Week #5 In Korea!

This weekend I went to Daegu! It was my first trip outside of Seoul since the weeks I’ve been here, and it was so much fun! The reason I went to Daegu was to meet my long time friend of 7 years who is from there. I can’t express how excited and nervous I felt to finally meet with her face to face. Her name is Yehyun, but her English name is Kyla. She took my two friends and I, who also traveled with me, all around her local neighborhood, and gave us a glimpse into her daily lifestyle. First, we took a walk on this beautiful path where she walks her dog every day, and also often walks with her mom. There was a beautiful river with ducks and duck boats as well. There were street performers, who were singing ballads from Korean Drama OSTs, and it was so beautiful to hear. They also had an audience as well of families and children. One thing I noticed that greatly differed from Seoul and Daegu, was how much more families and children there are in Daegu than Seoul. This was interesting, and when I brought it up to Yehyun, she said Daegu is a good place to raise a family, and that if she could, she would live in Seoul for her youth and spend the rest of her time in Daegu. After our walk, we stopped by a cafe near by the river, which she also said she comes to after her daily walk with her dog and mom. She said she always orders an iced matcha latte, and throughout all the cafes we have been to that was her number one order. We tried so much food, including a local Tteokk-bbeoki (떡볶이) spot which only native locals go to, and where you rarely find foreigners. It felt really special to be introduced to so many places where you would mainly find natives, and I felt like I was more immersed in the culture than I would have been in a touristy area. I brought so many souvenirs, such as jewelry, a checkered mug, stickers from the local cafes she goes to, and so much more! I think I’m starting to realize that I’ll need extra luggage when returning home because of how many items I am buying here on this trip! I am hoping to return to Daegu again soon, and hopefully with more confidence to speak in Korean with Yehyun since I mainly used English.