All quiet in Korea

There's not much to report.  The homesickness has passed (I think it was brought on by the fact that I missed Scarborough, BFD, and all the concerts that are happening in TX right now).  I've pretty much settled into a routine here, and have even been cooking more!  The funny thing about that is it looks like I'm a vegetarian because my fridge is mostly full of veggies.  I don't feel like I get them enough, so I have to make sure that when I cook, I'm getting the veggies that I otherwise don't get.  :)

I have to laugh at myself... my bed is officially so comfy now that I have Ford to cuddle with that I've gone back to my old habit of the alarm going off, then staying in bed for another hour or so.  Also, I think that I've kept my sinus issue from becoming infected this time... but MAN I've been blowing my nose a lot!  How does one person generate so much fluids?!?  I have decided that in July I'm going to go for a full pixie haircut.  If I end up looking like a butch lesbian, then so be it.  I just want to give it a chance.  Also, the weekend after I get my hair cut is the mud fest weekend and the shorter the hair, the easier it'll be to get the mud out!  I'm sooo looking forward to that!!  I'm gonna PLAY IN THE MUD!

So let me tell you a bit about some of my students.  They are really adorable little shits.  I had a class of kinders who, for some reason, became obsessed with my butt.  Now there is one, Sophia, who will come up to me and just tap my butt.  I'm no longer their teacher, but I still have some classes in their area so I see them during breaks.  Another of my kinder classes has only 4 students in it.  I love that class because they came up with the greatest game - they run back and forth in the classroom and jump to give me 10.  I just have to stand there with both hands raised, they do all the work!  LOL.  Teaching them English is a bit of a struggle still, but such is life.  That class has 3 boys and 1 girl... she's pretty quiet, and I don't blame her because the boys are as rambunctious as you can expect.

At my job, students are in certain levels.  We have kinder, then seedbed, seed, sprout, sapling and junior master.  I teach kinder, seedbed, seed, and sprout.  My favorite classes are those where the kids are older (they can sit still for all 40 mins and I don't have to tell them to sit every 5 seconds).  The girls make me laugh because some of them have designated themselves my helpers - they try to keep their classmates (usually boys) in line.  I can also joke with them a bit more.  For example, we're not supposed to speak Korean with the kids.  I was telling them that I think Korean is hard.  One of the students told me to say 'hello,' so I said 'hello.'  The kids laughed and then came the inevitable 'say hello in Korean,' and me saying 'hello in Korean!'  The actual word is 'annyeonghaseyo, though it's usually shortened to 'anyeonsayeo.'  Those times are fun - having to yell at them for running away as break time was ending and having the audacity to come back and ask to get some water, not so much.  I have had to make 'no yelling' a rule because MAN can kids get LOUD!  I officially feel bad for every bus driver, teacher, coach, random bystander, etc that have had their ears assailed by me when I was younger.

So I'll have these classes until the end of the term, which will be in Sept, most likely.  Then they'll switch them up on me and I'll have new students until the end of my contract.  I had a nice relaxing weekend again this weekend, which was AMAZING.  I like my co-workers, but it's nice to get some alone time.  I think one of my friends from training is going to be leaving early, so this coming weekend I'm hoping to spend some time with her.  My chill month of June is going well and I'm getting better at stir-fry, though I still need some practice.  Some of the veggies get nice and cooked... others get overcooked and some are undercooked.  This is going to take some time!  And I just got home... I had a chicken cup after work... I know I need something with more nutritional value, but I just don't wanna cook.  Siiiigh... my natural laziness gets in the way of my desire to live healthy.  Maybe I'll roast some brussel sprouts with carrots.  :)

Coming up with a 'pl'

It shouldn't be surprising that I love FRIENDS.  It takes me back to a simpler time in my life - you know, when Mom and Dad paid for everything.  One episode Rachel is freaking out because she doesn't have a plan.  Monica admits that she doesn't either and Phoebe says "I don't even have a 'pl.'"  I have related to that scene ever since I graduated from college and realized that I had to DO something.

