A full weekend, pt 1

So we've had quite a full weekend.  No being lazy and watching Netflix all weekend this time (although that's coming - I can only be social so often before I need a weekend to recharge, you know). First, let me bring you up to speed on what's been going on in Dongtan. 

If you've been coming here from my FB, you know that I officially feel like my apt is a home because I've bought a skull shaped candle holder - seen below... as well as a wine glass.  The irony of that is that I was not able to smell the candle and unable to enjoy any wine in my wine glass because I was WAY too sick with a great case of rhinitis.  Which, by the way, is a horrible disease and I hope, pray, and cross my fingers that I'm done with it.  Anyway, here's the candle.

 And the wine + wine glass.  The wine is from Chile and is basically the cheapest wine I can find at Emart.  Cheap, but a decent Merlot (in my opinion).

 When I started feeling more human, I did go out with my fellow teachers to a restaurant called Mad for Garlic.  You guessed it, EVERYTHING on the menu had to do with garlic!  They even had an appetizer called 'Dracula Killer' which tickled me to no end.  So I decided to go for a pizza - this is alfredo sauce, mozzarella, shrimp, pineapple and deep fried garlic slices (as well as roasted garlic cloves on the pizza).  I'm pretty sure I could have killed a vampire at 20 paces by just breathing in its general direction!  I've never been so happy to be so single.  And yes, I had to get this one because we went on a Friday and it was during Lent (and I wanted more than just a cheese pizza) and yes, I'm going back another day to have some of the AMAZING looking pasta that was on the menu!

 LOOK AT ALL THE GARLIC!!!

So part 1 of Saturday involved going to the park in Dongtan.  It was warmer, but not quite warm enough for them to turn on all of the water features.  However, A, D, J, M, and I all went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather.  M and J even kicked around a soccer ball (though of course they refer to it as a 'football')

 Some of the view from our place on the grass.

 Metopolis - my homing beacon... kind of like the big red cross from when we lived at the Kinnear house.

 Another view of the Metapolis... I'm not 100% sure how they spell it, but I'm pretty sure it's METApolis... not Metopolis... but that's based on how I usually spell it MetOpolis, and figuring I'm just spelling it wrong.

 J and M and the football - J was adamant about finding one and I was in fact with her when she found it.  She also tried to kick it in my face, which I did not appreciate.  She SAYS it was an accident... ;)

As I was being lazy, I realized that a tree nearby had a kite stuck in it.  This made me think of Charlie Brown and made me extremely happy, so I had to share.  The kite-eating tree!!!

After we had our early afternoon in the park, J and I went to Seoul (Myeongdong, to be precise).  We had decided a few weeks ago to go in on a Saturday so that we could be there already for Mass and confession in English at the Cathedral.  The English confessions were 'before 9 am Mass in English.'  So since neither of us are morning people, we thought this would be easier than getting up early and getting the bus.  We decided to book a hostel - we ended up getting 2 beds in a 6 bed female dorm.  We also had to get wifi when we got there because what I had found and where we were were 2 different things.  Either way, we found our way to Dream Guesthouse.  The room was exactly what I expected - 6 beds, curtains, a private bathroom (which was nice).

The sign - Thank God they had a sign at the top of the building as well, otherwise we'd never have found it!

 We were the last ones there, so we got the only remaining beds - both on the top bunks.  I'm not totally sure, but I MIGHT be getting too old for the top bunk.  LOL - the bed was a mat, but there was a light so I could read before bed.

The bedding was REALLY pink.  It was also super warm, which was nice - though I was glad that I didn't bring my flannel PJ bottoms.  We ended up just getting street food from Myeongdong for dinner (an egg thing that I've shown you before and a chicken wrap that was from a kebab/shwarma/gyro sort of stall).  We also walked around the shops and such for a while.  It was kind of fun to see it all bustling and busy with the stalls and the people at night and then the next day totally empty (except for the trash) when we were on our way to Mass.  One weird thing - all 6 of us who were staying in the dorm were in by 9pm - J even was 'shushed' when she was on the phone at 10!  I figured our bunk-mates would be out partying for a while!

So we did get up early (6:55 for me, if you must know) and walked to confession and Mass, with a stop at a coffee shop (of course).  We went to the small chapel where we'd found the confessional before.  (We'd gone the weekend before to scope it out, and J wanted to do some shopping.  Last time we were in the chapel, there was a Korean lady who started kind of yelling at us and gesturing for us to leave.  I think that she was afraid we were only there to take pictures and not be reverent.  Turns out that the chapel holds some of the remains of people who were martyred in Korea during a time of persecution of Catholics.  At least, that's what I want to believe.  She did eventually calm down and J got stubborn and refused to be out of her eye line (though I just sat back a bit - non-confrontational is my jam)... the lady, whom we affectionately refer to as 'dragon lady' was not there this time around.)  However, at about 8:15 with no lights on above the door, J decided to ask a Korean man in the chapel about confessions.  He told us that there were confessions at a high school at 10am.  We then left the chapel and wandered toward the front of the cathedral, intending to find someone else to ask.  We then heard someone shouting and it was the same man, gesturing to us to come over.  He then told us that we had been in the wrong place and we needed to go into the cathedral on the left side in the front - that's where the priest was for confession.  Sure enough, we followed him and saw a small, screened window with steps in front of it for us to kneel on.  And so we were able to have our Lenten confessions (for which I was extremely grateful). 

So these pix are mostly from last week when we scoped it out, since this week we were really there on spiritual business - and Palm Sunday Mass was beautiful, btw, though the palms were more like ferns.

 Good view of the cathedral from the top of the stairs.

 The grotto that is meant to look like the one at Lourdes.  J and I both lit candles here.

 I love that it looks like a book - some of the history of the cathedral.

 The stained glass windows - the first real ones that I've seen in Korea.

 The alter - I think that they keep the lights off when it's not time for Mass.  Save on electricity.

 More of the windows - these are the ones behind the alter.

 And more... I do love my stained glass.

 The organ - it sounded AMAZING today.

 The windows around the sides of the cathedral all look like this.

The alter this morning when they turned on the lights.  It was rather nice to have Mass in English for a slight change.  The thing is, even when it's in Korean, we generally know where we are enough to say the responses under our breaths.  :)

After Mass and confession, we waited for A, D, and M to come in, as we all planned to go to another palace and a Hanbok village.  However, that's a post for another day as I have about 200 or so pix to go thru and decide which ones to post.  What I can tell you is that I love the green dress I wore today, and here's a preview because I love this pic of me... also the book of faces seems to be not working for me at the moment, so I can't share this there.  Hehehe.  GREEN DRESS!

I'll show you part 2 later this week.  In the meantime, much love to all and yay for springtime in Korea!