Wow, I've officially been here for 10 days and I can tell you I have settled in well. I have had a super busy week and seen so much and met so many new people. The last 10 days have just flown blown and I can tell that 1 year is going to be over so fast. Everyday I find out about a new things to go and see, or meet a new person, or try a new food that I don't know if I could live without.
Let me recap on the last week.
Friday I had to go to the dentist to get my stitches taken out and because the girls felt sorry for me they ordered Mc Donald's in for lunch. Yep that's right you can get any type of food delivered here! It was exactly the same as home, except you can order spicy burgers and shrimp burgers!
Friday night I went out with Betty and Lisa right into the center of Gangnam. Seoul really does come alive at night and I was overwhelmed with the bright lights, the sheer amount of people and the fast pace that everything moved. We walked for a good 10 minutes from the subway stop and the whole time we were in a sea of people. I'm not sure that I will ever get used to the volume of people and traffic that swarm the streets and sidewalks around here. By the time we found the restaurant I was glad to go inside and escape the havoc of outside. As soon as we sat down we were served water and our side dishes. The girls ordered a seafood and meat dish to share and it was delivered within minutes. Can't believe I used to wait between 15 and 30 minutes for a meal back home!
Side dishes and the induction element that we cook the food on.
Lisa and I at the restaurant.
Two types of broth, a mild beef stock and a spicy one, we dropped the meats and veges into the boiling broths until they were cooked.
Crab! YUM
Prawns!
After all the meat and veges have been eaten the waitress adds rice and it soaks up the broth. Absolutely delicious and means you don't waste a drop.
After tea, we went to a coffee shop (Twosome) to meet up with Lisa's boyfriend.
I was told you couldn't get this stuff here!
Check out those cakes
Lisa, Betty and I. I'm loving the chilled Americano's they are heaven on my sore mouth.
Perfect end to a Friday night.
Saturday
Lisa invited me to her sisters friends wedding and she picked me up at 11am so I got a nice lie in. We caught a cab to a nearby suburb which is actually famous for plastic surgery. I have noticed that Korean woman are very obsessed by the way they look and will pay a lot of money so that they can have more western features. It is crazy! They are also very fashion forward and are always dressed to the nines with perfect makeup and hair.
I got to see a lot of the advertisements for the various clinics as we got lost in the city center, here is one.
We finally found the church and had to sign in and was given an envelope. Lisa explained that as a wedding gift you give cash to the bride or groom. After she had handed this in we made our way upstairs to the chapel. This wedding was not a traditional Korean wedding but rather a Catholic wedding. The bride was wearing a modern dress and walked down the aisle to the wedding march. The church reminded me of the chapel at school, very similar with all the Catholic relics. The ceremony was very long, half way through Lisa got bored so we made our way downstairs to the dinning hall. I was surprised to see that it was almost full with guests and realised that over half of the guests were not even watching the ceremony!!!!
Lunch was amazing! I'll let the photos do the talking.
It was wonderful meeting Lisa's family and being invited to such a personal event.
Lisa offered to assist me home, but I decided I would brave the subways alone, I had to try it sooner or later. So we parted ways and I had a subway map and her mobile number in case I got lost. I successfully got to my station after changing lines twice and it was very straight forward with the help of the map.
Busy, busy.
Lol
Would you fancy a beer or a kgb. For sale in the dairy!
I totally forgot I was underground until I came across this with gas masks in it!
Just one of the many shoe shops!
It was finding my way out of the station that was the difficult part! Gangnam has 12 exits and is a full on shopping mall 3 stories under the ground. I got lost for a good hour just wondering from shop to shop, checking out prices and trying new foods and drinks. When I finally found my way to my exit this was waiting for me at the top of the stairs. Perfect saying, why worry! I'm not on any time limit.
