Planned and Surprise Concerts (Featuring "Muscle Boy" and "Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy")

Hello everyone!

Disclaimer: All photos in this blog belong to their original owners. I didn't take a lot of them. Thanks to the internet for sharing things!
Here's a song that you can play while you read this blog:

I'm afraid I was a bit under the weather this week, and had another stressful week at work. I am up to planning about 10 lessons a week across 4 grades, and it's wearing me down a lot.

I keep telling myself that my job isn't that hard, but I was reminded by one of my best friends, Megan, that that't not entirely true. I think I am selling myself short by saying my job is easy. Yes, most of what I do is plan activities and games for children, but I am also trying to teach them a language. Plus I have to consider different levels, different skills, and balancing everything together with my coteacher. I've had 3 coteachers for 3rd/4th grade in 3 weeks, and each time I change I have to adjust like it's my first time here all over again. Sharing a classroom is no joke. My job is different than my last chapter of life (Grad school and teaching freshman comp) but it't no less challenging.

Anyway, I did have a pretty incredible weekend, featuring two of my favorite Korean stars.

The title of this blog comes from a variety show that features these two: Lee Joon (muscle boy) from MBLAQ and Kyuhyun (Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy) from Super Junior. When competing, Kyuhyun and Joon are the last two, and Kyuhyun remarks that it isn't fair since Joon is Muscle Boy and Kyu is Just-Released-from-the-Hospital Boy.

In a twist of fate, David beats Goliath. I love them.You should still watch the video because it's hilarious and it gives you a taste of whatever the hell Korean variety shows are like for the idols.

Anywho, here's more to love.

This is my favorite Lee Joon hairstyle

If I never leave Korea, you know why.

Lee Joon is from the Kpop group MBLAQ. I think he is one of the most handsome beings to ever exist, and he is hilarious on variety shows. I love his little cat smile. And his abs.

I'm getting ahead of myself. After a stressful week of miscommunications (resulting in an incident where I had absolutely no lesson plan for 3rd grade... so much for making a good impression on my coteacher...) and illness, my plan was to go home Friday night and catch up on TV and do nothing but sleep.

The announcement that changed my life (for a few hours)

The Kpop gods had other plans. In the morning, we found out the Kyuhyun from Super Junior was going to have a surprise free solo concert at 1:30 at Ewha Women's University. DAMN!! That's really close to where Tina and I live. Alas, we had to teach. BUT there was a silver lining. At 3 PM it was announced that there would be a second surprise free solo concert at 9:30... all the way in Gangnam.


We discussed it and decided to go. At first I was hesitant because I wasn't feeling well, but I felt good enough by the end of the day and we went to a pharmacy and got some medicine.

I AM SO GLAD WE WENT.

Kyuhyun is my (sometimes) bias from SuJu. His voice is incredible and he's adorable on variety shows and otherwise, and he is just swoonworthy.

Kyuhunnie <3

From his album "At Gwanghwamun"

Sometimes we go to SPAO to see the ads because SuJu is their model group.

The concert started at 9:30, but we had to get there really early to get spots. And they lined us up to wait at like 7:45. So we stood out in the rain for almost 2 hours before he came onstage. Fortunately Koreans all put their umbrellas up, so we were mostly dry. They kept playing stuff from his solo album. And by stuff I mean they played the one song "At Gwanghwamun" for 2 hours. It't the only song that has a MV so far from the album. About 10 minutes before the show they handed out ponchos despite the fact that it had stopped raining. 

Tina and I made the most of our time by counting down the number of times we would hear the song before the concert started, and by making up the plot of a Kdrama based on one of the handsome security guards singing along to the song the 15th time we heard it.

Now, when they were lining us up, Tina and I were in the back, but they told people to move to the sides. Not ones to waste an opportunity to get close, we did. AND WE GOT AN INCREDIBLE VIEW.

Here are far too many pictures of something that I care about wayyyyy too much:

When I zoom I get close!

