Itaewon: Epcot Korea

After waking up (again) Saturday afternoon, following our appliance deliveries, Nate and I talked about how to kill the rest of our day over set lunches, of udon, sushi and grilled cutlet, at the local Japanese restaurant. It didn't take long for us to realize that we still needed to check out Itaewon; the supposed foreigners paradise in central Seoul. We scarfed down our late lunch and headed in the direction of the nearest subway station.

Unlike our previous, conveniently located residence, our new digs are a good twenty minute walk, downhill at least, from Hagye Station on Line 7. We rode a few stops down and got off at Taereun Station to change over to Line 6. From there we held fast for a dozen or so stops until landing in Itaewon, our final destination.

Even walking up out of the subway was thrilling as we spotted more non-Koreans in the station then we had in perhaps our previous two weeks in Seoul! Hitting the surface took the excitement factor up a whole notch as we looked around for the first time at a plethora of readable signage! Simply awestruck we picked a direction and headed down the main strip until we ran out of things to look at and signs to read. Towards the end of our one-way jaunt we stepped inside a Tourist Information kiosk to pick up some maps of the local area, greater Seoul, and a pocket sized subway guide! We were also informed to check out the area behind the fire station for restaurants/bars/shops and the like.

Crossing the street we walked all the way back up the hill, past the station and right back down the other side as far as it would go. Where as our original walk (the north side of the street maybe?) was lined with primarily restaurants, the other (maybe south) side of the street was nothing but shops. Of course lining the sidewalk in front of these shops are none other but street vendors selling every style of American MLB hats possible along with your typical Polo, Lacoste, and Gucci knock offs!

I darted into a Nike store as I noticed a large soccer display and was dying for shinguard sleeves! The little guards I bought last week refused to stay put in my beat up East Lansing socks, even with the help of electrical tape (all I could find in a GS25). Once again however the walls were lined with shoes, a few balls were put on display (seemingly not for sale) and their equipment was placed on the bottom two shelves in the very back. . .it's almost as though Koreans just want to look like they play the sport. . .not actually do so!

I managed to grab a pair of ankle protectors that had a long enough 'sock' that I would hopefully be able to tuck my guards into. Also picked up a pair of white socks as I wasn't about to wear my week old dirty socks from last week. . .no idea how to use the washing machine yet, remember!? Turned out to be a steal as for some reason both items rung up at full price but I was given a 30% discount on both! Must be 'cause I looked so professional. . .probably a sponsorship offer that I accidentally turned down, oh well, no point dwelling on the past!

By this time the sun had set over the fire station and our stomachs were rumbling something fierce! We made our way back up the street and stopped at a Turkish Kebap stand!! Greeting the server with 'Merhaba' we were treated to smiles all the way around. Nate and I each grabbed a schwarma sandwich (not nearly as good as an authentic doner [<-sp. Jay?], but close) and kept moving. 'Tesheker Ederim!' Scarfing them down in not time we both agreed that the less than biggie-sized sandwich did nothing but further our existing hunger!

We surveyed a couple options near the station's entrance and settled on a Thai restaurant, primarily due to my constant raving about Pad Thai ever since returning from Thailand this summer! For old times sake I order a Pad Thai and Singha, a meal I consumed at least 30 times, if not more, during my three weeks in the Land of Smiles. Nate followed suit but asked the waitress to change out the prawns for chicken, even though it wasn't listed on the menu (good catch by me, huh!). 'Khap kuh Kraaaa.' Though not quite up to par, and yes, I am allowed to pass judgment after three dozen 'authentic' meals, dinner was extremely satisfying and wonderfully welcome after a few weeks of eating at the Gimbapchungooks!

Wandering the alleyways behind the fire station after dinner was remarkable! I have never seen a global community of this size and variety anywhere else in the world. . .other than Epcot! Every other shop was a market or restaurant representing a different country from Pakistan to Saudi Arabia, Turkey to Russia, China to Japan, Jamaica to Brazil and wait. . .what's that. . .Fufu and Jollof!?!?! West Africa!?! No way!!

I had to stop in awe as I saw pictures of perhaps my least favorite foods ever displayed on a big light up sign. I don't remember the name of the store now but it was something akin to Mother Africa. . . .These are dishes that Laura and I, grudgingly, ate for a month during our time in Ghana.

