World of Warcraft, here I come. Wicked is back.
Actually, I was supposed to meet up with Yun Sook today but I got sick. I am not about to go into details so let’s just say, I didn’t want to leave the house. So that was the extent of my activities for today.
I lied. We had pizza. It was good.
I didn’t sleep last night. My sleeping pattern got messed up at some point and I had the brilliant idea that staying up a whole night might tweak me back into a regular mode. (Not thinking that in a few days I will be back in the States and it won’t matter! *sigh*) In the midst of my psychosis, I had another intelligent idea. I began the long process of downloading Warcraft. Let the addiction begin… Not to worry though, it was just the 10-day trial and it’s not like I’ll be playing it on the road trip. *crosses fingers*
The whole night wasn’t a loss. I was SO far behind on my blog but I did manage to catch up a bit. I think I got seven or eight entries done. *pats self on back* Emo was up most of the night too. She said she had too much coffee so she spent most of the night cleaning the house. (I am beginning to see where my mild case of OCD comes from.) *bleary eyed* She then went off to work only to return in the afternoon to take me and the grandparents to lunch. Her co-workers had given her money to take us to a nice Japanese restaurant, Sapporo.
The only nice thing I can say about the place was it had cool seating, kind of like that place I went to with Chi and Christine. But MY GOD, I am SO sick of sashimi. I can say that I had not even had it before coming to Korea this trip and I’ve been having it almost every other day. I DON’T LIKE FISH! I was just being polite!! Please, for god’s sake, I would like some real food!!! *cries in hunger* At least it was pretty to look at. *sniff*
I met up with Jennifer, Levi, Franklin, Mindy and Ray at Inchon station later that evening. I was vastly entertained on the way there by a woman on the train. She was wearing her pants so tight that not only could you see her prominent underwear line but the very muscles of her butt…which would twitch with a random regularity that I found hilarious. *staring yet again* Anyway, we went to Sookdae for dinner. Rob met up with us there and Misil came a lot later. The food was SOOOO good! *faints with happiness* It was…uh, chicken kalbi? Whatever. We got the spicy kind with ddok and noodles and the cheesy kind with potatoes. YUM!! (Sorry, I was too hungry to take a picture.)
I think the most startlingly funny part of the entire evening was when Rob was telling us about his favorite Korean food but he couldn’t remember the name of it. He kept saying bulgogi ttang but there isn’t such a thing. Basically, he was saying it was bulgogi but in a soup (which is what the ttang part means in this case.) Misil was trying to convince him it was either something else or it was just bulgogi with a lot of liquid. In the midst of their heated debate, Misil dramatically splashed the remainder of her beverage into the remnants of our chicken kalbi and queried, “Then what do you call THIS? Chicken kalbi ttang?!?” *a moment of utter silence before everyone burst into hysterical laughter*
When we left it was POURING rain. *drenched even with an umbrella* Jennifer wanted to get bingsoo but the place was closed. Luckily there was a noraebang next door so we took refuge there. Between the mood lighting that cost a dollar, Misil double fisting the mikes and learning Levi could rap Eminem with the best of them, we had a good time. I hope Jennifer and Levi have a great time on their trip and a great rest of their life! *smiles*
I was rudely awakened by a phone call. And then my ears were assaulted by the piercing tones of Sook Mo #1. She was calling to schedule family time for me and Jung Min. The story goes, Jung Min was scheduled for an overnight rehearsal and therefore had the morning off. Instead of letting the poor girl sleep, Sook Mo thought it would be fantastic for her to spend that time with me. *still trying to wake up* I called Jung Min posthaste and set up a meeting. Ok. Myong Dong at 1pm. Good-bye.
I got there. On time, no less. Without thinking, I exited at the first exit I saw. *a moment of hesitation* Uh…did we even set up a place to meet? Now that I think about it, I think I pick exit #1 because that’s the one I always went to whenever I met up with Yun Sook. My bad! Because I was WRONG! After waiting for nearly half an hour, I decided to call her. But I had forgotten to bring her number with me! *smacks self in head* I scrounged some coins out of my purse and dialed Emo’s. My grandmother answered and then it occurred to me, this could prove to be difficult. *hangs head in despair*
After attempting to pry information out of the old lady while watching the money in the payphone drain away to nothing, I finally asked to speak to someone else. Luckily, Hyun Ho was home. I told him excitedly exactly where to find my notebook with all the phone numbers only to have him casually remark that he couldn’t read my handwriting. *doom* The only one he could recognize was the shoe shop. I quickly memorized the number (there was an echo of remembrance in my head that made it much easier than it would have been otherwise) and dialed with trepidation.
Sure enough, Sook Mo’s outrage was clearly heard at the far corners of the subway station. Jung Min had been waiting for THIRTY minutes! *cringe* I was forced to borrow a pen from a hapless bystander who seemed to be sympathetic and I was able to write down Jung Min’s cell and finally meet up with her. Gah… We laughed about it after I had recovered my composure a bit. *sheepish grin* The Outback was our first stop. We needed to eat! I nearly needed to be rolled out after we ate. I was SO FULL. (Do I sense repetition here?) Then I realized I had forgotten my camera battery…
I did a little shopping, we hung out a bit and then it was time for Jung Min to head back to school. I’m glad we ended up hanging out even though she was sleep deprived and I was lost for a bit. I’m going to miss her!
Korean wedding are odd. It’s more of a production than anything else. There are facilities called wedding halls that cater specifically to providing you with the proper setting while you are tying the knot. Depending on the amount of money you want to spend, you can get less or more…stuff. Like a smoke machine. *laughs* You also rent your wedding dress which is awesome because, honestly, when are you ever going to wear it again.
