Ok, so it's been what, three weeks (alright... more than a month, now... sorry!) since I've been here and two weeks since my last update? Sorry... Life has been bussssssssy. I haven't had any sort of control of my schedule. So, there's a lot to catch up here... But, hopefully I'll recap everything ok. I've felt kinda brain-dead, so, surprisingly, there hasn't been a whole lot to think about.
Ok, so the Sunday after I got here was church... Elder Kim, the head of the adoptees ministry at Dongan Church (Pastor Park's primary supporter here in Korea), had invited my family, Rebecca and CK's family to have lunch. He and a deacon from the church (he took the pic) all ate and talked about everything.
It was a happy reunion, and my mom talked a lot. She thanked Elder Kim tons for the ministry, and thanked Youngchai and CK for taking care of me for two weeks. It was good to see CK's family, again! Elder Kim and Youngchai were 'debating' over who knew that I liked Rebecca first... Hahaha... They were both so proud of it. I think Youngchai knew first, though. :)
Right after lunch, we split up and headed for church. My bro and I went with Rebecca to go to DEW (Dongan English Worship). It was really funny to be back... Felt almost like I never left.
(My brother is watching me blog and is whining that I should Photoshop his pics... Hahahahaha...)
Anyways... We got a big welcome, and all the DEW members who helped out with the KAMC trip gave me and my bro a big welcome. And it was soooooo nice to be in church with Rebecca as a couple. After service, we went to fellowship.
Since it was Seollal (설날, Lunar New Year) the next day, we played a traditional Korean game at fellowship, Yut Nori. If you paid close attention to this blog, we played this game in Jeonju. Here's Rebecca tossing the sticks... Our team ended up dead last. :P Haha... Oh well. My bro felt pretty uncomfortable... Too much English. :P He said he felt like he went to a foreign country. He liked the music, though. Said it was more interesting than Korean services... Sometimes my mom drags him to church, but he doesn't go regularly. Praying for him...
But, after fellowship, it was date night, again... Hehe... Bro drove Rebecca and I around again. We came home and ate first, then decided we were gonna watch a movie.
Umma's rakbukki... Mmmmm... :)
We were gonna go see a drive-in movie. We drove to a couple, but none had movies we wanted to watch (we were looking for MI:4). We ended up just going to a regular theater. We bought tickets and walked around to kill time before the movie.
Bro and I playing on iPad 2s... Someone left me a little love note on the one I was on... :)
My bro and I got beers at a convenience store and we went to the arcade to finish killing time. Then we went and watched 'We Bought a Zoo'... It was cute. First movie with my bro and my gf... And first time drinking beer in a theater. Haha... It was late after, so we took Rebecca back home, then came back home ourselves. *sigh* Things were so surreal then... Still couldn't believe I was here in Korea, and able to spend time with my girlfriend. My bro had been a really great sport about it. He didn't mind being a third wheel... He was saying how he wanted to help me out since I don't know Korea, and he knows a lot of 'spots' to take girls (don't ask me why :P ). He was also saying how he was genuinely happy for Rebecca and I. Every time we were done hanging out, though, he went for a smoke. :P Haha...
When we got home, I was fooling around on the computer and ended up showing my brother some pictures of my car and stuff I had done to it. Eventually, mom came in and started showing me her photo albums of pics when she was younger, and then my brother showed his photo album of him growing up... Both got pretty emotional, eventually. Now that they were with me, they realized there was always someone missing in all of the pictures... As the pictures progressed and my brother got older in them, they were both thinking how I was growing up somewhere else. I didn't really know how to comfort them... I don't know. I felt bad, but they were grieving for me, I guess. I really had no idea what to do. We were up late sharing photos (3am?) and then mom decided to make kimchi bokeumbap (kimchi fried rice). We ended up going to bed at 4am...
The next day was the biggest holiday in Korea: Seollal/Seol-nal/Lunar New Year's/설날. It's a big family day... Everyone goes and spends time with their extended family and... eats. Eats, eats, eats. :P Our family was no exception...
There's a little ceremony with some complicated rules. Here's our little setup... Nobody really explained the rules to me, though. :P
We did it right in our 'kitchen' area... The guy on the left is my stepfather's son. He spoke pretty decent English... But, he didn't really speak a lot. We all got dressed for the ceremony.
