Thank God for Buddha

Another weekend down. Let's just say it was an exhausting one. On the plus side, it was also an extended weekend because of Buddha's Birthday and no work on Friday. Thus, the partying began early on Thursday, Kindergarten Style.

Each month we celebrate all the kids' birthday's that are in that month. This involves multiple sets of pictures, an amazing array of Western and Korean food, and an extended lunch hour a.k.a Heaven! This month we got even more decadent with the best Ice Cream cake I've ever had in my life. This was then followed by the disturbing realization that I am highly lactose intolerant when it comes to Ice Cream. But it was worth every stomach cramp and.. well, everything else that followed that cake.

After my early afternoon indulgence I felt it was only necessary to follow through into the evening by participating in the local Trivia Game. Before attempting this adventure I fueld up at my favorite outdoor BBQ place with Lucy, Dom, and Holli. Much like our last visit the food was amazing, the weather was delightful, and the company was on par. We finished up in time to get the last spot in the bar for Trivia, unfortunately it was a makeshift table that was smack in the middle of the bar, on the stage, for everyone to see. Every group had to decide their own funny, quirky, or witty name and we struggled to decide. Of course, the obvious name for the 5 of us girls was "Epic Fail" but we decided our location in the bar called for, "We're the Girls on Stage, Give Us a Dollar or Buy Us a Shot". However, it seems we were the only people who thought it was funny. GET IT? We're on stage like strippers, but we're playing trivia instead! Yah.... So after 8 rounds of getting our ass whooped, beer drinking, and embarassment, our group (also the only group of girls) was dead last. The bad/good thing about living here is every single foreigner has a college degree (visa requirement), and they're probably a lot smarter than me. Not to mention a few years older, so I'm the dumb one. I can't wait to go back to Minnesota where I'm not last in Trivia and mildly smart! Hahah. My shame of losing forced me to head home early, and luckily avoid any hang over on Friday.

However, most my friends were nursing a dirty hangover Friday so I was left to my own devices for entertainment. Seeing as though I just got paid the day before, I had one goal and one goal only: shopping. I've heard of a place in Gwangju called "Home Plus" and for my England readers, you may know it as "Tesco's". In America, its like a Super Target times 5, with multiple levels, restaurants, and vendors within the shopping mecca. Kind of a cross between a mall and a Super Target. Basically, its amazing. The only problem is, I had no idea how to get there. I tried the internet, and it didn't really help, so I decided to call some people to see if they could offer some advice. Finally I was informed if I just get on the 98 bus downtown I'd be good to go, I couldn't miss it. So I took the bus downtown in what felt like 85 degree weather and 100% humidity and waited at the bus stop for the 98. And I waited, and waited, and waited. And I waited some more until someone informed me that there will be no buses at that stop due to some kind of event (that's what I'm assuming they said anyways seeing as though I don't speak Korean). So I figured finding the next bus stop on the bus I've never rode before would be an easy endeavor, but I was sorely mistaken. After wandering around for what felt like forever I made another friendly call and figured out a different bus to take. By the time I made it there I realized that I went the opposite direction of Homeplus, to go downtown, to get on a bus, to go past my house again, and reach my destination which is actually pretty close to my house. All in all I think it took me around 2 hours, I could have actually walked there in that amount of time if I had known where it was. While I may seem a bit cranky about this situation, it actually kind of summarizes my life here: NOTHING is easy, and EVERYTHING is a learning experience. So, now I've explored a new part of town, learned a few new bus routes, and found my shopping heaven... all by myself! As you can imagine I spent hours there and once I finally made it home, I was thoroughly exhausted. I spent my evening watching True Blood, my new TV series addiction and went to bed early to get ready for my Saturday adventure.

While my last blog had insinuated a theme park adventure and DMZ tour this weekend, we decided not to. Not only are theme parks a bitch on the weekends, but a super bitch on a weekend Holiday, so we stayed in. Fortunately, I made some great last minute plans with my friend Lucy to help celebrate her birthday in the city of Jeonju. I've heard about this city before, my friend Kelsey moved there a few months after I met her here, and I know that a bunch of people have recently visited with rave reviews, and legitimately so.

Jeonju is a city much smaller than Gwangju, roughly about 300,000 people. This definitely attributes to the style and feel of the city. It's much less of a hustle and bustle, and very very original. We visited some extremely interesting cafe's that were like nothing I've ever seen before. One was almost exactly how you'd imagine an older style Korean house to be. You open the gate and in the middle is a tiny courtyard with the house circling around it, with windows covering every single outer wall. It was so pretty, topped with the traditional Korean roof and super cute interior design. We also had some of the spiciest chicken I've ever had in Korea, so double bonus! Finally we had dinner and celebrated Lucy's birthday just how we do back home. Everyone at the table took a turn telling Lucy how special she is, what they love about her, or a great memory, and it was really great. It made me feel really lucky to know such an awesome girl and excited to spend more time with her in Korea. After dinner Lucy, her boyfriend Chris, Zaid, Holli and I decided some drinking was necessary, and we did something no humans should ever do: Drink two bottles of Jack Daniels in one night.

Obviously Sunday wasn't as fun as it could have been, but we went to a few more cafes and had some relaxing strolls through the city. We got to go to a tiny lake where they had lotus flowers and it was really pretty. I didn't bring my camera because I didn't expect much, but now I wish I did. Chris, Holli, and Lindsay were taking some pictures so as soon as they post them on Facebook I'll be sure to paste some in here to make the post more interesting. Anyways, off to watch more True Blood and eat spaghetti with the whole wheat noodles I miraculously found at Home Plus!