My life in pictures

In Wonju, visiting Jessica. This is us walking around the college campus.

Jess was afraid of the bees so Katelyn is protecting her.

Spring in Korea. Walking around Children's Grand Park.

Cherry blossoms in Children's Grand Park.

Singles Pinewood Derby. This is my not so awesome car I made. But it was due to the fact that none of the saws they supplied worked... It was still fun.

The Pinewood Derby group.

I very interesting weekend

I literally had the most interesting weekend in as long as I can remember. Saturday I decided to go makeup shopping - I really needed brown mascara. I went to this place with about five different cosmetic stores thinking one of them has to have brown mascara. I went to the first one and I have a half Korean half English conversation with the worker there - she said she liked my voice I finally figured out. Then she tells me they don't have any brown mascara. But she takes my hand, interlocks her fingers with mine, and starts pulling me along. I ask where we are going and she just replies, "brown mascara." She takes me to one of the other cosmetic stores and announces to the girls working there "this is my girlfriend!" and they all look at us like we're crazy. But they didn't have any brown mascara either. So one of those girls takes me to a different place and they didn't have any, so I finally said that's okay, thanks, and left.

I went to a subway shopping area and went to another cosmetic store (if you haven't noticed yet, there are about 30 different cosmetic stores in Korea). Anyway, they finally had some there and the sales girl tells me that "this mascara is very famous in Korea." I asked why and she said, "because the color is charming and you will look so charming in it." Nice.

After that I went to meet my friends for dinner - which I ended up meeting them at a dog cafe because they were running late. I'm not a huge dog person and it was a little weird. Basically it's a place with about 15 dogs wandering around and you can pet them and give them treats and you have to order a drink to be there. I guess people who like dogs but don't have the time to own one enjoy it. I kept thinking how it would never pass health codes in America... Afterward we went to a Greek restaurant, then noraebang (aka singing room), so that was fun.

On Sunday I met my Korean friend, Chris. We went to the movies and he brought his friend Hyun Chul (aka Luther, or Luter as he said). We saw My Name is Khan – it was really good. But also funny because the movie was like a third in English and the rest in Hindi with Korean subtitles. But I still enjoyed it. Then we went to dinner. Hyun Chul did not speak English very well but he tried and he was cute. He said that I look young and when he told me he was 26 I told him I was his noona (Korean for older sister), he didn’t want to believe me. Then he told me I look like Audrey Hepburn – totally not true, but sweet nonetheless. Then I see him sitting there for like 5 minutes moving his lips and concentrating really hard until he finally turns to me and says, “can I have your phone number?” Chris and I both laughed because he was just so earnest about it and he tried so hard. I said yes… Hyun Chul by the way, is like 5’7”.

After that we headed to this shopping street but they were cold so we went into a coffee shop, but we didn’t order anything. We just sat there kind of talking until I finally asked what we were doing. Turns out we were waiting for Hyun Chul’s friend. I asked what his friend was like and he told me he was a giant. Well, his friend turns up and he’s like 5’5” and super skinny. Nice joke. His name was Cha Yoon I think, or Van. Van’s English was better than Hyun Chul's but he was shy. We talked for a while longer – they decided I needed a Korean name, which is Hyun In-Na (Hyun is the family name). I'm pretty sure I was there to give a free English lesson - but I actually hadn't paid for anything so I guess that was my compensation. They then asked if I wanted to go to noraebang and I said sure, I love noraebang. But then Chris gets a phone call and says he has to go to his brother’s house. So he puts me in a cab with these two boys I just met, who only kind of speak English to go sing with them. It’s a good thing I’m not really shy. The noraebang was fun – I sang in English they sang in Korean. And I even helped sing a Korean song , that I kind of know. At the end of it they said “Noona Jjang!” – which pretty much means “Older sister is awesome.” And then Hyun Chul tells me he’s so happy because of me. And then I went home, but not before Hyun Chul told me that he will text me.

So yeah, pretty much a very entertaining and interesting weekend.