The Return

Sam and I at Ice Bar

As many of you already know, Sam returned to Mokpo for a second visit! The last time he came, I took time off of work and bussed to Incheon Airport to pick him up. This time around, however, I didn't feel as comfortable doing that so he was on his own in regards to making it safetly to Mokpo. This might not sound very difficult, but keep in mind that very few Koreans speak English (especially bus drivers). There are only 2 buses a day that go straight from the airport to Mokpo and if Sam was delayed in any way, he wouldn't make the AM bus (this is what happened last time). The other option besides this is to bus to Gwangju and then bus to Mokpo from there. The problem with this is that in Korea, there are two Gwangjus, a Gyongju and a Gangju. Needless to say, I was worried I would get a desperate phone call from my boyfriend who was on the wrong side of the country! There were no troubles, though. He arrived at my apartment at 2pm and emailed me the good news. Right away I exclaimed, "Sam's here!", and my co-teacher said I could go home-- "her present". 

The next day was Saturday and we decided to take the ferry to Waydaldo and have a BBQ on the beach. It was a nice day. The ferry ride back was the craziest Korean experience that I've ever had! There were 2 sets of foreigner couples on the ferry and a bunch of drunk Korean men. They brought beer, peanuts and dried squid over to us then made us all dance with them! This went on for like an hour until their wives stepped in and made them leave us alone. One guy kept returning, though, and continuously repeated the phrases "I lub-uh (love) you" and "happy day. It was hilarious. The best part, though, was seeing my boyfriend of 2.5 years dance in public for the first time! I took a video of it, but it won't load (lucky for Sam). 

 

Sam dancing on the ferry!                                                                                    

That night we went out for Sam's favourite Korean dinner-- Samgeopsal-- and then met up with some of my friends at Ice Bar. 

Sunday we went to Damyang (a town about an hour and a half away) to see the bamboo museum and walked through the bamboo forest. Another nice, relaxing day. The pictures speak for themselves. 

Throughout the week I had to work and Sam relaxed a lot. His two week visit was his holiday between school and work, so he took that opportunity to read, go for walks and watch sports on TV. However, last Thursday we hopped on the bus and went to Gwangju to see a Gwangju Kia Tigers baseball game. FUN! The crowd's energy was crazy. They all had thunder sticks and a new cheer for each player. It was an awesome time. 

The next day we returned to Gwangju and went to the movies, enjoyed a nice dinner at TGIFs and spent the night at a "love motel". The cheap motels are named such because...well... that's where ladies of the night and their johns go for "love". Although the hallway was very dark and had sex toy vending machines, the room was pretty nice. However, I couldn't help but think of all that went on in the bed I slept in that night and had some trouble falling asleep. The next day we went shopping in Gwangju. I had been wanting some Birkenstock sandals so we got those and had lunch at this new Nepalese/Indian restaurant. YUM! We left Gwangju pretty early because some of my teacher friends wanted to meet Sam, so I had planned to meet with some people at WaBar that night. Sunday was a relaxing day. I went to a bookswap while Sam watched a hockey game and then we went to She-Nay (old downtown) to return to the stickerbang. That night we went out for a nice supper of ShabuShabu. 

 

There isn't much to say about how the rest of the week went. We cooked supper (one of my favourite pastimes to enjoy with Sam), watched TV (we're both getting into How I Met Your Mother), and went for walks to Baskin Robbins. 

This morning we left at 2:30am on the early bus to Incheon Airport. Sam's flight didn't leave until 1pm, but we  got to enjoy the whole morning together at the airport. 

Oddly enough, when I returned home I noticed that some work had been done in my apartment. There was this heater-looking thing that was in the window where the heat generated from the AC blows out, which is now gone and there's a new thing that sits on a stand on the outside of the building. Not a big deal, except that this morning, I hung up an entire load of underwear! There's no way the construction guys missed that one... 

 

enjoying some drinks at Ethnic Bar in Gwangju