Today was a very interesting day. We started the day by going to a for lack of a better word, nudey bath. Basically, this is where you go and get completely naked infront of everyone else there and do all sorts of spa-like things like exfoliate, bathe in the cold, hot, or warm baths or go in the sauna. So of course I was the only white person there, so why not stare at the foreigner? To make her feel akward maybe... Well it was a very interesting experience...
So after exposing myself to infinite embarrassment, we went to get Sunghee's haircut. I wasn't planning to get mine cut, but they offered it to me for half the price since I know the hairdressers son, who lives at Sunghee's house in Canada. So I got a trim, and they ended up giving me the haircut and wash for free! Now Koreans tend to get pretty intense when it comes to cutting hair. When two people were straightening Sunghee's hair for her perm, another was fanning her to keep her cool. They also gave her a towel to go around her neck. It was quite hilarious. They also kept offering me drinks, like 'ice-coppe'.
After the hair cuts, we went to another Lotte Mart. They always hand out abundant samples, so we had some sweet potato-filled bread and garlic bread, both which were delicious. I also tried a spicy seafood soup which consisted of weird clam-things that resembled brains, bean sprouts, and other foreign substances that I could not identify... perhaps I do not want to... But all the same it tasted pretty good.
Still waiting to be able to post photos... I need to get a power converter so I can charge my camera battery and my laptop, both of which are almost dead.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
13 Hours on a Plane
Hello everyone!
So before I talk about my trip and what I am up to, I should probably let you know exactly where I am. I am on an Island on the West Coast of Korea. It is the home of the biggest airport in Korea, Incheon airport. The Island is called Yong Jong Do. We are very close to the airport and we can hear planes cirlcing above us constantly. The bridge we take to get off the island is the 5th largest bridge in the world. The island is an artificial make-up of four islands, created by water dams. There are mountains everywhere, similar the the appalacians, only with foreign foliage. The mountains are being filed down to compensate the lowlands created by the water that used to be there. If you have been to Korea, you would find it quite surprising that we are staying in a house! There is 'developments' of apartment buildings everywhere, similar to housing developments here.
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacations! I started mine with a 1:00 am flight to Korea. I sat in the window seat with Sunghee to my left and Giwon to the left of Sunghee. Sunghee told me I wasn't allowed to sleep untill 6:00 am, so I decided to waste all my time on movies. After watching a few movies and a few hours into Avatar, I could not keep my eyes open. I fell asleep for two hours and woke up wide awake. Sunghee kept me entertained while she slept almost the entire ride, with her sleep-talking in Korean. I kept sneaking peaks out of the window even though we were supposed to keep them closed. The skys were amazing, especially when we flew over the Arctic and Russia.
We landed at 3:00 am Korean time, but for us it was 2:00 in the afternoon. I was so tired but I wasn't allowed to go to sleep because I had to get used to the time difference. We ate breakfast which felt like it should be dinner and I proceeded to sit around for a few hours with my eyes rolling around in their sockets. Finally Sunghee let me have a nap for two hours and then we got ready to go out. We ate cold noodles at a restaurant with kalbi and it was so delicious! Iwas a bit hesitant to try the cold noodles, but was surprsed at how good they tasted. We visited many of Sunghees relatives, including her cousin Bona at her work, called 'Lotte Mart". It is a multiple story supermarket that has flat escalators to compensate the shoping carts. It was really funny because everytime you pass a new aisle, there is a new Koren lady wearing a Sailor Moon-like outfit with legwarmers trying to sell you pads and giving you tons of samples. They even had sample books of pads like you'd see for fabric or paint chips.
We went home and just hung around for the rest of the day. I tried triangular kim-pop (Korean sushi) which was delicious. I went to sleep at 8:00 am because I was so tired and slept soundly unill 4:30 am when one of the loudest thunderstorms I ever heard woke me up. Apparently, I slept through the first half-hour of it. I fell back asleep shortly after and woke up at 6 to hear the thunderstorm still going. My first day in Korea was amazing and interesting. I will try to update this every day or as often as I can so you will all know what I am up to!
xx Maggie :)
P.S. I will put pictures up once I get a power converter for my laptop !
So before I talk about my trip and what I am up to, I should probably let you know exactly where I am. I am on an Island on the West Coast of Korea. It is the home of the biggest airport in Korea, Incheon airport. The Island is called Yong Jong Do. We are very close to the airport and we can hear planes cirlcing above us constantly. The bridge we take to get off the island is the 5th largest bridge in the world. The island is an artificial make-up of four islands, created by water dams. There are mountains everywhere, similar the the appalacians, only with foreign foliage. The mountains are being filed down to compensate the lowlands created by the water that used to be there. If you have been to Korea, you would find it quite surprising that we are staying in a house! There is 'developments' of apartment buildings everywhere, similar to housing developments here.
I hope everyone is enjoying their summer vacations! I started mine with a 1:00 am flight to Korea. I sat in the window seat with Sunghee to my left and Giwon to the left of Sunghee. Sunghee told me I wasn't allowed to sleep untill 6:00 am, so I decided to waste all my time on movies. After watching a few movies and a few hours into Avatar, I could not keep my eyes open. I fell asleep for two hours and woke up wide awake. Sunghee kept me entertained while she slept almost the entire ride, with her sleep-talking in Korean. I kept sneaking peaks out of the window even though we were supposed to keep them closed. The skys were amazing, especially when we flew over the Arctic and Russia.
We landed at 3:00 am Korean time, but for us it was 2:00 in the afternoon. I was so tired but I wasn't allowed to go to sleep because I had to get used to the time difference. We ate breakfast which felt like it should be dinner and I proceeded to sit around for a few hours with my eyes rolling around in their sockets. Finally Sunghee let me have a nap for two hours and then we got ready to go out. We ate cold noodles at a restaurant with kalbi and it was so delicious! Iwas a bit hesitant to try the cold noodles, but was surprsed at how good they tasted. We visited many of Sunghees relatives, including her cousin Bona at her work, called 'Lotte Mart". It is a multiple story supermarket that has flat escalators to compensate the shoping carts. It was really funny because everytime you pass a new aisle, there is a new Koren lady wearing a Sailor Moon-like outfit with legwarmers trying to sell you pads and giving you tons of samples. They even had sample books of pads like you'd see for fabric or paint chips.
We went home and just hung around for the rest of the day. I tried triangular kim-pop (Korean sushi) which was delicious. I went to sleep at 8:00 am because I was so tired and slept soundly unill 4:30 am when one of the loudest thunderstorms I ever heard woke me up. Apparently, I slept through the first half-hour of it. I fell back asleep shortly after and woke up at 6 to hear the thunderstorm still going. My first day in Korea was amazing and interesting. I will try to update this every day or as often as I can so you will all know what I am up to!
xx Maggie :)
P.S. I will put pictures up once I get a power converter for my laptop !
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