Life This Week in South Korea: Nov 27-Dec 3, 2023
Monday, Nov 27
My feet hips knees thighs heart may never forgive me for today. We went to Namsan Tower, another iconic Seoul landmark. At the highest point in Seoul, you get a wonderful of the city spread out below, with the mountains beyond. On a clear day. Ha. We tried to go back when the foliage was foliaging and the sunset was a little later…but life. At least my friend got to go before she leaves on Friday. Sadface.
We actually opted to take the cable car up…there are walking paths but come on. Let’s not be ridiculous. I’ve seen pictures. No thank you. As it was, even taking the cable car, you STILL had like 100 steps to go up! And we didn’t even go to the TOP viewing platform…it’s extra money and didn’t seem worth it on a not-that-clear night. I’ll go again when it looks like prime sunset potential…and go up to the tippy top with my camera.
Oh, my tutor has a friend (Korean) who’s been looking for a Korean/English language exchange partner, so Jun introduced us in chat…and we’re going to meet up on Thursday and talk. He’s been studying English for many years but hasn’t had much opportunity to speak English with actual people…and as I know, “book” language learning is not the same as “real life” listening and speaking. So we’ll spend part of the time speaking English and part speaking Korean. I feel a little bad cuz his English is WAY better than my Korean! When I’m writing things, I can look up words and be more expansive in what I’m saying. In real life I’m going to be limited to the vocabulary I know, which is like basic second language vocabulary: school, pen, book, bus, etc. Not stuff that’s particularly useful in normal everyday conversation. Hopefully this will be good for both of us.
Tuesday, Nov 28
As soon as I headed out this morning I knew I was not right. I had NO ENERGY. At All. The only thing I ate yesterday was a Subway sandwich around 6:00. When there’s so much output (walking, stairing), there needs to be more input…or I get weak shaky trembly.
Regardless, I had a hair appointment that I had to get to. This was my first Korean haircut. She didn’t speak much English and I think there was a bit lost in translation/pictures/hand gestures so it’s a bit shorter than I intended, but it’s not bad. But the SPECIAL thing I did was a BANG PERM.
Before Tiktok I had never heard of such a thing. My bangs are ornery suckers, who curl up at the first sign of humidity or sweat (and that’s pretty much 90% of my life) and do the dreaded flippy-doops. I’ve suffered with them All My Life. I have ALWAYS had bangs and I have always dreaded moisture coming near me cuz…flippy-doops.
But this bang perm is technically, a “down perm,” meaning it’s chemically treating the hair to lay flat. It’s not a curl perm as we’re used to in the states.Β In fact, I once asked at a salon for a bang perm and they didn’t know what the heck I was talking about.
It didn’t take long. First a typical shampoo, then the main cut…then she spritzed my bangs with the perm solution, covered my head with plastic wrap (it was a LOOK), and I sat under the rotating heat satellite things for 10-15 minutes. Then a bang-only rinse out back at the sink, then she dried and straightened just my bangs with the straightener…then she sprayed on what I think was toner, and THEN she rolled my bangs onto a single large roller, I think just to give a little lift to them so they weren’t pressed flat against my forehead. That was another 10-15 minutes, then a second full-head shampoo (and massage, yum). Then a fluff/shape dry (just hands, no tools). Then some shaping with a round brush and the dryer, and a little more point-cutting into the layers…and voila, I was done. And my bangs were laying exactly where they were supposed to.
We walked through the mall to find something to eat (my hypoglycemia was refusing to back down), walking made me sweat, we found the hottest place in the food court to eat…I was SWEATING. And guess what my bangs did?? NOTHING. They just lay there, nicely swooped to the side, as good bangs do.
It was a MIRACLE. For $54 US. All in. No tipping. Nice cut, bang perm. $54. I can’t get a CUT in NY for $54.
After that I bailed on our afternoon plans. I felt so bad cuz it’s this friend’s last few days here, but I just knew I wasn’t going to make the trek through the subway to the train. So I came home and lay down for awhile…then worked my way through another chapter in the textbook. Book 2 is going much slower – this is where I really fell apart the first time.
