Friday Night

Tonight we took a bus and then the subway to Bucheon Station to meet Kristina and Katie for dinner. The bus was interesting. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to hold on. We had to stand. It was pretty crowded but according to Jennifer the buses often get even more crowded.

We got there before the others so we walked around for a bit in the market place. When Kristina and Katie arrived we walked to a Korean BBQ restaurant. We had to wait 20 minutes or so for a table. There was a little porch outside so we sat there. It was really fun to people watch. There would be groups of people passing by us. One of the people would notice us foreigners and turn to tell the rest of the group. Then the others would all turn to stare at us. They think we're all blonde even though some of us aren't blonde at all. Then there was the guy on stilts promoting a new restaurant across from the BBQ. He made balloon hearts for Katie and Kristina.

These places have the grill in the center of the table and you go get raw meats and veggies to cook. It was really very good although a lot of work. We would dip slices of meat in some sort of sauce and put it on a lettuce or sesame leaf topped with a whole garlic clove and rice and eat. It was very good. I'm quite sure I've never consumed so much garlic. I guess that's why that man had a truck load of it today. We also had more kimchi. It's very spicy and I'm not sure how much I like it. They said it has to grow on you. If you could take smaller bites I think I would like it more but you can't really cut it with chop sticks (metal ones). Speaking of which... I'm very bad with them. Occasionally I would get the hang of them only to lose my grip. Some lady in the restaurant saw me I guess and brought us forks.

Jen's friend Abby had to work late so she met us after dinner. We decided to go for coffee or dessert. Jen saw a sign for a place so we just decided to go for it. It was really, really nice. Each group got their own private room. We had to take off our shoes and sit on pillows. We ordered coffees which were kinda expensive. The desserts were actually cheaper on the menu as were their sandwiches. Turned out that apparently dessert came with a drink for free. We didn't get that so we ordered just 3 desserts for the 5 of us to share. Tiramisu, Mocha cake, and Chocolate cake. Everything was really pretty. They put designs in the foam of the lattes--hearts, leaves, even pigs. The cakes weren't the best. The tiramisu had the cheese but dry lady fingers. They were not bad just not great.

It was 1 am by the time we left and got a cab to go back to the apartment. That was quite an experience. He was an older driver but by far the most aggressive driver we've had. He got us home quickly though and fortunately didn't hit anybody in the process. He used his horn a lot too. We plan to get up early tomorrow for the Seoul City Bus Tour so off to bed for now.