I have had trouble with my ipad in Korea, so I haven't been able to have easy internet access yet. I have to go to an internet cafe, called a "PC bang" here. In order to save money, I will be publishing already written journal entries all at one time. So here comes a chunk of my first week experiences.
Sunday - San Francisco was every bit as bustling as I remembered it to be. Throngs of people bubbled around the windows of chich stores around union square, bumping into each other and struggling to carry bulging shopping bags. It's a melee there. I dealt with it to look for a rain jacket that I didn't wind up buying. It's still monsoon season in Korea. Street cars strained their way up Geary Street. I find the street cars much nicer than the BART, the commuter rail network, which receives a big thumbs down from me. The tall buildings of San Francisco, though, I like. They are tall, slender, and well-kept, crowded up against each other, like they know that the next big quake is coming.
I got an espresso sitting on Union Square with a view of the shopping commotion. Then, away from the frenzy, I found a really tasty cafe. They had burgers and fries that were "world famous," and I believe it based on the volume of delivery they seemed to do. They also had an assortment of Mexican and East Asian fare. The trend is to fuse Mexican and East Asian cuisines. Done right, the result is quite appetizing. I would up having a Hawaiian burrito. Thumbs up to that.
The afternoon I spent back down San Francisco Bay, circulating spiraling walking trails along the water. The tide was out, exposing mud. The area really wasn't that picturesque. It's overbuilt with hotels and office buildings that seemed like a great idea at the time, I'm sure. But at least the trails in Burlingame offer refreshing, salty air in the middle of a hot summer.
Wednesday morning - I'm here! Arrived by bullet train last night. Alex met me and we took a cab to my university and my temporary housing. How temporary remains to be seen.
Jayang-dong is our neighborhood. It's up-and-coming but safe, kind of studenty, kind of commercial. It reminds me of Lake Street in Minneapolis with lots of store fronts lining the main boulevard.
I'd write more but there's shopping to be done, coffee to be drunk, and my new place of employment to tour. I don't have internet or a cell yet, so email and blog comments are preferable for now.
