The One Where I Get Beaten With Crow Bars

Hey, so I'm late with the update. Lo siento. Anyway, I just thought I'd start today's blog with a big ol' I knew it. So after teaching 2 classes on Saturday morning I took the subway to Seoul and met Colleen and Audrey. We wanted to do a little shopping that day, but didn't really do any. Didn't really do much of anything, actually. We went to a big bookstore that supposedly had a big English section. It took us about 1.5 hours to get there even though it was only like 2 blocks away. Everyone we tried to ask pointed us in different directions. We finally got there and there was quite a large English section but the books are all pretty expensive. Much more than the listed book price...probably due to import taxes, etc. So I didn't buy anything since I'm not desperate for reading material yet.

We then met up with Leeanne (the Kiwi girl on the left) and Erin. And in reference to my 'I told you so', we ended up drinking that night. Leeanne can't go a weekend without drinking, apparently. This time her housemate was considerate enough and gave me a key to their apt gate and passcode for the door so I could get back in case something similar to last time happened. It's interesting because her housemate is a 42 year old guy. He's from the US (Colorado, I think) and has been living here for 10 years. So he knows quite a bit of Korean. He works for a relocation company or something (relocates people moving to Korea for business purposes...find housing, etc). Anway, that was nice because they ended up staying out all night. At 3am I finally had enough (I was falling asleep in the bar) and took a taxi home with Colleen (Leeanne and Audrey and Leeanne's friends stayed out until 5). It took Colleen and I a while to find the right apt (they live in a confusing area), but we finally managed. I couldn't believe Audrey because she was up all the night before drinking (never went to bed) then stayed up until 5 tonight. So she went about 48 hours without sleep. And she wasn't planning on even staying in Seoul one night so didn't have a change of clothes with her (she ended up staying the whole weekend so wore the same clothes for 4 days...miraculously, she didn't reek).

The next day we went to a jimjilbang (spa) that is supposedly the biggest one in the world, but it didn't really seem that big to me, so maybe we went to a different one. It was called Haesoopia. I got the most painful massage of my life there. Honestly, I think I was beaten with crow bars. I was all looking forward to a nice relaxing massage when suddenly I found myself being beaten to death. It's amazing the amount of pain I can stand without actually crying out. I figured although it hurt like a bitch at the time, it must end up feeling better later...right? Well, can't say it really did. Oh well. I did get some bruises.

The next day we were planning on going to Costco because David (Leeanne's roomie) was going to get a car. I was super excited because there's all kinds of western food there (cheese!!!). But the next day he wasn't able to get the car (from work). So we just wasted time walking around a mall that was way too expensive. It was boring as hell and a waste of a day. I hate that. I wish I had just gone home the night before. Oh well.

Not much else to say. There aren't any more vacations/days off until Christmas, so that's kind of sad. I think my English camps are the first 2 weeks in January. What I'm doing the rest of the break (I think winter break is like Dec. 24-Feb. 10 or something) I don't know. One week of vacation, then going into school and doing nothing all day with no one else in the school, I guess. I'm going to try and see if I can get another week off and just not get paid for it or something. Good luck communicating that, Emily.

I got paid, so I'm now a millionaire. :) I think I also got my plane ticket money reimbursed, which is nice since I was having issues with that. I also got my health card today, so if I get hit by a car or get some horrid illness I can now go to the hospital. Yay! Anyway, Emily out.