WE WISH YOU A MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas day felt a lot more like Christmas because it was spent with close friends who are my Korean family. The morning was spent at Tracy's where a bunch of us enjoyed a home made breakfast. Omlette's courtesy of Rebekah, bacon courtesy of moi and Tracy toasted bread...lol! We ate, drank, chatted and did a gift exchange. Nicole and I felt bad because we bought non-serious or fun gag gifts and everyone else bought reasonable/sensible gifts that could actually be of use. Tracy numbered each gift and then we each drew a number and whatever number we drew was the present we recieved. My gift ended up being a ridiculous white siberian tiger animal hat. Animal hats are very popular in Korea and people young and old wear them. When we had finished with breakfast and the gift exchange we all were headed to different places to enjoy a nice Christmas dinner. Nicole, Nick, Damien and I were headed to Seoul for a potluck style dinner at Paul's house.

We got to Paul's late afternoon and he was busy cooking us our Christmas turkey. He had some munchies for us while we waited for the food to cook along with some home made spiked egg nog and spiked punch. We watched a Christmas movie, drank, munched and chatted while the turkey was being cooked.

The adorable little Christmas tree that Paul and Kristy have at their house. Definitely makes a difference at Christmas.

Here are some of the desserts that were brought. I made the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

My perky little self at Paul's Christmas dinner. I sported the Christmas earrings and green scarf to feel somewhat in the Christmas spirit.

We ended up staying a bit later than we wanted to because we still had to train back to Incheon. The night ended up being a lot of fun and in good company the only shitty part was heading back to school to teach the very next day. Teaching Christmas Eve and then the day after Christmas made it go by rather fast and unnoticed in a way. It hardly seemed like we had a holiday with just the one day off. Just another thing that makes Korea and North America different when it comes to certain holidays.

!!MERRY CHRISTMAS from Korea!!

Wednesday was Christmas Eve, but I still had to work. It was very bizarre being at school teaching and no one really being into the Christmas spirit. Besides showing 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' during my grade 5 classes, you would have never known it was Christmas here. Korea celebrates Christmas in a very different way from North America. I took the liberty of compiling a mini list of things done differently:

1. Christmas lights and decorations are few and far between. Basically department stores and a few main streets. Seoul was far more geared toward Christmas than Incheon
2. Koreans spend time with friends, not family

1. Many couples spend Christmas alone together

1. Koreans don't buy presents for each other

1. There is no big family dinner with turkey, potatoes, cranberry sauce, etc

1. Christmas movies don't exist :(
2. Christmas carols are known to them, but are not popular
3. Cakes are the most popular Christmas item. Koreans buy Baskin Robbin ice cream cakes, Dunkin Donut cakes, and other famous bakery cakes for Christmas. They sell like hot cakes here.

When I finished work I headed home to change and make dinner for myself and Nicole. I cooked us a delicious pasta dish with brown penne noodles, seasoned shrimp and pasta sauce. I also made us an amazing fruit platter just to make sure we stayed healthy.

This is the delicious fruit platter I made. I had to take a picture of it because I even displayed the fruit all fancy.

Nicole and I ate, did some drinking and then headed out to meet Tiffany and Carmela. We were very very late meeting them, so we just headed straight to Seoul City Hall plaza and met them there. The City Hall area was very crowded with people and it actually felt like Christmas. There was a giant Christmas tree made of lights, the hotel next to the plaza was decorated with lights and Christmas lights lined the streets. We had planned on going skating on the man made rink in the center plaza, but it was sold out and packed. Plus, the ice was really crappy and the only skates you could rent were 'plastic' hockey skates. I don't think I would have been able to skate.

My wife (Nicole) and I decided to take a couple picture in front of the giant Christmas tree. I apologize for the poor quality of the picture.

Anyways, the four of us just hung out and watched the skaters, most of which couldn't skate at all and most of which were couples. It was really funny and cute to watch.

Tiffany and Carmela pose for a Christmas shot in front of the rink :)

This is the ice rink and it may not look busy, but they were still letting people on the ice as this picture was being taken.

When we had finally had enough of watching people skate we just cruised around the area and finally agreed to head for hot chocolate at Starbucks.