Jennifer looked beautiful. The ceremony was long. The trumpet solo was exceedingly loud. There were people everywhere! And I’m not talking about guests although there were about a hundred of us. There was a photographer and a videographer and a lady from the wedding hall that kept rushing up to fix Jennifer’s dress or to tell Levi to remember to clench his fist or to tell the two of them how to pose for the photos. I felt like I was on a movie set. The funniest part was when they had to cut this fake wedding cake with a knife that looked remarkably like a samurai sword. *evil grin*
Oh, before I forget. Korean people don’t tend to give wedding gifts. It’s customary to bestow gifts of the monetary variety. To ensure that you do, the wedding halls have a genius system set up. Before you walk into the seating area prior to the wedding, there is a kiosk divided into two sections. (Let me give you a hint, Bride and Groom.) You hand over your gift/money in an envelope to the lady in the correct section in order to get your name in the guest book. Then they hand you a ticket. (Remember the ticket, it’s very important.)
After the ceremony, the guests were invited to partake in food while Jennifer and Levi changed out of their wedding gear. The mass of people were slowly funneled through into the dining area by a another wedding hall employee. And what was she doing? Collecting meal tickets! I told you to hold onto it!! I sat next to Rob. I hadn’t seen him since show choir days in high school. Misil was at the wedding too but she was downstairs helping Jennifer so she didn’t eat with us.
After a while, the married couple still hadn’t shown up so we went in search of them. I had forgotten that after the western style wedding, they then changes into the traditional Korean outfits to take MORE pictures. Finally, they were allowed to get changed into regular clothes and eat. I hadn’t met Levi before but he was super nice! Since they were leaving at the end of the week for their Peace Corps mission to Suriname, they were going to be really busy. But a group of us decided to meet up on Wednesday. All in all, it was a good wedding!
Determined to do something today, I rushed out into the living to announce that I wanted to go to Seoul Land…only to find no one was home. Wait. Never mind. The cousins were home but they were hiding. Ok, so they really weren’t hiding. Hyun Ho was still studying for mid-terms and Hyun Ji was watching TV in her parents’ room. It took us a little over fifteen minutes to get ready and we were out the door. (We had to abandon Hyun Ho because he wasn’t allowed to come. You know, studying takes precedence over everything. Possibly even breathing.) Once again, the subway was the setting for another comedy.
I don’t know if it’s like this in other parts of the world but it’s pretty much a given in Korea that you will give up your seat on the bus or subway for an elderly person. I really hate the people who treat you like shit just because they feel that they are entitled to the seat due to their age. The least they can do is be decent about it. You know?!? *grr…* But there was this old lady today and she was pretty funny about the whole thing. She didn’t glare at the guy or mutter some derogatory remarks about his parents under her breath. In fact, she was on her way to stand by the door when he got up and offered her his seat.
The thing that got me was how she was simultaneously saying, “Oh, dear. I didn’t want to be a bother. I really feel sorry that you have to give up your seat for me…” as she was hurrying him out the seat with a not to gentle push. Puhahaha. The dichotomy is amusing to me. The rest of the ride was uneventful. We got there in record time. Well, in any case, we got there faster than it took us to get to Lotte World the other day. Anyway, it was warm and we didn’t feel like walking so we coughed up a buck fifty and caught the elephant tram up the amusement park entrance.
We had taken so long to get there that it was nearing 5pm. We looked to see what the price of the tickets were and realized that there was a discount for evening tickets…starting at 5pm. What luck! But how freaking SLOW those last ten minutes were. And then we were in!! Before we could do anything else, we had to take advantage of the photo opportunities. You really shouldn’t let a fountain go to waste. Flex your fingers and ready your peace sign! *forced smile while waiting for Hyun Ji to take my picture for the fifteenth time*
Lunch was at Lotteria. Hyun Ji was craving a burger so I caved in although it’s not my most favorite thing. In the end, she ended up ordering for me because even though I was looking at a menu full of burgers, I had no idea what was what. She said she was getting me a cheeseburger but it wasn’t like any cheeseburger I had ever had before. First of all, I couldn’t find any cheese. And there was a meat patty but there was another one underneath it that was breaded. At least that’s what I thought until I bit into it. So THERE was the cheese! Interesting. And then there were black olives and sweet pickles…
We went on a couple rides. The lines weren’t insane but they were still long. We had Dippin’ Dots to give me strength. God, I hate waiting in lines. We rode a couple more rides and then I made a mistake. I let Hyun Ji talk me into riding a spinning ride. BIG BOO BOO! I know that spinny rides make me want to hurl. For some reason, that was not taken into consideration. It only occurred to me when I found my face plastered against a window as I was simultaneously being rolled horizontally and flipped upside down. I was so nauseous I could barely walk. I’m glad I didn’t throw up because I would have been embarrassed but, at the same time, I wish I had because my tummy might have decided not to be so angry with me.
I couldn’t really act like I was sick because I didn’t want to ruin Hyun Ji’s time at the park. So I faked it. *laughs* It was rather difficult since I had the sweats, was shaking and gulping frantically. But overall, I did ok. And I even managed three more rides after that. The picture on the flume ride was so hysterical that we had to buy a copy. My stomach finally settled down enough for me to have a sausage on a stick. Woohoo! Because no time at a Korean amusement park is complete without a sausage on a stick!! *munch* By then it was 10pm and the park was closing so we hopped on the subway to go home.
