Winter Wonderland

Well last night Nate and I caught word of some birthday party event in Hongdae from one of our kind foreign Dootavill neighbors, Jen. This sounded like something we'd be in to as we had already planned on heading down towards the Hongik University area for an AIDS awareness event dubbed "Rubber Seoul." We agreed to give Jen a call later to try and meet up somewhere between the AIDS and B-Day bash.

Our arrival in Hongdae was a bit delayed due to band practice being bumped back to six, as the elementary school teachers had to work during the late morning/afternoon. Although we (yes, Nate has begun to attend practice as well seeing as how his rap is an integral part of the 'DYB Song') had planned on taking the subway down to Gunja as I normally do, Razer was kind enough to pick us up behind work/Dootavill in his car. This turned out to be a terrible idea.

Apparently, rush hour takes no break for weekends here in Seoul meaning that our journey, which normally takes a little under half 'n hour on the subway, ended up being dragged out to a full hour. . . .which of course in turn made us about 30 minutes late for practice. Rehearsal was fun, as usual, yet unfortunately shorter than normal due to our late arrival. An added bonus this time was Sunny's (yes, our cheerful receptionist) presence. She too will be rapping with Nate, although he part is in Korean, and blew everyone away with how great she sounded. I know this sounds silly, and perhaps some goofiness was lost in translation but when Sunny's on the mic rapping she really, really sounds like she knows what she's doing. . .As for Nate. . .well. . .he's doing his best for now!

After practice we went out to eat at a small restaurant around the corner where, lucky us, we got to sit on the floor. There is really no better way to ruin a good meal than to have to struggle through fighting off cramps and leg pains from sitting in a position that I'm pretty sure humans have evolved beyond. While I really enjoyed our big hot bowl of ramyeon, tok (squishy rice cakes), potatoes, carrots and chicken, it's just so difficult to really eat my fill when the majority of my attention is focused on the searing pain in the lower half of my body.

Furthermore, I would have loved to eat more chicken except that I'm still not really sure how to. The pieces here that are served do not, in any way, resemble the chicken that you or I are used to. While I've yet to come across a beak or foot, I have heard they exist, the 'chicken' that we got was simply big chunks of bone with a little bit of stringy something attached. To make it worse, you're not allowed to use your hands which leaves you to figure out how to extract a gram or two of meat off a tangled mess of bone using only your chopsticks. . .oh yeah, and your spoon as a knife!

Luckily traffic was a bit lighter headed out of the city center (odd, I know) and we got home in less than the hour it took to get to the studio, thankfully! Nate and I cleaned up and headed down towards Hongik University or Hongdae as it's more commonly referred to. Just as we arrived, in the middle of a heated discussion on the similarities between Judaism, Christianity and Rastafarianism (don't believe me, look it up), Jen called.

We hustled down a few wrong streets before finding one of the three 'Rubber Seoul' venues. Instead of going in however Jen and her friend Katie ushered us down the street aways to a place called Bar Boom where it turned out a raging 'S' party was in full swing. What is an 'S' party you ask? Well, apparently it's one where everybody dresses up as something that starts with the letter 'S.' So how did we manage to not get thrown out of this random event that we had no business being at especially not in costume? Well, I claimed to go as 'Saper,' which, last time I checked fit the criteria and, well, Nate was wearing a 'scarf,' so. . .that worked. Oh yeah, and we paid the door charge. . .that might have helped too!

Anyways, we managed to pass the whole night without ever making it to Rubber Seoul which made me slightly disappointed only because I was really looking forward to the Ugandan necklaces that supposedly were given away throughout the night. . .think of it as the Zulu coconuts of Seoul! We both eventually made it home, though by different means, and I got to sleep just before sunrise. . .which, normally on a Saturday night would be a problem seeing as how I have soccer on Sunday but, luckily, this is our bye week!

After sleeping in a bit this morning/afternoon, Nate and I had to check out three different Gimbapchongooks before finding one with sitting room. Following a bowl of spicy cheese ramyeon and a roll of my favorite chamchi (tuna) gimbap, I made it back to my apartment just in time to catch a little nap. Waking up around four I decided that I had better get out and at least do something with my day before I committed my self to a sleepless Sunday thereby inevitably throwing off my sleep schedule for the upcoming week which I'm already dreading as I believe we have to return to actually teaching once again. . .huge bummer, yes, I know.

Having yet to complete my Christmas shopping, no, not for you, what'd you get me last year anyways, I decided to check out Namdaemun Market, located in the city center adjacent to namdeamun itself or the 'great south gate.' I hoped on the 1140 bus to Sanggye station where the blue Line 4 took me directly to Hoehyeon Station. Coming up out of the station, from no particular exist that I recall, I entered the market through a large gate that read Nandaemun Market Gate 6. So, apparently there's at least a half a dozen entrances to this thing if you're ever looking for it!