Bowing... You always bow to your parents. Here, my bro, stepfather and stepbrother are bowing to a name card w/my father's name on it. This is a big cultural-religious conflict between Korean tradition and Christianity... The gist of it is that the Christians consider the bowing to deceased relatives 'ancestor worship,' but it's a long-standing Korean tradition, so it's a bit of a hot topic. My mom was well aware of it, and she didn't bow and didn't make me bow, either. We just prayed.
After, though, we bowed to my mom and my stepfather. The bow was a bit different than the one we learned last summer in Jeonju... Not sure why. But, we got envelopes, as traditional. :) (Envelopes in Asian culture always means money!)
Then... Time to eat! Kalbi and dukguk...
After eating, it was time for my umma, hyung and I to go visit our relatives... I'm assuming my stepfather went to go visit his relatives, or kids. I was going to go see my halmoni (grandmother). She is my father's mother. Umm.... Yeah. I not only have an immediate family, but I have an extended family, too. Wow. Some reason, I never thought about that before. She lived about an hour away, but we got there without too much problem (traffic is usually pretty terrible on New Year's because everyone is going out to see their relatives - they even have a term for the holiday stress). Anyways, as soon as I stepped in the door, my halmoni started crying. As you know, I look a heck of a lot like my father did. So... seeing me was quite something for her. My dad has an older and a younger brother, too, and they were there with their wives and the younger one had kids. Nobody spoke any English at all... It was pretty tough. But, periodically (and frequently), I would see one of them just staring at me. My mom was beaming and busy showing me off. I didn't have to know Korean to know she was bragging about me... And also that they were kinda picking on my poor bro (Asian parents always, always compare... kind of a bad thing, but it's commonplace). We went through all the physical comparisons of my mom and I again, and my halmoni showed me a few pictures she had. The one above is my parents' wedding (obviously).
Pic of my dad in his hometown, which is on the water (being Captain Obvious, aren't I?)...
At one point, halmoni was looking right at me, saying something... I kinda figured it was important, so I called up Rebecca to translate. She said that she had no idea that I was given up. She came to visit one day, and there was just an empty crib. She felt so sorry for me, and said that she would have raised me, and she's sorry that I grew up in a bad family. Things REALLY could have been a lot different in my life... Anyways, I told her that I don't blame anyone, and God did things the way He wanted for my own good. Then... We ate again. :P
We spent a bit more time there, and then came home. Coming home meant a lot of traffic... But, my bro was anxious to do something, and we needed to get Rebecca's car back to her (she left it the other night b/c she was too tired to drive back)... So, I got to see Rebecca for a little bit... Just an hour or so, but it was sweet...
We just hung out at a coffee shop... Pic courtesy of my bro's Galaxy S II. Coffee shops will be getting a lot of our money while I'm staying here. :P It's funny... The last two times we got coffee, both my bro and I coincidentally ordered cafe mochas... This time, we both ended up ordering double-chocolate lattes. It was... pretty strange. The little things... Can't say taste in coffee is in your DNA, but obviously can't say it's all environmental. The more time I spend with my family, the more things I see are exactly the same... Some things are exactly opposite, as you'll see later, but it's really strange being around people with some of the same bits of my personality and taste. Pic looks pretty dreamy, huh? Well, it felt just like it looked... Still couldn't believe.
Tuesday... Tuesday was 'Hyewon meeting'... I think mom thought we were just gonna go on one big date, but we were gonna meet up with Silvia, our friend and the other translator from the DMZ day last summer. Rebecca picked me up, and we got to spend some alone-time in a Starbucks' lower-level library (most coffee shops here are multi-level). Silvia met up with us and we went to go eat something.
We went out for dak galbi... And Silvia's posing with some mul (water), waiting for the food to cook...
Tasty, tasty... The duk is actually filled with cheese! Mmm....
...And Silvia's posing with big serving spoon...
:) Somebody was acting REALLY giddy that day... She was making a lot of fun of me. :P * sigh * It was only a matter of time... Anyways, after eating, we said goodbye to Silvia (she treated us!) and Rebecca took me home.
The next day, the holidays were over... But, our family still had some stuff to do. First thing was to visit my father's tomb...
Korean graveyards/tombs are all up in the mountains. So, we went up the country side to the site where my father's grave was. We updated the floral-surrounding around his portrait...
2001-02-17... I was in my sophomore year of high school, still on the Eastern Shore. Things were getting ugly in my house... My adoptive mother was being more and more difficult to live with, and I was always hiding in my room, and just hung out with friends whenever I could. I was already dealing with depression then, only then, I didn't know what it was, or why I felt that way. Still, I was telling myself everything was normal.
