Allie's Got Seoul: A New Week of New Experiences

Coming off a busy week of distributing midterm exams and writing syllabifor the second half of the term, I had hoped for a little bit of a calmer week. Even though my working hours are pretty ideal, having a day job really makes for busy days and quick weeks. I can’t complain though because I love always having something to do…and with my spare time I ended up doing a lot of fun things!

After celebrating Bethany’s birthday Saturday night, I took Sunday for myself and wandered around Namsan Park. We’ve had one absolutely beautiful day after the next, full of perfect blue skies and fall temperatures, and I’ve been itching to spend as much time as possible outside while it lasts. This park is part of Namsan Moutain, a centrally located and easily accessed mountain in the city and also where the Seoul Tower is located. Surrounded by picturesque scenery, I made the hike to the top, so long as upward walking on paved paths count as hiking. There were restaurants and shops at the base of the tower due its appeal as a tourist attraction. At the peak there was even a cultural festival. (There are always multiple festivals going on in this city. Not sure if it is attributable to Seoul’s sheer size or whether Koreans are obsessed with having incessant festivals.) Following a wonderful day spent in the great, though semi-urban, outdoors, I spent the late afternoon into evening wandering Hongdae with only one specific destination in mind. There are always new cafes and boutiques that catch my eye, but I was determined on finding a particular gourmet ice cream shop.

Last weekend was also marked by the befriending of a neighbor who runs a small eatery across the street. Bethany and I were originally attracted to her because she has an adorable and dirty puppy outside her shop that we can’t keep our hands off. The lady’s name is Hyun-Soo and Bethany has become a huge fan of her $5 meals, which can be easily confused with a Thanksgiving feast. Korean delivery is awesome. Your meal is brought on a huge tray and reusable dishes with, of course, all the banchan (side dishes). When you finish eating, the dishes get collected them from your doorstep.

Persimmon season is among us, and to be honest, I didn’t really know what they were until this week. For a long time I thought all the produce vendors were selling half-ripened tomatoes. Upon discovering that these unappealing tomatoes were actually a sweet and juicy fruit, I naturally had to try them for myself. The street vendors group produce into baskets and sell them at a set price. It is extremely unreasonable that I would even suggest buying only half a basket…and so trying one persimmon involved buying eleven. Despite being incredibly sweet and juicy, I didn’t think they were all too flavorful. With so many to spare I threw a couple in the freezer since I heard they make a nice frozen treat. I also gifted a few to our new friend, Hyun-Soo. She promptly return the favor by giving me a decorative towel with a picture of Jesus. Fair trade, I’d say.

Monday night I subway-ed straight after work to a language exchange conversation group. Now that I’m feeling more settled in I really want to improve my Korean. Already there have been so many times when knowing more could have been so useful. Sometimes I nearly forget that I can't communicate in Korean; when I go to ask a question it isn't until the last second that I realize I'm not in a Spanish-speaking country. This particular conversation group was huge and extended to many languages beyond English and Korean. I spent an hour and half talking to a Korean girl my age. Her English was much better than my nearly nonexistent Korean and she was able to practice speaking while providing me insight to Korean culture. I added a few Korean phrases to my limited list, including “How much is this?” “This is cheap” “This is expensive” and the numbering system to used for money. My head was spinning at the time, but with some light review the following morning I felt pretty comfortable with it. And it really came in use for my next adventure this week…

Tuesday morning I checked out a recently discovered market in our Mokdong neighborhood. I can’t tell you how excited I am to have found the cheapest produce I have yet to find! The market was essentially one extremely long covered street, so long that I could not see to the other end. It was filled with vendors selling produce, meats, raw and live fish, breads, nuts, street food, fresh tofu, and even toiletries. It wasn’t too crowded on a late Tuesday morning so it was a great time to casually peruse. I could have even become the lucky owner of a mesh bag full of live bees, if I had wanted! I speculate (hope) that most of the goods were fairly local since I didn’t see much in the way of bananas and other fruits I know to be imported. I plan on being a regular since it feels much more authentic shopping here. I know Seoul is a modern metropolitan city, but even at home I still prefer shopping at local outdoor markets.

Tuesday night I traveled to a Bikram Yoga studio in Gangnam! You may or may not know that I’m a little bit obsessed with Bikram, which is a 90 minutehot yoga series held at 105 degree temperature. Their super-sale was ending soon so I had to get over there and buy a few tickets to warm me up through the harsh winter. Still a bit of splurge but the core strength and spinal flexibility it helps me achieve is well-worth it. I completed the first class I had in months and immediately felt amazing, while next day I woke up with that good soreness feeling. If the studio was a bit closer to apartment I would consider making it a regular thing, but for now it will remain a treat!

Thursday night I again made a quick departure from work and headed straight to an Ashthanga yoga class. It was at the same venue which hosted the vegan potluck last month. They hold a variety of events and this evening would be a doublewhammy for me: my first Asthanga yoga class and a Korean class/language exchange that was just forming. Asthanga is a non-hot style of set of yoga poses that once you learn, you work through at your own pace based on your breath. Becoming an Asthanga yogi master will take a lot of practice and memorization, but I have heard great things and wanted to give it a go...and I foresee myself attending more in the future. As with all yoga, it is better to practice regularly, but at the moment I’m not sure how much I will able to commit. (I recently found a neighborhood gym that will offer me a membership for about $210 for six months. The gym is much more convenient and economical. As the temperature continues to drop and I refuse to run in the park, this will be essential.)

With a half hour between yoga and Korean class I found a lovely Europeanbakery with delicious bread that wasn’t sweet! While Western-influenced bakeries and cafes have sprouted up everywhere in Korea over the past few years, I have found that Korean breads and baked goods are all sweet. Normally this isn't something I would complain about but 8 weeks later I excitedly dipped my savory ciabatta in a house-made cilantro pesto and then headed back for the Korean class. The class was a mix of English and Korean speakers, led by a fluent speaker of both. In this session we got to know each other a bit and practiced a few basic greetings in each language. This class is designed so that we all will teach and all will learn. If it ends up being effective I’ll be glad I amattending!

To wrap up this week of new experiences, I learned how to pay bills andtransfer money at the ATM. It was so incredibly convenient and something that American banks should adopt. You just go to the ATM, pop in your bank card and pin number, select transfer and enter in the receiving bank and account number, and voila!