Nobody likes you when you're twenty three
Well, Blink 182 has a song whose lyrics include “Nobody likes you when you’re 23.” I think there’s some truth to it, too. My birthday was this past Friday (on the same day my mom turned 50!) and it was definitely a good one. At work, they had a cake for me. I was the third birthday of the week, and the first cake was sweet potato, the next was some sort of fruit, and mine was mocha—what a winner! The director gave me a really nice bouquet of flowers and the secretary gave me an air-cleaning plant (I had this in mind for my apartment, but I didn’t know how to ask the botanist which plant does what) and a pineapple! Several friends –including some from training, some I met at other random places – got together and went out to Hongdae for Club Night. The last Friday of every month is when people here get paid, so they usually celebrate in this hot spot. It was nasty and rainy, but there were still a lot of people out. Music here is funny, because it’s either so new that you don’t yet know it, or it’s so old that it brings back memories. I joked that they are just now getting the Gin Blossoms, but they’d mix in some Pimp Juice shortly. Clubs close at 6am, but I had to work on Saturday, so we called it quits at 3am, then had a slumber party at my apartment as girls like to do. Good times for sure.
On my way to Hongdae, I was complimented by a nice Korean man. I was standing up as the train was moving and he offered me his seat. I declined, but he insisted. So I took the seat and he asked where I am from. I told him America and he got really excited. “Oh I love your country!” He said. “Americans are so nice!” I said thank you and he kept going on and on about what a wonderful place it is. He asked where I’m from and I told him the South, and he started to tell me something about how it takes money to travel across the US. I’m not sure what he was getting at, but then we reached his stop and he said goodbye in all different ways: “See you later”, “Goodbye” and “Good night.” Funny, but also very nice to be reminded that people love the USA, despite the anti-Bush protests that were going on last week.
So my adventures this past weekend were to Yongsan Electronics Market and Kyobo bookstore (and in the middle, I bought 70 more postcards—so for those of you still awaiting yours, have no fear, I haven’t forgotten! For those of you interested who haven’t sent me your addresses, this is your call to action). Yongsan is right near the Army base and I started on my quest at the top for a Motorola RAZR for a friend back home and thought I’d work my way down these 8 floors of electronics. It was about the size of a football field it seemed—and nothing but cell phones on the 8th floor. There were TVs, rice cookers, blenders, stereos, mp3 players, DVDs… basically anything electronic you could dream of on the rest of the floors. I got hollered at to check out the goods at several different kiosks and I think some aimed to rip me off because I’m 1) white and 2) female. No luck though, I didn’t buy anything, merely checked out the goods.
Kyobo/Gyobo bookstore. Hmph. I’d been told it was huge and all that jazz. It was big, but it wasn’t like the Yongsan of literature. Maybe I expected too much. I did peruse the foreign section where, when purchasing “A Confederacy of Dunces”, was tapped by a quizzical young Korean boy. He said he has been studying English for 2 years, but that it’s boring. He asked what I was buying and sai he’d been reading Sherlock Holmes and wanted to buy the book, which is why he was there. I commended his purchase and, in agreement with his parents and of course my current occupation, told him that English is important. I complimented his grammar and answered a few more questions. Felt like I was in an interview, but I thought it was cute.
Amy and I ate at a ridiculously overpriced Japanese restaurant. We picked the cheapest thing on the menu (payday is still a week away) and man, for $10, you sure get a lot! Sashimi, yes, but baked fish, about 7 other yummy side dishes, and rice. Wow! I then rode the train home next to an extremely intoxicated older woman. I heard her say “Miguk saram” when I sat down, which means American. She asked me what my stop is, and I could only pretend not to understand her for so long, so when I finally told her she started acting like she had a gun. It was really strange. Several people around laughed when I said “Uh oh!” to the man next to her telling me theirs was the same stop. Crazy old, drunk Koreans!