After figuring out how to mount that floral surrounding, mom and I prayed... Not too long after, she was crying really hard... My bro walked off and cried, too. I didn't know what to do, or how to feel. All I have of my dad is this picture... I don't have anything to miss. I only know him through what my mom tells me is the same in me. I really had no idea what to do... My brother lost his father while he was still growing up. My mom lost her love... She said he was always good to her. He never looked at other women, and he loved her so much all the way to the end. Mom wanted to take a picture... Obviously, it wasn't a very happy moment.
(Bro isn't very happy about me posting this pic... :P )
Well... I didn't cry or anything, but after we left, I was pretty deep in thought, thinking about my 'fathers'... I never really had a father figure in my life. I thought about the letter I wrote to my adoptive father... It took me a while to sort that out, but he was just a coward doing what he could to just ease his conscious. I considered him as my 'father,' but never really let him have a father-role in my life. My stepfather might have been closer to that, if anything. I at least looked up to him a little, but he had no interest in me, and was pretty much only there to hit/yell at me when I misbehaved, or in the end, if I just disagreed with my adoptive mother. It sounds like my birth father was a good father... But, I never got to experience that. I, though, vow to be the best father I can be... I will be involved in my kids' lives, and I will strive to be a friend, teacher, counselor and leader to them.
We ate McDonalds afterwards... It was pretty much the same as in the US, with a couple small differences on the menu. I finally got my bulgolgi burger. It was... McDonalds. :P Anyways... We went home, and I got to see Rebecca for a bit later. It started snowing, and my bro and I ended up driving her car back to her apartment, and we took a taxi back home. Definitely winter... And unlike the US, Seoul isn't very good about cleaning up the roads. :\
Aaaaaaand... The next day, things started to go downhill a bit. I mean, things can only seem perfect and dreamy for so long, right? I woke up to news of Rebecca getting in a car accident because of the snow. Damage to her car wasn't too bad... Just a fender bender. She seemed physically ok, but was pretty shaken up. She went off to work...
Meanwhile, my family went off to go get some stuff for my bro...
I thought we were just going down the street or something, but we went waaaaaay out there... :S
This was all for my bro's 'pets'...
Yep. :P 'Pets.'
Quite pretty out here, though...
Hedgehogs! So cute!
My bro looking at his new purchase...
:P How do you go about getting an interest in having pets like these?
Some don't quite make it to be pets, I guess. :P
Umma and some chickens...
개고기? Hehe... No, no... These are pets...
The lady was nice and opened up the little museum for us to look at... Can you imagine these things flying at you at night? :S
That... is a SPIDER. It's larger than it looks. :S
Flying gekko-thingies.
They have these here? I guess so. :S
After, we went to go eat... Check out this restaurant! Restaurants in the US don't go through this kind of effort to make environments like this (I know, b/c my housemate watches nothing but the Food Network on TV).
Definitely quite a place...
Out back, there's a little park, and some pretty scenery.
Shot by my mom...
She made me sit on the seesaw. :P
Korean swing... I really don't understand why you just don't sit on it. :P
Back inside, our food was cooking... :)
A different type of dak galbi (I guess?) and in the middle, duck... Sooooo tasty. :)
I was having a lot of fun with my family... Just being with them. It's a really new feeling for me... Enjoying being with my family. Sooooo different from how things used to be... But, things were kind of bittersweet, though, b/c Rebecca started to feel a lot of pain from the accident. You know, adrenaline keeps you from feeling any pain for a while... But, her neck, back and shoulder all stiffened up really bad. I wished she were with us, too...
Next day... Started to feel the language/communication barrier a bit more strongly. Up to now, we had done ok with body language and Google Translate, and calling Rebecca if things got really frustrating. But, I haven't really needed anything, and I didn't really need to ask questions or anything. I was starting to get a little frustrated at never knowing what was going on, or what I was supposed to be doing... And if you know me, I'm a planner, control freak and super independent. Patience is one thing, but anxiety is another. Anyways, Rebecca was on her way to the hospital to get checked out, and I asked my bro what we were going to do for the day. He just said 'Gangwon-do.' :S Ok... Well, I grab my bag and head to the car, then my bro asks me if I brought 'panties' (doesn't know the word 'boxers')... Guess we're staying overnight? And I had no idea where Gangwon-do was, except that it was my father's hometown. I also thought we were going on Saturday. :S
Anyways... We were off. Of course, the whole time I was worrying about Rebecca, and I had no idea what was going on, so though this should have been a care-free trip, I was pretty stressed out. It's hard to relinquish control when you've pretty much lived on your own for 10 years... :\ Anyways... More on that later.
