Mud Has Never Looked So Good: Part Two!!

Saturday we slept in a lot later than we had planned, but the sleep was necessary. When we finally did get up and moving we headed out on our trek to the main area of the beach where all the mud action was happening.

Nicole, Lindsay and I looking fabulously muddy and loving every second. We totally bumped into Rudy by accident. It was awesome! We headed to the beach to clean ourselves off after the mud. The waves were massive and scary.

When we finished with the mud we headed back to the pension to shower, change and get ready for night number two of drinking. May was also arriving, so we had to meet her at the pension. We hung out at the pension for a bit before heading out for dinner and drinks.

Nicole and Lindsay are ready for night number two of drinking. The beautiful May and I kind of looking like a United Colors of Benetton ad. This was our first random Korean boy of the night. We decided it would really embarrass him if we smothered him for a picture...we were right.

This little man was one of the workers at the restaurant we had dinner at near the pension. We could not pass up a picture with him. Please note how short he really is (he is standing on a chair). I bit into a rather spicy chili pepper and the best cure for that is MILK! It also does the body good. These two kids were beyond adorable, especially the younger one. It took them a while to warm up to us, but when they did we played rock, paper, scissors with them. They loved us after that! At out third restaurant of the night I summoned Frankie to come.I also summoned Rudy to come hang out and drink with us at the restaurant. These random Korean guys just wanted a picture with the crazy foreign girls running around the restaurant. Gavan is a total blast to be around, except when he calls me Melissa Joan Hart, who I DO NOT look anything like. These Korean boys were really cute. They didn't have great English, but it didn't matter, their company was fun! Nicole is shocked and overwhelmed by all the loving she is getting. Nicole decided to brand Frankie with his favorite K-pop star, RAIN on his chest. Frankie was sure to show us how much he likes Rain, by busting some sexy Rain dance moves. Nicole and I randomly bumped into LA on his drunken way back to his pension, so we decided to walk him home. Since, he crashed as soon as he hit the floor and we had markers with us, we left him a nice surprise for when he woke-up the next day.

Saturday was another late night, but it was so much fun and totally worth it. Nicole, May and I ate some late night or early morning kamjatang before heading back to the pension to crash for the night. Sunday we had to head back to Incheon, so getting up in the morning was hard, but it needed to be done. Nicole and I were taking the bus back, while Lindsay and May took the train. Nicole and I almost missed our bus back to Incheon. We literally, got on the bus at exactly 12:30 and it backed out of the terminal. We got back to Incheon in just under 2 hours, which was awesome.

Mud Has Never Looked So Good: Part One!!

Nicole and I decided to head to Mud Festival for the second weekend as well. This time we were meeting Lindsay and May. Nicole and I left Friday night and bussed to Dacheon, because it was cheapest and easiest for us. We were really excited about the second weekend, more so than the first weekend, so as soon as we arrived we were PUMPED!! We got off to a bit of a rough start when we couldn't find our pension and the pension owner couldn't give us proper directions. Eventually, we just hopped in a cab and got him to deal with the taxi driver. Turns out we were at the other end of the beach from all the action, but it was just to sleep, shower and change.

Nicole excited to get the night going with our convenient store soju and snacks. Drinking soju from the bottle is the classiest way to do it. Lindsay and I waiting for our food and drinks at one of the many outdoor restaurant. There is always time for a picture with my wifey. This group of guys sat next to us and wanted us to join them for drinks, so we obliged. I love how I'm the only girl in this entire picture.

When we finished eating and drinking at the restaurant it was time for convenient store drinks and walking around the beach area. We had a mission during this weekend of Mud Festival to get as many random Korean boys as we could to sign our shirts, so wandering the streets was mandatory.

We ran into this random Korean wearing and 'afro.' He was pretty awesome. This is Daniel, a totally random Korean I thought was cute and called my boyfriend all night...hahaha! He didn't object to it at all. Nicole, Lindsay and I with Daniel and his friend. Too bad Lindsay missed out on the kisses. These guys were drawn to us when I started busting a move to 2NE1's, 'Fire.' They thought it was great and hilarious that I knew the dance moves. Please take note that we are all wearing the exact same slippers except for the guy on the left.

Our night ended with some cute Korean boys, OK, only two cute Korean boys and their friends at a noraebang.

As you can see, the night ended a little early for these two. The one with the hat I nicknamed LA because he lived in California and he spoke fluent English. He was the reason we even decided to hang out with them in the first place.

After noraebang we all headed back to our pensions to get a good night's sleep before the muddiness and drinking started again.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince!!!!

