A Unique K-Pop Experience in a Cafe in Seoul

On Sunday afternoon after finishing watching my online church service, I wanted to get outside and do something. I wasn't sure what to do exactly and I thought to myself, "Why not go to Seongsu Station and try to find another trendy cafe and just do some reading?" Little did I know that they call this area the Brooklyn of Seoul now.

I got on Line 2, headed from Seongsu Station, and started searching for some cafes. I passed a cafe that I had been to before called Zagmachi, which you will see after you turn right after you come out of Exit 3 on the south side of the street. If you walk father down, you will pass my favorite one in the area (Daerim Warehouse or 대림 창고), which is also on the south side of the street.

This time I thought I would try to check out a cafe on the other side of the street. I went to Wall Cafe and walked in. There was K-Pop music blasting. When I went to order my cafe, the owner of the cafe said it was a "happy birthday celebration" for APink Namju. Her real name is Kim, Namju but goes by the mononym, Namju. She sings for the girl group APink. I was told that I could write a note for her and put it on the wall. On one side of the cafe, her promoters were sitting together and talking to young ladies that came to drink coffee and celebrate her.

At first, I didn't care that much. I just wanted to read my book since I had never heard of her before. Even my wife didn't know who she was. The owner of the cafe gave me my coffee, a card with Namju's face on it, and a bookmark of Namju's face on it as well. Then I sat down to read my book. A half hour later her promoters sang "Happy Birthday" to Namju even though she wasn't there. Then they cheered loudly making it hard to read, but it was a really unique experience nonetheless. Then another 15 minutes passed by and one of her promoters gave me a piece of birthday cake from Paris Baguette. I couldn't turn that down and enjoyed eating my cake with my coffee.

I kept trying to read, but it was difficult, so I decided to go to another cafe. Before doing that though, I had to write a note for her. You can check it out. I wrote:

"Happy birthday, Kim Namju
From American Friend Scott Worden"

Sadly, I made a mistake when I said congratulations. I typed "생일 추하합니다" when I should have said "생일 축하합니다." Oh, well. I'm sure they were happy with my gesture despite my boo boo. And of course, I had to plug my blog while I was at it. Hopefully, someone will follow me. Haha!

This experience is one reason why I appreciate living in Korea. This is one adventure that I would never have expected to happen.

Scott Worden (The L.A./SeoulGuy)
Instagram: l.a.seoulguy

There are Some Things about Korea I Will Never Get Used to

Sometimes I love living in South Korea and appreciating God bringing me to live here for the past 16 years. It's easy to say that it's my home away from home since I've spent over one third of my life here. However, at other times, things happen in Korea that are just mind boggling and strange.

One of my Korean coworkers just recently got married and she's awesome. I couldn't attend her wedding, but I wanted to get her a gift. I considered cash, but I had already missed her wedding, so my wife suggested me to go to Zara Home. Yesterday, I went to Zara Home in COEX Mall at 10:15am and once I got there, one of the shop clerks said that they didn't open until 10:30am, which was fine. I waited outside the store and went inside at 10:30.

After that, I looked around and found some nice dishes. I decided to get her two small dishes and two large ones. I was pretty quick with my decision and took them right to the cashier. As I get to the counter, the lady said something in Korean quickly and she seemed to be slightly irritated. Because she said it so fast, I had no idea what she said. If she had spoken a little slower, maybe I could have caught what she said. I just shrugged my shoulders as to let her know that I didn't understand her and she got the point. It's amazing that she just assumed that I could understand her fluent Korean without any hesitation and that she didn't attempt to slow down or speak English. Anyway, she scanned my items and I told her in Korean to please wrap them up. She asked me if I needed a duty-free coupon (in Korean) and I said that I didn't. She told me the price and I inserted my credit card into the machine. After that she said "Sign..." somewhat rudely and I was a little surprised so it took me a second to process it. Then she said "Sign!!" two seconds later. Then I was pissed off because of her rudeness so I said okay in Korean loudly  ("네!!"). She packed my stuff and handed it to me. I said "Thank you" in Korean and she didn't say anything. It's amazing. I spent over $50 on her merchandise and got treated like garbage. Customer service in Korea can be really good or it can be very poor depending on who caters to you. I miss customer service in California when 90% of the time they are polite, friendly, and even chat with you.

Then after I got on the subway, I found a seat and sat down. To the right of me, a man in his 40s sat to the right of me in the seat reserved for pregnant women. It doesn't bother me if a woman sits there even if she isn't pregnant, but a man should not sit there in my humble opinion. However, that's not what bothered me about the situation. As soon as I get off the subway, the man moves over away from the seat reserved for pregnant women and into the seat where I sat. Why was the seat that was reserved for pregnant women not good enough any more? If he didn't think it was wrong to sit there at the beginning, why did he move? That clearly showed that he felt like he was doing something wrong in the first place, but at the beginning, since it was the only seat available, he was selfish and took it not caring what other people thought. Here's my advice to the man: Man up. You can stand and wait for a regular seat. If you really need to sit, then you can sit in the seats reserved for older people since you're in your 40s. Don't be a stereotypical ajoshi and use your age to feel entitled to do whatever you feel like doing. 

Finally, I went home and went to a restaurant that specializes in meatballs. I walk into the restaurant and see two people eating. It's 11am, so the restaurant is quiet since everyone eats lunch at the same time in Korea (12pm). But I notice that none of the staff are in the front of the restaurant. Both servers are in the kitchen talking to the cook. Finally after four minutes, I had to say something because I was hungry and tired of waiting and said "excuse me" in Korean (요기요!). Finally, a woman comes out and takes my order. You don't realize how often this happens in Korea when you walk into a restaurant and no one is at the front. When I worked at Office Depot from 2000 to 2003, one of our main rules was that at least ONE person had to be at the front of the store. It was for security purposes and for basic customer service to greet people and be there if anyone needed help.

It was one of those days. I have a love-hate relationship with Korea sometimes. I'm sure today will be one of those days that I love Korea especially since today is Friday!

Scott Worden (The L.A./Seoul Guy)

Instagram (l.a.seoulguy)