Sunday, August 31

I Love Korea (vol. II)

It was Chloe's birthday on Friday.



She's the one in the tiara. Her mom brought in that enormous cake from Tous Les Jour, along with party favors, fruit, crackers, juice, chicken nuggets, cookies, and a frappuccino for me. All the kids brought Chloe presents wrapped in shiny pink paper.

After work, I hurried to the bus stop and caught the bus, then the subway, to Osan, where my new friend JR took me flying! Normally, he flies enormous helicopters, but he took me up in a tiny two-seater that looked like nothing more than a jalopy with wings. He even let me steer. Korea at night--beautiful from the air.

Yesterday, I met June's friend Kyoung-Tae in Seoul, where she showed me the performing arts center (I plan to see the opera or the symphony or ballet or something while I'm here). We had some traditional Korean food called bibimbap. They give you rice in a big bowl and a plate of vegetables that you scrape in with it and stir it around with some spicy red paste. I also had a little bowl of bright pink water to sip from a spoon--kimchi water.

Kyoung-Tae is the most adorable, spunky Korean girl I've ever met. She's lived in Switzerland and India, and she can walk for three hours in high heels. She taught me important phrases like Who, What, When, Where, Why, How Much, Would You Like to Dance, and Bug Bite.

This is us in front of Korea's national flower at one of the many palaces within Seoul.



There was some sort of festival going on downtown. The vendors in the tents sold things like dried, flattened fish and tentacle-y things.



This is a landmark that my co-workers tried to explain to me before--a pink and blue spiral seashell, they said:



Later on Saturday, I went back to Seoul (Itaewon, more precisely) for salsa dancing. That makes a total of five or six hours of commuting in one day. But, for me, dancing is always worth it.

Today, I'm resting. Tuesday, my new classes begin.

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