We decided to head back to Incheon after we finished our drinks at Starbucks. We opted to take the bus home because it's more comfortable and we don't have to transfer at all along the way. Since we were just in time to catch the last buses home from Seoul there were people lined up for miles. Tiffany and Carmela took a different bus home then Nicole and I. Nicole and I managed to get a seat on the bus, which made the 45-60 minute ride home far more comfortable. We decided we wanted to stay out and go for drinks, so we got off in Guwol-dong and headed to our friend Rio's bar and spent the night there drinking. Then we headed for food before heading home for the night.

Nicole and I at Rio's with my new friend Jessica that I met that night. Turns out she lives in the 'Onion' with Nicole and I.

This Christmas Eve was definitely different from Christmas Eve back home, but just being with good friends and getting out of Incheon for a few hours into Seoul helped put me in the Christmas spirit.

SNOW?? Yes, Please!

Last night I decided I wanted to get my haircut, so I headed to the hairdressers and I noticed giant white stuff falling from the sky. I was perplexed because it has only snowed once before in Korea and it didn't last very long. When I finished at the hair dressers and walked outside the ground was covered in snow. I had only been inside for about an hour and the ground was covered. It was really cold, but I was so excited that snow had finally fallen in Korea. As soon as I got to my apartment I had to take pictures.

This is the view of the freshly fallen snow from directly below my window.

This is a view out my window as the snow was still falling.

I also finished decorating my apratment for Christmas last night. It's not nearly as spectacular as my room back home would look, but it just adds that Christmas feel I'm looking for in a country that does not celebrate like we do back home. I took a few pictures, but they don't really do the look much justice. My mom was so kind as to send me the decorations from back home, so I thought I'd use them.

Here is one view of my room with the 'Merry Christmas' banner and some garland. Here is another view of my room with the garland and you can hardly notice, but there are mini lights bordering the doorway on the right.

I just had to take a picture of the boots I purchased on Sunday in Bupyeong. I bought the beige pair when my parents were in town. The pink ones and the plaid ones, which I adore I bought on Sunday.

Today when I woke-up to head to school there was still snow on the ground and the temperature had dropped. Again, I was so excited that the snow had lasted through the night and I could enjoy the sight of it all day. I'm just hopping that snow lasts until Christmas is over, if not I might cry because it's all about a 'White Christmas.'

This is a view out of my office window looking at the main road in Song-do where I teach.

This is a direct view out my office window. The kindergarten playground was covered in snow.

Since Christmas is not celebrated here like it is back home, I have made a point to watch at least one Christmas movie a day when I'm done teaching for the day. I started last week and have watched about 4 or 5 thus far. I've also been listening to Christmas carols and I'm watching the animated 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' with the grade 5's this week. Plus, attending friends Christmas parties and making Christmas Eve/Day plans with my friends I've made in Korea has helped the homesickness from coming on too strong.

*P.S. The snow didn't last 24 hours and it melted away. Now, it just looks like it rained. I'm keeping my fingers crossed it returns tomorrow night when we celebrate Christmas Eve ice skating outdoors at Seoul City Hall.*

It's Sort Of Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas...

