Lunar New Years!

Hi guys! So I thought I should make a blog post talking about my half way point in Korea. It is only half way for my work contract so I might come back for another year afterwards but it means I get to go visit home and family in 6 months. I really look forward to this.

Anyways we just had one of the biggest holidays in Korea, the Lunar New Years. Korea isn't quite as lucky as China in terms of the holiday. Chinese people take 2-3 weeks off work but in Korea we only get about 3 days off. And we are pretty unlucky because it fell on a weekend so really most people only got 1 day off work. (I got 2 since I work Saturday ^^) Anyways I actually didn't do anything that cultural or anything like normal :/ but I did have a really great time. Also my camera ran out of batteries the day of so I didn't get any pictures :( :(

1st Day:
So Saturday, February the 13 was pretty fun because I went to meet my friends Nikki and 형주 (Hyeong-Ju) in a pretty fun area of Seoul called Times Square. We went to watch a movie and then we just hung out in the area and had coffee. But the point of me telling you this is because Korea is really different with Valentines day.
Yeah, In Korea Valentines day is reversed. The woman is supposed to give the man chocolate and the like while the men aren't supposed to do anything really. There is another day (i should probably figure out when it is) called 'White day' (i think) that is an equivalent to the Western Valentines day. And normally Lunar New Years is not the same day as Valentines day, it just happened that way this year.
So a little bit of funny and a little bit of idiot Dustin. My friends gave me a nice little chocolate cake from Dunkin' Donuts (funny right?) with a card on the top. But what did I do? Well its kinda comical. So I read the card but I thought it was pretty well lodged into the top of the box but it wasn't and I lost their nice card :/ I considered going back to Time Square to look for it but I was on one of the last buses of the night so I would have had to pay a Taxi driver like 70$ for a ride all the way back to Ilsan afterwards and my chance of finding it was slim ; _ ; *Fail*
Korea has a lot of people so it could have been bumped off anywhere. (not done with the fails yet, remember the cake too. I will come back to that)

Second Day:
So the next day I went to church. It was lunar new years day and I didn't realize but most people felt bad that I didn't have a family to be with because it is a very family oriented holiday. I personally didn't feel bad at all because I haven't ever celebrated lunar new years. I felt bummed back on Christmas but this holiday I didn't even think about it since it isn't my holiday.

A friend at church who I think was probably going to just meet his girlfriend for the day (it was valentines day) instead invited me and a group of other people to join him for a really fun day. I think he did all that so I wouldn't be lonely. I tried to show him he didn't have to but well, he was very generous.
So we went out and had one of my favorite meals, 덝갈비 hmmm actually that is probably terrible spelling and not even the right name... But anyways it is a giant stew with noodles, chicken, potatoes and carrots. It is very spicy and I *LOVE* it. sooo tastey. (except I think I ate the throat of the chicken on accident ; _ ; )
So after that we went to one of the tallest buildings in the area and found this secret little sky lounge place and had coffee. I think it was my friends plan to go there with his girlfriend alone but I really enjoyed it because it looked out over most all of Seoul. It was really beautiful and I had really good conversation with the other people. Although our communication ability is a little limited.

And then we hit the fun part! 노래방!!!! Singing room! So that is a old traditional Korean custom. When friends gather and eat together afterwards they sing together. And we rocked out for an hour and a half in a singing room. I love them! Oh, and to my parents, 'no there was no alcohol.' I don't like singing after having alcohol because my throat doesn't work then. There is nothing like a Korean singing room experience. I wish everyone could try it.
So that ended that day and I went home very happy. The original plan was to go to one of the big touristy area's of Seoul and watch a parade and traditional Korean things but well I had much more fun with those friends than going sightseeing alone.

Third Day:
So this day I took it easy most the time because I was really tired from staying out so late and my voice was pretty much gone from singing too much but I got Nikki to come over later with Nari. We went out for a Korean snack that I really enjoy (although normally only kids and girls love) called 떡볶이 Duck-Boh-Gi. It is basically like pounded rice in a really spicy sauce. Hmmmm. I cant really describe it, but it is awesome.
Then I bet Nikki she couldn't beat me at shooting guns. So we went to a little airsoft shooting range (common here) and shot at targets. They are in a little arcade like place, I am at a loss as to how to describe these places but thy have a batting cage normally and airsoft shooting among other odd games I havent seen before.
Anyways... she totally destroyed me :( Infact she did so good that she won one of the stuffed animals for having a high enough score and she gave it to me ; _ ; Well at least I learned that when we get in a fight, to make sure it isnt a gun fight.
It was pretty late at night so we went back to my place and watched movies and did a puzzle until almost 4am. Yeah we did a 500 piece puzzle in 1 night! how awesome is that.
Oh i almost forgot about the cake.

So Nikki asked me if I had any of the cake left for us all to share and eat but of course what did I do the night before :( I ate the whole thing ^_^ So instead of eating the cake she got for us together I totally ate it myself the night before (LOL)*insert swear words* ah well. I didn't think she would be coming over Monday or I would have saved it.


Well the next day at work I was a little sleepy but I survived.

So next weekend is my birthday and I cant wait! That Tuesday Nikki and Nari invited me snowboarding again Friday night! Time feels like it is passing sooooo slow because I want it to be Friday night already. Well, almost there. It is Thursday afternoon now.