Kore-istmas 2010

• Well, my mom has asked me very kindly to do at least one last blog post for everyone before I leave Korea. So you can thank her for this post. This post will be about Christmas in Korea… Kore-istmas.
• My plans for Christmas day were to go to my friend Sunny’s house and spend the day with her and her sister and husband. We were going to order Christmas dinner from the army base, participate in their first ever white elephant gift exchange, drink homemade eggnog, play board games, and watch “Love Actually.” These were the plans at least.
What actually happened is that on Thursday Sunny canceled these plans. I was absolutely heartbroken at the thought of having to spend Christmas alone! I was so upset, but she said that instead we could go shopping, get dinner, and watch a movie on Christmas Eve. This unfortunately did little to console me.
That Thursday night we went out to dinner and I learned a very important difference between Christmas and Kore-istmas. For Koreans, Christmas Eve is more important than Christmas day. This is the day were couples go out to fancy dinners, shop, and stay out all night drinking / dancing / singing karaoke. Then Koreans spend all Christmas day sleeping and nursing hangovers.
So, Sunny thought she was doing me a favor by including me in her plans for Christmas Eve. She didn’t know that for westerners Christmas day is more important than Christmas Eve. (For my Korean friends, Christmas day is like your Chuseok; it’s when families get together to share a food and gifts. If you are married, Christmas Eve is the day you celebrate Christmas with one family, and then Christmas day is when you celebrate Christmas with the other family.)
• So let me share my Kore-sitmas eve experience with you. First, Sunny and I met with her sister at the COEX mall. So I put my name down on the 2 hour long wait list for the Mexican restaurant and we did some shopping. This was the first time that Sunny and her sister have ever spoken English in front of each other!!! Can you believe it?!?! They have never used English in front of each other before! I suggested that they do a once a month dinner where they speak English to each other. Sunny shook her head and said, “No. Speaking English is not good for digestion.” Hahahahah!
• After we enjoyed a fantastic Mexican dinner, her husband picked us up and we drove around town looking for a specific kind of karaoke room, nori bang, (which we never found). When we were driving around Sunny’s sister and husband would only speak Korean. Then Sunny would yell at them, “In English!!!” and they would stop talking. So, I learned that “in English” is a Korean swear word similar to “shut up!” So, when Sunny’s sister’s musical iphone app was annoying us all, I yelled “in English!” Everyone liked my use of this Korean phrase. I seem to be learning more and more Korean each day!
• As we were driving around looking for a special nori bang, we were listening to all Korean pop music. Sunny felt it was her duty as a good host to find me some English music, preferably Christmas music. So she began flipping through the radio stations and was so excited when she heard the phrase “Merry Christmas.” She quickly flipped back to the station thinking she had found an English Christmas carol, and I was in tears laughing at the situation! The song was not in English, it was in Spanish!!! So I sung “Feliz Navidad” for them as they too laughed at the situation.
• Now it is Christmas day as I write this. Today, Bonyun’s brother Babe (after Babe Ruth) and I had lunch and then he took me to Santa’s Village, I mean, Study Village. He showed me his neighborhood. This is where all of the people studying for the government exams live. Usually, when you walk down a street in Korea you find many hagwons (private academies) for children, Study Village is a neighborhood full of hagwons for adults. For example, law school and engineering hagwons. Everyone here are “Study Machines” like Babe. Their lives consist of studying, and only studying. In fact, Babe went to the hagwon Christmas morning before meeting me. That’s right, he had class even on Christmas day!!!!
• After leaving Study Village, I went and saw an improve group perform. I was really pleased because even though I didn’t have anyone to go with me, I was brave and still went by myself. It was -9C outside (the coldest Kore-istmas Eve on record for the past 30 years) so I had a lot of reasons just to go home instead of wandering around a strange neighborhood looking for an art gallery in the freezing cold. But it was well worth braving the cold weather alone. The performers were all foreigners and it was done in English, plus it was a fundraising event for refugees fleeing North Korea. So not only did I get to laugh at some improve actors, I also got to donate money to a good cause. They were pretty funny, they did a lot of the typical Whose Line is it Anyways games. So I got some good laughs, and I also made friends with the person sitting next to me and I had someone to talk to on the subway ride home. And to make a very long blog post short, that was the end of my second Kore-sitmas in Korean.