Last week was a pretty chill week. I went to baseball four nights last week and came straight home afterward. This is a huge improvement from the two weeks prior to that when I went out for a drink after every training session. I've decided to allow myself to drink two nights a week, so that is pretty much Friday night and Saturday night. It will keep me from being out late on school nights and make my baseball training worthwhile. Thursday night Nicole, Mike and I skipped baseball training, so we could check out quiz night at G7. I went straight to Bupyeong from school because I wanted to do some Christmas shopping and I was meeting a new girl for dinner. I didn't end up getting any shopping done because I decided to get my eyebrows waxed instead. When I met up with Karen we headed to eat some dukgalbi and get to know each other a bit. After dinner we had time to kill before quiz night, so we wandered the underground, but we only made it to one store. It was a GIANT stationary store full of Christmas cards, so we browsed for some cards to give to our co-teachers, friends and family. Then we headed to G7, but we were the first ones there, so we played a game of pool while we waited for everyone else to get there. My Korean friend Sehun who goes to school in the States, just got back to Korea permanently, so Thursday night was my first night seeing him since August. It was great and I was glad he came to quiz night. Tracy and Holly won the previous week, so they were hosting it. Their questions were quite difficult, but my team did manage to get a few points. My team was Nicole, Sehun, Mike and myself. We called ourselves, 'Team Yellow Fever." Well, Nicole and I were clearly the ring leaders on that team name. Our team ended up finishing second last, but not bad for quiz night virgins. After quiz night ended Nicole and I headed home on the bus together. Friday is always a good day for foreign teachers in Korea, because it means the weekend is here and we don't have to teach. After baseball training on Friday Nicole and I decided we wanted to go out, so we each went home and got ready and then I met her at her place and we cabbed to Guwol-dong. We were hoping to meet up with the baseball coaches and some of the players, but they never ended up getting back to us. Instead, we headed to Rio's and had three beers each. As we were getting on the elevator to leave and get some food, four random Koreans got off. One of them started talking to us and asking us where we were going. We told him we were heading for some food and more drinking and he asked if we wanted to get food with him. We were a bit hesitant at first, but then out of nowhere he grabs my arm and drags me off the elevator, so Nicole followed. We hung out outside of Rio's talking for a good 10-15 minutes, where we were joined by his friends. One friend had already paid for noraebang, but Bruce, that is his English name really wanted to hang with Nicole and I and he kept telling us he would pay for everything. Since we had stood there talking to them for so long we decided we needed to hang out with them. The one friend got his noraebang money back, so we headed to eat together. They took us to this restaurant that served really spicy food, but it was delicious nonetheless. We chatted for a bit while drinking soju and then we played some drinking games. Once we had enough of the restaurant we headed to a noraebang across the street and hung out there singing and dancing for a couple of hours. Nicole was starting to fall asleep, so when the time ran out at noraebang we all left and one of the Korean guys we were with walked Nicole and I to a cab and put us in it. By the time I got home it was near 8 in the morning, so bed was calling me. I slept until 6:30 p.m. Saturday before I realized I needed to get up and get ready for Lindsay's Christmas party at her house. I was in charge of Jell-O shooter, so I had to get those made, so they would set before I headed to her place. Nicole met me at my apartment around 8:45 p.m. and we bussed to Lindsay's place together. Lindsay made a shit load of food for everyone and it was so delicious. I overindulged on eating, but it was worth it because I hadn't eaten all day and the food was just that good.

Tracy, Nicole (hiding behind Tracy) and I chilling at the Christmas party. Tracy and I both went for festive colors. I painted my nails red and green, wore Christmas earrings and socks and my red scarf. This is the hostess with the mostest, Lindsay. She was very accomodating and hosted a great party.

It was just a really chill party surrounded by good friends, good food and good times. Lindsay even had her apartment decorated for Christmas, which gave it a far more Christmasy feel than it has been feeling in Korea lately. I didn't stay to late because I was still exhausted from Friday night, so Nicole and I left around 2:00 - 2:30 a.m. I got an early start to Sunday because I had a shopping date with Carolina, but then she bailed on me, so I found Joanne to go with instead. We met for coffee at the Duncan Donuts in Bupyeong station and then we headed into the underground for some shopping. I went there buying Christmas presents for friends and family and ended up buying myself two pairs of winter boots and a Christmas sweater. Not exactly the most successful Christmas gift shopping day, but it will get done. I usually do better shopping when it's not planned and I just come across stuff randomly. After we had enough of the underground Joanne wanted to go to the foreigners market, but it ended up being closed. I was meeting Nicole and Sehun for dinner, so Joanne and I parted ways I headed to Songnae. Sehun, Nicole, Damien and I had some kamjatang and beers for dinner and then Damien headed home, but Nicole, Sehun and I headed to Indis for some more drinks. Around 10:30 p.m. Nicole and I hopped on a bus home.

Temple Stay!

Last Friday night I stayed in because I had to be up early Saturday morning to head out on my first Adventure Korea trip, which was an overnight temple stay to Bubheungsa temple. I had to be up at 6:00 a.m. in order to get ready and meet with Carmela on time because we were taking the subway together to meet Joanne, Crista and Duncan, so we could all subway into Seoul together. We got to Seoul with about 20 minutes to kill before we had to be on the bus, so we had some coffee and breakfast. The bus ride to the temple was about 3.5 - 4 hours. Since, we were ahead of schedule we made a stop at this beautiful area along the way (I forget the name).