Second row of people. Actual distance from an angel.

He was very sweet an apologetic about the rain.

He has lovely hands. I'm a sucker for hands.

And here is his angel voice:

He sings on a lot of OSTs (soundtracks) so he treated us to his very popular "7 Years of Love." He's so adorable when he messes up. Anyway, I didn't to record the whole thing. I wanted to enjoy the amber of the moment (I reference Slaughterhouse Five with some regularity in my life) and just enjoy seeing Kyuhyun live for the third time. Tina took a lot of videos of her favorite refrains, and I know that I will be able to invoke some memories just listening to this clip.

It was so worth my time! I love Korea's kpop culture (mostly) and the fact that they do try to do stuff for their fans. Even if it is a rainy, cold, outdoor concert when it's almost December.

In the afterglow of the Kyuhyun concert, we prepared for another concert.

This one was planned a while ago. We were going to see MBLAQ, a favorite group (though not belonging to SM or YG entertainment) of ours. We had been discussing the fact that we would love to see them live if htey had a concert. Tina and Sarah had already seen them last year, but Janell and I never had.

The handsome men of MBLAQ: Seungho, G.O., Lee Joon, Thunder, and Mir.

We should have been a little more careful about what we wished for. The concert was called "Curtain Call." Ominous. When the concert was announced, it was revealed that the members of the group would leave to do their compulsory military service (as a Kpop fan, this is the worst) for 2 years. It would be too hard to shift them out like they do with SuJu. In Kpop groups, each person usually specializes in something like vocals, rap, dance, or whatever. In a group like SuJu, when there are 10+ members, others can cover when someone has to leave. But in a group of 5 like MBLAQ that would be very difficult.

Something worse was afoot, though. Soon after the announcement of the concert, it was leaked that Lee Joon was not going to renew his contract and would leave MBLAQ. He has a pretty stable acting career and has often expressed his wish to pursue acting and dislikes being known as an idol. But then it was revealed that Thunder would be also leaving the group. Thunder's older sister Sandara is part of the insanely popular and awesome YG group 2ne1, so there was a lot of speculation about his choice.

I couldn't take pictures during the show, but here's beforehand

Nothing is confirmed and the members are quiet about stuff, but the atmosphere at the concert was intense. Usually idol groups pull a lot of antics and do funny things like crossdress during the show, which I was expecting. There was none of that.

We were really close to the stage, probably closer even than when we went to SuJu. Like we were hella close.

How close were we? Hella.

The show was reeeeeeeeally good. Like they are incredible singers and dancers. But I felt like the atmosphere wasn't optimistic. It wasn't, LET'S GIVE THEM ONE LAST INCREDIBLE SHOW AND SHOW THEM WE'RE STILL MBLAQ UNITED. It was more... this is the end.

Frankly, it was really depressing. Sometimes it felt like they were just going through the motions. Lee Joon and Thunder especially seemed less interested in hyping the crowd then Seungho, Mir, and G.O. did. 

I forgive him for being so serious. Mostly because I think his jawline can cut diamonds and should be classified as a weapon of mass destruction. 

And when they were talking near the end of the show, everyone was just crying. It broke my heart to see several of the members crying so hard that they couldn't speak. Mir and Seungho especially could not hold it together.

Mir (the youngest in the group) being a sad panda

Seungho, the leader of MBLAQ, trying to speak.

Trying to keep it together.

Lost it.

People in the crowd were openly weeping. I have only been a fan for like a year, so I am sad but not despondent at the group's possible disbandment. I am also sad that this is probably the only time I will ever see them live. Regardless of whether or not they disband, if they go into the army it will be like 2 years before they come back, and I am not sure if I will still be in Korea. 

