The Middle of Vacation
So it's Wednesday night, and this week is my vacation week. I had thought about going to Japan, but it's just so last minute for me and I didn't really feel like going on a trip, so I decided to stay here and do random things during the week.
On Monday, I celebrated my best Korean friend's birthday :) We went to Gangnam and had Mexican food then did some shopping. I did a lot of clothing shopping as I needed more shirts that actually fit. I bought some clothes at a Korean boutique which made me very happy for two reasons! First, they both fit! Yay! Boutique clothing stores tend to have "One Size Fits All" which translates to "One Size Fits All Thin Korean Women". And second, they were from the 4,900 won rack (about $3.94 at today's exchange rate). I got a striped shirt/cover-up for over tank tops, and a very cute black jumper :) We also went to Uniqlo, a Japanese chain that looks incredibly similar to The Gap and I got some shirts ranging from 5,000 won ($4.02) to 16,000 won ($12.87). It's great how cheap clothing can be here (when you can finally fit it).
On Tuesday, I decided to go to a train station stop that I've been wanting to go to for a while. I've passed Dongjak Station (동자역) quite a few times on my way to Myeongdong (명동) and it always looked very pretty. It's right next to the Han River and there's a park there called the Hangang Park which actually goes all the way along the river. So.... I decided to stop by my favorite sandwich shop, Pao Grina, grab myself a sandwich, take it to Dongjak Station, and have lunch in the park. After lunch, I walked all the way to Apgujeong Station (압구정역). For those of you with Google Earth I walked from around (Latitude 37°30'13.22"N, Longitude 126°58'48.79"E) Dongjak Station to (Latitude 37°31'37.18"N, Longitude 37°31'37.18"N) Apgujeong Station right by the Hyundai Department Store. The walk is a bit over 3 miles. I plan on taking my Dad when he visits :) There were a lot of people fishing and riding their bikes, and there are a few convenience stores to stop and get beer/soju and ice cream at.
Today, I spent mostly hanging out with a friend/former co-worker. We went to Subway for lunch (lol). I got a salad because salads are very hard to find in Korea (unless you want to make them yourself). I then asked if he wanted to see a movie with me, so we went to a nearby mall and saw UP! It's supposed to come out in Korea tomorrow, but they had it today at the theater we went to. It was pretty expensive for some reason (12,000 won, ~$9.65) but, it's the day before the official release, and it's the 3D so we caved and saw it anyway. The whole thing was dubbed in Korean, which was unexpected, but it was still easy to understand, and very funny! Before the movie, we went and got frozen yogurt at my favorite chain, Canmore. The place is wonderfully kitschy, looking like it was decorated by someone's grandmother for a Spring-time tea party. All of the chairs are either rocking chairs or bench swings with enough frills and floral print to melt your eyeballs right out of their sockets. So for you girly-girls and fellow Hello Kitty lovers out there, it's a place you must go to! We split a frozen yogurt that had fruit and cereal around it, and you get dry toast and a dish of some heavy cream/whipped cream combo as sides.
Tomorrow, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Hopefully, go somewhere, and a friend of mine is going to have food and drinks in Hongdae before she goes back to the states for an unknown period of time. She's also from the Lehigh Valley! So it's definitely a very small world, and we have fun talking about PA and stuff back home. I think I want to go to another area that has a park. On my way to Apgujeong Station, I saw two forest-covered hills and what looked like a temple on top of one of them across the river, so I guess I'll be going there. It looks like it's near Oksu Station (옥수역). I'll be sure to take my camera this time. I tried to get a case for it on Monday at the Canon store in Gangnam, but it was 55,000 won ($44.22) and I would need to take off the lens. I guess I'll stick to using the bag that came with it for now...
Other than that, still losing weight, BMI is in the healthy range now. My vacation is actually in the middle of Summer intensives at school, so I have to work longer hours, but I get free lunch and overtime pay which is nice. The lunches are especially great! It's my favorite part of the day. They're very traditional Korean meals, and always different. I'll take my camera next week and get pictures. I also want to take pictures of my super cute kids! But those I won't post. I don't really want to post any pictures of people on this journal, just the places I go to and the things I see.
