Hello everyone! I hope you are enjoying the new year. I have had a very special visitor, so I have not blogged in awhile. My "little" brother came to visit me in Seoul, and I was busy showing him around and working at the same time. I hope to make blogging my regular Wednesday night habit. Is it a New Year's resolution? Well, no, not exactly. I know better than to make resolutions about anything...
On Christmas Eve, I sang in my church's Christmas Catata, a pretty piece of fluff if there ever was one. We got together, at the last minute (typical Korean style), a group of very amateur actors, and it was great fun. We dubbed our impromptu single hour of rehearsal the "William Shatner School of Acting." We sounded tolerable at least. The script was certainly no great masterpiece, which made it all the more fun to camp it up a bit. Of course, I do have some professional acting training, so it was a bit hard for me to "loosen up" my expectations, but I did.
After the concert, I met a friend at Buck Mulligan's Bar in the City Center. We sat there with our Guinesses and listened to cheesy music in the background. For some reason, I just didn't have much Christmas spirit this year. Before I met my companion (who had gotten stuck in horrendous holiday traffic), I took a chance to look at the City Center Christmas lights designed, as I understand, by a famous Italian light artist. They were spectacular, but all I did was look; it was so crowded that my arms were pinned to my sides very tightly and I couldn't get to my camera case!
After the blah Christmas, I began to prepare the way for my brother. I had three days off from work and no money to go anywhere, so I decided to do the final "de-bacheloring" of my apartment. I am the first Western female to live there, and it shows. None of the previous tenants had ever done a thorough cleaning, so I bought some fancy cleaning supplies. Armed with a scrubber, a mop, degreaser, and a good work ethic, I proceeded to scrub down my disgustingly greasy (as it turned out) kitchen shelves and cabinets. This took me almost a whole evening. I mopped, swept, and sorted like a madwoman for the next three days. As it turned out, I needn't have bothered, as my brother is one of the aformentioned messy bachelors! I felt better at the time, however, even though it took me six months to get around to it. Of course I had done regular cleaning of my apartment, just not a deep cleaning.
My brother came in on that Friday, and I had an interesting time getting to the airport. I had done my research online, and saw that a limosine airport shuttle runs from the LotteWorld Hotel to Incheon Int'l Airport. The one that picks up across the street from me stops running at 8 p.m., but the LotteWorld Hotel had a bus, according to the schedule, at 9:25 P.M. I flew out the door of my work at exactly 9:02, and hailed the first taxi I saw. I got to the Hotel just as the incoming bus arrived. Beaming with certainty, I approached the door after all of the passengers had deboarded. The bus driver stopped me and said that the last bus had left at 7 p.m. and that there were no more buses. I tried to explain that the schedule had said 9:25, but his English wasn't up to my explanation. I later found out that winter hours are different, alothugh nowhere does it say that on the English website!
I stood there, bewildered and upset, wondering how the hell I was going to get to Incheon. Finally, a busboy approached me and pointed to a taxi. It was one of the black deluxe sort, which usually means a deluxe price. With only 100,000 Won, I was very nervous about this, but decided to take a risk. As it turned out, the 70 km trip came to 62,000 Won. He did NOT charge me the deluxe price after all, I think out of pity for me. Not that it was exactly cheap.I got there before my brother arrived, but the night wasn't over yet...
It was 11:30 p.m., and our transportation offers were very limited. I glanced out at the taxi stand, and saw nothing but deluxe cabs waiting. As we headed towards them, a man approached us asking if we needed a taxi. Without thinking much about it (I was still calculating the possible cost of a deluxe cab after hours) I accepted. Without further ado, he whisked our luggage cart out the door, and put us in a rickety white van.
I instantly regretted my rash decision when I discovered that a) there were no seatbelts and b) he drove 40kmh over the speed limit. The man did have a "City of Seoul" official license on his dash, I noted with some relief. They are very harsh here on forged documents. As the meter ran up, my brother and I began making loony plans for escape from my momentary lapse of street smarts. I knew better, but, like many foreigners, was lulled into the sense of security that comes from living in one of the world's safest and crimeless cities. I knew we would not be hurt, or even majorly ripped off, and I was right as it turned out. It would have cost the same to take one of the deluxe taxis, if not more, though I think they might have been more comfortable! We decided, after much debate, to have the driver drop us off near City Hall. After some confused directions and some half-hearted commentary from the driver, he let us off at Seoul Station to the tune of 100,000 Won. We had bad luck at the ATM, so we hailed a normal city cab, and for 20,000 Won more, got home safely. That qualifies as the most expensive cab ride I have ever taken.
The night passed without much incident; well, not quite, as my brother ripped my spare bed (a futon)apart by accident...
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