As part of my Japan visit, I decided to take the short two-hour flight over to Seoul to see my long-time adoptee friend, K. The last time I met up with her or had been to Korea was just before I moved to Abu Dhabi; thus it had been just over five years.
As always, we picked right up where we left off and reminisced on days of old when we were young campers at Holt Adoption Camp. It is amazing to think that we have been friends for almost thirty years!!!
I also did a bit of shopping and got to eat my favorite snack/treat of Hottok. I remembered eating them the first time I went to Korea in the middle of freezing winter. It was the one thing that gave me great joy at the end of the work day walking back to our hotel in the cold. π
When I first went to Korea in 2002(?), I stayed in the Insadong area, which is where I returned to do some shopping. One of the cool things about Insadong is the Starbucks sign. Back then I was a bit obsessed with Starbucks and loved the fact that this sign was in Korean since there had been some struggle regarding the fact it was in Korean. Apparently, Insadong wanted to preserve it’s traditional feel, but also have the draw of the coffee shop for all the tourists that come through. At the time, (maybe still?) it was the only Starbucks to not have its name in English.
The rest of my trip consisted of a whole lot of eating and drinking!
A big thanks to K and J for their hosting!
-T π
