Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Anthony in Korea, Day 14, Tuesday, May 5, 2009









Early this afternoon at about 1pm I was about to tutor Olivia when her mom, who had been cooking in the kitchen, insisted we sit down for lunch. I had seen her making tomato sauce and spaghetti earlier but didn’t realize it was for me and Olivia. I was served a heaping plate of spaghetti with a delicious sauce that included sliced zucchini and eggplant, and a few spoonfuls of chili powder. Koreans are so addicted to this hot stuff that they even put it in tomato sauce! And you know what, it was delicious! Take a look at the photo…yes, life is so difficult here in Seoul :)


After tutoring Olivia, I took a walk around the area near Sangdo train station and bought some fruit. Apparently you can’t purchase (or I don’t know how to get) bananas by the weight here in Seoul. So for about eight bucks I bought fifteen bananas and a big box of strawberries and went home. It seems like whenever I buy food on the street here I wind up with more than I wanted, and also have to spend a little more. Under no circumstances do I think I’m being cheated. Actually, sometimes I hold up my fingers to signify I want three gimmalyeegim, for example, but instead of getting three pieces I get 3000 won’s worth, which means nine gimmalyeegim rather than three. No problem. It’s good stuff so I just eat what I want and save the rest for later. I’ve written down the names of many foods here in Seoul but honestly I’m starting to get confused between all of them. I think that gimmalyeegim is japchae noodles wrapped in seaweed, smothered in batter, and deep-friend. But that might be gogumatweegim (deep friend, batter crusted vegetables) that I’m describing; I’ll have to ask Olivia.


Next, I took a train ride across the Han River, which is a river that splits Seoul much like the Hudson separates NYC [see photo of view from train]. I headed to Ttukseom Seoul Forest. I’d read that you can rent bicycles there for about $3.00 per hour, and I rented one and rode around the park for a while, enjoying the scenery. It was nice to be back on a bike after going two weeks without. Today is “Children’s Day” in Korea, when, apparently, every children in the country is off from school and outside. I’d planned to visit a Korean curry place near the carp pond but as it turned out it had been replaced by a Lotteria, which is the Korean McDonalds. I ordered the “healthiest” thing on the menu, discarded the meat, and ate an early dinner as the sun set over the park. Ttukseom Forest is not a forest at all, but just a huge park with many trees and pathways and, of course, lots of people. Other than the mountain I went to last week, it’s the only place in Seoul so far where I can actually take a deep breath without breathing much pollution.


I came to Seoul largely to figure out what I want to do after I leave and, as mentioned before, I know I do not want to live in a big city. Don’t get me wrong—I love being here, and I love big cities. The fact that I can get almost anything in the world that I need, all on this block, just like in NY, is a pleasure. At the same time, being here has made me appreciate the quiet of places like Greensboro and upstate NY. When I leave my home in the future, for the rest of my life in fact, I want to smell fresh air and see trees, rather than smell pollution and see people and garbage and cars.


Anyway, not much else happened today. I came to a bar near Sangdo just now but unfortunately there’s no internet access here, so I will probably head home in a while to watch the Yankee game.

1 comment:

  1. I'm glad that you are getting accustomed to lifestyle of Seoul.

    ReplyDelete