Last night, I got together with thirteen other girls for a “Sex and the City” party in Suwon.  I traveled with Kristy to Jenay’s apartment and we had appetizers and drinks before dinner.  I brought a shrimp ceviche that Ras made, while Kristy made hummus.  Mojitos and cosmopolitans were our drinks of choice.

After drinks, we walked across the street to have an dinner at the same Italian restaurant I went to for Christmas.

When dinner was done, we all headed up to the 6th floor CGV to watch “Sex and the City” together.  I tried to stay clear of reviews for the movie so I wouldn’t go into the theater with preconceptions.  To tell you the truth, the movie was surprisingly good.  Sure, it had a lot of brand name dropping, and was a little sappy, but that’s what I liked about the movie.  It was uncomplicated and fun.  Definitely a good girl movie.

While Kristy and I were in Suwon, the guys were having their own “Entourage” night.  Ras, Eddie, Jeremy, and Bart hit the town and I met up with them after returning from Suwon.  They definitely had their share of liquid fun.

My students took their final exams today, so I’m done with university classes until September.  I’ve still got to teach our university’s children camp in July, but that will be easy.  It’s four weeks, Monday through Thursday, 1 to 5pm.  I’ll take the opportunity to go workout at least five days a week, and get my fitness on.

After the exams tonight, most of the teachers went out for beer and chicken at “Mexicana Chicken”, near my apartment.  The last time I had “Mexicana Chicken” was when the World Trade Center collapsed!  At that time,  Ras and I were living in Gangneung, Gangwon-do, and we were waiting to pick up our chicken order at the restaurant.  The TV was on, and I saw some tall building with smoke billowing from the top.  The woman there spoke in broken English, telling us she had a sister in New York.  I didn’t know what the heck she was talking about, thinking she was just trying to make polite conversation because we told her we were American.  We didn’t think anything of it until our Korean friend called on Ras’ cell phone when we were almost out of the restaurant.  He said, “Turn on the TV, your country is under attack!“  WHAT!?!  We rushed home to find more information on the internet because we didn’t have a TV.  It was so surreal to be abroad when such a monumental event happened back home.  To this day, I still don’t think I have a full grasp on what happened because all my information was diluted through the internet.  I missed not having updates from the nightly news, investigative reports, in-depth stories about heroes from the event, or a constant stream of information.  I didn’t really “feel” it like Americans did at home, and I miss that.

Anyway, getting back to my topic…  Its been almost seven years since I’ve had Mexicana Chicken.  And let me tell you, it was delicious!

While there, we had a bit of a shock when an ajumma (older lady) decided to say hello.  Needless to say, she had a little too much to drink.

Now do you see why I always carry a camera with me?  You never know what life will throw at you, so be ready to capture it.

Since I’ve got a lot more free time now, I’m back to regular posting.  Check back often.

Saturday night was Ben’s housewarming party in Suwon.  This is the “Ben” I went to Spavis with, not my brother’s friend.  What’s unusual about Ben’s apartment, is that he lives one floor of a Korean house.  I’m so used to going to people’s apartments, that I almost forgot what the inside of a Korean house looks like.

This is Hank.  Ben was watching him for a friend.  Hank’s a cute and docile dog that liked to watch Ras as he was cutting up the pot roast.

Ben lives on top of a hill, right next to where the Suwon cherry blossom festival was happening.  We didn’t check out the trees during the day, but went out at night instead.  It was sometime around 1:30 am, but there were quite a few people out strolling with us.

After the party, Ras and I spent the night at Jenay’s place in Suwon.  The next morning, she made us a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, fresh fruit, a fruit shake, and coffee.  We’ve decided to unexpectedly crash at Jenay’s more often.

You can see the rest of the photos here.

Your best friend and sister hung out on Tuesday night!

Ben has been here about 4 months, and it’s his first time teaching in Korea.  He’s my younger brother’s best friend and we hung out on Tuesday for the first time since he’s been here.

Ben:  When’s the last time you talked to Joe?

Me:  Not in awhile.  He always seems busy.

Ben:  Really?  I spoke to him for 45 minutes this morning on Skype.

Me:  Oh.

Congratulations on graduating, Joe! 

(I had to hear the news from Ben!)

I finished work today at noon and had to catch a bus to Gangnam for a 3:00pm dentist appointment.  After finishing that, I returned to Gunpo and met my co-workers for a staff dinner near our school.  I ate so much meat that, had it been warmer, I would’ve had beef sweats.  Apparently, there’s money in the school budget for the staff to get together for an activity about once a month.  Previous events included the Christmas Party and dinner at Churrasco.  This month’s activity was dinner.  There’s been talk of going bowling, miniature golfing, or an outing in Yeoido for future events.

There are three foreign female teachers on our staff.  Here we are:

[Kristy (Australia), Melissa (Canada), and Me (America)]