So, our first stop was at some premium outlets. I didn't take pics (probably shoulda)... But, they definitely were 'premium'... Gucci, Armani, Coach, Burberry and some other scary-expensive shops were on the first level... :S Walking up to the upper level had some more common shops, like Guess, Nike, even Vans, and some other Korean shops (maybe Euro, too?) that I didn't recognize.
But, it was shopping time for my bro and I... Mom wanted to treat us to some new threads.
First stop was Nike... This is my bro's dilemma for the day... (I wasn't supposed to take this picture. :P ) He ended up going w/the pair with pink laces. :P We have COMPLETELY opposite taste in shoes! Every time he picked up a pair for me to try, I was appalled... Every time I suggested one for him, I got the same reaction from him. :P Quite funny. I ended up not getting any shoes for myself (I'm too picky. :P )
Later, though, we went to Guess, where I picked out a pair of jeans... Most expensive pair of pants I've ever owned in my life... Then went to a couple other stores, and I picked out a shirt from A|X... Again, most expensive shirt I've ever owned in my life. (Most expensive sweater goes to the one Rebecca got me for my b-day...) :S Gotta say, I usually don't dress nicely b/c I don't prioritize clothing in my budgeting for stuff (I would rather buy toys/tools)... But, I can certainly appreciate having nice clothes. Mom bought them like they were nothing... The whole ordeal seemed pretty normal to my bro. :S Definitely quite different from what I grew up with and how I usually think... I felt kinda guilty getting these clothes, but it felt pretty good at the same time. My mom was happy to buy them for me...
Still looked like Christmas here... Have to say this was pretty fun.
After shopping, we finished our journey to Gangwon-do. There, we met my mom's uncle. He drove an A6. :P Nice to get a ride in a German car... Anyways, anyways... It was really late when we got there, and we went out to get some sashimi, since Gangwon-do is supposed to be the best place in Korea to get it. It's famous for its fish, I suppose. But, the place was closed, so we ended up getting hanu at another restaurant. Hanu is Korean domestic beef... It doesn't go through the importing process, so it's fresh, and it's expensive... and it's MAD tasty. I was too excited about eating to remember to take a pic. Sorry. :P
Anyways... After eating, we went to a jjimjilbang (찜질방). So, a jjimjilbang is a big... uhh... it's like, a kind of spa-resort. It's large, and multi-leveled. When you go, you pay (to enter) and check in at the front counter. They give you a key for a locker, in which you put your shoes... Then you go into the locker room, which there is another counter/clerk, and you give them that key, and then they give you a water-proof key on a wristband for yet another locker. Then they give you a shirt and shorts to wear (all guys wear blue, all ladies in pink), and you put everything you own into the other locker and change into the provided clothes. From there, you can do whatever relaxing activity is around... So, after we checked in, my bro took off somewhere (to go meet friends) and my mom and I walked around. They have two main levels... both with sleeping mats all over the place. A lot of people were passed out already (like I said, it was late), and they had a big TV for some ppl to watch. Lots of people were there with their families, and there were some teenage-groups all just hanging out. Not just girls, either... Some were groups of just dudes, chilling. We walked around the sleeping areas and scouted out a nice place to camp out. Then we went over to the sauna rooms... They had several. Each one had a big digital temperature display posted above the door. They had a big range... some were as low as 35deg C... Some were like, 76deg C. Mom and I went into one of the medium temp ones and sat for a little. She taught me the Korean for arm, foot, finger, etc. After we were both sweating, we went out for a bit and walked around a little more. We went up to the big snack counter, where they had everything... You could get a real meal, or just a snack. We got some ice cream in a pouch that you kind of drink (nothing like that in America). It was frozen solid, so we went into a sauna to let it melt a little. We went into this one room... It was pretty intimidating from the outside. It had a door that looked like an oven, or an incinerator or something... No temperature display. Inside was just as intimidating... Thing was all ceramic (clay? something like that) and had concentric rings making up the dome... It really looked like an oven on the inside, too. And it was an oven... So hot, the bottoms of my feet were burning, so I had to sit w/my feet off the ground. We sat and chatted for a brief while (someone else was meditating when we came in, then left)... When our ice cream was melted enough, we went out. We were quite sweaty, just after a few minutes. We went to our spot and mom had some fruit from somewhere (brought it from home?). I got sleepy and pretty much passed out. At some point, my bro caught up with us, and he spent some time in the sauna w/mom.
