Some good... some bad...

Thursday evening, a co-worker and I went to go get some new glasses! I've heard good things about the eye doctors here, but I wanted to experience it for myself. So, Ali and I headed out after work and walked a whole one minute to the optical shop. We tried on all sorts of fun pairs. I also had the shortest eye exam in my life. I ended up buying two pairs of glasses and two boxes of contact lenses... all for only $200! This process was so fast, so simple, and cheap... America needs to take some notes!



I ended up buying a "serious" pair and a "Korean hipster" pair.




Sadly, Ali and Brittney are leaving soon, so the other night we went out for some Shabu Shabu. Here is a picture of it and all it's glory! So yummy, so spicy! It's thinly sliced beef, vegetables, potatoes, and noodles all boiled in big pot. Once you've finished that off, you use the same pot to cook up some rice, onions, and an egg and it's the most delicious (and slightly sweetened) rice you've ever eaten.

 

 

 

Today, I went into Itaewon to find the foreign marts with Melissa and Nyeasha. We ate some delicious Tomatillos and then went on to buy some things that reminded us of home! I bought ranch dressing, hummus, pita bread, Trident gum, Aunt Jemima pancake mix, and Diet Cherry Coke... YAY! I did receive some ridiculously unfortunate news though. My summer vacation to Dubai now has a layover in China for... wait for it... THIRTY HOURS... UGH. That's a whole day snatched from Dubai and hours that we have to figure out what to do with... and you can only be in China for 24 hours without a visa (which is $200!)... joy, joy, joy... Hopefully, Nyeasha and I will figure something out. Prayers would be appreciated.

 

To leave on a lighter note... here are some great sentences from my kids...

 

 

 

 

4th of July

Celebrating America in Korea wasn't too bad. Sure, I missed being with my family and friends, watching the parades and fireworks, and the FOOD! Oh... the food.

But during school, many of my foreign coworkers were playing songs like "God Bless America" and "I'm Proud to be an American", etc. Ahh, my heart was so happy. Later on that evening, Brittney, Ali, and I went to Baby Guinness and had some amazing food and beer. Baby Guinness is an Irish Pub in the middle of Dongtan and is a fun place to go when you want to run into a lot of crazy foreigners.

 

 

After dinner, we decided to use up some old fireworks we had leftover from Busan. We got on top of the SLP roof and fired them off. Sadly, our sparkers didn't work, but the bottle rockets did... mmm, for the most part. Unfortunately one decided to misfire on Brittney while she was holding it. It turned out to look a little something like this... I couldn't stop laughing... I'm  a pretty bad friend I guess :)

 

 

Also, I love how much Koreans utilize their roofs here. Ours is mostly used for drying laundry and having parties on. I just love the view!

 

 

 

This past Saturday, I got my second top wisdom tooth out, cleaning, and gingivectomy done. Luckily, I had a friend with me this time for a little extra comfort. The cleaning felt really great (actually better than what I've experienced in the states) and the gingivectomy wasn't bad either, but oh dear goodness... that wisdom tooth was a doozey. I had a mask over my eyes this time, but I could tell things weren't going too well when it was taking forever and you could hear the murmurs of chatter above you. I only let out one tear in the chair and didn't cry the whole way home, I was so proud of myself (and Justin said I should be proud after how completely barbaric the whole procedure was!). And now I'm done! DONE, DONE, DONE! Praise Jesus!

Life before the procedure...

Life after... not happy...

 

 

Everland! I want to go back...

This past weekend I had the pleasure of celebrating a coworkers birthday by going to EVERLAND! It's a smaller amusement park than what I'm used to, but it was still awesome! A quarter of it is a zoo, the other an amusement park, the other a garden, and the rest shopping and food. Ahhh, it was so much fun! I can't wait to go back. And since it was so hot, the crowds were at a minimum, which meant 5 hour long lines were only 30 minutes to an hour and a half. Here are some pictures from the day... and if you notice the specular camera shots... they weren't taken by me, but a friend on the trip :) I just stole them to make this post more exciting!

 

The entrance of Everland.

 

NOT a bird to be messed around with.

Hedwig! I love you!

I love you too Mr. Polar Bear!

So majestic!

 

 

Seal Show! Ridiculously adorable. The seals were SO well trained. It was awesome :)

 

Bravest seal in the world!

I've never seen a monkey like this before! He looks like an old man!

The chimp area had secret chimp watching boxes! You got to be where the chimps were. It was tiny and hot, but really fascinating.

 

 

 

 

Then, we went to the baby show!

 

...and yes, I GOT TO PET A BABY LION!

Up close and personal with giraffes... seriously one of the best highlights of the day.

 

T-Express! One of the best wooden roller coasters I've ever been on. I laughed and screamed the whole time. Well done Everland.

The park at night was beautiful! They had a light parade, fireworks, and all of the rides were lit up as well as the gardens.

 

Being Korean with our cute headbands... I should have bought those bear ears :(
 

All in all, seriously wonderful day! Happy Birthday to Ms. Ali Edwards! Thanks for letting me enjoy the day with you :)

Suwon Fortress

A couple of weeks ago, we had a random day off for Memorial day. It was a Thursday... and what on earth would I use a random Thursday off besides for sleeping? Well, instead of resting, Nyeasha, Melissa, and I went to Suwon to explore the Hwaseong Fortress. The Hwaseong Fortress is a wall that surrounds the center of city of Suwon, which is the provincial capital of Gyeonggi-do. This fortress was built from 1794 to 1796 by King Jeongjo of the Joseon Dynasty to house and honor the remains of his father Prince Sado, who had been murdered by being locked alive inside a rice chest by his own father King Yeongjo after failing to obey the command to commit suicide. Disturbing. We walked around forever and were tired and sweated the whole time, but it was such a fantastic day. Here is a little of what we did...

 

Long distance shot of the fortress in front of us.

Massive bell behind us.

 

Enormous Buddha statue.

Side shot.

DRINKING MOUNTAIN WATER OUT OF A DRAGONS MOUTH! Every fiber within me was refreshed.

 

Suwon.



Massive city!

Top of the fortress.

Me being a tourist...

At the top of the fortress, this little tunnel led out to this beautiful forest...

Forrest of enchantment, we could have sat here alllllll day....



Side of the wall...

 

Love this picture :)

 

 

Pimp my ride Korea... the Dragon Tram!

This tram saved us hours of walking! We were happy.

While waiting to do archery, we walked across the street and to watch this awesome fighting show! There was taekwondo, sword fighting, horse riding, etc.



I LOVE HORSES. LET ME JOIN YOU.

 

Time for archery. Nyeasha being boss.



Melissa showing her skills.

Pretending like I know what I'm doing.

Just call me Legolas.

 

Panorama of fighting performance, archery field, and wall.

Walking the wall.



Being Korean and using an umbrella on a sunny day!

River running through the city.



Flowers make any place magical!

Suwon market!




Walking through the streets and being waved at by Korean men.

They opened a new food mart in Suwon Station and we grabbed Japanese for dinner. From the back to front, we had takoyaki (octopus balls), okonomiyaki (Japanese pizza/pancakes, also those are fish flakes on top), and yakisoba (Japanese "chow mien"). It was DELICIOUS!



Cute cupcakes from another part of the food mart!

I loved this day and everything we did! It makes me so happy remembering how great it was :)