Viva España

I kind'a thought they'd win but I would have still liked Nederlands too. So my Monday in Seoul started about 8:15. Since I had slept from 10 until 3:15 before the game, then 2 and a bit hours afterward, I was fine. I called Dizzy and she sounded groggy. I told here to call me back when she was more awake. It was very bright and sunny which did not please me completely since that contributes to the heat.

I was low on cash so I went to the bank machine and the first one did not like my card. The next did not like my ATM card so I had to use my VISA. I thought I was still in Vietnam (19,000 local = 1 USD) so asked for 1,000,000 wan. When the machine spit out the cash, there was about an inch of bills. Then I realized I was in Korea not Hanoi and realized I had asked for about $1,000 not $100. Silly me. I knew that mistake would be costly since I would have to do currency exchange back into USD.

Dizzy called and I told her I would meet her at the busy intersection down from her apartment corner. I got to that corner and freaked since there were fences up all over the 4 corners so no pedestrian traffic could penetrate the intersection. I called Dizzy back and she said she would meet me where we met yesterday. She mentioned that the subway station is the only way to cross the street at that intersection. It reminds me of the busiest intersection on the strip in Vegas. We had coffee by exit 8 at Starbucks then we will head off to Dizzy's school. Dizzy loved my stupid weygook story about too much money from the bank machine.

The school was about 10 minutes away. The taxi driver was rude and I decided that I would close the door after he drove away as he left so quickly. I met the famous Zach at school and Naomi showed me off. I also ran into the ladies from yesterday that she teaches with. The kids in Zach's class were adorable as were all the other I saw at the school. Her class is on the third floor and her kids are busy first period every Monday. Dizzy complained about how tired she was and had not slept much. I wondered if maybe she was tired from our walking yesterday and she said it was the most exercise she had ever got ... the 61 year-old weygook did not feel it but the 25 year-old expat did :).

The kids showed up after first period. Are they little dollies or what? There are 12 in every class, except one was away so Naomi had 11 today. They were so cute. Sean is a handful and David, though not a problem for Dizzy, is a handful for the other teachers. They eagerly volunteered to assist with cake and milk being served and I took a number of delicious pictures. I stayed with Professor Dizzy and her students for about 20 minutes then departed.

I headed out of the school, hung a left, and flagged a cab to Iteawon to catch the hop-on-hop-off tour bus for the day. It was about 10:20 as I grabbed the cab and the traffic was still heavy. The streets are so wide, panoramic, and pristine. Seoul had the summer Olympics in 1988 and would have had to beautify the city for that, but it was 22 years ago. If it weren't for the signage, as mentioned before, I could be in anytown USA from the look of the city. The lines on the road are freshly painted. Well painted lines always remind me of driving the 417 back from Montreal at night and how hard it is to use the lines as an assist; they were last painted in 1201 :).

I went to the Hamilton Hotel for assistance in finding the stop for the tour bus. They told me to cross the street, which I did, and found what appeared to be the bus stop. After waiting for 20 minutes or so, a shopkeeper told me this tour does not run Mondays ... don't say anything on the web site :) to tell SW (stupid weygook).

I walked around Itaewon and saw many places advertising big sizes for big weygook, then cabbed it to Insadong. Before leaving I checked with a foreign exchange hut about cashing in my won but did not like the rate. I have been told the foreign exchange game is a racket all over Asia even at the banks (which I later confirmed by cashing in 840,000 won for 639 USD ... that cost me 33 USD for my mistake this morning).

I am trying to find a knock-off purse for ST who texted me saying she was listening to Levon Helm. I did not check with her to see if he asked about me. Levon fu____g Helm!! Beauty ... wish I were there. 6,200 won later I am in Insadon. The streets are narrow. The funkiness of a shopping area varies inversely as the width of their streets. The shops were lovely and I bought some small trinkets for Annabelle, Paddy, and Sean.

I went into an alley and sat down in a local restaurant. The advertised prices outside on the sandwich board were 5,000-7,000 won. When I sat down the weyook English menu was substituted for the Korean menu that was whisked away before I could detect the inflated prices for SW. I solit that joint, and settled for anothe ronec elsewhere. I ordered a mix of vegetables, lettuce, and squid which was lovely. The kimchi was spicy as I remembered it yesterday with Dizzy. The sides were all great and there was what seemed to be a slimy green leafy thing with a nice hot sauce still not sure what that was even though it tasted like and had the consistency of pasta.

I walked for about an hour after lunch, then strolled out of Insadon into another area of Seoul then grabbed a cab back to the hotel. After doing the foreign exchange at the bank, I returned to the room, packed, and did this post.

Dizzy and I have texted a number of times. I am thinking of walking down the street and seeing if I can find the busy NYC-like Fifth Avenue street I was on yesterday with Dizzerators. We will dine tonight probably with a few fellow teachers of hers from Canada.