Carmela, Chris and I enjoying the scenery and each others company. Carmela and I found this frozen patch of water, so Carmela decided she wanted to try and break the ice. After many failed attempts at breaking the ice, she managed to finally get this chunk and was beyond excited for her success. I'm on top of the world...well, this neat rock formation.

When we finally arrived at the temple we were given a brief introduction about the clothes we would have to wear and receive our name tags.

Carmela and I showing off our 'monk' clothes, which were insanely comfortable.

We had a brief orientation , so we would know what was going to happen over the course of the weekend. Our first task was a 'walking meditation', which meant walking very slow and in a specific manner. We were not allowed to talk, just focus on the walking and clearing our heads of everything negative. It was probably one of my favorite moments.

Dinner was afterward and it was delicious. Since, monks don't eat meat there was plenty of tofu, rice, potato salad, seaweed and a delicious soup.

We did devotional chanting with a female monk, which involved quite a few bows. After this we had a tea ceremony with the head monk and we had moments to discuss our dreams with him or ask him questions. Here is a picture of the tea ceremony with the head monk at the front.

We also made dream pouches, where we wrote a dream on a piece of paper and put it in the dream pouch for safe keeping.

Here is my dream pouch with my Korean name and all.

Then came the hardest part of the temple stay, we had to do 108 bows in a very small temple that was crowded and super hot. All of us had to do 50 bows together and then if we wanted to continue to 108 we could. Carmela, Chris and I did all 108 and were exhausted afterward. Thankfully, after the 108 bows it was bedtime for all. Sunday morning came far too soon, especially with our 3:00 a.m. wake-up call. We had to head to do some early morning devotional chanting in the tiny temple from the previous night where more bows were involved. We then headed to do some early morning son-meditation with the female monk. My body was aching from all the bows the night before that I couldn't get relaxed enough and had to keep adjusting my position on the floor. Since, we were ahead of schedule we all headed back to the rooms to catch some shut-eye before breakfast. We had about a 45-minute nap before we had to head to a temple-style breakfast. We had to watch an instructional video on how to set our own dishes out properly for food. Then we were joined by the head monk who walked us through the entire eating process.

This is a picture of the breakfast set-up. Everyone's place settings are set the exact same. Here is the food (slop) we had to eat. Rice, seaweed soup, side dishes all in one bowl and the cutlery/water bowl. We were not allowed to leave any leftovers and we even had to drink the leftovers after the cleaning process.

Breakfast took us over an hour to eat because of all the steps required in order to do it properly. Plus, we had to clean the dishes ourselves and put them away properly. We had an hour of free time after breakfast, so I took advantage and had a 30 minute nap. Then we made lotus lanterns, which were a lot of fun. They start off as just wire with white paper over top and we had to add the tissue paper over them to create the lotus lanterns.

Here is my finished lotus lantern, which was definitely one of the best ones made. I'm thinking of taking a job on the side as a lotus lantern maker :)

The last activity of the day was the making of 108 beads. This meant that we were making a bracelet/necklace with 108 beads, but for every bead we strung we had to bow, so that meant...108 bows for 108 beads. It was exhausting and very hard on my body, but worth it.

I'm not sure how many bows I was at by this point, but I'm sure it was more than halfway. Finally, the finished product. I survived 108 bows for the second day in a row and got a great bracelet out of it that I will cherish forever.

Once everyone had finished their bows and beads it was time to hang our dream pouches in Yaksajeon temple (same temple we made the beads). This involved us following the head monk around the room in a circle a few times while chanting before hanging the pouches.

We got a giant group picture with the head monk at the end of the day and then he allowed us to each get our own pictures with him.

The head monk and I outside the temple with the fresh air and beautiful scenery in the background.

The temple-stay weekend ended with us eating some lunch, but it was curry and I hate so curry, so I only had rice, soup and some veggies. Then we had to return our outfits, pack up our things and head to the bus for the 3.5 - 4 hour long car ride home.

