Post-dinner, we hopped in a cab bound for a jimjilbang in a nearby city. We had planned to do this pre-Japan, but I just couldn't allow myself to go to the beautiful jimjilbang in Gwangju with the possibility of running into students there... So, armed with our provided outfits and a couple of towels, we entered the jimjilbang, spent about an hour in the hot tubs and saunas, contemplated getting massages and made our exit. There is something intrinsically beautiful, but also very strange, about being a foreigner in a jimjilbang. Little girls were following us from hot tub to hot tub and starring at us through the thick glass of the sauna. Some women seemed curious about us being there, while others seemed uncomfortable by our presence. Very strangey.
The next day, we had a lovely brunch with the Husteds that lasted well into the afternoon. They are such a delight. Then, we hopped the bus for Ruth's last peek at Seoul. We went to Namsan Tower, which we had planned to do about three times before, but always found a reason to further put it off. This was our last chance, though, so we dutifully climbed the hill to the cable car, rode up to the tower as the sun was setting and gazed at the city lights for awhile. Words cannot describe how I feel about this city. I'm not even sure why I love it so much, but after returning from Japan and feeling an extreme sense of calm and looking out over the bustling Sunday night traffic with a strange sense of pride, it became apparent to me (as it seems to over and over again) that this is where I should be right now. (Enough of this mushy stuff - yikes.)
After we came down from the tower, we met Sunny for dinner in Myeongdong. Ruth wanted to have Korean barbecue one last time so, over an open flame, we grilled some marinated beef, ate some pancake and talked and laughed for a real long time. Ruth and I had planned to leave the city earlyish so she could pack and we could enjoy the bottle of wine from Brad :) But, that didn't so much happen. Instead, we moved to a different restaurant and enjoyed some makgeolli. For several hours. When we got home at 3:15 the next morning, there was no way Ruth was packing, so we woke up the next morning still, er, feeling the effects of the night before, which, let me tell you, made for interesting packing for Ruth. Desiree told me later that she could hear us raucously giggling and shrieking about our state of events, which made for an entertaining wake up call for her. Don't worry though, we were responsible despite our next morning drunkenness. We made it to the airport bus with time to spare and, much to the chagrin of the other bus passengers, laughed and giggled all the way to the airport, recounting the previous night in all its glory.
And, thus ended Ruth's visit to Korea. What a delightful three weeks we shared! We learned a lot over those three weeks - about ourselves, about each other and several other topics... (Ruth's mission to make me nerdier was completed, sort of.) It was so, so, so amazing to be able to share my life here with her and for her to receive it with such open arms. It is crazy special (and touching and nothing short of AWESOME) to me that she would take three weeks of her life to come visit me in Korea - I'm pretty lucky to have such a fantastic best friend :)
No comments:
Post a Comment