I arrived in Korea early on Thursday morning, flip flops on and laptop off (minutes later, I figured out that I had probably left it at Immigration, which I had ... and it was returned to me within an hour and a half.)
Since then, I've visited my grandpa in the hospital, where he's recovering nicely from spine surgery he had two weeks back. I've eaten my FAVORITE ice cream - it is red bean ice cream, inside a mochi which is made of a Korean green plant whose English name I don't know ... encased in a waffly outside. Despite having forgotten that it existed, I really missed it.
Today I visited my cousin Sehyo at her work at the hospital - she was wearing a lab coat and her life is not very much like Grey's Anatomy, although she is certainly enjoying it. And then I met up with Jaime Oberlander at a Starbucks in Shinchon for coffee and speed-reminiscing/catching up. And then my other cousin, Hansu, in Shinsa-dong. I made him wait while I spent the equivalent of $160 on stolen clothes. I totally scored some Yves Saint Laurent and Mayle. Um, this is the stuff my dreams are made of! I might go back tomorrow morning...
Finally Hansu and I sat down and had our usual heart to heart about life, dreams, and guilt as the hookah smoke coalesced around us. I totally can't believe that I'm older now than he was when we last saw each other, when I was here after college. Now I'm back at my uncle's house in Banpo, after having gotten utterly confused about how to get in without disturbing anyone (there is no way).
Oh, and I bought the wrong size of white Cons (which I needed because I didn't have anything other than the flip flops). So if anyone wears size 6.5 and wants some nearly pristine white lo-tops, let me know.
And perhaps most tellingly, I took an ONLINE QUIZ last night. Here are the
results. I have already made a lot of it, believe me...
