Well, I wait a few days for something exciting to happen; once it does, I'm too busy to write about; once it's over, I'm too tired to write. So is the cycle of my life at the moment.
Last friday I went with Kraig and the rest of the interns on a field trip to Dream Forest, TOPIS, and the Han River. It was mostly exciting, slightly boring, and very rainy.
I guess it's mostly like a regular day of work for Kraig. We left campus around 8am to make a 40 minute commute on an overly packed bus and subway and arrived just in time to sit around the office while all the 'officials' get business in order. The lady in charge has cute english, easy to understand but different enough to giggle at. Dream Forest was nice, though it would have been better if it wasn't raining. They took us on a quick, rather scene-less tour - stopping at the park sign for a picture and showing us the luxurious restrooms - before we walked up a million stairs for lunch. Before we arrived on the bus, they announced we'd be having a Chinese lunch with seafood, chicken and beef, and asked if anyone would like otherwise. I wish I had raised my hand, as their seafood is different from mine. Also, lunch came in courses, so the main course did not include any seafood and had almost no vegetables. Kind of a bummer, but I filled up on the side dishes- kimchi, cucumbers, and bread. The next to last course was fried rice and was a blessing!
After lunch, we continued to climb the stairs until we reached the top of the tallest building on the tallest hill in the forest. It had a great view and would have been wonderful had it not been foggy and rainy. They even had footsteps on the ground and outlines and dots marking popular buildings from the city on the window. Now, it's odd to think I had to stand on my tippytoes on the footsteps to make the outlines match up, but it was a cool idea.
And since we're talking about height, I feel so tall here, it's wonderful! I'd say I'm taller than 50% of old men and 100% of the old women (most fall between my chin and shoulder). And I'm taller than most girls too, but some are as tall or taller. One of the few things I'll miss about Korea is being taller than someone else.
Back to reality. After Dream Forest, the field trip went downhill quickly. We stopped at TOPIS, the city transportation authority center. It was mostly just for pictures (newpapers photogs were there to snap away). They gave us a short speech, but all I heard was blah-blah-technology-blah-blah. So they can issue tickets while never leaving the office, or track the traffic and send out traffic updates, or use gps to signal buses to speed up or slow down, cool. Kraig seemed really into it. He always says if he had another life, he'd be a police officer.
After TOPIS we made the long journey to the Han River. I guess city officials realized everyone in Seoul is overworked and that the city is lacking in places to rest and relax (besides at the nearest bar), so they've been working on turning the riverside into a getaway. They aren't done yet, but many of amenities include a bike path, park, paddle boats, concert hall, and boat tour. The boat tour was mostly just an advertisement for what they're doing and what they still have to accomplish (one of the pamphlets said it'd be completed in 2020!) Of course, it was still rainy, so they couldn't show us their spectacular light show on one of the bridges. Kraig and I got a kick out of the poorly translated pamphlet, which I'll be bringing home with me. The pamphlet seemed less of a guide and more of a instructions booklet. Unfortunately Kraig has the book at the moment. I guess that's good though, I'd be skimming through it instead of finishing this blog.
After the tour was over, we headed back to the subway. We were just going to go home, have a quick dinner, rest and try to explore the night life with one of Kraig's intern friends, but night life in Korea is really an all-nighter, and Kraig and I are 40 year olds stuck in young bodies. We haven't quite figured this out yet; Seoul seems to have endless day, with people out and about dining and shopping till all hours of the night, yet their public transportation system stops around midnight and everyone out is forced to either drive or grab a taxi, which has a 'late night' surcharge. I don't mind getting home late, like 2 or 3am, but staying out til the subway starts up again and getting home at 7am? No way! Maybe if I was a wild child, or if I hadn't been on my feet for 12 hours and it wasn't raining...
Anyway, after opting not to go out, we made the usual bad decision to find dinner on our own. We should know by now, either stick with McDonalds on the main road or take the subway to Itaewon. But we didn't. I was overly confident that we'd find a vegetarian-friendly Korean restaurant. But we didn't. Ended up walking around for an hour in the rain with one small umbrella until we realized our plan to find edible Korean food for us was futile. So, we hopped on the subway and headed down to Itaewon, where paper ads led us to a wonderfully delicious and tiny Mexican restaurant. Bless those Mexicans. We overheard the owner telling another diner that they cater to the Mexican Embassy.
So after a long day, Kraig and I finally made it home- safe, sort of sound, and very sleepy.
Oh, all the pictures to match this day are on facebook.
Btw, thanks for all the prayers! I am feeling a thousand times better! I can actually breathe now and sleep through the whole night, it's wonderful. Thanks again loved ones!
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