Eeeeey another post! No formalities today. Let's just skip to the post~
Today was my and Camilla's girls' day out! I honestly don't remember what Philip was doing that day but Cindy and Alex were still in Busan and John came home around dinnertime that day.
One of the things I had told myself that I had to do once I got to Seoul was to visit the You Are Here Cafe that the people behind TalkToMeInKorean and EatYourKimchi started - and so that was the first thing we had to do.
The You Are Here Cafe is located in the hostel area of Hongdae (홍대). Here's the address:
38 Donggyo-ro 25-gil, Donggyo-dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul.
(서울 마포구 동교동 동교로25길 38)
To get there we took the green subway line (Line 2), got off at Hongik University's exit 9 (we learned that it was easier to get out through exit 1), and from there on followed the video below to get there.
Trust me, it's as easy as it seems! Thank you Martina!
Outside the cafe~
And here's the entrance!
As your near the door you'll see a big drawing/painting featuring Spudgy (and Dr. Meemersworth?) on the wall to the left.
After having finished our drinks we went to check out the speaker's corner. 
Camilla standing outside~
Eeeeeeh it was super hard to get good pictures in that kind of light.
Inside speaker's corner was a mic, a 'keyboard', a camera, and a screen showing what you looked like while you were recording. On the wall hung little signs with ideas on what to talk about, how to record, and links! If you'd like to see some of the videos that have been recorded, go check out the Youtube channel HERE.
On the bottom lay paper beards, glasses, lips, and whatnot that you could play with while recording. We had a lot of fun with these.
When you're ready to record, simply type in your name and press the big yellow button.
Aaawh~
When we were done we went upstairs to an even larger room where you could sit and drink/eat while perhaps studying as well. Beside the toilets there was a big wall with notes and drawings from fans from all over the world.
After having spent about an hour at the cafe, we went back to what I'd like to believe to be the main street in Hongdae (홍대) to look around and shop a little. One of the stores we went into was an Etude House to look for something for Camilla and almost immediately after we walked out, two Korean girls stopped us. They had a 21-year-old friend from Denmark (that's a freaky coincidence right there!) and wanted to ask us what a nice present for her would be. After helping them we exchanged Kakaotalks and took pictures together on the bench outside the store.
This picture here was like: "Look cute but weird!"
It seemed like the whole thing was recorded for afreecaTV (a Korean video streaming service).
It wasn't just guys dancing! Nah-uh. These girls did a cover of EXID's Ah Yeah.
Once again I didn't write anything down from that day and I have no pictures of us eating so I really can't remember what we did for dinner that day. What I do have, however, is this picture of a kimbap (김밥) that I snacked on. It was so good! I miss these so bad!
Today was my and Camilla's girls' day out! I honestly don't remember what Philip was doing that day but Cindy and Alex were still in Busan and John came home around dinnertime that day.
One of the things I had told myself that I had to do once I got to Seoul was to visit the You Are Here Cafe that the people behind TalkToMeInKorean and EatYourKimchi started - and so that was the first thing we had to do.
The You Are Here Cafe is located in the hostel area of Hongdae (홍대). Here's the address:
38 Donggyo-ro 25-gil, Donggyo-dong, Mapo-Gu, Seoul.
(서울 마포구 동교동 동교로25길 38)
To get there we took the green subway line (Line 2), got off at Hongik University's exit 9 (we learned that it was easier to get out through exit 1), and from there on followed the video below to get there.
Trust me, it's as easy as it seems! Thank you Martina!
Outside the cafe~
Once you're inside you'll have the speaker's corner to the left (I'll talk about that later), a staircase ahead of you, and the 'lounge' where you can sit an enjoy foods or drinks that you have bought from the counter.
On the shelves you'll see language teaching books and merchandise. There are cute stickers all over the place and I just really like how they designed the place. It's super cute yet stylish!
There weren't many costumers when we got there so we sat down across the counter, right beside a window so we could look out as well. Here are the drinks we bought: I forgot what exactly Camilla ordered but it looks like something with caramel, right? I had a nutella (yes, nutella!) milkshake that I'm pretty sure I heard Simon (from EYK) talk about in one of their videos - and I tell you, this is one of the best milkshakes I've had in my life!
Inside speaker's corner was a mic, a 'keyboard', a camera, and a screen showing what you looked like while you were recording. On the wall hung little signs with ideas on what to talk about, how to record, and links! If you'd like to see some of the videos that have been recorded, go check out the Youtube channel HERE.
After having spent about an hour at the cafe, we went back to what I'd like to believe to be the main street in Hongdae (홍대) to look around and shop a little. One of the stores we went into was an Etude House to look for something for Camilla and almost immediately after we walked out, two Korean girls stopped us. They had a 21-year-old friend from Denmark (that's a freaky coincidence right there!) and wanted to ask us what a nice present for her would be. After helping them we exchanged Kakaotalks and took pictures together on the bench outside the store.
Camilla and I also got to watch some of the dancers perform. There were so many people but somehow we managed to find a place to sit down on the front row.
