Keopi please

Everything looks different in the harsh daylight. The buildings, signs and roads look dull and grimy. It doesn’t seem as attractive as it did the night before. Its spring but for me it’s as cold as winter, colder. Even my London coat doesn’t seem to keep out the chill, as I walk down the street. I decide to keep going straight, that way I can’t get lost, I don’t know the name of my motel, I don’t have a mobile and I can’t ask for directions, getting lost seems very plausible.

I feel like an intruder, there’s eyes on me from every angle, I feel like an outsider, like I don’t belong and it makes me nervous. I feel small bellow the towering buildings that line the street, it’s so unfamiliar to me, and disorientating. I’m desperate to find an internet café and am adamant there must be half a dozen, after all this is the online gaming capital of the world. I see nothing on the first floor of every building, its mostly convenient stores or restaurants. I’ve seen several bold signs displaying PC 방 on many of the buildings and I wonder if the PC refers to computers, but I can’t be sure and I’m too nervous to explore or ask strangers for any help. They were in fact internet cafes, 방 pronounced bang, means room, but I wasn’t to learn this for another couple of days.

After walking for a while I begin to give up hope of finding anything, and not wanting to be late for my boss, or get lost I decide to turn back. There was some instant coffee in a plastic tube back at the motel and as my boss had bought me milk, I figured all I needed was some sugar so decided to pop into one of the convenient stores. I could do with a cup of coffee by this point, the jet lag and early start was beginning to get to me. I pace the aisles but once again, bombarded by unfamiliar text and brands I can’t seem to find any. So I muster up all my courage and approach the man behind the counter.

“Sugar,” I say. I get a confused look and realise he has no idea what I want. I decide to try something else. “Coffee,” I say this time. He points me to the back of the shop where there’s a coffee machine. I’m impressed he knew the word and happy that I’ll be getting a caffeine fix, although it won’t be much of one judging by the size of the cups.

The Korean shop assistant had in fact no idea what I’d said in English though. The only reason he understood that I wanted coffee was because the Korean for coffee is 커피 pronounced keopi, and sounds almost identical, like coffee with a p instead of an f and he’s probably used to the poor pronunciation of foreigners.

I make it back to my motel no problem, walking straight meant it wasn’t hard to find. I have just over an hour left before my boss is expected to pick me up so I just relax on the bed, enjoying the cable television in my room. There’s a handful of English programmes to chose from and it makes me smile to hear the sound of a familiar language again.