Conference, Cookies and TOILETS!

It was conference weekend and Destiny and I decided to watch Saturday Conference in Taichung. I had a pile of cookie boxes Megan asked me to pick up for her while I was in Korea. I still can't get over the fact that 5 years after the end of my mission we both ended up in Taiwan. It is a small world!

We had heard about a restaurant with a toilet theme. We had to check it out. Maybe this would help explain the often asked question, "Why is everyone in Taiwan obsessed with poop?" So after a wonderful Saturday session of Conference we head over to the toilet bowl restaurant.



The toilet bowl restaurant lived up to it name. We sat on toilet bowls, we eat off a tub and our food came to us in toilets and squatters. You could even buy a urinal for your drink, I let that one pass. Now do I understand the obsessions with poop, no but I can definitely appreciate the humor.

The SAD goodbye.

We went home. We thought about staying and not returning but decided to do the mature thing and come back. Destiny and I may have came back to Taiwan but we are both full of ideas of teaching in Korea. We will be back!

OUR LAST FULL DAY IN KOREA.

The time went so fast! We spent our last day visiting with Jeung-ah’s students. She teaches at a hagwan aka cram school. She has the cutest kindergarten class and a couple of bratty older classes. It was fun to hang out with those cute little Korean kids, who spoke a few word of English.

Once work was over we went out for one last night on the town in Korea. Destiny picked up her hombok which was beautiful. Then Chuang-ah wanted to get her hair done but not by herself. So she got a perm and I got Korean bangs. I like the bangs but what I really like was the head massage by the cute Korean boy who washed my hair. Destiny and I both agree he belongs on the cute Korean list. After the haircut I went around town trying to use up all my Korean money. I bought cute shoes, headband (for the new Korean hair cut) and sock. I love all the happy socks you can buy for a dollar in Korea.

Then we had our last dinner in Korean with
Juang-ah and Alice (her friend from work). We were head home the next day.

Church in Korea, once again. . .
We went to church Sunday morning and guess who was at the ward, the Daejeon Mission President, office couple, and office missionaries. They were giving a joint RS and Priesthood lesson. We started chatting with the office couple and found out that they were friends with the office couple (the Bonners) that serve in our Taichung branch. They were really excited and I took their name card to give to the Bonners since they had lost touch. I also enjoyed a few moments of understanding what was going on in Korean. It was nice. I'm glad we made it to church and didn't spend the night in Seoul.

After church we went to see the cherry blossoms. While we were in Korea the weather was perfect! I love spring weather and Korea was 6 days of beautiful spring. I've been asking to see the cherry blossoms since we got to Korea. Juang-ah was nice enough to drive around town so we could check them out. The street was crowded with family and friends with the same idea. We would jump out of the car take pictures and then run and catch up with Juang-ah. It was nice of her because she doesn't like to drive, traffic in Korea is a bit frightening.

Our next stop was to meet Juang-ah's family. Her sister took us out to dinner and her two girls came along. We also meet her brother-n-law, he couldn’t come because he had to run the family’s mart. He gave us free ice cream, yum. At first her nieces we quite and would just throw glaces at us. By the end of the afternoon they were climbing all over us and playing with us at the park next to the restaurant. They only sad part is that we didn’t take any picture with the girls!

Going to Seoul

Junag-ah bounced into our room bright and early and we got ready for the day. We had big plans shopping around Chuang-ju and then off to Seoul. We were planning to spend the night in Seoul. So we packed our backpacks and headed out. After eating breakfast of kimbop and dukbokee, I love KOREAN FOOD! The first offical purpose of the morning was to find and buy a hombok for Destiny. A hombok is a traditional Korean dress. We looked at quite a few homboks before Destiny decided on a pink one. The fabric was gorgeous but we would have to wait until Monday to see the finished products. Next stop was Seoul.

It took a couple of hours to get to Seoul. Once there we head over to a popular foreigner spot. It was fun but everything was expensive so Destiny and I didn't buy much. We did get to see a demonstartion on how to make duk (rice cakes). I always explain duk as being smashed up rice and it literal is smashed up rice. I'm smarter then I knew. Isn't that little girl have a great time.