And now I’m wondering if the fried chicken vendor is open in the convenience store next door…or not, cuz it’s still school break. I’m’a be really disappointed if I drag myself over there through the cold and there’s no hot food.
Wish me luck, people!
Wednesday, Nov 29
Guess what I woke up with this morning?? Straight Bangs!!! Woohoo.
Tutoring from 8-9am. We worked on conversational questions I can ask my language exchange partner tomorrow. Continued studying til 2:30. Until I get frustrated, I really enjoy doing the homework and going through the lessons in the textbook. It’s kind of like a hobby. It’s the CLASSES that make me an emotional nervous wreck.
Class starts a week from today. Sigh.
I feel like I really hit the wall last week as far as doing going walking. My life for the past how many years has been going out for one big activity day on either Saturday or Sunday, and maybe one weeknight dinner or coffee or sunset. Other than that, I’m home alone, quietly sitting, not walking. And while there are many MANY things I want to do and see here, when I do too many things in a short period of time…my body just goes ENOUGH. And then even walking just a short distance can feeling overwhelmingly difficult and exhausting. I’m walking a LOT, my body/muscles have adjusted SOMEWHAT, but I am still an older person carrying a lot of weight around and it’s tiring. I’m not complaining, I’m just stating facts.
So tonight it was all I could do to get myself to a nearby restaurant with a couple friends…and even when they decided to continue on after dinner to see some Christmas lights a subway-ride away, I had to pass. Sometimes the discomfort of GETTING to The Thing outweighs the ENJOYMENT of The Thing…and only I can judge that for myself.
Thursday, Nov 30
Guess what I woke up with again this morning?? STILL STRAIGHT BANGS! Ha ha. Seriously, where has this been all my life??
So, tonight was an adventure of sorts! My tutor hooked me up with one of his friends who had been looking for an English/Korean language exchange. Tonight was our first meeting. It had sort of blind date vibes (but was not a date), in that we had never met before, we didn’t know anything about the other, our only commonality was Jun (the tutor) and the fact that we’re trying to learn one another’s languages. So we talked sort of awkwardly for two hours…I think he’s maybe even a little shyer than I am…but he’s better at English than I am at Korean – so it was just all sort of…awkward. But he was nice and a good sport and we were able to laugh about the one thing weΒ did have in common – struggling with a new language.
Well, not a new language for him – in Korea, they study English as a second language all through public school. So he’s been learning for some time, but hasn’t had much opportunity for speaking with native English speakers. So. But it was good. It became very apparent that I don’t know much “actual conversation” vocabulary. The words they teach you when you’re first learning a language are so not what you use in most daily conversations. If I had to wanted to ask him if the blue cup was on the desk, I’d have been golden. But I didn’t. I wanted to ask what his cat’s favorite toys are and why he chose to travel to Kyrgyzstan and what kind of food he ate there. So…I need to start adding “real” vocabulary into my daily study along with my textbook vocabulary.
Two words I feel they should definitely add to every new language vocabulary roster are STOP and HELP. Maybe that’s just the American in me, but…no one asked me.
Friday, Dec 1 (whoa)
My good friend here left today π We went with her to the post office to ship home some stuff that wouldn’t fit in her suitcase…and went for brunch…hugged and said teary goodbyes. It will definitely be different without her here. She was the brave one, the one who always wanted to go and do things…she got me up and out more than most people can.
Now I’ll just have to figure things out for myself…what I’m comfortable doing on my own…and life will be more like it was back home.
After we saw her off, I came back to my room and crashed for a couple hours…then went out to pick up fried chicken…and now it’s 9:19pm and time for bed :-\
Today was my 100th Day in Korea.
Saturday, Dec 2
What did I do today?? μ무걷λ μ μ!!! Nothing. Really. My OTHER hip started hurting yesterday with all the walking we did, so i gave myself the day off. Did tutoring homework (which takes me a ridiculously long time, and there’s still so many mistakes!), continued going through the textbook on my own…and watched a couple episodes of a mediocre k-drama. It’s a sequel to a really great one, so I keep hoping it will pick up, but…I don’t think that’s going to happen.
