First Days in Seoul
After a long sleepless flight, I finally arrived at the destination. Well that is at leat what i thought when my fellow student Jan and I left the airplane and took the train to Seoul City Station. As soon as our paths parted the nightmare started right away. I was really nervous as i booked a homestay and was supposed to live with a family. The final subway station had 3 floors and it was impossible to orientate by myself. Of course the last 500 meters did not have any escalators and thank god a young woman realized that i could need some help with my luggage. Thanks for that.
Help, was exactly what i needed 15 minutes later, circulating in a really strange area. NOONE was able to speak english and with hands and feet i tried my best. 8 Korean women and men tried to help me and finally i just stood in front of a new modern building. where i went first. And of course it was still under construction in the inside. "No not for rent. No not for sale", one of the workers told again and again. Although he spoke english he did not get that it was never ever my intention to buy or rent a flat or even the whole house. I did not know rather i should laugh or cry standing in front of the adress my host mum sent me after circulating with Koreans in the district under the hot sun enjoying 35 degrees with my luggage. Finally the guy checked my intention and called my host mum as i saved the number, but coul not get any connection.
Ten minutes later a bubbly woman got out of a taxi running towards me saying "Sorry" again and again. I was well prepared and ready to say hello in korean way, so "Annyeong haseyo" connected with a bow. But she hugged me and i was really perplex. Her english was good and her daughter and son spoke a really great english. They were really nice and said something about grandparents. Alright, well why not get to know the gradparents after this long trip before entering my final final room. The flat smelled a little weird, like old fish. They did not speak a word english and just kept starring at me. My host mum , Jungwha was talking all the time in korean, the daughter in english to me. And than i realized that i would not stay with Jungwha and her family. I would live with the grandparents!!
The room was nice, my private bathrrom as well, but i was not sure how to deal with the situation. The dinner already floored me totally. Of course knife and fork were history but the food itself did not really speak to me. I can not even tell what exactly it was but it tasted like dumblings which were not ready and ricecakepeaces plus dryed fish cooked again. All together with in a kind of soup. Than the grandma gave me the Chili powder. I shaked my head and put it on the table, she grabbed it and right into my soup. Finally i could not finih it, even half of my bowl was empty i already got new stuff in there. Additionally they were caughing, burping and slurping in such a disgusting way it was impossible to enjoy food with them. Finally i explained with hand and feet that i was tired and dizzy from the flight. They understood.
The next day, i left the house early to meet two friends from cologne to explore the city. We probably just saw about 1 % of this huge city but at least we got the overview, climbing up to the Seoul Tower, which is on a smaller mountain right in the middle of the city. I felt Manhattan is a small town. It was amazing and i definetly should share this with you. In the night it must be even better so i am looking forward to do that.
Colognes famous bridge for lovers ... well see this crazy park, full of figures with thousands of love symbols.
and this is just 1/4 of the panorama view and the city!!
Afterwards we had an amazing dinner for round about 20.000 won (18 EUR) for all of us. We did not really know what to get but we just showed the waitress, we want the same dishes as the couple at the table next to us. Buying food is crazy expensive but havin dinner in a restaurant or streetfood is really cheap. And than i had an huge icecream. But actually looks better than it was.
Lets summarize the next 3 days just like this:
Menues: In the morning just a nectarine or grapes, as i cannot eat rice with spicy kimchi cabbbage. In the Evening a bowl of rice with different stuff available on te table. Most of it super spicy or disgusting. But i tried to deal with it until the grandma showed me, that i have to put my rice in the soup (mostly fishsoup) and than add the several-i-have-no-idea-what-it-is to the mix. And eat slurping and burping. I felt queasy.
In the nights i got homesick although i am not the type for that, i could not sleep as it was loud and really hot. The next day i got sick. I called the hostmum and she went with me to a phamarcy. No idea what i got but it helped. I stayed all day in bed ald felt better.
But still i wanted to leave the weird smelling flat and the weird behaving old Koreans, who constantly talked to me in korean, so i did not know what they wanted from me. Probably it would have been great living with Jungwha and her lovely kids and husband, but in this case it was just to much of culture shock. I know i studied already host - guest relationship and that it is normal to go through this time but i just could not handle it.
Two days later i moved out.
But still a learned a couple things
Koreans love to slurp and burp while eating, than the taste is good.
Koreans are always dressed up very nicely and high heels as well as plateau shoes are used everyday.
Korean women do not show off shoulder or neckline but shorts and skirts are as short as possbile.
Koreans like to help but prefer their own language as they are proud of it.
Koreans get up in the subway if an older person gets in and no seat is available
In Korea you NEVER EVER put you sticks in or on your ricebowl (always served seperately.)
In Korea you do not give tip.
In Korea do not empty your plate, you will get more immediately.
So far so good I am excited how it will proceed. I hope you as well.
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