36 hours
Our first 1.5 days already feels like a week. Returning to Seoul brought feelings of familiarity and belonging. I'm no longer scared of trying to speak the language and there's a huge sense of ease when it comes to walking the streets. I'm home but not.
We decided to work remotely to save on PTO so we could be here for an extended time while experiencing what day-to-day life is like. Finally got settled in an Airbnb, our home for the next 10 days, which is plucked right out of a Kdrama alley.
Living in the afternoons/early evenings, working overnight... we're surviving night 2. The sun is rising and the city is starting to wake up. And I'm ready to go to sleep.
Day 1: 2 chickens
Lunch at 큰집 닭한마리 (Big House Chicken, Yongsan). We ordered 닭한마리 (1 Chicken) which ended up being a huge shared boiling soup with a full chicken.
For dinner: chicken no. 2, hand breaded and fried with love @ Eongteoli Fried Chicken, Itaewon.
Friend!
Such an unreal reunion with my Korean friend 지은 (Jieun). We met online almost 2 years ago and met in person just in October in Portland! She's back in Korea now and we're excited to hang out!
Remembering Itaewon
Shortly after Jieun visited Portland, South Korea experienced their largest mass casualty event since an entire department store collapsed in 1995. Halloween crowds flooded Itaewon, an estimated 100k people mostly young adults and teens gathered to celebrate in the shopping district and narrow alleys. Lack of crowd control led to the devastating crowd crush. We happened to come across the street where it happened and took a moment of reflection to honor the victims at the memorial.
Fun to see where you are settled for a bit. Hope you are both well. We are as fine as we can be. ❤️
ReplyDeleteYour meals look delicious!! --- I remember seeing the news when the crowd crush happened and it was devastating to watch. Glad you were able to visit and give a moment to those that were victims.
ReplyDeleteLove this! Keep the posts coming!
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