Catching up on things

• Well, I knew I need to write a quick blog entry to state some Korean experience I either forgot to post, or just didn’t have the opportunity to post yet. I want to be as caught up as possible so I can make sure to report on my upcoming trip to China. I know I didn’t post about my trip to Japan, nor my 3 weeks working with my sister in Korea, but I'm really going to try my best to make my next post a China adventure post.
• Last weekend I went to my friend Young Jae’s wedding. This wedding was not held at a wedding hall; instead, it was held in a Catholic church. Because the ceremony is much longer then the ones in a wedding hall, about half of the guests stayed in the buffet instead of going upstairs to sit though the church service. I watched the beginning of the service, then joined my co-workers at the buffet, and then went back for the end of the service. It was interesting because I was raised Catholic so seeing beer and soju at a church event was something I’ve never come across. Also, they had a great vending machine that distributed ice cream! There was no beer, soju, or ice cream vending machines at American Martyrs!!!
Normally, when someone from work gets married, my company orders one of those huge bouquets of flowers and sends them to the wedding hall. But Catholic churches don’t accept these bouquets; so instead, my office donated 4 huge bags of rice. As we were carrying the rice into the church I was thinking, “What are we going to do with this; throw it at the bride and groom?” Nope, it’s actually a donation that the church will use it to feed the poor. Pretty great huh? Way better then giving flowers!
• I saw a great show on TV the other day. It featured probably some celebrity dad and his two sons, one a toddler, the other maybe 3 years old. They were at one of my all time favorite locations in Seoul…the dog café! They showed all my favorite dogs running around as usual. The toddler was having a hard time because all of the dogs were much bigger then him. But then his dad carried him over to a woman who had brought her own tea cup sized dog to play at the café. The little toddler liked this dog, he tried to feed it a dog treat but the dog wasn’t interested in it so he tried to feed it to the lady instead. Ahahah! I was in tears I was laughing so hard! It was so damn cute and funny!
• The other night, Hye Jeong and I went Duty Free shopping. There is one whole floor of the Lotte mall that is Duty Free, and is open 24 hours! Since we are going to China this weekend, we thought we would do a little shopping.
After shopping we went for dinner at an Italian restaurant. We ordered a salad and a pizza to share. The salad was really tasty; it had a citrus dressing with slices of tomatoes and mozzarella. After we had eaten 3/4ths of our salad I noticed something very scary. It was a GUMMY!!!! “Ah, waiter, there’s a fly in my soup, no wait, make that a huge freaking spider in my salad!”
When Angela and I worked at ET Camp this summer we learned that gummy meant, SPIDER!!! That’s right, there was a huge “porch spider” as Angela and I affectionately named them after noticing so many living on our porch, in our salad.
Of course the staff apologized and took the salad off our bill. They also gave use drinks and 20% off our pizza. Maybe I should start bringing spiders to all the restaurants I go to! It’s a good way to save money on your bill! (Just kidding, you all know I like spiders so I wouldn’t kill one to put in my salad even if it means free or discounted food.)
• Tonight I went to Dongdaemon Market to do some more shopping. It was a shame I couldn’t take Angela when she was here this summer, but good thing she is coming back this winter so I can take her then. I was able to take my parents shopping here when they came to visit. My dad said, “You’ve seen one shop, you’ve seen them all.” That’s because Dondaemon Market is a bunch of malls with different tiny stalls all selling basically the same things from clothes to bags and jewelry. This is the place where you buy your knock offs and can haggle for a deal.
For example, I wanted a wallet and when I asked how much it was Saturday night, the guy said 28,000. But when I came back tonight, a Wednesday, the price was down to 18,000 and I further haggled it down to 13,000. (Note to self: on the weekend come to see what the selection is, because there are a lot of people, you are less likely to be accosted by over eager venders. Then, come back during the week when its pretty empty and go straight to the things you want and avoid browsing!)
My main goal for going to Dongdaemon Market tonight was to get a camera case to protect the lovely camera Lucas got me for my birthday. So I found a nice Chanel-style camera case that I was able to talk down to 14,000. Once I gave him the cash, he took the camera case and cut a little tag on the O to turn it into a C. Then on the zipper charm he used a pair of snippers and clipped the metal O turning it into a C as well. So now it looks just like the Chanel camera case from the Duty Free shop! Another money saving opportunity! And this one doesn’t involve spiders : )

