My Heart 'n' Seoul

Hello everyone. This is Kory, Avi's boyfriend. I know Avi has been neglecting you all and Im sorry to disappoint you if you were looking for a post from her (take it up with her). She's been showing me around alot and I have enjoyed myself so far. She's been wanting me to write a blog or post (whatever you call it, Im new to this blogging thing) about my Seoul experience. It may be kinda long but I hope you enjoy it and find it somewhat entertaining.





Well the night of December 28th, I was on my way to JFK airport which is only a few minutes from my house. As soon as I pulled up to the terminal for Korean Air, I felt like I was in Korea already. Of course there were nothing but Koreans on line checking in, behind the desk, and even working security. I started getting those "what the heck are you doing on this line" and "are you lost" stares from the little people on line. I dont blame them, it is what I expected. I mean they are pretty short and light, and I am pretty big, tall and dark. I get stared at in America sometimes so of course I would get stared at by them.





So the flight was 14 hours, non stop to Incheon International Airport in Seoul. First of all.... I HATE PLANES. Just throwing that out there..... so I made sure I had sleeping pills, a pillow, and in extreme measures, Tylenol with codeine. Plus the plane took off at 1am, so I wasnt feeling to bed thinking that I would sleep most of the flight........ well it didnt quite turn out as planned. I ended up getting about 1 or 2 hours of sleep the whole d**n flight. I was cramped up in this seat next to a lady with a baby the whoooole flight. Shame on me for forgetting that these people are naturally smaller than Americans and especially me! The seats are 17 inches wide..... yea, missed where they told me that at the counter. Im not gonna speak for everyone, but that doesnt even sound comfortable. But the food was good, I had two glasses of wine, and my DVD player.... so by the grace of God, I survived. And for those of you who plan on coming to Korea....... get your mind right.





So far, I've been here for 8 days and I have to say I have enjoyed everyday so far. Me being a car enthusiast, the first thing I noticed was the surplus of Hyundai vehicles on the road. Hyundai and Daewoo pretty much rule the world over here. They make everything from cars and buses to buildings to clothing. There are also some other cars here that look like bootleg Mercedes and BMWs.... I forget what theyre called but theyre nice. There are also many German made cars (BMW, Mercedes, VW, Audi) around here too, mostly in the upper class neighborhoods though. After you notice the cars, you cant help but notice how they drive them. MADNESS!! They are overall decent drivers, but they just dont know who has the right of way. People pulling out of parking spots or that person doing about 60mph coming up the street? That pedestrian crossing the street or that car coming that isnt trying to stop for anything? And who needs traffic lights here? Dont feel like stopping today?? You dont have to!! Just run it!! Have a motorcycle and dont feel like waiting in traffic?? You dont have to!! Just drive on the shoulder.... or if you dont like shoulders, the sidewalk!! Thats right!! Afraid the cops will give you a ticket?? What cops?! They could care less!! They laugh when people run lights just like they laugh at drunk people stumbling up the block trying to find their house!! Makes me feel real safe....





I think that is the only negative thing that I can think of that I have experienced..... well besides everything being slightly smaller. I have to duck my head wen entering the subway trains. But other than that, Korea is much different from Manhattan only its 20 times bigger than Manhattan and the majority of things are in Korean. Dirty streets, pigeons, people hustling, selling anything and everything on the street, and the terrible smog that almost blots out the sun.... its just like home. People dont sleep here and they also seem to not goto work. The malls are always crowded anytime of anyday and the bars are packed at 3am on anyday. Or maybe there are just so many people here, you dont realize it. They love to smoke and drink here. And then add their strange love for karaoke machines, they can get pretty foolish.





As for the food, I like it. I've had a number of things.... I would tell you but I just cant spell it and quite frankly I dont even remember how its pronounced. So I'll let Avi tell you what we've had so far. But Korean food is pretty good. They seem very welcoming of foreigners in restaurants. They smile alot and sometimes give us extra food. In Outback Steakhouse, they gave us two extra loaves of that crack bread to go. I was shocked cuz where I come from in the states, you have to almost fight someone just to get a second loaf. And dont even try to take a loaf home, you might have to kill them cuz they might try to kill you! The vendors on the street sometimes see us (obviously foreigners) walk by and offer us free food. So they seem to be very courteous...... until you get to the subway, then you gotta fight to get on and off the trains. They are like ants when the train pulls. Here in Korea, the platforms are marked exactly where the train doors will open, so when the train pulls up, people bum-rush the doors. Then again, its not much different from New York.... except that I can see the tops of all of their heads.





So far we have been to Seoul Tower, the Coex Mall, the American Base where there was an Alpha Phi Alpha New Year's Party (and yes.... they were black), Itaewon (little America), and a few bars and clubs. We took plenty of pictures which Im sure Avi will post when she is done teaching the rugrats. We are supposed to vist a few more places before I leave friday morning. The time went by fast, I only have 2 full days left. Im glad I came, I enjoyed it much more than I thought I would. I've learned a lot. The stares dont bother me too much, some people could careless and others walking and driving almost cause accidents because they break their necks turning to look at me like I have 3 heads. The funniest thing that happened so far involved this little girl who looked about 5 or 6 and was walking on the sidewalk towards me as I was walking from Avi's school. She had her head down until she got about 10 feet in front of me. She looked up as I was walking towards her and her eyes lit up and her mouth got big. She turned around and ran towards the lady (her mother i guess) behind her and grabbed her hand and then proceeded to walk past me. Yea..... even I had to laugh a little at that one. Lol.





I hope you enjoyed my blog entry. Thats all for now.
Thanks for reading.


-Kory

My Heart n Seoul