My Last Weekend in Korea

As I'm writing this I have only 5 days left in Korea. It's such a crazy though (especially given the progress I've made on packing...). That being said, I did have an AMAZING final weekend in Seoul with my best friend Rachel and her family. Rachel's family lives in Seoul and they have been an amazing part of my time in Korea. Her aunt, uncle and cousin graciously opened up their home and hear to me numerous times throughout the year.

Before I got to Seoul late Friday night I ate dinner with my co-teacher. I took my co-teacher to a restaurant called Santorini in Chuncheon for a goodbye dinner. The restaurant is on the big hill/small mountain in the middle of the city and has stunning views of Chuncheon. We ended up indulging in the seven-course set menu and it was absolutely delicious. I was pretty surprised because Western food is generally not very good outside of Seoul.

The view from the balcony

After dinner, I took a bus to Seoul and went to Rachel's family's house because Rachel, her cousin and I were leaving at 6:40AM the next morning for a water park. The three of us went to Caribbean Bay, the largest water park in Korea. The water park was really, really fun and we lucked out with the weather. It was sunny and warm but not stiflingly hot (which is frequently the case here in Korea). It was great to just hang out all day and enjoy the rides. The three of us even got henna tattoos together to remember the day and just because we found it tacky and funny.

That night we returned home and ended up watching a movie with Amy's parents. I was impressed they followed along (or at least humored us) since there were no subtitles. We also ordered a typical Korean late night snack- fried chicken and beer. Rachel's uncle really wanted to share chicken and beer with Rachel and I. The next morning Rachel, her aunt and her cousin, Amy, went to church while the uncle and I exercised together. We ended up going for a long walk around Olympic Park, which is the park next to their house. It was a lot of fun and I was surprised by how much Rachel's uncle and I could communicate despite the language barrier. Her uncle speaks very little English. It was also need to walk along an old fortress wall in the park because it had great views of the surrounding area. I also was able to see all the various stadiums and buildings from the 1988 Olympics.

That afternoon Rachel's aunt cooked us a delicious goodbye dinner and we took some pictures and hung out a little more. Then, Rachel's uncle, Amy, Rachel and I went out for dinner. Her uncle really wanted to eat dog soup with me and I eagerly complied. I really wanted to eat dog soup before I left Korea and thought it would be neat to eat it with Rachel's family. Honestly, I really liked the soup although I had to give some of the really fatty pieces with the dog skin still on it to her uncle. The meat pretty much tasted like any other meat though. There may have been some differences but I couldn't really tell since I don't eat a lot of meat to begin with.

                   


















I just have a week full of goodbyes and goodbye parties left standing between me and America now!