Oh, Korea

• This is blog entry is called, “Oh Korea!” because recently I find myself saying this phrase a little too often.
• Oh Korea, why are your women afraid to grow muscles? I saw an advertisement for what looks like ace bandages, but much tighter, to put on your arms and calf muscles to prevent them from growing. I also know that it’s also quite popular to perform such surgeries as severing the calf muscle, or sculpting (removing) the thigh muscles so they are thinner. Oh Korea, why?
Dad and I were talking about a Korean TV show that pits a Korean girl pop group against professional or semi professional (college) athletes. They then compete in physical challenges whereby the Korean pop girls somehow always win!?!?! The girls in the pop group are muscle-less twigs, and yet the fit athletes always fail the challenges. Why Korea, why do you promote the anorexic look over healthy fit bodies? What must the parents of these athletes on TV think of their children? “See, if only you had less muscles you could be successful! This volleyball /swimming / softball etc. is no good for you! You’ll never get a husband with calf muscles like that! We need to sever those muscles immediately! Then you can be a winner like the girls in the pop group!”
• Oh Korea, why is it okay to dress in drag on TV, but not to be a transvestite?
I’m confused, if you are a guy it’s okay to dress in drag if you are being filmed for a TV show. However, if you dress in drag because you like the way you look, or feel, then you are just wrong and shameful! As long as you dress up to imitate someone else, it’s fine, but don’t you dare do it for your own enjoyment! It is only for the entertainment of others you sick weirdo!
This all started when I went to see Rocky Horror the musical. I was so surprised that the audience seemed to be okay with the drag issue. Then I remembered that as long as it’s for entertainment it’s fine! Put it on stage or in front of a camera, anything goes!
• Oh Korea, why do you make employees sit in ranking order at the office? I know I’ve talked about this before, but it has never really impacted me until recently. I had been working on my own for 10 months, but now I work with a team of 3 others, soon to be 4 others. Well, the configuration of chairs used to be 3 desks on the right, and 2 desks on the left. But because of this highest ranking bullshit their needed to be 3 desk on the left, and 2 desks on the right. This is because the highest manager needed to sit by the window and for some reason only one other person could be in front of him, not two. So the desks had to be disassembled and reassembled on the other size.
Now, we had to go through all this hectic moving so that we could be in ranking order. But I’ve been with this company for a year and the new employee hasn’t started yet but she will be sitting behind me. A whaaaaa? Okay, truthfully, I will let it slide because you guys thought I was leaving in October. But I gave up my desk drawers for my manager because his desk didn’t have a set. And I ordered a new set of drawers a month ago when we moved. Still, no drawers to this day, yet sitting right behind me, in an empty desk, for an employee who isn’t even here yet, are a set of drawers not in use, and I am still waiting for my drawers to arrive!!! “Oh no, you can’t have those drawers, they belong to Ms. Kim.” “Well, why couldn’t I have used them this whole month while she hasn’t been here, and when my new drawers arrive she can have those ones?” “Oh no, because those are Ms. Kim’s.” Oh Korea, your killing me here!
• Ok Korea, why are your weddings so staged? I know I’ve gone over this as well before, but the bouquet toss at a wedding is ridiculously misinterpreted. This weekend was Hui Kyung’s wedding. Just like the other weddings I’ve attended, we needed to stage a photo where the girl who is scheduled to get married next (literally the next weekend in this case) gets to catch the bouquet. And we toss it over and over again to her until we get the right picture. Nothing new here, what is new is I asked what the girl was suppose to do with the bouquet now that she has it. I was told that the bouquet is dried out and then 100 days after the wedding of her friend, she is supposed to burn the bouquet. Yup, apparently it brings good luck to the bride and groom. I asked if you the bride and groom have to be present, like it’s some big ceremony, but nope, ya just burn it on your stove or however is most convenient for you. You can call them and tell them you burned their bouquet but they don’t have to be there to get the good luck, and you don’t have to call them if you are too busy. Oh Korea, why are you so strict when it comes to some traditions, and completely nonchalant about others?
• Oh Korea, why are your dress codes so confusing? So I’ve talked a lot about short skirts and wearing high heels to go hiking, but just when I thought I had the Korean dress code figured out, my assumptions about dressing up for a wedding were wrong. I mean, weddings are a big deal in the US. We dress up for the occasion. In fact, I was scheduled to go to two weddings this month, so I borrowed two dresses from Vicki. I mean, I didn’t want to buy new dresses for these wedding, but I also know how fashionable the Koreans are so I didn’t want to wear the same clothes I wear to work. I was really surprised that my colleagues came to the wedding wearing the same clothes they normally do! Guys in the same suits, girls in the same dresses, I mean, yes, Koreans are always dressed up during the week, but I figured weddings would mean you have to dress up even more than average. Oh Korea, really, I’m puzzled by the dress codes sometimes.

