Well her stay here in Korea has sadly come to an end. My best friend is now on a plane back to New York. I'd like to say I was an amazing host, but as much as I tried to expose her to the cultural differences and beautiful sights of this foreign country, we spent most of our time sleeping in after long nights of giggling and consuming MEK-JU (beer). That's our thing. hee hee!
I must say, I'm extremely proud of my lil Debbie. She learned more Korean words in 10 days than I learned my first few months here. She tried SO-JU (Korean "spirits") and even dabbled in Korean Food, which is the last thing I thought she'd ever do. She suffered a day with my students, despite her Jet-Lag. "Debbie" is on Debbie's lap.

Of course everyone loved her, except a few strangers who didn't appreciate our boisterous laughter. We laugh most of the time we're together. So our stomach muscles got a good work out, as well as our leg muscles from all the walking we did. We went to Gyeong-ju, the original Capital of Korea and visited Bulguksa Temple. It was a beautiful day, we fed huge fish with the crackers I brought for Debbie. We bowed to buddhists and made wishes on small rock piles we built. Debbie's favorite part of the trip were the beautiful trees with light pink flowers we kept seeing everywhere, just started blooming all over Korea, she came at the perfect time of year. We were supposed to go to a Cherry Blossom Festival this weekend, but everyone in Korea was there. So we avoided the crowds & went to a park instead.

The man who owned the love motel we stayed at was incredibly nice and offered to keep our luggage while we walked around our 2nd day in Gyeong-Ju. The cab driver who had dropped us off at the place, ran in to check the price before letting us out of the cab. And the housekeeper had a long conversation with us in Korean (and hysterical body language) telling us all about her "3 babies". One is 22 & in the army, the middle one (girl) is 25 & a nurse, and oldest son's 28 & a bus driver because he finished his army term. We met the kindest people, not in NY I tell ya.

We went out a couple nights in Daejeon (my city). The first night we went to SANTA CLAUS (b/c the owner is Mr. Ho). My co-workers and a few others joined. Good time, until I hurt my knee trying to jump on the pool table b/c Debbie told me to "be a monkey"!!!!! I have a thing about Monkeys.... especially when it's a shy little Korean girl in a costume at the train station. This sweater was one of many presents Debbie's mom sent over with her. Lorraine treats me so good! Like a daughter-in-law.

We also went out to J-Rock, of course. Jenny made special shots for us and we danced til wee hours of the morning. Sasha and Insu (my friends, the bartenders) were there too, despite Sasha having worked long hours covering my shifts at school. She loved teaching the kids English, and I'm SO happy she was able to cover for me.

Then we headed down to Busan .... caught the end of a roof BBQ, got mistaken for Russian prostitutes, experienced the subway a little, then hit the foreigner bars with Liz, Zach, and a bunch of their friends. What an experience. Turns out I have a real fetish for slow dancing in the streets and green bags.

Our last night together in Korea, we went up to Seoul with Jenny. First, we went to her friend's restaurant and had some Kimchi Pajeon. He's a real sweetheart and drove us around to historical sights, as well as the train station early this morning. We saw the gate of what used to be a castle and a tower from afar. We saw a famous bell in a huge traditional building, and walked along a long, beautifully-lit "river" or canal with 26 amazing bridges passing over it. At one point, Jenny decided to cross over the rocks on her heels and joke with Debbie.... she fell in. Said she did it for Debbie to have an experience to remember. Hopefully, this was an experience she'll remember. Love ya Debbie... yes, long time.