This weekend had some of the best days in Korea ever for me. I went to a language exchange meetup last Monday at a cafe in Hongdae, only intending on practicing speaking Korean and English with people for about an hour or so, but I ended up talking with a group of 5 Koreans (2 girls, 3 guys) for 3 1/2 hours. They were just really, really nice and really fun to talk with, and they all speak English relatively well. At one point, I asked their opinions on some places they like to spend time in Seoul, and they made me a list - only it kept getting longer and longer. In the end, one of the guys decided we should all meet up the next weekend to help me check some of the items off the list.
First thing to do: ride bikes by Hangang, or Han River. We met up at Yeoinaru metro station exit 4 (although exit 2 is a bit closer to the river), crossed the street, went down the steps, and were surrounded by people in the park by the river sitting on blankets, hanging out in tents, eating, playing games, etc. Luckily we found a place in the shade and talked for a bit before heading out to rent some bikes. A couple people brought some other friends with them too - the more the merrier!
My Korean friends from the meetup (plus a couple more): (l-r) Soo Jung, Sun Ah, Han Sol, VeAngela (from Florida), Gi Tae, Victor (from Singapore), Jung Hoon, and me in the middle
We found a relatively clear area since we were on the edge of the shade.
They were trying to play catch, but we couldn't decide which person was worse at it ;)
There was a little wading stream for a long length next to the river that kids could play in.
Glamour shot
There were also tandem bikes, but we were almost crushed twice by the same korean couple trying to ride that thing. The girl was in the front trying to steer (badly), and the guy was yelling, probably in fear, the entire time. Once we were out of their range to hit us, it was really funny.
We rode around for about an hour, stopping at a couple of places to talk, take more pictures, and see the view.
The river is really wide, and there's lots of bridges.
Selca (korean word for selfie) fail.
After that, we settled down to decide what to eat for dinner. When you come out of the metro station, about 5-10 ajummas (older korean ladies) shove menus into your hands as you pass. I usually shun flyers, but then I noticed my Korean friends were grabbing all of them. This is why: Korean delivery of food (and other stuff, I hear) is so amazing, they'll deliver it to you by the river as long as you can give a good description of where you are - as in "we're by this metro station, exit __, at the bottom of the stairs, etc.". These flyers are for you to call and order food, which is what we saw most everyone doing around us.
Very seriously examining the menus
Now you know I like me all foods, so I wasn't too particular on what we ordered. We ended up ordering a pizza (lemme tell you, not a fan of korean pizza), fried chicken - half regular, half sweet and spicy - and then buying some ddeokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and different drinks from food stands nearby. I really liked the chicken, and I already knew I liked ddeokbokki, but what really surprised me was that the pizza came with a side of sweet pickles - you can see the little cup in front of the pizza in the picture below. My korean friends were surprised that I was so confused, since they say that pizza ALWAYS comes with pickles, and usually pasta too. What the what?!? Never seen it in my life, in U.S. or Italy. But then they were surprised when I mentioned later the combination of strawberry and chocolate. We learned a lot from each other.
Also, I invited a friend I made in Jeju Island, ShiShi, the girl from China. One of my Korean friends, Soo Jung, left this week to study abroad in Beijing, and it turned out to be at the same school that ShiShi goes to, so now they're going to meet up there. I feel like I gave destiny a helping hand there.
Friendship! I like bringing people together.
View next to the river
Just us girls
I couldn't fit all our heads in the shot - boo.
Then after that, we wanted to go to noraebang - korean karaoke - where you rent an individual room with your friends and just sing your heart out by yourselves. Much, much better than American kind where you sing in front of a room of strangers - no thank you. Someone knew a good, cheap one a little ways away, so we took the metro together. It was really fun in a big group. We sat across from each other trying not to be too loud, but we were having too much fun.
Jung Hoon was trying to make a heart with his hands, but it didn't work out so well. I had to teach him, but even them, his thumbs wouldn't move down enough, so it only looked like a heart on the side facing him. Facing everyone else, it just looked like a ball he was crushing. I tried to take a picture of the good side.
Here's the street the noraebang was on, and they gave us free gelato.
It was sooo much fun! And while I couldn't sing just any Korean song I wanted since a lot still go to fast for me to read it, I was able to keep up and sing along with some a lot better this year. I'm reading tons faster, though it's still sometimes a struggle.
I loved going to noraebang with my korean friends, since they could use the complicated remote and find songs so much faster than I could with my foreigner friends last year. My voice was a bit sore the next morning from all the singing and laughing.
On the way home, I saw a banner with one of my favorite singers on it, Sung Si Kyung, which is weird, since he's not usually on ads or anything. Apparently this is to advertise a show he's going to be on here, but I couldn't tell all the details as it was all in Korean, as well as backwards from my view on the sidewalk.
2 comments:
What a fun time with so many new friends!! And so many activities!! Good for you for helping the girls going to Beijing get to meet each other! Is the group going to meet again for some more of the activities on the list? Maybe one of them could translate the Sung Si Kyung sign for you. Love all the pictures of your friends.
Im so glad you are having so much fun! Thats so fun to just make new friends! The karaoke sounds so much fun!
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