Arrival in Seoul

I landed safely in Seoul yesterday afternoon after a 10 hour flight. The weather at the moment is in the mid twenties so I can cope with that, although it is quite warm at night. I am of course still trying to get over the jet lag; Korea is eight hours ahead of the U.K. My hosts live outside of the main city centre but it still feels busy to me! From the window I can see many apartment blocks and down into the main shopping area. Here is a picture from the apartment block.

It is about a 15 mins walk to the tube station. Today, Tuesday, I have been trying to understand the tube network. I went to the South side of the city with my hosts. You have probably heard of Gangnam district. It is a very popular place to go shopping, but expensive! We just went to look, and then went for some lunch. I was surprised to see how busy it was. I also went into the local church where my hosts go to the early morning service at 6am. I didn't join them for the service today as I was still asleep! However I went into the Sanctuary: it is very big and probably holds about 1,000 people. They have a multi site church with classes taking place during the day including an art class this afternoon. The church is very much a community place. My initial impressions of Seoul is that it reminds me of America: busy, big tower blocks, and even the cars look American, but yet the city is surrounded by hills and mountains. I am very pleased that at the back of the apartment where I am staying there is some trees.

Here is a picture of the back of the apartment.

 The people seem friendly, and polite especially the older generation. The children in the street kept looking at me perhaps they haven't seen a white person before! There is quite a bit to take in, and I am glad I had a taste of Korean food before so I am little familiar with some of the food. However when we went shopping it did feel quite a lot to take in, the supermarket was on two levels and you can even try some of the food before you buy which was a great help in working out if I would like some of the food.