I woke up early the next morning (still jet-lagged), and meandered around a bit. It was quite peaceful... But, then everyone started waking up, and I walked back to our little camp-out spot. Mom had me bother hyung until he woke up. :P Anyways... And then... It was time for the part of the jjimjilbang that I was afraid of..... The public shower-part. :P Hyung and I walked back to the second locker and... yeah. Stripped butt-naked and put our clothes in the locker, and grabbed our toothbrushes/toothpaste/soap/shampoo. * sigh * So, my bro and I are naked. He gets his brotherly-shower after all. :P I mean... It's not like I have anything to be ashamed of, but this is so........ not... American.......... * sigh * We marched off into the public bathing area... The whole area was tiled, and super-steamy. There were several different sections... In the center was a big pool-looking thing (I'm guessing just an enormous hot-tub) where you could soak. We walked past that. Yeah, there were naked dudes everywhere. But you know what? The awkwardness of being naked faded pretty quickly. Everyone just goes about their business, so being awkward about it just makes you the awkward one. Well. Almost. :P So, we went off to this one shower area... It was just showers, like normal. We soaked for a little... Just a pre-rinse, I guess. Then walked off again. There was a separate sauna area here, too... So, my bro and I went into one room and just stood there until we were sweating. Just kinda stood there. Naked. Ok... So, this bit was kinda awkward. :P Anyways... After a while, we went out to another shower-area. This one had little stools you sat on in front of individual shower heads (just like the Japanese showers, if you've seen them in movies, except there was a row of them). So we soaked again, and then my bro took out this little scrubby cloth he got from the counter earlier. I sat, and he started scrubbing my back......... And holy crap!! The dead skin that came off was like, all over the place! I mean... I usually scrub pretty hard when I shower (OCD, ok??), so I was shocked to see that much dead skin come off... He finished my back, and then we both scrubbed our whole bodies down w/those little cloth things. Sooooo much dead skin came off. Wow. Then I scrubbed down his back... Then we showered like normal w/soap and shampoo and stuff, then sat and brushed our teeth. After we were done, we walked back to a 'drying area' and saw a whole bunch of military guys roll in. I guess this is a kind of treat for them or something. We dried, went back to our lockers, got dressed... came back out and my bro fixed his hair for like, 10 minutes. We bought some banana milk and went out to meet my mom. I gotta say...... I felt pretttttttty refreshed and clean. I had a headache and stuff before from all the jetlag, irregular sleeping habits, traveling and whatevers... It was gone. I just felt pretty good, physically.
So, all cleaned up, we hopped in the car and drove back to my mom's uncle's. There were more family members here, including my mom's sister. They are really different... My mom is obviously the stronger, more aggressive personality of the two. We ate hwedupbab... It's shredded sashimi, radish, pepper paste and some other stuff all mixed together. So amazing! Tasty and refreshing... So much so, I forgot to take pics, again. :P Fail!!
Anyways... I called Rebecca..... Turns out she went to the hospital last night, and they decided to hold her until next week! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh... Anyways... I was supposed to be out here, having fun and enjoying my family, but blah. This kind of thing pulls you in two directions, and you could probably guess which one I was thinking about all day. :\
* sigh *
So, while my mom caught up with everyone, I walked around outside and took some photos w/my bro.
My mom's little Kia Morning, and the first German car I've been in here. C5... But, in pretty good shape for its age. Made me miss my car a bit...
So, after a while, my mom and bro took me sight-seeing....
There were some war-relics around, still... Some sights familiar to the ones we saw when we visited the DMZ last summer.
Yes, that's a cruise ship behind me. Yes, it's on land. Actually, it's on a cliff. How, and why... I dunno. But, I bet you there are restaurants inside...
Momma...
Not entirely sure what this place was, but it was pretty touristy.
Giant hour-glass.... Yes, it's actually functional. They flip it once a year or something like that.
So, after the little tour, we drove back to mom's uncle's and said our goodbye's... We'll be coming back here later, in the spring. We headed back home, but first, we met up with mom's friend. What'd we do? Go out to eat. Naturally. I mean... we literally just ate three hours prior. :S
The food was good, though... That right there, is one of my favorite pan-chans. It's raw crab covered in a sweet, hot pepper paste. Mom bought a whole bunch of it for home... Even if it weren't for the crab, the pepper paste is amazing. It's not just gochujjang; it's spicier and sweeter, and I really like it...
