Two weeks left

As of today, I only have two weeks left here in South Korea.  I can't believe how fast the past four weeks here have flown by.  It's such a bittersweet feeling right now.  I'm excited to see my family and friends back in California again but bummed to leave this place and the new friends I've met.  Well, I'll just have to enjoy the next two weeks as much as possible.

I've done so much since the last time I updated so this post might be a little long.  Let's see, first up is my trip to an amusement park called Lotte World.

Here is my ticket to Lotte World.  It's kind of like the Disneyland of South Korea.  

Part of the inside portion of the theme park.  

A huge ice rink at the bottom of this place.

Stage for performances.  

At the outside portion of Lotte World.  See how its similar to Disneyland?  

The first ride we rode, called Atlantis.  These are just some random people though.  This ride was lots of fun and the beginning caught all of us off guard.  As it started to move forward, we had maybe five seconds of cheering and all of a sudden it was blast off.  We thought it was going to ease us into the ride but instead it just went all out.  Definitely recommend this ride to start off your day here.  

So many plushies to win from the claw machine.  We were here for such a long time. 

The parade at the inside portion of Lotte World.  The guy is the guy raccoon mascot of the park named Lotty.  The parade went on for a long time and my friends and I thought it was very interesting because when we think of South Korea, it's pretty conservative, but the dancers were all dancing half naked for the most part.  Just something that caught our attention.  

Some dancers.

More dancers.  Overall I had a good time at Lotte World.  Could have stayed longer but Krystal and I had other plans in the evening.  The rides we had the chance to get on were all lots of fun and we came on a good day that wasn't too hot and not too packed.  Next up is visiting our friend Seohyun's house.  

Seohyun is the guy at the top left making the peace sign next to his face.  Going right is his mom, dad, and younger sister Jun.  Seohyun was kind enough to invite all of us to visit his family and they are all such amazing people.  His parents are very friendly and caring people and we had some fun conversations with them like guessing everyone's age, to which sibling looked like which parent.  They fed us lots of delicious food that definitely filled us up.  

It was Jun's birthday two days after the day we visited and we brought a cake for her and the family to say Happy Birthday as well as thank you for having us over.  Jun was so funny when we tried to look at her and Seohyun's pictures from when they were younger.  She was so adamant about not having us see a specific photo album.   

After hanging out at the house for an hour or so, the family took us out for some bowling.  Here is team 1 with Jun, Krystal and Seohyun. 

Team 2 with Talyn and Christina.

Team 3 with Kevin and the parents.  This team was so good, especially Seohyun's dad.  

And team 4 with me, Anna and Daniel.  We had such a fun time with the family and they provided so much for us.  Hopefully we get to see them again before we leave and give them a huge thank you present.

Next up along the week was going to a bar called Doors.  One of my students, well noona now, is a bartender and we went to her friend's work place because the drinks are cheaper here.  It was really fun to see her mix drinks for everyone.  One of the coolest drinks she made was two shots that she put on fire.  My friends Tara and Kylie got the chance to try it.  We introduced the game King's Cup to my noona and her friend and they really enjoyed the game.  

Here is me with my first drink!  Just kidding, it was non-alcoholic.  

Next day out was with my friend Alex's cousin, one of the two from the time we visited his aunt.  He took us around Gangnam for lunch and more.  Here is where we ate for lunch. 

After that, we went to one side of the Han River where my friend's Christina and Krystal rented a bike for an hour.  My friend's Talyn and Kevin also rented one out but they left by the time I could take a picture. 

One view across the river.  

A dandelion of the Korean alphabet characters.  

Rode the bike for a little bit with Anna when Krystal and Christina came back.  

From left to right: Alex's cousin, Ales, Daniel and Krystal.  

Ended the day with Alex's cousin with some drinks.  We played lots of drinking games and Alex's cousin is hard core.  When someone loses and takes the drink from the center bowl, they get to fill it up with as much as they want for the next person that loses whatever game we play.  Alex's cousin pours more than half of the bowl, which is way more than anyone else pours.  The cousin's fiance came to join us later and she's just as hard core as him.  He even said that she can out drink him which was mind blowing to us.  Do you guys like Krystal's hat?

Next up is haircut day.  My friends and I went to this place called Juno Hair for a Korean styled haircut.  It was pretty expensive but the workers were very nice.  You can't really tell what my hair looks like here but it was pretty cool.  

Here is a more recent event that happened two days ago.  This was an after school activity called Korean Traditional Music.  The people that went to this activity got to listen to multiple performances.  

The drummer that accompanied the flute player pictured above.  

String instrument called the Gayageum. 

This guy was a very good singer and entertainer. 

She was a very good singer, having to make sure her voice was heard with five instruments being played behind her.  

These four did the most interesting and up beat/full of energy performance that had lots of different kinds of rhythm going on.  

Got to play the Janggu.  

Also got to play the Gayageum.  

Yesterday I got new glasses along with Krystal, Alex and Anna.  How do I look?  They say I look more studious.  

Then me, Krystal, Alex, Anna and Daniel went to the Seven Luck Casino which is only for foreigners.  It was really fun getting to play the slots for the first time.  Too bad we couldn't take pictures inside though.

So you can see it was a pretty packed week but filled with lots of fun.  Sorry I don't really go into too much detail or description, not very good at typing all of that out, but definitely can if I speak to you about it in person.  Man it is so hot today.  Alright, stay tuned for more.  Redondo out!