This morning was the first day I've been alone since I got to Seoul. It's nice and kind of sad. I wandered around a little until returning to the coffee shop across from the guest house. They had bagels and warm drinks. I hoped to find a wi-fi spot while wandering around... but I can't read any of the signs. Nor do I feel comfortable asking someone... because I should be speaking Korean to them...
Also this morning, I've been thinking about things back home. I keep thinking about all the things I forgot to do. And my family. And my pets. How is the weather back home? Have the roads been okay for my mother? Since I couldn't explain to my puppy what was happening, does she think I have abandoned her or that I will be returning soon? Besides my trip in May, I think this is the first time I haven't slept at home. So I really don't know how she will be doing.
Things here have been okay, except the fact that I can only use baby speech to get my needs across. And forget about anything even remotely complicated to explain.
Well, the chai here is wonderful and my bagel was excellent. No wi-fi, but that's okay, from what oppa explained, I will be moving into the dorm (my "home" for 2.5 months) on Monday, Dec 17th.
Seems weird that I lost a whole day in my move here. Oppa and I were trying to explain to each other what was happening (or what we thought was happening) and when... and I didn't really realize it was Tuesday until we started talking about it. Two days from today? Wednesday? No? What's today? LOL. And that makes today Wednesday. Crazy. I exist in the future! Hahaha.
Speaking of future. I watched Back to the Future 3 with Korean subtitles this morning. Awesome. I miss that movie. And yes, it was only Korean subtitles, the movie still had English speech. I love Michael J Fox.
I should probably head to my room now. My coordinator is supposed to call sometime before noon. No idea exactly when, but sometime. Maybe I'll continue writing this in my room.
***
11:45am
Back in the room. Here are a few pics of the room itself. Pretty small by American standards, but about what I expected. The living and bedroom is the same room, and the bathroom is joined with the toilet (meaning, there's nothing setting the shower from the toilet). If the dorm and my EPIK apartment are anything like the Holt guest house, then I will count myself lucky. Because I know that I could do much worse. And by the way, the ondol (or underfloor heating) which is standard in Korea, is AWESOME. Love it. Except the fact that I can't roll myself in it. My feet are always toasty warm in the room and if my hands get cold, I just put them on the floor. Or lie down on it. I understand why Koreans slept on the floor traditionally. So warm.
Around noon, the coordinator should call my room and I and another participant will go to lunch to meet each other and talk about what's going to happen next. Evidently there are a total of three new participants this term, and the other two are guys.
Whoops. There's the phone. Talk to you later!
****
3:30pm
I am not an adventurous person. Which is really too bad, considering what I just decided to do for a year. I have a whole afternoon/evening from which to do stuff, so after lunch with Nicholas and Ms. Seol, I decided to go wander around and find myself an adapter. Good idea? Yes. Good time? No. I just wandered right around the little area where Holt PAS is, and... I got lost. Isn't that weird for ME to get lost? No?... Fine then. Anyway, I think I spent 1.5-2 hours wandering around looking for an electronics store that might sell adapters and then looking for the way back. At one point I went in circles because I knew I was close to being back... just couldn't find the exact place. Argh.
However, wandering around does have its advantages. I got to see some pretty interesting sites and got to know my area (or at least, as well as I can). Just didn't accomplish anything. I hate that feeling, but I love their architecture.
No comments:
Post a Comment