Catching Up

With less than 12 weeks left in Korea, Michael and I are pumped to do some stuff before we leave! We've had a blast in our temporary home and are planning some more things before March, I swear! Last month was our surprise vacation and we didn't do much. A lot was planned, but there were some set backs. We were going to go to an ice fishing festival, but it was cancelled due to Hoof and Mouth Disease scares. We were planning on skiing, but we couldn't figure out how to get a shuttle in Chuncheon to a ski resort. Oh well.

So let's back up and I'll tell you what were up to the week of our winter vacation.

We worked Christmas Eve until about 8:30 and were too hungry to wait to make dinner so we hit up Yumsem, our favorite fast food restaurant. Pork Cutlet with Omelet for Michael and some Dwenjang Chiggae (tofu and seafood stew) for me. We went to Paris Baguette and bought a cake, because they are just too cute.

Christmas came and we went to Dunkin Donuts for breakfast and took them to the movie theatre with us. Yup, here in Korea, you can bring your own snacks to the movies. We saw this movie, which was pretty good.

When we got home, we pretty much became bums for the day. We gave each other presents: a headset for Michael, leggings and wristies for me. We watched such holiday classics as A Christmas Story and Trading Places. We ate an egg drop soup hybrid that we like to call corn soup. It's a classic at our place.

Michael and Gizmo testing out the new headset.

We stayed up late to talk to family and watch everyone open presents. Thanks parents and siblings, for your gifts and your willingness to open each present in front of the camera for us to see. We missed everyone, but we were glad to see some familiar faces. I gotta say, it didn't really feel like Christmas this year.

On the 28th, we headed to Seoul. We were excited to take the new train, which connected Chuncheon to Seoul's subway system. It's pretty awesome. On an express train, we can arrive in Seoul in only 50 minutes. Unfortunately, we can't yet figure out which trains are express or standard, so we take a chance of having to make 15 stops, therefore extending the ride time to an hour and 25 minutes. Either way, it's still shorter than the slow train! The other thing about the change is that reserved seats are not available. It works just like the subway - the first one to the seat gets to sit in it. We were lucky enough to have a seat both coming and going.

We headed to just outside Itaewon for some burgers at Jacoby's but we didn't realize they were closed for lunch during the week. Bummer. We walked down the street and ate at Le Vert instead. It was okay, slightly disappointing since Jacoby's is ranked #1 in Seoul for their burgers and Michael was expecting a delicious hamburger.

After that, we went over to the National Palace. I'm not sure if it was because of the holidays or the weather, but the palace was closed. The museum was still open and so we checked that out. We got to see some old relics from Korea's imperial days and even some random Vietnam stuff. We also got to see some Royal cars from back in the day.

This is some sort of self-propelled water clock.

This was a pretty good museum, although a bit too much for Michael and I to take in. There were rows and rows of royal seals and documents (all in Korean, of course) and about 1/4 of the things were just replicas. We enjoyed the stamp making station at the end and ended up with a couple of neat postcards for my collection.

Our last stop was to Myeongdong, Korea's famous shopping district. Can you believe we have been here almost a year and just now are getting to some of the more touristy parts of Korea? It was starting to get dark and it was a pretty cold day so after taking in the sites a little bit (and stopping to shop at H&M), we decided to eat at Mr. Pizza.

A four-story Dunkin' Donuts

I was surprised to see that Mr. Pizza operated the exact same way as Pizza Hut. There's a salad bar and the pizzas are nearly as expensive as Pizza Hut's. One nice thing about restaurants here is that they let you share. When Michael ordered a Coke Zero (specifically saying one), the waitress brought it out with two straws, fully expecting both of us to drink for the price of one!
Their motto is a little weird.

"Love for Women"

On the second of this year, we went to our own Myeongdong in Chuncheon. We did a little shopping and saw Tron at Primus. It was our first experience at Primus Theaters and will probably be our last. The screens are smaller and the seating is not as nice. The 1000 won discount doesn't really make up for the lack of awesomeness. We are CGV whores.

Gizmo "re-enacting" Tron.

All in all it was a nice, relaxing vacation filled with chocolate and heated floors. I was going a little stir-crazy in the end and I don't think I can handle any more "stay-cations". I was actually excited to go back to work on the third. Time off is meant for adventure! We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and we'll be seeing many of you in only a couple of months!