"Who wants to go on an evening walk with Akak?!" I announced.
My sister's eyes lit up and she rolled off from the couch, "ME!"
I grinned at her and sauntered off to get ready.
It was Sunday evening and a slow weekend. We went to the movies yesterday and watched "The Incredibles 2" like early in the morning. Then, we ate lunch at a Tibetan restaurant that served not just Tibetan food but also Indian food as well. But, today had been a bit of a bad start on account of something had happened between one of my siblings and one of my parents. So, we were stuck going nowhere.
Although we didn't went anywhere major today, except for my mother and I in which we went to Hangang Park, I had fun spending time with my sister, Sarah. We had a huge age gap, so when we were young, we both had big fights. But as we grew older, we started to understand each other differences. Even though we might have very different preferences and interests, we could still laugh like there was no end.
And so, after I took a bath, we both went into the study room and Sarah started drying my hair. We talked about makeup and weddings and yes, I know, I am so not good in makeup but she showed all these different kinds of makeup that she wanted to put on me. Then, we continued spending our time with watching Markiplier playing "Doki Doki Literature Club." I was sitting on her lap while I animatedly explained the story of the game before it went down. The story of the game had been revealed to me last year. It all said in the comments. So, to those who hadn't known this game, I warn you now it's not what it seems to be.
Anyway, we were at the edge of our seats by the time we finished that video.
By evening, my father asked me to bring my youngest brother, Naufal, outside because he was staring at the screen for too long. I agreed and made that announcement that I'm going out so that I wouldn't just be alone with Naufal. Seoul might be safe but I rather walk the streets with another adult-like person.
We took an hour to get ready. I told her to wear something pretty because I wanted to take some pictures with her as the subject. But, as I waited, I got distracted by Katniss Everdeen holding hands with Peeta. Then suddenly, Haziq, my other brother, who had just come back from the gym, wanted to follow too. By the time we--Sarah, Haziq and I--exited the building, it was near to 7pm. Naufal had decided not to join because he had already "went out" to the playroom with my mother.
We walked around Insadong, a known cultural place full with shops selling cultural items. The streets were paved with smooth grey stones instead of tar roads. Many small booths were set up along the sidewalk, selling multitude of items ranging from pretty necklaces and bracelets, printed bags and fried snacks. It was brimmed with people, locals and foreigners alike.
We took pictures and my plan for Sarah to become a subject didn't exactly work. She didn't seem to want to take photos. Haziq took the camera from me since he was more of a professional than I am. I was stuck with his phone which had better camera resolution than mine for some unknown reason.
We entered 7-Eleven because Haziq fretted that he was hungry. We walked through the aisle looking at the packaged cookies and biscuit that we can or cannot eat. Sarah kept complaining that Haziq took a long while to choose. He just kept walking up and down the same aisle, holding onto one package and then to another. We ended up going out of the convenience store empty-handed.
The sun was setting and the skies had this blueish purplish hue that I loved when we pass through this one store that caught my attention.
I pointed out, "Look, a Storm Trooper."
We all stopped and looked at the human-sized Storm Trooper staring out of the glass window. The figurine was inside a pretty interesting shop.
"Let's go in!" Haziq proclaimed.
"No!" Sarah yelled. "We don't have a business in there!"
Then, they both started arguing about whether we go in or not. Sarah said it will be embarrassing with everybody staring and all. Haziq was like who cares, is not like we are doing something wrong. I was torn between the two. I wanted to go in but my anxiety kicked in.
Who like being stared at? Especially when you are a Muslim in a foreign country.
Suddenly, Haziq took my hand and Sarah took another. Then, they started to pull in opposite directions. Haziq was clearly strong, he had the upper hand on the pull, but Sarah was unmoved. We were clearly blocking the sidewalk with people maneuvering around us.
Sarah's objection made Haziq gave up on the pull. We were causing a bit of a scene and so, they decided on rock-paper-scissors; whoever win, will get to choose what to do. I stood by the side, watching with amusement.
Sarah won. She had a smug look and Haziq started to pull us away from the storefront. Then, Sarah stopped us.
"Betul ke nak masuk ni?"
"Ask akak," Haziq said, then he turned to me. "Do you want to go?"
"Why not?"
I mean, seriously, why not? It was once-in-a lifetime thing. We might never cross roads with this store again. Apparently, my curiosity overrides my anxiety.
Haziq grinned, Sarah protested and we both went in to a store that sells figurines.
The lights caught my attention at first. They were embedded between the tiles and each lights had different colors of blue, yellow, green and white. Then, my eyes met the huge Iron Man statue, posing to fly. The music was loud and as usual, unfamiliar to my ears. But, I was in awe and I breathed in the sense of adventure.
We ventured in deeper and saw the shelves were lined with myriad of figurines from Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics and anime. It was a store that Naufal and my father would certainly like to visit. But, I tell you, the price of those figurines will drain my money empty. They were selling real merch items, not fake ones.
We moved from one aisle to the next. Haziq commented that one of his friends would have like this particular item he had showed to us. We spent a bit of a time at the anime section, recognizing the characters that we had watched before. Then, we stopped at a tray full with plastic-covered K-Pop albums and Sarah was fangirling over them.
I was glad we had the guts to go inside the store. I knew that if we were with my parents, it will be less of an adventure. It had tested my wits of doing something new and I had promised to myself that I will stand true and brave towards the new. I'm scared and I will always be, but I need to remind myself that I will also live once and I should take that chance of newness after all.
After I went back, I told Haziq, "Can we visit each and every store in Insadong before we leave?"
He grinned, "Yes."
My sister's eyes lit up and she rolled off from the couch, "ME!"
