Soju Cocktails in Party Mode

Last night, KK, Tadhg, Jiyoung, Becky and I tried to go to Dr. Fish in Sinchon. Alas, Dr. Fish is no longer there. As a slightly less healthy alternative, we chose soju cocktails. We went back to a place I had been once before where the soju cocktails come served in the shell of the fruit. 

We started with pineapple.

Then I put my camera in party mode and the fun began.

KK and Tadhg: Party Mode

Jiyoung: Party Mode

Becky: Party Mode

Tadhg: Creeper at the Party Mode

Obvs. Party Mode

Then we switched to watermelon!

Tadhg Still Being the Creeper at the Party Mode

Eventually, KK and Tadhg responsibly went home and Nick irresponsibly  joined.

Nick: Party Mode

Becky: Party Mode

Trying to Stay in Party Mode

Probably Over This Party Mode

Eventually, it was time to go home, especially since today was hanbok day at school, and no one looks worse in hanbok than English teachers who have irresponsibly drunk too many soju cocktails.

PS: I made it to the next round for Fulbright!!!!!

조개구이/Hello Kitty Cafe

Last week when I met with Jaeyeon, we spent a while trying to think of Korean foods that I should try but haven't yet. We came up with a short list, almost all of which centered on seafood. I've always been pretty scared of things in shells but have been gradually getting braver. So last night, we met in Hongdae and she took me out for 조개구이 or grilled clams. We ended up getting the two person mixed seafood platter. If you come in a group of three or more, you get free refills on anything you want, but I can't imagine being able to eat more than we got.

The meal started out with a pot of soondubu, spicy soft tofu soup. Mmmm.

Then came the giant platter of scary food in seashells. In Korean there is a name for each of them, and chances are good there is in English, too, but the only ones I could really pick out were the oysters and the shrimp or maybe they were prawns.

Look how brave I've gotten Mom!!!

We threw them all on the grill.

Jaeyeon was an expert chef.

The shrimp guys were delicious but really hard to eat.

After dinner, we headed to the Hello Kitty Cafe, which has been on my Korean Bucket Lsit for forever. It's so overwhelmingly cute on the outside.

And even more so on the inside. Scary.

The cakes were too adorable not to eat, even though we were both way too full from dinner. And all of the coffees/teas came with little Hello Kitties on top!

So cute.

My flannel didn't really fit in.

We didn't get much studying done. Oops.

Ughghhghg. So much cuteness.

Even the bathroom was cute!

Myspace photo shoot!!!!

i'm not tech savvy enough for blackouts but...

This will tell you more about why I wish I knew how:

https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech

Incheon China Town

Now that my time in Korea is almost up, I've decided I should start trying to use my weekends more wisely than I have been lately. So, on Saturday, Becky and I rallied the troops and made the miserable Line 1 journey to Incheon to visit Korea's largest China Town. I've heard from most people that China Town is just a tourist trap, so I put my camera around my neck and embraced my inner tourist.

This "Welcome to Incheon" sign was not particularly welcoming, but we posed anyway.

We crossed the street and headed up into China Town. This dragon was guarding China Town's dumpsters.

There were predictably an almost unlimited number of things to pose with and take photographs.

Korean passerby have a strange tendency, when asked to take a picture for you, to capture all of the members of the group, but not the object you were obviously trying to take a picture in front of. Peculiar.

Pandas!

It was pretty cold, so we stopped at a (very adorable) coffee shop to enjoy some bubble tea and take way too many not quite artsy photographs of ourselves like our neighbors were doing. Everything must be documented.

Asia! Dragons!?!

Walking into the China Town sunset.

Eating lamb skewers. Mmmm.

Queen Becky on her faded cement throne.

Photo ops abounded.

Then we went to (one of several) China Restaurants for some food. I insisted on picking the most photographable one. And look, lanterns!

The restaurant actually did end up being pretty nice and not too expensive. And the food was excellent.

We always behave ourselves in public.

After we'd seen all of China Town we headed to the boardwalk area and found this absurdly neon carnival. I guess since everything here is already neon, there is a need to make carnivals even more gaudy than usual.

Then my friend Oscar called and offered me free tickets to the Seoul Electronic Music Festival. So Randall and I hopped in a cab from Incheon to The Middle of Nowhere for the concert. Which ended up being excellent fun, especially since all of the people in this crowd paid like a hundred dollars to go, and I didn't. Plus it was fun to see just how into Justice Korea is. 

This picture was taken on our way out. Koreans obviously have more endurance than I do.

All in all, an excellent weekend, and it made me pretty sad to be leaving. ㅠㅠ