Now, I'm starting to get one.  If I need more international experience, teaching English is a good way to get it.  I also reached out to a TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) certification school to see how I might go about getting certified.  A certification could open more doors for me, employment-wise, as well as give me greater earning potential.  I didn't get it before coming to Korea because I needed to know if I could stand being in a classroom before I made any commitments.  I spoke to an adviser this morning (at way too early AM) and she confirmed much of what I'd found.  If I want to make any money doing this, Asia and the Middle East are my best bets.  I could potentially earn more with a certification, as well as get help determining what is and is not a good offer.  I could also possibly teach English online.  That way if I've got some down time between contracts, I can still earn some money.  So I'm going to go over that info and see if the benefits outweigh the costs.  If I decide to go that route, I'll start the program in late Sept or early Oct.  I just have to be sure that I can do the online program with a Chromebook.  The good news is that my job will count toward my practicum - teaching non-English speakers and all.  ;)

 I am really feeling my look lately.  :)

In the meantime, if I can't make enough $ in Europe, I'll stay in Asia.  I may stay in Korea, but try another area.  Maybe closer to a beach or something.  I'm also looking into Taiwan.  I might be more inclined to learn Chinese anyway ( that's another language that would be useful in international relations)... though I kind of doubt it since I've made no headway with Korean.  Either way, I can get more international experience, apply for jobs with the state dept or whatever, keep paying on my loans, and have some fun traveling too.  The one thing I know for sure is that I don't want to move back to the states any time soon.

 My kitties - Ford and Soju.  I asked my sister if this makes me a crazy cat lady.  She said no, as long as I don't give them a litter box or any food.  Ford is really good for cuddling, and Soju is a great pillow :)

 My 'curtains' from D - I gotta tell you, it's nice to have a pseudo-dark apt in the AM.  It doesn't cut out all the light, but it turns it from 'MUAH HA HA HA HAAAAAA, it's DAWN you lazy bones, get up and get out!' to 'hey, so I just wanted you to know that the sun came up, but stay in bed until you decide it's time to rise.'  For those of you wondering about the pipe structure - that's my clothes dryer.  I can hang jeans and stuff on the white pipes and the grey thingies work great for my shirts, socks, and undies.

 Koreans believe in stocking up on TP.  Until now, I've been buying packs of 8 rolls from the 7-11 or CU convenience stores, but this weekend at OK Mart I decided to just bite the bullet and go for it.  You're looking at 5 layers of 6 rolls each.  That's right, 30 friggin' rolls of TP for one person!  I don't think I'm going to have to put TP on the grocery list any time soon.

For Teacher's Day one of my students gave me a bunch of 'skin lightening' face masks.  I figured why not use one on my poor, sunburned nose.  Then I had to take a pic to share with all of you because... well... look at how freaky I look!!!  It's like Leatherface Mandi!!  I was initially afraid that it would lead to a breakout, but so far so good.  I've also been using Lush's Mask of Magnanimity, and their Herbalism face scrub when I feel like I need to treat my skin a bit.  Also, the last time I went to Lush and the lady tried REALLY hard to get me to buy the store, she gave me a body conditioner to try.  I gotta tell you, that stuff has worked WONDERS on my nose.  (This time not because of the burn but because I've been blowing my nose a lot and the tissues aren't exactly Kleenex Cool Touch - my nose is pretty well rubbed raw from all the tissues I've used in the past few days.)  Thanks to Ro's Argan body conditioner, my nose may survive this last bought with sinusitis.  - Update, after talking with my Korean co-workers, it turns out that they use baby wipes for blowing their nose... and washing their hands... and cleaning their desk stations.  Who would have guessed?  They do feel nicer on my nose than the tissues I have at home, that's for sure!

