Itaewon

Since I have removed the cardboard from my sliding doors I tend to wake up around 7am every morning but manage to be able to get back asleep, so it's not too bad. Though uninterrupted sleep would be nice. It would be awesome to find some sort of curtains for that part of my room, but it's not as easy as walking in a fabric store and Home Depot. For now, it's okay.

After laying in bed for awhile I started to read the book "The Grapes of Wrath" for the book club that I'm hoping to take part in. I'm only a few chapters in, but so far it's not bad. Afterwards, I decided it was time to cook my first meal in my apartment. I was quickly reminded of how bad I am at cooking eggs (unless scrambled). Tom was always the one who did breakfast and is 100% better than me at cooking eggs. Needless to say, it will be a year of me perfecting eggs. I also didn't want them scrambled since I do not have cheese or salsa, or anything for that matter to top them with. I also only have a plastic spoon to work with (all of the other utensils are metal). In the end, I think I came out with one overcooked egg and one slightly undercooked egg. It was also interesting getting the gas stove to turn on - took a couple times! I also cut up one of the pineapples I bought yesterday with the only knife that I own (see below) - but it was delicious.

 

 

 Jess eventually arrived at my place and I decided I wanted to go check out Itaewon today (which she had only been there once briefly) so we headed out.

 

 

 Itaewon is known for being the foreigner area in Seoul and to be completely honest, I was a little bit underwhelmed. I am not sure what I was expecting, but it wasn't whatever that was. However we did spend our entire day there. I think I expected it to be busier, and to see more foreigners and for it to have a different atmosphere. But after getting out of the subway station, we saw few foreigners (granted more than you see around where I live) and the atmosphere was generally the same. There were lots of shops, from Korean branded stores to Aldo and Converse. Shopping is HUGE in Korea. Which for me doesn't do too much, but it was cool to walk around and spot different places to go back to for gifts when Christmas arrives. Elliot mentioned to me as well that there is a Canadian Pub there, so I was determined to find it without knowing where to look, or what it was called. One part of Itaewon that I really liked was this back alley strip that had TONS of restaurants dedicated to different countries around the world. This really reminded me of being in Vancouver and being able to walk down the street and get any type of food you could possibly want. I did take a video of this, but don't think it would be that interesting to watch - but if I get bugged enough, I can post it :)

 

 

At this point we were starting to get hungry and had not found the Canadian pub, so we were going to try one of the Italian places - but I really wanted to find either gnocchi or risotto, but none of the menus had what I wanted. Most had mushroom risotto, but we know how I feel about mushrooms. With nothing else jumping out at me, I became even more determined to find the Canadian pub - which we did. I am not shy when it comes to asking strangers for things and have no problem stopping people on the street, asking if they speak English and then proceeding to ask my questions. So this is what I did - I was trying to ask one person who spoke back to me in Korean, when another guy overhead us and offered to help. Turns out he is from Toronto and was waiting on that corner to meet his cousin. He also spoke both Korean and English fluently. Although he had no idea where the pub was, we waited with him for his cousin who knew the area better and she was able to give us directions! Turns out it was only a few blocks away, but I don't think we would have gone down that road otherwise, so I am very thankful for them. Alas, it was closed when we got there and wouldn't be opening for another 1.5 hours. So we took some pictures, then went and had ice cream until 5:30 rolled around. The pub is called Rocky Mountain Tavern, and is decorated with hockey jerseys and Canadian license plates.

 

 

I also had heard from Elliot that they made Caesars (which I don't usually like), but figured since it is a Canadian drink, that I should have one. I'm still not crazy about them but drank it anyways. My Korean Caesar (it came with a lemon wedge):

 

 

It was wing night, but of course I did not have those. I'm not sure what typical Canadian food would be, but it all seemed to be pretty standard Western food - burgers, salads, wraps. I would say that only truly Canadian thing on the menu was poutine. I enjoyed a chicken wrap with fries. The servers are Korean so some things got lost in translation. The chicken was supposed to come tossed in a "cool creamy sauce" but I wanted it tossed in hot sauce with a side of "cool creamy sauce". She said this was not possible, so I asked for a side of hot sauce instead. When my food finally came out (not sure what was happening in the kitchen, cause it did take a long time), the chicken was tossed in hot sauce and I got hot sauce on the side! Oh well. The chicken was still a bit weird and looked very pink to me, but I ate it anyways. 

That was basically my day today. We were going to stop in Gangnam, but I was so tired by that point and didn't really want to look around another shopping city, so I'll save that for another day. But I am starting to learn the subway a bit better, it would be more helpful to have internet on my phone to be able to use the subway app to route where I am going, but I do not (thankfully Jess does). At this point all I have access to is the map online at my apartment and a physical map of the subway in Korean, so not very useful.

I am dying to see more than storefronts and hope to see more of the traditional side of Korea in the next few days.

Here are some random pictures of the subway, there are glass doors surrounding the tracks so no one can "fall down" in the tracks like at home. Also screens show each stop and a little bus moves as it moves through the stops so you can see where the train is in comparison to your stop.

Also, I have sent out my address to a few people today - please send me a message if you would also like to have it!

<3