To my dismay, although some expected on a Sunday evening, the majority of the stalls were closed up and dark. As I wounded through narrow passageways of tent=like eateries, I eventually made it to what must have been the heart of the market, a vibrant walkway lit by dozens of single bulbs hanging every now and then from random wires along with, yes, a few strings of Christmas lights. I wandered up and down this long passage every now and then taking a detour down a side alley that showed a bit of life, though most were dark and quite. The majority of the vendors seemed to be selling clothing, ninety percent of which had to have been women's. Every now and then I would come across a Christmas store selling everything from gigantic wreaths to the most unbelievably tacky fake trees! While their blaring Christmas carols were a bit unnerving, it was kind of nice to see the city getting into Holiday Mode!

I hadn't been wandering for any more than an hour when all of a sudden I noticed that their were a few snowflakes drifting downwards. Steadily, and quickly, their numbers increased until it was full on snowing! A number of vendors, and market goers, reveled in the scene, coming out from behind their booths to catch snowflakes on their tongues like little children. . .mind you these are little old men and women that look like they would break if a snowflake hit them too hard. By the time I existed the market an hour or so later, the walkways were entirely covered in a thin layer of snow that remarkably held fast. . .likely attributable to the frigid temperatures we've been experiencing this past week! I, like dozens of young couples around me, starting snapping pictures of the untouched snow with my cell phone, though I soon realized that I will never be able to post or share them. . .oh well, sorry for not bringing my camera.

Ounce outside of the market I was drawn towards an enormous building by the string of bright blue/white Christmas lights leading to it. . .Shinsegae Department Store. Having yet to uncover that magic Christmas sweater that I'm so desperately searching for, I decided to wander the many floors of Shinsegae hoping to uncover a buried treasure. While I did find a number of beautiful rotten sweaters, all of them were well out of my price range. I simply refuse to spend more than a 100,000 won on something that I intended to wear once, maybe twice, as a joke! Think of it as Halloween, at Christmas time!

Anyways, I managed to kill another hour or so inside the 14 floor Shinsegae wandering from department to department. Up on the 11th floor I took a time out to grab a bite in the food court. Now food courts in Korea are a bit different then at home. While there are still a number of different vendors, orders are taken at a centrally located booth. You are then given a ticket with a number on it and expected to wait around for your number to appear on the big display screens at which point you go to your 'restaurant,' pick up your food and take it to one of the many food court's many tables.

The addict that I am, I decided to go with the Pad Thai from Pho Tai. While I enjoy sampling every and any version of my newly acquired favorite dish that I can find, I would not recommend, nor will return to Pho Tai in the Shinsegae Dept Store. . .they just didn't cut it. I once remember while looking for a pad thai recipe online that someone suggested using catchup. To this, a number of other 'chefs' responded that an authentic pad thai would never utilize ketchup and doing so would make a mockery of the dish. Well. . .imagine what it would taste like if you not only used ketchup but used bad catsup. . . exactly!

Finishing my Shinsaegae exploration I ventured out in to the night to find that the snow had not let up. Everywhere I looked people were making little snow men, engaging in mini snow ball fights and, of course, chowing down on this fluffy treat! The only part I engaged in is the later as snow is perhaps one of my favorite foods. . . mmmm, sure helped to wash down that 'pad thai.'

Wandering aimlessly I happened on Lotte Young (or something like that) another department store geared entirely at young people, which, I believe I still fall in to the category of. I quickly managed to browse the mere six floors of merchandise before slogging on disappointed, with no sweater in hand. Back on the street I realized that this store was connected to another Lotte. . .this one being Lotte Premium. I spent only about 20 minutes in Lotte Premium before deciding that my mere presence was probably detracting from the sale of 500,000 won pens and the likes. . . this was not quite my place.

Again, out in the night, I was somewhat surprised, though not entirely so, to find yet another Lotte adjacent to the one I just existed. This time, I got the real thing, Lotte Department Store. Having just been disappointed twice before by my dear friends at Lotte I figured I'd give them one more chance at providing me with that much sought after Christmas party look I so yearn to adorn. However, after a few minutes of being in yet another department store I decided that I had had enough for the day and quickly darted out.

Exiting Lotte Dept Store on the opposite side that I had come from, I was elated to walk out in to the Lotte Wonderland. . .a giant plaza literally covered in Christmas lights, trees, nutcrackers and the whole shebang which, would normally be somewhat goofy looking but, on this night, was beautiful covered in the fresh, and first, snow of the season! Again, I have a couple great pictures on my cellphone but, unless you're coming to Korea any time soon, you'll probably just have to do your best to imagine.

I wandered a bit longer until my poor running shoes has absorbed so much slush that with each step I squirted out more than I took in. Alas, my giant Christmas shopping adventure ended in near utter failure. Even so, I did manage to procure a super cool Christmas card and an even cooler small gift to attach it to (will you be the lucky one to receive it?). To be honest I wasn't really looking for anything but an adventure and that, luckily, I found! Home, safe and sound, I'm glad I made it out for the evening and even more glad that we didn't have soccer today as it would not have been pleasant playing in the snow. While I am currently still enjoying the fresh layer of white covering everything, we'll see how I feel about it in the morning as I trudge the full two hundred meters to work!