Roaming Solo

This weekend was another lesson in how to live alone in the city. I didn't really do anything too exciting, but I did get some things done that I've been meaning to do for a while. Saturday I went to the Chilseong Furniture Market with Ted (one of my coworkers) because he wanted a loveseat and he knows even less Korean than I do. Believe it or not, I actually proved to be useful as a translator. I did some grocery shopping at HomePlus, had dinner at Maya (an Indian restaurant), and hopped on a bus in an attempt to head downtown. The bus that I got on was supposed to make a stop an Banwoldang, which is the subway exit closest to downtown. However, the bus route is a big circle, and I didn't realize two things: #1. The bus was making its last circuit for the night, and #2. The bus had already been at Banwoldang and was completing the rest of the loop. It wouldn't have been an issue if I hadn't hopped on the last bus; it would have made it to Banwoldang eventually. So lo and behold, I am the last one on the bus when it stops on the outskirts of the city and the guy tells me to get off and find a taxi. I start walking towards the lights of the city, trying to find a taxi, hoping I have enough cash on me to cover the ride back. Five minutes later, the bus shows up and pulls over. The guy tells me to get on...he's going to take me back into the city, thank goodness. Once there, I hop off again and find a taxi to take me downtown. I would have used the subway, but the subway stops at 11:30pm so taxis are my only option. I made it downtown, and I discovered how to navigate from the main street to the couple places I've heard about (Communes, Club Frog, etc.). But I was looking for a specific theatre in which to watch Avatar. I wanted to watch it in 3D, so I had to find the IMAX. I walked around for a while looking for it, and eventually I just gave up. Right at that very moment I found the Lotte Cinema and decided to watch Avatar there instead. I bought my ticket, and it turns out Lotte was playing it in 3D, as well. Score! I had to wait 2 hours for my movie to start though so I went to Communes (a foreigners bar) and hung out for a while. I've been told that if you sit there long enough you're bound to meet someone cool. Apparently I either didn't look approachable or I didn't sit there long enough. Oh well. I got to listen to a decent Korean cover band do a few Weezer songs. I went back to the theatre for 2:25am, was one of three people watching the movie, and left at 5:05am when the movie ended. The movie was awesome, by the way...the only issue was that there were Korean subtitles so when the characters spoke in the alien humanoid language, the subtitles were still in Korean. Fortunately most of the dialogue was in English, but I think I'll have to watch it again when I come home so I can get the full effect.
Sunday I slept until 2pm or so (didn't get to bed until 6am), and made myself some Korean pancakes for breakfast. Very tasty, but very difficult to make. I think I'll stick to having someone else make them for me. I ventured out early Sunday evening to try to find a gym. I walked around for a few hours and found nothing. I even walked around on the Kyungpook National University campus right across the street from me. I also tried to rent a movie at two different places near my house, and because they couldn't speak English and I can't speak Korean we were at an impasse and I went home empty-handed. I looked up KNU when I got home, and it turns out I did find the fitness facility on campus, it was just closed. Now I just need to figure out if they'll let me go there even though I'm not a student. Keep your fingers crossed!