Early and late at the same time?

I was late again! I was supposed to meet Yun Sook at the Edae subway station at 2pm. It was 230pm by the time I got there. It was only after I had called her that I realized I was a day early! Dammit… I was already there! I couldn’t just go home. So I shopped a bit. I consoled myself with another three pairs of shoes. *agog* I had to place a shoe ban on myself. I came here with one pair of sneakers and now I have an additional seven pairs of shoes. *pretending to be upset while surreptitiously doing the happy dance* No more!
Then I had pasta for lunch. *drool* I love Korean food, don’t get me wrong. But after not having any other kind of food for weeks, I needed to have some pasta. Besides, there was a deal: if you ordered a pasta dish then you got a small pizza for free! Well, I didn’t think I would eat it all but I wasn’t going to pass it up either. Along with a drink, the grand total came to…*drum roll, please!* A whopping $8.50. I love Korea.

I got home around 5pm and was informed that Sook Mo #2 and hubby (which would be Sam Chon #2) had invited us out for dinner. Part of the reason being, my Sam Chon #3 was flying in from China to see my grandparents. He hadn’t seen them in nearly seventeen years. (He’s my grandmother’s favorite. Shh…it’s a secret that everybody knows.) He had said he would take the bus to the apartment from the airport so Mom and Emo went out at 530pm to meet him. They didn’t come back until nearly 7pm! Apparently he had gotten the time wrong but didn’t have the decency to call anyone to let them know. (He’s hardly my favorite. Like that’s a secret…) *glares in disgust*

By the time we all squeezed ourselves into one car and managed to get in the vicinity of the restaurant, it was nearly 9pm. Sook Mo #2 and Sam Chon #2 had been waiting for hours! *turning my head the slight fraction of an inch to glare at Sam Chon #3 again* Besides that, I knew I shouldn’t have come. Sashimi was on the menu again. I was pretty damn sick of eating raw fish. Especially since I don’t particularly care for tuna and that’s all this restaurant served. Granted it was pretty to look at since it was all different kinds of tuna but it was tuna nevertheless. *grimace*

Although I was extremely irritated, I did notice something peculiar about the neighborhood when we got out of the car. I just couldn’t put my finger on it. As soon as we were finished with dinner and stepped outside again, it hit me. WEED! Yup, yup. That’s what it smelled like. I was cracking up and told my mom. After a few moments, she had to agree. Man, it was pungent. Anyway, we went up to my aunt and uncle’s apartment where we were greeted by their UGLY Pekingese. Its homeliness was enhanced by the fact that my relatives had decided (for some insane reason) to dye its ears and tail a fluorescent yellow.

After some more small talk, we loaded back up in the car to head back to Emo’s. She was in a hurry because she had forgotten it was her husband’s birthday and it seemed he was a bit miffed. As we left, Sook Mo handed me a present. *hesitant…* I am very appreciative that she wanted to get me something. However, the fact of the matter is, her taste is very different from mine. So I ended up with a silver purse and an overly glittery bracelet. *pokes at it with a stick* Oh, well.

Happy Birthday to Chi!

My morning was uneventful. Chi and I decided to meet up again. His birthday was coming up and I had told him I would buy him dinner so we scheduled to meet up at Gangnam. And I was 40 minutes late! Oops!! *very ashamed* I think he was pretty pissed but tried to be nice and play it off. So the first we needed to do was get him fed so he would be less angry. We couldn’t find the place at first but at least I broke the mood by almost falling on my face. Woohoo! Go, me!! He insisted that I made an oral farting noise as I proceeded to catch myself mid-fall but I think he was just making shit up. *embarrassed…*

Dinner was super yum! It was soba but with udon noodles. We also had fish katsu. That was REALLY good. And I don’t even like fish! We walked around a bit and looked at all the little vendor carts then went to a coffee shop. Hmm…Starbuck’s knockoff maybe? *quizzical look* The logo looked similar, it had ‘star’ in its name (ProwStar) and they served…freddachinos?!? Oh, lordy. Couldn’t they have gotten just a bit more creative?

Chi and I had ourselves another insightful conversation that led to dual headaches. *throb* So after a few hours, we perused the vendor carts once more. I ended up with three glitter headbands (that I will probably never wear), a pair of brown earrings (there is a possibility I might wear those) and a SUPER CUTE green rock bracelet that will be the reigning queen of all my accessories. (Yes. All five of them.) *doing a mock cheerleading routine in my head* By then I was in dire need of fortification. I am not a shopper at heart.

We had dukkbokki on the street. It was a little too spicy but I think I was handling it ok. *tears streaming down my face* Then a loud noise assaulted my ears. It was some Korean boy trying to impress his friends by speaking English like some sort of L.A. gangster. It was sort of funny in that he made them stop at the stand we were eating at and practically forced them to eat by screeching obscenities like “This is the fucking shit, yo! Damn. You gotta try this shit. It the fucking BEST!!” *paused mid-bite, startled*

We quickly finished up and left before the boy was forced to make his companions ingest more food just to stay at our cart. I was on the hunt…ice cream was on the top of my list. By this time, night had fallen and all the drunks were out in the streets, trying to make their way home. Or to another bar. Sometimes it’s hard to tell. Chi had paused to light a cigarette when I espied a pair of men weaving down the street. Unfortunately, Chi’s back was turned and he missed the unfolding drama.