It was a pretty good concert. But I got spoiled by a comeback SuJu concert and a surprise Kyu concert before this. It felt a little empty to see MBLAQ on their last leg and showing no attempts to hide it. I just wish I could have seen the group I saw on Hello Baby and other variety shows, and the antics I had come to expect from a Kpop concert. Still, I was hella close to some handsome and talented dudes, and the fans at this concert weren't nearly as pushy as SuJu's. It was a really good weekend overall.

Best of luck to all of you, MBLAQ. May you find happiness wherever you go! And Kyuhyun, please have another concert soon! 

I am off to plan more winter camp things, and get back to the reality of Monday. Blehhhh. Anyway, here are some of my favorite MBLAQ songs. 

Run.

Be a Man

This is war/It's War

AND MY ALL-TIME FAVORITE: MONA LISA

Clever Title about Bad Weeks that is Somehow Vaguely Hopeful

Hello all!

This will probably be a short one, as my life was fairly uneventful this week.

Well, it wasn't uneventful, I would just rather not remember that it happened. It was one of the most stressful weeks I've had here. The last couple have been difficult, but this one took the cake.

Since I have to teach 22 hours and I have 21 hours of actual class, every other Thursday So Jung and I do a club activity. Ours was putting on a play in English. Other groups do music stuff or cup stacking or crafts, or whatever. So Thursday was the performance of the club activities. This means that every waking moment this week was devoted to rehearsals and making props. I love the kids and I love my school and I adore my coteacher, so it wasn't a burden to help. But it certainly made the week stressful. I wasn't able to plan my lessons fully with So Jung, and the substitute for Su Hyeon left when she finished classes, which is not great for coteaching.

I also had a surprise make-up class to add on Wednesday, so I had to teach 6th, 3rd, then 4th that day. Phew.

On Thursday the performance time was at hand. We had to wait with our group in the library, and of course we were like act 7 of 9 so it was like babysitting all day. We had to do the play twice because the room isn't big enough to hold the whole school at once.

So my babies performed the traditional story of Heongbu and Nolbu. Nolbu is rich and mean, Heongbu is poor but nice and good. As traditional stories go, with the help of magic and animals (a swallow in this case) the poor get rewarded with riches and happiness and the rich man gets punished.

So Jung was terribly nervous, since a bad performance would reflect badly on her. The kids did not disappoint! They were awesome. The principal attended the first performance. Thank god.

I had the job of hanging up the background. During the second performance I was having trouble getting it to stick to the wall and I was certain it would fall during the performance. It did. The kids did great. It was hilarious. While I was recording the show, I looked over to the other teachers who were watching. They laughed when the backdrop fell down. I was totally embarrassed because LITERALLY EVERYONE SAW ME PUT IT UP. After the performances we had lunch, and the phys ed teacher came in and looked at me and So Jung and burst into laughter. Ha ha.

Oh well. It was fun and funny and I am glad it's over. The other teachers were surprised with how involved I was in the performance (I was miming the dances to the kids too) and since I had done my hair with a new headband they had thought I would be performing too HAHAHAHHA NOPE.

I got lots of compliments and Elsa comparisons. I braided the ribbon from the headband into my hair.

Here are some pics of my students:

The Swallow and the Monster 

Nolbu's wife. I cannot tell you how many god damn times we had to retie their hanboks

Me with the "swallow" (penguin...) hat feat. one of my adorable third graders peeking out from behind me

Guess which family this is. Yup. The poor one.

Rich babies.

My club babies with their costumes and props. And the stupid background of houses that couldn't stay up for 10 minutes.

It was fun!

I really liked working with such a small group of kids. It got to a point where I was irrelevant since they needed direction and, pressed for time, So Jung directed in Korean. But I think it was good for some of the kids to just chat with me. A lot of them are 5th grade and I only see them once a week, sometimes less, so it was good for them. One day they told So Jung that they couldn't leave to make props because they had to keep talking to me. I was pleased. Even if they were only asking me things like "Do you know EXO? Do you know Super Junior? Do you know Australia? Do you know (proceed to name other countries or list the names of every member of a kpop group)?" Or asking me what kind of makeup I wear. Or how old I am. I was pleased because they were really trying to ask me anything in English, and they are adorable kids.