Last week was the last week of classes before summer vacation. I had two lessons with the grade 5's and one lesson with the grade 4's. I didn't feel like starting a new lesson with the grade 5's to have them forget it over the summer, so instead I suggested to my grade 5 co-teacher that we just watch a movie during their last lesson, she was cool with it, so they watch Shrek 3. The grade 4's lesson last week consisted of watching a Michael Jackson tribute video, followed by his 'Beat It' music video. They loved singing along to the 'Beat It' part and all they were required to do was fill in the missing lyrics from the song. We also played a game, so I have no complaints about teaching the grade 4's last week. On Wednesday, Nicole and I met up around Inha after my Korean lesson to head to Dongincheon, so we could buy our couple outfits for weekend two at Mud Festival. We also ate dinner there and then headed back to Yeonsu to meet Holly and my co-teacher Enee for opening night of HARRY POTTER and the Half Blood Prince. The movie was absolutely amazing and it was so dark, probably the darkest of the entire Harry Potter series. The best part of the movie had to be when a Korean guy was returning from the washroom and he was trying to be quick and discreet getting back to his seat. BUT, at the last possible moment in his return to his seat he tripped on the stairs and went down so hard, the entire theater went from watching the movie to all of our heads turning to the right and laughing out loud. The entire theater heard him fall and seen him fall, so we all laughed at his expense. I can only imagine how embarrassed he was when it happened, but he was likely more embarrassed that we all stopped watching the movie and laughed at him. Holly, Nicole and I were still laughing about it after the movie ended and for a good portion of the next day.

Getting Down and Dirty: The Weekend Comes to an End!

We had to check out of our hostel by 11AM, so we had a 10:45AM wake-up call. We woke-up to a torrential downpour that we had to walk through to get to the bus to drop our bags off at.

This is a view out the bus window of just how hard it was raining.

After that, Nicole and I headed to have grab some lunch. We decided on some kamjatang because we were wet and cold and soup is ideal for heating you up when you are cold, plus, it's delicious.

This is just how wet I was from the torrential downpour outside. So, not impressed about it at all.

We randomly bumped into Kyung-su enjoying his lunch across the street. He is the most adorable person I know in Korea.

Nicole was not impressed with this sign posted outside a nightclub. No Foreigner, KOREAN Only! It's not even written correctly.

It had briefly started to rain again, so Nicole and I decided we would find an open noraebang and go sing until the bus was scheduled to leave at 3PM. Along the way we ran into Holly and her crew she came to mud festival with. They were going to join us at the noraebang, but we could not find a single one opened. Instead, we opted for a coffee shop that we could just chill out in until the weather got better and our buses left.

This is a view of the main area of mud festival from the coffee shop window. You can see just how shitty the weather was.

These two Korean boys were not letting the bad weather keep them from getting muddy. I have nicknamed them, the Green Goblin and the Red Goblin.

We headed to the bus around 2:30PM, so we could change into dry clothes and get out of the rain. We also changed buses, so we could travel back with Kyung-su. At one point during the bus ride back the guy sitting behind me said, "If you like dogs DO NOT look out the window right now." Well, obviously we look and this is what we see: USE DISCRETION

A truck carrying dogs as its cargo. They are being taken to the slaughter house, so Koreans can enjoy them for dinner :( Some of them will likely die while in transit due to lack of oxygen from being packed in like sardines.

When we arrived in Seoul and were heading to Hongdae for the last drop-off we drove past the Han River, which ended up flooding due to the mass amounts of rain endured on the weekend. I took some pictures of just how bad the flooding was.

You can see that the light posts are almost entirely submerged in the water.

This is an even better picture of the flood. This tent is almost underwater and you can only see the top of the tree because the rest is completely submerged in water.

Nicole and I caught a bus back to Incheon once we got dropped off in Hongdae. We managed to get back in just over an hour which was awesome. We each grabbed some gimbop for a late dinner and then headed to our homes. It was a pretty good weekend considering the weather sucked, but we are hoping our second and last weekend there will bring us nothing but sunshine and better times!!

Getting Down and Dirty: Weekend One!

This past weekend nicole and I went to Mud Festival in Boryeong, Dacheon. We went with Adventure Korea because we didn't have to plan anything and we really enjoy Adventure Korea trips. Well, Friday night Nicole and I went out for a few drinks. Those few drinks turned into a 6AM night, which meant NO sleep before we had to head to Seoul to catch our bus. So, we arrived in Seoul about 5 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave and it ended up leaving 10-15 minutes late, which was good for us. The ride to mud festival ended up taking 3-4 hours because we made two rest stops, but once we finally got there, let the good times roll...except for the fact that, a) I forgot my cell phone at home b) I left my iPod at home c) I left my toothbrush in home and d) I FORGOT MY BATHING SUIT at home. The one weekend when a bathing suit was necessary and I didn't have one because I ran out my door still drunk and in a hurry.