So you are now up to date with what I'm thinking.  Four months of teaching and I'm enjoying it enough to think of continuing.  My talk with the adviser lady was funny because she was my first real international call (not using Google, Facebook, or Whatsapp - I'm hoping that I don't get charged out the wha-zoo for it).  She also said it sounded like I'd done my homework because what I was telling her was exactly what she would be telling me.  I'm thinking of going for the certification if I decide that online teaching is the way to go once I'm done being in-country.  Besides, Ana sent me info on an Irish island that is trying to get people who work online to move there.  Could work out to teach online and live in friggin' Ireland.  The adviser lady said online is a good option if I move somewhere with a really low cost of living - that way more of my $ can go to loans or the good life or whatever I decide to use it for.  So you know, weighing my options.

In the meantime, my trip at the end of July is all planned and paid for (Taiwan and Japan, here I come).  The weekend before that trip, I'll be going to Boryeong Mud Festival, staying overnight, then going on a winery tour the next day (apple wine and apple pies... I'm stoked).  I'm also going to get another haircut in July (shorter and shorter it goes).  No longer sure about going to the brewery this weekend - might go in for another BH weekend and go to the brewery in another week or so.  We'll see what the weekend brings.  :)  Hoping my sinuses decide to stop being all rude, sending love to all back home, and will keep you updated on my shenanigans.

We went to the beach!

So the beach was in Incheon, and it was close to the airport.  Kind of fun to be on the ground and see what it was I flew over that day in Feb, which seems so long ago.  LOL.

To get there, we got up at met at the bus stop at 8am.  That's right 8 in the morning (it's early for us, ok).  We got on the bus and took it to Seoul Station (about 45 mins), then we got on the subway and took that to Incheon (about another hour and a half), then we took a bus to where we thought the beach would be and walked the rest of the way.  When we got to the beach, our friends that we were meeting were nowhere to be found, and neither was the water!  The tide was out, so the water was WAY far away!!  We were pretty bummed.  So we found our friends at a coffee shop, and then noticed that the tide was coming back!  So we had coffee (which I REALLY needed) and then went out and sat on the beach waiting for the water to come in.  Some people played soccer and volleyball, others of us sat and read our books (me, that was me).  I've been reading The House of the Seven Gables cuz I hear it's supposed to be good/creepy.

We spent most of the day at the beach, went swimming/floating when the water came in, and then decided to head home via Itaewon where we had dinner at Vatos.  It was a good day to celebrate A's b-day!  Juanita was a friggin' trooper in that boot of hers!  We got back to Dongtan at about 11:45 pm.  So today I'm planning to do laundry, clean, go get some stuff from the mart, make an omlette cuz I don't want more stuff going bad in my fridge, and go to Mass.  Here's to a lazy Sunday!

Oh and to compare - Jeju had nicer beaches/water, but the water yesterday was nice and warm as opposed to friggin' freezing!  Although to be fair, Jeju probably has great water now... it was early May when we were there, after all.

 The map of Incheon islans

 The random-ness of Korea.  I friggin' love this place, sometimes.

 The beach... there was supposed to be water... as you can see, it's all MUD!

 As we were walking to our friends, we found this.  I think it's a war memorial.  It was a really pretty little area with a nice place to sit.

 I love the flowers in Korea... I think this was next to a sea food place... there's a LOT of sea food places.

 The flowers again... so pretty!!

 Random - there were deer, turkeys, and goats in this enclosure.

 I think this used to be a restaurant/home perhaps... I would live in a place made of shipping containers :)

 Beach #2, there were a lot of people on the mud flats harvesting some kinds of sea life.  Not sure if they were digging for clams or what, but they came in as the tide came in, too.

 A and J at Tom N Tom's coffee.  They got some food... I got some COFFEE!  It was only my 2nd cup of the day - was sorely needed.

 A got a great "Happy Birthday" hat from G and C.

 I was told that where I was sitting was perfect selfie lighting,s o I figured, what the heck.

 From the 2nd story of Tom N Tom's, you can see where the tide is coming in.

 Chasing all the people ahead of it!  There were announcements (in Korean) that we confirmed were basically "The tide is coming in, get out!"

 And then this happened.  Apparently if we had wanted (and paid 10000 won) we could have ridden a horse on the beach!  I got him going one way...

 And then coming back the other way.

 The people with their football - J made some threats of the 'if you lose my ball in the ocean' variety.

