Hail Caesar!

No major points of excitement this week - just sharing some stories and pics for you all!

On Tuesday evening a few of the teachers and I went to the dog cafe. There were less dogs than last time I was there, but these two cuties made their way onto my lap for a significant amount of time. This place is another marketing genius. It's a doggy daycare so you pay them to keep your dog for the day, plus they charge us losers to come in and hold those dogs for them. 

This Saturday was one of those ones where we had the best laid plans and then they didn't work out - but it was still fun. On Saturday, Caitlin, Brynn and I wanted to go to Bukchon Hanok Village which is a traditional Korean village that has old homes you can tour around and see how people lived long ago. Saturday happened to be the anniversary of a resistance that happened here when Japan occupied Korea, so there were a lot of people out in Seoul making their way to different events for that. 

A mural we stumbled on while walking.

We stoppled for lunch at this fancy restaurant that had beautiful decor and made me feel like I wasn't in Korea. I'm not saying that's a good thing, it's just how I felt. I ordered French onion soup and caesar salad - two of my favorite things that I haven't had since I've been here. I've seen caesar salad on the menu a few times but then underneath it says: lettuce with tomatoes, carrots, and croutons and that's NOT A CAESAR SALAD! But, the family beside us ordered one and it was perfect, so I knew I could trust it! It was expensive, but worth it.

Long story short, Caitlin's been sick for 5 weeks and she just got her Alien Residency Card so instead of going to the village we detoured to the hospital and made her get everything checked out. It was worth it as now she's on the mend. 

On the way back to the subway station Brynn told us we were right near a famous market that is always on tv so we walked through. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I saw was so unappetizing for me. In fact at one point I put my hands against my forehead to block my eyes and just looked down and walked. The food portion of the market had people eating tiny LIVE OCTOPI, pig snouts, and giant sausages that I thought were bull penises. And maybe they were. Near the end there were ladies making juice and I took a picture of them because I was so happy. You just buy that cup and they blend it up and make a juice for you!

That evening once Kenneth was off work, we went out for drinks and fried food with Caitlin (who Googled if she could drink on antibiotics and the answer is yes.) We ordered off a menu that was in English but only half the menu that Koreans got. Humph. Anyways . . . we got fried chicken and what the menu clearly said: fried vegetables (like tempura) but when it came out was basically fries and fried meats. Cool . . . 

Sunday morning, Kenneth and I did a video chat with Mom and Dad since he wanted to "meet" them, Here's a hilarious moment in the exchange which was affected both by his accent and a bad connection:

Kenneth to Mom: How is your health?

Mom: Oh, it's still in turmoil!

Me: What!?! You said everything is fine!

And then we realized she thought he said "house" which they are having renovated big time.

Mom and I did a laugh cry which we always do in situations like this and Kenneth just sat and stared thinking we were both crazy, which we are. 

After we hung up Kenneth said: "She is lovely." 

Later we went to a park along the river to walk and chill. We took advantage of Korea's open container policy on alcohol and grabbed some drinks to walk around. They sell cans and bottles of alcohol here in every corner store - and quite a large selection too! I found THE GREATEST drink of all time for me which is a melon Smirnoff cooler. It was so delicious!

This was sort of like a triathalon but it said: Run-Sup-Yoga. 

I don't know what Sup means but I guess it's the paddle boarding part.

"lunch"

Altogether it was the perfect Sunday of rest and activity. We laid on the blanket, ate snacks and played the game Word Cookies.Does anyone play this on their phone? We are addicted. 

I also watched the majority of the new season of Orange is the New Black. Has anyone see it yet? It's so good this season - what a story line! A few episodes were even scary. Let me know what you think.

Lots of love,

Alli