Friday, February 16, 2024

I was tired, and it was my fault. On Thursday night, I came back to the apartment, read, took a shower, watched a show, and I started getting sleepy, but I was determined to get myself on Korea time, so I forced myself to stay awake. The problem was that I was looking at the time on laptop, which is EST time! I should’ve just gone to sleep when I wanted.

Luckily, the plan was for a very light day. I wasn’t meeting Seunghye until around 11 am, so I puttered and read and worked on both blogs. I checked email and did an IT survey which I’d forgotten about. I read an article about higher ed success scores, and when I got a message from Seunghye that she was near, I got dressed and went to wait outside the subway exit in front of my building.

That was a mistake. My phone hasn’t worked properly since I’ve been here. It works great when I’m connected to wifi, but when I’m outside the data/roaming doesn’t work, so I can’t get messages through Kakao talk, which is how I communicate with my friend. I knew that, but didn’t think of it until she started trying to call and message me. I could see that she was calling and messaging me, but I would try to answer, nothing went through.

When she told me she arrived, she couldn’t find the exit. Honestly, it’s obscure. No one seems to know about it. It’s not on any of the exit maps. She said later that she asked people who worked there, but even they didn’t know. In fact, one of the men tried flirting with her and asking if she was supposed to be meeting her boyfriend.

I don’t blame anyone for not knowing this exit. The first time I stayed here, it took me forever to remember where it was even though I entered by that way every morning. The numbering doesn’t make sense because it’s not really near exit 5 at least from where you can see. It’s also really easy to walk by and think that it’s some office because the listing is all about the offices that are in the building. Also, I’m sure the escalator works sometimes, but it’s been out of service each time I’ve stayed here. I should have just told her to go to a different exit.

I know I talked about how much I love the subway here in my other post, and I still do, I think this exit is just a weird idiosynchratic thing that the building constructors probably did themselves because somebody knew somebody who was married to someone else’s daughter. I’m not complaining because it means that I can get to subway without get wet, cold, or hot.

Seunghye called me so much, without me being able to pick up, that I finally decided to go all the back to my apartment (with the wifi) to contact her because I figured she was getting worried about me not responding. I was correct. Finally, we were able to meet, and we walked over to Insadong which is literally right around the corner.

I love this area. It’s calming. It’s touristy with all the palaces near by, but there have always been lots of individual designers and craftsmen in the area. It doesn’t surprise me that the government picked this area to open the Seoul Craft Museum in 2021. No time or energy to visit, but it’s definitely on my list of places I want to see when I come the next time.

I really wanted to see what had changed and what had stayed the same. In the three times previously, it hadn’t really changed much, but I read some articles about the area during and post-COVID. As we know, many business all over the world didn’t make it through the days pre-vaccine and pre-knowing what was going on.

My main goal of going there was to buy tea at the Osulloc store, which was always really busy. You could go to the cafe upstairs or you could spend your time downstairs trying some new tea or buying tea. Some of the tea, you can get online through Amazon, but sometimes you can’t, and it’s much much more expensive. The only purchase I planned for the trip other than the pain patches was tea.

However, the Osulloc store was no longer there. Neither was the store where I’ve purchased a bag for my younger daughter every time I have visited. That store is now a hipster cafe. I shouldn’t have been surprised by that. Even the small bakery across the street from my apartment has now expanded. Someone must have posted something about it because when we walked by it, there was a line around the side. That was never the case when I went there before. It was usually only me and maybe two other people buying things. It was an excellent bakery. I wonder if a new owner took over and if the baked goods are just as good.

I was starting to feel nostalgic and sad . . . and old, especially when we were looking for lunch, and I mentioned wanting to go to my favorite and famous Mandu (dumpling shop). When we walked down the narrow alley, we saw that it, too, was shuttered up. Fortunately, I was with Seunghye who could read the sign that said they had closed but that they planned to re-open. Thank goodness. They made the best dumplings I have ever had.

