February 18, 2009 -- Seoul

I woke up very early and took the subway to meet Sunrim near where she lives. She drove me to the Imjin River to see the border of North Korea and some war and peace memorials. We had a good time walking around together. It wasn't as cold plus Sunrim kindly gave me a pair of gloves to wear.

In the afternoon, I was on my own. I walked through a crowded shopping area and a street market. I bravely tried some of the street food, but nothing too adventurous. Then I walked through a large underground market to get to an area from which I knew I could walk to Insa-dong to see some antique stores (Sunrim had taken me there the day before, but I was too cold to really appreciate what was there). When I emerged from the market, however, I wasn't where I thought I would be and, in fact, had absolutely no idea where I was. I found an area map with "you are here" posted on it and tried to compare it to my larger map to figure out where I was in relation to where I was going. I was annoyed that I looked like a clueless tourist, which, of course, is exactly what I was. As it turned out, this was the best thing that could have happened because a woman stopped to help me.

Helena, a beautician who lived in Chicago for 12 years, remembered what it was like to land in the U.S. when she hardly spoke English and, therefore, wanted to help me. She is very sweet and full of energy. She was on her way to bring a cell phone to a friend who works at a cell phone store in order to have something adjusted before she headed home. I ended up walking her to the nearby store and she dropped the phone off with her friend and actually walked me to Insa-dong, which was about 25 minutes away. She then walked around explaining things to me and acting as my interpreter, just like Sunrim had. Afterwards, she led me through a cute area filled with restaurants (I think that I was also in that area with Sunrim) to a small clothing boutique where her friend, Jenny, works. They warmed me up with green tea and discussed alternate ways that I could get back to my B&B while we waited for the friend from the cell phone store to come and return Helena's phone to her. After her friend arrived and returned her phone, Helena helped me find a place to buy something small to bring back to my B&B for dinner and then showed me where I could catch either a bus or taxi before she finally left to catch her own bus home. Altogether we spent about three and a half fun hours together and we will try to meet for dinner when I return to Seoul on my way back. This is what makes travelling so great!