Just another week in Gwangju

Monday Monday Monday. Oh how I hate you. I swear, no matter what I do on the weekends Mondays are always the most tiring and long. This weekend was a fun time. We didn't have any specific plans but it turned out to be pretty interesting.

After getting off work on Friday I had a chance to talk to my old pal Mark from back home and as always its so great to hear from the familiar voices (and accents) of Minnesota. I then forced Dom to come to my house and visit me because we were planning on going to dinner late. So we just sat at my house for a while, worked on our awesome rap, and shot the shit. After a few hours of that we decided to go down to my corner store, Dongsan MARTuh, which I frequent at least 4 times a week and have a beer outside. The lady who works there is so friendly and so is her husband. I remember my first time going there and Lucy informed him that I would probably be going there a lot so he gave me a free laundry hamper which has been used steadily ever since. The lady and I have also exhanged a few Korean/English words. One time I hadn't been there for a while and she said "long time no see" in Korean, which I actually understood and promptly returned the phrase. She also said in English that I was beautiful one time when I stopped in there before going out on a weekend night. So I think she was pretty happy to see us hanging out and enjoying some popcorn and beer in the plastic chairs in front of her store.

After our dinner plans fell through I just headed to my favorite diner, where I was also pleasantly greeted by the women who always recognize me. I had a healthy serving of ChamChidosut Bibimbap, which is basically a giant bowl of rice with tuna and other stuff plopped on top. My night ended early and I was in bed by midnight because I had to be well rested for Saturday's adventures.

I woke up wide eyed and refreshed around 9 (on a Saturday, I KNOW!) and chilled in my apartment a bit. I sat in awe of all the space I seem to have now that I rearranged my apartment, it's like a whole new shoebox! Then I hit up the gym to be pleasantly surprised by my current number on the scale. I am now down 10lbs, which I think might be a little off since I hadn't had any breakfast yet and I was a bit dehydrated from the beers from the night before. But I have been working my ass off, so I know that number will be for real soon anyways.

After the gym I headed to the Bus Terminal to meet up with Dom. It's funny because you wouldn't imagine the bus terminal to be a happenin spot, but it is basically like a little mall. It's also smack in the middle of Gwangju so wherever we seem to go from there its no more than a 6 bucks cab ride. We had some Italian food and Holli met up with us and we went to go hang out with Lucy and Chris.

Those two had planned a lovely day of chilling at a lake and hanging out in a classic old style pagoda thing up in a little mountain. It was good to talk with those guys again, I hadn't had a chance to hang out since Lucy's Birthday and it was definitely fun. Well, besides the fact that I got a million mosquito bites out there. It was also a lovely view up there.
Here's a few pictures that Dom took:

Then we went to one of the tastiest restaurants here. Though I do say that all the time. It was duck meat and it came prepared 3 different ways and there was so much food. First was a stir fry with like some kinda onion greens. Then there was bigger thick pieces served with the wrap ups and all sorts of extras. Then there was some soup, oh man, that soup and rice was to die for.

We also had a conversation about eating dog which was pretty interesting. In case you didn't know, the rumors are true, they do eat dog in Korea. Though it's not like at any ol' diner being sold as pork, it's more of a specialty. You go to dog only restaurants and dig in. My friend Ryan was looking for takers because in all actuality, we eat all sorts of meats, why not dog? Dom decided she'd be down with it but I'm still on the fence. I mean, who am I to be meatist? Plus, then I could always say I tried it... Yeah, maybe not. I'm currently thinking "No" but I still have another year and a half here, so who knows?

Of course the night ended where any good night in Korea ends: a Noraebang
(singing room). Here's a few pictures:

After staying out far past my bed time I woke up way past my wake up time on Sunday. Immediately Fliss and I decided that an ultimate amazing buffet was necessary in our immediate future so we hit up VIPS. Basically a fancy Korean buffet with all kinds of American food. It was delicious, but not the best idea after a night of soju and beer. I capped off my weekend by seeing Shrek in 3D. I'm not usually a fan of kids movies, but it was neat to see a movie in 3D, I've never seen one and theres an IMAX right in the bus terminal so I'll have to go see another one soon.

This week I plan to lay low, hit the gym a bunch, and get ready for Mudfest next weekend. Yes, a festival where you cover yourself in Mud, how cliche. I'm sure it will be good fun, and by the next weekend I'll be in Sweden! Yay!

Here's my closing video for this post. Also, I added the Worldcup video to my other post too, so check it out.