 I think they were discussing the guy on the horse and whether they should go try to find him.

 I found a crab claw!!  For some reason, this made me really happy and I 'pinched' A, I only showed J and she freaked.

 The beach is so much nicer when the tide is in and the water is here!  The water, as I mentioned, was pretty warm, though there were some cold spots.

 Me post-watered.  Funny thing, my hair didn't look half bad after it dried.  Hehehe... I love this haircut!

 The reflection of the sun on the waves.

 So at BJ's back home, they have a seasonal brew, only available during the winter months, called Grand Cru.  When I was in Tom N Tom's looking for something to drink, I stumbled upon this treasure!  I immediately grabbed it, bought it, took a sip, and... perfection.  It's 8.5% alcohol by volume (which is less than BJ's which I think was 10-12%), smooth, and just really tasty.  So the beer snob in me was REALLY happy.  This led to a talk about the brewery that I found in Suwon and invitations to all to join me there next weekend.  I really hope that brewery is good, I've really missed being able to go to random breweries, wineries, and distilleries.  That was one thing about living in TX that I really enjoyed.

 Toes in the sand, salt in the hair, it was a good day.

 And then the tide went back out again... siigh.

 On the way to the subway station, we found the horses!!

I wouldn't have minded riding one.

So it was a good day.  We did a fair amount of walking, enjoying the sun and surf, having a few drinks, and just having a nice, chill time.  It was a really good day.  We also talked about future prospects including zip lines, white water rafting, and other stuff.  We'll see how much of that we actually do while we're all here.

In other news, my sinuses are acting up again.  How does one person end up with so much SNOT?!?  I have some sinus meds from T when she left, but I'm afraid they're not going to do the trick.  I don't want to go back to the doc, so cross your fingers for me.  I'll never take Sudafed for granted AGAIN! 

Anyway, hope you're all doing well and sending lots of love your way!!  :* MUAH!

Relaxing into the experience

June is going to be a less go-go-go month for me, I've decided.  It's kind of funny because July seems to already be booked (weekend-wise) but June is still pretty free.  I've decided that I'm only allowed to go out to eat once a week - that way I'm cooking more at home and saving some moolah.  Also, all the go-go-go for July has to be paid for in June, which means I'm on a pretty strict budget for the month.

 Mushrooms, red pepper, and zucchini that supplemented my pasta sauce (the Classico you can see, there).  I had with whole wheat penne and mozzarella :)

No pasta dinner is complete without a nice bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon... this one was from Australia and paired rather nicely with my veggie pasta.  And yes, that's my fake Yeti cup, which I'm REALLY glad that I brought with me, because 1) it keeps things cold for a long time and 2) it's basically an adult security blanket.  I also now have a stainless steel bottle for work, too. The pasta sauce was enough for that day and 2 days of leftovers.  

So this week the only thing that's going on is A's birthday on Friday.  She's saying she wants a more chill kind of celebration, which makes me excited.  The plan for Saturday is either going to be a beach day or a day at a brewery that I found in Suwon.  If we don't do the brewery this Saturday, we'll do it next Saturday.  Once we have a real plan, I'll see if my friends in Suwon want to join us.  I'm so excited to have a brewery to go to (that's not in Seoul... I'm getting burned out from going there every weekend).  Also I'm fairly stoked about the idea of a beach being close enough to go on a Saturday morning and come back home by the evening.

I've also been considering my plan for when my contract runs out.  Looking into different options to get a teaching English as a second language certification.  Also looking into what countries would allow me to work, not have to pay rent, and be able to build a decent savings account.  Apparently if I went to the UAE, I could make bank.  Soooo... thinking of maybe going to play in the desert.  LOL.  So many options, so little knowledge with which to make a decision.  I've also looking into teaching in Spain, Poland, and Germany... so you know, keeping options open.

I was feeling my look this am.  For teaching I wear a white shrug over this, and also I wear shoes to work.  LOL.

My BH weekend set-up.  Soju is my constant companion.  Hehehe.  This was a much needed weekend of being lazy, watching shows, reading books, and having food!

