Exploring a new area of Seoul

On Friday, June 8, Jonathan and I took the subway to an older area of the Seoul. Once we found our way out of the subway system, we caught a taxi to the Vietnamese Embassy. After filling in some forms and handing over some money and our passports, we were assured that if we came back to the embassy between 3 and 5:30 p.m. the next Friday, we'd get our passports back with new Vietnamese visas inside. After exiting the embassy complex, we realized that the taxi ride there hadn't taken too long, so we decided to walk back to the subway station and see the streets and buildings more closely. The way back was also downhill, so that worked out well for us. We noticed that many of the buildings in this part of the city were constructed in the traditional Korean style, although the whole area looked to be very well kept up and well taken care of. It was a pleasant walk to end up the Friday afternoon.

The following Friday, June 15, we again traveled to that part of the city. This time we knew our way to the Vietnamese Embassy, so we fast-walked there (as fast as possible uphill) only to find that there was already a whole room full of people waiting for their own visas. We got there around 5 p.m. so apparently 3 p.m. was a rather ambitious assumption by the embassy workers. We were a bit worried because we needed to get back to the institute by 6 p.m. since we were both on the song service team for vespers that week. After reading through a lot of the English Seoul newspaper and trying to read some of the already-torn-apart Korean Seoul newspaper provided in the waiting room, a bell was finally rung in the office and we got in line to get our passports. The handing-back process didn't take too long, and we were out the door by about 5:30. This time there was no leisurely walk back with time for picture-taking. We half-ran, half-fast-walked back to the subway and made it back to our apartment (dripping with sweat) by 6 and then to the institute in dress clothes by 6:10. And then, after all that rushing, some other people were even later for song service practice anyway and we didn't start practicing until around 6:25... Oh well, at least we had our Vietnamese visas! (For photos, click here.)