Our first activity when we arrived in Boryeong was a military boot camp training type activity, where we got to roll around, wrestle and get dirty in the mud.

We had to wear military style outfits for our first activity. Let me just say, H-O-T!!

I had a girl on our bus take some pictures for us. These are the mud fields where the mud is transported to the beach. This mud was awesome to roll around in and get dirty.

When we finished with the mud fields we headed to the main beach and checked into our hostel. Nicole and I decided to take a nap for a few hours before heading out to the festival and beach. The weather was less than ideal and it rained off and on.

The beach was rather quiet this year due to the weather conditions.

These Korean boys didn't let the weather stop them from burying their friend in sand and giving him some necessary body parts...LOL!

We randomly bumped into some friends on the beach. Nick being one of those friends and I hadn't seen him in ages.

Chris graced us with his presence as well. We look so happy! Probably, because we are Awesome-Happy people!

Look who else I got to see...DANNY!! I love this picture of us.

Nicole and I were freezing from the weather, but we still managed to smile and have a good time.

Saturday night it started pouring rain, it was basically, torrential. Nicole and I were without an umbrella and we were soaking wet. We were hanging out by the stage hoping to catch a glimpse of Girl's Generation (9 member K-pop girl group), but with the rain coming down and being wet, we decided to go and meet up with Kristy, Paul, Mike and Tahee.

Kristy and Mike were very drunk and enjoying Jell-O shooters.

We were hoping the rain would let up, but it didn't so a bunch of us decided to go to a noraebang instead. We spent about an hour an half to two hours singing our faces off before we decided to head elsewhere. The good news it, it had stopped raining by this point. Nicole and I were bagged, so we just headed back to the hostel chilled out and watched TV. Our Adventure Korea friend Kyung-su called Nicole and wanted to come hang out with us in our room, so he came over for a bit and kept us completely entertained with his awesomeness. Eventually, he left when he realized Nicole and I were sleepy and started to fall asleep while he was there.

Let Summer Begin!

Saturday night after the English Plaza I headed to Hongdae in Seoul, to attend the pre-mud festival shindig that Rudy was hosting at Nomad's Pool. It had been ages since the two of us had hung out and even had some real conversation, so I didn't want to miss the party or chance to see Rudy.

Rudy and I at Nomad's Pool, where may I add, I was not drinking.

A group photo, that evidently I was the only one who paid attention too.

Marco and Heidi are two others I hadn't seen in quite some time.

Frankie came out to the party as well, but he comes out to all the parties. His shirt was fabulous and he bought it in Korea, even better.

I left Hongdae just in time for the last bus back to Incheon, which was a very nauseating bus ride. I'm pretty sure that this one guy, who was a bobble head on the bus passing in and out of consciousness, threw up. Mix that with a crowded, standing room only and sweaty hot bus of people and you can only imagine...I decided to meet up with Nicole and Holly for a bit at Mad Max when I got back to Incheon.

Sunday was sleep in day and then Holly and I headed to Yongsan for some shopping. I was looking for an iPod touch case and ended up buying a protective cover for the back and front of my iPod, I bought a really awesome case for it, and I also bought a cute camera case for my new Canon and a Big Bang CD. Holly ended up buying a camera unexpectedly, but she doesn't want to talk about it...LOL!!

When we finished shopping Holly suggested that we go play a round of mini golf on the roof of Yongsan station. I was excited to find out they had mini golf and didn't turn the chance to play it down.

There is nothing like a mini golf course or Putt & Putt Golf on the roof of a train station with an E-Mart in sight.

I hadn't played mini golf in ages, but that stop my mini golf skills from rocking!

It appears the theme of this mini golf course was animals. However, they had definitely seen better days.

This adorable little girl was so cute to watch. She had no idea how to play the game or hold the club, but watching her try was to enjoyable.

When we finished mini golfing, Holly beat me by 1 flipping point, we went and ate dinner at the most delicious Thai restaurant in Seoul. After dinner we checked out the giant bookstore that had a huge English section. I ended up buying the book, Twilight for $6, which is a steal considering the book is very popular right now, but it was used, which is fine by me.

Then we finally headed back to Incheon and just as I was chilling out from the busy day I got a phone call from Chris to come and meet him, Nicole and Duncan at Mad Max. I had to go because Chris is never in Yeonsu, so this was a chance moment that needed to be taken. It's always good to see Chris, so I didn't mind heading the minute it takes to walk to Mad Max to see him. I stayed later than I wanted to and I was sober, but all for the love of my friends.