Road Trip

* I know, I suck at this whole keeping up my blog regularly thing! But this week is Chuseok, Korean thanks giving, so I have the week off. Maybe this will allow me to catch up on some of the things you’ve missed. So here are the top 5 changes that have occurred recently that you’ve missed out on. (1) I am staying in Korea till January 14th. (2) Lucas was laid off from his job so one of us needs to have a job. (3) I belong to a team of 3 other people at my work so I no longer work in isolation. (4) I’ve been training for a half marathon so I’ve been running a lot lately, taking advantage of Olympic Park. (5) Because I renewed my contract to stay in Korea, I can now get a visa to go to China, I will go October 20th for 4 days with my friend Hey Jeong.
* This weekend I took a road trip with Bonyun, her husband, and her brother. We went east of Seoul about 3 ~ 4 hours to Andong. First stop was lunch at a wonderful picnic spot. You first order a tray of food and then take it to your private bungalow. Here I got to see sooooo many wonderful creatures!!! They weren’t inside our bungalow, they were outside of it and along the river. I found a praying mantis, huge grasshoppers, a rather plump caterpillar the size of a highlighter, and lots of frogs too! Bonyung got the grand prize of creature discoveries though. When she went to the bathroom she found a snake! I was sooooo jealous!
*After lunch we went for a hike up a mountain with a great view of a little peninsula town surrounded by the river. It was hot so we went down to the river and splashed around in the water for a while. Then, we drove to a really really long bridge. We also go to wonder around the mock town and fortress that they use for some of the TV historical dramas.
*Afterwards, we met with Bonyun’s Mom, Dad, and a Buddhist monk. Her parents are Buddhist so they like to take the monk out to dinner every once in a while. Once again, they were amazed at my ability to use chopsticks, because it’s always assumed that foreigners can only use forks I guess. And I in turn was amazed that the Buddhist monk was eating meat. I really think that only Buddhist in Korea eat meat. I don’t know if it is that they cannot refuse any food that is offered to them or they just interpret things differently in Korea. The next day, when we ate at the temple, we were served all vegetarian foods so maybe they are only vegetarian at the temple. So perhaps what happens outside of the temple, stays outside the temple? Or rather, what Buddha doesn’t know, won’t hurt him?
* After dinner, her parents went to stay with the monk at the temple, and we went to a traditional house. The house was built in 1663 and 14 of its rooms are rented out to people. It is advertised as an artists’ compound where they can go and listen to the earth revolve. The owner had to move the house uphill a few years ago when they dammed up the river and turned it into a lake. It’s a very serene spot he chose to move the house to. It’s tucked into the hills overlooking the lake. Many artists come here to write poetry and do calligraphy. In fact, the owner writes poetry and he gave me an autographed copy of his book of poems that were translated into both English and Japanese. He also showed me the calligraphy and art samples that some of the artists gave to him. He let me choose a piece and take it home with me!
*At the 1663 house, I got to share the American art of making s’mores. I got the marshmallows, Hershey chocolate bars, and graham crackers smuggled off the army base because they don’t sell such things in Korea. Then we used wooden chopsticks to roast our marshmallows on a small coal fire. Everyone loved the sticky, sweet treats! I even gave one to the owner and one to his wife. We also handed them out to any of the guest that came over to see what we were doing. It was I’m sure the first, and only time, s’mores have ever been made at that house.
*The next day we went to the Buddhist temple and Bonyun’s brother taught me how to bow properly to Buddha. You bow 3 times to Buddha and just once in the same fashion to the monk. So when I went to greet the monk I had just practiced with her brother in the temple so I did it correctly. When Bonyun and her husband came in a bit later to greet the monk, her dad told them to bow to the monk and they did didn't do it quite as well. So the monk was laughing and so were we because these 2 Koreans who both have Buddhist parents, and couldn't bow properly to the monk, but this foreign girl could. I guess they needn't know that I had just learned not 15 minutes prior!
*When we finished having tea at the temple, the monk gave me a beautiful stone bracelet. It is to help you keep track of how many prayers or bows you have done. I'm not too sure how to use it, I will have to ask Bonyun's brother for more clarification. Anyways, after we left, we all went to a mask museum. There were masks here not only from Korea, but around the world. It was very interesting to see differences and similarities among cultures.
*I had a great weekend. One of the hardest things about living in Korea is not having family around me. So this weekend, I really felt like a part of Bonyun’s family. I am so grateful to her and her brother for organizing and orchestrating such a great weekend for us!

