Part II: Unexpected S(e)oul Searching
- A coffee shop in Bucheon, Seoul, South Korea.
Originally, today was just a stopover in Korea for my sister and I with no plan; however, we quickly and unexpectedly obtained an itinerary.
After what felt like a medically induced coma during the first eight hours of our flight from Detroit, I woke up to an unexpected message on snapchat from Jayden Song, a friend from high school and now UTD where we attend university.
Right before going to bed eight hours earlier, I had posted a photo of the Delta-provided flight-route map which revealed my eventual Korean destination.
This is what Jayden had replied to and said he had gotten to Seoul just four days earlier. After some planning and scheming with his parents, it was planned that he would pick us up from the airport and be our personal tour guide- with more specific planning to be determined later.
I have been to a fair bit of places as of now and know how to get around and take care of myself in given places, with just the added responsibility of taking care of my sister this time around- not being much of an added responsibility considering she is 19 years old. But nonetheless my point is that you would think it would be fine either way if we had a “tour guide” or not; but it actually made an enormous mental difference on that plane.
I don’t become filled with stress or anxiety on planes waiting for it to land for hours on end to figure out my next task- but it does take up a fair bit of my brain space just in the fact of being aware that I will have to figure that out when we get to the destination- it creates almost an invisible mosquito net around my head that is metaphorically annoyingly on my brain. I can absolutley function with it there, but it would be a luxury if it disappeared. I am not typically a person to fancy luxuries but finding out a friend would drive us around today and we wouldn’t have to figure anything out immediatley really did feel great.
I was able to have peace of mind about the day, I would normally but this was a unique type.
The type of peace of mind that I almost believe is the most valuable thing in life other than time.
Peace of mind is usually created through determination, hard work, and resilience from the ability and action to do what is needed to do to set yourself up, or whatever you are setting up, for success. And when all of those things run out the next best option is luck, and luck was on our side this instance.
-
After a quick process of landing and going through customs and coordinating with Jayden where he would be; our personal taxi driver for the day and his clients had united. It was all a pretty surreal experience for each of us for what it was:
For me it was crazy because I had planned on my sister and I figuring out the whole day by ourselves and having no ideas on what to actually do; but now we had an automatic itinerary. Me and Jayden had also discussed about Korea and how often he goes just a couple months before when we sat next to each other in rhetoric- however, I honestly never thought not even ninety days later I would ever see him anywhere other than the UTD campus.
For Gracie it was surreal because she had only found out about Jayden’s existence on the plane when I told her there was a chance my friend would pick us up, even though they went to high school together for four years and graduated from the same class. And Jayden was also dating one of Gracie’s friends from her clinicals class in high school so they actually had lots to talk about.
For Jayden it was surreal because this is the place he calls a second home, the place his dad lives due to work, and a place he has visited dozens of times but never ever had this life and his Texas one come together with any elements at all, let alone fully grown people who he went to high school with.
This unique combination of all of our genuine and surreal feelings created this wonderful almost automatic mutual comradery.
Within seconds it honestly felt like our trio had been hanging out for years.
-
After a forty-minute drive to Bucheon, the town Jayden resides in when he is here, our first stop was a coffee shop not even two minutes from his apartment building.
Naturally and somehow my sister and I never gaining the Korean tongue and then menu not being in any other language or even displaying any photos of the items created a bit of communication barrier. Thankfully our taxi driver was also a genius-interpreter!
Ordering a special Korean coffee and a safer caramel option as well just in case set us up for success.
The duo was splendid, and our jetlag was just ever-so fought against with the assistance of caffeine.
- Gracie with her Korean-specialty coffee.
After our coffee outing, we headed to a nearby open market that Jayden had never even been to and had used google to look up directions on how to get there. In making our way to this market, it was also discovered that driving in Seoul can be an extremely difficult and intimidating task. There were some parts of our ten-minute drive that took two whole minutes just to fit between two cars parked on extremely narrow side streets with just inches to spare on either side to pass.
Jayden was not confident with this either as although he has before, he hardly ever regularly drives here, and it seemed our arrival called for more than a few special circumstances.
Only a couple of vehicle insurance and side-swiping scares later we arrived at one of the most picturesque and stereotypical open food markets I have seen.
From fish, to fruit, to fresh meat.
You name it; and there were dozens of hard-working and local people who had obtained, cleaned, and worked on preparing the items they were selling over the duration of their entire day just for a chance that someone may purchase what they had to offer.
There were so many colors, so many sights, so many smells. All five of your senses had no choice but to immediately adapt and get turned all the way up to ten.
Things were everywhere, so much random stuff that seemed out of place or that I didn’t even have a clue what it was.
It was almost utter and complete chaos.
-
but somehow, in the most controlled and beautiful way imaginable.
The entire operation seemed like true poetry in motion or a choreographed dance that took years to perfect.
Nobody was begging you to purchase their things. They were simply continuing to chop, clean, and gather materials at such a smooth pace- perfecting their craft.
They knew that that was the true way to get something to sell - continuing to improve it. Rather than becoming satisfied at any level other than excellence.
Having been to places of the sorts in Nepal, Africa, as well as the likes of European Christmas markets and some others, this one was very different.