Big Bang Concert Tickets :)

Last Friday was the first day Big Bang concert tickets went on sale for their three shows they have in the new year. We skipped out on baseball early to try and get tickets to the Saturday show January 31st, but when we finally got through they only had third level tickets left and we wanted better, so we never purchased any. Then the weekend went by with Nicole's Birthday as you previously read and a chill day Sunday. Nicole and I met up mid-afternoon and did some shopping before we had some dinner together and then bussed home. Monday was just a regular day at school. I had four grade 4 classes and they were just doing role-play, so I hardly had to teach. Baseball training commenced as usual and Nicole and I headed to Indis for some post-baseball drinks afterward. Tuesday was a better day because I had grade 5's and they just tested the first 30 minutes of class, so the last 10 minutes were spent reviewing. This was also day two of Big Bang concert ticket sales for their Sunday February 1st show, so Nicole and I had to skip out early on baseball training again. We headed over to a friends restaurant to get him to help us order the tickets again, but this time we didn't even get through at all because the tickets sold out in 15 minutes. We were really disappointed , but there was nothing we could do. Mike met up with us after baseball and we had some galbi and beers. Wednesday was a slow day at school because I only had four grade 5 classes and they were still testing, so I was bored not teaching. It was also Nicole's birthday, so after baseball training her and I headed over to Indis and ordered some food and drinks. We were later joined by Tracy, Tim, Holly, Nick and Lindsay. Indis played Nicole the 'Happy Birthday' song and we just hung out and drank. Nick, Lindsay, Tim, Nicole, and I were the only ones left around midnight. They all wanted to head back to Yeonsu to eat and drink more, but I knew it would be a bad idea, so I headed home. Bring on Thursday, which was just an average day at school, but it was the last day for Big Bang concert ticket sales. Nicole and I had to leave baseball training early for the third day to see if we could finally get tickets to their show. We were convinced it would be the day, but we were also nervous it would sell out before we had a chance. We got to DJ's restaurant to get him to help us for the third and final time to buy the tickets. When 8:00 p.m. rolled by DJ clicked the button once and we got through to the spot where you purchase tickets. We tried buying seats in all the closer sections, but they sold out in minutes, so if we wanted to go to the show we had to settle for third level seats. It sucks, but we got BIG BANG tickets, so this will be my second time seeing them live in concert. Third time really is a charm. We were so excited that we got tickets we decided to celebrate, so we headed to jijimi for some kimchi pancake and soju. Lucky for us, the CD playing at jijimi was Big Bang, so what a great way to celebrate out concert ticket victory!

Here is a picture of Big Bang for you to enjoy! I LOVE LOVE LOVE them! They are most of the reason why I love my life in Korea. My favorite member is T.O.P. the one on the right with the phone on his pant leg ~xoxox!

*The Moral of this story/blog is: Julia and Nicole are going to see their favorite Korean pop group BIG BANG live in concert Sunday February, 1st 2009.*

Bonne Fete Et Nicole!!

Last Saturday we celebrated Nicole's birthday by having a huge party in Incheon. I woke-up rather early to get ready and meet up with Lindsay to go shopping for her birthday present. We met mid-afternoon and bought her some pretty great stuff from CD's and DVD's to socks, slippers, soju, etc. Then we bought her a giant 35,000 won birthday cake from Paris Baguette with enough candles for how old she was turning. Afterward, Lindsay had to meet someone, so I headed to Holly's and hung out for a bit before heading to Tracy's to hang out with her for a bit. When Lindsay finally got home I dropped my bag off at her house, touched up and we headed down to get Tracy and then headed to the BYC to meet up with Nicole and friends to head to our first event on her birthday evening, bowling. There were 14 of us for bowling, which was a lot of fun.

Here is the birthday girl taking her turn bowling. Glad she was on my team, 'Team Kick Ass.' This ball was my ball of choice the entire time we bowled and it led to me two great scores and a team win in game 2.

We played to games and turned it into a competition. Nick, Julian and Damien's team won the first game, but Nicole, Andrea and I won the second game. Nicole won as indivdual then Julian and I was third or fourth, so not a bad day. After bowling we headed to the famous ribs place that all of us love. Since there were so many of us and the restaurant was very tiny we ended up having to wait about 10 - 15 minutes before we could eat. We decided to stick it out and wait because the ribs are so delicious.

