Rush Hour Ramen

Good evening, dear friends of sophisticated entertainment, glad that you tuned in to today's episode!

This morning the sun was shining so beautifully that I decided to walk to school. It only took 20 minutes and I saw about a dozen Mijad shops that looked like they would serve delicious food.

After school — today with vocabulary related to the weather — we walked back, put things down quickly and snacked on leftovers from the fridge, and then took the subway into the center.

Near the 경복궁 (Gjong-bok-gung Palace) there was a street with lots of little shops that I had seen on YouTube and wanted to check out. On the way I bought myself a fresh mango juice - super delicious!

And so I strolled a little through the streets to the left and right of the palace and took everything in. (And no, I'm not a philistine, I was in the palace the first time I was in Korea!)

There are so many tourists here that you can hear all languages, along with sappy, languishing ballads on one side of the street and cloying pop songs blaring from the loudspeakers in front of the shops on the other side of the street.

It smells of pastries and fried food and perfumed people, and you see people of all shapes and sizes, from students in school uniforms or sweatpants to people in suits and couples in couple outfits to tourists walking around in pastel-colored polyester hanboks (traditional Korean clothing, non-traditional material, editor's note) and matching Crocs.

But just a few streets away, while looking for a jewelry store that I really wanted to visit again, an unexpected gem was hidden: a huge area with flowerbeds, a small rapeseed field, trees and lots of traditional lanterns. What a contrast to the steel-concrete-glass giants all around!

From there I went to the next subway station because I wanted to cancel one of my tickets at the main station. (Background: I won't be making the trip to Gwangju.) Unfortunately I hadn't paid attention to the time. A mistake that you definitely shouldn't make if you're out and about in Seoul in the late afternoon.

Between 5:30 and 7 p.m., pretty much EVERYONE finishes work, and then a flood of people descends on all forms of transport, making the comparison with a sardine can seem like a very spacious possibility. So there I was, standing in the subway, half under person A's armpit, my face in person B's neck, person C's backpack in the back of my knees.

And when I realized that I had gotten on the wrong train, I had to come up with a backup plan. So I got off at the next stop, had a quick look on Naver Maps to see what there was to eat in the area, and set off.

The path led me through very dubious alleys into a side street where there was a small ramen shop in the basement of a house. There I ate possibly the best ramen of my life.

With a full stomach, I got on a completely empty train at 7:30 p.m. and made my way home. Another adventure awaited me there: the puzzle game "How to use the washing machine in Korean."

Since you had so much fun last time, here's something for you to guess: What does the dryer setting 찌든 때 (불림) (Dschi-dünn de pul-lim) mean?

A) When I'm chubby (call)

B) When I'm tired (call)

C) Jiyeon, can you please tell us what it really means, my translator is spitting out nonsense! 😭