I will specially iterate that in my travels I have never found a market I didn’t instantly fall in love with for each of their own differences in culture, items for sale, and the wonderful people participating.
This small Bucheon, Korea market did leave me, however, simply with a newfound respect in individuals in general who desire to continue to improve something that is in front of them, instead of settling for something that could still have elements to build upon.
-
After soaking in all of the metaphors and lessons that this market had to offer in only about half an hour, the sun was beginning to set and it was time to find a proper dinner location, as at this point, I was past starving.
A bit of debate about cuisine occurred during round two of avoiding scratching up Jayden’s dad’s car before we determined that Gracie and I should probably indulge in some traditional and authentic Korean barbeque, especially given that Jayden happens to know the owners of just that type of establishment at a place right next to the coffee shop we were at only a couple hours earlier.
Greeted by the smiling couple and owners of the restaurant right at walking through the front entrance, you could instantly assess that this was a very comforting and homey environment.
The owners were very excited to be able to offer us our first authentic Korean-food experience and already ordered the food of their choice for us before we could even pick out which table to sit at.
Other than coming in rather late at about 9pm and there being a lack of rice left, everything was served to perfection. Korean pork was the highlight of the meal in which we were able to cook ourselves on the skillet installed into the table in a hibachi-styled approach. The beef was complimented by traditional kimchi, various green and red variations of pepper or green beans that I regret to have not learned the names of, lettuce to wrap the pork along with our pinch of what rice was left in a Korean-styled taco of sorts, a runny chili paste sauce, and a small bowl of miso soup.
After eating beyond enough food to cure my once empty stomach, one final walk to a nearby convenient store to check out their unique items and a last stop at a bakery where we got a delicious sugary bread item - it was just about the end of our comradery-filled Korean adventure of a day.
While waiting for the taxi Jayden’s family had specially ordered us right to our hotel, after we seemed to have incidentally somehow evaded each of his family members all day long despite staying about a one-minute drive away from them a majority of the day, we were finally granted a moment where they all seemed to pop out of the shadows one by one.
First re-meeting his brother and realizing I had actually known who he was as he was in the grade above me, then his mom who had ordered us the cab was walking home right at the pinnacle and opportune time, and finally Jayden’s dad who works and lives in Seoul year-round running their family’s restaurants and businesses was able to complete the trio of family members that we didn’t get to see until the final countdown right before we officially parted ways.
Hugs and handshakes galore and it somehow also felt like we had known them forever as well in just a couple seconds; even though I knew the brother already.
Maybe this was because of how close we seemed to get to Jayden that day, or because we knew how much they had all done for Gracie and I already directly and indirectly that day, and maybe just a slap-happy and jet lag fueled emotion fest where we could have felt like we knew anyone for years in that moment: Where I can already tell you it was not the latter option.
I’m not quite sure why the mutual feelings of trust and comfort were there so fast it seemed for all of us but maybe there doesn’t always have to be a reason. Sometimes things just happen.
To top all of the feels of today off, the climax was Jayden’s dad insisting the next time we ever find ourselves in Korea, that his home and apartment is just as much ours for as long as we may need it. These people were nothing but the most kind and gracious beings on the planet for an entire day and didn’t want or expect a thing in return.
This day was nothing but impactful and special during its entirety. Left to right. Top to bottom.
However, I’ll end this with my favorite part of today.
During our journey from leaving the market and going to the restaurant where we ate dinner there was an extremely casual moment where Jayden was playing random music through the AUX of the car. Love Story by Taylor Swift began playing and not a single person in our choir-trio missed a beat. That song was destroyed and vocally conquered by all three of us while cruising down the most random road in Bucheon, South Korea.
I have never been someone that I would consider a Taylor Swift fan, and I seldom listen to her music at all. Not that I dislike the pieces she releases; it is just that I simply usually prefer a slightly different genre and tune to ripple in and out of my eardrums. But everyone knows all of the words to Love Story. Whether you are two minutes old or ninety-seven-hundred years old.
This could be slightly hyperbolic. But maybe not.
That moment simply happened because it did. There was no rhyme or reason. It also further illustrates that people can be brought together by so many things. Music is actually a pretty common one, or the Airbus A350-900 Gracie and I flew on was also quite a big help on bringing us all together that day.
The main point I desire to make with this is that sometimes the best things in life are random.
Intentional things are beautiful in that of itself; it takes a lot of work and very important decisions to attain our goals that assist intentional things. We gain mass amounts of satisfaction from this.
The cool thing about random things is that you get a similar enough- but short-term satisfaction - only with none of the work!
These moments become less seldom the more you intentionally live in the moment; which is quite ironic.
Overall, usually these random moments are not life changing, but they do make fantastic fillers to the standard everyday hustle and bustle of all of us humans trying to achieve various goals or standards of life that can often seem quite harping without said fillers.
Someday, however, they might just actually change your life - just from living in the moment. But even the small moments added together do a whole lot of positive things.
Or they are just simply a wakeup call and make you wonder “Why the hell am I with Jayden Song and my sister in Korea right now?”
~
I’ll see you tomorrow, Manila.