Once again I didn't write anything down from that day and I have no pictures of us eating so I really can't remember what we did for dinner that day. What I do have, however, is this picture of a kimbap (김밥) that I snacked on. It was so good! I miss these so bad!
The guys at the hostel really wanted to go drinking with us and some days ago, Jinbo and Bangjoo had asked us and the Spanish girls if we'd like to go to Itaewon (이태원) with them one night. And that night was tonight!
When the guys had ended their shifts, all of us except for Camilla (her stomach was hurting her again) met up downstairs. 'All of us' including Philip, John, and even David/Gunwoo! The guys had called taxis that we all split into and it was only like 10000₩ (around 8-10 USD at that time) but Jinbo, who was in the same car as I, wouldn't let us pay our share.
Sena, the Swedish girl, was also with us but as we were trying to get into the first club, she realized that she had forgotten her ID at home. Somehow the Jinbo got hold of a fake ID but the girl on the picture didn't resemble Sena enough and she was denied entrance. Now, unable to get in, Sena just wanted to return to her apartment in Hongdae (홍대) so Jinbo, Bangjoo and I helped her through the mass of people and into a taxi.
On our way back to the club (and I swear it was just a couple of meters), a group of Koreans passed by us and one of them grabbed my arm(!!). It was super quick and neither a hard nor soft grip but I was just so confused. The group, including the guy, kept walking and the guy sent a strange smiling/probably drunk smile in my direction while I must have looked like a huge question mark. I looked to Jinbo in confusion as well and he mouthed a "what the F" before we went back inside.
I don't recall having to pay an entrance fee (I could be wrong, though) but I do remember that we got a little slip for a free drink upon entrance. A discount that John and I redeemed together before jumping into the ocean of people.
Now 'an ocean of people' might sound like an exaggeration to you, correct? It's not! There were SOOOO many people! I swear you could barely move!
The place wasn't really that big to begin with but we were probably between 100-150 people inside anyways. Wanting to dance we went to the dance floor but instead of dancing we ended up standing chest-to-back shoulder-to-shoulder with each other and all the other people. A bunch of middle eastern-looking men were surrounding this tall redhead, who was sloppily kissing one of them while the rest were grinding on her. An Indian guy/man/older than me male asked me for a dance but that never happened because 1) we were all quite literally STUCK in the spot we were standing and 2) we were pretty much already on our way out.
The next club we went to was much nicer in the way that we were actually able to move around. We couldn't move that much though but we at least we weren't stuck in one spot like before. This place was also different in the way that there was the dance floor and then surrounding that were tables and seating spots. People paid to have these tables and if you stepped unto the platform, they wouldn't hesitate to ask you to back up a little. Again, wanting to dance we went to the dance floor but were stuck in the area beside two of these tables. An obviously drunk man, a Korean around his 40's maybe, sitting around one of the tables we were dancing near grabbed Philip, had him sit down beside himself and poured him several drinks while the rest of us were 'allowed' to step up and dance near the table. A bunch of young Korean soldiers on weekend leave were sitting around the other table near us. One of them struck up a conversation with me and I, too, got a few drinks (of course I made sure to watch him pour it from the bottle to make sure that nothing sketchy was going to happen) and a new person to dance with. Bangjoo saw us getting drinks from the others and bent down to me (because the music was so loud that you could barely hear a thing) and told us that we shouldn't accept drinks from others (not that he suspected anything though).
NOW HERE COMES THE COCKY KOREAN GUY ATTITUDE THAT YOU MIGHT HAVE HEARD OF
Because the guy saw Bangjoo 'warning' us and said that he didn't like the way that he had whispered into my ear. Wat? Now, I'm not saying that he was a bad guy. The attitude was just so very different from what I'm used to. He actually seemed like a nice guy. When we wanted to leave, we stood outside for some time waiting for the Spanish girls' having a dramatic moment. The guy's group was leaving as well and he came over, as you'd expect from a k-drama, grabbed my hand, and said he really wanted to see me again before we went back to our respective countries.
THE THIRD and last place we went to was even less crowded and you could pretty much dance wherever you wanted to. Amazing, right!? Upon entrance us girls were handed little tickets for a free drink. And the guys? Nothing. Well at least not before Jinbo and Bangjoo went up to ask for some for Philip and John (and I'm pretty sure they got a ticket each after that).
This place had a kind of scene that we jumped unto a began dancing on. Now this was fun! Philip, John, one of the Spanish girls, and I were having a great time dancing up there while a bunch of Indian, Middle-eastern, and few Koreans were watching us. It was a bit weird dancing and having them standing maybe half a meter away, looking up to you and watching like that.
Depending on where you are in Seoul, the subways will stop around midnight and not start again before 4am (or so). As we were standing there, waiting for Jinbo and Bangjoo to try to get a taxi (which is impossible at that time btw. Don't even try) we saw a guy/man run after a taxi, his back covered in large blood stains .___.
Now the only thing we could do was to go into a convenience store to wait and get something to eat. John had had too much to drink so I spent the time there making sure that he'd drink enough water and get something to eat before we could take a subway back home.
No comments:
Post a Comment