But it wasn’t all sad. Many new shops were there. There were still the small designer and artist shops. There were still lots of places to eat in tiny small walkways off the main road. And there were some nice new places as well. I love seeing both the preservation of the old and embracing of the new.

Seunghye was starving, so we focused first on finding a place to eat on a Friday at lunch time during holiday. Kids are still on break here from school. The first place she picked was crowded and didn’t have a table, but the next place she picked only had a couple of people; it looked like several tables of people had just left. A little place. Not a lot of items on menu, but big portions and delicious and good price. I had dumpling soup, which was great for such a brisk day, and she had bibimpap. Look how big those dumplings were! They were as big as the palm of my hand.

After lunch, we just walked around. There was one shop she wanted to go to, and she looked up another location for Osulloc. I stopped at a shop to buy earrings, which you can get really cheaply here, and I kept myself from buying socks. I don’t need socks, but South Korea makes the best socks I have ever had. Socks you buy for $2 from a street vendor have lasted me longer than socks I have bought in the US in a department store. But I have a sock habit, and I am still trying to erase the memory of 2019 when I made a list of the items I had bought over three weeks for my declaration list (really just need cost) for customs, only to realize that I had bought over 20 pairs of socks!

Instead, we went to two shops that made more traditional Korean-style clothes with a modern twist. I don’t like clothes shopping with Seunghye because as a fashion designer, she is very critical of fabrics and construction. I also didn’t want to look at clothes because I was sure that there wouldn’t be anything to fit me. I did let them convince me to try on something at first store, but it didn’t fit across my breasts. Sigh. But Seunghye found something really nice.

The funniest things about this is that they asked Seunghye if we were professors. She was shocked. I wonder if they get a lot of academics here or something. And it wasn’t just the lady our age but a younger guy probably in his 30s. He said, in a rather deadpan way, that it was something about our faces that said “teacher” to him.

This wouldn’t have been as funny if the same thing didn’t happen to us in the next store Seunghye wanted to go in. Another small boutique that had some items on sale from outside with a very nice tiny lady determined to find something for me that I would like and that would fit. She did. A nice traditional grey jacket. It was on the sale rack, too. While I was trying it on, she asked Seunghye if we were professors. When I turned to ask Seunghye whether she liked the jacket, she had such a look of shock. Since I didn’t understand what they were saying, I hadn’t really been paying attention.

So when she told me, I asked her to ask the lady why she said that. Same thing: countenance, posture, something about the eyes, and how we spoke to each other. Hmm. I’m not sure I could pick out people’s professions from that. But there was a woman I knew who worked in HR for hospitals, and she said she could tell what kind of doctor by specialty a person was as soon as they walked into a room. So maybe.

I bought the jacket, and then on the way back, we walked by the first place again, looking at another jacket/coat that I saw before and liked that was even cheaper. It fit, so I bought that, too, with Seunghye’s urging. I shouldn’t have because I’m not sure how I’m going to fit all these extra purchases in my suitcase, especially with the cheese!

And then to calm me down from buying so much (I don’t do well with unplanned large purchases), Seunghye took me to the new location of the Osulluc store which is past where the old grcoery store used to be. It’s now a 7-11. I wondered how that family kept up that little grocery store amongst all the cool shops.

We were intially confused because we went to the part of the building where they sell their perfumes, but we finally found the tea store (that’s where Seunghye is at the top of stairs in first picture below. We both bought tea, and then went to their cafe and had tea. A nice relaxing end to the day.

We walked back to the corner where my apartment building is located, which has one of the exits to the subway station.

I gave Seunghye a big hug. I hope to see her again soon. Meeting up with old friends, especially when you aren’t in a rush, it’s so . . .I can’t think of all the words I want. Cozy? Warm?

No, filling. I’d say filling because it made me feel full being able to see her after so long.

I’m writing this on Saturday morning, really early because today is a travel day, and I need to figure out how to pack everything. Although, I’m thinking the new jackets will be even more insulation for the cheese.

But even now, I still feel full.