Well, not entirely true. Fufu we only sampled a few different times and I don't recall ever finishing an entire portion; an act that is highly frowned upon and not one I usually partake in either! Jollof on the other hand was a welcome treat that I would order with excitement at Monkey Hill when we decided to spoil ourselves to a night out! The issue I have is that while I loved every second of Ghana, perhaps no experience I've had has been as trying as eating while I was there. . .I know it sounds odd but. . .a long drawn out serious of events made sure that this was the case! Either way, to see these two dishes, that I have never considered eating since last Kitiwonsa (July), was overwhelming! I instantly wanted to go in and try some but after further consideration realized that I went to Itaewon to pamper my palette! 'Medase'. . .but no, perhaps next time!

Continuing onwards, we wandered into a seemingly low key third floor club called Woodstock, recommended by the LP Gods as a great place for live music, starting every night at 9:30 pm. With free pool, Nate and I managed to keep busy long past the supposed start time and only began inquiring about the lack of live music (though they did have a pick your own songs play list going) around 11:00pm or so! Thinking the punky looking dude at the bar might be in the band we asked him what the deal was. Ha, he informed us that a) he was not in the band and b) if we were waiting around for them we were out of luck because c) they were probably not going to play tonight if they hadn't started already and d) they were crap anyways! Thanks LP, you'll be getting my update soon!

Taking the guy's recommendation we wandered out and across the street, up a small hill and up a smaller alley way to a place called Ye Ole Stompers (or something like that). They in fact did have a bumping live band and, ye gads, not a Korean in sight. The later however I didn't realize for a while until I found my self all of a sudden oddly complacent! It was only then did I look around and and have to double check what country I was in! Clearly a foreigner hangout as is the entirety of the Itaewon area!

At set break we followed some country tunes (not quite sure why) across the street to an American Themed bar. . .yes, they do have those. Inside Nate and I were quite possibly the only people, other than the elderly bartendresses, not trained to kill other humans! If the greenbacks pasted all over the wall didn't give the place away as a GI hangout then the enormous creatures hulking over Budweisers and holding tiny little Korean girls certainly did.

Oh, might have forgotten to mention that the largest (if not only anymore?) base in Korea is located in Itaewon. While this to some degree gives Americans a bad name (as you could imagine packs of drunk 'n rowdy soldiers might cause an occasional uproar here and there), it also instills a complete sense of safety for any American wandering the streets. If ever you were in trouble there all you'd have to do is holler out in (American) English and there'd most likely be a half battalion there in no time! We made it back to Stomper for the second band of the night; a bit funkier this time with a young lady on sax!

Retired for the evening around three and caught a taxi back to Hagye Station, as we forgot the bring the little sheet of paper showing where our school, and home, are! Unfortunately, when returning from Hagye. . .the walk is entirely uphill and 25 minutes suddenly feels like a lifetime! Rather than waste a half hour leisurely wandering after a night of dancing, Nate decides its a good idea to start sprinting full speed. . .so of course I oblige! We did make it back in record (being our first time making the walk) time although dripping in sweat by the finish. I also, as I would find out only the next morning, clearly strained something in my right hamstring, having gone from sitting in a taxi for half 'n hour to running at top speed uphill! Oops. . .soccer game's not until 2:00pm! Plenty of time to sleep, eat, hydrate and warm up. . . . wait. . . .uh oh!

I managed to get myself out of bed by 11:30am, which is actually about the same time, if not earlier, than I get up during the work week (our hours are really, really weird here)! Got all my soccer stuff together and headed downstairs, figuring I'd grab a bowl of the all mighty udon for 2,500 won at the shop on the end of the block. . .but of course. . . this place is closed on Sunday! I should have guessed that they were part of the wee percentage of Korean Christians (I figure there's no other excuse as nothing closes here and no one stops working. . .ever).

Starting to worry about being late (our manager, and the kid who 'recruited' me have both talked about the importance of being no later than half 'n hour early) I dipped into the next GS25 to grab a bowl of ramyeon. Perhaps my favorite thing to eat in Seoul, that I really only discovered a few days ago, are the bowls of ramyeon (ramen) noodles that you buy (for less than a dollar), pour hot water in to (from the machine at the back of the store), and go out front to eat (at the conveniently located snack tables out front)! No time to sit, so I grabbed my ramyeon and chopsticks, covered the steaming mixture, and took off towards Hagye. I managed to somehow shovel down the noodles while maintaining a pretty decent trot. I realized however that I had at least 15 yet to go and only an hour to get to the game!