Andrea (back), Carolina and I at the rib place enjoying each others company, the drinks and of course, the ribs.

Lindsay and I snuck out of dinner to head to Paris Baguette to pick up the cake and to head over to Mad Max to decorate the bar for her birthday. Since we are really good friends with the owner and employees he let us decorate the ice bar area for her birthday with a sign and some balloons.

The awesome job Lindsay, Tracy and I did of decorating at Mad Max for Nicole.The huge cake we bought Nicole for her birthday. It is apparently custom to serve every table in the bar a piece of cake if it is your birthday, so this cake was not wasted.

We surprised Nicole when she walked through the doors of Mad Max with the traditional Korean birthday song, the candles on her cake lit and all her friends (and the patrons in the bar) singing and clapping to her. She was a bit embarassed, but said she was glad it was done right away and not mid-way through being at Mad Max. She ended up getting about 24 roses as a gift from her old tennis coach who happened to be there Saturday night and he also bought her two buckets of beer with 5 beer each in them. Here is Nicole posing with the pink tiara Lindsay and I bought her to wear and the roses her ex-tennis coach bought her.

Once we had all had enough of Mad Max we headed to Guwol-dong (Rodeo Square) to do some more drinking and then head to Diana nightclub. We started at Miller Time, but Nicole, Lindsay and I didn't drink anything there. We were just meeting more friends there, but some of the people we were with drank and hung out there for a bit. Holly and I decided to have a mini phot shoot of typical Korean poses, so here is the cutest one we took together at Miller Time. We were both definitely drunk by this point.

Nicole, Lindsay, Kyu (our Korean friend), Mike and I headed over to Rio's for some drinking. Once we got to Rio's it was quite crowded. I actually ended up bumping into the other foreign teacher that works at my school in the After school English room. We've been trying to hang out since he got here in August, but it had yet to happen, so randomly bumping into each other was nice. All of the friends that had come out for Nicole's birthday ended up meeting us at Rio's. They made it in time to see the owner, Rio who knows Nicole, make her a birthday shot.

This was just about the end of the shot being made. The employees did a little dance show and then Rio danced and blew fire, which lit the shot on fire and was really entertaining to watch. It also helps that Rio is insanely good looking and fun to watch...lol! Then just to make sure Nicole did the shot properly he brought her behind the bar where everyone could see her and he sang her 'Happy Birthday' before letting her do the shot. Then it was time for the fire shot. Rio held the straw for Nicole while she took the shot.

After Rio's, around 2:00 a.m. we headed to Diana nightclub. Nicole is a huge fan of nightclubs because she likes to dance and that is the only place you can go to do that in Incheon is a nightclub. Diana is the best and most expensive nightclub in Incheon, so obviously we want to go there. Nicole, Kyu, Lindsay, Mike and I headed there first and got a table before we were joined by Nick, Carolina, Duncan and Damien. We ordered lot's of beer and got the usual fruit platter that comes with the package. Then May, Natalie and Subong (Natalie's Korean boyfriend) showed up, so there were 12 of us there rocking the nightclub until the wee hours of the morning. Around 4:30 a.m. we decided to leave the nightclub and Nicole wanted food, so Mike, Kyu and I joined her. She really wanted McDonald's, but hates McDonald's breakfast, so her and I hopped in a cab and headed back our way while Kyu and Mike headed to their homes. We grabbed some food and one more beer in ajushi alley before getting in a dodgy taxi and heading home.

!!I'm A Fly Boy - Crown J!!