Since I love Korean food there must be a side note about what we eat for lunch. We had bulgolgi for lunch and yummy kimchi. I love eating all the kimchi I want!!
After shopping we tried to find the Seoul temple. We were so close but we never did find it. At this point we were all getting tired and decided to find a hotel for the night. I was tired of carrying around my backpack. Here is a little side note about Korea. . . the have a lot of love hotel. You know the types of hotels that you rent by the hour and not by the night. Destiny and I were not sure that we wanted to stay in a love hotel. The dark entryway, the hidden counter and the wallpaper covered with huge red roses was just too much. We decided to head over to the 63rd building while we considered the love hotel options.Destiny loves Korean mini series. She has gotten me addicted to one called "My name is Kim Sam Soon." So I love them to or at least I learning to love them. I guess the popular spot to declare your love in a mini series is the top of the 63rd building. So we had to check it out. I had been there on my mission during the day but never at night. The view at night was amazing. I glad I went again.

At this point everyone was starting to get tired. We made the joint decision to see if we could catch the bus back to Chuang-ju. We had a sweet taxi driver who drove like mad and we managed to catch the late bus to Chaung-ju. We also grabbed a few snacks for dinner. The end of another day in Korea.

KOREAN TRADITIONAL FOLK VILLAGE

We got up fairly early, not hard for Destiny and I because we always get up early in Taiwan. Juang-ah dropped us off at the bus terminal where we meet up with Dae-muk and head off to Suwon and the Korean Folk Village. We spent most of the day at the folk village. It was set up to look like a traditional Korean Village. We saw all different types of houses and learned how to carry and use your own fececes to fertilization you rice fields (this may explain the Asian bizarre fascination with poop).

We also watched two show explain what Koreans did with their free time back in the day. It was amazing to watch and scary! It also made me unimpressed with how I use my free time.

Then we attended at "marriage." For some reason they used live chickens as part of the marriage ceremony.

After the folk village we walked around Dae-muk's college campus. Then he took us to his favorite restaurant. . . a sushi restaurant. Now I like sushi but I have never eaten the amount of sushi that I did that night. They keep bring out more and more raw fish. I may never eat sushi again! We got back on the bus and made it back to Juang-ah apartment were once again I crashed for the night.

Going to Korea ~ Day One

Destiny and I got up early and head off to the bus stop at around 7:00 am. Our bus left at 7:30 and we had a few earns to run, getting food and money. Our bus was on time and it was off to the AIRPORT. Excitement was growing!!!! We were so excited to leave, we got to the airport early and had to wait for the check in booth to open. Due to our early arrival everything went fine (except for a bit of sitting in the airport boredom, which we easily combated with Starbucks and ENGLISH MAGAZINES!)

We made it KOREA got our bags and walked out of the airport. Now was the hard part finding the bus that would take use to Chung-ju City. As we were getting are bearings a cute Korean girl walked up to Destiny and started talking to her, calling her by name. WHAT!!! Turns out that Destiny's Korean friends (Day-muk and Juang-ah) had asked her to meet us and help us get on the right bus. Koreans know how to be amazing friends. We easily made it to Chung-ju where Junag-ah and her coworker Alice meet us and took us out for dinner. It was amazing food and I gave up being a vegetarian. . . it was too hard in Korea. We got to sit on the heated floors and eat kimchi and beef. We were given thin slices of raw beef and rice wrapped in lettuce. You dipped the beef in a hot broth to cook it and then ate it as a wrap. It was amazing and I got compliments on my chopstick skill! Then they brought noodle and added it to the broth. I was stuffed but so happy.

Next Alice needed to go home to her family. We meet up with Destiny other friend Day-muk and he took up into the mountains (yes Destiny and I did giggle in the back of the car that for all we knew they were going to kill us) and showed us an amazing view of the city. We were also told that we would be spending the next day with Day-muk at the Korean Folk Village in Suwon. The evening was close to being done but not quite. . . up next NOR-E-BONG aka KARAOKE.

Karaoke was fun but I was fading fast. Destiny had a blast sing all the Korean music that she loves. Finally we made it to Juang-ah's apartment were I quickly fell asleep.