Brooke;
I’ve inserted my thoughts into your letter in red….I figured it would be the most efficient way to communicate without loosing each other in the conversations.
Well, I found food and got all settled into the guesthouse. Tell me about the guest house. So, let’s begin. ^_^
First, I realized that window seats aren’t all that good on international flights. Next time, I’m going to try for an aisle seat, as I had to vault my companions in the row to get to the restroom when they were sleeping. Good point though: I succeeded without waking them. Its been a long time since I rode on a plane for that long and I had forgotten about some of the logistics; so yes— isle is better.
I met a really cool guy named Ryan on the flight. He sat next to me. He’s from Canada, but travels often. We chatted for a while and he helped make it more comfortable for me to sleep and found the plug in so I could charge my laptop. He was really nice.
Unfortunately, turbulence hit when we were having coffee and I wound up wearing some. >_< Fortunately, it comes out easily.
Then, I got here and got through customs no problems. Very good. One of the lady officers wanted to x-ray my laptop case, but the x-ray guy took one look at me and said ‘Go ahead and go.’ ^_^ I had trouble finding the right bus, at first. A really nice woman helped me find the right bus and get some of my money exchanged. Sounds like you ran into some nice people right off the bat….that was a blessing ey?
I saw a few things from the bus. The main thing was that there are HUGE buildings, skyscraper sized, in clusters all over the outskirts of Seoul. They’re apartments. Hundreds of thousands of apartments. O_O Apparently, they have their own buses for people who live there to get back and forth to the city. It sounds kinda like you are on another planet! Pretty exciting!
Secondly, this city is HUGE. I mean about five Phoenixes huge. However, their public transportation system is easy to understand, well-maintained, cheap and off the charts in efficiency.
EVERYTHING is cheaper here!!! I got a good amount of food, a drink and dessert for under 5000 won. (A little under $5.) I had chicken and vegetable skewers with spicy sauce. They were very good. For dessert I had a kind of frozen yogurt with toppings. Very good. I’m glad you got a good exchange rate and things are inexpensive. Hopefully you will have no issues with running out of money.
People here are very nice. I’m still getting some of the little etiquette things down, like handing the cashier my money with both hands, I had never heard of the two handed thing…..did you hear about it before you left USA?but people have commented on my politeness and how easily I seem to have slipped into ‘acting Korean’ when it comes to etiquette.
I wound up riding the subway as well. The subway stations here are HUGE. They have stores and restaurants in them too, and lots of entrances and exits. The trains are behind secondary doors (like the ones for the trams in Dallas and Denver airports). The stations and the trains are really clean, and the trains themselves are really big too. I could lay in the center lengthwise and not touch the seats on either side.
I really like it here. The people are nice, the food is GREAT, the atmosphere is lively and I felt immediately comfortable walking around. (I’m still careful, though. You better be!) I don’t know. If further research finds that this is how Seoul is all the time, you might not get me back after my exchange program. ^_^
So, that’s the trip so far. I’m going to chill here for the night and e-mail Austin. He and I might be able to meet up, and he might be able to help me find a phone. ^_^
Love ya!! Update you tomorrow!
Brooke
Excellent first letter pumpkin! Keep them coming please. I’m forwarding them on to G-Ma and I’m sure Momma will see them too.
Love You!
G-Pa
In a message dated 6/28/2012 7:03:26 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time, brookeasheehan@yahoo.com writes:
Grandpa,I like the idea. ^_^ It’ll make things a lot easier.Well, the guest house is a large house in the Mapo-gu district. (See attached picture for the districts of Seoul) It has the normal gate outside (I’ll send pictures once I grab some more batteries for the camera.) There are two gates: a car gate and a door gate. Then, there’s a little area outside with flower bushes and some tables and chairs to sit down. When you go inside, you have the shoe room (it’s kinda like a foyer), the living room common area and some stairs. On the left is the door to one of the dormitory style rooms (it has 10 beds), on the right is another dormitory style room (it has six beds. That’s where I’m staying, but there’s no one else in the room with me.) front left is the kitchen, front is the restroom and the stairs.The room is small, but neat, with three sets of bunk beds complete with pillows, sheets, blankets, and a towel. They have lockers for your stuff, and each room is digitally locked. (You put in a passcode to get in.) The doors auto lock when you shut them.The bathroom is the most interesting thing. It’s one room, with a tile floor and a drain. The shower has no tub or anything, so if you take a shower, it’s all on the same floor. (I’ll take a picture. It’s hard to explain.) I know now why they recommend sandals for the bathroom, as there are two sets of ‘bathroom slippers’ at the door. (You wear them whenever you use the restroom.) They’re specifically made for the bathroom, so they’re non-slip.Everyone’s been really nice. After I e-mailed you, I met some of the other people who are staying here. They’re pretty cool. A lot of them are Americans too.I shouldn’t have issues with money. Most everything is included in the tuition, and they’re taking us grocery shopping at the end of orientation (Only one meal is included per day.)However, it’s 0800 and I need to find some food. ^_^ I’ll update you later (hopefully with pictures).Love ya,Brooke
If you can continue to write each day with this quantity of detail, you/we may be able to construct a decent story/article/paper for a magazine or a course project.
Keep-em-coming!
Love G-pa
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