Second week Over.
Trip Start
Oct 27, 2005
1
5
49
Trip End
Nov 01, 2006
Seoul, Korea Rep.
Sunday, November 13, 2005
This last week wasn't all that exciting. Doesn't mean I don't have stories though!!!
Work was work. Great! Exciting and fun! No stories on that end.
On Tuesday I decided I would do a little exploring and went for a walk. I was thinking 30 minutes would be good... it turned out to be 1 hour and 30 minutes; not by choice. It is so hard to cross the street here; and I didn't want to go the way I came... so i ended up making a + symbol by going down one street, walking forever until I found an intersection I could cross and doing that until I got home. It was nuts. The funniest part, I told Kim what I had done and she told me to use the subways, go underground and cross. Wish I knew that then!! That was quite he experience. While I was out on my walk I saw quite a few things. There is Outback here; I doubt it's Alberta beef, Domino's Pizza, Papa John's Piza, TGI Friday's, and 7-11. But they are not on every street corner like in Canada.
Walking down the street you will see the "traditional" Korean hiking outfit. Hiking shoes, black hiking pants, black fleece jacket, hat, and a backpack. Yeah, it's a standard hiking outfit everywhere, but here they all look the same. No variation in color or style. There will be pictures.
You also see a lot of drunk people. mainly business people I saw two business men sitting on a bench, drinking straight Soju. At night everyone is drunk, no one can walk straight. And I wonder, "what about the children?" The answer... the children are at their lessons until 9-10pm. Parents go out and drink. ANd grandparents play a huge role in the children's lives.
There are game rooms... not computer games... actual board games. People do everything outside of their homes because their houses are so small.
As I continue to walk down the street, I realize that motorcycles are everywhere. On the roads, on the sidewalks. They have no real place. So, they are everywhere!! It's absolutely normal to see a motorcycle driving down the sidewalk. Cars too! When they need to find parking.
Along with all the chaos of motorcycles, people and cars on the sidewalks, there are people selling things. Anything and everything. Walking can sometimes e difficult; I see it as an adventure!
The other day I went to the market and got some veggies. Not so exciting hey! Here comes the exciting part. The carrots are BIG. One carrot here, is like 5 carrots anywhere else. BIG!!! And the other exciting news... they sell garlic ALREADY PEELED. This makes me happy, because back home, I am always the garlic peeler. Fresh peeled garlic, in bags. Isn't life wonderful?!?
You know that guy, Brad Pitt? Well he's in a Heineken commercial here. Very weird how celebrities are in commercials. I guess it's a common thing. And speaking of Mr. Pitt, one of my great friends met him. She shook his hand. SHOOK his hand and talked to him. Oh, and Angelina was there too.
November 11 was Rememberance day in Canada. I thought the whole world celebrated it. (I think mourned may be a better word) I thought wrong. Calgarians enjoyed a long weekend. Toronto didn't get a long weekend. I thought about that and whenI was a kid, I don't recall getting Rememberance day off of school. Now it's a holiday! (That was a random thought, back on track now) Here in Korea, it's Pepero day. Pepero is like the Pocky Candy you get in Calgary. The sticks dipped in chocolate. On November 11 (11/11) everyone gives each other Pepero. Big ones, small ones. All so delicious!. November 11 is Pepero day because when you hold up 2 Pepero's it makes an 11. November, the 11th month, and the 11th day. Pepero day. Yum!
So, a week with no excitement has been pretty long in writing. I guess there is always excitement in Ikea (as Tyla says: Ikea instead of Korea... she learned about Ikea a little before Korea... in the end.... Korea is Ikea)
Until next week I say goodbye and hopefully pictures will be up. I miss you all.
More adventures and stories to come.