Novocaine for my Seoul

• Many of you are wondering, “Renee, where have you been?” “Long time no write,” and so on. Well, my sister came to visit for 3 weeks, and then I was sick for 2 weeks after that. Must have been withdrawals from not being with my sister, since I had been with her night and day for 3 weeks, clearly I became addicted.
Anyway, this blog is not going to be an update on what my sister and I did for 3 weeks. Nor is it going to tell about my river rafting adventure or learning how to cook pajeon (Korean pancake). No, this post is about how I went to the dentist. Sounds exciting right? Well, just keep reading, it gets interesting.
Every year, all of the employees have to go for a physical exam. So, Hui Kyung and I went together to where they perform the physical exams for large companies. When we arrived, we filled out some forms and then changed into our spiffy, orange, monk-style scrubs. We are herded around through a gantlet of test with other employees in scrubs. We do blood work, urine tests, eye exams, hearing tests, and “womb tests.” Hui Kyung and the others also went for chest x-rays and mammograms, but since I get to do that at City of Hope when I get home (as part of a long term study) I opted out of those tests. No need for the extra exposure to radiation, or booby smashing.
After we finished these tests, we were presented with the option of having a dental exam, too. Knowing that I will not have health insurance, let alone dental insurance when I return home without a job, I jumped at the chance to see a dentist. Little did I know that going to the dentist in Korea is not like going to the dentist in the U.S. I got what they called “scaling” done for a little less than $40. It’s very similar to getting your teeth professionally cleaned in the US, but it’s much faster. It only takes about 5 minutes on the top and the bottom, which is a definite plus. Downside is it sounds worse then fingernails on a chalkboard!
Have you ever been so unfortunate as to be driving in the rain and have the rubber peal off of your windshield wipers and scrape along the glass? No, well I’m sure you can use your imagination and this is what was happening inside my head, for 10 minutes.
Oh wait, the story gets better. Much better! Have you ever been so unfortunate as to have a dentist drill into your tooth without giving you Novocain first? No, not that either huh? I can just hear your reaction, and oh yes, I have.
Apparently I had a small cavity on one of my back molars. So, the dentist said to me, “I suggest small pain, no shot.” My initial reaction, “I suggest you shove it!” But he kept insisting it would be a small pain. I asked, “long pain,” motioning with my hands, but he said no, “small pain.” So, foolishly I believed him and said I would try my best to endure the pain. And I did. I survived it. Thanks due in part to the dental assistant holding my arm and soothing me as best she could.
Actually, it was nothing compared to a bone marrow biopsy. No, haven’t been so unfortunate enough for that one either eh? Well, that’s far worse than having a dentist drill into your tooth without Novocain. I’m sure if it was a deep cavity I would not be saying the same thing though. Overall, I’m glad I did it. It was way cheaper then dental work in the U.S. and I can now go another year without visiting the dentist.