I grinned at her and sauntered off to get ready.
It was Sunday evening and a slow weekend. We went to the movies yesterday and watched "The Incredibles 2" like early in the morning. Then, we ate lunch at a Tibetan restaurant that served not just Tibetan food but also Indian food as well. But, today had been a bit of a bad start on account of something had happened between one of my siblings and one of my parents. So, we were stuck going nowhere.
Although we didn't went anywhere major today, except for my mother and I in which we went to Hangang Park, I had fun spending time with my sister, Sarah. We had a huge age gap, so when we were young, we both had big fights. But as we grew older, we started to understand each other differences. Even though we might have very different preferences and interests, we could still laugh like there was no end.
And so, after I took a bath, we both went into the study room and Sarah started drying my hair. We talked about makeup and weddings and yes, I know, I am so not good in makeup but she showed all these different kinds of makeup that she wanted to put on me. Then, we continued spending our time with watching Markiplier playing "Doki Doki Literature Club." I was sitting on her lap while I animatedly explained the story of the game before it went down. The story of the game had been revealed to me last year. It all said in the comments. So, to those who hadn't known this game, I warn you now it's not what it seems to be.
Anyway, we were at the edge of our seats by the time we finished that video.
By evening, my father asked me to bring my youngest brother, Naufal, outside because he was staring at the screen for too long. I agreed and made that announcement that I'm going out so that I wouldn't just be alone with Naufal. Seoul might be safe but I rather walk the streets with another adult-like person.
We took an hour to get ready. I told her to wear something pretty because I wanted to take some pictures with her as the subject. But, as I waited, I got distracted by Katniss Everdeen holding hands with Peeta. Then suddenly, Haziq, my other brother, who had just come back from the gym, wanted to follow too. By the time we--Sarah, Haziq and I--exited the building, it was near to 7pm. Naufal had decided not to join because he had already "went out" to the playroom with my mother.
We walked around Insadong, a known cultural place full with shops selling cultural items. The streets were paved with smooth grey stones instead of tar roads. Many small booths were set up along the sidewalk, selling multitude of items ranging from pretty necklaces and bracelets, printed bags and fried snacks. It was brimmed with people, locals and foreigners alike.
We took pictures and my plan for Sarah to become a subject didn't exactly work. She didn't seem to want to take photos. Haziq took the camera from me since he was more of a professional than I am. I was stuck with his phone which had better camera resolution than mine for some unknown reason.
We entered 7-Eleven because Haziq fretted that he was hungry. We walked through the aisle looking at the packaged cookies and biscuit that we can or cannot eat. Sarah kept complaining that Haziq took a long while to choose. He just kept walking up and down the same aisle, holding onto one package and then to another. We ended up going out of the convenience store empty-handed.
The sun was setting and the skies had this blueish purplish hue that I loved when we pass through this one store that caught my attention.
I pointed out, "Look, a Storm Trooper."
We all stopped and looked at the human-sized Storm Trooper staring out of the glass window. The figurine was inside a pretty interesting shop.
"Let's go in!" Haziq proclaimed.
"No!" Sarah yelled. "We don't have a business in there!"
Then, they both started arguing about whether we go in or not. Sarah said it will be embarrassing with everybody staring and all. Haziq was like who cares, is not like we are doing something wrong. I was torn between the two. I wanted to go in but my anxiety kicked in.
Who like being stared at? Especially when you are a Muslim in a foreign country.
Suddenly, Haziq took my hand and Sarah took another. Then, they started to pull in opposite directions. Haziq was clearly strong, he had the upper hand on the pull, but Sarah was unmoved. We were clearly blocking the sidewalk with people maneuvering around us.
Sarah's objection made Haziq gave up on the pull. We were causing a bit of a scene and so, they decided on rock-paper-scissors; whoever win, will get to choose what to do. I stood by the side, watching with amusement.
Sarah won. She had a smug look and Haziq started to pull us away from the storefront. Then, Sarah stopped us.
"Betul ke nak masuk ni?"
"Ask akak," Haziq said, then he turned to me. "Do you want to go?"
"Why not?"
I mean, seriously, why not? It was once-in-a lifetime thing. We might never cross roads with this store again. Apparently, my curiosity overrides my anxiety.
Haziq grinned, Sarah protested and we both went in to a store that sells figurines.
The lights caught my attention at first. They were embedded between the tiles and each lights had different colors of blue, yellow, green and white. Then, my eyes met the huge Iron Man statue, posing to fly. The music was loud and as usual, unfamiliar to my ears. But, I was in awe and I breathed in the sense of adventure.
We ventured in deeper and saw the shelves were lined with myriad of figurines from Star Wars, Marvel, DC Comics and anime. It was a store that Naufal and my father would certainly like to visit. But, I tell you, the price of those figurines will drain my money empty. They were selling real merch items, not fake ones.
We moved from one aisle to the next. Haziq commented that one of his friends would have like this particular item he had showed to us. We spent a bit of a time at the anime section, recognizing the characters that we had watched before. Then, we stopped at a tray full with plastic-covered K-Pop albums and Sarah was fangirling over them.
I was glad we had the guts to go inside the store. I knew that if we were with my parents, it will be less of an adventure. It had tested my wits of doing something new and I had promised to myself that I will stand true and brave towards the new. I'm scared and I will always be, but I need to remind myself that I will also live once and I should take that chance of newness after all.
After I went back, I told Haziq, "Can we visit each and every store in Insadong before we leave?"
He grinned, "Yes."
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| Insadong, Seoul |
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| Photos courtesy of Haziq |
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| Because my photos are in Haziq's phone XD |
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