As I stood there, watching open mouthed, they continued to make their haphazard way in our general direction. Their upright position seemed only possible due to the arms they had looped around each other’s shoulders when, all of a sudden, one of the men straightened up and threw off the other man’s arm. He then strode off with purpose into the convenience store I was standing in front of with no second glance back at his friend. (Dare I call him the man’s friend?!?) In the meanwhile, the second man had no chance to prepare himself for this sudden lack of support and had promptly fallen over onto this back!!

He actually laid there, floundering for a full minute, with a confused look on his face as if he had no idea what just happened or how he had ended up on the ground. *struggling not to burst into hysterical giggles* He stood up, completely pissed off. But the problem was, he had no idea where his companion had gone to since he had been on the ground for the most part. He glared angrily at the general populace, who was paying him no mind except for me, and staggered around a bit until his friend reappeared. Then they wandered off together like nothing untoward had occurred. *mouth hanging open in amazement*

Although Chi was quick to reprimand me for staring as well as bursting into loud laughter as soon as the men were out of sight, he was sorry to have missed it. *laughs* We did finally get me my ice cream before I caught a cab home. It was enough excitement for one evening! HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHI!!

To market, to market...

The early morning market was…early. Surprising, no??? Gawd, my eyes were so bloodshot and my stomach still uncomfortably full. Jung Min was crazy and decided to join us even though she has been going to school incessantly in preparation of this play that they’re putting on in June. She even has to go to school on the weekends and over night for rehearsals. It’s insane. *shakes head in disbelief* So anyway, we were out of the apartment by 430am.

The market was amazing. There were stalls upon stalls of shoes. And I mean nearly two warehouses full! And you would not believe the amount of ugly shoes there are. So I took pictures of them. It’s kind of funny the disparity between children’s shoes and adult shoes here. Kids’ shoes: SUPER CUTE! Adult shoes: ATROCIOUSLY HIDEOUS! There is no justice in this world. Since Sook Mo insisted, I did find at least two pairs of shoes to buy. It was a difficult task. I felt rather like a truffle snuffling pig. *snort*

The oddest sight in the entire market, in my opinion at least, was the men hauling around HUGE boxes. It was only when we were getting ready to leave the market that I realized what they were hauling around. SHOES! Duh… *smacks self in head* They have to get the shoes somehow. So they ship them in huge boxes and these poor men have to lug them around to the right stalls. *ouch for the backs!*

While waiting for Sook Mo to conclude her business, Jung Min entertained me by making faces. Puhahaha.

We ended up waiting a bit out by the street for Sam Chon to come pick us up. Jung Min pointed out this waterway that was in the middle of the street. It’s not at street level but further down like a man-made ravine. And it’s really pretty! There are sidewalks with trees lining the water’s edge where people take strolls. It’s completely at odds with the hustle and bustle of the market place. Korea is a country full of contradictions. Anyway, we dropped off the merchandise at the store and then Jung Min and I passed out after a brief breakfast.

When I awoke, there was no one in the apartment. I relaxed for a bit and finished off my book. (You know, the one I started yesterday.) Then I started getting bored. I thought I would head out to the shoe store only to realize I couldn’t. Because I didn’t have a key to lock up the apartment after me! I tried to call Sook Mo at the shoe store but the phone was on the fritz. After a moment or two of despair, I graciously settled into my confinement by polishing off the rest of the snacks from the previous evening and catching up on my Korean soaps. I even took pictures of the cityscape outside the windows. *pleased with myself*

Eventually, Sook Mo figured out my predicament and came over to let me out of the apartment. After hanging out for a moment or two, I left to go back to Emo’s. On the way, I got a phone call. HEY! I still had Hyun Ji’s cell phone. Wow, that really would have come in handy when I was stuck back in the apartment. *grr…* The call was to let me know that dinner was going to be at the Norangjin fish market again. So the plan was to meet everyone there. We stuffed ourselves silly, mostly with crab this time. And I went home with a full stomach, wishing for death once again.

OH! Before I forget...I caught the subway to go to the fish market. And while I was there, I stopped by the bathroom. Guess what I found? A condom machine! That's so weird!! I don't think of Korean people having sex. I mean, I know they need to procreate but I'm not used to 'Korea' and 'anything to do with sex' in the same thought. I found it funny how happy the condom looked. And what in the world is it holding? Lollipops?? Balloons??? Awww. Look! The naked people are happy too. Because they treasure their life and are helping to stop AIDS. (It's the slogan on the condom machine, people!)

The eating machine

I was still asleep this morning when Matt called. Exceedingly annoyed by the ringing sound in my ears, I woke up to realize that my grandmother was trying to answer the phone. Shit. The phone here is a little retarded. It’s really hard to click the button to answer the phone and since it will continue to ring once or twice after you’ve answered, sometimes you end up hanging up on the person because you click again thinking it didn’t work the first time. Does that make sense?!? And that is what happened. Oops! Luckily, he called back.