My mom, her friend, her daughter and my bro...
After eating, we went back to my mom's friend's... uhh... shop? I'm not sure what it was. It kind looked like she lived there, but at the same time, it looked like she was running a business out of it. Anyways... They chatted for a long time, talked about me and Korean lessons and this and that. They go back a long way... When my mom was showing me photos earlier, this was her best friend in some of the pictures.
After all the chatting, mom and her friend exchanged some groceries, said their goodbyes and it was then the long drive back home. Once we got back, my bro and I visited Rebecca in the hospital (well, actually he waited outside for us, and had a smoke or three.... what a guy). We went home after and passed out...
The next day was Sunday... Went to church, and after, I went with Silvia to visit Rebecca in the hospital, again. Silvia had to go after not too long, and Rebecca and I went to get something to eat. After we finished, a few church friends caught up with us to say 'hi' to Rebecca and make sure she was alright. So friendly! But, everything was fine... Her shoulder, neck and back were still kinda achy, but she got some acupuncture and massages (the hospital here does both Western and Eastern medicine). Still, they wanted to hold her for quite a bit longer...
Cute, even though we were in a hospital... We had some picturesque moments that looked like they were from a K-drama. Some ppl were staring. :P
After everyone went home, we stayed and chatted a bit more... Then I went home.
Well.... After this point... I can't really photo-blog much anymore, mostly b/c life has sorta settled into 'everyday life' here and I haven't been going out and taking tons of pics, etc. Unfortunately, I can no longer be 100% open about everything like I have been previously, because this isn't just my story now... So, I think I might focus more on just some thoughts or subjects or something. We'll see. Well, just wait for the book to come out. :) I'll post here and there... Just don't wonder what's going on if you hear rumors or see Facebook statuses change or whatever.
Anyways, anyways... as for the rest of this post... Just some random stuff.
So, I got food poisoning not too long later... My stomach was pretty upset and just ached for a long time. One of the comfort foods I wanted to eat was jjajangmyun, because it's pretty easy on the stomach. So, we went to a Chinese restaurant (unlike the US, Chinese restaurants here serve Korean-Chinese food). This pic is of... probably the best tang-soo-yook I've ever had. Then again, it's always super tasty... So long as it's hot. Haha...
...And the jjajangmyun. It didn't disappoint. :)
I wasn't able to bring a guitar over with me (stupid tuning machine broke), so I decided I was going to buy one here. We went to the same guitar gallery near Insadong that I went to last summer... Looked around for a while. I played a handful of different guitars before settling on one. And here it is... I broke a lot of my own rules for guitar-buying in purchasing this one, but it was really the best and cheapest acceptable guitar I could get here. Guitar is a REALLY expensive hobby here! The stupid import tax is ridiculously high... For some really mediocre American-made guitars, they charge about twice the price. That goes for amps, too... Dinky little solid-state crappy amps cost an arm and a leg. The only fair prices on anything are on Korean-made instruments. That includes Epiphone - which seem to be nicer here than the ones imported to the US. I kinda had a crush on an Epi Les Paul Custom in white... Ahh...
I got a haircut here, too... Went to the place my bro goes to. Something like $30 for a cut! The place was really trendy and seemed really professional. My bro kept talking to the barber/stylist... Anyways, this is how the cut came out a day later... I styled it more of the way that I wanted, but he had it looking pretty different right after it was cut. Right after we got out of the barber shop, we went to go get some professional photos taken of me for my visa.
Soooo... One of the things that I wanted to eat here was bundaegi (번데기)... Silk worm pupae. Mom went out and bought some... And I put them on my pizza. :P Haha... They're... good... but, not exactly great. They kinda taste like... paper, or something.
A while later, we got my pro-photos back and printed... Mom got some passport-sized prints, a keychain and this one. Guess that's how I'd look w/perfect skin. * sigh * Maybe I'll look that good someday... :P Yeah, in Korea, they Photoshop and touch up all official-use photos. Makes sense, though, right? Better than everyone hating their driver's license pictures. :P My US passport photo makes me look like a grungy criminal in comparison.
Got a new phone here... Yeah, I had it before it came out in the US (model no. SHV-E160S for those who care). :) Unfortunately, I never got phone service for it... But, it's proven to be uber-useful with GPS, a permanent Korean-English dictionary and some other bonuses for being the South Korean version.
:D
And... Well, that's all for now. I'll update again, soon... I think a lot of you know about what. :)
