Last weekend with Cindy

I know there should be another Daegu post first, but too bad, this one is ready now. This is about last weekend (or my second to last weekend in SK).

On Saturday morning Dallas and I woke up early and caught a bus to Busan. I was meeting Cindy there for our last (free) armpit appointment and Dallas was going to meet a friend of his (well sort of). We left early because Dallas's friend wanted to meet at 12 at a place about 30 minutes from the bus station. After 15 minutes after we got on the bus, he messaged that he couldn't make it.

He originally took a picture of me asleep on him, which woke me up. Then he made that face and I'm still not sure why.

So we had close to 3 hours to kill before we needed to meet Cindy and go to the spa. We ended up going to the Lotte Department store, eating breakfast (kebabs and a salad), wandering around the mall, having coffee, debating crappy movies, walking in the rain and finally going to a bookstore where we discussed good books we've read.

Cindy was stuck in traffic, so we went ahead to the spa/clinic without her. They got all confused, but I told them I could wait for her before our appointment. She ran in last minute and they were able to see us, but they didn't give us quite enough ice pack time, so the laser hurt both of us. Then the three of us walked back to mall and had lunch (Dallas and I split a salad and chicken skewers). Cindy and Dallas have hung out with me before and I've commented how alike they are, but this weekend solidified it - they are practically the same person, just with different body parts. It explains why I get along with both of them so well, but it's a little creepy.

Then we wandered for another little bit, Cindy got a donut, I bought a slap watch and we hopped a bus back to Jinju. We actually had to wait for a bus because the one that was there when we got to the station was already full. Dallas was really funny/sweet because he knew it was my last time to see Cindy so he told me to sit with her for Cindy-time. Then he shared his headphones with the Korean girl next to him who didn't speak English. It was pretty funny.

When we got back, Cindy and I went back to my apartment. There was a ton of crap everywhere. Cindy had a box and a bag still there from when she moved to Daegu, plus the stuff she brought for the weekend. Dallas had a pile of clothes from the night before all over, and Corrine (the girl who is replacing me) has a suitcase, backpack and box here since she is visiting her brother in Thailand this week. We chatted for awhile, then Cindy took a nap while I showered, did a load of laundry, and got dressed.

We were supposed to meet about 8 people for dinner, but 4 of the bailed (1 because of rain, 1 fell asleep and 2 were at another dinner). Saturday was a newish girl's (Emma) birthday and they created a joint facebook event for the 2 of us (even though I told them that it wasn't technically my last day). But I didn't want to go to her dinner b/c there were just took many people - about 30 - which is fun at a bar or dance place, but not at a restaurant. So I took Dallas, Cindy and Anna to the bbq I went to on Friday night. It's an all you can eat meat place with duck, bulgogi and other meat, but lots of veggies and really good salad. We stayed there for awhile, they kept toasting me and I got mad at them for it, so then we toasted everyone.

Anna took this picture of Dallas checking his teeth in his phone - a very Korean thing to do which he has happily adpoted

After dinner the 4 of us met up with Jon at Fish and Grill for soju slushies - one of my requests for the weekend. We tried to order strawberry and lemon, but ended up with 2 strawberries and some lemon slices. It was pretty funny, but I felt a little bad for the waitress. Every bar gives snacks of some sort for free. Usually it's these puffy rice things that my friend calls "beerios". This place gave us those, plus a small bowl of bondaegi (aka boiled silkworms). I have been here over a year and have avoided eating them. But because of my liquid courage from earlier, I decided I needed the experience. So I ate one. Then I made Cindy and Dallas try one with me so I ate a second. They were not good. But now I can say I did it.

At Fish and Grill

Cindy, Dallas and Anna eating ramen

Jon, Anna and me

Beerios and bondaegi

Collage of me eating bondaegi

After drinks, we hopped in a cab (and got semi-yelled at by the diver for having 5 people in the car) and went to the GNU area to meet up with Emma's bday party group. The cab ride there was one of the funniest things I can remember. Dallas and Cindy have very similar personalities and are pretty open about sharing. Jon was sitting in the front and kept turning around and telling them that those were stories you don't tell people (they were talking about times they pooped their pants). Before we met up with people, we stopped in a family mart and had a drink because the bar is kind of pricey.