Anyway, here are some other random tidbits from the week:

The stairs in my school have some English expressions. These are my favorite because why???

Some days I have no idea what I'm eating. 

USB foot warmer. Awww yisss. 

Friday was also eventful. The substitute left, and the old English teacher returned. She's awesome. She's very sweet and good with the kids. We had a student throw up in one of our classes (welcome back, amirite???) and she (having just had a baby) missed exactly no beats in cleaning it while I continued the class. The kids and the teachers were so excited to see her again. I hope they have that kind of reaction when they haven't seen me in a little bit. Alas.

Tina and I also went to Costco on Friday! I live not too far from one, so we figured it would be good to scope out in case we need bulk things. It was crowded, but not too bad. We took the wrong buses twice on our way home, but we got some good things.

LIKE THIS HOT DOG OM NOM NOM

On Saturday I cleaned my apartment and wallowed. We have English camp coming up soon. I was told that I had to plan it, from scratch, last Friday and that I had til the end of November. Well KOREAN SURPRISE!!! On Thursday (less than a week after being told about it) I was asked to have a plan by Monday. So that took up a lot of my weekend. I was panicking about it because I had no idea what to do. I was meeting up with Tina and Sarah to go see Mockingjay part 1, so I was crunched for time and also feeling really anxious and anti-social.

Thankfully Tina and Sarah were able to help me pick a book and come up with a basic plan. Then we ate ddeokbokki (the rice cakes in spicy sauce that are quickly burning their way into my heart) and went to see the movie. 

It was awesome! I loved it. It was so good. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I also haven't read the book recently enough to be nitpicky about it too much. I do think they lacked some character development with Finnick, Katniss, and Gale, but overall it was really well done. Sarah, Tina and I had time to analyze over tacos before I caught the last train of the night back to my area.

Overall, the week was really stressful and to be honest it's still stressing me out. I have some things that console me, though. 

I am back on the Dracula train. I have had this song "Life after Life" stuck in my head for days.

WE'RE GOING TO SEE MBLAQ NEXT WEEKEND YEAHHHHHHH. I'm obsessed with this song too: Mona Lisa. It's fantastic.

AND LAST BUT ABSOLUTELY NOT LEAST I JUST PUT IT LAST BECAUSE IT ONLY CAME OUT 3 DAYS AGO:

"Good Boy" the new single by Taeyang and G-Dragon from the group Big Bang. Seriously I cannot stop playing this song. It's hip-hop, so it's not everyone's cup of tea. But still. The song was released on November 20th. As I write this, it's November 23 at 9:17 and the video has 4,644,888 views. That's absurd. Almost 5 million views in 3 days. The song is awesome. G-Dragon's hair is not, but whatever. The song is so catchy and I love it. It makes me so happy. 

That's all for now. I hope this week is less stressful than the last. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving! I miss home especially now, but I have Tina here and we've made a bit of a family over here, so I should survive. 

Peace out! And may the odds be ever in your favor.

Abs for Days (Obliterated by Turkey)

Hello all!

I've been having some stressful days at school, but that makes for really fun weekends (kind of).

Last Tuesday (11/11) was Pepero Day! 1111 looks like pepero sticks, so kids bring them and give them to friends, teachers, "love interests" and whatnot. I was surprised that I got any, and all of it is awesome.

Pepero day swag.

On Thursday there was Sooneung, the giant, terrifying, all-consuming College Scholastic Aptitude Test that is given once a year and is suuuuuuuuper important for Korean students. No one makes noise. Planes can't land. I got to be at school at 9:50 instead of 8:30 to allow all students to get to the testing sites and allow them to settle into the test. It is not great for them, but awesome for me. I hope you all did well, Korean students!

We had school pictures taken. Mine was a hit.

