Friday night we had a short coffee party to say goodbye to Jenn. I was even allowed to leave work 30 minutes early (ooooh!), but by the time I got there, she was about ready to pack it in. After she left, Jay, Jenny, Nic, Elias, and I decided to go to the Holy Grill for dinner. Jenny and Jay got online and looked up KTX tickets (the rapid-train system) for me, which were available for a variety of times. I was so exhausted that I thought maybe I would put off Seoul until I wasn’t so tired, and instead just relax all weekend. But we went ahead and bought the tickets online with Jenny’s discount, so I went.
After dinner, Jenny and Jay took me to Dongdaegu Station to pick up the tickets and show me where to go, and what to do. Jay took me all around the station explaining how to get on the right track, and the right train, and the right car, at the right time. The trains run back to back, only 10-20 minutes apart, so you must be careful to get on the right one. The seats and cars are assigned, so you also must make sure to get on the right car. It was so lovely and helpful to do all of that for me. I can’t imagine trying to do all of that on my own. I would have been crazy trying to figure it out without Korean.
Jenny drove me home afterward, and I was there by 1 AM or so. I had a lot to do before 5:30 AM, when I had to leave to catch the first bus into town. The short version: I ended up with no sleep at all.
I took Hayes-y out and left for the bus around 5:30 AM. I was running late, and missed the first 2 buses that went by. I was waiting for the next bus, and a car sped up as he passed me. Moments later, I heard an enormous crash. I think the car was trying to make the light down the block, but didn’t. Instead, he hit the car coming through the intersection. The whole driver’s side was smashed, to the point where it would have been difficult, if not impossible, to get out that side. I hope there weren’t any injuries. I felt totally helpless since I don’t know how to call the police or how to explain in Korean what I saw. So, I guiltily got on the bus when it came moments later, and I was off.
To get to Seoul, I had to take 4 modes of public transportation: 1) a bus to the subway, 2) the subway to Beomeo (“Pomo”) Station, 3) a taxi to Dongdaegu Station, and 4) the KTX high-speed train to Seoul. The KTX is more expensive than the regular Korail train but gets there in 1 hour 45 minutes instead of 4 hours. It’s worth every penny.
This man's trenchcoat and apparent lack of pants was enough to make me smile and wake up a bit at the train station.
The train was quite nice. I was in regular class, and it was very comfortable. The trolley (I watch too much Harry Potter…what else would you call it?) came through a couple of times offering food and drinks for a fee, and there were vending machines in several cars. An attendant came through periodically also. On the way there I wanted to take some pictures of the countryside, but I was on the aisle and the man by the window was sleeping. I can’t turn the sound on my phone camera off, and I didn’t want to disturb him. So, no pictures. Shortly, I was asleep anyway.
I got to Seoul Station and was pleasantly surprised that it was right in the middle of downtown. I always think of train stations as being on the outskirts. It was very nice, and a woman at the tourist booth told me where to go to catch the subway. It was essentially underneath the KTX station, but I had to go outside and down.
I tried to go through the turnstile, but couldn’t. My Daegu subway card isn’t good in Seoul, I quickly found out. I couldn’t find anyone to ask for help, so I called the hostel where I was to stay, and he helped me buy a card and get to the right train by phone.
It was fairly easy to get to the area where the hostel was, and shortly I arrived at the Bebop Guesthouse. I had found them through an ad on Facebook, and their website showed a good-looking house run by good people. And it was the same in person. It was quite nice, as were the 3 Korean people who run it. They are all fluent in English, which was great. I had booked a bed in a 4-bed dorm-style room, which was empty when I arrived to drop off my stuff at 10AM, so I took a long nap before venturing out.
I went to Itaewon (the main foreigner area) in search of an English bookstore called What the Book? and winter clothes. When I came to Korea I could only bring two suitcases, and warmer clothes would have taken up too much room, so most were left in Ohio. And Korean people are much shorter and thinner than I am, and I haven’t found even one plus-size store in Daegu. This was the reason I decided to go to Seoul even when I was so exhausted. My jeans were on their last leg (pun intended), and I wanted some sweaters and a warm coat.
