Check in day!

So I ended up staying at a love hotel. Yup, the kind of hotel where people just use it to get it on. But, damned if it wasn't the nicest place one COULD get it on and fairly cheap, too! For about 35 bucks (which is on the expensive side, as far as love hotels go) I got a room with a flat screen TV and TWO computers both hooked to the internet and various games. I guess so both people can engage in some post-coital internet surfing. Yup, this truly is the 21st century.

Oh yeah, Korean bathrooms are totally legit. The bathroom in my room had a grate at the edge of the bathtub to catch any water that spills out of the shower. It's like a sewer for your bathroom. Why isn't this standard in every American bathroom? Why must I be subjected to bathroom rugs that feel like a wet sock when I get back to the states?

As if my hotel experience wasn't futuristic enough, when you stick the key into the wall the entire room turns on. Yes, you read that right...all the lights, power to the appliances get switched on when I put a key in the wall. Nothing quite makes you feel like a badass like starting up your room like it was Optimus Prime.

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After I left there, I checked into my dorm at Ewha. I share a room with a German guy named Peter. His English AND his Korean are better than mine. His perception of Americans probably comes from watching George W. Bush and American Dad, my perception of Germans comes from Die Hard and Kraftwerk...I'd say there might be something we're missing from each other's culture.

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I went on a trip to find the local arcade in Seoul and it was rough. Even after studying Hangul for about 3 hours today, I still read very slowly and my vocabulary is non-existent. I got to the right station, but still could not find the arcade once out of the station. Seoul really is something else though. I would say parts of it remind me a lot of New York City, but then again parts of it are just much more Asian feeling. For example, there are little side streets everywhere that I don't even think you could get a car through. I stumbled through the area where all the produce and seafood stand compete and people are literally yelling at you to come buy their product.

The most awesome method I saw for grabbing people's attention was two cross-dressing men banging on taiko drums and cymbals to pop-music...whatever sells dumplings I guess.