Wednesday: Day one - lost in SaRim Dong (사림동)

Me in front of Geoffrey's apartment (on top floor)

My lunch of oyster soup and side dishes

In unison, they greeted me with 안녕하세요?

I woke up a little after 8:00, and after a cup of coffee started to feel good. I seem to have beaten jet lag. I had half a turkey sandwich left over from the airport in Detroit and a container of yogert for breakfast, and I read the mail and New York Times on Geoffrey's computer. A little before 12:00 I went out for lunch, forgetting my bag with the phone and medical stuff. Geoffrey left me ₩50,000 (Won or KRW, in this case $44.81)) in case my card didn't work in the ATM so lunch was the priority. I walked up the hill to Yongji-Ro, the main street that passes the park and Art Institute, and found a place with 굴국밥 (oyster soup and rice with bean sprouts, seaweed [Kelp?] and a raw egg which cooked in the broth when put in); it came with the usual side dishes (see picture). I then went to the park, and walked around, watched a school group (see picture), and did some taichi. After a full round and postures for the camera my knees started to bother me, so I quit. I went to the ATM at the bottom of the hill but it wouldn't accept my VISA card (it accepted my CUCard later). I walked around and sat in a gazebo along a stream with a couple students and some middle aged women. In the old days that stream would have been crowded with middle aged women washing clothes on the rocks.

When I went back to the house I couldn't find it. I walked up and down the hills checking each street. It was good exercise but by four o'clock I was getting frustrated, and by 5:00 I was getting worried about my blood sugar, what with all the exercise. I went to the Art Museum across the street a little before they closed and the young woman at the desk tried to call. She couldn't read the number and I read it to her. She said the number was not in service but I think she miss dialed (probably confused 일 and 칠 but I didn't think of this then). I waited for some time at the top of the hill, thinking that is how he would come home. I ended up taking a taxi downtown, at which point I was feeling weak and so I found a convenience store and got a bottle of water and a Snickers bar just in case I needed it (I didn't). I then went to a Mr. Pizza and ordered a small pizza, and called Geoffrey on the store phone. I was suprised to see him pull up just as I started eating. I had eaten half, and he had the other half driving home, his first pizza since getting here.He was busy when I called from Mr. Pizza but when I explained what happened he allowed that all the houses look alike (or rather there are several on each street that look like this one).

We came back to his place. I must have passed it a dozen times (really!). After going up to his place for a while, we went down stairs (funny stairs outdoors, very narrow, steep,  and not all the same height) to meet his landlords and stayed about half an hour. They were watching Christian television and asked if I had been a missionary when here before, and I told them I had been in Peace Corps. I told them about Geoffrey's aunt who was a missionary, and Geoffrey's mother who was a college student. Knowing about Geoffrey's family allows them to put him in context, important in this still very Confucian society. It was an interesting but tiring day. My calves are tired and knees weak, but all in all I feel good.