Busy, Busy Week in South Korea

I have had a super busy week. I LOVE the fact that I had something to do every single night last week, with all different people. It makes me feel like I belong here. Like I have found great friends, people that truly care about me. It’s a really good feeling. Hence, that’s why I haven’t updated my blog. Sorry folks!

Last Friday night, Julie and I hung out. She moved back home this past Wednesday to help take care of her dad who is sick. She was my closest friend and neighbor here in Daejeon. I knew she needed to go home, but I sure didn’t want her to go. I knew I would miss her terribly. So I wanted to hang out with her as much as possible before she left. We went out to dinner, went shopping at our little jewelry/socks/hair accessory place called Naughty Cat, and then went for Tea Lattes and dessert at Green Brownie. Check out one of the yummy snacks we found!

Last Saturday, Julie and I decided to take a walk and explore some of the trails around our area.

And we stopped and exercised on the equipment.

We went up and down hills.

Love spring in Korea!

And the mountains in the background…

You can garden wherever you find a little plot of land.

You can find trash anywhere…there is no particular rhyme or reason to it.

Need a broken chair?

Or a suitcase?

We felt like we were in the middle of a landfill.

Love the Konglish!

Boys on their skateboards…

Even the little ones like their fur.

This picture was taken when the sun was setting over the mountains in my neighborhood. Beautiful.

Last Saturday night, a big group of us went to Ali Baba’s Treasure to say good-bye to Julie. Who would have known that I would move to Korea and discover that I love Indian food? I wasn’t expecting that! Their food is SO good! I am so going to have to find a good Indian restaurant in the DFW area.

Patrick and Melissa

Alicia

Then we went to Santa Claus, a funky little pub.  Of course, Alicia and I took some fun pics.

Everyone left except for myself, LaToya, Julie, and her co-worker, Hyun. He took off, and we didn’t know where he went. He came back with this sweet cake from Paris Baguette to celebrate Julie leaving. How sweet was he?

He even brought a candle.

On Sunday, I went to church. A girl from church invited us over to her place for coffee cake. We had a great time just chatting. Then Saree and I went to Johnny’s Pub for some great pizza while sitting in camp chairs. It was so good!

On Monday, Julie and I met at Home Plus and then went to grab a bite to eat. I’m sure going to miss meeting her at Home Plus and just shopping and chatting.

On Tuesday, Julie, her co-teacher, and I went to Raracost for some good Italian food here in our neighborhood. I let Julie choose the restaurant since it would be her very last dinner in Korea. She left Wednesday morning. Sad face. Major sad face.

On Wednesday, I met some girls at the awesome, amazing, wonderful Rio de Janeiro Brazilian restaurant. There is a buffet and also meat that they bring right to your table. Corinne, Julie’s replacement, surprisingly arrived in Daejeon after several days of orientation. I invited her to come with us. She’s from Ohio and has never been abroad before.

On Thursday, I showed Corinne around my neighborhood and Home Plus. Check out what I found!

Sadly, they don’t have my size. Boo.

Then I met my co-teacher, Jin Ju, for dinner. I love her even more now. She insisted on paying for dinner. I found out some things about her: she loves Twilight, her favorite food is meat, and her favorite thing about teaching is vacation. She also loves my singing voice and dance moves. She’s wonderful! 

On Friday, my friend, Emily, came over to my neck of the woods. We went out to dinner and then went to our favorite norebang. We LOVE singing together at norebangs. 

Can you tell some of the songs that we sang?

She spent the night, and we had a fun little slumber party. On Saturday morning, we watched Steel Magnolias, made brownies, and painted our nails the Korean way! 

On Saturday night, I hosted Games Night for some friends at church. We had THE best time! Emily taught me how to make Crack Dip and made me promise that I wouldn’t tell anyone the secret family recipe. Crack Dip is SO good, and I am SOOOO making it again and again! It was a huge hit! We played Drawssip aka Telephone Pictionary and Spoons. Then we went out for a late dinner at Kingdom. Yum!

Inga kept going back for more Crack Dip. I think she even licked the bowl!

On Sunday, I invited Corinne to church with me. After church, Corinne, Saree, and I went to Kraze Burger for dinner, and then Saree and I went to go see the movie, Noah. I liked it, even though it was extremely different than the Noah story in the Bible. Saree and I knew that it would be different though. In fact, she shared a great article about it. 
http://www.relevantmagazine.com/culture/film/hollywood-noah-and-creative-libertys-gray-areas

Now, it’s Monday. And I am finally resting. I caught a cold or something, and it refused to go away, so I finally went to the doctor today. I don’t know what I have, but the doctor had me do a nasal wash. Never had that or even heard of that before. My nose feels pretty clean now!

I’m posting another blog about my highlights at school. Love you guys and miss you tons!