Thanks to YouTube, below are some of the acts from the show.  I have no idea what the woman in white was singing about, but the song was damn catchy.  After the show, Thomas, Kristy, and I were singing the only word we recognized from the song: Alegria.  Before attending the show, I thought it was called “al leg ria,” as in a man’s name, a lower appendage, and the last syllable of the name Gloria.  Boy, was this American bumpkin’ ever wrong.  I was soon embarrassed to find out how much I butchered this word.  It should have rolled off my tongue as “ahl leg rhee ahhh.”  See below:

Click here to view the embedded video.

If there was to be one act we liked the least, it would be the two Mongolian contortionists.  Is it just me, or does it seem unnatural to see someone sitting on their own head???  Yikes!

Click here to view the embedded video.

After the show, we showed up at Star Chef with our party of 12.  At Star Chef, the salad is always the belle of the party:

Shrimp:  Before and After

Me: Before (dinner) and After

Definitely check out Cirque du Soleil while they’re still in town.  If nothing else, their churros are fantastic!

[View the night's Flickr album here.]

The guys went as Mexican firefighters – Jos-A (José), Jos-B, and Jos-C.

I went as a pirate.  Reardon and Barbara (pictured above) went as Hall and Oates.

Soju having wine.

To my right is Ji-won, and my left was Courtney (aka Janis Joplin).

Jim Carey and Sara Palin.

(too bad it was blurry.)

Recently, we had another night of bowling in Suwon.  Curtis came down from Seoul and joined us for our excursion.  As usual, we had a wee bit of alcohol during our games.  Throwing heaving balls while intoxicated may not be the best idea in other situations, but in this one, it was perfect.  Alcoholic consumption was done very discreetly with Kim’s Club paper cups, rum in a tea bottle, and Coke Zero.  I don’t think you could tell what we were doing, but the Koreans that did look over probably wondered why we drank so much Coke.  Our anju (side dish accompanying alcoholic beverages) was a box of fried chicken snacks.  They crunchy, made in the shape of little drumsticks and tasted like fried chicken, without the bone!  Surprisingly, they are pretty realistic tasting.  The last time I had these were 3+ years ago.  It was a nice throwback to my hagwon days when kids gave me snacks with their dirty little fingers, I smiled and pretended to save then for later, only to throw it away when they weren’t looking.

Afterward, we topped off the night with dinner around midnight.

While bowling, whenever anyone got a strike, he/she had to do a little dance.  I think I danced twice, and the number one dancer was probably Eddie.  Ras has been enjoying bowling lately and wants to start a bowling night this fall.

Here’s a video of us sitting down for dinner, with a guest appearance by Ms. Lee Hyori herself.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Most of the pictures below are from The Crazy Duck bar in Suwon.

Ras and I brought our umbrella out during Rihanna’s “Umbrella.”

The guys were crazy.

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.

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.

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.

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!)

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

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

[Check out the entire Flickr album HERE.]

After a short stop there, we made it to a small lighthouse on the coast. Lo and behold, what did we see along the path?!

A few years ago, a photographer snapped this photo of us at the Yangyang Salmon Festival, and it has been used ever since for advertisement for the festival.

We then took the backroads to some “famous” restaurant for lunch. By the looks of it, I’m on a dongdongju binge. By binge, I mean 2-3 cups.

Unfortunately, Ras didn’t fully understand what we were having for lunch. Cold noodle soup is actually one of the few Korean foods he dislikes. It tasted good, but I personally prefer hot soups too.

Outside the restaurant were beautiful rice fields. It’s harvest time.

I had forgotten my lens cap in the restaurant and ran back inside to retrieve it. While I was gone, Ras snapped this photo.

“Oh no! Raswan, watch out! The creepy serial killer in the back seat is about to slit your throat!!!!”

We finally made it to Seorak-san as the sun was setting and people were leaving the grounds. It was getting dark, but we made it there, so we decided to at least take the 8000 won cable car up.

In the picture above, you can see Sokcho city to the left, and the ocean is in the horizon. Only 10% of the trees there were ablaze with Fall’s reds, oranges, or yellows. Still, the few I saw were very beautiful.

At the top, I had some guy take a picture of the three of us. The annoying thing is, he only took ONE! Come on, it’s digital. It doesn’t cost any more money to take 5 pictures and let the owner of the camera choose the best one. Instead, I had to choose the ONLY one. (I’m sure Reardon didn’t appreciate that photo, but hey… what can I do?)

It was really cold – about 10 degrees Celsius, and REALLY windy. From the photo, it looks like I’m have a great time, but look carefully at my fist. You just might see drops of blood trickling from my hand because my fingernails are dug in so deeply into my palms, due to the excruciating cold.

The boys tried to keep from falling down the mountain.

Happy to get back in the car, we drove back to Kangneung and checked into the Donga Hotel. Rooms were 40,000 or 50,000 won, and we chose the latter. I’d highly recommend it since it’s stumbling distance home from any downtown bar or restaurant.

The night was spent at The Warehouse, where there was a pool tournament going on. Raswan beat “big Ryan,” but lost the next round.

In the above picture is Lee, Raswan, and John. Lee is Ras’ former boss of three years and the two of them started “The Warehouse” when Ras was still in Kangneung.

The next day, we decided not to go the the Yangyang Salmon festival because 1) we didn’t pre-register to catch a salmon, 2) it’s only fun when you’re actually catching a fish there, and 3) it was TOO cold. Instead, we drove out to the countryside and had coffee at the Terarosa Coffee Factory. Ras and I had been there three years ago when it first opened. Back then, they served only coffee, and no food. It has expanded quite a bit.

I couldn’t pass up dessert with coffee! Here we have tiramisu and cheese cake. The tiramisu was delicious!

After coffee, we headed for Gyeongpo Beach. Reardon told us that the minbaks and mom and pop stores had all been torn down during the time PyeongChang was bidding for the Winter Olympics. It seems none of those people on the beach had any land rights to the property, and were just squatting there.

Before: May 2006 (See the green Family Mart sign in the back?)

After: Now (The Family Mart sign is under the sun.)

We then went to the Hyundai Hotel for a glass of wine before going back home. It was a beautiful day and the view was equally as beautiful. If you haven’t been, definitely make a trip out to Kangneung. It’ll be worth it, especially in the summer.

Back home we go…

Here’s a piece of advice to end this long post. If you’re ever on a road trip with friends, playing “20 Questions” with adults in not fun. Raswan chose “Tiger Wood’s Gatorade contract” and “the Maldives,” while I chose a “horseshoe.”