I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of this Daejeon living. In fact, I went to a large department store, looked around, took the elevator to the 9th floor where the restaurants are, and went inside one for lunch. I pointed at a picture of what I wanted—a picture of a rice dish in a stone pot with vegetables, meat, and a raw egg that cooks when you stir everything together because the pot is so hot—and said in my very best Korean, “I am a vegetarian,” which I hoped my waitress would understand to mean, leave out the meat. However, I think I must actually have been saying “Good oxen knit sox in the kitchen” or something, because every time I repeated it, she looked more confused. Finally she found a young woman at another table to interpret for me. After that everything was fine, the food was delicious, and I think everyone was quite relieved when I paid my bill and left.
I also discovered a very disturbing sign in the elevator in my apartment building—really just a small sticker above the elevator doo
r. It says “Please refrain from copulating in the elevator.” I find this very disturbing on a number of levels: first, that they would need to post a reminder like this at all, second that in typical Korean fashion they would be so polite about it, and third, that the sticker is only in English. Given the starkness, emptiness, and general silence of my building, it’s about the last thing I would have guessed anyone would have to worry about. Fortunately, the sticker is only in one elevator out of four, so I’m hoping that means it was put there by some English-speaking resident (perhaps an Australian) as a joke.
I also discovered a very disturbing sign in the elevator in my apartment building—really just a small sticker above the elevator doo
r. It says “Please refrain from copulating in the elevator.” I find this very disturbing on a number of levels: first, that they would need to post a reminder like this at all, second that in typical Korean fashion they would be so polite about it, and third, that the sticker is only in English. Given the starkness, emptiness, and general silence of my building, it’s about the last thing I would have guessed anyone would have to worry about. Fortunately, the sticker is only in one elevator out of four, so I’m hoping that means it was put there by some English-speaking resident (perhaps an Australian) as a joke. 
On Saturday I went for a run along the river. The running path is well maintained and quite long—just how long, I don’t know, and will probably never find out. Lots of people were out walking and bicycling, but I only saw one other runner. It felt good to work my muscles again after sitting and lying around for so many days. Also, now I don’t feel so bad about how much I am eating.
In the afternoon I went to the Expo Park, about an hour’s walk to the north. This is the site of an international exposition held in Daejeon in 1993. The focal point is the Tower of Light, a spire dedicated to light with lots of signage inside, some in English, about how the 21st Century (only seven years away!) will no doubt shine light on the solutions to all humanity’s problems, or
something. I want up in the observation deck (W2,500) for a look around. I was the only one there. Afterwards I wa
lked around the site, which c
onsists of lots of giant spheres and glass pyramids and statues of famous scientists surrounded by large shrubberies with scary faces, some of which appear ready to attack and eat the scientists. There is also a large exhibition hall which, from the frightening pictures on the outside and the loud roars rolling out from within, appears to be dedicated to the memory of huge carnivorous dinosaurs. Lots of small children were eager to go in, but I passed it by.
On Sunday I decided I had to try to take the bus somewhere, so I chose the Yuseong Spa district as it is very famous, plus that’s where one of the buses that runs right in front of my apartment building goes. (I am not up for lesson 2: “transferring” yet.) (As a matter of fact, there is no transfer if you pay cash. You just get off, get on another bus, and pay again. If you use an electronic transit card, you get a free transfer. I should think about getting one of those cards.) Anyway, it was pretty easy to get on the bus. They even have little readerboards at each bus stop to tell you how long till the next bus arrives (for each bus number that stops there. My bus stop has four different routes.) I got off at the right place, walked around Yuseong, which wasn’t that interesting on a Sunday morning in the rain, except that I did manage to find the Express Bus station where I can catch a bus to Seoul or Incheon, and had a coffee and pastry to warm up. Then I took the bus home. There’s also a subway stop near my apartment and one right in Yuseong, which would have been a lot faster, but I was afraid I would not know where to get off. On a bus you can look for familiar sites, but underground, I’m guessing you have to rely on some automated voice saying the name of a stop in a way that you can understand it, or I suppose counting the stops until you reach the one you think you want. Anyway, maybe I’ll try that next.
lked around the site, which c
onsists of lots of giant spheres and glass pyramids and statues of famous scientists surrounded by large shrubberies with scary faces, some of which appear ready to attack and eat the scientists. There is also a large exhibition hall which, from the frightening pictures on the outside and the loud roars rolling out from within, appears to be dedicated to the memory of huge carnivorous dinosaurs. Lots of small children were eager to go in, but I passed it by.On Sunday I decided I had to try to take the bus somewhere, so I chose the Yuseong Spa district as it is very famous, plus that’s where one of the buses that runs right in front of my apartment building goes. (I am not up for lesson 2: “transferring” yet.) (As a matter of fact, there is no transfer if you pay cash. You just get off, get on another bus, and pay again. If you use an electronic transit card, you get a free transfer. I should think about getting one of those cards.) Anyway, it was pretty easy to get on the bus. They even have little readerboards at each bus stop to tell you how long till the next bus arrives (for each bus number that stops there. My bus stop has four different routes.) I got off at the right place, walked around Yuseong, which wasn’t that interesting on a Sunday morning in the rain, except that I did manage to find the Express Bus station where I can catch a bus to Seoul or Incheon, and had a coffee and pastry to warm up. Then I took the bus home. There’s also a subway stop near my apartment and one right in Yuseong, which would have been a lot faster, but I was afraid I would not know where to get off. On a bus you can look for familiar sites, but underground, I’m guessing you have to rely on some automated voice saying the name of a stop in a way that you can understand it, or I suppose counting the stops until you reach the one you think you want. Anyway, maybe I’ll try that next.
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