I started my day off by hopping on the subway and heading out to see my friend Sung Min (Ji) who had knee surgery 2 weeks ago. It took about an hour to get to his hospital. When I got there, he introduced me to his new friend. Turns out she is a professional golfer--her name is Jung Eun, so the 3 of us hung out while I was there. Ji and I had planned on leaving the hospital for lunch, but I was a little worried about his condition. He was doing much better than the day I saw him last (which was after the surgery). He could lift his leg up and down and was hopping around on his good leg all the time. I spotted a flier for jjim dalk (chicken in a sweet and spicy sauce with noodles and vegetables) and suggested we have that for lunch. Ji called them to get the address and found out it was really far away, but they delivered so we got delivery instead.
The food finally arrived and Ji was looking for his card, so I figured I would treat him and Jung Eun. There were two other guys in Ji's hospital room (6 beds total) and so he scooped out some food and gave some to them. That's very typical Korean, to share things, especially food. (When Jenny and I were visiting Bentley, Jenny's mom ran into another teacher from her school--her son was at the same base as Bentley! We had ordered fried chicken, so Jenny made Bentley go give some chicken to their family and then later they brought over grapes and some other fruit for us.) We ate and then went downstairs for smoothies at the coffee shop in the hospital. I exchanged numbers with Jung Eun and then I had to take off to meet Kwang Min. Ji had physical therapy and I felt a little sad I had made plans to leave so early because he asked me to stay and help him through his therapy. Ji was also able to leave the hospital for one night because he was doing well and it's the holiday. He wanted to take the subway home and I wanted to help him get home safely too. I was so worried about him trying to navigate on crutches through the subway and told him to just take a taxi. He did end up taking a taxi and made it home okay.
Anyway, before I was about to leave a nurse came in and took Ji's blood pressure and started talking with us. She asked me if I was his girlfriend and Ji tried to figure out how to explain how we knew each other...He calls me his "bro", haha. She started speaking more Korean to me and Ji told her I don't speak Korean, only English. Her response was "really?! She doesn't look like someone that can speak English well!". That made me laugh a lot. Because we chatted with the nurse, I left a little late to meet Kwang Min. We met up and hiked up Namsan. (It's the mountain with the big tower on the top near central Seoul.) It only took us about 1 1/2 hours I think. The average is 2- 2 1/2 hours. We saw a chipmonk and a toad while walking. It wasn't super nature-y because the path is paved and at a certain point, the path joins with the road that the buses go up so it's even less nature-esque. Along the way we also passed an archery range and watched the guys practicing there. It was hard to follow the arrows, but I don't think any of the ones we watched actually made it to the targets. I also tried to use my little digital camera and...it couldn't even open. I think some particles from the color run got inside the barrel and are causing problems. I might have to get a new camera. Kwang Min brought a camera along, but we didn't take many pictures. When we finally made it to the top, then suddenly there were a lot of people! Along the way we did not pass many people. We stopped for a quick view and then went to catch a bus because we were meeting some of his friends for dinner in Itaewon.
Normally I don't care much for Itaewon. There are a lot of foreigners (yea, I know, I'm a foreigner too...) and I just don't like the feel of the place. It was fine during the early evening and with a group of people. Kwang Min is in Toastmasters, so we met 2 of his other Toastmasters friends. I think 2 others were supposed to join but bailed. One was a Filipino named Jericho and the other was a Korean named Joanne. Anyway, we went to a Thai restaurant but I was still full from my big lunch--even though I had walked for almost 2 hours too. The others all understood and didn't mind that I didn't join in eating. Joanne even went so far as to say I looked like someone that didn't eat a lot. She was even more surprised to hear that I play soccer with Kwang Min and only other guys. She said I look too delicate.
After dinner, we went in search of a place to have a beer (I had a sprite). We sat and chatted for another hour or two and then headed to the subway together. It was not very crowded which felt a bit unusual (but given the holiday is typical) so Joanne and I both got seats but Kwang Min had to stand. We were talking and then suddenly the ajushi (older man) next to me started talking behind/through me to Joanne and to Kwang Min. It was clear he was drunk, but Kwang Min sat on his other side and was nice talking to him and nodding his head etc. I asked Joanne if she could understand him and she said no. Joanne had to transfer so she left and Kwang Min had me scoot over so he was next to the guy. He informed me that he was in charge of a business that did physical labor like painting things and was asking if any of us wanted jobs. When Kwang Min left, he told me to move my seat. I made it home safely and even talked to my doorman in Korean to let him know I was going to be away for a few days. Although I think he misunderstood me and thinks I'm going to a Korean city, Daegu, instead of the country Taiwan... But it's actually my fault because I said Daeguk, which is Thailand instead of Daeman, which is Taiwan. Anyway, he knows I'm going to be gone.
I'm not bringing my computer with me, so I will work on updates Monday when I have another day off! ^^ Have a good weekend and Happy Chuseok!
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