The final weekend in Korea

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Friday
An interesting and slow day for us in Seoul. Mike and I spent the day at the Seoul museum of modern art. While we were there, I saw my first Van Gogh, Monet, and Renoir paintings. It really got me excited for the Europe leg of our trip! After we went and looked around outside the museum. Since it was a school day, there were about a million little kids running around the museum and they all had on different colors of shirts so that their teachers could identify which kids were in their class at the museum. It was a riot to watch them herd these kids around from painting to painting because the children did not want to have anything to do with the paintings. I loved this museum and had a blast getting lost with all of the paintings. After we were done there, Mike and I went to Pizza hut for lunch. Our pizza was really good because in the crust there was sweet potato's as well as cheese. We then went back to Corey's to prepare for the nights festivities. Once at home, I realized I did not pack any shoes for dressing up what so ever, so Mike and I went to the COEx mall to shop. A word to the wise, Asians have tiny feet, I have extremely large feet! This combination was hilarious and a challenge to shop. I went to several places with no luck, one place actually told me that I would not find any shoes here because my feet were just to big! I finally went to this little shoe store on our way out. The Salesman was very helpful and was up for the challenge. An hour later we finally found the shoe that fit (sorta) and with his clapping and cheering, Mike and I actually got the two thumbs up from him, I have a pair of heels for my trip. It was a riot to watch the wheels turn in his head as to what shoe to bring out next for me. I am convinced I bought the largest shoe that he had in the store, but the experience will never be forgotten. Corey finished work on Friday, so a bunch of his guy friends, and myself all went out to celebrate. Corey, Mike, and I went first to a Korean bbq place that was awesome. We got to cook our own meat on this little grill in front of us and added all the little Korean trimmings to the meat and then rolled them all together in pieces of lettuce. We went out after in a district of Seoul that was pretty rowdy but we had a blast. We also made friends with some Germans that were in Korea teaching as well, so it was neat to be out and about in the city that does not sleep.
Saturday
Mike and I went to see a friend of mine that I have not seen in 9 years. We met up with Tony and Missy (his wife) at the Bennigans next to Seoul Station. Our lunch took 4 hours because we got lost in conversation and catching up, so much so that at times we didn't order when we probably should have. It was a great afternoon and I enjoyed connecting with a long lost friend. He is in the military and stationed in Korea for one year so that is how we bumped in to each other. After this experience Mike and I headed back to Corey's apartment or home as we refer to it, and rested before Corey met up with us. For dinner we went to a live squid restaurant. A phenomenal experience to say the very least, I did eat a live squid, or at least part of it. One would think that it was really gross and nasty watching this animal squirming around and eye balling you, or that it would suction itself to the plate so that you could not grab it with chop sticks all that well. But really, the squid was actually not that bad. I prefer it with a lot of garlic, but it wasn't that bad once you get past the tentacles tickling your tongue, or the rest of it suctioning itself to your teeth. I am very glad that I tried it. It def. made everything else that I have never wanted to eat seem not that bad 😊 . When dinner was done, Corey's girlfriend wanted a Brownie so we went to Bennigans for that. I know it was Bennigans take two, but trust me it was worth the Brownie. It was also worth watching Corey's tiny tiny girlfriend eat the brownie in about 10 seconds. Literally I was impressed! When we finished dessert we bought tickets to see the movie stardust. Corey and his girlfriend watch so many movies that they have VIP status at the movie theater so our tickets were cheaper and they were bought in a different part of the movie complex. We had some time to wait for the movie so Corey took us to the Montana bar down the street. He used to live by this place so we had to see it up close. Saturday was a very long day, but it was a day full of many memories.
Sunday
We slept in a little and then headed to some islands close to the Incheon airport. Our goal for the day was to hit up as many islands as we could, and then get our ferry tickets for the Wed. departure to China. We boarded the subway at 11 and got to the islands around 1. We caught a cab to the ferry station, and low and behold it was closed. The door was open, but there was not a soul in sight. To make the trip worth while, we headed to the nearest McDonald's and tasted the hot fries that we have been hearing so much about. Trust me, they were worth it. We then caught another cab to the other ferry terminal so that we could island hop for the rest of the day. I felt like I was in a world crossed between Seattle and San Fransisco in Incheon. There were so many ferries and differences in cultures, which is why it looked a lot like Seattle and San Fran. The ferries were very nice and quick jetting back and forth between the islands. It was amusing to watch people trying to feed the seagulls when we were on the ferries, because the seagulls would at times, attack the people on deck because for more food. One man was even watching the birds and one dive bombed him and almost took off a finger. It was pretty funny! We got the the big island with no problems. Corey read in a book that we needed to take the 222 bus to get to the smaller island ferry terminal. It said the ride would be 15 min. It ended up being 1 hour and 15 min! But we did get to drive around the airport and that was neat to see all the different planes. Once at the other terminal we jetted across to the small island where a lot of Korean movies are shot. We hiked around this island for a bit and hit up a small beach. On this beach there was a vineyard that had amazing wine, and it also had a small land bridge that could be visible twice a day as the tides reseeded. We sat at one of the small restaurants and ate some amazing clam soup, drank some wine and watching the bridge become visible. This was the first time that we have been to a place were no one could speak any English! Corey's Korean was not bad because we had a great meal. Once we finished, Mike ran across to the next island and took several pics. Corey and I hung back and watched Mike race across. It was gorgeous watching all the families slowly make their way across to the next island. Once Mike came back, we started our journey back to the apartment. A trip that should have taken us 2 hours ended up taking 4 hours instead! Some highlights, We watched some drunks get into a brawl on the subway. Fun, crazy, not scary more humorous. I wished I understood Korean because it was funny watching the brawl! People would get on the subway and immediately get off or they would walk to a different car because they did not want to e around all the ruckus. It was funny! We also had a corn dog that had fries in the batter. It was very tasty and would go over really well at the next fair in Sidney. One other highlight was that we had a late night snack and I had my first fried chicken experience in Korea. We had to eat it with two forks, which was a challenge at first but now I can't imagine eating it any other way.
Monday
I was pooped from the weekend activities so Mike and I hung out at home and packed our bags. We also did some laundry and ate a rather tiny lunch. We are going to the DMZ tomorrow, and there is a dress code that we both had to go get something a little nicer to wear. Other than that we are going to China via ferry on Wednesday.

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