Saturday: I messaged Connie and asked her whether she wanted to grab lunch in Seoul, so we headed to Noksapyeong, grabbed a churro, and walked into a nail bar for the kind of girly day I had only ever fantasised about having. I never did anything like that with friends back home, but that’s therapy I don’t have time for; basically I spent too much time wanting to be that person, and put no effort into actually making that happen. Although it took me thirty minutes to decide what I wanted – I’m not kidding – I opted for two Totoro’s on my thumbs with a single colour on the rest, which cost 35,000 won. I wanted all of them doing in various My Neighbour Totoro designs but it bumped the price up a bit, so maybe next time once I’m mentally prepared. Let me tell you, my nails have never looked so good. It was amazing because I showed the nail artist a blurry picture on my phone of what I wanted, and even though I’m pretty sure she didn’t even know what a Totoro was, she painted it expertly. It’s opening my eyes to the possibilities! Connie got hers decorated in the style of the Iranian flag for 25,000 won in support of the Iran versus Argentina game that Reza was watching later that night, and they turned out awesome, too. Happy, we strolled into Itaewon and had lunch at a Mexican restaurant called On The Border. Although expensive, we expected it: we were in Itaewon and it wasn’t Korean food. We ordered double-stacked quesadillas to share, a citrus blast cocktail bowl, and I switched to a maragarita – my first ever! – for my second drink. We even managed to move to a balcony table once a spot opened up.
Then, because Connie was missing her cats, we headed into Hongdae to visit a cat café. It was nowhere near as nice as the one at Myeong-dong; in fact it was depressing. Connie was going around checking all the cats and saying they were sick. Needless to say, we were outta there pretty quick. We tried to find the stall that served roadside cocktails but couldn’t, and we had to meet Reza anyways, so we ended up in a coffee shop for a bit whilst the heavens opened. Honestly, Korea has been monsooning lately. He was going out with his friends to watch the football, so we headed back to Hanam. We even made our own cocktail at the 7/11 for the journey – soju and flavoured iced tea.
By this point it was 9pm, and though Alison was in contact with us saying there might be plans in Hanam that night, nothing came of it, so we wandered into e-mart for supplies – the pizza part was closed sadly! – and came out with frozen pizza to cook ourselves, more soju, and a mango smoothie to mix with it. God, that pizza was something. Let’s just say it didn’t quite hit the spot, particularly when you’re wanting proper takeout food and are absolutely starving. We just hung out at Connie’s and watched Secondhand Lions at her suggestion and ate chocolate digestives.
Tuesday: I’m about ready for this week to be over. I don’t know what it is; I just feel tired. It’s not like I have plans for the weekend, but I guess I’m having one of those weeks. Anyway, I met with Connie, and her laptop’s broken so we headed to Apgujeong, the posh area, to get it fixed. Turns out the price of repair costs about as much as a new laptop so she’s just going to do that. Then we went to an Indian restaurant called Namaste which was, you know, alright – it wasn’t Korean food, which was the point. Apgujeong Rodeo Street is so posh the cinema has valets, and there are more plastic surgery clinics than there are people, and they sell actual salads in the stores. What a wonder. I saw a young woman in sunglasses holding a cigarette out the window of her expensive car, living the life I want.
Jade in South Korea 