비가 오고있어

Well, yesterday was pretty exciting. I met with Jamie, Alecia, and Gayin at 광화문 for lunch. I got there a couple of minutes late because I missed the subway by 5 seconds, but luckily a new one comes really quickly and it wasn't too much of a problem. We decided to go eat at this fancy restaurant, but it was way too full, so we walked around the streets until we found this little place in a side alley. It was SO hot inside, because every table had a personal stove plate. We ate a really good 갈비 (beef) stew dish, and then decided to go for 빙수 (bingsu - flavored shaved ice with fruit) to finish off our meal.

We ended going up to a REALLY cute cafe called 5CIJUNG in the bottom of the Seoul Finance Center Mall, and had 달기 팥 빙수 (strawberry bingsu with red beans) and also shaved persimmon. It was delicious!

Alecia has been going to Yonsei for the summer, and she's offered to sell me her cell phone for cheap, so I'm going to have my own cell and a number on around the 4th of August! Lucky me :))

While we were at 5CIJUNG I had my first non-awkward transaction with a cashier - I was able to successfully ask him to break my 10,000 won bill for two 5,000 bills without stumbling or using hand gestures! I've been acting too nervous around Korean natives, being exceedingly quiet and not using the Korean I know to my full potential - but this gave me a lot of extra confidence. I'm going to try harder from now on!

After dessert, Jamie went back to work and Alecia and Gayin and I decided to head back to Hongdae. We took photobooth pictures (so cute!) and hung out for a while, and then Alecia had to go back to campus for her summer classes. Gayin and I went to Paris Baguette and got drinks. While we were sitting and talking, out of the blue it starts to downpour ferociously. She walked with me back to my apartment with her umbrella because I'd left mine at home, and we both still got soaked even with the umbrella. Monsoon season is intensely crazy here. Gayin left to meet her family for dinner, and I hung around for a while.

I had chicken out in Hongdae last night and ate it the Korean way - using two forks! It was strange because I kept forgetting it wasn't a knife and would start sawing at it, haha. I ate ice cream from a convenience store, which was tasty, and then it was bed time!

Full day! Today I might head over to Yonsei campus to straighten out a few things with them.

Having a blast!

Love,

Janet