Day 24: Fancy Breakfast

I was tired after travelling yesterday and spent the majority of the morning lying in bed (meaning I finally moved around 1:30 in the afternoon) and playing on my phone. I searched up lots of things to do in the area and decided it would be fun to try out some brunch restaurants. Breakfast doesn’t seem to be a very important meal in Korea and I haven’t been able to find any breakfast restaurants. I typically grab some fruit and eggs from a convenience store and eat those but I have been craving an actual breakfast lately. Since the area I am staying in is ‘newer Seoul’ it is more influenced by Western culture and I saw several American food locations the other day. I Googled brunch places and found a yummy looking one that was a 15 minute walk away. The place was called Darling Kitchen and the menu looked like it had lots of options! It ended up being one of the best breakfasts I have eaten in a long time. Everything tasted so amazing! It was an omelette with cheese, ham, and salsa. On the side there was a roasted tomato, beans, potato wedges, and this really yummy corn and kidney bean mix that was covered in pesto. The meal was expensive and everyone there seemed very fancy and dressed up but the food was worth it.

I didn’t get up to much today, mainly because I slept in and I also got my nails done, which took a really long time. I had acrylic nails on before I came to Seoul and they had grown out too much over the past few weeks (even my dad made a comment about how I needed to go and get them fixed). While I was at breakfast I looked up some places nearby where I could get my nails done and found one called Jessica’s nails that looked good. I typically paint my own nails but I figured it would be fun to get them done while I'm travelling.

When I got there she didn’t speak any English but her friend (who was getting her nails done at the time) spoke a little. I booked an appointment for 40 minutes later and went back outside to try and find an atm so I could get cash. Trying to find the atm took up the entire 40 minutes, but I eventually found one and made it back to the nail salon. The nail places I go to in Canada are typically large rooms with tons of chairs and people, loud music, and a strong smell of nail polish and chemicals. This place was a tiny one person store with one desk, candles, and a tv in the corner. The nail lady had several display sheets of sample nail sets and they were so much cooler than stuff I had seen in Canada! I ended up choosing a fancier set (because why not, might as well take advantage of it while I’m here). It took quite a while to get my other fake nails off and we had a food show going on the tv for most of the time. I ended up changing it after we both joked that it was making us super hungry. I changed it to a music show channel called Music Bank (which I later got to go see in person!) and both of us seemed happy with that. We chatted a bit alternating between the little Korean I knew and the little English she knew. At one point a really weird group came on the show to perform and she stopped doing my nails so we could just stare at it. I had never seen a performance as weird as it and she seemed to feel the same way. Eventually my nails were done and I was super happy with it! She was just as picky as I usually am and it was the first time I have walked away from getting my nails done feeling completely satisfied. It cost 90,000 won because I had to pay extra to have my fake nails removed and because I chose an 'event set'. I also found out that you should tip for nails here. People don't tip for most services (including waiters at restaurants), but it seems that nails and hair are still something that should be tipped. The nails themselves only cost 65,000 won (very cheap for everything I got done).

By the time they were done it was almost 6 pm and I was getting hungry. I wanted to do a blog post quickly before dinner so I went back to my room to grab my laptop. There were tons of cafes near my house so I picked one that looked the least busy and the cutest inside. However, they didn’t have wifi and the tea was super expensive. So I sat there until I finished my tea and then went back to my room. On the way back I passed the place where I had dinner yesterday and decided to stop in to try some kimbap. I ordered beef (sogogi) kimbap and it was really really yummy, especially with kimchi! I was full after the kimbap and it had only been 3,500 won (maybe $4). My eating schedule is so messed up I don't even know how to fix it at this point so I'm just going to go with it.

I went back to my room and played on my phone a bit before heading to bed. I avoided the balcony tonight because the door to go outside opens right into my room and I didn’t want to let more mosquitos in.

I woke up randomly at around 3 am to a buzzing around my head and then spent the next 20 minutes trying to find the mosquito before I could go back to sleep. The next morning I woke up with more mosquito bites, but not as many as the first night so I think that’s a win!

Hope everyone is doing well,

Emily

(October 19, 2018)

Distance walked: 10.6 km