When I came out of the subway, I tried to orient myself with my map. A girl came up to me and asked if I needed help (in English), and pointed me toward the bookstore, which was very close. It actually took me a minute to realize she was speaking to me. I had grown accustomed to not understanding anyone, and my brain took longer than it should have to recognize my Mother Tongue.
What the Book? is in the basement of its building, and when I made my way inside, there may as well have been a choir of angels singing “Ahhh!”. The place was small, but had hundreds of books, all in English, and it was packed with at least 30 people. It was great. For the first time in 6 weeks I could understand all the conversations I overheard. I found the dictionary I wanted: Berlitz English-Korean and Korean-English, with all the Korean words spelled out in English phonetically. I also found the 6th Harry Potter. Then, I saw the magazine section. Again, I heard angels.
They must carry 75 different American magazines. I picked up copies of several I had been missing, and a copy of Runner’s World for Nic as a thank you for taking care of Hayes-y so I could go away. I spent way too much money, but it was worth it.
I headed back toward the main road and passed an “import food market”. I went in, and the first thing I saw was an enormous bag of pretzels. My mom sent some in the package I just got because I haven’t found them where I am. But there they were, taunting me. I also found 8 or 10 types of cheese, chocolate syrup, and Kraft macaroni and cheese, another item in my care package.
I decided not to buy anything because I didn’t want to lug pretzels and cheese all over Seoul with me, but now I know they exist. Itaewon is home to a major American military base, so that’s why the imports are easily found there. I will try to get to the Camp Walker area in Daegu; maybe I can find the same stuff there.
At the book store I saw a card for a women’s plus size shop, so I went looking for it next. I found it, and the woman started a pile for me. There were several other women there, all teachers from various places in Korea. I went to the back room to try things on. There were no changing rooms, privacy, or even heat. It was literally the back store room, where you just had to undress and go for it. I was delighted to find 2 pairs of jeans, a pair of khakis, and 2 sweaters that worked. They were all too expensive, but I needed them, so I bought them anyway.
A word about prices in Korea—in general, things are cheaper. If you Korean-sized, you can get an entire wardrobe for super cheap. Plus sizes are only common among foreigners, and most things are imported, so they are much more expensive. (Most Korean labels purposely don’t increase their size lineup, to actively discourage obesity. They figure if you have no options, you’ll have to lose extra weight.) Granted, at a name brand store in the U.S. I would spend $50 for jeans, but compared to Korean-sized jeans here being 10,000 won, the 29,000 won they charged for my size is very expensive.
I decided I was starving and wanted Western food, so I went to the Outback Steakhouse across the street. It was very similar to the Outbacks at home—the same basic items were on the menu, and the service sucked. It is uncommon to see anyone eating alone in Korea, so maybe the waiter thought I was waiting for someone. In any case, I was starving and angry by the time the food arrived.
I thought the butter looked an odd color, but assumed it was the dark lighting. But no, it was strawberry butter for my bread. For those of you who know of my loathing for all combinations of fruit and dairy, you will understand how disgusted I was. I had a fleeting thought to ask what flavor the butter for my baked potato would be, but didn’t. It was also fruity, but I’m not sure it was strawberry. I would’ve eaten around the butter, but the potato was so small that the butter covered all of it. All-in-all, dinner was not good.
I made my way back to the hostel, to find 5 people sitting in the living room getting ready to play drinking games. Three are American teachers in the JET program in Japan, and two are Finnish university students studying in Daejeon. Later, three Russian girls who go to the same university came in. I was invited to drink with them, but was so exhausted that I hung out for a short bit, then went to bed. I didn’t sleep very well though, as I kept waking up to the sound of Russian whispering. Every time I would say, “Can you go outside (of the room)?” they would say, “Oh, we thought you were asleep.” (Yeah, I was until you were talking and laughing 5 feet away. Thanks. Shut up.)
In the morning, somewhat rested, I made my included breakfast of eggs, toast, and coffee, and tried to make a plan. Most of the others were going to the flea market in Insa-dong. I decided that I wanted to go to Namdaemun (“Nahm-day-moon”) Market to try to find the Alpha Stationary store. Natalya wrote about it in her blog, and I thought it sounded good. My friend Amy in Boston loves stationary and scrapbooking, so I have been looking for some cute stuff to send her for her recent birthday.
I made my way to the right subway station, but exited the wrong gate. I never realized how difficult it is to find a different subway gate above ground. Inside, there are signs pointing the way, but outside there is nothing.
This shop reminded me of The Princess Bride:
And I saw some cool things while I was wandering:
After a while I asked a man who was walking by (who spoke no English as it turned out). However, he was able to communicate by using my map and pointing to where I needed to go. I looked around for a while, then decided to enter the market and look for it myself.
Namdaemun Market was what I picture in my mind to be a “typical Asian market”. There is a massive web of alleys lined with stalls, and tiny shops filled to the brim with everything you could want or need. In the middle of the alleys are more vendors selling their wares off tables. People shout and sing to get your attention. Most prices aren’t marked—you must ask, and haggle.
I found everything from Asian-style folding fans and cultural souvenirs like traditional wooden masks, to socks, shoes, and coats, to kitchenware and DVDs. They were packed with winter hats and gloves, and I even saw a few Christmas booths.
I found it rather unexpected, but more Koreans are Christian than anything else at this point, so Christmas is becoming big business. I bought a few things, and then found an information booth. I got a map of the market, and directions to the stationary store.
Alpha was both incredible and disappointing. I had hoped to find some quirkey, Konglishy (like Spanglish, in Korea) stationary for Amy, but they didn’t have any. It’s not really that kind of place. It’s more like a teacher’s supply, office supply, educational activities, and crafts store. They have a room for each of these, plus sections for painting, building models, and pens. I spent most of my time in the “elementary school-esque” section, which mainly carries things to decorate a classroom, plus rolls of felt, pipe cleaners of every kind, and felt cut-outs of faces, animals, monsters, etc.
I bought a package of Christmas things: Santa, reindeer, snowman, sleigh, and snow. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll use it, but I look forward to figuring it out.
As I made a final pass through Namdaemun on my way back to the subway station I fell in love with my dumbest purchase, a 2 foot tall lighted reindeer made of fake evergreen. Why do I need this? I don’t know. But it’s fantastic, and keeping Hayes-y company in my apartment now.
I made it back to the subway, and went toward Dongdaemun Market, the smaller of the two. I was told to go out of exit 5 and go towards the stream. I got turned around in the station and couldn’t find exit 5, so instead I came out exit 9. I had no idea where I was or where the stream was. In front of me was a very large piece of the former city wall gate. It was cool to see, but so much as I thought it would be. It doesn’t do anything, and you can’t go inside and look around. Boo.
I wandered around for a while, and eventually stumbled across “stationary and toy alley” according to the sign. I found a couple of small shops that had the type of thing that I wanted to send to Amy, so it worked out well. I continued up the alley and wandered around a bit more, and came across the stream.
It was the Cheonggye Stream that I had read about. The stream is very old, and during the industrial push several decades ago, it was covered over by a highway. A few years ago it was uncovered, and has been a beautification project since. They have created walkways along the stream, and flowers and grassy areas have been added to make it more attractive. They have also made several pedestrian bridges crossing it.
Along the far side were hundreds of stalls selling everything from socks to men’s suits. Literally. It was funny to watch businessmen haggling over shiny grey suit pants in the middle of the sidewalk.
From a bridge, I saw the department store I was looking for, Doota (maybe the oddest name for a major store ever). I made my way to it, and it the basement (B1) was the department I was told about, Plus Zone. Inside it were 8 or 10 vendors who carry plus sizes. Everything looked good, but I had already spent my allotment for the trip, so I only bought some tights, and headed back out.
They also have a department in the basement for all your hooker-apparel needs.
From the ground level entrance, I recognized the gate I saw earlier. I followed the signs to the subway entrance, and found that the closest to Doota is exit 8. The store is actually quite close to the subway if you know where you’re going.
I went back to the hostel and gathered my things. I had found many things I was looking for in Seoul, but I wasn’t nearly as impressed as I thought I would be with the city. I certainly didn’t want to live there. I was ready to go home.
This should impress upon you the immensity of this city. This is their subway map:
At least they allow gay men to ride on the escalator together. :)
On the train ride back to Daegu, a line from a book I’ve been teaching came to mind: “I’ve had a great adventure, “ Tiki thought. “But the best place I the world is right here with Jenny.”
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