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Sunday, July 12, 2009

"I love you"



I'm convinced that these 3 words are the most powerful words in the English language. When my mom tells me she loves me, I feel unconditionally cared for and protected. When my dad tells me he loves me, I feel like a little girl again, being swept into his loving embrace. When my sisters tell me they love me, I feel special and bonded with them. When my best friends tell me they love me, I feel blessed and lucky to have people who chose me to love and invest in, and when Kevin tells me he loves me, I am complete.

This afternoon, I assumed my normal position at my favorite window to watch the rain come down, the mist roll by, and the clouds cover the sunlight. It's been a really dreary week around here... Sue (my librarian friend) saw me standing there and came out to see what I was doing. When she saw that I was sad, she looked at me and asked, "You miss your mom?" I nodded yes and she then said one of the sweetest things I've heard since I've been here, "Alexis, I know I am not you mother, and I cannot fix your sad, but I love you." What a wonderful moment...

Weekend with friends!

I spent this weekend with Jess, Kristen, Colin, and Carlos and it was quite the adventure!  Anytime we are all together, we always talk about how excited we are about our Thailand trip that we're going on together in August (minus Colin, who's going to Italy with his family-sad).  So, when someone mentioned going to a Thai restaurant for lunch in Haeundae, we all jumped up and headed there!  

The waitress brought these little towlets out.  They were originally 1/4 of the size they are in this picture, but when she poured water over them, they expanded... like MAGIC!  

Me, Kristen and Colin.


Jess and Carlos


After lunch, we walked over to an outdoor market nearby that sells fresh fish, veggies, fruits, and touristy stuff.  We all stopped for us girls to try on hats for Thailand and the boys grabbed some watermelon.  We all agree that we would eat so much more watermelon if it were pre-cut like this every time!!

It was kind of a muggy day, but we thought it would be nice to take a walk on the beach!  When the sun is out, the korean beaches are filled with foreigners.  When the sun is hiding behind the clouds, the beaches are filled with Koreans and red umbrellas.


I couldn't resist snapping this photo of a dad holding his baby in the air while his wife wiped the sand off his butt!  Classic!

As we were walking along the boardwalk, we saw this guy walking towards us and quietly commented on how brave he was for wearing a speedo.   He seemed completely normal, but as soon as he got right in front of us, he broke into this pose and started dancing!  I was speechless, and we were all so happy that I happened to have been holding my camera to catch the moment! 

The gang in Haeundae... Kristen, Me, Jess, Colin, and Carlos

We could not believe this add!

We were so excited when we spotted these bumper cars alongside the boardwalk.  Colin and I jumped onto the track, picked our cart, slipped our 500 won coin (40 cents) into the slot and off we went!  It was so freeing and fun!  


Jess and Carlos joined in on the fun too...

Jess had heard of a photography museum that was nearby, so we walked over to check it out.  It was a very moving exhibit of Busan photos dating back to the 50's during the war, and the 60's in Japan.  



We all felt like we needed an adventure, so we stopped by the GS20 (kind of like a 7 eleven) grabbed some drinks, and headed into the forest!  It had been raining all week, so the hill was really slippery!  The combination of flip flops and muddy hillsides made for some really funny moments!  :)   

Is this not absolutely gorgeous?!!  (The scenery, of course!)

The path we walked along lead to a sitting area with a few benches.  Unfortunately, the benches were taken up with people who had our same idea, so we decided to hike down the hillside to this cliffside.  I snapped this pic of Carlos and Jess before we all sat down!


Colin, Carlos and I sat here for at least an hour talking about life, love, relationships, work, traveling, etc...  It was a memorable conversation with a very memorable view! 

The sun was going down and we were still in the forest!  Scary, but fun!

On our venture back to the main street, we stumbled across this beautiful ampitheatre built into the hillside!  Jess, Kristen and I all performed ridiculous songs and dances on the stage!  It was awesome!!  

At this point, we were all hungry again, so we jumped in a cab and headed to Jangsan where we spotted a Shabu Shabu restaurant!  mmmm.

When we finished dinner, we headed back out to the street.  It was raining a lot, so we were hiding under the eaves of the building, trying to figure out where to head next.   As we were talking, we were approached by an older Korean guy who propositioned us with free anju (appetizers) if we came to his bar on the 5th floor!   We were all really full from dinner, but he was so darn convincing, we followed him upstairs!   He gave us tons of fruit, and random snacks.  One was dried fish.  He kept telling us to try it.  I was the ONLY one who ate one.  He made a really big deal about us eating them.  When he left our table to get something from the kitchen, I grabbed a handfull and stuffed them into a bag in my purse.  I felt like a little kid at the dinner table, stuffing veggies into a napkin.

This is a picture of Jess, Me, and the guy who propositioned us.  Turns out, he's the manager of the bar, but his first love is writing and performing songs.  He seemed like he really wanted to hang out with us, so we invited him to sit down at our table.  While he was sitting with us, he literally broke out into song 3 or 4 times.  It was soooo awkward and sooo funny!  When he sang us a song he wrote about the city of Busan, it took all I had within me not to laugh!   And hey, don't judge me!!  It was really awkward! 


He said we all looked like actors and famous singers, so Jess asked him who we looked like, and here's the breakdown.  

Jess - Barbara Streisand (hhhmmm??)
Colin - One of the Beach Boys (yikes!!)
Me - He told me, when he looked at me, he thought  I had a "clean image."  I was a little sad, because I wanted to look like a movie star, but when he said he thinks I make everyone smile and happy and that I'm like a bright light, I decided that was a good enough compliment for me!
Kristen - He just said she looked oriental!  haha
Carlos - A mix between Leonardo DiCaprio and Dennis Rodman!  (Quite possibly the best comment of the day!)

It was getting late, so we headed back to Kristen's apartment where we watch videos of us girls singing at the Norebang last weekend, videos from the 1st week we were in Korea, and some funny videos of Kristen's students.

This morning, we cooked breakfast and then the girls headed over to Kyungsang (a University area) to do some shopping.  We ended up tucking into this darling cafe...


... It was set back behind the hustle and bustle of the shopping area, with a very tiny entrance only the locals would notice.  Kristen and I decided to endulge in some hot chocolate while Jess ordered a capuccino...


We spent a couple hours here, flipping through design magazines, photography books, and my entertainment of choice, a piece of paper and some colored pencils...  

I drew a picture of each of us with messages in Hangul (the Korean alphabet).  Who knew I was such an artist huh!?  :)



Colin ended up meeting us there and after he finished eating, he and I played a friendly little game of connect the dots together.  I was the big winner, so Colin had to pay up... a whopping 1,000 won!