We had pictures taken, and they photoshop the shit out of them. When everyone got their pictures, all of the Korean teachers were complaining that they didn't look like themselves. So Jung asked to see mine, and I showed her, and she said something that I must assume meant "Francesca ACTUALLY looks good" because all the other teachers demanded to see mine. My photo was met with a "WAHHHHH SO PRETTY" and "You look better." But then no one would show me theirs, so that was strange. I think the guy photoshopped their eyes to look bigger (from what I saw of So Jung's when she showed me "It is not me") but that doesn't always work well. Anyway, I was pretty pleased.

This week, to let loose from the stress (of teaching English, having a substitute coteacher, miscommunications about cancelled/not cancelled classes resulting in me unnecessarily having to do a make up class for something that is entirely not my fault, breaking up a fight in fourth grade, and having to do a lot of last minute prep for my club activity's play in English), I got a taste of some familiar things.

First, on Friday, Tina, her awesome coteacher Young Ah, and I went to see the Mr. Show (again for me and Tina). It was really fun to see with a Korean! She translated some parts of it, and was hilarious to sit with.

Life in Korea is hard. Like these abs.

Quick summary of the Show: the too long, did not read (TL,DNR) version: IT WAS AWESOME I HIGHLY RECOMMEND HAVING A LAP DANCE FROM A HANDSOME KOREAN MAN.

We thought we would for sure be noticed, since we are foreigners and in the second row, and I was hoping to get onstage. I would also like to point out that Tina left during the show and it was no problem to get back in. They didn't make her wait outside for 20 minutes.

At one point during the show they rip off their white tshirts and throw them to the audience. One almost landed on my head. Some women behind me clamored to get it and some of the women looked surprised that I hadn't snatched it. A sweaty, ripped, plain white tshirt is strangely high on my list of "things I don't need."

We were about level with the stage, and sure enough, we got noticed. The MC was the same one Tina has seen every time, but he didn't recognize her. He just said "OH WE HAVE SOME FOREIGNERS" and came over to us. He made us play rock paper scissors to decide who would go on stage. Tina won, and I was totally fine with letting her go (I am planning on seeing the show one last time with my coteachers once Su Hyeon gets back from her education thing) and with Young Ah there I thought she would like it. Tina graciously switched with me after having great difficulty getting a word in to the MC.

Don't worry Tina! You impressed them with your Korean and were adorable!

Anyway, I got onstage. I wanted to pick a different guy that Tina had, but the ajumma who picked first picked my first choice. The MC kept forgetting my name (Koreans cannot say my name with any ease) and I eventually picked Chris, the same guy Tina had. He took my hand and did one of those "presenting my partner and bowing" things before he abruptly, unceremoniously, and not at all unpleasantly scooped me up off my feet bridal style and literally tossed me into the air. I must admit, being manhandled by a handsome guy who could bench press probably double my weight was thrilling.

Thankfully he carried me over to the chair located right in front of our section, so I could see Tina and Young Ah when i wasn't distracted by the ludicrously hot man dancing like inches away from me. I could not believe how solid this human being was. He must spend like all his waking hours at the gym. He was very smiley, which I think might have been because I was dancing around in my chair, made a lot of awkward eye contact with him, and was smiling like a freaking lunatic the whole time. He asked me "Is it okay?" or "are you okay?" before he did every step of the sequence, so it was nice.

People kept waving to me after the show and Young Ah was in a blissful mood. Her one point "Where did they find such tall Koreans? Where are all of them?" Which is true. Although these are supposed to be like the sexiest guys in Korea, and they did not disappoint.

This is a picture I took before the show. Incidentally, the guy I have my hand on is Chris, the one that the fates conspired to allow me to touch his solid abs in real life. Destiny right there.

Saturday was a complete 180. We tried to go see the Pikachu parade (South Korea won some pokemon tournament thing) but it got cancelled because there were too many people. Buhhh,

We still had a fun day wandering and shopping.