Afterwards, blogging and milk took up the rest of my morning. Who am I kidding? Once I resigned up for MySpace, it started taking over my whole life! *watching in amazement as the hours roll by* Sook Mo #1 called to say that Jung Min would be out of school early this evening so I should make an effort to be at the shoe shop by 5pm. I was to bring a small assortment of personal belongings in order to spend the night. The bribe: going to the early morning market the following day. I took the bait.

Now I know how my family works. And the reality of the situation was that Jung Min probably wouldn’t be home anywhere near the time Sook Mo said she would be. So I played around on the interwebs for a little while longer then moseyed on out of here. I made it to the correct subway station by about 630pm and then had to wait for the village bus. It took FOREVER! For whatever reason, all the buses in the city seemed to roll by except the one that I needed. So by the time it came, a huge crowd was trying to pack themselves into a ‘bus’ that was actually an over-sized van!

Screw that. I wasn’t going to wait for the next one. So I caught a cab. And THEN I found, to my utter delight, that some bird had crapped on my backpack. *my forced look of utter delight* Joy… I arrived at 7pm and was not at all surprised to find that Sook Mo was the only one there. But the tragedy was, none of the cousins would be home until close to midnight. *trapped with only a book to read* (But thank god I had that book!) And then the feeding frenzy began. *groans*

I had eaten a fairly large and rather late lunch prior to my departure for the shoe shop. Sook Mo, not taking that into account even though I mentioned it a multitude of times, insisted that I must be hungry. After not so successfully putting her off for an hour, I caved in a let her order me the black noodles. She asked me if I wanted the large size to which I emphatically answered, “NO!” But I think she got it for me anyway. *cries* About an hour after that, I was unwillingly dragged to the supermarket to pick out snacks. Dutifully, I went about my business.

Once we got back to the store, I tried to eat some of the goodies but found that I could only fit about a bite or two since I was so FREAKING full! *miserably shoving food into my mouth* And then she had the GALL to ask me if I was hungry every ten minutes for the next hour. *cries* Magically, at some point later that evening, she produced a bag of soondeh. I don’t know where she got it from because I didn’t see her leave the store or see anyone come in. But it was fresh because it was hot! *SO confused and a little scared* She seemed sorely disappointed that I could only choke down two bites and gave up for the time being. *relieved*

Finally, we locked up the store for the evening and headed to their apartment. As soon as we got back, everyone started coming home. YAY! We were all having a good time catching up when Sook Mo pulled out the watermelon! *pretending to eat while slipping food over to the cousins* By then it was almost 1am, I was nearly comatose from being fed for over 5 hours straight and we needed to get up at 430am to go to the early morning market SO we all went to bed. *still miserably full…*

I love me some milk

Today was a lazy day. I think I’m entitled every now and then. I went outside for a food run about noon-ish. I targeted the local drug store, the Tous les Jours bakery and the Seven Eleven. I don’t know if I ever explained about Korean stores and I’m too lazy to recheck my past blogs so I’ll just tell you again. *yawns* The stores here are not like our grocery stores in the States. If you want school supplies, you go to the stationary store. If you want anything medical, you go to the pharmacy. (Although the confusing thing for me is why the pharmacy stocks up in hair dye…) If you want bread, you CAN go to the supermarket but why would you when you can get better at the bakery? And so on and so forth, you get the idea.

Anyway, I needed waterproof Band-Aids for my navel so I could shower. It’s really not a good thing if I can’t shower. And besides, I wanted an excuse to say navel. I really don’t use that word often enough. Probably because I don’t LIKE it. Belly button is so much cooler. Oh, yeah. *tries valiantly to redirect myself* Back to the topic at hand…I also needed to go the bakery because I can’t go a day without my rice cake donut! And finally to the Seven Eleven because Heather and Liz wax poetic over these triangle sushi type rolls they sell there so I wanted to try one out. (Much to my dismay because they SUCK!) *glares at the sisters for their bad taste*

But I was able to get multiple flavors of milk and that made me supremely happy. *doing the happy dance while simultaneously shaking my banana milk, strawberry milk, coffee milk and chocolate milk* Bliss! I don’t know if this next part if funny or not but I thought so. I offered my mom some milk in the kitchen and asked her what flavor she wanted. She announced loudly, “Coffee!” Unfortunately, the word for coffee and the word for nosebleed in Korean sound remarkably similar. And due to my mother’s penchant for nosebleeds since arriving, her proclamation (misheard by the grandparents in the living room as nosebleed) causes a miniature ruckus as toilet paper was quickly procured. *amazed by the quickness*

On that note, we finally found out why Mom was continuously erupting a bloody geyser from her nasal cavity. She went to the doctor’s and they found that a small hole had developed inside her nose. (As to why that hole appeared in the first place, we are as yet unsure. I blame pollution.) In any case, that hole had the misfortune to be located where five capillaries joined and therefore when Mom did get a nose bleed, it was massive. Ew. So they sent her home with some medication to ingest as well as spackling breach with some sort of ointment.

As for me, I spent most of the day blogging and drinking my milk. YAY, MILK! Then randomly, Chi declared that his mother was not allowing him to come home for the evening and asked if I wanted to meet up for dinner. DAMMIT! I was still in my pajamas and in dire need of a shower. *panic!* I was late. But not too late…maybe ten or fifteen minutes? Hey! That’s pretty good for me. *bursting with pride* We had Soon Tofu for dinner, which was yum, and then decided to go to a bar to chat for a while.

