HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!

To show you how much I love you, I'll finish writing about Korea...

I really and truly don't remember what we did on Saturday morning. I remember that I felt surprisingly better, even after standing out in the cold for go-awful long the night before. But Saturday night, Beth and I joined some of her co-workers and we went to see STOMP. It was poorly planned, in that the girls gave the two maps to the two guys, but we finally found the theatre and a really yummy restaurant that would serve us massive amounts of warm food in the time we had before the show. It woked out really well and the food was, as always, delicious.There was soup and noodles and rice and yum. :-)

Then we went to STOMP which was amazing! I saw it a few years ago (well, a few years being when I was in middle school or some such) and it was good, but I wasn't old enough to really appreciate it. This time, I found it brilliant. Not only in the musicianship that it takes to make a song out of, literally, garbage, but in the sheer physicality needed to do the things they did, such as strapping large garbage cans to their feet and walking around. They also had distinct personalities, a feat in and of itself in a venue where there is no dialogue. All in all, it was a fabulous show.














On Sunday, I felt the worst I'd felt all trip. I was in pain. So we nixed our plans to check out the National Museum of Korea and went back to COEX for a little bit of R&R - namely, manicures and pedicures. I felt really nice just to sit back and not have to do anything except move when the technician asked me to. After the pampering, we wandered around a bit, finally heading back to Mok-dong for some dinner. We went to a galbi restaurant, which had been my first experience with Korean food and something that I think is incredibly yum. So Sunday ended up alright, despite the pain in my face.

Monday, I decided that I wanted to learn more about Korea's recent history. The War Memorial Museum had really interested me and I wanted to add to my knowledge base, although I already knew more than a majority of my American peers...so I went out to the National Museum of Korea by myself. I forgot an important fact, however, when I failed to check the weekly closing date of the museum. I'm sure that you, my intelligent friends, have figured out that this particular museum was closed on Mondays. Drat. So I randomly wandered around until it was time to head back to Beth's apartment.

When I got home, I learned from Ken that Beth's Granddad had died. It had been expected, but I know the feeling of losing a beloved grandparent. So I took Ken to the school to surprise Beth with flowers when she got off of work. After a grateful greeting at the school, we went out for sushi, finding an excellent place just blocks from the school. When I say excellent I mean we got three huge meals, split them, and the bill came to about $28. And the food was amazing...I'm talking soup and donchass and a ginormous plate of sushi. I had octupus for the first time - wasn't a fan, but hey, I can say I tried it! Octopus and eel and caviar, oh my! That's been my experience in Korea. :-)

On Tuesday, I packed and did very little else, considering it SNOWED. Yuck. Who wants to wander around when it's snowy and ick when Korean apartments have heated floors?!? Not me, that's for sure! I did eventually venture to the Hyundai department store once again, on a mission that was unfulfilled, but I did end up with a great North Face bag to use as a carry-on for the next day's flight.

When Beth got home, it was time for something I'd been looking forward to for the entire trip - the sauna! I love Asian saunas. My first experience with one was actually in San Francisco - not surprising, considering the ease one must feel being nude around others. This one was excellent and you could tell it was a popular place for the locals...Beth and I were the only two Westerners there. We spent the first hour or so in the hot tubs and cool tubs, including some quality time with a jetted hot tub...it felt so good on tired muscles! Then we paid for the extra service of what Beth casually called a "scrubbing." That was an understatement. We lay on tables while a sauna employee sloughed our skin. It got all the dead skin off, that's for sure - it was cool and gross at the same time, seeing the dead skin being washed off the table when we were done. But I felt soft and clean and so relaxed.

Until the morning.

I got up around 7 in anticipation of leaving Beth's around 8:15 for the airport. Then I check United's website to make sure my flight is on time. Big mistake. My flight from Seoul to Tokyo was delayed until 5 pm...and my connecting flight left Tokyo around 5:30! I flipped. I called Brandon, freaking out, and he called United who basically (once again) said they couldn't do anything about it. I don't understand why plane tickets are so freakin' expensive if I'm never going to be guaranteed a flight. Grrrrrr...

I went to the airport anyway and, once there, the United reps were actually very helpful. They got me on an earlier flight to Tokyo through Northwest Airline and I was even upgraded to Premiere class, which was excellent...although it would have been nice to enjoy the upgrade on the longer flight but c'est la vie. The catch, however, was that the flight was leaving in about 30 minutes, so I had to book through security, immigration, etc. Luckily, it wasn't bad, and I made the flight. Once in Tokyo, I had a long-ish layover, but the flight left on time and everything was good so there's no complaining coming out of this traveler's mouth! Or fingers, as the case may be...

And that was my first trip abroad! I'm still not sure if I want to continue to travel or if I want to ground myself in Chicago for now, but I'm thinking that I'll stay unbound until the end of the summer - I have plans to visit Mandy in Alaska this June and I'd like to extend the trip to make a drive through Canada, but that's it. I may still head to Guatemala for a Spanish immersion program that looks interesting, since knowing Spanish will never hurt my job search - but basically, I'm going to see family at the end of this month and after that, I'm staying put for a bit. Jet-lag and I just don't get along...

Good bye, and Good Luck,
Lace