Christmas Comes But Once A Year!!

I decided to host a Christmas day pot luck dinner and gift exchange at my apartment. Only three of my friends came, but we made the most of it and it turned out to be a lot of fun.

Holly had never seen The Flinstone's Christmas, so she watched it while we waiting for Erika and Kelly to show up.

Holly received a homemade Christmas cake from one of her co-teachers, so she brought it over to share with us, very festive.

Erika, Kelly, Holly and I showing off the gifts we received from the gift exchange.

It was Erika's first time in Yeonsu, so we Mad Max was obviously in the cards.

While we were at Mad Max we met some random Korean guys that wanted to hang out with us, so we ended up heading to a noraebang. There were many Christmas carols to be sung and soju drinking to be had.

This guy was heading to the army for his mandatory duty, so we had to show him a good time as well.

Erika with the one guy that spoke English well enough to make our hanging out work.

The one guy was out of the army visiting, so we got him super drunk. The other guy, well, he was just crazy.

Holly and I chilling out at the noraebang.

Christmas kisses for my friend Erika.

These are the five random guys we met and spend Christmas with. Definitely not the same as back home.

Nothing ends a night of drinking, like some noraebang...

Actually, the night didn't end for all of us there. Erika was really drunk, so she headed home, but Kelly, Holly, the boys and I headed to jijimi for more drinks. After that, Holly and a couple of the boys left, but Kelly still wanted to drink, so we headed to Art Hof for drinks and the last stop of the night. Then Kelly and I had a sleepover at my place and I slept most of my Saturday away.

Epik High Last Christmas Concert

Christmas Eve came and went to fast, but was wicked fun! My co-teacher Enee, her friend and myself all went to the Epik High concert. They are my absolute favorite hip hop group in Korea and I have been waiting over a year and a half to see them, so what better time than Christmas time. I don't want to bore you all with details, so just enjoy some pictures and videos.

Me outside the concert venue in full Christmas spirit. Enee's friend (I forgot her name), Enee and myself waiting for the show to start. EPIK HIGH IS AMAZING!! Tablo (left) and Mithra Jin (right). The boys making full use of the stage. Tablo is a Stanford graduate and a wicked rapper. MYK ROCKS MY WORLD. He raps in English and he is incredible. I get goosebumps when I listen to him. This is Dok2 (pronounced Dokki). He is a 19 year old up and comer. Tablo was clearly waving at me. We have a special bond. Epik High, MYK, and Dok2 during one of the encores. Lucky audience members who got roses.

I was really sad when the concert ended because it's their last concert until they finish their mandatory military service, which is two years. I can't believe I will get nothing new out of Epik High for two full years :( Here is a video of one of the songs they performed at their concert: After the concert ended Enee and I headed to the W hotel where she had free tickets to a Christmas eve party. First, we picked up her friend and then headed there together.

Enee's friend, Enee and myself at the party.

W hotel is a very expensive hotel in Seoul, so you can imagine that drinks at W bar would be expensive.

Take a look for yourself at these outrageous prices for the party. We took a little sitting break, so we took random pictures. This is one of them. Enee is just chilling like a villian at the party. I love this picture of Enee's friend and I. I wish I could remember her name.

We held onto our bottles of Heineken like nobodies business, they did cost us 10,000won (roughly $10) a bottle. Needless to say we only had one. When we had enough of the party we headed for some food and then to Enee's friend's house to spend the night. I woke up early to head home because I was hosting Christmas day dinner.

Busy Beaver Continues!!

One random Saturday, Lindsay and I headed into Gangnam to spend some time together and to drink. We booked a hotel for the night that provided us with free food and drinks for a few hours in the evening, so we had some free wine and appetizers before heading out.

We went to this random bar in Gangnam to check it out. The lovely Lindsay always looking fabulous. On our way home from Gangnam it started to snow. A view of the fresh fallen snow from the bridge into Song-do.

The last week of school before Christmas all the teacher's took a field trip. We went to some energy or power plant or something. None of the teachers wanted to go, but we had too.

This was some of the scenery along the way. The water was rather nice. This may be the reason why there is so much pollution in Korea. A random baseball/soccer field surrounded by barb wire, seems fun!! This is a great picture of the plant and myself. It was at this point the tour guide told me I wasn't allowed to take pictures, in perfect English. Little did he know I had already taken about 10 pictures before that. Sucker!!

After our rather boring tour of the plant we headed for some dinner at a seafood restaurant. The food wasn't that great, but it was bearable. After dinner we headed back to Incheon.

Busy Beaver!!

Here I go again not keeping up with my blog. Oops, my bad. I will eventually get better with staying up to date, but it could be a while. December was a very very busy month. It started off with a belated American Thanksgiving nerd themed party at Lindsay's place.

Holly and I rocking the nerd look. I believe my glasses say it all. Lisa, Rebekah and I busting our best nerdy moves.

Saturday morning I headed to Seoul to spend the night visiting my good friend Missy who came back to Korea for another year of teaching.

Missy and I at Big Rock Brewery in Gangnam. Missy, Alison and I looking fabulous at Big Rock Brewery. We ended up at Monkey Beach where I met up with my Korean friend EJ (left) and she brought her friend (middle).

We ended our night of drinking at Monkey Beach, because well, no one leaves that bar standing. Sunday I left Missy's house to meet Holly at Olympic Park for the Lee Seung-gi (이 승기) concert. She is a big fan of his, I however, am not, but I went for her.

Lee Seung-gi belting out a tune on the big screen. The view of the stage from our seats. Not great, but not bad. The best part of the show for me was when Mighty Mouth came on as a special guests during the intermission. Then to top things off, After School performed two of their mega hits as well.

The next event was my friend Erika's birthday. It was during the week, so we had a weeknight out. First stop was Bupyeong underground, so we could go on the 4-D (no idea what that means) roller coaster.

Erika went on the Mickey ride while we waited our turn for the ride. Racine and I ate the galbi restaurant. After dinner we went to noraebang and ate cake while singing some songs. Kelly and I accompany Erika while she cuts the cake. Kisses for the birthday girl!! The gang at noraebang to celebrate Erika's birthday.

I don't want to make this blog much longer, so I will post the rest of my December doings in the next blog.