Tuesday, December 11, 2012

A Bundle of Joy


Last weekend I headed to Seoul for some shopping, a Christmas dinner and to catch up with some Korean friends. It was a great, but cold weekend! I took an early KTX (Korea's rapid train) in to the city and headed to Myeong-dong, the district for shopping. I was really excited to shop at Forever 21, because it is one of my favorite stores at home. But I wasn't all that successful and only found a sweater and two pairs of earrings. But then I headed to H&M, which is probably my favorite store in the world. I hit the jackpot and got lots of warm clothes, many of which were on sale! And I finally bought an infinity knitted scarf from one of the street vendors. It is so warm and exactly what I was looking for.
After all my shopping, I headed to Itaewon-dong for the Christmas dinner. The meal was pretty good, but nothing like the delicious Thanksgiving dinner I got from one of the army wives in Daegu. But the group was large and festive, and I enjoyed the general merriment of sharing a Christmas meal with others, though I definitely still plan to do something for Christmas day! I then headed to Hongdae to check in to my hostel and put on some warmer clothes for the evening, which turned out to be my absolute favorite part of the weekend... the evening that is; not checking in to my hostel.
 
We met in Switzerland...
 
...and caught up in Korea!
That evening I met up with three Korean friends I made in Switzerland (we stayed in the same room at Heidi's Hostel). Such a coincidence, but one I am very thankful for. When I met them, I told them of my plans to teach in Korea and that we should meet up when I got to the country... and we did it! We headed to Jihoon's family's restaurant and had some delicious pork and pork sausages. Then we chatted and caught up on life over makgeolli. We tried some tasty kinds, including chestnut, which was my favorite, and citron, which has a flowery taste. These guys are so nice and a really good time! I wish they lived in Daegu so we could hang out more often. I definitely plan to stay in touch with them during my stay in Korea and visit with them again.
 

Sunday I went to Taco Bell, because it isn't a readily available fast food place here. I was so excited to eat some delicious TBell, that I overdid it and ordered a lot of food. But of course I ate it all. And it was good! But I think my favorite part of the meal was that the sauces had quirky sayings in Korean on them! It was a fun twist to my Taco Bel experience. But luckily the food tasted just like home. I was so nice to have a comfort meal! Then I headed back to Daegu on a four hour bus ride. The bus was excessively hot. I literally took my jeans off for the ride... granted I had leggings on underneath, so I wasn't revealing myself to the other patrons traveling to Daegu! Once I got home I had a nice evening of relaxing, laundry and TV watching.
 

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