my sunday began like most other sundays: wake up far too early for any given sunday (6:30), coffee and fruit, a date with the bike. i chatted a bit with my mum, called leslie, and did some sally-domestic chores. my morning was frittered away, as most sunday mornings in korea are, and i opted to be somewhat productive and adventuresome come afternoon.
i began my walk to the subway, taking a route that allows me to not have to cross any streets or wait for any crosswalk men to turn green. i was a bit startled when i heard some strange yelling noise coming from a truck. i looked up and there was a little boy playing with one of those trucker radio mics. i smiled the entire way to the subway, reminiscing how i used to play with the trucker mic in the old red truck, hoping all the while that the floor wouldn't rust out under my feet. i love how little things take you back 20 years.
i got on the subway, noticing how the train was covered in life-size fubu stickers. fubu: for us, by us. and the 'us' generally refers to the african american population. well, in korea, it refers to the korean population who are trying to be hip. it is strange to see koreans in big, baggy fubu clothes. is fubu even cool in the states anymore?
i met carla at seoul station around 1:15 and we headed to yongsan. i was on a mission to buy a very large external hard-drive. yongsan station is a train station, and as we subway-ed for two stops, i felt like i was back in paris. there were train tracks running parallel to the subway tracks. we were outside, not stuck in a tunnel. i felt like i was in the RER, riding back to gare de l'est from charles de gaulle airport. we left the subway and walked around the train station a bit. i really love train stations. so many people coming and going, i always find myself curious as to where people began or will end their journeys. and then i found paris...there was an outdoor stage set up, and all around it stood trees decked out in lights and fake gold paper flowers. in the midst of this stood a tall bronze eiffel tower. once i walked out of the station and spotted the tower, i jumped up and down, ran over, and gave it a hug, forcing carla to take many-a-pictures.
i may love korea, but my heart will always remain in paris.
we wandered through the station, finally figuring out how to get to the electronics market. now, i am not a person to bargain, even if it is in english. i opt to steer clear of markets, knowing that i will get ripped off because i am foreign. i've been in korea for two months and have yet to go to dongdaemun or namdaemun markets. i am a bit intimidated by markets, by all the vendors yelling at you to buy their wares.
yongsan electronics market was no different. armed with carla, we quickly walked past vendors shouting, 'camera, camera!' and 'mp3, very good!' at us. i felt a bit like i was at a carnival.
i hate carnies.
we found the floor with computers and spotted a booth with about 30 external hard-drives displayed. i asked how much the 320 gig hd cost. i was looking for something under 140,000 won. one of my dear students looked online for a hd for me; he found a 320 gig for 140 bucks. i told myself that i would buy something if it was under that. the fujitsu was 133 bucks. sold. i do not like to bargain with a vendor and i really do not like to bargain shop, preferring to throw away a few bucks in order to save a couple hours, not to mention stress. an electronics market should not be intimidating, but when it is relatively bare of customers and you are the tall foreign chick, vendors look at you like an eagle spies a poor little wounded mouse. they are ready to attack and pounce and take all of my hard-earned won and rip me off.
i bought the hd and boogied away. mission accomplished.
after a quick stop at the cosmetics department, in search of some dior products, we decided to navigate our way to the han river. i knew that we were close, but wasn't quite sure of how exactly to go about getting there. i searched for the namsan tower and then looked the other way. and that is the way we walked. after crossing a few intersections that one should not really be crossing, we were on a bridge spanning the han river. we made our way across, stopping for several photo opps. once we were at the end, we decided to just walk back, as we didn't know where the bus stop was, and we were too tired to start up a new adventure. after we were off the bridge, we luckily found a bus stop that had buses to take carla to seoul station and me to lotte. i opted to forgo lotte today, as i knew it would be insane and, as i prefer to keep my sanity on sundays, i continued home on bus number 150.
it was a lovely day. i needed a change of scenery, an adventure. crossing the han river made me feel less like i was in korea. it was noisy, yes, as the traffic zipped past, but it was peaceful, too, the waves gently rolling under the bridge, birds flying overhead. the han river is dirty and disgusting and not really the most beautiful piece of nature there is, but nonetheless, it is nature. and nature is just what i needed.
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