Seoul Stories #4: How I (Nearly) Got Arrested at the Korean Government Building
By: Lexus Ndiwe
Tags: Friendship, This Happened To Me, Korea, Prison, Seoul

To cut a long story short, this is how our adventure ends, and how I complete my day.

1. Tomiichi and I end up walking up these red-carpeted stairs, which leads to an even more exclusive building than the one before. Luckily, we escape getting shot or any serious trouble. The livid guard sends his younger co-worker to inform us of our mistake. Making an ‘x’ as a communication signal, I convey that we have understood the message.

2. Following the instructions of the younger guard, we finally find the right building. There are no foreign tourists, except us, and only a handful of Korean visitors. (All dress moderately conservative, I might add.)

3. To my horror, Tomiichi nearly ends up in an argument with the security guard of that building, when he asks for the directions of another building of interest to him. To my relief, he responds well to my limited Korean, and although I cannot understand ninety percent of what he is saying, somehow we can understand and empathise with each other.

4. We look around at the expensive political artefacts. (This is the most pleasant part of the adventure, aside from getting on the train back to our accommodation.)

5. Getting dragged into another building, we end up in a new battle. Tomiichi argues with both receptionists about his tour booking, which should have been booked three days prior. When told that we have to book and return later, he explains that this is our last two days in Seoul, so we cannot come again within the policy time frame. His threat and shameless willingness to call the manager makes the lead receptionist raise the white flag, and we end up on the non-English speaking tour package. It is mostly completed when we join, and while we see some of the most interesting and beautiful architecture that I have ever seen inside of a building, we do not understand a thing. After asking if our tour guide, (who happens to be one of the receptionists that Tomiichi had previously argued with), can speak English or Japanese, she bonds with Tomiichi with her Japanese language skills. We enjoy the rest of the tour in peace, and I thank the receptionists as we leave.

6. Walking back towards the station, my hand gets peed on by a large, noisy insect. Just lovely. The icing on the cake!

7. Tomiichi agrees to meet with another friend that I had made, but after they discover who the other is, she asks to meet me one-on-one and feeling rejected, he backs out of coming along.

8. With the new friend, I end up in an over-priced and strongly themed Hello Kitty café, which journey features us getting kicked out of a cab on the way there. The whole affair lasts over three hours. For the majority of the time, I become a photographer, taking hundreds of pictures of her in different locations.

9. Promising to have food with me in exchange for going to the café, my friend and I look around for a restaurant. It takes about thirty minutes to decide where to eat. (She did not feel like certain food, and ended up choosing a famous restaurant with an extremely long line.)

Receiving a sudden call to come to a nightclub, before we can enter the restaurant, my friend leaves me alone in the middle of another town from my accommodation. Despite always getting lost easily, (which is the reason why I could not leave Tomiichi), my frustration and hunger overrides reason. I encourage her to go on ahead. It is clear that she wanted to leave, and I did not want to pay for the cab. (I will admit that this is not my brightest moment. I end up getting lost and it takes an extra forty-five minutes to get back to my accommodation.)

In Korean culture, (especially at that time) eating alone is/was seen as a social taboo, and some restaurants do not serve just one person. Because of this, I could not have the type of meal that I wanted outside. (Luckily, things have started to change since then).

10. I ended up eating my first proper meal of the day from a convenience store. (It was late when I got back, and my roommate had already eaten.) Filling a full bag of food, I stuffed my face until I was finally full.

Crashing onto my bed, the day had finally come to an end.