A while lasted until midnight. It was interesting. I don’t often get an opportunity to carry on a meaningful conversation as most communications these days are pretty superficial. I was surprised because Chi and I didn’t really know each other in school but it was cool to get to know more about him. I must say, Korean men are a PAIN to talk to sometimes though. Especially me, being the person that I am, I can’t help but disagree and argue my point. But I’m not disagreeing with every other issue just to be difficult. I honestly don’t agree! Finally we decided to call it a night. As he said, too much introspection leads to massive headaches from thinking too much. *laughs*

Three cheers for Christine's dad!

ARGH! I knew I shouldn’t have bought the bra and underwear. Korean clothes just don’t fit me. For whatever reason, the bra is super pointy. And not only that, the bra cups are so close together that I feel like my breasts are either gathered into the center of my chest or hanging out the side. And the underwear…it felt like it would fit. But after wearing it for about an hour, I realized that the leg holes were slowly but surely cutting off the blood supply to my legs. YES! Another awesome purchase. *chucks the bra and underwear back into the shopping bag in disgust* Especially since you can’t return anything in Korea. *cries*

I talked to Matt for a while this morning and then Christine called. She had been asked by a few of the high school kids to stop by the school this afternoon and she wanted to know if I wanted to tag along. OF COURSE! What other opportunity would I have to go on base otherwise? Besides, I got hang out with Christine again! *worships the ground she walks on* (I hope I’m not freaking her out. Puhahahaha.) Anyway, we met up at a subway station and walked into Camp Coiner.

Mr. Koroki was nice enough to meet us there. Apparently there had been an insane telephone message relay going on to try and find someone who had a car and could sign us onto the base. It took four people and multiple phone calls but we managed. My gratitude to all of you for your diligence and effort. *bows* In any case, the most major change I saw was the overpass between main post and south post. COOL! I remember my driver’s ed teacher not allowing us to drive off of south post because had we gotten into an accident in the ten feet of Korean land between bases, there would have been hell to pay.

First things first, Popeye’s for lunch! Woohoo!! I miss going to Popeye’s every day. *overcome with nostalgia* Then we walked over to the ROTC building so that Christine could meet with the kids during their study period. I don’t think I had ever been in that section of the school before. I had taken French and Health upstairs but the ROTC part of the building was a little intimidating… *cringes* And since I had only gone to SAHS for two years, I didn’t know most of the teachers there much less the ones that were left. But it was fun to see the school and look around. Except, whoever decided that random things on campus needed to be painted blue (i.e. the trash cans, the picnic tables, random walls…) needs to be held accountable for their bad taste!!

Chi’s work had brought him to base today as well so he met up with us around 2pm. Since some of the girls wanted to meet up with Christine that evening at Dragon Hill, we decided to hang around the base until then. Once again, eating was on the agenda. And this time, Oasis. We just split an appetizer plate. I got an virgin strawberry daiquiri. But wait…where was the whipped cream?!? *completely crestfallen* Having no idea what to do next, we tossed around a couple ideas then decided that mini golf might be the best way to pass the time until 7pm.

I didn’t know there was mini golf on base! *amazed* And it even had a red and a blue fountain. Well, a blue fountain for sure. I think the other one was suppose to be red. It really came closer to being pink, rather like someone had been murdered and tossed in. *grossed out* It was fun! Although after the first couple holes, Chi and Christine were standing guard whenever there was a water hazard because I have a tendency to aim for them. ACCIDENTALLY! I swear!! It WAS funny to see Chi running after my golf ball and trying to fish it out of the gross water with his golf club. *laughs*

At that point, Christine took charge of my camera. I think I have at least fifty pictures just from today! It was funny because at one point, the sound recording somehow got switched on and we were SO confused. Every time we would look back on a picture, you could hear us saying in the background “Look! It’s doing it again… What is it? How do you turn it off??” *giggles hysterically* We did eventually find a way to shut it off. And then…MORE EATING!

Anthony’s pizza was the food of choice. Yum! I hadn’t had that in years!! I was really sad when we had gone to Dragon earlier and the Anthony’s there had been replaced by Pizza Hut. *SACRILEDGE!!* I felt like that part in White Chicks where the rich girl screeches (in the stereotypical valley girl accent), “Oh my god. Give me a pen. GIVE ME A PEN! You know what I’m going to do? DO YOU KNOW WHAT I’M GOING TO DO?!? I am going to write a letter.” You may have to watch the movie to understand. *laughs*

The funniest thing about the entire time was Christine's fascination with her own fingernails. The last time I met up with her, they had been a bright red. This time, they were a brilliant blue. It was funny because it nearly matched the paint job on the school. I asked her if she was trying to be the next school mascot. *grin* Not to say that I blamed her for her fascination because she has the cute Asian fingernails. *seething with jealousy due to my own stubby digits* But we had quite a few pictures of them including the one where she was pretending to squish the Namsan Tower!

We eventually met up with a couple girls at Dragon and then decided to head off base for more food. *groans in pain* Mr. Koroki picked us up and drove us back to Camp Coiner to sign us out. (THANK YOU!! You’re the best!!!) We went to Dongbu and had chicken. *drool* It was fun to talk to the girls even if Chi kept reprimanding me for being a bad influence because he’s an uptight, conservative Korean male. *glares in jest* And I got a new friend on MySpace out of it. Woohoo! And really, what more could you ask for out of life?

