Creative Meanderings

Vacation is what life should always be instead of a break from it. After a late night last night I thought I was doing well sleeping for 7 hours. So getting up at 930 or so and reading, chatting with friends and waiting for my hosts to wake up was a great way for me to start the day. Once we got ready to go, SY took us to Yongsan to look for…

After the coffee shop, Kim and I went to have a snack of dukbokki (spicy Korean mochi) at a nearby place. Then, we went back to SY’s place to drink soju and eat chips while we waited for SY to finish teaching. A bottle later, we went to eat pulgogi, which was sooo nice! We tried to get SY to catch up but she was smart! Once our stomachs were full we headed…

One of the things I have noticed in the past 24 hours is that Koreans not only love to eat – evidenced by the ever-present food stalls and numerous restaurants- but also they love coffee shops! On every corner I have seen a coffee shop and so now I write in Coffee Lab near SY’splace where they are working/studying and I, for the first time in ages, sit and ponder where I am.…

It’s been a long, but fun day. After arriving at Hapjeong bus stop, Kim met me and we walked back to her friend’s place, who has very kindly allowed me to stay as well. Once I dropped off my stuff, we went around the comer for lunch and coffee. While I am quite comfortable with not speaking Korean, it would definitely come in handy to know a few phrases for ordering food. Somehow…

I am on a bus going into Seoul from Incheon airport. I have already had to adjust to the culture and body block an older woman from cutting in front of me to buy a bus ticket. It smells like kimchi on the bus and I am enveloped in sounds of a language I barely know anything about. Yet as the other two times I have been to Korea, I feel a sense…