Happy Thanksgiving!

I have a lot to be thankful for! I am thankful for the wonderful family, friends and boyfriend that I have. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had to come to Korea and get to know my Korean culture and heritage. I had a wonderful day today.

Class went alright. We did a lot of speaking activities to practice using some of the grammar we've been learning in the past few days. Towards the end of class though, I think everyone was getting a bit overloaded because we were doing a listening activity and we were supposed to listen to a dialog and repeat what we heard and then all of a sudden no one was really saying anything. It was kind of funny and our teacher said "10 more minutes, fighting!"

After class, I went to Hongdae to meet Bohae (that is Mr. Kwon's wife's cousin's daughter--and Mr. Kwon is my "Chicago Korean father"). She had asked me earlier in the day if I liked spicy food-I replied that I can eat spicy food but I did not like seafood. Luckily I put that bit about not liking seafood in there too, because later she told me the restaurant she had chosen served little baby octopus!! She researched a restaurant and we walked around for maybe 10-15 minutes before we found it. We ordered a lunch set that had bulgogi and kimchi jjigae (stew). Bohae wouldn't let me pay for lunch. Then we were off to the Trick Eye Museum. It is an interactive museum with 3D paintings so you can kind of pose and look like you are in the artwork. It was a lot of fun. Again Bohae paid for the museum. After the museum, we went to a cafe was either modeled after or used as the set from a Korean drama that I loved. The drama is called "Bachelor's Vegetable Store". It was fun going to see the cafe-she looked at my textbook and we chatted in broken English and Korean. She said her family wanted to meet me, so I will be going to her home on Sunday. They also have already invited me to spend the night before I go back to the States and take me to the airport! She was so sweet and it was so nice to make a new friend. She texted me and told me that I should consider her as family.

I got to Hoegi Station and met Mark, then Brian and Brian's language helper--who's English name ALSO happens to be Amy! We went to a BBQ buffet restaurant near campus. The tables are set up like a normal BBQ restaurant with the grill in the middle of the table, but you can go pick the meat that you want (side dishes as well) and you take it back to your table and grill--as much as you want!! It is amazing! And it was only 11,000W! It was really strange not to have turkey and the other typical Thanksgiving fixings, but we managed to keep the gathering and being thankful tradition alive. :)

Upon arriving back to my room I started into my homework when I got a skype call from Amanda. I really haven't talked to Amanda since she left Korea (what? CRAZY! Especially since we 'talked'/hung out several times a week--and then were together 24/7 for 2 weeks---definitely experiencing a bit of Amanda withdrawal...) and we had a long chat. :)

My new friend--sister, Bohae and me at the Trick Eye Museum

Pulling Mr. Piggy

Having a sword fight

In front of the cafe!

My Korean Thanksgiving Dinner

Mark, Amy, Amy, Brian after dinner