Seoul, South Korea

11 (Seoul, South Korea)

*Ding-dong*

It was 12 a.m. when I stepped out of the airplane. Snowflakes danced around me before falling to the ground. I was really amazed that there were snowflakes falling from the sky. I wasn't expecting it to snow since the last countries I visited were hot and sweaty.

My eyes started to sparkle as I saw how busy the streets were at midnight. Walking in Seoul's main shopping and tourism district, Myeongdong Street, I discovered how Korean people look like. I was surprised that all of them looked the same. They had squinted eyes and almost no eyelashes. It was as if I was the only one in that country that looked completely different.

I went to the hotel that I booked in last night and I realized that all the shops names were written in Korean. People were standing at the main entrance and started to bow as I came in. I ignored it because I didn’t know what they were doing. Eventually, I signed in, took my luggage, and went to my room. As I got into my room, I froze, my eyes wide open, I began to scream and jump everywhere. I saw crickets on my bed. One was dead and there was another one in the bathroom sink. Finally, one of the cleaners came in.

He said, “geugeos-eul haji soli jungji keun munjega gwittulami sabang hangug e issda”. (Stop shouting. It’s not a big deal. Crickets are everywhere in Korea) I was confused about what he wanted to tell me. I started to make some moves telling him that I wanted a new room. He took a napkin, grabbed the crickets, and flushed them down the toilet. He bowed and left. I was really sleepy; I slept until morning. That’s when my adventure began.

I woke up at 7 o’clock a.m., took a shower, and prepared myself for my adventure. I put on my coat and headed for the elevator, but I quickly changed my mind as I remembered the crickets I saw yesterday so I decided to take the stairs. I went to the hotel’s buffet and ate a Korean breakfast that tasted really gross. After eating, my stomach started to growl and I knew I was going to throw up. Suddenly a tall, Korean man with dark hair came towards me.

He said, “You want ride?” He said it in a forced English accent. I eyed him suspiciously. “What If he is a serial killer”, I thought. “You want, or no?”

He said it impatiently. The only word I knew was yes so I said, “ne”. I opened my mini Korean dictionary and started to translate sentences. I looked for a sentence that meant “can you take me on a tour” which was “dangsin-eun hangug ui juwie tueoe delyeo gal su issseubnida”.

He laughed at me and said, “You no good talk Korean” I looked at him angrily and said, “WELL YOU NO TALK GOOD ENGLISH EITHER!” He laughed again and bowed while opening the taxi door.

I began my tour. First, went to Sejongno, Jongno-gu which is a park that has statues. I took my Polaroid with me so I could take a picture of the big king statue. I wasn’t the kind of person that just liked to watch statues. People were staring at me as I began climbing to touch the statue.

Suddenly a security guard started to yell, “alaelo idonghabnida” (get down). Of course I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I saw a sign that said, “Not allowed to climb”. But the best thing in life is breaking the law. The taxi guy started to mumble in Korean. He later realized I didn’t know what he was saying. He then asked, “you want Korean eat restaurant?” I understood that he was trying to ask me if I wanted to go to a Korean restaurant. I politely rejected because I remembered the food I ate in my hotel yesterday. I told him to drop me off in a shopping center and come back in an hour to pick me up and take me to the last place.

I decided to eat McDonald’s, but I saw a long line. I decided to wait for 10 minutes. If I didn’t order by then, I would leave and go to another restaurant. Ten minutes passed and I was still in the middle of the line. My blood was boiling and my heart was vigorously beating. I started to shout at people who merged in the line and yelled to the manger of McDonald’s, “THIS IS SO RIDICILOUS” until my face became as red as a tomato.

I calmed down and rushed to another restaurant. I ate the spiciest food there which is something called Buldak. It was a tender, boneless chicken topped with hot buffalo sauce. It was the best dish I ever ate just because I was starving.

After I finished eating, I found the taxi guy waiting for me. He welcomed me with pleasure. He asked me about the shopping center and we discussed its positives and negatives, but the truth is that I didn’t understand half of the things he said because of his forced English language. I got used to it as I continued my tour. At the begging of my tour he promised to take me to the best monument which is the National Museum of Korea. Finally, I grabbed my Polaroid. I was so excited to see some historical collections. As the taxi parked, my eyes sparkled as I saw this huge museum.

“annyeong”(good bye), the taxi driver said.

I left the taxi and rushed to go see what’s inside this tremendous museum. I paid for my entrance and there I stood with my mouth wide open. “OMG THIS IS THE BEST PLACE IVE EVER VISTED”, I exclaimed.

I started to touch some artwork. I adored touching works that contained textures. But the worst thing about any museum I visit is that they don’t allow me to touch anything. I forced my hand to not touch anything. If I did, an alarm will start ringing and I would be kicked out of the museum. Unfortunately I got kicked out as soon as possible because I started the alarm five times. Security guards held me from my arms and told me, “Never come back girl”. I really didn’t know how to force myself to stop touching things.

As soon as possible, I called the taxi driver and told him to come. “anyo-sayo” (hello), he said as I got into the taxi. The driver was surprised that I finished exploring the museum in 10 minutes. “Why you take no long in museum?” I told him what had happened there and told him to take me back to my hotel. It was about 9 o’clock p.m. and I visited 3 places in Seoul. As he was driving, I started to ask him, “You what do in weekends?” He told me that he would spend weekends with his family doing activities such as going to the beach or staying at home and having lunch together. He told me the reason why Korean people love hanging out with their families. One of the reasons is to create strong relationships. When we reached the hotel, I bowed to the taxi driver and told him, “Thanks for this incredible tour. I really had an enjoyable day today. See you next year.” He didn’t know what to stay. He bowed and apologized for what had happened that morning.

I slept and woke up later that night. It was now time to travel to Tokyo. Suddenly, I remembered that I left my Polaroid in the taxi’s back seat. “It’s ok, he deserves it”, I thought. It’s midnight and I’m sitting in the airplane writing about this amazing tour. I said, “Good bye Korea!” as I waved from the airplane’s window. “Here I come Tokyo”.