Seoul Searching: I just called...to say...I love you

Greetings!

Its been a fun week here on the Asian continent! Classes went smoothly, Wednesday was another holiday (woohoo no Third Grade Wednesday!!), and so far this weekend has been a BLAST!

Last night (Friday), Leigh, Hil and I met at Yeouido to go out for dinner. We ate at a typical tiny Korean hole-in-the-wall and laughed all the way through dinner. Leigh almost choked quite a few times. Then we stopped at this gelato place...oh my...BEST ICE CREAM EVER! I had a small cone with white chocolate and macadamia nuts, chai tea latte, and panna cotta scoops. Please drop whatever you are doing and go there right now. You will not regret it - I promise!!

After the gelato we took a trip to the Han river, the large main river in downtown Seoul. Every Korean I have talked to pronounces it the "rebar"...you know, "Last Saturday I went to the rebar." And I'm thinking, "Was there construction where they went? Oh - the river. Riiiight." The whole shore was filled with canoodling couples so naturally we tried to be as obnoxious and loud as possible, as to bring much honor to our people. All along the "rebar" there are these permanent blankets that you can rent and sit on, kind of like spaces at a drive in movie, except you sit instead of park and you look at the beautiful "rebar" instead of watching a movie. Sounds like a rip off to me.

We perched ourselves on the bank and took some pictures:

A picture really can't even show how beautiful it was, but I tried anyway.

I think someone said something funny and I fell over laughing. I am not worshipping the rebar.

Hilary and Leigh playing in the grass.

Arrrrrgh - there be PIRATES in Korea, matey!!

Apparently someone has a thing for Colonel Sanders...

This sign answered all my questions about Korean driving.

Today, being Saturday, we went to Yonsei University to play tennis and badminton with some homeys from church. I wore myself out and had a lot of fun whacking that birdie around. I also acted as line judge and ball retriever during the tennis tournament. We played for about 2 hours and then cleaned up and went to dinner. We at "shabu shabu" which was beef in a soup with green onions and noodles. Plus all the kimchi you could eat! WOW! By the way, when you eat at any Korean restaurant here, all the side dishes are free, so if you want more kimchi just ask. Mom, you should try that at Seoul Garden.

After dinner we took a walk to Sinchon station and found a noraebahng along the way. What is a noraebahng, you ask? Well, "Norae" is the Korean word for "sing", and "bahng" is the Korean word for "room". So its a singing room. Its like karaoke except all the groups get their own personal lounge to sing in. They are EVERYWHERE. I think one out of every two establishments here is a noraebahng. We sang some classics like "That thing you do" by the Wonders, "I just called to say I love you" by Stevie Wonder, and of course "Livin on a Prayer" by Bon Jovi. So much fun.

Here are some pictures from tonight's escapades: