Seoul - Day 2

Our second day in Seoul was MUCH more easy-going than the first. We woke up at KyungIl's home in Incheon and enjoyed a relaxing morning. His mom made us breakfast and we got ready to head into the city. We went to the post office first (pretty much the same as an American post office) and then hopped on the train.

Once in Seoul, we went straight to Itaewon to meet one of Shin's friends, Dr. Shin. Dr. Shin has known Shin since elementary school but it's been a few years since they've seen each other so they had a great time getting reacquainted. Itaewon was my favorite burb of Seoul because there were SO MANY foreigners. It was a very multicultural side of the city. On my first day in Seoul, I saw probably 100 foreigners in the entire city. On day 2 we visited one street in Itaewon and I saw literally hundreds of foreigners (a U.S. military base is a big reason many Americans are there).

We ate lunch, got coffee and just sat and enjoyed the pleasant company of friends. Then Shin and I headed to Mokdong, on the outskirts of Seoul, to meet up with another friend of his from high school. We went back to Incheon where C.S. Kim and his wife live and we ate dinner with them. They brought us back into the city to the bus station and we headed out of Seoul on the midnight bus to GyeongJu. 

Seoul - Day 1

We hopped on a bus at 7am and headed to Seoul (4.5 hours from GyeongJu, 1 rest stop).

Once in Seoul, we went to a GIANT department store, Shinsaegae, and waited to meet our friend, KyungIl, who was coming from Incheon.

Then we headed into the heart of Seoul until we ended up at a Pizza Hut

This was a three story PH. First floor was an entrance where we hopped on an elevator up to the 2nd floor eating/seating, 3rd floor was the bathroom and kitchen. We ate a delicious chili shrimp pizza and shared the salad bar which had many items I'd never seen before. Then we continued our exploration of Seoul.

Then we crossed the famous Cheonggyecheon- you've heard of it, of course. Anyway, it's this giant, manmade waterway that runs through the middle of the city and covers the sewage system. It was this astronomically huge beautification project for the city of Seoul it turned out wonderfully. It was lovely in the winter so I'm sure it's even better when it's warmer.
Then we basically walked forever just seeing what there was to see. We went to Insadong, Myeongdong, Gyeongbok Palace, Gwanghwa Gate, and Gangnam. This means we walked FOREVER all over the freezing city and it was beautiful, crowded, busy, and awesome.

Gyeongbok Palace is the ancient home of the King. Here's a picture of us as royalty!

Holy cow, here's something I just learned:
Prague, Czech Republic - 1.2 million people
Paris, France - 2.1 million people
New York City, USA - 8.1 million people
Seoul, South Korea - 10.4 million people

Seoul is, by far, the biggest city I've ever been in. At the end of the day we headed home with KyungIl and enjoyed a wonderful night's sleep at his parent's house. We're headed back into Seoul today- I'm hoping we get to see the largest church in the world.

Lovely day

Just a quick update. I'm typing from phone and have low connection so this will be very brief:
-visited FIL at work mon night
-fell asleep upright while shin and his dad chatted :-)
-went to bed for real at 9pm
-woke up 5:30 :-/
-breakfast made by MIL
-went with SIL to hosp in Pohang (20 min away) to pick up prescription
-visited other SIL at work (she's a nurse at a swank OBGYN)
-2 SILs, Shin, & I at lunch
-dropped SIL back off at work and I tripped over a parking stopper block, face-planted, skinned knee, destroyed leggings
-went back to other SIL's house, doctored up knee (I'm perfectly fine, mom & gma), took nap
-came home and looked through photo albums. Shin fell asleep on floor at 8pm. I fell asleep at 9.
-weds morn woke up 5:30am :-/
-went with FIL & MIL to Bomun Danji (scenic, touristy lake place) 20 min away
-came home or FIL to eat lunch before work
-took nap on floor
-went with MIL and Shin to huge, open, fresh market
-ordered lunch delivered to home
-hubs and I walked about his hood. He took me to his favorite arcade where we DDRed and karaoked to M Buble & B Spears. Then drank coffee in cute shop.
-went to SIL's home, finished Pride & Prejudice!!!, ate dinner
-nephew treated us to 2nd cute coffee of the day
-walked around SIL's apt complex w/neph & niece
-visited FIL @ work
-came home and packed for trip to Seoul tomorrow!!!

Okay... That's a list of what we've done. Porbs can update again after our 2 days in Seoul.

GyeongJu

We've made it to GyeongJu...

We arrived and Shin's BIL picked us up from the airport. We got ALL our luggage (a total of 6 pieces- 4 checked bags and 2 carry-ons). This is a huge praise because I was SURE we would lose some if not all of our luggage somewhere in our 4 flights.

Anyway, he picked us up and we headed from Busan to GyeongJu. We were surrounded by the huge city and surrounding suburbs of Busan- there are gigantic, towering, apartment complexes everywhere. We traveled about 20 minutes and then we stopped at a little cute restaurant/food/convenience store and got some coffee. I drank my cappuccino, we got back in the car, and I fell asleep for the remaining 20 minutes. Shin and his BIL pleasantly chatted the entire time.

We arrived at his parents home and his sister, nephew, and niece were there with his parents. We saw everyone, gave out a few gifts, talked a bit, and then the family left. His dad had to run off to work and Shin's mom, Shin, and I looked through lots of old pictures. I've finally seen my husband as a baby and a kid and he was cuuuuute, and always smiling. Then we went to bed around 1am.

Woke up this morning at about 7am and sorted through all of our stuff to figure out what gifts/food went to which families. Shin's mom made us breakfast. Then gathered things and came to SIL's house to shower. Nephew, SIL, Shin, and I headed out to get Shin a haircut. He looks SO MUCH better. Then SIL, Shin and I ran a TON of errands. We went to public admin office about Shin's ID (he lost old one), we exchanged money and tried to help lost Chinese girls, then went to photographer to get a picture taken for his license, went to lunch, we went to butcher, we went grocery shopping, we went to police station to submit paperwork for ID, we went to public health dept dentist about his chipped tooth, we went to a swanky private dentist office b/c public couldn't fix it. We finally came back to his SIL's house. I'm tired, but overall good. We're now headed back to parent's house and I'm ready to unpack all of our clothes so I can remember everything I packed to wear.

(Picture is of GyeongJu, the freezing cold city we've been driving/walking around ALL day).

Christmas

First we had a small tree... but I was distraught because I loved it, but I wanted more, but I didn't want to spend money on Christmas, but my house didn't feel holly jolly- it felt like a spurt of cheer sat in the doorway, but I could spend $40/month to sponsor a child's LIFE or $40 this month to fill my house with shtuff, but I wanted more Christmas, but Christmas isn't about things (okay, you get it).

Then God heard the cries of my heart and the next day at work, my wonderful coworker, Robin, was giving her giant tree and some of her decor away!!!

So we were stoked. Super pumped. We went to her amazing home and loaded the Sportage with Christmas. We put up everything (I took the little tree up to my work). Now my house is a holly jolly home.

We were also given free tickets by another wonderful coworker, Michelle, to go see the Living Tree at First Baptist Church. There are 100 people in that tree and they're all singing their little Christmas-ball-shaped heads off. A LOT of work went into this production.

Lastly, Shin found some AMAZING deals on camping stuff so we gave a joint Christmas gift to ourselves. We froze our buns off sleeping outside the other night, but it was good practice for the camping we plan to do in 2012.

Merry Christmas! I hope you notice and give thanks for the Christmas miracles Jesus is working all around you and in your life too!