Summer Never Ends

FIVE

𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝒏𝒆𝒙𝒕 𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝒎𝒚 𝒑𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒉𝒂𝒅 𝒑𝒍𝒂𝒏𝒔 𝒕𝒐 𝒃𝒆𝒈𝒊𝒏 𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒆𝒙𝒑𝒍𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒐𝒇 𝑺𝒆𝒐𝒖𝒍. They had a whole itinerary and everything. My parents were typical tourist travelers.

"We'll start with the palace, I heard it's beautiful, and we can visit the Hanok Village, of course, we'll have to visit the Gwangjang market, and then we'll end our day with the Seoul Tower-" My mom said

"Yes, we must make sure we visit the tower at night though," My dad says.

"That leaves a large break between the market and the tower then..." My mom says.

"We'll just spend more time resting then. We all still might be a bit jet-lagged," My dad suggests.

They both turn to look at me.

"Sounds good to me," I say, shrugging my shoulders. They both smile.

"Well, let's be on our way then!" My dad says, raising his voice in excitement.

Hours later, I had seen more of Seoul than I had ever seen in pictures. This city was huge and full of things to see. I went and saw a HUGE palace, and walked the streets of a city called Gangnam. Apparently, that's where Gangnam style came from. I know because I posed next to a large statue of the Gangnam-style hands. We were now on our way to the Gwangjang market, and my parents had prepared me for shopping. I had immediately agreed to that.

My phone buzzed, and I looked at it. It was a message from Ji-a. She and I had been texting multiple times since we had hung out that one day. I smiled as I unlocked my phone to respond.

"Texting your new friend?" My mom says, turning around from the front to look at me in the back.

"Yup," I say, giving her a thumbs up. My mom smiles and turns back around.

I look back at my phone and respond to the message Ji-a had sent.

'Do you want to hang out today? Some friends of mine and I are going out and I thought you might want to come with us and meet some more friends' Ji-a texted.

'Sure, I would love to come. When?' I reply, smiling. I was more and more grateful that I had met Ji-a every day.

'Tonight, at 6:00! We are going to noraebang!' She texts.

'Karaoke room**' She texts almost right after, correcting her mistake.

'I have got to learn some Korean while I'm here...make it easier on everyone else,' I thought.

'Sounds fun! I would love to!' I text back.

'Yay!! :)) I will pick you up at your hanok! Send me the address!' She texts back.

I sent her the address and set my phone aside once I had received a thumbs-up from Ji-a. I quickly picked it back up again and downloaded Kakao-Talk.

"Hey Mom, Dad...I was wondering if I could spend time with my friend tonight instead. She invited me to karaoke with other kids my age," I ask my parents, leaning forward between the two seats.

"But the Seoul Tow-" My dad starts.

"That sounds great! Have fun!" My mom says, elbowing my dad in the side.

"Ow." My dad says.

"Okay, thank you!" I say, smiling, and leaning back in my seat.

We arrived at the market and it was bustling with so many people. Koreans who sold food and clothes talked with other people who showed interest in their products. It was happy, and the mood was light and uplifting. My face reflected my thoughts as I walked into the market with my parents, looking at every single vendor I passed by. I was amazed at not only the incredibly low prices but the attentiveness of the people I walked past, flashing me their bright smiles. They probably wished I bought their product, but they still looked sweet.