My birthday this year was pretty low-key, thank God! Let's just say that my last two birthdays had less than spectacular endings. SO I ended up eating a lot of meat with friends and then getting to bed around 1:30 A.M., which I was very thankful for.
The next day we ate at a local spanish tapas restaurant called Three Sister's. It is one of best restaurants in Seoul that actually offers European style food. Most Italian restaurants in Korean put a sweetener in spaghetti, but fortunately Three Sister's makes pasta just like home! Thanks to Jay and Sue, we splurged and ordered drinks and multiple tapas, including sauteed mushrooms in garlic and wine, spanish meatballs, an orange salad, and spaghetti with tomatoes and basil. It was absolutely delicious and a great way to end the weekend!
On Saturday Leslie and I headed out to Incheon, a port city about 20 miles to the east of Seoul. Well, technically Incheon is a separate city, but actually it is just the place where the sea stops the urban jungle of Seoul.
Incheon has a small and quaint Chinatown that Leslie and I wanted to check out. In fact, its South Korea's only Chinatown thanks to the Chinese alliance with the North during the war. It was basically a few streets bathed in a sea of Communist red paint, lanterns, the ubiquitous Chinatown lampposts, and entrance gates. We found a dumpling restaurant and had delicious dumpling soup. After stuffing ourselves on dumplings, we took a short stroll, might I add a very cold stroll, around Chinatown. We were even able to see part of the sea, which was surprisingly refreshing. Being constantly surrounded by gigantic buildings, we tend to forget what open space feels like. It was very enjoyable to say the least...
The Korean winter has finally arrived and it is extremely cold. Even walking around with long johns under jeans, a down jacket, hat and gloves, you get stung from the bitterly cold wind. Thankfully it doesn't rain or snow that much here, so it won't be a wet winter. Something we always get a kick out of are how the Korean women dress. Us Americans thought that the usually fashionable Korean women would actually cover themselves up during the winter time. To our surprise, the Korean women still feel the need to impress by wearing tights, even shorter skirts and high heals, and jackets that barely cover the body. Let's just say bundling up for the cold is so out of fashion in Korea.
Fortunately, we are getting Christmas day off! Our head instructors fought long and hard and finally convinced our boss that getting Christmas day off would boost morale. Unfortunately, even though she agreed to give us the day off, she is making us come in on Saturday to make up for the missed classed. It was a little disappointing, but at least we can celebrate Christmas on the actual day!
Merry Christmas everyone and safe travels!
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