Well, I’d intended to write a couple posts over the course of our time in Korea, but we stayed so busy, it looks like it’s just a retrospective. But that should help tell you how great a time we had!
Our very first night we got in touch with my friend here and his wife; we hadn’t really been planning to do anything, but they were about to go out to dinner right when we were getting settled, so they called us a taxi and we all got some Korean barbecue together.
For a little bit of context, part of why this was so fun was that I’ve known Cameron for almost 20 years now, but this was the first time we’d met in person! We met online when we were both teenagers, but lived on opposite sides of the States. It was so crazy to finally meet in South Korea of all places!
We hung out with them all night, then slept in late the next day and just checked out the neighborhood.
After that, we spent a day going into Seoul, seeing crowded markets and eating some delicious tteok-bokki and bulgogi rice.
The next day, we were right back to the same place for my friend’s concert! He was performing with some other local artists. It was really fun getting to hear some of the really indie sounds in the area, and they were all really good.
Then yesterday we hung out playing board games all day. There’s an English board game cafe a 10 minute walk from our airbnb, and it turns out our friends are really tight with the owner. So much so that after playing there for a couple hours, the owner actually invited us all back to his house so we could play board games there while he kept an eye on his baby!
We didn’t get back home until like 10; I think we played like six different board games. One of the guys there is actually boardgame influencer, and gave us recommendations on what games to look out for in Japan.
Then today we’re just relaxing, doing laundry, and prepping to go back to Japan. We had brunch at a cute little place nearby, we got some gifts for friends back in Japan (souvenirs, called omiyage, are serious business in Japanese culture), and now here I am writing this!
We get in late enough tomorrow that we may spend the night in Sapporo before heading to Hakodate the next morning; we’ll see how long customs takes. But we had a great time in Korea, and I’m sure we’ll be back to visit before too long!