Tales of a Korean Traveler: 자유로와!/Free!

*요즘 블로그를 별로 안 해서 미안합니다. 나는 지난 주 금요일에 졸업해서 지금은 시간이 많은데 자주 블로그 할 수 있다! 또 한국어를 연습하고 싶어서 한국말로 썰 거다. 걱정하지 마신다. 영어로 번역도 할 거다*

나는 어젯밤에 아주 졸렸기 때문에 새로운 룸메이트 올리버하고 영화를 볼 때 갑자기 잤다. 잠을 아무리 자도 너무 피곤해서 오늘 늦잠을 자고 11 시에 일어났다. 올리버가 비디오 게임을 하는 것을 본 다음에 우리 올리버 친구하고 같이 점심을 시켜서 먹었다. 내가 먹은 냉면은 아주 맛있었다. 식사가 끝나서 서울을 톰험 해 보고 싶었지만 정수하고 같이 세운 한강에서 자전거를 탈 계획 시간까지 2 시간밖에 없었다. 그 때문에 가까운 곳에 가기로 했다. 동대문에 가 본 적이 없고 쇼핑 좀 하고 싶어서 아파트를 출발했다. 지하철로 가고 동대문에 도착 쇼핑을 하기 시작했다. 멋있는 청바지 한 벌, T-셔츠 두 벌하고 내 임신한 사촌을 위해 너무 귀여운 유아복을 좀 싸게 샀다. 나는 처음 흥전했기 때문에 힘들긴 하지만 조금 재미있다. 판매원들은 정말 악착 같고 외국인에게 바가지요금을 씌울 수 있다고 생각하지만 보통이 아니다. ㅋㅋㅋ 미국에서 그 옷을 사는 것보다 조금 싸서 행복했다.

쇼핑 다 된 다음에 배가 너무 고프니까 월드컵 경기장으로 가고 GS 25에서 커피하고 참치 김치 김밥을 샀다. 식사 후에 정수를 만나서 자전거를 빌려 주는 것을 찾았다. 2 시간 동안 무료로 탈 수 있다. 그 다음에 푸드코트에서 식사하고 아이스크림을 먹었다. 오늘 진짜 재미있게 지내서 정수를 감사하여 마지않다.

*Lately I haven't been blogging very much. Sorry guys. But on Friday I graduated so now I should have plenty of time to write delicious blog entries for your insatiable maws (o__O). Also, I would like to get in some practice with my Korean so I'll be writing them in Korean. But don't worry, I plan on translating them to English.*

Last night I was exhausted so I unintentionally passed out early while watching a movie with my new roommate Oliver. I must have been pretty tired, because I still ended up sleeping in. I woke up at 11 and watched Oliver play PS3 for a while until we ordered lunch with his friend who has been visiting. I ate a cold noodle soup naeng myeon, which was delicious and very refreshing during the extremely hot Summer days.

After lunch I wanted to explore for a bit, but I only had a couple hours before I was supposed to meet my friend Jungsoo who had offered to take me biking along the Han river. I had to think of something nearby that I could do. I realized that I hadn't been to the East Gate Market yet and it happened to be on the way, so I made my way to the subway station. The market was fun. I bought a pair of jeans, two T-shirts, and some baby clothes for my pregnant cousin. Now, I had never had to haggle before and Korea is notorious for it. The sales people are very pushy/complimentary and won't take no for an answer. They know they can take advantage of most of the foreigners, but they weren't ready for me. I was brilliant, complaining that their prices were too high, asking for discounts, offering low, threatening to leave... Haha It was actually really fun. I got everything "half-price" and way cheaper than it would have been back in the States so I was pretty happy.

Once I had finished, I headed over to the World Cup Stadium (from when it was held in South Korean in 2002) where I was to meet Jungsoo. We both happen to be directionally challenged so it took about an hour for us to find the bikes (which turned out to be very near where we had started). They have a really cool system though with all theses bikes hooked up to a computer where any Korean can input their SSN and get a bike for free for 2 hours (I pretended to be Jungsoo's mother). The river and surrounding parks are beautiful and the wind was very refreshing. Once we had finished we went to a nearby food court and I got bean paste stew (which, before you say anything ALLY, was excellent). The entire night was so much fun and I can't thank Jungsoo enough for taking me.

Afer I got back to my apartment Oliver helped me get tickets to Jeju Island for Tuesday. I'm going with my friends Debbie and Melissa from Sogang.

사진/Pictures