Over confidence

Just as you think you are getting the hang of things, you realise that you are still totally at sea.

I've now have got to the stage where I can catch a taxi with reasonable confidence, between one of two locations.   I can do this without holding up the address written in ‘hanguel’. I know this doesn’t seem that impressive, but to me it is. You see navigating around this city is difficult, mainly because there are no real street names. In Seoul all addresses are referred to by districts – ‘gu’, or neighborhoods – ‘dong’. That’s as descriptive as it gets, apart from the name of the building. Imagine trying to find my house in London by the address Brixton in Southwark, now imagine trying to do this with someone driving who thinks that you are speaking in tongues, and you’ll start to get the picture. My solution has been to study a map and then get taxis to tube stations nearby. You may think that perhaps just getting the tube would be simpler and you may be right, but I am determined to crack taxis before progressing on to public transport.

Anyway, back to my thinking I’ve got the hang of things. This week I have learnt some new words. I can say ‘hello’, ‘good-bye’, ‘please’, ‘thank you’, ‘excuse me’, ‘can I get the bill, and of course, ‘beer’. All a British gentleman needs to survive in this world. Tonight, with my new found language skills I entered one of Seoul’ plentiful eating establishments. I ordered what it I believed to be two starters and a glass of beer. The waiter turned up sometime later with a platter of starters for four and what can only be called a mammoth mountain of the spiciest chicken imaginable …oh and a 3 litre pitcher of beer. We both avoided each other’s uncomfortable looks as he laid down the Tuduoresque feast for one, opting instead to just stare at the ominous mound in embarrassed silence. After a moment’s contemplation I wished him ‘kamsahamnida’ he bowed and we left it at that.