Last week was a busy week at school as far as classes were concerned. There was no classes on Friday because of test day, so I had 5-6 class days all week with the grade 4's and 5's. I'm really start to appreciate the grade 5's as students, which is exciting because I will at least end the year off with students who are not nearly has misbehaved as the grade 6's. The best part about teaching last week was when the grade 5 English co-teacher told me she wanted to end the classes showing Big Bang's newest music video, Sunset Glow. That really excited me because they are my favorite Korean pop group, so I have no problems or objections to showing their music videos. I went to baseball training every night of the week last week. It has been exhausting and hard on my body getting so into shape and working so hard, but it has been worth all of it. Nicole, Mike and I have a lot of fun at baseball and we definitely keep the Koreans we train with entertained. Some nights after baseball the three of us will go and grab a beer or two together to chill out and relax after a hard night of exercise and drills. Thursday night Nicole and I headed over to Diana nightclub to see Crown J perform. He is a Korean hip hop star who I really enjoy listening to. Plus, the fact that he was playing a nightclub in Incheon made it that much more exciting to go see him. We got ready at Nicole's house after baseball where we enjoyed a bottle of soju and pitcher of beer before heading to the club. We got to the club around 11:00 p.m. and found out that Crown J wouldn't even be performing until 1:00 a.m. That gave us enough time to drink more and dance. Nightclubs in Korea are far different than back home. You can't just walk to the nightclub order drinks, dance and sit wherever you want. Here they seat you at a table, make you choose a food/drink option off the menu, plus you pay for the table. Also, they are booking clubs, which means that men book women - invite them to private rooms or their table, feed them alcohol, chat and maybe get lucky. However, some men just want the company and are not looking for much else. The private rooms cost a lot of money to book, so they obviously get major V.I.P. treatment. Anyways, I was going somewhere with this. While Nicole and I were taking a break from dancing one of the waiters came to our table grabbed me by the arm and dragged me to my first booking. It was embarassing and I felt bad for deserting Nicole, but I wanted to see what they were like. Anyways, the guy was really nice and young and he just wanted an English speaker to help him with his job. He needs a fluent English speaker to record their voice for some book, so he gave me his card and I gave him my number, blah blah blah. I had a few whiskey shots with him before I left because Crown J was about to perform. It was a completely harmless booking and the guy spoke great English, so that made it less awkward.

Crown J performing at Diana nightclub. It wasn't very busy there and none of thise pictures are zoomed in, we were this close to him. Another picture of Crown J. There is a reason they calle me photographer extraordinare, I take good pictures and lots of pictures. This was the best picture of the night, but it was zoomed in a bit. I apologize for the girls hands that got in the picture and ruined it. They were screaming and freaking out and putting their hands in front of the camera. This was the end of the Crown J show. He played 4 songs and although that wasn't nearly long enough he put on a great show. Nicole and I showing our support to Crown J after the show - "A"

After the show Nicole and I decided to stay and hang out a bit longer. Her and I both then ended up getting booked by two young Korean guys sitting across the asile from us. They were really cute and although their English wasn't great they weren't horrible to hang out with. Once we heard a song we liked though we took off to the dance floor, but we were sure to invite them to join us. They did come dance with us and we kept randomly bumping into them on the dance floor the rest of the night. About a half an hour to an hour later we both got booked together again, but this time in a private room with an older man who just wanted to speak English to us. We had a drink each before we heard a song we liked and invited him to come dance with us. He didn't even last 30 seconds into the song before he headed back to his room...oh well, his loss. The highlight of the night was Nicole asking our waiter if she could request a song to the DJ and he took her to Crown J's room with his DJ's. Unfortunately, Crown J had already left, but Nicole got to hang out with the DJ's. I was left by myself at our table for a little while before the waiter came back and got me and brought me to the room as well. We talked to them for a few minutes before the one had to leave to DJ at the club. We got his friends to come dance with us, but they ditched us after the first song :( When we had enough of the nightclub we headed to Rodeo Square in Guwol-dong, which is where Diana is to get some food. We opted for dukgalbi because it was still open and it's delicious no matter what time of day you eat it. We ordered two orders of food and a beer each. We were soon joined by the two young Korean guys who booked us at the club. They were wandering by and saw us inside, so they came inside and sat with us. We chatted for a bit, danced to some K-pop, ate and drank before we left. They ended up paying for our food and drinks, which was so nice of them since they had maybe two bites of the food each. They walked us to the nearest cab and we parted ways. It was about 5:30 in the morning at this point, so I just slept over at Nicole's and both of us called in sick the next day...Oops! I had no classes, so I didn't feel so bad about calling in.

Weekends Keep Me Sain!!

