I'm a Sports Superstar

Er... not... but I sure had a great time playing ultimate tonight. I have not run like that in ages, and it felt great. I was definitely a little rusty and certainly made some mistakes, but I also managed to catch and throw several passes and play some decent defense. The game is just so exciting and fast-paced and some of these people, in my humble opinion, have wicked skills. I certainly plan to make this a weekly thing, if for no other reason than the exercise, and I hope I will improve. I am pretty sure that I flare my nostrils when concentrating on catching the frisbee. I am also pretty sure that this is quite charming.

I had a lovely time in Seoul today. It does take quite a while to get there, but it's manageable. I went armed with nothing but a metro map and my phrase book, and I did okay. I found my way to Seoul Station (which seemed like a logically central place from which to start) and just walked around. I found the ancient southern gate of the city, which is actually the oldest city gate in Korea (built originally in the 1300's, I believe).

I also found Nam Dae Mun Market, which is huge and crazy and full of enough faux designer bags to satisfy an army of sorostitutes. I bought some nail polish (after this post I will be painting my nails bright white. Look out, world!) and practiced my haggling while purchasing the very cutest umbrella. Sadly, my haggling inexperience showed itself all too quickly, as the man asked for 10,000 won, and I said 8,000. This clearly left us only with one place to go when he refused and I started to walk away. Next time I will say 5,000 so that we can really get our haggle on, and so that I can get a better price. This sort of thing really isn't in my nature but I will work on it.

Next, I went to Itaewon, the part of Seoul known for its many expatriates. I walked around, and for pretty much the first time since leaving the village, noticed other non-Korean faces. I was walking about, deciding where to have lunch, when I saw "Taco Amigo." Their sign promised "authentic Mexican food," and they had many a vegetarian option. Now, feeling a bit tired of Korean food (though it totally rules) and very, very curious, I decided to give it a shot. It was weird, but actually not terrible. In some ways, it seemed a lot more like real Mexican or Latin American food than what you find in most "Mexican" restaurants in the states. There were definitely a few strange flavors involved, but definitely not the disaster that I admit I was expecting. I took pictures of everything, including my burrito, but sadly i will have to wait to upload them until I find some sort of external storage solution for my poor little (yet rock solid) computer, who seems to be a bit full of music and other goodies at the current time.