Jeepney! Janell embracing her roots.

I will never outgrow Pikachu

Tournament and stuff

The girls and our main man

Bought some hair bows!

Gotta accessorize.

On Sunday we complete the track from adult entertainment to childhood to being an adult again and thinking about family. We went to the US Army base near Itaewon for a regular Thanksgiving dinner!

OM NOM NOM NOM NOM

I miss my family, but it was great to spend time with the family I made here. Thanks, Tina (obviously family...), Lauren, Ga Hyeon (Lauren's Korean boyfriend), and Janell for being part of my Korea family!

The food was awesome. There was Mac & Cheese, green beans, corn, amazing stuffing, mashed potatoes. and duhhhhh turkey! And dinner rolls. And pumpkin pie! All the fixins for a regular feast. We all ate waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much, as per Thanksgiving tradition, then took part in some line dances (you know, the electric slide, Cha Cha slide and any other dance they play to get people to the dance floor). Then we all died.

We were so tired after, but so full of good food that it was awesome. I actually got a lot done in my apartment when I got home, which is unusual.

Alas, after a bad night of sleep and a stressful Monday, here I am catching up on my blogs and shows. I'm looking forward to a hectic week and hopefully a nice, calm, relaxing weekend.


OKAY ONE LAST THING.

KYUHYUN GOT A SOLO ALBUM EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Kyuhyun is my (usually) favorite member of Super Junior, and we have all been clamoring for a solo album for him since we heard him sing. He finally released a ballad album for fall!

Some lyrics (thanks Tina)

Today, like a fool, I'm standing at this spot

Getting wet in the rain

Waiting for you, who won’t come

I was happy

At the memories of holding hands and walking together,  I look back

In case you are standing there...

It's fantastic. He's fantastic. Swoon.

That's all for now! I'm off to study Korean!

I'll keep living my dreams, you keep living yours!

Of Towers and Swords

Hello all!

The last couple of weeks have been largely uneventful as far as my standards. I was sick but my school holiday on Wednesday helped. Then I taught 9 of the same lesson on Halloween, which was fun but exhausting.

My 4th graders. Min Ji borrowed my bat ears.

Part of chillin includes setting our mouths ablaze with the ddeokbokki from right outside my apartment. 

  Last weekend we just chilled. We don't spend too much time at my apartment since it's a bit out of the way, but it's much warmer than Tina's so it seems like a good place for the winter months. We ran some errands and got ddeokbokki, which is spicy rice cakes and fish cakes. It is a bit spicy for me, but it is quickly becoming one of my favorite Korean foods.

Sunday we went shopping. I got a lot of good deals.

AND WE HAD PANDA EXPRESS

Winter is coming: I needed a lot of stuff.

I only spent about $230 and got a winter coat, 3 dresses, and so many sweaters and shirts.

 On Tuesday I fiiiiiiiiiiinally started my Korean class! We just went over the alphabet, but it's good since i still get confused by it and it helps with my reading, pronunciation, listening, writing, and speaking skills. You know, everything you need to learn a language.

My coteacher tells me that I will be speaking like a Korean after I finish one book.

Anywho, then I had another week of teaching, which just blurs together a lot. I'm sad because as of now my 3/4 coteacher is gone for some training so I am working with a sub. It's hard to get used to teaching with someone else and I miss Su Hyeon. I have no one to walk home with now. She'll be back in like a month, but I don't know if she'll still be teaching English with me. So it goes.

Now on to the titular event. Tina had her teacher trip this weekend, so I went out for margaritas with Lauren and Sarah on Friday, and did nothing outside of clean my apartment on Saturday. Tina has been wanting to take me to Namsan to see the Seoul Tower, but it's quite a steep incline and it's crowded, so we decided to wait til it was cooler. We also wanted to see the view when the leaves were pretty, so we decided that this weekend was our best shot.

IT. WAS. AWESOME.