Well the online subway map showed the round trip would be 57 min from Hagye to Dogok so I decided to hail a cab for the remaining three-quarter mile. I know it's lame but cabs, for anything less than about 10 minutes, are amazing inexpensive at only 1,900 won. So, yes, dripping in sweat and breathing fire from my mouth, I jumped in a taxi to take my 1,200 yards for two dollars. . .wasteful, I think not! I raced down into the station, grabbed a ticket and headed off. I caught a brief nap on the first train but feared missing my transfer so kept myself awake for the better majority of the time. I made it to Dogok station with 10 minutes to find the field.

According to the directions (that I saw) online, the field was only a five minute walk from Exit 1 of the station. Not wanting to risk being late, I barreled up and out of the station keeping up a good jog that I figured would count as my warm up. Running straight, I slowed to a walk only when I hit the next subway station. . . uh oh!! That's usually not a good sign when you're told that your destination is in walking distance of another station.

I ran into a convenience store for directions, which is, ha, moronic! As everywhere, a convenience store clerk is not associated with the highest of statuses. On the other hand, the better English one speaks, the more status they are automatically ascribed. . . .see where I'm going with this? 7/11 is not where you go for directions in Korea!!

Flipping out, for fear of being late for only my second game with this 'extremely organized' team, I called Ammar, one of the team's managers. He instructed me that I should have had no problem finding the field next to the Ambassador hotel. I however saw no hotel, nothing that implied a hotel, and not ever the pizza delivery boy I asked knew where it was!

He told me to find a taxi and that he'd give the guy directions I couldn't possibly be more than 1000 meters away he promised! I got in a cab and handed the phone to the driver. He spoke quickly and hung up, nodding to me that he knew the deal. I finally got a chance to catch my breath and I at one point had considered turning around and going back home to sleep!

I quickly became panicked again as the taxi's ticker blew past the starting 1,900 mark, which lasts seriously, forever! I watched as the fare blew past 4,000, 6,000, and then 8,000! Finally, 15 minutes later, the driver pointed to an enormous structure, looming ahead, the top of which I could not see form inside the Hyundai! "Ambassador," he declared, as though he owned the place! He then pointed to an overpass headed down behind an ivy covered fence, "you, there" he directed. . . okay I figured, but this sure isn't a five minutes walk from Dogok Station.

I made it to the field at 1:58pm, two ticks before the scheduled kick off! Explaining to everyone what had happened, some one inquired as to why I went to Dogok Station. Ummm because that's what it said on the forum, I figured I'd trust it! Well, little did I know, Ammar posted after I had read Sun's (the other team manager) incorrect directions and made plans accordingly!

Turns out the correct location was much more centrally located then I had anticipated and would have been much easier to locate! Oh well!

I gave Sun my league fee and money for a band new 'kit' as they call uniforms! As '4' was taken I signed up for my second bet, lucky number '13!' As a super cool foreigner, I had to get my name put in Korean of course (아 담), which is hilarious because all of the Korean kids on the team have theirs in English! Anyways, I look great in bright teal with neon green trim. . .once again, pictures soon, I promise!!

We put up a solid showing this week against the Persian Storm, which I guess recently changed it's name to International Storm following the loss of their Persian majority. Oh Politics! Despite seemingly playing down to match the opposition's caliber at first, the game picked up 15 minutes in as the Spitfires dominated possession of the ball. With at least a half dozen shots on net, no one could seem to put anything past their super-sized goal keeper. . .might have been the power of his brilliantly white ponytail. . .or not!

The Spitfires managed to crank one in before half-time following a good number of post connections, shanks, and quasi saves by the less than able bodied keeper! I put in about 25 min the first half at left mid and did nothing fantastic to speak of as my one opportunity at an assist nailed the post and came back out for a clear.

Second half I was put in quickly at center mid as I think there was an injury, though I must have missed it. This didn't last long as teammates quickly called for someone to come in who could control the game from the middle. . .a feat I have never claimed the capacity to undertake! I was pushed back out to left where I remained for the rest of the game, really working well with the left forward on exchanging runs! While neither one of us picked up a goal I'll settle for all around solid play and a decisive 3-0 victory!

Next week I believe we have the weekend off as the Koreans will be celebrating Chuseok, the closest thing that we have to a Thanksgiving. . .from what I've been told! Not quite sure what the deal is but I'd kill for a day off!

That's all for now! I'll tell you more about my big buys during my first trip to Lotte Mart soon. . .all I can tell you for now is that I'm going to check on my first load of laundry and try to figure out how to work a drying rack!!

Thanks for your comments! Pictures soon. . . .so I say. . . .bye!