10.18.05--Graduation and my last night in Seoul

Hey folks,

I am updating this site from the plane. I'll be uploading it at home of course. I am really looking forward to being home. Lying in bed, cooking, using my own toilet. I have a lot of work ahead of me. It's not going to fun to play catch-up. Especially since I think I am getting sick.

This trip was a actually a lot of work considering it was time off of my life. And now I am sick and congested from being up so late and restless.

Visit to the Palace

We went to the original old palace. The home of the king 500 years ago.

They do a changing of the guard every hour. Just like it was done back in the day. If you look closely you can see all the soldiers have glued on moustaches.

Graduation in High Style

At night we had our graduation for this program at a fancy hotel in Seoul. Hotel Lotte, a big chain in Japan. They also have department stores. This hotel was FANCY. The doors in the bathroom were made of gold or something like that.

We ate fancy food on the 37th floor and mingled with the high society of Korea.

Here I am getting my diploma for the program.

The older Korean men who were at this dinner were any combination of hysterical to amazing. This guy above is General Paek, a superly famous general from the Korean War. He was pretty alert and articulate and everyone around him was in awe, so I figured I should take a picture with him.

This other older Korean man came up to me at the bar when I was trying to get an orange juice and he said, "You are drinking scotch on the rocks." I was like, "Huh?" And then he hands me a scotch on the rocks. Then we toasted, he patted me on the back and left. I had two sips, shivered, and put the drink down.

Shopping nightmare again in Dongdemoon

Being my last night in Seoul, I thought I'd take one last stab at the shopping in Dongdemoon, notorious for cheap prices and an outdoor swapmeet style market open until 6am. I wanted to get my bf a great knock-off track jacket to dress him up like my little Korean B-Boy fantasy and I spent a good two hours going back and forth through the stalls trying to figure out which one he would like the best and wear.

He can be really picky about clothes and hard to shop for. Once I cried like a little baby when I got him this shirt on Olvera Street and it was one size too small and I had to go back down to return it. I know that makes me sound like the sissy anti-thesis of my feminist persona, but don't hate. I guess I just wanted to do it right the first time.

So I hunted and hunted and price checked and price checked and finally settled on this really nice adidas knock off that had some fancy trim going down the front and says "England" on the back. It wasn't even that cheap, like $25.

I was so tired from looking I thought I would eat at the stand above. My friend Annie confirms my suspicious about the Korean food at these stands-- it's not very good. It smells and looks good, but it doesn't taste that great. The way Annie describes it, "It's like you just eat to eat at these stands-- it's stock, filler food. And it's all the same food, so it's kinda like Koreans don't have the food culture that America has.

I really didn't want to stay out past midnight but being without a watch, I totally lost track of time. It's also hard to tell that it's getting late, because there are so many people out shopping and selling.

So I ate this nasty ass seafood pancake and headed down to the subway. When I got there it had closed. The subway closes at midnight! I had spent all my money, I only had less than $2 in change. So I tried to use an ATM card with my credit card, but couldn't get any cash.

Then I panicked. How was I going to get home with only $2? I imagined myself straggling around the streets of Seoul all night, screaming, "Does anyone speak English! Can someone help me get to my hotel!?!" Or waiting around until the morning until the subway ran again.

I asked a cab to see if he would take a credit card, and he wouldn't. Then I wandered for a few blocks to find a payphone (payphones are diminishing in Korea as they are in America). It was quite a hunt to find a payphone. I called my roommate at the hotel (luckily I had the hotel number on me) and asked her to meet me with some cash when the taxi pulled up. She did and I got home safely. See, when you don't panic, you think of the answer.

I think all that stress from looking for the jacket, being up late, and trying to get home got me even more sick. My little f*cker bf better like his fake adidas jacket for all the grief it has put me through!

I am so tired and sick right now on the plane that I can't quite sum up this trip. I know that as the final entry of my Korea trip blog that I am supposed to say something profound and dramatic about humanity and shit, but I can't think of anything right now. I just want to stop sniffling.

love,

k