The Wayward Waygook

So I’m actually going to stay in Seoul. I hear you thinking “You’re so indecisive!”, “thanks for worrying me like that” etc. Well let me tell you something: I am the most indecisive person I’ve ever met, especially when faced with a serious, life-altering decision like this. Perfect example- I walk into Baskin Robbins in Seoul, and they have 20+ flavors and are about to close. It’s clutch time; the final countdown. What do I do? I stand there for 5 minutes deciding whether or not I should risk trying their seasonal smash “popping summer shower pop” flavor. I’m not kidding. I have no idea what that even means on so many levels. Let’s unpack this ice cream flavor. Ignoring the poppings for a minute, what does a summer shower even taste like? An herbal essence commercial with a kick? Str8 up shampoo? What, tell me, what is it?! Will it cause my breath to smell like a rainy summer day? That actually sounds amazing, but I digress. 

Essentially what we can deduce from my constant suffering of indecisiveness, is that I shouldn’t be in charge of making decisions. I take forever, and once I finally land on the right one I end up screwing things up for myself. Case in point? I decided to vacation in Thailand for 2 weeks before I start my new job. I already bought the ticket- why not? Oh, but I came to the airport without any cash on me whatsoever. Total mistake, and it isn’t like I didn’t have time- my flight was delayed in Seoul for an hour and a half. I didn’t think much of it because I assumed I could withdraw cash in Thailand. I laugh at my own naivety.  Big mistake! I forgot to alert my bank that I would be out of country, which eliminates the use of my debit card. For some reason my credit card doesn’t work occasionally, which also eliminates that possibility. Because my flight was delayed, I missed the last free shuttle from the airport I landed at, to the airport I need to get to for my next flight. The first shuttle leaves at 5am, takes an hour to get to the other airport, and my flight leaves there at 645am. My life is a joke. It isn’t like I didn’t have every opportunity to get cash out in Seoul, but I decided to make things difficult for myself. I also didn’t put a new month worth of data on my phone before I left- rendering me incapable of making a call to my bank. 

This one is on me for the most part. Except for the flight delay, in which case fate is completely to blame. I take no responsibility for the fact that I’m sitting outside an airport at 2am waiting for a shuttle that won’t come until 5. With airport workers next to me, who don’t speak English, who definitely think I am some kind of prostitute. I do recognize that it may be my fault that I don’t have cash. Lesson learned. It’s funny because at once I cant believe this is my life, and I am not surprised that something like this happened to me. FML. 

Despite this little hiccup, I am happy. I have a new job and apartment waiting for me when I return to Seoul. They are centrally located rather than out in the boonies of Seoul. My new boss appears to be a sane individual and my coworkers seem friendly and welcoming- which are all very welcomed changes. 

It was an emotional roller coaster of a day though-getting to this happy place. I woke up this morning stressing about leaving my apartment- I still have a feeling that I’m going to be charged for any and everything they might find. Then I had my first and last real encounter with stoop ajumma. Omg the stoop ajumma. She’s an old, 90ish year old Korean lady of very few words (by that I mean none). She always wears purple, and always has her crisp, white hair permed. She has deep set wrinkles on her caramel skin, and she always has a quizzical look in her eye. Our first encounter I’m 100% positive that she thought I was a prostitute. For the simple reason that there are only 3 other foreigners living in my area. Every day, she would watch me come and go from my apartment building. Always carefully watching- “what’s she up to now?” “Where’s she going?” “Definitely can’t trust her!” At first I thought her staring was very abrasive and so I just started to staring back at her. This has been our form of communication 2x a day, every day for 4 months. 

Over time I was able to convince her I wasn’t a prostitute, but it took a lot of convincing stares. Then my boyfriend-I’ll call him Paul Rudd- came and she definitely believed me. She saw us leaving this morning and started walking towards me. My heart sank because I wasn’t sure how this would work. Our relationship had just been staring at eachother from across the street, and now I’m leaving. “What words of wisdom would she share, finally?!” My heft raced as she came closer. She gave me one of the most sincere, and adorable smiles I’ve ever seen without any teeth. She raised her arms as if to hug me, so I stopped. She got closer, drew her arms to her sides and walked past me without a word. And just like that, she was gone. As mysteriously as she had arrived she left. I’ll never forget her, and the way she looked sitting on various stoop corners.

Paul Rudd and I had the most amazing 2 weeks together. We laughed, joked, traveled all around seoul, literally ate our way through the city, watched Netflix in my tiny bed and I got to wake up and fall asleep to his darth vedar mask. Oh the struggles of sleep apnea- I don’t even have it and I know that it sucks! Those were the best 2 weeks of my life, and I would trade anything just to have those 2 weeks with him last forever. I had the most amazing time with him, just Paul Rudd and me. He’s the best person I know, and it makes me so sad that I can’t see him every day. I feel like I’m home when I’m with him- it doesn’t matter where I am in the world. I feel like the princess of Lichtenstein here! He not only flew around the world to see me, but he’s such a great guy that I truly hit the jackpot. I’m really taking a gamble here with this new job. It could very well end up like the one I just left. In which case, I wouldn’t be upset at all. I would have tried making it work here, and if it still doesn’t work out I’ll happily return back the states and be with him. It’s truly a win-win situation here, and it seems like the odds are in my favor. For now, I’m just going to continue sitting outside the airport in Thailand- with no money, no way to access my money, and no data/service on my cellphone to fix this mess. 

XoXo