The end of June

I haven’t had much to say in a while, but I haven’t stopped enjoying Korea. I once heard someone compare blogging to going to the gym. I thought this was a great comparison because once you stop, it’s hard to start back up again. I’ve almost rounded out my fourth month here and made some really great friends. Andi and I met on our trip to Yeosu and Geomundo and have hung out a couple times since. We spent one beautiful Saturday afternoon riding bikes through Yeoido. There is a great bike path that follows the Han River and has great sites and a ton of convenience stores to pick up treats along the way.

The Han River and swan paddle boats

After our bike ride Andi introduced me to a popular Korean soup called Sundubu jigae. It’s a very spicy soup that comes out boiling hot and you drop raw eggs in there and they cook with the soup. After our dinner we met up with another friend, Andrew, in Hongdae. We somehow convinced him to check out the Hello Kitty Café. I guess I had sold him on their delicious hot chocolate! After Andrew had enough girl talk in a sickeningly pink café he convinced us to go somewhere else. This was a day of first because then I tried my first Soju bomb.

Korean loving in the Hello Kitty Cafe

Our desserts

Giant pitcher of beer

Andrew making Soju bombs - Coke, Soju and beer - not as terrible as I thought it sounded. The Coke helps for a sweet taste as the end.

The following weekend I met up with Andi again in Hongdae. I’ve been told I haven’t ever had a “proper” night out in Hongdae. This is because Hongdae is known for their partying, clubbing and staying out well past when the sun comes up. None of these things are appealing to me and I feel like I wouldn’t regret never experiencing this type of night so we just got some dinner and coffee and chatted, just the two of us.

We then met up with Andi‘s boyfriend, Aaron, and some of his friends at a local darts bar. We ended the night in a norae bong, which is Korean karaoke. This is a very popular late night activity for Koreans. There are norae bongs everywhere and you walk in and get a private karaoke room for your party. There are couches, a big flat screen tv and hundreds of Korean and English songs to choose from. It was a great way to end a fun night! I’m not a singer, but I’ll hit up the norae bong again!