Forever. For Always. No Matter What. Enter as Strangers. Leave as Friends. - Author Unknown
Thursday, October 17, 2012 (DAYS 591 - 593)
After two-days of traveling that spanned flying 7,432km (4,616) and is just short of 441 miles, which is from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast, I am still feeling exhausted and jet lagged and my internal sleeping clock is off as I find myself wide awake at 4am on Adam’s very comfortable futon in his living room. Wanting to feel a bit productive I pull out my laptop and do a bit of writing while the memories are still fresh, plus after getting so far behind from not having a computer and writing down all the amazing memories over the previous 10 months I wanted to keep on top of things this time. Two-hours later and exhaustion finally begins to set back in, which I am thankful for and I end up sleeping in to the early afternoon. Fortunately my couchsurfing host, Adam doesn’t that I’m at his place while he has to go teach, which I know many people think is crazy allowing a stranger that you’ve just met to stay in your home while you aren’t there as well as giving me a key to his place in case I want to venture out and return when he still isn’t home. Once again it’s amazing the amount of trust that exists among this unique community I have grown to be a part of and welcomes everyone.
After two-days of traveling that spanned flying 7,432km (4,616) and is just short of 441 miles, which is from the East Coast of the United States to the West Coast, I am still feeling exhausted and jet lagged and my internal sleeping clock is off as I find myself wide awake at 4am on Adam’s very comfortable futon in his living room. Wanting to feel a bit productive I pull out my laptop and do a bit of writing while the memories are still fresh, plus after getting so far behind from not having a computer and writing down all the amazing memories over the previous 10 months I wanted to keep on top of things this time. Two-hours later and exhaustion finally begins to set back in, which I am thankful for and I end up sleeping in to the early afternoon. Fortunately my couchsurfing host, Adam doesn’t that I’m at his place while he has to go teach, which I know many people think is crazy allowing a stranger that you’ve just met to stay in your home while you aren’t there as well as giving me a key to his place in case I want to venture out and return when he still isn’t home. Once again it’s amazing the amount of trust that exists among this unique community I have grown to be a part of and welcomes everyone.
I cannot tell you how exciting it is to be in a country where you once again can flush toilet paper and hot water is readily available. The simple things in life continually remind me how I would always rather choose to have a better quality of life with simplicities than to chase after the quantities of a life based around materialism. After a nice relatively long hot shower, which is significantly shorter in time than I was used to being accustomed to back home, I venture out and stop back by Chansbros coffee. As I walk in I am greeted with a big smile from the owner, Chan, and as I’m looking up decided what’s the cheapest item to order as I’m primarily there to utilize the free incredibly fast Wi-Fi he tells me that he and his wife were talking about me last night and have decided to give me free coffee because my story of traveling and returning to Korea for the first time to be reunited with my birth mother has inspired them greatly. I cannot thank him enough or mention the numerous types of kindness that I have experienced through this great journey. Thanking him uncontrollably I order just a simple coffee and take a seat and begin researching some things around Seoul. I am hoping to hear back from Jan about what the itinerary will be for the Home to Home Program, but unfortunately there is no new information, because I think she has yet to hear back from them either. I suppose when I’m emailing her, she’s then emailing an organization in Seoul that goes through who knows how many others, before finally emailing her and responding to me, it’s just a process.
Later in the evening as I’m walking back to Adam’s place I run in to him on the sidewalk and we decide to meet up with his friend Matt and grab some more Korean BBQ. If it weren’t for the reunion, this would be a good enough reason to visit South Korea, because the food is by far the best I’ve had in the past 19-months. Fo sho, yo! As the temperatures drop and people around the area are beginning to become more scarce, it is a weeknight afterall, we decide to head back to the apartment and watch a movie.
Later in the evening as I’m walking back to Adam’s place I run in to him on the sidewalk and we decide to meet up with his friend Matt and grab some more Korean BBQ. If it weren’t for the reunion, this would be a good enough reason to visit South Korea, because the food is by far the best I’ve had in the past 19-months. Fo sho, yo! As the temperatures drop and people around the area are beginning to become more scarce, it is a weeknight afterall, we decide to head back to the apartment and watch a movie.
The next day I’m moving from what I believe is the Jung-gu area across the Hangang river to the Bongcheon-dong neighborhood, which is a bit more lively. Once again I find myself at a coffee shop waiting on my new CouchSurfing hosts to get off work at 7pm. Receiving a Kakao message–the free Korean app that’s similar to WhatsApp, I’m greeted by two guys, Austin and Scott, both of whom are 25 and English teachers from Kansas. The ten-minute walk to their apartment gives us a chance to get to know one another, but soon, wicka-wicka the tables have turned and the conversation takes an aggressive turn. They bring up week 11 of the NFL, the highly anticipated meeting of the only two-current undefeated teams–the Kansas City Chiefs and of course my beloved Denver Broncos. This immediately causes a ruckus and continues as we reach their apartment. Well not to put down Adam’s place, which was awesome, this was like walking into the Hilton! They had an awesome 3-bedroom pimp pad that was very spacious for what they told me is the average apartment in Seoul. They show me to my own room, which is a luxury, and then we head out to meet Scott’s girlfriend for dinner and another great night of scooby snacks, and Korean garlic chicken. Everytime I think the food can’t possibly get any better I am constantly surprised and I know my cousin Lisa is already telepathically encouraging me to just sit around all day eating.
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