Late Wednesday night (4/30): Simon and I picked up Nikolas and Jacob at Incheon Airport. It was an interesting night, getting them to men's guest house in Hongdae.
Thursday (5/1): We walked around Hongdae, trying to figure out the area. Then, Simon and Jason brought the boys to Kyobo bookstore and a palace. We went out for tonkatsu.
Friday (5/2): The boys and I went to InKAS to pay their housing bill, which was ridiculously cheap. We're very fortunate that such an organization exists. Then, we met Bri for lunch and went to Insadong. We bought dragon's beard candy and a few other gifts. We went to the Cheonggyecheon Stream. It's a man-made river that runs through Dongdaemun. Apparently, the natural river was taken out to build high rises, etc. Then, the people of Seoul, said, nope, we want a river back. After the joys of the river, we went down to Gangnam and met Benjamin. We ate samgyeopsal and introduced the boys to soju.
Saturday (5/3): The boys went mountain hiking with Brianna and Benjamin in the morning. They said they had a really good time, but their legs hurt a great deal. So, once they were done with that, we-Jason, Aeryoung, Simon, and I-met the them at Yongsan Electronics Market. The boys bought 16gb flashdrives for $65. It was pretty much a steal. I had no idea that 16gb flashdrives even exists. Apparently, they're made up to 32gb. We had chicken cooked in front of us. Let me tell you, it was delicious! After lots of food and soju, we went to the Beer Castle and had a good time together. Jason passed out in the bar and Aeryoung fell down a flight of stairs when we left. After the lovely bar, we all went to a carnival shooting game. It was fairly amusing to see intoxicated people try to aim and hit targets.
Sunday (5/4): I slept, rested, and cleaned my room.
Monday - Children's Day (5/5): There were no classes. Woot. The boys, Bri, Ben, and I met up in Itaewon. We ordered 3 tailored shirts each for the boys. Sooooooo cheap! We all went to Coex Mall and looked around. Then, we hit up the aquarium in the mall. The goldfish were my favorite, I think. Although, it could be a tie with the two-headed turtle.
Tuesday (5/6): Nikolas, Jacob and I went to Lotte World, which wasn't exactly close. Although, we didn't go on any rides, so it ended up not being nearly as fun as we had hoped. We went shopping and got Jacob some pants with a $10 discount! For dinner, Jason brought Aeryoung, Simon, Nikolas, Jacob, and me to Apgujeong to meet his cousin. She brought paid for our ridiculously overpriced Chinese meal, then had us walking great lengths to go to a ridiculously overpriced bar.
Wednesday (5/7): Simon and I brought the boys to a sushi-buffet. We were all stuffed.
Thursday (5/8): I brought the boys to InKAS so Jacob could get a $10 haircut at a nice salon. After I was done with work, we went to eat an amazing bulgolgi dinner. Really, it was fantastic. See my food entry.
Friday (5/9): The boys and I met up with Brianna to get Jacob's pants hemmed. We ate at Subway in Hongdae. Slooooow workers... Anyways, the pants were $5 a piece - so cheap! Then, the four of us went to an arcade in Sinchon. I haven't been to an arcade in a really long time. I must admit that I had a lot of fun and can easily see myself being addicted to those games. The boys went down to Gangnam with Bri. I stayed in Edae and hung out with Ben (he's the kid who fell off the balcony while highly intoxicated, stayed in the hospital for a few days and did a fair amount of damage to himself).
Saturday (5/10): We had planned to go to New Songdo City, but unfortunately, we didn't wake up in time to really spend a decent day there. So, we ate pork cutlet (tonkatsu) for lunch and headed to Changdeok Palace. The bad thing about the palace is that they only allow tours, and the English tour had over 75 people, in addition to our poor-English-speaking guide. The palace was huge, and I wish we could have wandered on our own. After the tour, we went back to Hongdae to pick up Jacob's pants. Then, we ate at Mr. Pizza. Of course, the boys had to try Korean pizza. Unfortunately, I keep forgetting to take a picture when I have decent pizza.
Sunday (5/11): The weather was perfect. It was warm with a nice breeze. We took a bus to New Songdo City - by Incheon Airport, about 75 minutes away from my school. It's an international city, privately funded by Americans. It was really cool to see a brand new city being built. It had pathways, parks, trees, and grass. The air was clean, and we could actually breathe.
Monday - Buddha's Birthday (5/12): I did homework for most of the afternoon, enjoying my day of no classes. Then, I met the boys in Itaewon at 5:30pm. They were bringing back their shirts, because there were stains. Nikolas also had his first fitting for his suit. When we got there, They said that they couldn't find Nikolas' suit for the initial fitting, so we should come back at 8. They also told us they would have the shirts dry-cleaned and ready by 8pm. So, we were slightly upset, but hoped for a discount. We walked around, did minimal shopping and at the Hard Rock Cafe. Then, we went back for the fitting and to pick up the shirts. Nikolas had his fitting, but there were no shirts. They told us to come back again the next night to pick up the suit, and Nikolas could have a free tie.
Tuesday (5/13): I met Jacob and Nikolas in Namdaemun Market. It was unfortunate that it was raining fairly hard the entire time we were there. After walking around with wet feet, we decided to go somewhere else. We decided to back to Yongsan Electronics Market. No luck finding anything to buy. We ate a late lunch of bulgogi fried rice that was not good. We got in a cab and wanted to go back to Hongdae. The cab driver brought us to Hongje, which is really far north. Then, I was like, WHAT?! No, we want HongDAE. So, the total cab fair was over $16, but he only asked for 10, which was really nice of him.
At night, I brought a suitcase packed with a lot of stuff to the boys. Then, the three of us went back to Itaewon to pick up the suit and shirts. There, I 'talked business' with the tailor, basically asking for a discount on the suit, for all the extra time and traveling that we did. He said that the suit was a set price by his boss, but he would throw in an extra tie and make me a tailored shirt. How sweet is that?! So, I get a free shirt. That's a good enough discount for me.
After all this business, Jacob met Angie (his friend from high school) there. Nikolas and I went to meet Bri, Ben, Caitlin, and Mike at a restaurant in Gangnam. We hung out there and then Jacob came later. Nikolas and Jacob gave Bri & Ben, Jason & Aeryoung, and Simon & me gift certificates for the movie theater. I thought that was soooooo thoughtful of them.
