HELLO, from Seoul.
Today was a big day for me. It started with me not being able to sleep. I was up too late and I am reading, The Count of Monte Cristo, I know, I know, I go to the East and I am reading a French Author. What can I say? So, anyway, I spent my time not being able to sleep, reading.
I woke up at a late time, 11:30, Seoul time. I can't even do that when I am in Kansas City. Then the cool things begin to happen:

• As some of you may know, I have Yahoo! Messenger. I am using it quite a bit, chatting with my girlfriend, Debby; my brother, Blair; and two of my closest friends, Gavin and Susie. I have chatted with Dylan, Zigs' son, as well. It keeps me close to home and I am able to relate my day and add my thoughts to the days' happenings in Kansas City and the U.S.A. for instance, the elections. I have never missed an election and this was first on the sidelines. I could have done an absentee ballot, but I ran out of time. I am pleased with some of the happenings, but I digress. I won't go into politics, because I don't want this blog to turn into something Arianna Huffington would link to.
  
• So, I am chatting with Gavin and he is watching the K-State-Texas game on ABC, I have the scoreboard up from ESPN and we are chatting about that and other things. When Susie gets home, I get to chat with her, too. Pretty cool if you ask me.
  
• Then my mom pops up on gmail and we are chatting. I forgot to add her to the e-mail list I got from everybody. SORRY MOM!!!!!!! She is telling me about her day, she, too, is watching the K-State-Texas game. So, I have multiple windows up and am chatting along.
• THEN my brother pops up in Yahoo! (if you want my screen name, e-mail me and I'll get it to you) and he is playing with his headset, trying to hook up so we can talk through the messenger. Next thing I know, I HEAR HIS VOICE!!!!! I about dropped. I haven't heard anyone's voice, yet, so I was blown away. I couldn't talk back, because dummy here didn't have a microphone ( I do now).
• Blair, then does the coolest thing. He calls my mom and puts her on speaker phone, it's kind of archaic, but HEY, whatever works. I get to hear my mom's voice.
  
• THEN. Blair calls Debby and does the SAME thing. I get to hear Debby's voice. I am overjoyed!!!!!! I get to hear her voice, but alas, she cannot hear mine. That changes tomorrow.
• While this is going on, the K-State game ends and Blair's phone is going nuts, I can hear it in the background. He then tells someone on the phone to speak up. It's my dad!!!! I get to hear his voice, too!!!!!
  
• So, I get to everyone in my families voice in one day!!! I was verklempt!!!! All in all it was pretty cool, thanks to Blair!!! Sorry for pushing you into the pool that time, Blair. I really am!!!

So I am flying pretty high and wanting to get my started (at 2:00 in the afternoon) and out I head. I go up around the bend from my place and have lunch. Deep-fried pork cutlet stuffed with cheese. (Pics to follow in a day or two). So I am out and about and I decide to give the subway a try. It's very daunting as there are 400 stops on the Seoul Subway. I had all intentions of heading to The Korean National Museum, but I get off the train at Iteawon. This is a huge shopping district, which has crap, crap, and more crap. The streets are packed with people and I head in one direction. Now, I have told some of you about the coffee here (they have coffee packets in the grocery. Packed with instant coffee and cream and sugar, not too good, not too bad, all you have to do is add hot water). It's pretty non-existent, there are coffee shops, but I haven't found one yet. The, out of the bastion of people there it is!!!!! Starbucks!!!!!!! I haven't had a good cup of coffee, well, a decent cup of coffee since I left. 130 Starbucks in and around Seoul and I hadn't found ONE. But, today was different. I went in and ordered the basic cup of coffee. My senses expanded, the touch of the hot liquid, my lips quivering, my legs shaking, my hair on end and it happened: The first taste. I could have died right then and there!!! I was having a cup of coffee.
Having my coffee in hand, I walk. There are street vendors selling everything from Jackass 2 to Black Dahlia, on DVD, to many leather goods, knock off Gucci and Louis Vitton, to every color of the rainbow New York Yankees hats, but no Royals hats!!!! I have been warned about the street vendors gouging you, so I kept my wallet in my pocket. However, I did not take any pictures. That will be for another day, when I go back, I was too overwhelmed by all of the people. ALL nationalities: Americans, Nigerians, Germans, Arabs, and many more. There were too many foreigners for me. Who would have thought I would find TOO many foreigners??? There is a large Nigerian sect here. they come for the jobs, showing up in their religious dress and a week later, they are all in Hip-Hop clothes, not wanting to go home---so I have been told. The shops ranged from Burger King (of which I was on a quest last weekend, but didn't find one), McDonald's, KFC (again), Dunkin' Donuts, Soul Train Clothing store, to Nike town, to a Reebok Store, to many other stores I can't even begin to describe!!!
But , NOW, I know where to go for my American tastes and it's only a $.80 subway ride.
From there, I walked to Yaksu station and wanted to find a microphone, so I could TALK to my people back home. I had a gentleman on the subway approach me and ask if I needed help. I was shocked, because the actual subway guy wouldn't even help, until I reached through the window and pulled him close, threatening his life every way imaginable--OK, not really, but that would have been funny. I was looking for a particular station, Singeumho, but got off at Geumho. Um, I wasn't sure where I was and I thought, "Great, long walk and I have to go down to the subway and get on again. Then I realized, I was at the corner where I ate my pizza with Corn and Pickles (there ya go, Susie), so I started to walk. I began to recognize my surroundings and found out I knew the neighborhood. What a relief!!!! I was a couple of miles, which is NOTHING in this town, from my school. I impress myself sometimes.
I stopped to buy some milk, bread, and bananas on my way to my apartment and here I sit. Relaying my day.
My review of the Seoul Subway:
Clean. VERY clean. Quiet. VERY quiet. It must go down 3 stories, with tracks on top of each other, going every which way possible. Once I get the hang of it, it will be a breeze. Today, I jumped in with both feet without testing the waters. Map in hand, I navigated my way to a new place in the city. Should I have gone farther, YES!! But that's for another day.
Iteawon:
Whoever visits, will be taken there, if not just to people watch.
Yaksu Station:
Amazing. Just amazing, just whe you don't think there's more stairs down, there is.
All-in-all, It was a good day!!!!!!!