Prostitution in Yeongdo

So, as it turns out, the "Coffee Shop" on the 2nd floor next door to my apartment isn't actually a coffee shop at all... but rather a whore house!  I had no idea!  Yesterday, the police came to raid it when a fight broke out!

Keep it classy Korea!

Goodbye Gilly...

In just 3 days, my dear friend Gill will be moving back to South Africa.  Uuuugghhhh!  Another friend comes and goes.  Her plan is to go home and help her mom with some things for 3 months, and then come back in August... but since nothing is set in stone and there's no job in place (yet), it made last night an extra emotional night for her... and me! 

We all met in Kyungsung at Shabana, an Indian restaurant, to have a big send-off-get-together-sit-down-dinner for her!

Then we walked down the street to Eva's for some drinks and dancing! 

Erika (in the red dress) had come to Eva's early to decorate a table at Eva's. She had bought gourmet cupcakes, had about 7 bottles of champagne and glasses out for us, and made a million little origami stars to decorate the table.  Can you tell we're all teachers?!! haha  Gill's friends from work had stolen her computer and made a music mix for the night of some of Gill's favorite songs!  As we walked in, Diddy and Skylar Grey's song "I'm coming home" was playing on the speakers.  Made me sad....

My beautiful, beautiful Gilly!

I’ll miss you Gilly!

Lunch with Serry's mom!

This afternoon, Aaron and I rode scoot over to see Serry and bring her some treats!  We do this at least once every weekend, and as many times as we think about it during the week!  We love, love, love this dog!  Other than Cash (Aaron's dog back home) she's the best!  Serry spends her days tied to a 3 foot rope in front of this tiny shop... but she doesn't seem to mind.  Everyone who walks by stops to love on her, so I'd like to think she's got it pretty good here! 

Serry's mom (human mom!) has grown to love Aaron and I because we come see Serry so much... and although we can't always understand each other, we try our best to communicate in Korean, and she loves that we try!  Almost everytime we come to see Serry, she gives us bottles of blended coffee or a bottle of water, but this time she asked Aaron and I to go to lunch with her!  :)  

We said yes, so with an excited look on her face, she quickly locked up the door to her shop and took us to this restaurant a couple doors down! 

... where we ate this!   She was so proud to show us off to her girlfriends who ran the restaurant.

Introducing Serry's mom!   She is very sweet and has loved on Aaron and I like we're her own.  She is divorced and lives all alone in an apartment above her shop.  Her son, who's also 30 years old lives about 2 hours away, so I think she probably gets really lonely.  We're more than happy to be her stand-in kids! :) 

It's moments like these that remind me why I love living in Korea!   

My lil' garden!

Just over a month ago, Aaron and I planted seeds for a future little veggie and herb garden... and some flowers too for my windowsil! 

I have an awesome rooftop at my apartment that I can access at all times of the day and night, so the herb and veggie babies live there and soak up the sun all day long!  I am terrible at taking care of plants, but luckily, Aaron grew up with a grandfather who owned a nursery and a mom with a big garden, so he knows exactly what to do to tend to them!  He's got the green thumbs I've always wanted I guess, or maybe it's just patience!

This afternoon, we went up on the rooftop to check on the lil babies and hang out for a minute!

These little guys were all planted from seeds we found in America during Christmas break.  They are dill, cilantro, and basil, and they were officially "born on April 21st, 2011!"   I'm especially excited about the basil...  Looks like we'll be making PESTO in no time!

The one I'm most excited about though is the cherry tomato plant!  Look at this guy go!  He's been growing like a weed and currently has 17 buds, which will produce yummy cherry tomatos in about 2-3 weeks!

I think these should be ready to devour by next week if the sun stays out!

Who would have thought you could have a garden in the middle of the city?!

Maroon 5 with the girls!

For my 30th birthday, and to celebrate Gill's last week of living in Korea, we went halvsies and bought tickets to see Maroon 5 in Busan! 

I was so excited when she brought up the idea, and I of course have been anticipating this night since we bought the tickets earlier this month!  To be honest, I don't know all of their songs or follow them closely, but to see a live concert, with English music, is enough to get me excited!  Last concert I went to was over 3 years ago, so I was long overdue! :)

She will be loved:

The concert was held at KBS Hall, which is one of Busan's largest arenas, but still felt a little bit like a glorified High School auditorium! There were no screens or big firework displays, just good ole' Adam Levine and the band, which was actually really cool!  It felt kind of grass roots-ish, like we were seeing them perform before they became huge! 

 I never knew this before, but Adam Levine is seriously effeminate! I actually picked up my iphone in the middle of the concert and checked to see if he liked girls!  Which, he does!

Outside, in the corridor of the Hall, you could buy snacks, like dried squid (eeehh) and flattened-dried fish (double eeehh), grilled baby potatoes (yummm), and these little light sticks, which most people had and were swinging around all night! 

 

 Besides the great music and extremely entertaining Adam Levine, experiencing an English concert, surrounded by Koreans was a hilarious experience!  When Adam said anything in Korean, they went totally crazy!  Here he is saying, "Kamsamnida" (thank you)!

There were people all around us who had printed out the English lyrics to every Maroon 5 song, and were holding them with tiny flash lights, so they could sing along!  The girl in front of us had actually written the Korean translation and highlighted the chorus's!  Kinda made us all laugh a little!

At one point, during the chorus of one of the popular songs, about 100 Koreans, sititing all around the arena, threw long strands of toilet paper up in the air, making it look like streamers were falling!  I'm guessing this was a preplanned thing that was anticipated for weeks, and spoken about on the internet!  Creative, Korea, very creative!

After the guys all bowed and went off stage, everyone started yelling "Anchor! Anchor! Anchor!"  Oh Koreans!  I love them and their darling accents!  Luckily, the guys from the band could see past the accents to realize they were asking for an encore, and came back out to play another 5 songs!

Literally, as soon as the guys stepped of the stage and the concert was over, the audio people began playing music over the speakers.  Their song of choice?!  The Supreme's version of Baby Love!   RANDOM!!!

Last night was the perfect way to spend one of our last nights together before these two both move back to South Africa on Wednesday!  I'll miss you!!!