One of the worst things about how my day is structured, I've decided, is how long I have to wait before classes start.  It's like the pressure keeps on building and building from 12:30 when I get here to 2:25 or 3:15 when classes actually start.  Once they get going, the day goes pretty fast.  I mean, 40 mins with each class, 5 mins between classes (so not long enough for a bathroom break when there's only one bathroom on the floor), 6-5 classes per day.  It's the before and after that sucks.  Especially once you have all your grading and marking and prep done.  I mean, I do have some other stuff that I can work on later in the week, but I do wish I could either come in right before class starts, teach, then do all the admin stuff after, or come in, get the admin done, teach, finish grading for the day and go home.  The breaks that book-end the day totally mess up my groove!  That's right, they've thrown off my groove!!  :P  LOL.  First-world, control-freak problems.

I also just bought Windex and bathroom cleaner.  I went a little nuts cleaning the mirrors, sink, and outside of the toilet (I've been keeping the inside pretty clean, but you know that no-man's-land between the tank and the reservoir... well, that gets pretty NASTY).  I'm looking forward to showering tomorrow, so I can clean the rest of the bathroom/shower stall properly.  Hehe.  Speaking of such things, does anyone else recycle dishes-sponges to bathroom-sponges when they get too old?  Just me?  Oh, and any help on how to catch/kill fruit flies would be appreciated.  They've started going after my wine and you KNOW that's tantamount to a declaration of war.

Let's Van Gogh!

Couldn't resist the title - blame my Uncle Dave and my bro-in-law Michael.  So yes, pun intended.

On Thursday, we had the day off for Korea's Memorial day.  J had found that there was a Van Gogh exhibit in Seoul and asked if I'd like to go.  I said yes, thinking that it would be fun and what the heck, I like Starry Night just as much as the next person.  So we Googled the directions, tried to make sure that we were headed to the right art museum/gallery, and caught the bus in Dongtan at about noon to head to Seoul.  When we got to Seoul, we had planned to take the bus all the way to Seoul Station, but the stop before the station, we saw this:

and realized that we'd arrived!  So off the bus we went and took some pictures outside the building.  I have a great one of me next to Vincent's nose... but there's a lot of pix, so I didn't include it here.  So we went inside, the exhibition starts and ends in the gift shop (Disneyland really started a revolution with that idea).  We wandered around the gift shop a bit and then headed to buy our tickets.  The tickets were 16000 won for adults.  Not bad, really.  Then it was up the stairs to this first part.

I nerded out HARD when I saw the below.  I mean, the brush strokes, the colors, it shouldn't work and yet it does!  Most of the exhibition was just like this - the paintings have been put on canvas which is then lit from inside so that the colors really pop!  You can also see the details of the brush strokes.  This was less 'look at his works' and more 'understand the man behind the paintings.'  We were given headsets that were audio guides in English (with Korean and at least one other language, too).

I didn't realize at first that this was crows over a wheat field with stormy skies.  What really struck me is that everything he painted was based on where he lived in Europe, and yet my mind was constantly drawn back to Kansas and spending time with my grandparents.

He had a rather tragic life, really.  I didn't know much about him (outside of the fact that he cut his ear off) before this.  Now I really want to watch the Benedict Cumberbatch movie about him - 'Painted with Words.'  Of course, a quick search found me a movie called 'At Eternity's Gate' where Willem Dafoe plays Van Gogh in his last days and I LOVE Willem Dafoe, so I may have to start with that one.

The signs, which say 'Please Do Touch' really threw me off - I'm so used to being told NOT to touch at museums!  I love how he does stormy skies.  I now know that it's about the loneliness he felt, but I've just always been drawn to storms.  Not to say that I don't sometimes feel lonely (who doesn't), but I've always loved the colors of storms.

So after a quick video, we came to the first real room.

Many tables were set up with quotes from him, items that he would have used/had while he lived in Holland, things that were sources of inspiration for him.

Including a skull!  So if you want a perfect example of some of the differences between J and I, let me give you a for-instance.  Behind this table was...

