Footing Around Unseo, Incheon

Previously, on Lily Internationally, I was in Incheon wandering around preparing to go to Japan. The part of Incheon that I was in is another island, cut off from the rest of Incheon, but connected through this very long bridge - the longest that I have ever seen. It was Unseo. I had taken the express bus from Cheongju to Incheon International Airport, and then took the airport railway to Unseo, and taken a taxi to the hostel.

The hostel was someone's house with extra rooms, and I bought a bunk for about 28,000won. It was the Lazy Bird Hostel. After paying and settling in, I checked messages then decided it was time to go out and wander around. The owner told me to walk a straight line towards the west, and I did, and so hit downtown. There aren't a lot of people out, mainly because it was early Sunday and most people would still be resting in bed. I got myself some food, and walked down kind of a back alleyway.

There was a massage place, and I decided to go inside. There was only one person there, and she was a Chinese lady. The only way I could tell was because the music she was listening to contained Mandarin. I ordered a foot massage, and for forty minutes, she shiatsu'ed my feet, calves and thighs and it was heavenly. The walls had purple wallpaper and giant pink sakura flowers. The pad I was lying on was pretty comfortable.

When I walked back out into the sunlight, I was much more comfortable, but also 40,000won poorer. I wandered for several more blocks, went in and out of the LotteMart, took in the urban landscape. After I came out of Paris Baguette from buying some food I was going to eat back at the hostel, a conversation started between myself and an American man who was teaching in China, but came over to Incheon to take some time off and wait for his visa to be renewed. He said his name is Dennis. We sat in a coffee shop and talked for a good while.

Because he had always just come to Incheon but never to other parts of the country, I decided that I would quickly show him Seoul Station through the airport railway. We bought him a ticket and rode to Seoul Station, sharing various life stories and whatnot. He told me about his former wife, his three sons, and the girlfriend of one of his sons. I shared specifically how lost I am in life, but how content it is to be this lost.

When we arrived at Seoul Station, we looked around briefly. I bought a new pair of pants - mainly because I was cold. He didn't have more time to explore, so we went back onto the airport railway and went home. But we got off at the airport instead of at Unseo, so we had to cab it back to Unseo. The taxi driver was an old man with a bad attitude who ripped us off of 800won. It's nothing, but I didn't see why he had to do that. I took another taxi back to the hostel I was staying at.

Before going to bed, my roommate and I started talking. He is also a teacher, but he's teaching English in Indonesia, and he may have been from the Philippines. His name is Mariano. He has a real passion for teaching, and over time has started to learn the dialect that his students speak. He's staying in this hostel because he's on vacation and is going to visit a handful of friends who are all in Korea, in different cities around the peninsula.

The day ended, and I fell asleep almost immediately to prepare for the next day.

A Scented Relaxing 26th

It was an amazing weekend, thanks to two girl friends. Happy Birthday to me! It was the first and probably only birthday I'm going to spend in South Korea.

I spent Saturday helping a friend shop in Yongsan for some 18mm photography lenses. I don't know enough about photography to know the difference, but it was pleasant walking around in a brightly lit mall making fun of soldiers and types of people. We ate Korean hotpot at a restaurant, and then had some coffee at Dunkin Donuts. I love hotpot. I love noodles. I love sweet things, and even though I can't cook, I love food in general.

Then we three girls had a sleepover. We spoke about all sorts of things, as women do when we get together. All of us have pets, and even though they have dogs and I have a cat, it feels similar to come home to and love a creature. Even if my creature is passed out on the wood floor (so cute!) after giving me an ultimatum about being away for Two Whole Days and leaving him alone to the silence. He hid one cap of one of my contacts lens cases as suitable punishment. My friend's two dogs are adorable, very full of personality, creating an enjoyable background while we talked about work, life and ourselves, and love.

We woke up the next day around noon. Sundays are made for waking up at noon. Because her windows took up the wall, the light streamed in to tell us that it's daylight. We dressed, deciding to go to the massage place to delay the appointment for an hour so we can eat. There hung a sign that said that they'll be back at 4, so we went to brunch anyway at this nice place named the Moru. I had strawberry pancakes, which was delicious, paired with refreshing peppermint tea. My friends had banana pancake and a dish that had fries and a salad.

When we walked outside, a lady in a businesslike navy blue dress was waiting for us. She introduced herself as I-Sohn, and led us to the Mannam volunteer organization's cafe in Dunsan-dong, very near where my friend from Saturday lives. I hissed at one of my friends about the way this lady was just waiting for us outside of Moru. We made small talk as we walked, threading underground through the stairs and hallways of Daejeon Station and coming out onto a too-familiar street. When we got to the offices, we said hello to some of the other organization's members who were just leaving.

After that randomness, we went back to the massage place, and they were ready for us. We each changed into pajamas after drinking some tea, and they gave us oiled foot baths. Then we laid down on these thick mats, and they covered our eyes and went to work on our muscles. I was tense in my hips, pelvis, buttocks, shoulders and neck, much more so than my backbone itself, which was surprising. The masseuse was a Korean lady smaller than even me, but she used her body weight to apply deep pressure to all of my joints. Soft new age music was playing the entire time, in a nice softly lit room with wood relief carvings and pillows. One of my friends had a male masseuse, so that resulted in silent hilarity worthy of an episode of Sex and the City.

None of us wanted to leave when it was over. All of our necks were rubbed with peppermint oil, and we were so relaxed and sleepy. We laid there, speaking of happy nothings until a woman came in to gently tell us to leave, so we changed back, sat in the lobby with our well being tea, and then left. She was in long mid bow when the elevator doors closed. The weather was still perfect when we walked outside - just windy enough, the sun still just high enough, and beautifully airily warm.

We went to a coffee shop to have tea and cake to close our relaxing time. I couldn't have asked for a better birthday weekend. The company was great, the food was delicious, the massages were relaxing. Thank you, girls, for an awesome 26th birthday!