Seoul again

Tracy, Abra and I ventured to Seoul this past weekend for some shopping. This time, for spring clothes--specifically skirts and/or dresses (yes, quite a girly activity :) ). The weekend was full of way too much travelling and crowded spaces compared to the amount actually accomplished, which is often the case with trips to Seoul. On Saturday, we began our city adventures by going to an area called Dongdaemoon- a famous shopping area. We'd been told that we could get clothes at lower prices than what we generally see at stores here in Dangjin. What we found were two huge CROWDED buildings of lots and lots of clothes at only somewhat cheaper prices and small sizes. There were SO many people bustling up and down the narrow aisles and we were constantly being bumped and pushed around (our backpacks didn't help anything). Once we were fed up with that scene, we headed to Itaewon--the foreigner area of town (it's near the U.S. army base, and there's a mosque in the area and lots of other ethnicities around as well). There we finally found some clothes of interest. There was a whole shop of twirly skirts and dresses in western sizes where I found exactly what I was looking for (I was SO excited- I was beginning to think that our trip had been in vain). That evening we went to a lovely Indian buffet for dinner before heading to the jimjilbang where we spent the night. This jimjilbang's sleeping area had separate cubby holes where you could lay out your blankets to sleep. That made it quieter and somewhat more private. While it still wasn't the most comfortable thing in the world, it wasn't bad. Before sleeping, we enjoyed the bath area and the pools of various temperatures. It turns out that the word for "pool" in Korean ("tang") is the same word for some of the soups we've eaten. So with our limited understanding of Korean, it looked like the sign for one pool said "massage soup." :) Earlier that day we had purchased some playing cards at a convenience store because we had discovered we had left our other decks in Dangjin (can't be without cards the amount of time we spend in coffee shops! :) ). These cards are plastic, and claimed to be waterproof, so we tested it. Yes, we played cards while sitting in the pools of the jimjilbang. That was a first for me! :) Sunday I had planned to go to an English service in Seoul, and my roommates decided to accompany me. So, that morning we hit Dunkin' Donuts and jumped on the subway headed for Yoido Full Gospel Church (Dr. Cho's church-- I wanted to check out their English service). After walking in some major wind quite a distance from the subway stop to the church (well, one of the many buildings of the church), and then taking an overly crowded elevator up 9 floors, we discovered that the time of the service had been changed 2 weeks earlier. We arrived just as they had finished. I was VERY disappointed. Especially since we had come so far and I don't have the opportunity to go to services like that very often. The people there were very friendly and wanted us to join them at the main service to hear Dr. Cho preach, but none of us were really up for that. Still, we weren't ready to leave, either, because we were cold. So, we went up a floor to see if they were airing the service over television up there. Instead, we came upon the English youth group service. The youth pastor greeted us (she's from MI) and invited us to join them. I was all for it. My roommates chose to wait for me across the street at a coffee shop. The service really wasn't anything all that special, but it was SO nice to be with fellow believers of a similar culture and experience to my own. I felt very comforted and had a good cry during the singing time. After service, I found Tracy and Abra. Since we were already on Yoido island and didn't have other plans, we decided to check out the "63 building." It's the tallest building in Korea at 60 stories high (it's called the 63 building because there are 3 basements to give it 63 floors). Rather than walk the long distance across the island, we decided to try out the bus system. After waiting for a bit, a bus came that I was able to identify as one going to the 63 building. We climbed aboard, and paid our fare. Yet, by the time we reached the first stop, I realized something was terribly wrong.... I had left my backpack at the bus stop!!! Quickly, I jumped up and got off the bus, planning to meet Tracy and Abra at the 63 building. I ran back to where we had gotten on the bus, grabbed my backpack, and got on another bus that was just pulling up. It took a more direct route to the 63 building. I didn't realize that the place where I was let off was actually another entrance to the building, so I found my way around the outside of the building to the front. I'm kinda glad I did, though, because I saw the torch from the '88 Olympics on my way around (and took a picture, of course! :) ). Once in the lobby, I looked around for Tracy and Abra... nowhere to be found. I waited, and explored- looking for other entrances they might be at. I finally found them near the other entrance I mentioned, but they were just arriving. It turned out they had missed the stop before and ended up back at our original bus stop. Rather than trying it again, they just walked to the building. So, they were freezing and tired. Since we made the effort to get there, I figured we'd go up to the top, even if we had to pay to do it. Unfortunately, they had just closed the skydeck for rennovations! JUST closed it-- on March 8th! Aargh. So, we ate at the food court in the basement, and then began our journey home. At the bus terminal we stopped at the Coffee Bean (since Paula told me I HAD to go get an ice blended caramel coffee), and then headed back to Dangjin. And that was Seoul. You know, it would probably be really scary to figure out how much we spend of coffee and similar drinks as we travel compared to how much we spend on actual meals...