but today i went back up to seoul with meghan so that she could go back to the airport and catch her flight, and i thought since i was going up anyways i would try to get a bunch of stuff done there. one thing that i definitely take for granted every time im in the states is how accessible everything is to us. my friends in my teaching group talked about that a lot last year, and it was definitely something that i loved having again once i got back, but i got so used to it since i was home for so long. so ive had this running list of things that i’ve needed to get for my classes, office or house and i’ve accomplished finding about half of those things when normally a trip to target would get me everything i need. after how awesome today was with meg here though, the day soon turned into a disastrophe. riding back on the train now it all seems pretty humorous, but it wasnt at the time. i don’t think i’ve ever had more things go wrong in such a short amount of time, and most of it’s my fault because i just forget that things don’t work the same way here which is totally ok and i need to get used to it:) so here’s a timeline of the past few hours and hopefully it will entertain you a bit!
4:00 leave the train station and say goodbye to meg. jump in a cab to go to spa day. story behind this is that the day before i left korea i went to this spa with friends to get our nails done and facials. i have this necklace that was given to me by some pretty special people right before i left for korea, and the entire year i maybe took it off twice. but they made me take it off there and what did i do? left it there, of course, because my name is ashleigh lynne houlton. a friend had called to make sure they would keep it there until i got back so i went in and the manager tells me after making many calls that the owner keeps left items at her house and she isnt in the country. made me kind of wonder/worry and so i left there feeling pretty defeated because its a pretty important thing to me and i would hate for it to be lost. that was the sad part of my day.
4:30 i leave there and accidentally jump into a black cab. i forgot that in seoul they cost like twice as much. not a huge deal but it certainly didn’t help. i decide to go to myeongdong, the enormous shopping area, and look for a chair for my office since i had been looking all week and found nothing. i have no clue where they sell chairs in korea. i find a great chair just like my friend’s that i really like! i tell them i want to buy it, they tell me they can deliver it in two weeks. i tell them i will take it home right then. they say it’s impossible...even though they had brought it out and it was right in front of me in a box. they insist on delivering it and wont let me buy it unless i let them deliver that exact box to me. so i left. because i was grumpy.
5:00 i think “ok, so ive failed on the necklace and the chair but i NEED a whistle because ive searched far and wide and they must have it in seoul.” it’s a tiny little whistle right? there has to be a whistle in one of the biggest shopping districts in asia. once i find this whistle im gonna feel semi-successful about this day.
5:03 i walk into the adidas store where they have cleats, shorts, shoes, EVERYTHING. i ask for a whistle. they laugh at me.
5:07 i go into nike. they have to have a whistle. wait, they don’t have a whistle either.
5:11 i go into redmango and get the biggest size of frozen yogurt possible to calm myself so i don’t start using my brass knuckles.
5:20 i go into FOOTLOCKER. yes! i ask for a whistle. they look at me like i just tried to order a kitten at mcdonalds.
5:28 i give up on the dang whistle and go to lotte department store to see if they have chairs.
5:29 trip down the stairs since this crosswalk is an underground one. luckily there was only one stair left before i embarrassed myself.
5:37 found a cute chair in lotte. it’s 730,00 won which is about $730. thats reasonable. if its opposite day. why cant the swedish bring an ikea to korea? they would make bank.
5:39 check on the “sports floor” since i’m there to see if they have a whistle. silly me.
5:45 go to krispy kreme. fyi: extremely fatty snacks don’t help with a bad day, they only leave you feeling worse.
5:50 get on the subway to go back to the train station
5:53 realize im going the wrong way on the subway
5:59 going the right way but have such a bad attitude at this point that i would ride the thing right into the ocean.
6:05 get into the station. i’m not exaggerating even though i tend to sometimes. theres lines as long as disneyland to get train tickets because the entire internet system is down. so they have to do everything manually and i find out after standing in line for 30 minutes that a train doesn’t leave for 2 more hours.
6:35 try to find a starbucks around the station so i can get internet. i get into a cab and ask him to take me to one. we sit at a standstill in traffic for 10 minutes and all he does is turn the corner and theres one right there. i just paid 5 bucks for someone to drive me around the corner.
6:50 get to starbucks, get coffee, sit down and realize that it wont let me on the internet because i don’t have a new foreigner # yet. i take my computer downstairs and the baristas fiddle with my computer and eventually get it working. (this by the way is just one example of how amazingly generous korean people are). however, all of the settings on my computer except for my keyboard are now in hangul (korean) and i don’t know how to change it.
7:50 walk the 100 steps back to the train station and on my way chuck my empty coffee cup in a trashcan. i think i was thinking that if i could make that shot it would make my day better, which it did, but when it went in the straw flew through the hole in the dome lid and it hit a woman. she yelled at me. i don’t blame her.
8:05 on the train. praise the lord!
10:04 still trying to figure out how to get my computer to switch from hangul to english.
i’m not telling you this to complain. although, most of the day that’s exactly what i was doing. it’s just days like this that make me realize how impatient and how big of a ninny i can be. i have so much to be thankful for and i need to constantly appreciate what korea has to offer even if it’s different from what i’m used to. at the end of a day like today it’s all just pretty funny stuff. well most of it...
(by the way, i'm sorry if it drives you nuts that i sometimes type in all lower cases. the shift key is too far!...also i'm sorry this is so long)