A wax figure of Vincent.  J was thrilled to get a picture with the man (though I personally find wax figures to be one of the creepiest things on the planet).  We got a couple good pictures of her with Vince, then we got the following pictures of me...

Which I would name 'Flirting with a skull - a series'
Here we are, grinning at each other...

... he made me bashful...

... fluttering my eyelashes at him.  J was laughing a LOT during this photo shoot, so they're not totally in focus, but it was so much fun.  I had to laugh because there was a Korean couple who were also posing... but with a plate of lemons.  I'm telling you, if I had an online dating profile, these pix would be on it!

The tools of the artists' trade.

I just loved how big they made the paintings so that you could really appreciate the brush strokes and the colors!

From a couple different perspectives - still made me think of Kansas.

And the sunflowers!  So many sunflowers!!  I literally felt like my grandparents were with me all throughout this exhibit.  I mean, again, I know he never went to Kansas, but the fields, the flowers, the skies... made me miss my peoples.

So the next part was about his life in the south of France.

Now this - this was awesome.  The painting is behind glass, which makes me wonder if this one was actually the real painting, not a replica.  However, you see that figure in the box?

Well, here's a HUGE replica of just that figure.  They wanted you to be able to really appreciate his brush strokes, so this is at least 8 feet tall.  The colors and strokes are so fascinating.  I nerded out all over again.  Thankfully, J didn't mind my nerding out.  She actually got really excited about it because I was showing how much I was enjoying it, too.  It was really nice to be around someone that I didn't feel the need to censor myself around.

Another screen of a painting - harvest time.

They had interactive parts for kids to draw themselves, or another plate of lemons, or whatever.  It was interesting to see it so interactive.  The kids were pretty into it, too, which was nice to see.

So tucked away behind the big replica of the man in the painting, was Vincent's bedroom in the yellow house.  Here's the replica of the painting he did...

and here's the reproduction of the actual room.  It was pretty cool.  I actually found this on my own and then had to tell J about it.  She had to come and get pictures in the room.

I did the obligatory selfie.

Next was a shadow video of Vincent and the guy he lived with in the yellow house.  It was a really interesting way to represent his descent into madness.  We Googled the info later to find out that it was Paul Gauguin who shared the house with him, and was arrested after Vincent cut off his ear.  Apparently since the house was covered in blood, the police thought Gauguin was the one who cut off Vincent's ear.  From a psychological standpoint, it's fascinating.  From a human standpoint, it's tragic.

The video itself was an interesting take on a tragic story.  I feel like there's a lot of symbolism in that you're just seeing shadows of the men themselves.

So we went on to what was basically a bit of an interlude.  It showed this replica, which again you are encouraged to touch.

And then this nifty touch screen.  I guess it's meant to show the progression of a painting from the initial sketch to the final product.  I am soooo not an artist, but I can appreciate the process/talent.

I thought this was pretty cool.

Then came the final room... super sad.

J wanted a pic with Vincent again.  Hehe - she is a trooper on those crutches, man!

A wall of the paintings and accompanied sketches.

I'm blown away by his use of color.

I mean, so amazingly pretty!

I had to get a picture of me with the Starry Night canvas.  I also had to wait for a Korean family to get thru before I could take a good pic with it.  :)

How they have it blown up.  Stunning.

I like this one, too.

Again, the skies!

And the tragedy of the end of his life.

I think J was happy to be able to sit down again!

The almond blossoms - again, just amazing.

Apparently 6 months after Vincent died, his brother Theo (with whom he was super close) also passed away.  "The rest side by side in the little cemetery amid the wheat fields of Auvers" Jo van Gogh-Bonger in Letters to his Brother, 1914.

The stormy skies, the wheat fields, the crows... stunning.

J had to take a pic of me... and allow me a moment because CHECK OUT THAT COLLAR BONE!!!  Hehehe, one year ago, it was hidden ;)

I didn't realize how prolific a painter he was.  So many amazing works of art.

I love how they did this, btw.

A few close-ups.

I want this moth tattooed on me somewhere - see the skull?  Friggin' AWESOME!

