1/16-1/18

Saturday Night

Max, Evan, and I decided to go downtown to grab something to eat and maybe go to a bar afterwords. Tonight was the first night that we were blatantly rejected from a restaurant/bar because we were Americans. I heard that some bars and restaurants discriminated against us, but I think it is more because of the soldiers who get rowdy and mess things up. We were trying to go some place new and three times in a row we were rejected. At first we thought they were full and they could not accommodate us, but the third place we walked into, the host told us Korean only, which is absolutely nuts. I was pretty pissed off, but there was nothing we could do and no point of trying to get in a place you are not wanted. We walked back to the main drag and Max showed us a place he had been to before that had pretty decent food. I got the chicken stir fry that was probably the spiciest thing I have had thus far in Korea, but delicious at the same time. After dinner we decided to go to a new place that turned out to be a fancy cocktail bar. Had a drink and just chilled out. After one drink Evan went home and Max and I decided to go to another new place off the main drag. It was a mix between a German and Korean bar. They tried so hard to be German, but failed miserably. Had a couple drinks there, then decided to go home where the night ended.

Sunday

Woke up around noon, made some breakfast and remembered that today we were going to Costco. Before going, Max and I made it over to the spa that I went to with Choi a month back to relax. Love that place. 4 dollars to relax with a bunch of naked Koreans, who wouldnt love that. For real though it is very relaxing, the salt room, the saunas and the cold spring water just enriches the body. We spent an hour there, then made our way down toward Evan, where we hailed a cab and headed toward Costco. Arrived at Costco and it was just a madhouse. 2 stories of goods, and Koreans buying American food and product, however I felt that they were more interested in the samplers than the shopping itself. It seemed as they make an excuse to come shopping just to stand in line for the samplers. In any event, when we got there, Max, Evan, and Danni had to get the famous Costco pizza, and I 2 hot dogs. It was not bad, but not as good as that pizza looked. Once we finished our food we headed into arena and started shopping. Luckily, we did not need too much and only bought the necessities, which was mostly food that we could not find at the local grocery store. Spent about an hour and half there got a cab and went home. Unloaded our stuff, then did some house cleaning.
7Pm comes around and we get a call from Jay asking if we want to try and get tickets to Avatar 3D. We both say yes and headed downtown. Got to the IMAX movie theater and if I have not mentioned before this movie has been sold out here since it has been open (the 3D version). Every time someone has tried before this there is only 1 seat left for each viewing unless you want to go to the 4AM one. So we get there at 7:30 and could have gone to the 9:45 showing but we would have been front row. Luckily there were some better seats at the 10:45 showing so we took that. Had two hours to kill, so we ate at KFC, then went to a coffee/bar place to chill for a bit. After spending some time there went back to the movie theater, still having 40 minutes to burn. Went to the arcade and played some games and watched a Korean dude kick ass at Dance Dance Revolution. The man came prepared with a water bottle and towel, in addition to the fan that is in place next to the system. It was a great preview before our movie. 9:40 comes so we go to the movie theater get some drinks, our 3D glasses and head in to what would be an unbelievable 3 hours.

(If you have not seen this movie, I highly recommend it. If you cant find 3D in your area, just go and see it. This movie will amaze you.

After the movie it was about 2, but none of us could even think about sleeping ,we just had to discuss the movie, so we went to Communes the bar had a drink and did exactly that. After the drink we said goodbye to Jay and went home.

Monday
Oh how I hate Mondays. Very tired from last night not looking forward to teaching. Had to get there early to prepare for my classes that day. Woke up at 10:30, had breakfast then went to school. Arrived at school did my planning and then started teaching. The first 2 classes went well, loving my little preschoolers then had a break. Grabbed some lunch at another orange place, because ours suddenly shut down for some reason. A true shame, because it was the best one in my opinion. After lunch, taught 6 classes in a row, with each one, I became more and more tired. After the six classes planned for Tuesday. Finished planning, put my jacket on and went home to make dinner. Had dinner, folded some of my laundry, and finally finished my book; A million Little Pieces. Whatever the discrepancy was about that book it was still amazing, true or not.
Goodnight!