A Day of Surprises

I headed out to Gangnam a little before noon. I thought I would experiment with how to get there. It took me forever! I arrived at Gangnam and did some shopping in the underground area. A new subway line has been added and you can transfer at that station, so there was additional shops in the area. I went above ground and went to the store (chain) I had looked at for my winter coat. I reevaluated and am slightly concerned about the thickness of the jacket and if it will be warm enough for winter...(more on that later)

I was walking through some shops and thought to check the time on my phone. I realized Ginger (adoptee friend from the beginning of the trip) had sent me a text. She and I had talked earlier; she was visiting Seoul just for Thursday, but it turns out she stayed longer and was available to meet--and she was in Gangnam. Then she tells me "come to exit 10, we are meeting Jihye NOW!" I knew Jihye would be in Seoul, but she had told me she had too many appointments to make and wouldn't be able to see me. So, I ran to exit 10 of the subway station and was greeted by Jihye, Ginger and Ginger's friend Erica and her...foster son In Sung. What a wonderful surprise to be able to see Jihye today. :)

We went to Erica's home for a bit and visited there. Jihye had to leave around 4 to meet some other friends, so we all took off. Ginger and I went with Jihye to the same coffee shop; but we let her visit alone with her other friends. A little after 5, my friend Katie contacted me for us to meet up. So I said bye to Jihye and Ginger and met Katie. I told her of my mission to find a winter coat, so she went to the store with me to look at the coat. I was asking her if she thought heavier coats will be coming out or not. She wasn't sure, but said she could take me to another area to look at more jackets later. After doing some window-shopping, she and I went to Tom n Tom's to chat and catch up. We did not have a lot of time because she was late and then had other plans in the evening. 

After she and I split, I went to Sinchon area. There was another free K-Pop Concert! I got off one stop before the 'performance place' was because I had looked up a restaurant and was hopping to try it. Unfortunately, the place was closed. :( I then hustled over to where the K-Pop Concert was being held-except I wasn't sure which way I was supposed to go and basically walked down every street (there are 8 exits, but 2 per one road, so I went down a total of 4 different streets) and made it just as it was starting. I met Brian and another one of his classmates. The concert....was almost the exact same as the last one. It featured the same musicians (except one group was not there) and they even performed some of the same songs.

Jihye with Erica and her foster son, In Sung

Jihye and me--surprise meeting!

Amanda's "boyfriend" from the last performance.