Exploring New Neighborhoods

I realize it’s been several weeks since my last post and I have a few catch up blogs to write; but before I begin those let me first share with you how I spent this past weekend.
In the past few weeks the weather has been getting nicer and Alison and I have talked about exploring our surrounding neighborhood. Well it wasn’t till this weekend that we finally began our adventure of exploring Gangnam. We had a feeling that COEX mall was fairly close to us but still wasn’t exactly sure where in vicinity to us it was located. Come to find out it’s a straight walk down this main boulevard. We walked nearly an hour before arriving but stumbled upon several unseen things before. After finally arriving to the mall we strolled around for a bit and then decided to venture back outside because it was much nicer outside then inside. Looking at the map I knew we weren’t far from the Hangang River. The weekend before Alison and I walked from our apartment to the river and really enjoyed the walking path it has a long side of it. Since the weather was perfect I suggested we walk along the river. Upon arriving to the river I noticed the Olympic Stadium as well as the Baseball stadium just across the other side. Excited about what we stumbled upon we ventured across the river to explore a new area.
For quite some time we both have talked about attending a baseball game but wasn’t sure where it was located or all the details about the game. Fortunately for us, the day before I was speaking to another teacher, Colleen, who has attended a few games, and she told me the details on the games; when the games start, where the stadium was located and roughly how much the tickets cost. As Alison and I walked across the bridge I shared with her all the information Colleen shared with me and suggested we try and get tickets. I told her the games usually start at five and she told me it was four thirty so we are just in time. Upon arriving to the stadium and unsure where to get tickets I walked up to the first foreigner I saw and asked them if they knew where the ticket office was. Luckily they did, so we tagged along with them and bought ourselves 8,000 Won field tickets. All of us picked up a few beers and then found ourselves some nice field side seats. I have to say for 8,000 Won our tickets were pretty good. Apparently they don’t do assign seating nor do they have nose bleed seats in the outfield so we were about seven rows up right behind left or right field. I’m not really sure how that works, is it from the perspective of the hitter that makes it left or right field? Either way the seats were great; our new friends were tons of fun and we are pumped to see another game soon, especially since it was so easy. I can’t tell you who won because we left after the 7 inning but when we left the home teem was loosing so it wasn’t looking good, plus the sun had gone down and we were getting cold.
On our venture home we stopped by Pizza School to pick up a 5,000 Won cheese pizza (that’s about $4.50) to enjoy at home. We kept hearing about Pizza School from other foreigners but it wasn’t till our walk to COEX mall that we finally stumbled upon one so we decided earlier in the day that on our walk home we would pick one up for dinner, and that is exactly what we did. It was cheep, cheerful and good.
To conclude my weekend, Sunday, I hung out with a new friend, Lindsey, whom I meet on a weekend hiking trip a few weeks back. (I will blog about that soon, promise.) Continuing on the weekend theme of venturing out to new parts I decided to head over to her neighborhood. She lives near Seokchon Lake and Lotte Word an amusement park. Upon walking up the stairs from the subway I was amazed at how calm and quite the streets were. Gangnam is load, busy and at times stressful but when I arrived in Seokchon I felt a sense of relief. Lindsey met me at the subway stop and she took me to her favorite Pho place which was absolutely delicious and exactly what I have been craving for quite some time. I miss eating it at home with my friend Natalie so it’s great to know that Lindsey loves it just as much. After our bowl of Pho and a beer we walked around Seokchon Lake. The path around the lake is beautifully covered with pink, purple, and white flowers. Lindsey said a few weeks ago all the cherry blossom trees were in bloom and at night it was as if they glowed, this would have been amazing to see but sadly the cherry blossoms only last for about two weeks. Any how the path was beautiful and the lake actually surrounds Lotte World which is a small Disney like amusement park. Someday I’m sure a bunch of us will go but it was fun to walk around it and see everyone so happy and enjoying themselves inside. The lake isn’t that big so before I realized we were back to the beginning and decided to just head home.
As low key as this weekend was I feel 100% more rejuvenated from all the vitamin D I absorbed plus it just feels great to have a better grasp of where things are in this massive city. I honestly feel a bit more settled and although I’m still somewhat a tourist I feel as though I’m making headway to becoming a local.
(Sorry to say I didn’t have my camera on me this weekend so no pictures, maybe next time.)