly cry, sneering at my obvious lack of cajones “everyone take cover! Don’t wet yourself! Hide in your bomb shelter”

…maybe that last one was a little too close to home this close to kim jong il…..

regardless, this is malaria country. So I put on long sleeves, pants, and socks, and so began a dance of death.

for fifteen hours, I dueled the mosquito. It would buzz right by my head, and I’d duck and come up swinging, but the crafty thing would always disappear into the shadows before I could catch it. I sat in silence, the picture of a meditating warrior, unmoving until my enemy would resurface.

Then I got bored and went to sleep.

In the MORNING, however, I ambushed it on the door to my closet. I used the forbidden death-swat technique. It was a formidable foe. God rest its seoul.



*punches self out*