Friday night after baseball training, Nicole and I headed to Nicole's house to get ready for a night out. We were meeting up with a Korean friend of mine and his friends at Inha University where he goes to school. They are cheap restaurants and bars in the University area, so we decided to get the guys to take us to the places they like to go by the school. It was Nicole, me and 5 Korean guys that went out and we had a blast. The first place we went was a Japanese restaurant where we ate, drank and played drinking games. When we had enough of that place it was pretty late, so we headed to noraebang where we made my friends sing Big Bang and other Korean pop songs all night long. After noraebang Nicole wanted to stay out and party more, so she stayed out with 3 of the guys while I headed home with the other 2...to separate houses. I have to make that clear because my parents read this blog...lol! It was a rather late night, but it was so much fun and I only spent 10,000 won the entire night. Saturday I was heading to Hongdae with Nicole, Carolina, Carmela and Tiffany to go a dance showed called, Ballerina meets Bboy. Kristy was just meeting us in Seoul because she lives there. Unfortunately, Tiffany's bus got stuck in traffic, so she ended up missing the show.

Carmela and Carolina waiting for the show to start. Our seats were literally first row and on the stage. It was awesome!

These are some of the dancers from the show doing the finale performance.

Below is a video of one of the many bboy performances. They were so good I cannot even begin to describe it. Check the video out. Enjoy!

After the show we headed to Dos Tacos to have some good Mexican food. It was so delicious and long overdue since living in Korea. Plus, it wasn't very expensive either and they even had margarita's. I enjoyed a lime one with my chicken quesadilla.

The chili fries and nachos we had to start. They were loaded with toppings, but delicious nonetheless.

When we finished eating we decided to hang out in Hongdae for a bit since we were already there. We headed over to Ho Bar X for a few drinks to get the night started.

Tiffany and I together at Ho Bar X in Hongdae. "Victory!"

We only stayed at Ho Bar X for an hour or so before we decided we wanted to dance. We opted for Jane's Groove, which is an 80's inspired club. On the way to Jane's Groove we did a little sidewalk shopping and while Carolina, Nicole and Tiffany were looking at glasses Carmela and I went into Krispy Kreme donuts and got a FREE donut. The other girls were jealous, so they decided to go in and try and get some free donuts as well. They were in there way longer than Carmela and I, but they did end up getting the free donuts in the end. Now, that everyone was happy we headed to Jane's Groove.

Nicole, Me, Carmela, Tiffany and Carolina at Jane's Groove together. We love each other very much :) Carmela and I at Jane's Groove where they serve you pretzels...Assa! Clearly, Carmela is about to enjoy that pretzel. We wanted to make sure we caught the last bus back to Incheon for the night, so we headed to the bus stop around 11:00 p.m. A few buses drove past because they were full, but we finally got on one and headed into Incheon because we were going to our friend Jeff's going away party. We cabbed to Bupyeong from the bus stop and our first stop was N's pub where the festivities had already started.

In Korea, socks aren't like they are back home. Here you can have the head of a famous person on your socks. Tiffany, Carmela and I are showing off our amazing celebrity socks that were not planned. Alexis was only in town for one more day before heading home to Australia. She was here for 5 weeks visiting her boyfriend, so I had to make sure we got a good-bye picture together and it was fabulous. Of course, Nick came out for the party too. This is our first picture together in a while and a nice one it was. Sharing the love with Carolina at N's pub. I think we are rather adorable. The night wouldn't have been complete without a picture of Jeff and I since he is the one leaving Korea and the guest of honor.

Once we had enough of N's pub and people started itching to leave we headed to a noraebang in Bupyeong that could accommodate the over 20 of us that were together. Since, most noraebangs aren't that big and people would hardly get a chance to sing with so many people in one room we all split up into little groups and shared 3-4 rooms.

Kyu is the token Korean friend and we were lucky enough to have him in our karaokee room, so we made him sing Korean pop songs for us...he didn't like us very much after that...lol!

Carolina and Carmela enjoying noraebang. I mean what's not to enjoy about singing in a private room with cool people?!?! Carmela, Tiffany, Carolina and I were a pact that night, so we enjoyed the noraebang room together.

We finally left karaokee around 3:30 - 4:00 in the morning and headed to McDonalds for a late night/early morning breakfast as per Jeff's request. After McDonalds we all split up and headed home. Nick, Andrea, Mike, Damien, Joseph and I all headed home on the train together around 6:00 a.m.