Lost in Korea: 07/02/2006

So I've been in a super-happy sugar-coated wonderful sun-shiny mood these past few days...all because I finally got the tickets booked for my trip to Europe in a couple months. The final game plan is as follows: leave Korea on August 23rd, stay in St. Louis for a couple of days, leave for Edinburgh on August 26th & then fly to Paris on August 31st for the remainder of the trip. Josh will be leaving to go back home on September 5th, but I'll be staying there on my own until September 14th. After that it will be all crazy fast-paced insanity to get ready for my brother's wedding on September 30th. And yes, I know it's kinda reckless to schedule a trip to Europe in between the time I return from Korea and my brother's wedding, but I just feel that if I put it off any longer I'll never get around to going. And really, right now is the perfect time to do it...I don't have a job to ask off from, I have the money for it and it's a great time of the year to go. So yeah, the tickets are bought, the hostels are booked and we're set to go. WOOT!

In other not so-happy news, my friend Danya left to go home this morning, and I know I'll see her in Edinburgh in a couple of months but it was still sad saying goodbye all the same. We really had a great time hanging out with everyone for her last weekend here. Friday we took the cable car up Mt. Namsan and wandered around the top for a while. Saturday was the hash which was extreme amounts of fun, especially since this week's trail was scattered all throughout these mountains and parks up near Mt. Ingwansan north of the city. After the hash Danya, her friend Janeal and I all came back here to rest and get ready for our night out in Hongdae for my friend Kate's birthday. At about 6pm we took the subway up to Hongdae and met everyone for dinner. Danya & I found a tofu restaurant to eat at while everyone else had samgyeopsal (I wasn't in the mood for greasy pork that night). After dinner we headed over to Route 66 bar for some drinking and birthday festivities. I think everyone had a pretty good time, thought those of us who hashed came back earlier than everyone else since we were pretty worn out from all the hiking earlier in the day. After I got back from that I stayed up on the phone with Josh to book our tickets and hostels and didn't really get to sleep until about 6am the next morning.

Sunday morning I had planned on hiking up Dobongsan with Danya & Janeal but of course I didn't make it out because of lack of sleep. I did meet up with them later though and we all went down to Insadong for some last-minute souvenir shopping that Janeal had to do. We also wanted to try going to one of those traditional style tea houses that I haven't had a chance to go to yet. The tea itself was actually very good there, a lot more flavorful than any kind of tea you'd make at home or buy in a store. Most of the teas we tried were already sweetened, though some were a bit more tangy than others. I had the jujube tea which was thick and sweet with a bit of dried jujube and a pine nut on top for presentation. I'm definitely going to have to go back there sometime and try some of their other teas. After the teahouse we all went walking around there for a bit since the weather was so pleasant and none of us were really very eager to head home. But yes, Danya & Janeal left this morning and it really was a lot of fun having them crash here for the week and a half that they stayed. I know it'll definitely be a lot more boring around here without them. Ah well...

There's not a whole lot going on this week, and even though it's the 4th of July tomorrow I don't really have anything planned for it. I may attempt to buy some firecrackers at the store and go shoot them off down by the river if I feel up to it. Otherwise I might just go get some takeout, come back here and watch whatever fireworks display they are showing on the Armed Forces Network. So exciting I know. I wonder what's going on down in Itaewon tomorrow night? Hmm...I might have to go find out.

:)