22 September 2011- Seoul, Korea

This morning I woke up with a funky belly, which I suspect, had something to do with the 8 hour time difference. Waking up at 9:30 am meant that it was 1:30 am Swiss time— and my body was royally annoyed. It should’ve been asleep, not waking up for breakfast with the Korean sun starting to beat down! Also, I think I was a little bit nervy at the prospect of having to speak proper Korean to aunties and uncles who speak zero English, are staunchly conservative and who I’ve only met twice.

We had a mini breakfast on the hotel patio (stay at the Sunbee Hotel if you’re ever in Korea!) before we navigated our way to the Lotte Beckgajym which is Korea’s biggest and best department store. I asked the hotel reception for a map to get to Lotte Beckgajym (they didn’t understand what I was asking the first time so I had to repeat it in what I thought was a really exaggerated Korean accent but surprise surprise, it worked awesome with them!) before hailing a taxi and winding our way through the hectic traffic to the Beckgajym.

While we were in the taxi, my dad’s eldest brother called me on my mobile and shouted a couple of phrases about where he was in this enormous department store and how I should find him. The only words I caught were “on the first floor” and “behind”. Rightio.

We walked into one of four entrances and I hoped hoped hoped I would just be able to spot him. Wishful thinking. When I tried to call him, I realised that I’d left the piece of paper with his (and my other aunties’) phone numbers in the hotel, so all we could do was wait for him to call me. He did, and when I answered, out came a stream of mumble jumble that made my brain cramp. So, I bounded over to a nice looking lady manning the Gucci store and requested in my Australian accented Korean:

“I’m from Australia and my uncle is meeting me here, but I don’t know how to say “I’m in front of Gucci—could you talk to him?”

She was so nice- she laughed with her smiley eyes and took my phone before clearly and helpfully telling my uncle that we were right there in front of Gucci. Hallellujah. Two minutes later, my uncle’s son found us and led us to my uncle who had come from Gongdor, a country town that’s two hours away from the Beckgajym.

He looked so much older and littler than when I last saw him six years ago and although he’s generally the silent, brooding type, he gave a giant smile when he saw Man from Mars and I and then seated us down at Dunkin Donuts for an iced coffee (I don’t drink coffee, but I didn’t even care). We talked for a while, me dipping into my Korean phrasebook and him asking me to repeat everything I said because a) my korean didn’t make too much sense and b) he’s becoming a little bit hard of hearing, and we had a lovely chat before my dad’s two adorable big sisters arrived.

There they were, the Tour de Force- the two sisters who are the backbone of my dad’s family-- all curly topped hair, big smiles, and coming towards us with excited shouts of: “You’re here! Oh you’re here! Aww who could believe you’re here!” It was so great.

We talked some, we ate lunch, we shopped a bit and despite the language issues (“Learn KOREAN!!!! shouted my aunties on at least five occasions), we clicked. After all, family and lineage goes so much deeper than speaking the same language. I was so sad to say goodbye and so glad to have seen them; even if it was only for a handful of hours.

Afterwards, we walked back to the Sunbee and had a little rest before we met up with my mum’s brother and his wife and daughter. My mum’s brother is a top researcher at one of Korea’s best make-up companies, and when he fronted up with SEVEN KILOS of make up (Koreans are generous and will give you everything they have—so it won’t be one apple, it’ll be fifty. Likewise, he couldn’t stop at one lipstick and one bottle of face cream, he could only make do with SEVEN KILOS of various stuff), Man from Mars’ and my reactions couldn’t have been more different:

Man from Mars (concerned to the point of grim silence): We’re already over our weight limit

Me (so happy): So much make up—Wheeeeeeeeee!

We dropped the goodies off at our hotel before enjoying a delicious banquet at an authentic Korean restaurant—low tables and floor sitting and all. It was such a quick catch- up; just a two hour dinner, but it was so much fun and again, I was so so glad that I’d gotten to meet up with them.

That night, Man from Mars spent five hours until 2:30 am, packing and repacking our bags. He somehow manipulated our 47kg worth of luggage (our limit was 40kg) so that we were just within the weight limit. What a clever cookie.

Tomorrow, we leave for the airport at 2 pm and we will fly to Australia at 6:30 pm. So sad, the end’s come so quickly and I don't wanna go to work on Monday!!