A waste of bits and bandwidth

Everything was going so well today. I did a little shopping (clothes are so cheap), met MiHwa for lunch near City Hall and went off to explore Insadong. I managed to get there by myself and even found that tea house that we always go to.

I decided to head back around 4:30 as we were meeting for dinner. I navigated all the way back to the green line, paid my fare and was waiting for the train. Then it happened; I second guessed myself. “You idiot, you’re going the wrong way” Happy that I noticed before boarding the train, I quickly changed sides and got a train headed in the other direction.

So I’m sitting there, not really paying attention. I mean, I’m on vacation, I don’t need to pay attention. I recall thinking to myself that you really can’t judge distance in a city the size of Seoul. Then I noticed a station name that I recognized; Jamsil.

I’m sure my jaw dropped… “Sweet feathery Moses, where am I?” I knew that Jamsil is in east Seoul and I should be on the west side. I pulled my subway map from my bag and realized that I was indeed going in the wrong direction.

Not really wrong as the line is a loop but it was way too late to do anything about it. I just had to sit there and ride it out. So my 30 minute trip ended up taking over 90 minutes. During a Seoul rush hour.

Well done, you freaking imbecile…

Well, we have arrived safe and sound from Gwang-Ju (turns out I was spelling it correctly; Biff must be so proud…) It was a really interesting place; it’s about 3 million people and yet it felt so calm and relaxed compared to Seoul.

What was not fun was the constant looks that I got. I might as well have had a ‘white devil’ facial tattoo. Amusing at first, irritating after the 987,000th time… We came across a park where there was some sort of Cosplay event happening. One girl was quite taken with me and was really happy when I waved at her. I was just happy to see someone who looked happy to see me. Not that the others weren’t but shock isn’t all that welcoming an emotion.

It was really nice to finally meet MiHwa’s family though it would have been less stressful if I didn’t have to meet them all at once. Turns out it was a bit of a family reunion seeing that the white devil was in town. In the end it was good and everyone was so nice to me. We ate all night and the Grey Monk I brought was a welcome gift.

We stayed at MiHwa’s parents home and it was really cool. A very traditional little house in Gwang-Ju. Keep an eye out for those pics, ’cause they’re worth it.

Sunday, her sister and brother in law picked us up and we went for a drive. In 2 hours we were at the south tip of Korea. We really had a great time and did so many things I can’t even relate them all here.

In the end, it was a mad race back to the airport where we got there just in time for our flight. It was a busy but very worthwhile trip.

Well, I made to Seoul without too much difficulty. The flight was decent but the day was really long. Good to be back though; the place almost feels familiar now.

MiHwa’s net connection refused to work with my Mac and the only English on the error page was ActiveX. I had visions of a Windows only ISP but it turned out that she need to login. Oddly, I still can’t hit my site.

I had a good day while she was at work, heading back to COEX in search of the Apple store. I started out by not buying a enough of a train ticket meaning I had to jump the gate when I got to COEX. Nice; been in the country less than 24 hours and I’m already breaking laws.

Met a guy from Toronto who is here doing his army time, was interviewed again by what I thought were English students but they turned out to be religious. I left with a copy of the Watchtower for my trouble.

On the way home, I caused quite a stir among a group of school girls as you don’t get too many whiteys around this part of Seoul. I turned around and gave them a wave but in hindsight I should have taken a picture.

Once MiHwa got home we were on a bus to see friends for dinner. The bus is totally worth it; it’s like an amusement park ride. At one point we were three wide in two lanes with a taxi and another bus. Good times…

We’re off to meet the parents this afternoon. As soon as I learn to spell Gwang-Ju (not even close) I’ll be sure to tell you. Wish me luck. I hear they don’t take kindly to white devils…

So I’m sitting in the smoking lounge at YVR international departures, surfing YVR-PUB at 4MB/s! That’s faster than Shaw though I imagine someone is jacking all my pr0n. *firewall on*

I only got a few hours of sleep last night and it came in 15 minute blocks so I’m damn near dead on my feet. With a pinch of luck, I’ll sleep on the plane.

For those of you keeping score, I’ll arrive at Narita at 11PM, sit around until 2AM and then board my flight for Inchon. Should arrive there about 4:30AM and then maybe get to MiHwa’s around 6AM. Yeah, I really need to get some sleep on the plane.

Apparently, you aren’t allowed to to bring a lighter past security but about 50% of folks made it past. I put mine in my bag and got through but did need to unbuckle my belt . I suspect that was just for buddy’s giggles.

You know, it’s hard to type with a smoke in your mouth and one in each hand Next update from Narita I guess. *15 minutes until full*

I swear that my neighbours are the only reason this blog is still alive. Now I freely admit that I lie and make shit up all the time; it’s a side effect of writers block but you can’t make this stuff up.

I went to the office today and put in some time to tidy a few things up. I come home, press the button and wait for the elevator. It’s an old building and the elevator isn’t smart enough to deliver someone to the basement before coming back up for me. It just stops when the button is pushed and I’ve taken to getting on ’cause at least I’m on right?

Sure enough, there’s a woman/girl on her way to the basement. I say woman/girl because she was Asian, so maybe she was 16 or maybe she was 36 I really can’t tell. Now I like to put the other humans at ease so I look at her and say “Well, I guess I’m going for a ride…” She looks at me and smiles but doesn’t say anything. I sorta smile and look at the buttons to see if this elevator is going to move or not.

I sense that she is still looking at me. I look at her again and she is indeed, still looking at me but now very intently. I smile as the elevator leaves and look away. *Spidey senses start to tingle* “She’s not still looking at me is she?” I glance at her and she’s now staring, with a huge grin and nodding her head as if she’s sending me mental transmissions or agreeing with some conversation we’re having. Thing is, we’re not having a conversation or at least not one that I’m a part of. An awkward moment (for me anyway) ensued and then the door opened an she went to the laundry.

Keep in mind this all took place in the time it took to go from the lobby to the basement. I’d have a month of material if this had been a longer ride.

“Well that was weird…” I go up to my apartment and stumble over some boxes that are meant for storage. Cursing, I decide to take them down to my locker. Guess who greets me at the elevator when I get to the basement? Yeah, it was her.

Her jaw drops as the door opens, probably because all her unmentionables were on top of her basket of clothes. She didn’t seem like the type to have that many gstrings…

So I have decided to embrace the other humans in my building and engage them solely for the material. It’s a goldmine I tell ya’