Today is my brother’s 26th birthday. Tomorrow is my first day of a beginner’s Korean class. I have to walk about 20min to the subway, ride the train for about 40min, walk 20min to class that lasts 2 hours, then come all the way back and begin prepping for my classes that end at 10pm. So they will be long days, but I’m really excited about the class. I plan to bring plenty of class prep and reading material with me on the sub ride so that most of my things will be finished by the time I arrive to teach. I’ve already bought school supplies and colorful pens, just what my nerdy and OCD self likes to do. I just want to be able to get around by myself and understand the gist of what’s going on.
Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed
On my way to Hongdae, I was complimented by a nice Korean man. I was standing up as the train was moving and he offered me his seat. I declined, but he insisted. So I took the seat and he asked where I am from. I told him America and he got really excited. “Oh I love your country!” He said. “Americans are so nice!” I said thank you and he kept going on and on about what a wonderful place it is. He asked where I’m from and I told him the South, and he started to tell me something about how it takes money to travel across the US. I’m not sure what he was getting at, but then we reached his stop and he said goodbye in all different ways: “See you later”, “Goodbye” and “Good night.” Funny, but also very nice to be reminded that people love the USA, despite the anti-Bush protests that were going on last week.
So my adventures this past weekend were to Yongsan Electronics Market and Kyobo bookstore (and in the middle, I bought 70 more postcards—so for those of you still awaiting yours, have no fear, I haven’t forgotten! For those of you interested who haven’t sent me your addresses, this is your call to action). Yongsan is right near the Army base and I started on my quest at the top for a Motorola RAZR for a friend back home and thought I’d work my way down these 8 floors of electronics. It was about the size of a football field it seemed—and nothing but cell phones on the 8th floor. There were TVs, rice cookers, blenders, stereos, mp3 players, DVDs… basically anything electronic you could dream of on the rest of the floors. I got hollered at to check out the goods at several different kiosks and I think some aimed to rip me off because I’m 1) white and 2) female. No luck though, I didn’t buy anything, merely checked out the goods.
Kyobo/Gyobo bookstore. Hmph. I’d been told it was huge and all that jazz. It was big, but it wasn’t like the Yongsan of literature. Maybe I expected too much. I did peruse the foreign section where, when purchasing “A Confederacy of Dunces”, was tapped by a quizzical young Korean boy. He said he has been studying English for 2 years, but that it’s boring. He asked what I was buying and sai he’d been reading Sherlock Holmes and wanted to buy the book, which is why he was there. I commended his purchase and, in agreement with his parents and of course my current occupation, told him that English is important. I complimented his grammar and answered a few more questions. Felt like I was in an interview, but I thought it was cute.
Amy and I ate at a ridiculously overpriced Japanese restaurant. We picked the cheapest thing on the menu (payday is still a week away) and man, for $10, you sure get a lot! Sashimi, yes, but baked fish, about 7 other yummy side dishes, and rice. Wow! I then rode the train home next to an extremely intoxicated older woman. I heard her say “Miguk saram” when I sat down, which means American. She asked me what my stop is, and I could only pretend not to understand her for so long, so when I finally told her she started acting like she had a gun. It was really strange. Several people around laughed when I said “Uh oh!” to the man next to her telling me theirs was the same stop. Crazy old, drunk Koreans!
Today is my brother’s 26th birthday. Tomorrow is my first day of a beginner’s Korean class. I have to walk about 20min to the subway, ride the train for about 40min, walk 20min to class that lasts 2 hours, then come all the way back and begin prepping for my classes that end at 10pm. So they will be long days, but I’m really excited about the class. I plan to bring plenty of class prep and reading material with me on the sub ride so that most of my things will be finished by the time I arrive to teach. I’ve already bought school supplies and colorful pens, just what my nerdy and OCD self likes to do. I just want to be able to get around by myself and understand the gist of what’s going on.
Copyright 2005 Olivia R. Reed
posted by LSULiv | 9:09 PM
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