Q: What is the relationship between shabu shabu and Genghis Khan?

So. On the menu for lunch today…SHABU SHABU! You may be experiencing the same confusion I was afflicted with when the decree was made. However, my mother trying to clarify things by saying, “You know, Genghis Khan?” didn’t help much either. (What the hell…? We’re going to eat Genghis Kahn??? Is this some sort of Asian ritual that I’m not aware of as well as one I wouldn’t want to participate in?!?) *trying to decide if I want free food or not* I somehow figured out it was some type of meat fondue so I decided to try it. Especially since I was reassured that the selection of flesh would be limited to cow. Woohoo!

On the way, I proceeded to confound my relations by bursting into hysterical giggles. (It’s a problem I’ve been dealing with since I got here. But if you could see the things that I have seen, I think you would be laughing too.) My current source of amusement, a massage parlor. Now I couldn’t tell you what kind of massage parlor it was but I think you could guess where my train of thought was taking me due to its name: B&J Massage. Yeah…I couldn't see the '&' either.

Lunch was good! It was a whole bunch of yummy side dishes, a large copper bowl of broth, a huge plate of delicious veggies and another platter stacked with paper thin slices of meat. We dumped in the veggies until they were cooked then progressed to tossing in the meat as well. Everything was scooped out via chopstick, dipped in sauce and promptly deposited into awaiting oral cavities. After that course was finished, the waitress brought out a plate of noodles to cook as well. Once everyone had finished slurping up each and every last noodle, that magical bowl of rice appeared. And the remainder of the broth soon became rice stew. The finishing touch was a refreshing cup of pomegranate juice to aid digestion…or something like that.

Yun Sook and I had arranged to meet at Myong Dong to go shopping. I’m not a huge fan of shopping but what else is there to do? *shrug* I hadn’t seen that girl in such a long time. I was so excited! We cruised around Myong Dong for hours. We looked at shoes, bags, underwear and bras, makeup and more. I did finally buy a bra and underwear set while I was there. It was so cute! Other than the fact that they had to measure my butt to see if what size I was. I barely fit their largest size!! *cries* I knew there was a reason I didn’t like shopping in Korea. Damn them for having cute things that I can’t fit into!

After such a blow to my pride, I needed sustenance. And what better place to go than to Myong Hwa Dang? Jeannie and I used to go there nearly every day after school. It’s one of my favorite places ever! Although I don’t know if it’s because of the food or the memories. Anyway, Yun Sook said it was ok with her and so we munched. That’s when I noticed her nail polish. It was…I don’t know what to call it, gradation? Basically, three nail polish colors that blend into one another. She had done it herself. She said she would show me how to do it next week when we met up. SCORE! (Not that I wear nail polish on a regular basis but whatever. That’s not the point! *glares*)

We wandered around some more. I ended up buying a pair of glasses. They were super cute!! *excited* I have a thing about glasses. I really like them but I have an issue with the lack of peripheral vision. Well, I guess lack is not the right word since I still have it but it’s BLURRY. That’s why I prefer to wear contacts. But sometimes it would be nice to be able to switch it up and have something else to wear. So I got fake glasses. Puhahahaha. I amuse myself. *easily amused* Next stop was Migliore. And… *drum roll, please!* I got my belly button pierced!

Why would I do a crazy thing like that? Because I am a loser and a follower of trends. *cries* No. Yun Sook made me do it. I swear. She held a gun to my head. Wait. This is Korea. She couldn’t have had a gun. Um…she threatened to knife me! Ok, so she didn’t do that either. I was trying to wuss out and she verbally bitch slapped me. Thank you. Thank you. Because I’m glad I went through with it. Truly. And I only blamed you because you asked me not to. *laughs* I love being contrary.

Anyway, once again sustenance was needed to perk me up. Especially since I had just gotten a hole placed in my abdomen by some (once again!) gloveless man in a tiny kiosk with people walking by and staring at me. YEAH! I needed ice cream… Yun Sook said that Heather really liked to go a place called Red Mango and so we set out thinking we knew where it was. We didn’t. After wandering around while vaguely feeling like idiots but pretending we didn’t, we did eventually find the place. Ice cream was good! We sat around for an hour or two and gabbed. Then we figured we probably should go home.

(Aww...my belly button looks sad.)

Subway comedies

This morning, I talked to Matt and then Christine called! She had emailed me a few weeks back saying she would only be in Korea for a short time but I didn’t know when or how long she was going to be here. It was kind of funny. I hadn’t seen her in years and now I was seeing her twice in two months. But she was only going to be here a week! *agog* That’s kind of a short trip even if she was stopping by someplace else on her way back home.

She said she was meeting up with Chi Hoon around 6pm and invited me to go eat dukbokki with them. YAY! I was going stir crazy just hanging out with the relatives. Especially because they kept ‘tsk tsk’ing me and saying how sad it was that I didn’t have any friends. *pulls hair out while yelling ‘but I DO have friends, dammit!’* It was a good thing that we weren’t meeting up until later though because I still had to go to lunch and then the dentist.