Sunday, Dec 3
I MEANT to do something today. There were several places I’d mapped out routes to, but…in the end I bailed on myself, ha ha. I just stayed in all day til around 4pm when I said GET OUT OF THIS ROOM and went for a little walk around the neighborhood.
Life in Korea not so different than life at home.
Except my bangs are straighter π
Lisa
You’ve made it a 100 days — amazing! I’m sorry your friend will no longer be there.
I can’t believe how inexpensive your haircut/wash/bang perm was!!
The pictures of the food look amazing!
bettyewp
π Yeah, 100 days. It feels like I just got here…and it feels like I’ve been here forever.
Tina
I can so relate to the “bang thing”. I have naturally curly hair, but I straighten my bangs—when they cooperate and leave the rest of my head curly. HA! I am so going to find a salon here that does the Bang Perm! Thanks for the info. Congrats on the 100 days!
MB
Wow!! 100 days!! I am now caught up in your blog – I missed A LOT. I love your descriptions and little asides when you write. Congratulations on 100 days!!
bettyewp
Thank you! Yay, Iβm glad youβre finally subscribed π
Mary Beth
Congratulations on 100 days!! I love all of your photos your writing is so enjoyable to read. I can be giggling one minute and be moved in the next one. Thank you.
bettyewp
Aww, thank you for your kind wrds, friend π
xoxo
Barbara
Oooh, already 100 days! I so enjoy to read about your korean life.
And how interesting, to know now about a bang perm.
For daily conversations I read “Mickey Mouse” in italian. It’s simple language for mainly children and I found it very helpful.
Looking forward for your next Blog post!
bettyewp
I think it’s so funny when I do the week in review posts…that except for the pictures, they’re exactly like the week in review posts back home, ha ha.
Mickey Mouse, like a comic?? I keep meaning to find a…oh shoot, it’s manga in Japan but has a different name in Korea, I think. Ahh, MANWHA. I should find some of that.
Em D
Sooo much here…but happy hundredth! I could wax at length re your adventurous friend, aches and pains, feeling overwhelmed, and all that incredible food (I am such a jerk, I envisioned so much “brown food and clear noodles” and wow, my vicarious travels have sure shown otherwise. The presentations are also delightful).
Sign me up for a bang perm! I may even consider a DIY version. I have been wearing bangs forever and while they don’t floppy dip, they do chunk together and lean in for a dominant center section that looks stupid. Maybe they could get a side swept vibe if left in the hands of a professional. Thanks for the tip!!!
em d
*flippy dip (unless I’m autocorrected again).
bettyewp
RIGHT??? Why aren’t American salons sharing this LIFE-CHANGING SECRET?!? I think it’s cuz they just don’t know. In the past when I’ve asked a stylist about my FLIPPY DOOPS, I’m told it’s in the styling method or size/shape/type of brush/product. But it’s not. And I KNEW that, cuz at home, right after styling, my bangs would be perfect. And on a crisp, cool, dry, autumn day where I didn’t have to move around much, they’d stay that way. But rain, humidity, forehead/scalp sweat happens and those flippies are DOOPING!!! No matter WHAT styling method I had used. I mean MAYBE a crapton of hairspray could have helped but…I dislike stiff-hold products as much as I do Bangs Gone Wild, so…
Speaking of food, I don’t know if you say on my IG story that I went to that brunch place again, but this time I also got a yogurt/fruit bowl to go…and DAMN, I swear their fruit is MAGICAL. WHERE are they getting ALL THE PERFECT BANANAS?? Bananas are tought for me. I like them in theory. I LOVE banana-FLAVORED things, but sort of like avocados, bananas have about a one-minute window for me between not-yet-ripe-enough and teensiest-brown-spot/mush. And theirs are always PERFECT. And SLIM. Weird. But…Tehy’re very consistent in their slimness.