finding. my. SEOUL ... sk'08

recorded in time.
completed 09.01.09
enjoy.

((i apologize for all 7,000 of the grammatical errors and spelling errors. please charge it to my head and not my heart ;-) ))


((12.28.08)) i began my journey on the 28th of december, headed to south korea. i decided, possibly against my better judgement, to take the local trains to Kurashiki and meet up with Delmaria & Courtney, who were the travel buddies for the trip. from kusatsu to kurashiki, i only had two transfers and it took about four hours. i was very ok with travelling solo, so it didnt seem like an eternity to me. i packed well, light and conveniently for an unplanned week in a foreign country. upon my arrival to kurashiki i met up with courtney, a man that packed for a month, and we headed to delmarias. mind you, im the baby of the travel group (22). courtney is 26 and delmaria is 27. but, when i get to delmarias, after eating her jamaican curry, i had to delegate the packing and help people prepare. eventually we watched church and headed to bed. ((12.29.08)) as our day began, (8:30am) we ate breakfast, packed up food for the road and began our trek to fkuoka ... our 8 hour train ride. Delmaia slept at least half of the way, courtney listened to my ipod at least 2/3 of the way and i started a new book. Im glad i packed light because I had to lift my bag several times. But, 8hrs, 4 transfers and 90 mood swings later, we reached fukuoka. in fukuoka we stated in a hostel, for {about} $25.00. The hostel is set up as if it were a dorm and it was quite decent. After paying and checking in, we ventured off to Mos Burger and then went for a walk. I stopped suggesting places to go beacuse Courtney just wanted to walk. So, we ended up at Tsunaya, a movie/bookstore/cafe. We finally went back to the hostel to get some rest. But, before that, I mingled with some Australians. Natali and Ron are in Japan honeymooning and they decided to invite me to Australia ... Melbourne to be exact. Natalie is a music therapist and Ron, um, not sure what he does... but they were very interesting. There was also a very attractive Australian man in the common room, but he didnt try to talk to me until I was going to bed. Oh black men ... please get it together! ((12.30.08)) After having a crazy nightmare, I woke up from my comfortable slumber in my Japanese Hostel. The mattress was similar to a temperpedic, as was the pillow. The sleep was extremely comfortable. Come to think of it, I hadn't slept in a bed in four months ... thats why it was so comfortable! Anyway, I spran up to take a shower, and, that, too, was fabulous. After preparing for the day I was able to Skype home before leaving, thus finding out that my nightmare was quite real ... oh dad, brother and other brother and other dad... shame ... We checked out of the hostel at 11:00am to make our way to the train station. After reaching the station, we decided on a safety meal at McDonalds and then made our way to the bus stop that would take us to the ferry. As we exited the bus we saw 3 black people that were teachers in Korea. They suggested some places to go, but, as usual, i wasnt that interested in speaking to any loud black people .... shame. Anywho, we moved to board the ferry to make our way to Korea. the water was rapid and the ferry was comfortable, but the ride was nauseating. After arriving to Korea we all missed Japan. The air was no longer clean, and the people no longer smiled, but - I was a millionaire :-) We took a break at the station to eat, and call Hoop. our host "brother" for the week. We were all a bit skeptical when he wouldn't give us his address, but, different strokes for different folks. We boarded the train to SUwon, which was an interesting process because noone took the tickets, or even looked at them. But, we got on thet rain for yet another 4hr journey. Upon our arrival in Suwon they still hadn't looked at our taken our tickets, but, I guess thats fine. the air here is very dirty and the people are very rude, i felt like i was in America again. I never though I would consider japan home, but, i did at that point and i do now. After exiting the station it was time for ust to catch a cab, well, the interesting thing was, noone was trying to take us anywhere. unlinke in japan, where ther is one row, theere were three. unlike in japan were you get in the first car, you wated for someone to accept your request. well, someone finally decided to take us to hoop's apartment. though he was nice, his car smelled horrible. we finally go to hoops and when i walked in i fel like i was in america. his partment is exteremly westerna nd has heated floors. anywho, we settled in and were going to order papa johns but they were closed, so, we opted for mcdonalds who only serves cola, but hey - they deliver. korea is not my favoriteplace, i felt like i was just in another american city. i was very apreciateve of the cultural immersion i experience in japan and now i am even more appreciateive. again - one of the best decision of my life. ((12.31.08)) the sleep at hoops was not the best, but i was thankful - mainly because God allowed me to live through another year ... in another country ... I mostly chatted with friends back home, discuessed unsettled disputes and watched people sleep. it was pretty exciting to ring in 2009 in another country. it was pretty awesome if you asked me. as the day progressed i talked to family, spoke with friends, and prepared for a new years eve. how, you ask? i napped! at around 5 we began to prepare for the nights festivities - dinner, bell ringing, fireworks, COLD, club! ((this is the blur from the night)) 7pm Cabs pass us up, we eat at outback, we take soju shots with tonic that we brought into the restaurant, calvin (the waiter) told Chris "you seem like Obama," train to Seoul, subway, finding our way, OH NO! one minute left, lets get coktails for the countdown, capri sum bahama mama, no more profanity! happy new year, "Ro - NO MORE PROFANITY!", club attempt #2: FAIL, No GIs, lets go to the bar, Now finish you rippy sippy so we can go dance, "IDK - that ain't no kiwi," "its time for shots howard," "no, I gotta let my food digest, you know i got acid refluc," "lace lets take these shots," "wait, i gotta finish my drink first," ok theres a lot of alcohol in my system, my heart is pumping alcohol, carlos comes and east the mysterious fruti and downs a shot, 3ppl in unison, "im drunk!" club #2: rejected, we found another club and stayed for hours, we lost Ro & Obama, he was cute & hawaiin, we left, we found an 80s spot, hotel or wait?, is it ok to fall asleep in the club? trains start at 530, we wait, happy new year! home 8am ((no explanation needed!)) ((01.01.09)) as always, new years day was very lazy, but we did venture off into the world of korean barbeque - very delciious. we spoke on delmarias concept of homosexuality. she thought jay (the hawaiin from the club) was gay because he didnt want to talk to her. she thought her coteacher was gay because he gosspis. anywho, she went on a date with a guy from the club and we slept. we ended the night with papa johns pizza and the movie four christmases. when delmaria returned she debriefed us on her outting. we then watched smart guy. ((01.02.09)) sightseeing! woohoo! we left the house around 1pm and saw the west end (atlanta) of south korea. the guys got haircuts by the super cute nigerian man. we had turkish gyros and then we went to the "mall". after that we went to the seoul tower which was amazing. the view was phenomenal, a great date spot! after the tower we went to carne station for some traditional korean food. we played some games and headed home.

In the end, I took a lot from this trip. I learned the appreciation I have for my family and their traveling nature. I learned how much I love being by myself. I learned that either I am really really intelligent or people are just a little slow. I have learned that I plan well and deal with change better. I have learned that I make myself laugh through observation. I praise God for waking me up and letting me change my major to psychology - didn't realize how much I loved it. I thank Grams for cluing me in to the finer, simpler, basics of life. In the end ... it was a great trip, and, I found my s(e)oul.

sayonara.
g.