Great News and Rainbow Bar in Gangnam

My mom and dad are coming to Korea this week! It's such a surprise!!!! They just called me and let me know that my dad has business in Seoul and they are both coming! I am beyond excited.

The best news is, I get to pick up my wedding dress with my mom. I cannot wait for her to see it - I've wanted her to be a part of the process so badly, and now she gets that chance.

I'm sad that my siblings can't come too, but it will still be beyond nice to see my mom and dad. Nick and I can't wait to show them around our home! They get here on Friday - I can hardly wait! It will sure be a busy time though...our other buddies come on Saturday next week. We'll just have to sacrifice sleeping to make time for everyone, haha...sigh.


Nader leaves tomorrow. We've had a lot of fun with him this week. Tonight we went to Gangnam to try out a few new places. We had dinner in Hwajung and then hopped onto the subway to ride it alllll the way down and across the river. Gangnam is near a lot of wealthy areas. It has a good crowd of people and lots of places to go and see. Rainbow Bar was our destination - a hippie bar with hookah and some super comfy pillows to rest on. Black lights and tapestries cluttered the ceilings. Prayer flags and old photographs from all over the world adorned the walls. It was a place that made me feel like I was back in San Francisco. They had lots of specialty drinks and I enjoyed their "Monkey Special" which was a banana rum drink. Yum. We checked out a few other places and then headed back at a respectable hour since Nader has an early flight tomorrow. It's been a lot of fun having him here, and we will miss him.

Top Cloud Bar and Jongno-2

Tonight Nick and I decided to show our friend the best Seoul has to offer. We had delicious bulgolgi at our favorite restaurant in Hwajung and then we caught a cab into the city with a friend from work. The four of us were dressed to impress and our destination was Top Cloud Bar, on the 33rd floor of Jongno Tower. Jongno Tower is an impressive feat of architecture - it reminds me of the Floating Building in Osaka that we saw last October. We rose up above the city and savored a fancy cocktail (well, us girls did, the boys had brandy) together while overlooking the cityscape of Seoul. Top Cloud had soaring ceilings with floor-to-ceiling windows. It was modern and big with curving walls that swooped around to show you breathtaking sights of our city. They had live music and some very expensive wares. We enjoyed our one drink there and had great conversation.


After a lovely drink at Top Cloud we failed to catch a cab to Hongdae, where we had wanted to go for Club Day. Since we had no choice and were stuck in the neighborhood for a while, we figured to make the most of it. Across from Jongno Tower was a pedestrian lined street with twinkle lighted trees and lots of places to see. We ended up visiting a few bars and clubs while getting a feel for the local flavor. We ended up at Table/Bar Santa Fe, an underground place with great music and a beer...buffet? Yes. The ceilings were low enough that we felt like giants and we made friends with some English speaking Koreans our age. It was a fun time had by all.

Another Delicious Dinner At The Tuna House

Oh Tuna. We love you.


After a very busy few days at work (tooold you) and a few very rowdy nights with our friend, we decided that no trip to Korea was complete without going to our favorite Tuna House in Hongdae. After work the three of us jumped into a cab and we ended up in a prime spot at the bar, being pampered by our three favorite chefs. On top of the plethora of sashimi, we received multiple peanut butter-pickle-tuna wraps, which we adore - don't knock 'em until you try 'em!! We also got our favorite blow-torch seared tuna and several plates of chopped bluefin with yellow tuna roe, wasabi, and chopped radish.


As always, we had a fantastic time and got lots of little perks - a few extra plates of fantastic tempura, clam soup, and random green kiwi soda drinks. It's cool, we'll take it all with love and smiles. Nick and I agree, this restaurant can do no wrong in our eyes. We love it and we will miss it dearly when we go. Our friend also had an amazing time and we were glad to show him a slice of our awesome lives in Korea.

Busy Busy Busy

Oh dear the next few weeks are going to be sooo busy. Our friend visiting from San Francisco comes tomorrow and work has been hectic. We have kindergarten report cards due again in a week and we have birthday parties and other busy-ness at work. Our school is holding speech contests and also we are going to have headquarters come and review our abilities by sitting in on our classes. ARRG. Too much to do and not enough time to sleep.

Today we worked out and cleaned our place in preparation for visitors. Then we had to embrace the weekend and we went to Taj Palace, our favorite Indian buffet with our buddy from work. We GORGED. We were in a food coma for the rest of the day. Now we are getting excited to see our friend and finishing one more load of laundry, haha.

The Lotus Lantern Festival

It was a gorgeous spring Sunday and we decided to celebrate Buddha's birthday with some friends at the Lotus Lantern Festival near Anguk in Seoul. It is a week-long festival, we even get Friday off work this week due to the celebrations.


The streets were dancing with vibrant colored lanterns bobbing in the slight wind. Foreigners and Koreans alike poured out onto the streets to partake in all the festivities. Monks smiled and sang and women adorned in traditional hanboks danced and swayed. We meandered around the Buddhist temple, listening to chanting and singing, our spirits merry.


We witnessed a few parades and concerts and I even got my face painted with beautiful blue and white flowers. We had such a fun time checking out all the booths and activities. They had all sorts of interesting foods, games, yoga and martial arts exhibits, and activity stations for kids and grownups alike.


Arts and craft booths were EVERYWHERE, and I had quite the field day stopping at as many as I could and trying out all the different techniques. I didn't want to make everyone wait for me so I passed on incense making, candle making, and soap making, but I stopped to paint our wishes on a wall, create a shell powder print, do some red and black calligraphy lotus flowers on spun paper, and also do a wood block painting. It was so nice to have so many opportunities to be artistic in one day, haha. Once again at the wood block painting station, several Koreans stopped to watch over my shoulder. Nick took some amazing shots of me painting.


We really enjoyed being in the middle of the swirling, happy crowd of people that pulsed along the lively streets on such a beautiful, sunny Sunday.

A Quick Wedding Dress Update

I went for my final fitting today, and my dress is AMAZING. It is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. The lady sitting on my left is the seamstress. She did a fantastic job. I love the picture my friend took of me when I saw it for the first time. I'm so excited!

Happy Teacher's Day!

We love our children. And today, they all showed us how much they love us!


Today was Teacher's Day, and Nick and I were bombarded with presents from all of our classes. It was so nice to get cards, flowers, gifts and handmade crafts from all of our kiddies. Some of their families were overwhelmingly generous. By the end of the day our desks were overflowing with presents! We got wine, brandy, tea sets, Burberry perfume, scarves, chocolate, candles, soaps...the list goes on and on. It was a wonderful feeling to be showered with thanks and with presents for just doing our jobs. We love our work here and we are going to be so sad when it is time to leave all these awesome little monsters we call students. :)