On Monday, I celebrated my best Korean friend's birthday :) We went to Gangnam and had Mexican food then did some shopping. I did a lot of clothing shopping as I needed more shirts that actually fit. I bought some clothes at a Korean boutique which made me very happy for two reasons! First, they both fit! Yay! Boutique clothing stores tend to have "One Size Fits All" which translates to "One Size Fits All Thin Korean Women". And second, they were from the 4,900 won rack (about $3.94 at today's exchange rate). I got a striped shirt/cover-up for over tank tops, and a very cute black jumper :) We also went to Uniqlo, a Japanese chain that looks incredibly similar to The Gap and I got some shirts ranging from 5,000 won ($4.02) to 16,000 won ($12.87). It's great how cheap clothing can be here (when you can finally fit it).
On Tuesday, I decided to go to a train station stop that I've been wanting to go to for a while. I've passed Dongjak Station (동자역) quite a few times on my way to Myeongdong (명동) and it always looked very pretty. It's right next to the Han River and there's a park there called the Hangang Park which actually goes all the way along the river. So.... I decided to stop by my favorite sandwich shop, Pao Grina, grab myself a sandwich, take it to Dongjak Station, and have lunch in the park. After lunch, I walked all the way to Apgujeong Station (압구정역). For those of you with Google Earth I walked from around (Latitude 37°30'13.22"N, Longitude 126°58'48.79"E) Dongjak Station to (Latitude 37°31'37.18"N, Longitude 37°31'37.18"N) Apgujeong Station right by the Hyundai Department Store. The walk is a bit over 3 miles. I plan on taking my Dad when he visits :) There were a lot of people fishing and riding their bikes, and there are a few convenience stores to stop and get beer/soju and ice cream at.
Today, I spent mostly hanging out with a friend/former co-worker. We went to Subway for lunch (lol). I got a salad because salads are very hard to find in Korea (unless you want to make them yourself). I then asked if he wanted to see a movie with me, so we went to a nearby mall and saw UP! It's supposed to come out in Korea tomorrow, but they had it today at the theater we went to. It was pretty expensive for some reason (12,000 won, ~$9.65) but, it's the day before the official release, and it's the 3D so we caved and saw it anyway. The whole thing was dubbed in Korean, which was unexpected, but it was still easy to understand, and very funny! Before the movie, we went and got frozen yogurt at my favorite chain, Canmore. The place is wonderfully kitschy, looking like it was decorated by someone's grandmother for a Spring-time tea party. All of the chairs are either rocking chairs or bench swings with enough frills and floral print to melt your eyeballs right out of their sockets. So for you girly-girls and fellow Hello Kitty lovers out there, it's a place you must go to! We split a frozen yogurt that had fruit and cereal around it, and you get dry toast and a dish of some heavy cream/whipped cream combo as sides.
Tomorrow, I have no idea what I'm going to do. Hopefully, go somewhere, and a friend of mine is going to have food and drinks in Hongdae before she goes back to the states for an unknown period of time. She's also from the Lehigh Valley! So it's definitely a very small world, and we have fun talking about PA and stuff back home. I think I want to go to another area that has a park. On my way to Apgujeong Station, I saw two forest-covered hills and what looked like a temple on top of one of them across the river, so I guess I'll be going there. It looks like it's near Oksu Station (옥수역). I'll be sure to take my camera this time. I tried to get a case for it on Monday at the Canon store in Gangnam, but it was 55,000 won ($44.22) and I would need to take off the lens. I guess I'll stick to using the bag that came with it for now...
Other than that, still losing weight, BMI is in the healthy range now. My vacation is actually in the middle of Summer intensives at school, so I have to work longer hours, but I get free lunch and overtime pay which is nice. The lunches are especially great! It's my favorite part of the day. They're very traditional Korean meals, and always different. I'll take my camera next week and get pictures. I also want to take pictures of my super cute kids! But those I won't post. I don't really want to post any pictures of people on this journal, just the places I go to and the things I see.