And the painting that is the basis of my pin.  I find it funny because I have a T-shirt that has a skull in a top hat smoking a cigarette.  Apparently I like the imagery.

From the other side.

A few more close-ups.

I like this bat.

And the final sunflowers.

This tree is so beautiful.  Made me think of my tree-hugging friend Ana.  Hehehe.

My favorite pic of me from the day.  After this we gave our headsets back, since we'd reached the end of the exhibit.  It took us about an hour and a half to go thru all of it.

A few final canvases.  I liked this one, reminds me of Frida.

Still life.

"If Van Gogh was alive in modernity."

So we went down to the cafe level in order to find something to eat.  J and I decided to go for burgers, since only the cafe (patisserie) and the burger place were open.  There really weren't many people there, which I think was because it was Memorial day, but I didn't mind that we had the place to ourselves.  It was really rather nice.

So I did get a souvenir, and I now have something on my bag that makes it my own.  It's not a bunch of patches, but it still designates this bag as MINE!  Hehehe, I love my Vince.

This is what happens when you're super hungry and then think, 'maybe people will want to see my lunch.'  I can assure you, at the end all that was left was some lonely onions.

We then went to Itaewon because we planned to have dinner at Vatos.  We had told people that we'd be there at 6pm if they wanted to join us, and we had some time to kill.  So first we found J a backpack so that she wouldn't have to use mine anymore.  We found a rather nice one from a street vendor.  The only problem that we ran into was that the vendor would only accept cash and the only ATM was all in Korean.  So I let J use the cash that I had, with the cash that she had, and the vendor decided she could take 34000 won instead of 35000 for the bag.

After that adventure, we went to a coffee shop just down from Vatos.  J had hot chocolate and I had an iced caramel macchiato.  We probably would have walked around Itaewon more, except that it started raining on us.  So instead we relaxed, chatted, and people-watched from the second floor of the coffee shop.

Then a little after 6, we went to Vatos.  J doesn't drink, but they did have virgin margaritas on the menu.  So I had a signature margarita (and the first sip was ALL tequila) and she had a frozen orange margarita.  She said it was pretty good - I'll take her word on it, as I was pretty stoked for mine.

Aren't they pretty?!

She got her usual - the roasted veggie quesadilla.  I decided to try the mushroom and spinach quesadilla.  They were both as awesome as I expected them to be.  So, so good.  Also, I apparently wanted mushrooms that day because the burger I'd had was a mushroom burger.  And my pasta that I'm making tomorrow will have mushrooms, peppers, and zucchini.  Huh... you know, I'm almost a vegetarian... except when we go to Korean BBQ ;)

After my signature, I decided that I needed a Zonarosa.  Although to be fair, I had decided DAYS ago that I'd have those 2 margaritas and no more.  Who would ever have thought that guava margarita and XX amber would be so darn good?!?

So after Vatos, we decided to head home.  We took the subway (the subway app that I downloaded when I got the phone has proven 100% helpful) and then the bus.  We talked most of the way home and then had to go thru more of the rain.  What a day to not check the weather, right?!  

We decided to go to my place and watch a movie.  We ended up watching The Bank Job, which she described as 'proper English' which made me laugh to no end.  After the movie, she went home and I gave myself a face mask.  All in all, it was a really nice day of hanging out with a friend, seeing some cool stuff regarding Van Gogh, having good food, and watching a fun movie.  By the way, the guy who plays Dave in The Bank Job is also in Good Omens as Mr. Young and it took me for friggin' EVER to place him!!!  So glad I finally figured that one out. 

So now the plan is to have my BH weekend.  I'm going to go grocery shopping after work so that I don't have to leave my apt for any reason, unless I decide to be social.  I'm going to be making a veggie-tastic penne with tomato sauce, and stir fry pork with veggies.  I'm also thinking of renting Pitch Black, The Chronicles of Riddick, and Riddick from Amazon.  Once I finish Congo, that is.  Then J and I have decided we need to watch the movie cuz Tim Curry is in it.  Much love to all, MUAH!