Assalamualaikum.
Guys, I’m giving up on my dream to be a travel blogger. It’s too stressful! Telling people how to go there, what to do is too much for me! I barely remember all the routes I took, and to stick to the rules of posting day-by-day according to my itinerary is too boring for me. I want to tell my story how I want it and when I want it.
Besides, there are a lot of better travel bloggers out there. Why did I bother to compete? :(
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Remember when I say we did not eat much in Korea because of the price? On the last day, while we were checking our expenses, we realised, we had a lot left for one good full meal.
Funny thing is, we all agreed to eat something that represents Korea and we chose Jajangmyeon! Korean dish la sangat. -.-
We found one vegetarian restaurant near our guesthouse in Myeondong but what to do, it’s a day after chuseok! Kedai pun tak bukak lagi. :(
So we ended up in a seafood restaurant.
Our meal cost around 45,000won (approximately RM135++) with ramyeon and water as 'service' (free).
The side dishes are so delicious. We had to shyly called 'ahjeomoni, yegi-yo.' to ask for refill. repeatedly!
The restaurant is quite small but cozy.
We were actually quite was-was when we first entered the restaurant because almost all restaurants, including seafood restaurant serves pork. Luckily this one didn't and we were assured by all the 'from Malaysia' and muslim name we saw written on the wall.
One of the customers helped us took this picture because we were too pitiful with our selfie here and there. Gombawoyo ahjushi.
Throughout our stay in Korea, this restaurant makes me spill all the hangul that I know because nobody inside the restaurant, be it the restaurant owner or customers knew how to speak English. *now, who complain that I watch too much of K-dramas and variety show hah? Who? Who?*
I admire the courage that old people have to approach strangers. Though they knew we did not spoke the same language, they kept making small talks with body language and all to make us feel welcome. Terharu sangat. We were so touched, we agree, unanimously, that this is the highlight of our trip.
The owner, she's so nice and cute! She kept coming to check on us. When we asked for more side dishes, she looked impressed and kept praising us on how well we eat. :D nomu massisoyo, ahjeomoni. She's so curious about Malaysia and Islam, she shot us a lot of questions! She's so excited with all the information she learnt from our conversation, I caught her bragging to her customers. cute.
Among the small talks that we make,
‘Haksaeng?’ (student?)
'Anniyo. Office saram ieyo.' (No, I am someone who works in office.)
‘eodi something?’ (where are you from?)
Malaysia.
‘something Malaysia something tegowo’ (Is Malaysia hot?)
'Yea, manheu. jigeum tokate-yo.' (Yes, a lot. Like the weather now. (It was during summer))
‘something something muslim saram?’ (are you a muslim?)
'Yea, Uri-nun muslim saram ieyo.' (Yes we are muslims.)
Point my hijab 'tegowo?' (is it hot wearing hijab?)
'Anniyo.' (Not.)
Point my hijab ‘something muslim saram something haeyo?’ (Do all muslim need to wear hijab?)
'Yea. Kuk.' (Yes. Must).
Makes a gesture like purdah ‘igeonun’? (How about purdah? Is it compulsory too?)
'Anniyo.' (No.)
Still about hijab ‘something something jib-e nun?’ (Do you have to wear it at home too?)
'Anniyo.' Making and X using our hand, 'nampyeon, abuji, oppa, dongsaeng.' (No, we don’t have to in front of our husband, father and brothers.)
And Atin suddenly said Meori. Nampyeon. Puyojo. Which means Hair. Husband. To show to. We all laughed. Ahjeomoni, sorry we give you the wrong fact!
LOL.
Ok I admit. I do not know how to speak proper Korean let alone construct a sentence. but why do you need to? As long as you can catch the key point, all is well. Hehe.
Seriously, I have that kind of ability.
I even understand some of the short stories that the ahjumma told us like ‘other muslims had eaten at the restaurant. One of them wears purdah. They are all student from Malaysia and bla bla bla.
I even understand some of gossips I heard on the subway! There is this one girl, she’s telling her other two friends how she has a crush on her co-worker. How he is so handsome, and whether or not she needs to confess. And there is this group of ahjushi, discussing about muslim and its origin after they saw us.
I am so good at it I sometimes amazed myself. Hehe. Come to think of it, It’s not only Korean. I did it with my mandarin speaking colleagues too, to the point that they all think I know Mandarin and I just say I do. When in fact, I only read their body language and catch the key point here and there and assume the content which is correct almost all the time. hehe.
sshhh. Don’t tell them. :D
I don't remember exactly where is her restaurant, but it is beside a restaurant famously known as 'Myeondong Ahjumma' in Myeondong. We find her by going to the tourist information centre to ask for any seafood restaurant around Myeondong and they referred us to 'Myeondong Ahjumma' but Myeondong Ahjumma served pork so we shifted to this restaurant instead.
I'm glad we did. :D
When it's time to say goodbye, the owner kept saying gamsahamida, muslim saram, yepoyo. repeatedly until I started to think that I am indeed, pretty! hehe.
p/s: If somehow you go to her restaurant after this, can you show her this picture and tell her we miss her so much. :D
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