Sunday, March 20th

This afternoon I met up with Ellen in Incheon, where she lives. I took the bus about 10 minutes using Ellen’s instructions for which bus, when to take it and when to get off. (She even sent me picture text messages to help. When I got to her we went out for ‘galbi’ (I’m not so sure of the actual pronunciation, but it sounds something like that). ‘galbi’ is seasoned beef or pork that you cook at the table grills. We had pork, which was really good and they always come with way too many side dishes. It is really nice taking your shoes off and sitting on a heated floor in a restaurant.

Galbi on the barbi

Some of the many side dishes.

After lunch we went across the street for some coffee and tea. Ellen had brought her laptop so she showed me all the things I have to do in and around Seoul, so I am really excited for that. The cherry blossoms are going to start blooming next month so there are lots of festivals to see them! We also discussed some American pop culture and she asked for some good TV shows to better her English. She really likes ‘Friends’, but says they talk much too fast in ‘Gossip Girl’ J . I think she was surprised that we both do similar things in our free time in our respective countries. She also taught me a lot of useful Korean phrases. One being, ‘Hankukmal motaeyo’ meaning “I don’t speak Korean”. I’m going to be using this one A LOT!