Seoul, Day . . . Five?: Back in the Big City three weeks later

I've been away. From this blog. For a long time. Pathetic, I know.

The truth is there hasn't been a lot happening until this past weekend, and I'd rather not bore anyone with stories of walking to the corner store or cooking and cleaning, because that about summarizes the last three weeks.

My parents made the trip to SK last week. We met them in Seoul on Friday and spent a day and half in the capital. Cate was ecstatic to see her Nana and Papa and of course the feeling was mutual. We basically just hung around downtown and the Insadong area and shopped. It's always nice to experience Korea from a fresh perspective, and we've been reminded of just how different things are as we watch my parents take everything in. We're in the middle of the most important holiday of the year in Korea - Chuseok. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday are national holidays and it's the time of year when everything shuts down and everyone spends time with family. It made weekend travel almost impossible. We found out on Tuesday that the KTX was nearly sold out for the entire weekend. I was able to snag enough tickets, but it meant we had to leave Seoul at 6:30 on Sunday morning.

On Friday, Carmen and I had tickets for the 5:40 train to Seoul. Carmen didn't get off work until 4:30 so we knew we'd have to hurry. We left as soon as she got home and jumped in a taxi. Traffic was crazy because of Chuseok so we realized we were cutting it close, but we got to the station with 13 minutes to spare. Not bad considering there's no check-in process - just scan your ticket and get on the train. Well, it's easy if you get on the right train. We didn't. We boarded the train at 5:37 and realized there was no one on it. Strange, seeing as this ride was sold out. So I ran outside and checked with a janitor; he looked at my ticket and pointed to the train across the tracks. This meant we had to go back up two flights of stairs, through a corridor, down two flights of stairs - carrying two backpacks, a playpen, a stroller and a baby - in three minutes. We were like the Mcallisters trying to catch their plane to Paris after a storm knocked out their power, only we didn't forget our kid in the attic. Anyway, we made it, with seconds to spare.

I'll be a tour guide for the next couple of weeks, pretending to know what I'm talking about and acting like I understand the language, just so I can impress my mom and dad, and they can return to Canada with stories about their extremely cultured and well-traveled son.