Everyone was in a bar called Garden Bier. I had never been there before, but it seemed like a nice place. They only serve beer. There were probably 25-30 people there and while Cindy, Dallas, Cody and Jon sat at a table, I made the rounds and talked to everyone. Anna was walking around too, bought me a beer, but then got kinda sad and went home. At this point, the night started to get a little weird and some mini-drama happened. Although nothing actually came of it so I won't bother explaining. Dallas called me over to their table and Cody showed me pictures of his mom. We sat around telling stories and stuff for about 30 minutes then decided to head out to a dance club.

There are 2 new dance places in Jinju. One is called g&u and that's where we tried to go first. When we walked up, they told us that they weren't serving any alcohol that night and most of the people I was with wanted to keep drinking, so we left there and headed to the other place called Blue Ketchup. It was pretty packed and is more of a Korean bar. I walked in a the usher guy literally grabbed my arm, turned me around, and walked me back to the elevator. No other "foreigners" even made it out of the elevator. Most people left at that point and either went to another bar or home. A decent sized group went to the family mart for supplies and then back to g&u. There are lockers there for your stuff and the lockers are in a parking lot behind the club, so we just sat there for a little while before actually dancing. There was also a back room where I ended up for most of the night because people wanted to talk to me before I left. It was nice, but I didn't really get to do too much dancing.

Sitting in the parking lot and drinking

Hanging out by the lockers

Ally, me, Cindy and Dallas inside the back room at G&u

At around 3 or 3:30, Cindy, Dallas and I went home. The rest of out group had left in pieces and the remaining people headed to a norebang, but we were all exhausted, plus we were meeting people for brunch in the morning. We all headed back to my apartment, where I made Cindy sing "I'm glad you came" with me since we didn't go to the norebang. Dallas didn't want to sing, so he danced with my swiffer instead.

Dallas dancing pre-Swiffer

On Sunday I got up, took a shower, then woke Cindy and Dallas up. We met Josh, Anna and Cody downtown at Beans Farm for brunch, then walked around the market for a little while. It was a beautiful day. At 1:15 I had to leave for church so I said goodbye to Cindy which was super sad, but I know I'll stay in touch with her. She and Dallas went back to my place and packed her stuff then Cody took her to the bus station.

One of my favorite pictures of the weekend with 2 of my favorite people. This is also how unpacked my apartment was a week before I needed to leave

Church was really nice. They posted a prayer request for me in the bulletin and then about 20 people went to lunch at a soup place. I didn't take a picture, but I think someone did and I will post it eventually. This place also has really good tofu. Then most of the group went to Cold Stone, where we were joined by Hein, Dallas and Josh. After ice cream, I said goodbye to another handful of people and the rest moved on to the river. My request to Ilani when she asked what I wanted to do for a going away thing, was to play 30 seconds. I've talked about it before on game night posts, but it's a really fun game. We ended up with 4 teams of 4 (Josh, Dallas, Ilani and I were on a team) and it was hilarious. I wish I had videoed some of it. Most people left at that time, and 2 guys went to get coffee, so Josh and I played against Ilani and Dallas. Ilani, Josh and I are all the same age and Dallas is almost 10 years younger than us, so watching him play makes us laugh extra hard. Josh and I are very similar and we think alike, so we totally kicked their butts. Then 7 more people showed up to watch the musical fountain, and we played another round. It was still fun, but it was dark so it was hard to read the cards.

The river near the fountain

Ilani trying to explain something to Dallas and Lance

Josh and I share a brain so naturally we were unstoppable at 30 seconds...until the group of Saffas showed up

The second (or 4th) game

After the fountain and our game ended, a group of South Africans went to dinner, and the rest of us went home. I was really tired, but ended up staying up until 2 am posting pictures and checking facebook and email. I had a wonderful second to last weekend which just makes it that much harder to leave.