Random Korean-isms

* Ok, this post will be a hodgepodge of different little comments that I’ve been meaning to share with everyone. My first short story reveals the mystery of “Girl Poops.” So, if that’s kinda gross and you don’t want to hear about it, then just got right ahead on to the next * story. So, when I moved offices, Chin informed me that I no longer get to take my 2:30pm skype break to talk to my family. While I was working in close proximity to her, she had been holding me to U.S. law. So, I used to get a 10 minute break for every 4 hours I worked. Well, she said because I was moving into an area where there are other employees, I need to follow Korean law. Korean law apparently states, “work hard, work hard, work hard.” They are not given 10 minute breaks; in fact, Koreans are not supposed to take breaks at all! And now I too am not allowed to take breaks!
So, what’s the secret; how is it possible to work all day continuously without taking a break you may ask. Well, you can’t. And I don’t say this because you’re most likely not Korean; I say this because Koreans do take breaks. Hence the mystery of the ‘girl poop’ is revealed to me at last!
As a girl, before coming to Korea, I could never imagine a culture where girls sit on the toilet and read news papers, use the bidet, or talk on their cell phones while pooping in a public place. Now that I know Koreans are not allowed to take 10 minute breaks every 4 hours like I used to be allowed, I understand why girls take poop breaks at work. Though I still don’t think I will ever be able to do that.
* Lucas and I were wondering why, when we were in Japan, we saw so many girls walking with their feet turned in. I told him that girls in Korea do it too. I theorized that maybe walking that way made your butt look smaller. Because it’s not a genetic deformity, they choose to walk this way. I saw girls who would climb stairs with their feet faced forward like normal, and as soon as they are on level ground again they turn their feet back in. So I knew it was by choice, but I didn’t know why they chose to do this.
Turns out, Japanese Geishas walk this way. So, to be a more like a subservient, meek, geisha-esk girl, they walk with their feet turned in. Geishas do it to take smaller steps so that look dainty. Asides from looking retarded, I think some Korea girls do it took look like they need assistance. Maybe it will get the guy they are with to hold on to their arm and steady them as they walk like a duck in 4 inch heels. Who knows! That’s one girl mystery here I’m still working on understanding.
* Another interesting Korean-ism I learned about while living here is the importance of titles. There are some Korean-isms I’m not going to do, and one of them is always calling people by formal titles. Apparently, because I’m younger than Chin, I’m not supposed to call her by her name. I’m supposed to call her ‘sajanim.’ When I refer to her to other Koreans, I will use this title; only because it makes them visibly uncomfortable if I don’t, but when I am talking to her or emailing her, I use her name.
The other day, my two friends Dasom and Hui Kyung were told not to call each other by name because Hui Kyung is a year older then Dasom, so it’s unprofessional. HA! These girls went to grad school together, are good friends outside of work, and sit next to each other at the office, and they are not allowed to be on a first name bases with each other?!?!!? WOW!
Actually, it was even more Korean then that! They weren’t told directly not to call each other by their first names. No, nothing is ever told directly to someone. The order was given in a round about way by means of a suggestion. Like, “wouldn’t it be more professional if you called her [insert Korean title] instead, since she is a year older?” Hahahah! So Korean!
* One last little bit of random Korean facts for you. That awful T.V. show “Medium,” well, they actually show it on T.V. here too. But they don’t call it ‘Medium,’ they call it “Ghost and Crime.” I think it is because they don’t make a size medium here. They only make small and extra small, so they don’t have a word for it. Ha! Just kidding, I know medium is a homophone. Who knows why they didn’t just replace it with a word for that has a similar meaning to a medium, I guess they don’t have that type of person in their culture. Although they do have fortune tellers, and palm readers, so I would assume they would also have people who claim to take to ghosts.