(other than seeing a guy literally throw up in front of us at the subway station and have a crazy/drunk old man profess his love to me very closely and continually beckon for me to get on the bus with him, and how the bus system is totally whack and it took us forever to get down from the top of the hill)

We got there around 2 something, which was perfect since there was a cultural show (surprise for us!) at 3. We weren't sure if we were gonna stay, but they had all these weapons out so it looked cool, plus we had time. So we sat down and were treated to one of the most delightful shows I've seen in Korea. 

There was more Janggu playing, and a weapons demonstration. They showed the traditional sword techniques, longswords, some Half-moon spear, and a long spear. It was so cool! 

Janggu! Spinny hats return!

The weapon guys look on.

Spinning a top on a stick. With his mouth, at one point.

Weapons and outfits on point.

Yahhhhhhh

By far my favorite thing was the traditional sword dance. It's only ceremonial and for training, but man is it cool. Please watch this video:

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10153424044864968&l=7093518517384236443

We saw the guy change into a different outfit, and we were like "Damn that's a fancy outfit." But it was seriously incredible. Here is a barrage of pictures of the awesome ninja assassin sword dance guy.

Look at that oufit. And the swords. He's the prettiest princess.

He's also the most badass.

I would literally kill people do get to wear his awesome outfit. It's so awesome.

I got some cool action shots of the dance. Tina got a lot too.

Twirly swirly swordy wordy

Don't mess.

I think this is my favorite action shot.

Finished!

After, they did more weapon demo stuff, then people could take pictures. We almost lost sight of this sneaky ninja assassin sword master when he went to change, but we found him sweeping up the courtyard after the group demoed how to fuck shit up and kill things.

He was very tiny. I know he looks bigger with the swords and the outfit and the dancing. But look at how cute and little he is! He doesn't look like he could hurt a fly. But there he was, Darth-Mauling two swords and jumping around and dancing and being awesome.

You are a true warrior, sir.

After we were done gawking at the madd skillz before us, we decided to finally head up to the tower. It has a really stunning view of Seoul. I know that Seoul is a big city that has a lot of mountains, but it really gets you when you can actually see that from above and not just feel it when you hike up hills in Hongdae or are being struck by the absurd number of people who reside here.

We kept joking that we looked photoshopped onto the background. That's really Seoul behind really us.

We finally got a good picture with the tower in the evening when it was first lit up.

Sprawling Seoul as far as the eye can see.

Art down below!

If only New York wasn't so far away
I promise this city won't get in our way
When you're scared and alone
Just know that I'm already home (aka this song will make you cry if you miss home)

Look at how pretty all the leaves are! So much natural beauty in the lovely city.

Shout out to London town

Got to remember some of our other homes. Hi Italy!

We had a lot of fun. After we were up in the tower, we decided to get a love lock to add to the collection. You're supposed to lock it on the fences so your love is forever. Obviously Tina and I need help keeping our love going.

Glad to be on this crazy adventure with you, bella.

I heard you like locks so I put a lock on your lock.

Me with our lock. It's the green one a bit to the right of my hand.

We wandered around a bit and took some more pictures before heading down. 

On a sloped bench in front of current Korean heartthrob Kim Soo-Hyun.

Lots of love at the tower.

While we waited for the bus the tower was more lit up. Beautiful!

I had a really rough Monday, but it's okay when adventures like this get to happen. Tina and I both expressed our disbelief at our lives when we were up in the tower. Like, I moved to Seoul. I live over 11,000 km (almost 7000 miles for my American readers) away from the place I grew up. What? What is my life?

Sometimes I miss home terribly. And sometimes Seoul reminds me how much beauty is in the world that I still have to see.

This weekend promises to be exciting again, so long as I don't freeze to death in school. Seriously. It's a possibility. 

Anyway, I hope everyone is happy and healthy wherever they are! May your days be as bright as Seoul Tower!

"To this and many more adventures."