Oh lord…I hadn’t been to the dentist in EIGHT years. To be honest, I was a little scared about what they might find. *terror!* And from my previous recollection of Korean dentists, they don’t use novicain or anything when drilling cavities. *tries to sneak out the back door* The verdict: three cavities. Hey! Not bad when you consider how long it had been since I’ve been to the dentist, the fact that I never floss and I only brush my teeth once a day. Oh, wait. Does that reveal too much about my personal hygiene? *slightly embarrassed*

And so the drilling commenced with no additional fanfare. Once again, no pain-dulling meds. And this time, a surprising new addition! NO GLOVES!! If only I could get Korean prices in the States, I would be a much happier person. But then again, maybe that extra few hundred bucks I have to pay in the U.S. is to supply the surgical gloves…I don’t know. In the end, all I cared about was making sure the dentist knew I wanted the filling to match my teeth since gold fillings are popular here. Ugh…

Afterwards, I clarified that I was allowed to eat and then rushed out to the subway station. (Ok, so in reality they said I needed to wait two hours before I could eat but I figured it would take me an hour to get there and then another hour until we ate so I would be good! I hoped…) *sheepish grin while still spitting out shards of tooth* I met Christine at Ichon subway station and we went to Paris Croissant for a snack and a drink while we waited to Chi to get off of work. Gah…I LOVE Korean bakeries. If I wasn’t so scared I would be banned for life for taking a picture, I would. Maybe I’ll do it one of these days anyway.

It’s so hard to go buy American cakes and pastries after living in Korea. Everything is so…ugly. (Once I get a picture up, you’ll understand.) Not to say they taste good because it seems they’re more into looks than taste BUT STILL! Anyway, back to the story at hand. I LOVE CHRISTINE! I didn’t really hang out with her much in high school and I really regret it. She’s so cool! *faints in happiness* Besides, she’s awesome to go to strip clubs with. You can’t beat that.

Chi finally showed up after work and we immediately headed out to eat because he was “famished.” Oral bliss came in the form of dokbokki, soon deh and kimbab. *utter satistfaction* The place we went to seriously has the best food ever. I love it. Next on our list was noraebang. But due to our overly full stomachs there was a worry that the strain of singing could potentially cause projectile vomiting or something equally unsavory. And really, you don’t want to be wasting food like that. It’s a sin. Well, in my book anyway. (That’s why I don’t condone bulimia, people!!)

So we decided to take a break and just have a drink. We went to a very cute little Japanese place that wasn’t too far. I liked it because they had holes under the tables to put your legs into. So it was kind of like sitting at a chair except you’re on the floor so it’s COOLER. Way cooler. Trust me. I am awesome at judging the coolness of things. Chi and Christine each had a Japanese beer while I had my usual coke. It was fun just to talk and catch up. And of course, take pictures.

Then came noraebang. I have to admit, it’s not my most favorite because I’m paranoid about my crap Korean. I just kind of make up words as I sing along. *laughs* Anyway, it was fun and we were there for over an hour! Finally we figured we should start heading home since Chi had to get up early to go to work in the morning so we each went our separate ways. Awww…it was really nice to see them again. *sigh of happiness* I had a hysterical time getting back to the apartment.

As I was riding the subway, I kept finding my eyes drawn to this one woman that was taking a nap. I couldn’t figure out why until it hit me. *staring intently* (I know. I have a staring problem…) Her fake eyelashes! Normally, I don’t have a problem with fake eyelashes but these were particularly grotesque. They were abnormally short. Instead of lining her entire eyelid, it looked like she had only applied it only in the middle portion. And they were abnormally long and oddly spaced. In all honesty, it looked like she had glued centipede legs to her eyes. EW!!

The other incident that cracked me up was the wheelchair lift. I had seen them at the subway stations before but never in operation. I was in luck! As I was changing trains, I was able to witness a man in a wheelchair ride the lift down the stairs. *hysterical laughter bubbling to the surface* I guess when they turn it on, a song plays to alert the pedestrians in the area to keep out of the way. However, I want to know who the genius was that decided ‘London Bridge is Falling Down’ would be a good song to play. Puhahahaha.

Once upon a time before Liz…

When I was little and still living in Korea, I remember going to a foreigner’s church. My family sat in the second floor that was like a balcony overlooking the sanctuary. From a child’s perspective, the services were ghastly and dull. Heather and I spent most of our Sunday mornings playing under the pews and occasionally taking naps under there as well. It was the year we lost our baby.

Mom had been pregnant but the baby was a stillbirth due to complications. Her name was Mary. She was buried in the cemetery behind that church. Liz was born a year later and, as far as I know, none of us have been back to see Mary since. I don’t know if it has anything to do with Dad dying this past year but I figured since I was in Korea, it might be nice to go see her. So Mom told me the name of the church, I looked it up online and found myself there this afternoon.

I was glad to arrive at all since the directions had been rather confusing. It said to take a left at a park. *laughs* The Korean definition of a park is obviously not the same as my own. It was just a little sitting area with a mosaic wall. It was nice but not what I would consider a park. I was nervous until I found a road sign that confirmed I was going the right way. The church was a surprise. I didn’t recall it being the giant cement monstrosity.

