Foundation Day in Korea

So we had a random day off on Thursday.  The reason was the celebration of the founding of Korea as a country... in 2333 BC!!!!  It's amazing to me just how far back history stretches in other parts of the world.  No wonder the US is such a whippersnapper.  Friggin' teenagers.  LOL.

I checked with my hair guy and he said he was open, so I went into Seoul for a trim.  My friend M(H) was also going to Seoul to meet up with a friend.  So we decided to meet at the bus stop at 10 to catch the 4108 into Seoul Station.  Yeah... the first bus was full, then the next one, then the next one, then the next one.  We even went to a stop further up from where we were, thinking that would help.  It didn't.  Basically on a high-traffic day, we'd have to walk 2 bus stops up from ours in order to get on that bus.  We ended up waiting about an hour and 15 mins, then jumping on the 4403 bus which took us into Gangnam.  From there we caught the metro and then got to Itaewon.  She was an hour late meeting up with her friend, I was 10 mins late for my haircut.  The cut went like it usually does - wonderfully.  I got a little nervous when he was doing the bangs because it reminded me a little bit of Justin Bieber, and I'm much more a Jamie Lee Curtis kind of person.  The good news is that I ran into M(H) later and she assured me that it's more JLC.

So I ended up hanging out with M(H) and her friend for the rest of our time in Seoul.  She took us to a 4-story Korean bookstore, which was fun.  I found a Beatles Anthology book - in KOREAN!  For some reason that amuses me.  Then we went to a weird museum/art exhibition that was a bit of a reflection on the consumerism that surrounds us all.  (see pix below)  Then we came back to Dongtan, took a trip to Emart in order to get the last few things we needed for the potluck that A planned.  The potluck was at 8, we were the 2nd and 3rd to show up at 8:30, and we ate at 9.  The food was great and I've officially converted a couple people to the wonderfulness that is roasted Brussels sprouts.  MUAH HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!!  I shall make ALL people LOVE their veggies!  We played a couple games (I kicked butt at a pictionary-like game), and then I bowed out.  I was totally exhausted.

When M(H) and I were at Emart, I bought a memory foam mattress topper.  I am officially kicking myself for waiting this long to get one.  I slept SO GREAT last night.  I don't think I moved all night.  Full disclosure: Wed night was a long one, so I was exhausted.  We'll see how it goes from here, but I am hopeful that this will help with my insomnia.

Anyway, that was my day off on Thurs.  I'll give you a post about Oktoberfest and the Jinju Lantern Festival later.  Much love!!

 4 stories of books!!!

 The view from the bookstore.

 Guess which book I was most intrigued by in the history section.

 Random German Beer Hall-type place above a place selling Jeju black pork.  Gotta love Korea.

 I am the walrus.

 A study of loneliness if ever there was one.

 Ah, loves the kitties.

 The place was so strange - a take on consumerism and how appalling it is... where you could also buy souvenirs.

 Another bit of art that I found perfectly haunting in its beauty.

 Some interesting pretzel flavors.

 A person's face on one side, time on the other, and in the spinning they become... yep.  Sleepy Hollow reference FTW!

 Don't you love when you can come home, pour a bottle of wine, and take off your face?!

 I would say that every one of us, for some reason or another, can relate to this woman on the bathroom floor.  I almost made this my FB cover photo, but then figured that would be construed as a massive cry for help.

Cool fountain on the way home.