The city of warmth

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Here gos my first blog. I am sat in a cafe very near to where I am staying. The cafe is in no way 'Korean' but its the third time I've been here so I have got quite a repore with one of the waitdresses. Plus the coffee is great! What to tell you about Seoul?Well, its bloody freezing!For the next five and a half months I suspect I will be complaining about th heat but right now I am constantly cold!

Why then is this blog intitled 'the city of warmth'? The people. Koreans are the warmest, kindest people I have ever met. I first expirenced this while attempting to get from the airport to Hwajeong (where my friend Ed lives and my Korean home!). By this point I had not slept for over 24 hours everyone who I asked for help would not give up until they had sent me in the right direction. I would board the tube alongside them, sit at the opposite end and when I was at my stop would jump up with thumbs up indictating that I should get of and not returing to their smart phone (one major way Koreans differ from us is that they are born with smart phone attatched to their hands) until they had seen I was safely on my way.

Last weekend Ed and I joined a group of Koreans for a Full Moon gathering at Andong (about four hours away from Seoul, check out Ed's photoblog of the weekend: http://ed405.tumblr.com/). The people who we spent the weekend with were so lovely. Jo Hyojin (the trip leader: uni professor and all round fun guy- big fan of soju!!) kept donating his coat to the shivering English girl. The girls would ensure my bum was on he hottest part of the underfloor heating and we rarely went ten minuets without an exciting snack appearing in front of us! I really can not say enough about the warmth of these people, I honetsly think I am safer strolling the streets of Korea than I am in Edington!!

Okay one final example to explain the 'Korean loveliness'. Each day I got and meet my guide and friend Goeun. Yesterday I met her and a friend of hers in Starbucks. If, in England, you are in the situation where you are new to a group, even if its only three of you, you can get a bit lost as they talk about things or people you don't know. When I joined Goeun and her friend he immediately says 'nice to meet you'. I try some of my phrases in Korean, which include 'thank you', 'can I get' and 'you an idiot'. Goeun gets mad an my complete inability to remember the Korean she had taught me and we laugh a lot at, well,me!! Even when they do jabber away in Korean and I turn my concerntration to my (terrible, terrible) cup of tea it, quickly becomes apparent that Goeun was encouraging him to say things to me in English because Goeun says to me 'he wants to say to you' and Sinsu finishes with 'what is your major?'. Later on, when Goeun and I are alone, Goeun explains that she does not think her friend who we had coffee with this morning was himself today. She explains that he was upset becuase his Grandfather had night last night. I am amazed at this. He probably just wanted to meet with his friend for coffee and comfort but there they were making a massive effort with the crazy foreign girl!

So thats my first blog all about my favourite thing about Korea, the Koreans!! I can't find the insert key so I can't spell check it. Also I'm off to meet Goeun now, today we are exploring a palace 😊

Next time I'll tell you about the next best thing about Korea: Soju!!!!!

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Comments

[David]

just read this as I walked through trowbridge... Probably as far from korea as you can get...