Midterms Week

I am one lucky lady to get most of midterms week off.  And, midterms couldn't have come at a better time.  All last week, because of various goings-on at home, I was really missing good ol' Iowa, and more importantly, my people there.  Having several days off in which to enjoy Seoul and my friends here were just what the homesickness doctor ordered.  Here's a rundown of what the last several days entailed:

Monday - I went hiking.  Cue the crazy music (and see the previous post for pictures and zero details :) ).  So fun.  It was a perfect day with some seriously fantastic lady pals.  (How did I get sooo lucky to make such great friends here?)  In short, it was a great, great day.

Tuesday - Wah wah wah.  I had to spend a half day at school.  I got so much done though and by the time I was told to go home, I almost felt guilty for getting to leave and have the rest of the week off...  After a much needed Skype conversation with my pal Ruth, I got Indian food at our new stomping grounds Agra Taj with Leah and Darren.  Yet another delightful meal.  After dinner, a fantastic phone conversation with Jill and Andrea happened as they drove home to Iowa from Colorado.  (As a side note, I cannot express enough how much of a lifesaver Skype has been during my time here!  Being able to talk to and see the people I miss so so much makes it possible to fully enjoy this experience.)

Wednesday - I spent the whole day in Seoul with my friend Sunny. The main focus of the day was looking around Gyeongbokgung Palace.  I had been to the palace several times before, but never when it was open, so it was fun to finally walk around the grounds, especially with a Korean dude with some perspective as to what we were seeing.  A very fun day, indeed.

Thursday - Winter shopping in Myeongdong with Diane and Desiree.  We also took my first ever photobooth pictures, which believe me, was an event in and of itself.  We sat in an insane little photo booth, took about eight pictures with ridiculous (in the best way possible) background options, decided which of those were the best four and proceeded to hop behind a curtain to decorate the crap out of the chosen pictures.  Korean teenage girls take this stuff seriously, as did we (and by we, I mean Desiree and Diane - I was a proud spectator.)  I love love love Korean culture and I think it's these cutesy little things that kill me the most.  Also, that was the day Steve Jobs passed away, so the Apple retailer in Myeongdong had a small memorial set up upon entry into the store.  Since all of us are the proud owners of various Apple products, we ventured into the store to see what the memorial was all about.  On the right side of the store, a small station was set up in which people wrote messages on brightly colored post-it notes to memorialize Mr. Jobs.  Desiree added her thoughts to the colorful menagerie of messages.  It was interesting to see all of the sentiments in several different languages, all meant to honor an international cultural icon.  Very interesting indeed.

Friday - We had thrown around the idea of venturing south about three hours to Mr. Shin's hometown of Andong to take in their traditional mask festival, but we were all beat and getting (or getting over) colds, so we opted, instead, to chill on Friday.  After a (delightful) marathon phone call with Jill and Andrea on their way back to Colorado, I wrote a serious amount of snail mail and hung out with Miss Desiree all afternoon.  Then, that night, Diane, Desiree, Thanh and I went to Jukjeon (a small, ritzyish neighborhood in the nearby satellite area of Bundang) for Mexican food.  The food wasn't all that impressive, but it was a really fun girls night out in a different area.  Despite us all fending off one sickness or another, we decided afterward to noraebong upon our return to the Gwangj.  It was definitely one of the most chill noraebong experiences I've had, but it was somehow exactly what we needed.  Something about completely letting loose with your pals in a make-a-fool-of-yourself-without-caring kind of way will always make my night.

Saturday - Super chill day of doing next to nothing, then dinner and drinks near Gangbyeon (where I take the bus to catch the train in Seoul) with Sunny.  I haven't had a gin and tonic since I was in Iowa - it was just what I needed.  Good drinks and awesome conversation made for a delightful Saturday night.

Sunday - Usually this is the day when I do nothing, but since that was what most of my Saturday had entailed, I had an itch to go do something outside (weird, I know).  Miss Desiree (always a trooper) and I spent the afternoon walking around the park near our neighborhood, then enjoying coffee and deep conversation at a nearby cafe.  I took some crazy flower pictures of which I'm pretty proud (even if they did sort of happen by accident...).  Then, we got pizza and the Friday night crew watched a movie as we ate our pizza at Desiree's.  What a perfect cap to my five day weekend :)  And, to top it off, I had the most delightful skype date with the folks.  Gosh I miss them!