01.31.2009
Today has been a hard day. The cable guy was supposed to show today, but did not…again. After waiting most of the morning for the cable guy I decided to take the bus into Seoul (Cheoungho). Of course, before leaving for my adventure, all was not smooth sailing. I neglected to go to the bank yesterday to exchange currency because I assumed that the bank would be open, until noon, on Saturday. I assumed wrong. The bank is not open at all on the weekend, which made it pretty much impossible for me to exchange currency. No worries, I have won to get me through the weekend, but I wanted to have a little cushion. On a positive note, it forced me to budget (not a word I like to use very often….but…). What made today hard wasn’t the fact that I couldn’t exchange currency or even the cable guy not showing up, but rather me feeling so isolated from the world I left behind. As I rode into Seoul, I couldn’t help but wonder what everyone else was doing and if I’d be doing it with them…? I wanted so badly to have a friend with me to experience this new city and new culture and I became really sad. I was listening to my iPod and a song would come on that would be peppy and cheer me up but then a song would come on that would remind me of home or how alone I am here. I am lonely. This feeling will pass as I meet new people, and hopefully once my Internet connection is established in my apartment; and I know that I am not alone, but still, it’s hard not to feel lonely when you are on the other side of the world alone. There are quite a few differences that I’ve picked up on, between Koreans and Americans. Koreans are very busy they have places to go and are in a hurry to get there and very unapologetic about it. As I walked the streets of Seoul, today, people were brushing past me and bumping into me with no regard for me at all. I am very cautious of others and tend to be far too polite at times, when I’m in public; no one even batted an eye though, when I’d say, “excuse me” to people as I approached or bumped into them. Also, Koreans take there jobs very seriously. It doesn’t matter what their position is, whether it be the parking attendant at the parking garage or the server at the T.G.I. Fridays (yes they have one here and yes I was happy to eat American food, even if it was Friday’s, which I don’t particularly like). Whether these individuals are content in their positions, I have no idea, but they did come across as proud of the work they were doing. I don’t think I can say the same for workers, of any profession in America. I’m not insinuating that American workers don’t take pride in their work or take their positions seriously, I think though some employment positions are looked down upon and here it does not resonate the same.
This afternoon, before I went to T.G.I. Fridays, I had gone down to the school that I work at, to hop online so that I could check my email and email my parents. Upon arriving, I found my director, Helen, at the school working and she offered to go to a movie. She, along with another teacher we work with, took me to a part of Seoul (Jamsil, I believe) where there was a huge mall (Lott Plaza) and movie theater. The mall was housed in this huge high-rise that resembled the Mall of America inside. There was an ice skating rink, and more or less a theme park inside. I would have taken pictures but the offer to go the movie was so last minute, I didn’t have time to grab my camera from my apartment. The shops were one on top of another; very different from what our malls look like-big stores with plenty of room to walk around-they were very small with tables, in front, displaying sale items and such. The number of people was astounding as well-kind of like a tax free weekend at Opry Mills but 5 times worse-people going every which way with no concern as to who they run into. While I wasn’t crazy about the amount of people that descended upon Lott Plaza, I was pleased to find several American stores-Starbucks, McDonalds, KFC, Dunkin Donuts and Krispy Kreme! I had no idea that Krispy Kreme was so international! While we were at Lott Plaza, Helen was able to take me to the bookstore, which had an extensive foreign book section and I was able to buy some books. If I can’t watch television and/or get online, I might as well read. Earlier today, I was walking through Cheongho and was really down, I even started crying and was saying a little prayer, for strength, that I’d be able to get through this weekend (at the time it was looking quite grim) and within 2 hours I had plans to see a movie. I am so thankful that my prayer was answered! Since arriving, not even a week ago, today has been the most trying day. And while a few hours ago, I was sad and not quite sure how to cope, everything turned around and I ended up having a pretty good day!...the only thing that would make my weekend complete would be if I could figure out how to make the washing machine work (all of the words and settings are in Korean)!