Wow! 
Later that night I had plans to meet Jool for her birthday. I was kind of nervous and didn't know what to expeact, I ended up having a great night! I met Jool and her boyfriend at the corner of my street, we took a cab downtown to a noreabang (karaoke room), there I met so many of Jool's friends (Korean and foreigners). I met two foreign teachers who work with Jool (Michelle and Trevor, both American). It was so nice to get out and meet new people. Everyone was so friendly! We stayed at the noreabang for a few hours, ate dinner and DRANK. Holy moly, Koreans know how to party! None stop maektchu and soju, it was great! I was taught some new drinking games. Most of the karaoke songs were Korean but I mustered up enough courage to sing, I sang the Loco Motion and a few othe
r English songs with the other foreigners. It was so much fun - no one's glass was ever empty, in no time we were all up dancing and singing! After a few hours we made our way to another pub/restaurant, again maektchu and soju - never an empty glass. Later some of us decided to make our way to Speakeasy - a fairly popular bar downtown, specifically populare with foreigners. There we continued to drink and dance. I was able to meet a lot of people that up until that day I had only been in touch with via facebook and e-mail. One of Jool's friend's, a Korean girl (Ally) lives about a three minute walk from me, which was great because I was able to share a cab home with her and Michelle. Downtown was fabulous, so busy there was so much going on. I didn't get home until 4:30am when I did I went for a short walk around my neighbourhood.
Saturday Wendy took me downtown on the bus. I was so happy to learn how to get there! It's simple: bus from the corner of my street, 1000 won, about 15 minutes and voila I am downtown! Downtown is insane there are so many stores and vendors on the streets! It's like there are no backlanes, shops, restaurants and bars everywhere! Wendy and I wandered around, she really wanted to buy me something but I told her she didn't have to do that, I felt bad. But in the end she bought me a cover for my cellphone. So I bought her a pair of character socks, socks are very popular here. Before we took the bus home we took sticker pictures together. I am lucky to have such a great student, I leaned so much from Wendy.
Later that night I had plans to meet Jool for her birthday. I was kind of nervous and didn't know what to expeact, I ended up having a great night! I met Jool and her boyfriend at the corner of my street, we took a cab downtown to a noreabang (karaoke room), there I met so many of Jool's friends (Korean and foreigners). I met two foreign teachers who work with Jool (Michelle and Trevor, both American). It was so nice to get out and meet new people. Everyone was so friendly! We stayed at the noreabang for a few hours, ate dinner and DRANK. Holy moly, Koreans know how to party! None stop maektchu and soju, it was great! I was taught some new drinking games. Most of the karaoke songs were Korean but I mustered up enough courage to sing, I sang the Loco Motion and a few othe
r English songs with the other foreigners. It was so much fun - no one's glass was ever empty, in no time we were all up dancing and singing! After a few hours we made our way to another pub/restaurant, again maektchu and soju - never an empty glass. Later some of us decided to make our way to Speakeasy - a fairly popular bar downtown, specifically populare with foreigners. There we continued to drink and dance. I was able to meet a lot of people that up until that day I had only been in touch with via facebook and e-mail. One of Jool's friend's, a Korean girl (Ally) lives about a three minute walk from me, which was great because I was able to share a cab home with her and Michelle. Downtown was fabulous, so busy there was so much going on. I didn't get home until 4:30am when I did I went for a short walk around my neighbourhood. At 2:00 this afternoon, my co-worker Sunny and her sister Jean picked me up. They took me to Damyang - a county about a half hour from Gwangju. Damyang is known for it's bamboo, we visitied the Bamboo Park (http://www.lifeinkorea.com/Travel2/scholla/416). When we first got there I noticed a white man with two Korean guys, they Koreans saw me and started tapping the white guy and gesturing towards me - so we stopped and talked for a bit. Sunny, Jean and I watched a Korean Folk Performance, during which I received a surprise phone call from JENNY!!! It was so nice to hear from her but the music was so loud and it was an awkward time to talk (sorry the conversation didn't last longer Jen). Then we wandered around the paths of the bamboo forest. It was beautiful! It was a very hot and sunny day but the bamboo created nice shade for our walk. The paths were rough at times, they were steep and had a lot of rocks and I was amazed that a lot of the Korean women I saw there were still sporting their high heeled shoes. I thought it was insane that they could handle the paths in them.
We had lunch at a noodle house that was outdoors, it was nice. Korean portions are a lot bigger than I am used to so I have a hard time finishing any meal, this makes people think that I don't like the food and they worry that I am not eating - I spend a lot of time reassuring them that I am fine, I like the food, I am full.
On our way back to Gwangju we went to the Gyeongyeolsa Shrine, a memorial for General Jeong Ji (http://bukgu.gwangju.kr/language/english/B_culture3.htm). It was also beautiful. Korean is a very beautiful country, very green and lush with beautiful mountains! Then we drove around Mudeung Mountain, a well known mountain in Gwangju.
Sunny and Jean are both very sweet! They were going to show me around one of the University campuses but I was so tired from having been out so late the night before so we decided to go home and they agreed to show me another time!
Not long after I got home Michelle called and invited me out for chicken and beer with her and Ally. Ally's mother, Grace and the two girls picked me up and we went to a restaurant not far from my place. We ate fried chicken, drank maektchu, Michelle and I had a chance to learn/practice Korean. It was great, Grace (our Korean mother) is a very nice lady! I gave her a pair of earrings that I made she was very excited and put them on right away "Beautiful!"
Side note: I have pictures and video to share but my camera's battery is dead and I need to find an adapter to plug it in and charge it - stay tuned!
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