i made promises to my cousin and her husband all day long that i wouldn't take a nap during the day... and then i took a 4 hour 'power' nap in the late afternoon and completely screwed up any chance of adjusting to the time difference again. OH WELL.
it's close to 4am here and i'm wiiiide awake, so it's time for an update.
i spent most of yesterday wandering around seoul with haejung. her husband and two children (seeri, who's a judge and seewon, who's a 20 yr old college student {seeri's a girl, seewon's a boy... dont' act like you knew}) all left early in the morning and were gone all day, which was fine. i had felt a little overwhelmed the night before (it's possible that that was due to the self medication on the plane) when i arrived at the airport and about 8 cousins were there to greet me.
the main goal and highlight of the day was to buy me a cell phone. apparently, you're nobody in korea if you don't own a cell phone. men sleep with their cell phones clenched to their fists; babies are given cell phones as soon as they utter their first words; mothers would gladly give up their first born son before their cell phones. haejung told me that we'd be taking the subway to a store that was 'kind of like walmart.' and it was! if walmart was a sprawling 13 floor super mall, then this place was walmart to a T.
each level specialized in one item. one floor was dedicated to cameras, another to mp3 players, and so on. the cell phone floor was amazing. i had never in my life seen so many cell phones in one room. each company had a counter set up and each counter had about 50 or so phones. as you walked by each of the counters (and there were lots of them) the sales people would beg you to come over and buy something from them. it was kind of alarming. i wanted to go to the camera floor and maybe pick myself up a digital camera to post some pictures, but i decided that i can't until i learn enough korean to haggle the price down as far as possible.
anyway, i left 'walmart' phoneless bc of something to do with not having a bank account set up in korea. but i guess my uncle knows someone who knows someone and they're going to hook me up. sweet.
we made various other stops during the day at little shops on the street, which brought back memories of the tiny shop my aunt and uncle used to own in pusan, korea. the last time we were there was when i was very young. it was located under their apartment and i remember jason and i used to run downstairs and poke around because we knew, eventually, someone would give us candy.
tomorrow, i plan on dropping by yonsei university (where i'll eventually be settling) to check out the campus and the area around it. one of my cousin's children, younghee, gets done with classes early, so i'll have a personal tour guide, which is always nice.
i feel as though i should make an attempt to sleep for a few hours so i won't be comatose tomorrow afternoon.
it's close to 4am here and i'm wiiiide awake, so it's time for an update.
i spent most of yesterday wandering around seoul with haejung. her husband and two children (seeri, who's a judge and seewon, who's a 20 yr old college student {seeri's a girl, seewon's a boy... dont' act like you knew}) all left early in the morning and were gone all day, which was fine. i had felt a little overwhelmed the night before (it's possible that that was due to the self medication on the plane) when i arrived at the airport and about 8 cousins were there to greet me.
the main goal and highlight of the day was to buy me a cell phone. apparently, you're nobody in korea if you don't own a cell phone. men sleep with their cell phones clenched to their fists; babies are given cell phones as soon as they utter their first words; mothers would gladly give up their first born son before their cell phones. haejung told me that we'd be taking the subway to a store that was 'kind of like walmart.' and it was! if walmart was a sprawling 13 floor super mall, then this place was walmart to a T.
each level specialized in one item. one floor was dedicated to cameras, another to mp3 players, and so on. the cell phone floor was amazing. i had never in my life seen so many cell phones in one room. each company had a counter set up and each counter had about 50 or so phones. as you walked by each of the counters (and there were lots of them) the sales people would beg you to come over and buy something from them. it was kind of alarming. i wanted to go to the camera floor and maybe pick myself up a digital camera to post some pictures, but i decided that i can't until i learn enough korean to haggle the price down as far as possible.
anyway, i left 'walmart' phoneless bc of something to do with not having a bank account set up in korea. but i guess my uncle knows someone who knows someone and they're going to hook me up. sweet.
we made various other stops during the day at little shops on the street, which brought back memories of the tiny shop my aunt and uncle used to own in pusan, korea. the last time we were there was when i was very young. it was located under their apartment and i remember jason and i used to run downstairs and poke around because we knew, eventually, someone would give us candy.
tomorrow, i plan on dropping by yonsei university (where i'll eventually be settling) to check out the campus and the area around it. one of my cousin's children, younghee, gets done with classes early, so i'll have a personal tour guide, which is always nice.
i feel as though i should make an attempt to sleep for a few hours so i won't be comatose tomorrow afternoon.
2:31 PMWhat are people saying about the blast in NK?
12:37 PM
i think, in general, most south koreans are always skeptical at any claims the north korean government makes... and the fact that the explosion took place near a missile base does not make the situation look any better. no one around me seems too concerned about it right now, but it's very possible that they just don't want to worry me. i'll let you guys know if pandemonium breaks out within the next few weeks...
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