A very nice man at the office tried to give me direction to the infant portion of the cemetery. Luckily for me, not a lot of people had been buried here so Mary’s grave wasn’t as hard to find as it might have been. After wandering around and trying to look like I knew where I was going, I found the right section. It was startling to see all the tiny graves lined up side by side. Most of the children had been buried for years and it looked like no one had been there to see them since.

The writing on a lot of the headstones was illegible. The names and dates were engraved into the stone but over the years the color had faded from the lettering, leaving it all the same color. I had to get creative and take pictures of each of the gravestones then zoom in to see which one was hers. I did eventually find it after about fifteen minutes. *laughs* I kind of wish I had taken flowers for her. But since I had been to church there, they had erected a little fence around the cemetery so I couldn’t have laid it on the grave anyway.

I was six when she died. Mary Theresa Blood. My parents named her after the Virgin Mary and Mother Theresa. I hadn’t even known what date it had been. September 8, 1987. I had just started third grade. I still remember my mom staying in the hospital for a long time, my teacher crying in class over the note I had brought and sitting on a bench in that very cemetery after they had buried her. I think I was angry about it for a long time. But I’m glad we have Liz and I love her to bits. Even though we still tease her about finding her as an infant in a garbage can that had been floating down the Han River. *laughs*

Upon returning back to the apartment from my expedition, I was delighted to discover that my mom had bought me a convertor plug. YES!! *jumping up and down with joy* I was finally able to check my email and recharge my camera battery. And it was a good thing too because we had a VERY interesting dinner.

It all started when we drove the wrong way down a one way street that was only big enough for half a car and parked in front of chickens. *scratches head in confusion* CHICKENS?!?

Anyway, the main dish on the menu this evening…octopus! (Oh, god. More seafood.) *cringe* But it was really, really good! They started out by serving us our side dishes and a veggie pancake type of thing. The only thing that seriously grossed me out was the silkworms. *barf* I’m all about trying new things but that was just so EW! If you look at the picture closely, there is a round white dish with what looks to be bugs in it. There are. *faints*

The first dish we had was spicy! The octopus was laid out on a bed of veggies, mushrooms and yummy spicy sauce. The waitress then cut it up for us and set in on the propane burner at our table. SUPER YUM! The other dish was even cooler. I wish I had gotten a video of it when she first threw the octopus in the boiling broth but I was a bit in shock. The tentacles were like ‘save me!’ I know it’s gross but it was kind of funny too.

Once again, we engaged in a serious bout of overeating. Koreans have a special knack for somehow making one meal big enough to be three freaking meals. This is the secret: Add Rice. The spicy octopus dish was nearly gone when the waitress materialized out of nowhere with a couple bowls of rice, stirred it into the remaining mixture and VOILA! Enough food to feed an army. Not to mention the OTHER octopus dish. After most of it was eaten, there was still a lot of broth left.

The waitress materialized again. Not only did she have the prerequisite bowl of rice this time, she had…ink sacs! *eyes popping wide open in disbelief* She made an ink rice stew!! She cut open the sacs until the broth was black, stirred in the rice and then cooked it until it was thick. For the benefit of my sorely lacking adventurous spirit, I had a bite. It was pretty good but I couldn’t get the image of the ink squirting into the bowl out of my head so I stuck with the spicy dish. *laughs* Gawd, was I full…

Fish Market Extravaganza

I’ve never been a big fan of breakfast. It might be because I hate getting up in the mornings more than anything else in the world so I don’t manage to get out of bed until five minutes before I have to leave. But I love breakfast here! For the first time in my life, I am consistently getting out of bed at 8am with no alarm. It’s kind of creeping me out…

This morning was fairly uneventful. I read a book. I tried calling Min Jae but he was sleeping so I said I would call him back later. Mom’s friend was coming over in the afternoon so when the friend called to say she was at the subway station, Mom went out to get her. (The subway station is a bit far from the apartment.) I waited. And waited. And waited. Where in the world was she? One by one, everyone came home. Even Mom’s friend arrived! But there was no sign of Mom. Eventually she wandered back in the house. *super confused <-- me, not Mom* And…no valid explanation. Hmph.

Heather called a short while later and it was fun to chat with her. Mom had bought a phone card here but it doesn’t work. We need to take it back to the store or something. The rest of the day was BORING. *twiddling thumbs*I couldn’t do anything on my laptop because I didn’t have convertor plug so I didn’t have a power source! ARGH! ! Although I was more worried about my camera battery expiring than anything else.

Finally, it was decided that we would go to the Norangjin fish market for dinner. Sook Mo #1 was buying because it had been Jung Min’s birthday the day before. I was glad to be getting out of the house and the prospect of seeing Young Jin and Jung Min was exciting. Except…THEY WEREN’T THERE! *doom* Ok. Does it make any sense to have a birthday celebration without the person whose birthday it was??? And not only that, I don’t like fish so if I had known that they weren’t coming then I wouldn’t have gone either! *running in circles of mad frustration*

Eh. At least the market was cool. It was huge and they were selling everything from giant shrimp to baby octopuses to crab and all sorts of live fish in tanks. The vendors would snag the one the customer pointed out and then kill it. It was rather barbaric but at least it was as close to being fresh as you could get it. And if you wanted to eat it right away, they would actually slice it into sashimi for you to take as To Go. Cool! It did stink to high heaven though. *gingerly pulling up my pant legs so they don’t drag in the shallow pools of water on the ground* I took lots and lots of pictures.