Bau Haus Dog Cafe

* Like I reported in my last post, things had been a little tough for me after my parents left Seoul. I don’t belong to a team at my work so while other teams have monthly dinners together, I am left to wonder why I’m not included in their reindeer games? So, I decided to stop being sad and to do something about it. My solution was to threw my own dinner party. I had a few guests over from work and cooked dinner for them. They really enjoyed my cooking. Especially, the crustini with homemade salsa. They kept asking me for the recipe, but since I made it up I had to show them the steps I took to make it. So they learned something new.
I also learned something new from Hui Kyung. Before we ate dinner, Hui Kyung went into the restroom to wash her hands. She asked if she was supposed to use the Neutrogena face wash soap on her hands. I told her, “No, use the Korean stuff.” She started laughing, so I knew I had committed another faux pas. She was laughing because I had put soap for washing dishes in my bathroom. I couldn’t tell the difference! It’s all in Korean; soap is soap right? Since this incident I have replaced my bathroom dishwashing soap with Dove bar soap, so let’s hope future dinner guests will be spared any needless confusion.
* Speaking of needless confusion, I had a very strange dream the other day. I dreamt that I needed to pick something up to rescues it from getting wet. Well, I ended up falling out of bed rescuing this imaginary object. One minute I’m asleep in bed, the next I’m laying on the hardwood floor wondering why my knee and elbow hurt so damn much. I crawled back into bed, but I had trouble falling asleep again because of the pain, and the fact that I couldn’t stop laughing at myself.
* Guess where Vicki and I went…..the long await, world famous Bau Haus!!! It’s a dog café! And no, although Koreans do eat dogs on occasion, this café only served drinks and dog treats. This café has at all times 10 or so dogs on hand, plus some people bring their own dogs to play, too. It’s a wild scene! Dogs barking, running, biting, and scratching, it was a dog lover’s paradise! We got to cuddle every kind of dog from an Afghan to a schnauZer!
I brought dog treats from a local market but they were confiscated at the door. The dogs are only aloud to have the treats that we buy at their café. It’s also a one drink minimum per visitor. They sell smoothies, tea, and bottled beer. If you leave any drink unattended a dog might try to share it with you. The dogs own this place! The roam around the tables and bench seats visiting any guests with doggy treats available.
I spent most of my time with one big sleepy doberman pincher who loved cuddling with me. He was sleeping on me for most of the 2 hours we were there! Though other dogs came and went so I got to cuddle other dogs as well.
The dogs were pretty well behaved for the most part. We only saw a few have “accidents” that were promptly cleaned up by attentive staff. And every time a staff member called one of the dogs by name it would come running and then sit down near him or her. The dog would then sit while people posed around it for photos.
* After Vicki and I left the dog café, we went to a Mexican restaurant. All I can say is it was a very interesting take on Mexican food. I’m not saying it was bad, on the contrary, I liked the quesadilla I ordered. It just didn’t use a corn or flour tortilla like your average quesadilla. This one was made out of some kind or omelet-crêpe-potato-paddy hybrid. It was not crispy, it was fluffy with melted cheese and different types of mushrooms inside.
* After the dinner, we followed the loud cheering that was coming from the park. There was an amazing Korean band playing. They covered all English songs with the added twist of a Reggae beat, tap dancing, and beat boxing. The group was called Soundbox, and they covered songs like Beatles ‘Hey Jude’ and Radiohead ‘Freak’. All while adding interesting beat box noises or dramatic tap dancing dueling sessions between the dancer and the base player. Really interesting stuff, so creative! I think they are there ever weekend in the park so I can’t wait to go back and check them out again soon… when I get to bring Angela!!! I can’t wait for my sister to visit!!!