Steve picked me up at the Seoul Incheon Airport Saturday night after he had made his way from Camp Carroll by bus train and shuttle. He was waiting for me there with a sunflower bouquet. (My favorite) It was so good to see him. We ended up buying his new favorite aloe water at the airport and I promised I'd try some. Yea, not the best. It was sweet but had huge chunks of pulp like stuff in it. Couldn't handle that. We bought a couple bus tickets to Seoul Station where we would hop on the KTX (Bullet Train. 150mph) to take all the way to DonDaegu which we would then take a cab to Camp George to take the shuttle back to Camp Carroll. Here are the tickets we bought.
That was what was SUPPOSED to happen though. We ended up getting off the initial bus we took from the airport at the wrong station. We we stuck there in downtown Seoul with my two huge suitcases, laptop and backpack. We had to make it to the train station in time so we were running to find a cab. We finally did and ho-ly cow. The whole "bad cab driver" stigma originated from here I swear. I'd need more hands to be able to count by finger the number of red lights we ran. Not to mention the pedestrains we almost hit. Instead of yeilding, they honk and hopefully the people walking get out of the way. That was crazy.
So we get out of the cab outside of camp george and find like ten other soldiers trying to make their way to camp carroll as well. I guess the shuttle wasn't running again until 3am and no one would make it back by curfew. We ended up sharing a cab with one of the guys (the same cab we used to get there) and took it all the way from Daegu to Waegwan. We finally made it and man I was tired.
So far we have looked around downtown Waegwan in the markets and such, as well as eaten out a few times and looked at a few prospective apartments. More on that when we can actually move into one. Its pretty different here. The language barrier can be tough but everyone has been relatively friendly. Its funny, the korean kids here tend to stare at us. (Especially when I was wearing a dress the other day. Haha.) This one teenage girl who we assume was taking english in school tried what she had learned on us the other day. She spoke "Hello. How are you today?" We responded with "good how are you?" and as we passed by she and her friends giggled. I guess it is kind of funny using the little bit of another language you know in real life. I'm still trying to get "Hello" (Annyong Haseyo) and "Thank you" (Kamsahamnida) down. I always get them mixed up when trying to use them in a real situation. Steve has been really good at it though.
Yesterday Steve and I were walking around Waegwan and went into a realtors office to get help finding an apartment. The lady spoke some english but of course it was broken. She took us (her brother drove) to these high rise apartments which looked like a dump on the outside, but were REALLY nice on the inside. It was the 15th floor I believe and looking down over Waegwan was unbelievable. We loved it. Only thing was the height REALLY got to me which was unusual. I've never been bothered by heights before. Anyway, the lady asked if I would teach her english from time to time so we exchanged phone numbers. She was pretty funny. She didn't seem to care much for Steve though which was strange. She specifically said "I like you!" to myself, and then continued with "Not you. Her!" to Steve. She also talked about how she owned a bar and through her broken english it was hard to understand what she was saying but Steve is pretty certain she was trying to hire me as what they call a "juicy girl" in Korea. Now before I was explained to about what they really are, I had thought they were somewhat like prostitutes. I guess what they really are are girls (scandilly clad) that bar owners hire to hang out in their bars and ask people to "buy them a drink" therefore giving that bar business. For another "bar fee" they will also give out sexual favors. Either way...I will never become a juicy girl. Haha.
This weekend we should be going out to Daegu which should be fun. We might buy ourselves a couple bicycles to get around. I'll take lots of pictures. I have quite a few on my cell phone, but putting them on the computer is really confusing seeing its a korean phone. I will start taking more with my camera so I can load them on here.
No comments:
Post a Comment