Dinner wasn’t too bad either. There is a restaurant of sorts, basically they charge you a fee for table space so you can enjoy what you bought at the fish market. For an additional fee they will prepare your food for you like steam the crab or make the fish into a stew along with providing beverages and side dishes. It was pretty neat! I don’t think they have restaurants like that in the States. We had four huge plates of sashimi followed by a fish stew. The relatives offered to buy me crab but I wasn’t all that hungry so I decided to pass. Overall, it was a fun evening!

Preachers, haircuts and VIP treatment

Matt called this morning and we talked for nearly an hour. That’s pretty good for people who hate to talk on the phone! Today was also Jung Min and Hyun Ji’s birthday. Jung Min turned 23 and Hyun Ji is now 15. Happy birthday, girls! On a sad note (and a rather gross one), Mom has been suffering from gushing nosebleeds at least once a day since she got here. Is it the pollution? Is she hemorrhaging from her brain?? No one knows… She says she’s going to go to the doctor’s but hasn’t as of yet. *pulls hair out in frustration*

Stephenie’s mom called this morning and asked us if we wanted to go to lunch. We met up with her, her cousin and a Korean pastor who was either from the States or transferring there. I wasn’t quite clear on the subject but I didn’t ask because I don’t think he wanted to talk to me after a certain point anyway. It wasn’t my fault, really. He started it! *sticks out tongue…pbbbbt!* Steph’s mom was asking me about my boyfriend when the man asked if Matt went to church. I said no and then he has the audacity to declare that my boyfriend must not be a good person! And then CHIDED me, saying I needed to date a Christian. Argh!! *having an apoplectic fit while cursing religious bastards in my head*

I did manage to spit out that I don’t go to church either due to uptight religious people who think they’re better than everyone else all the while GLARING AT HIM in hopes that he would understand the message was for him. Alas, no. He was either dense or used to people trying to maim him with their eyes. *screaming in utter FRUSTRATION!!* (Once again, only in my mind.) I really think I cannot come to Korea anymore. It’s bad for my blood pressure. *sigh* The only point of redemption this afternoon was lunch. It was good…when I was able to choke it down past my aggression.

We departed from the restaurant as a group. (Unfortunately...) It was pouring down rain with insane gusts of wind. After the tension of lunch, my mom and I burst into hysterical giggles while trying to fit the two of us under one umbrella. Then we had to anchor both sides with our finger because the wind was trying to turn the darn thing inside out. Talk about stress relief! We were laughing and getting completely soaked. I love my mom! We finally had to stop at a Dunkin’ Donuts to see if the rain would let up a bit. After agonizing minutes of stilted small talk on my part, we were free to go!! It had been nice to see Stephanie’s mom again but I was SO glad I didn’t have to make nice for that holier-than-thou asshat.

Mom and I set out to try and get my haircut since we were running around anyway. We caught the subway to Myong Dong but quickly decided against leaving the station once we realized it was still pouring. Luckily, Migliore is reachable from the station without going above ground so we went in to do a little window shopping. (Korea doesn’t have malls but it does have buildings with a bunch of little stalls that sell things. I know it doesn’t sound that different but, trust me, it is.) TAH DAH! It turns out Migliore has a hair salon.

I love getting my hair washed. It’s the best things about getting my hair cut. And the head massage they do… *nearly swooning with joy!* I went short. Well, ok. It wasn’t THAT short but shorter than I’ve ever had it before. It was pretty cute! Until they started styling it. Why do they do that?!? They fluffed out my hair and curled everything under until it looked like shit. My mom took a picture of it for me outside the hair salon after we paid ($15! Can’t beat that!!) and it looked like straight up ajjumah hair!

Mom and I looked through some of the clothes on sale there but it was so outrageously priced that I had to leave. $40 for a tank top?!? Whatever! They did have some cute underwear stores though. Oops, excuse me. ‘Inner Wear.’ I didn’t buy anything there either. I am skeptical about Korean made under clothing. It never seems to fit me. But it’s SO cute. Darn… Anyway, the day wasn’t a complete loss. I did buy two pairs of shoes!When I got back to the apartment, the first thing I did was wash my hair and then it looked sooo much better. Hyun Ji decided she wanted to go out for her birthday dinner. It ended up being just the four of us: Hyun Ji, Hyun Ho, Emo and me! My uncle was working late and my mom and grandparents didn’t feel like leaving the house. So, we went to…VIPS. Except I didn’t know that’s what they were talking about because they kept pronouncing it ‘bibs.’ I tried to explain that it’s an acronym and not said as if it was one word but they completely dismissed me as asinine. It was kind of funny.

The best part of the whole experience was the waitstaff. If you asked for something, they would reformulate the question in order to confirm what you said but then add something to make it sound so much better. For example, I asked for some water. The waitress looks at me and said,”Sure! I would love to serve you some REFRESHING water. I’ll be right back with your order.” Omg…hilarious. We did cake when we got back to the apartment and then I passed out once again.