Another week ends...

Melidy, Adam, D and A @ Coffee

 It's that time of year again...teachers are finishing their contracts and preparing to go back to wherever they came from. This is sad for us because that means Adam and Melidy are leaving us. (Adam is actually already gone, but I'm late posting this blog.) 

Melidy and I have decided that we are going to have a "Sisterhood of the traveling Photo Album" as a way of staying in touch with each other. This is our first photo for the book...one of our last nights together doing what we do best, eating and talking and shopping for hair accessories. 

Melidy is getting married in a couple of weeks so we couldn't send her off without first having a bachelorette party. Just remember that we live in Korea, without party city, so we had to be creative. First, we began the day with a ladies brunch at our sweet and hugely pregnant friend Amy's house. Tea, coffee, whipped cream (13.00$ for one can!!), stuffed banana french toast (via me), cucumber dip, quiche, fruit salad and much more. After giving Melidy marriage advice and sharing our wedding memories with her, we went to the bus stop for our ride into Seoul. Only problem, we took the wrong bus. Somewhere in the chaos of having 6 women get on a bus, we took the one to Suwon (farther south) instead of the one to Gangnam (farther north). We didn't realize this until the last stop on the bus route. To make up for it, we had to take the subway, which we were originally avoiding, into Seoul. We were a couple of hours behind schedule, but we had a lot of fun and great girl time. 

Melidy, me and Cathleen on the bus in the wrong direction!

AP

The Bride - Melidy

Trish and Nicki

Like I said, there isn't a party city here and hen parties are not common, so we had to be creative. I was in charge of making decorations for Melidy to wear that distinguished her as the bride. So, I went to our favorite second-hand store, The Beautiful Store, and found a ajuma (grandmother), pink-laced mosquite net that my mind instantly saw possibilities for. I could make a veil out of it, right? YES! Check out Melidy's recycled, mosquito net, pink-laced veil! (Sewn onto a barrette.)

The Veil!

Can you count the passengers?

 Being a holiday weekend, everyone was out and about Seoul. These are the hundreds of people that crammed onto the train with us. No Stranger Danger to be found. We six girls surrounded each other blocking off our personal space with humongous purses!

They didn't eat my feet - They ate my legs...hum...

 The reason for going into Seoul was to visit Dr. Fish foot spa. Dr. Fish are special breeds of fish that love to eat the dead skin off of your tired feet! YEP! I did this in Cambodia so I thought I would be prepared again for the feeling. NOPE! Still squealed. When you go to Dr. Fish you order coffee, bread or gelato and pay 2,000won ($1.75) for 15 minutes with the little fishes.

The ladies with the fishes!

 After Dr. Fish we boarded the right bus back to Ansan for a co-ed Mexican Fiesta for the bride and groom. (SIDE-NOTE: While the ladies were off playing, the guys were "playing" manly sports. So manly in fact that Derek was tackled by another guy in the ribcage and heard a snap. He called and said he was sore, but taking it easy.) Because we were so late in our lady time, the guys had to prepare the meal cooking for 30 of the couples close friends. 

After eating, Derek touched his ribs and became immediately dizzy so we left the party early for a visit to the ER. There we walked into the waiting room, of which we never left, to the sight of a boy who was missing his big toe and his foot hanging over a trash can, a 3-and-under boy with chickenpox, a kid having his arm re-located and put in a cast and many other not-looking-so-good illnesses. Derek had his X-ray, which came out negative for a broken bone, and I contracted every disease in the waiting area. A week later, two sick days off from school and enough medicine to open a pharmacy and I'm still sick. 

Sick food for me is Alfredo by D! Yummm!

  
After Saturday's events, we relaxed with a bike ride down by the ocean water, a movie (X-men) and choco covered strawberries! YUMMMMM! 

  
Monday was another holiday, I've already forgotten which one. Even though we were sick and injured, we had planned a hike so we went! We left early Monday morning and rode the bikes to McDonald's for breakfast. We took the bikes (carried them up the stairs) to the train station and rode 6 stops to Sanbon (where I lived last year). We rode the bikes to the base of Surisan and locked them up. After hydrating on the 100% humidity day, we hiked up to my favorite spot, a group of rocky ledges that overlook Gunpo and Suwon cities. The towering buildings look so small from the ledge...

  
Today is our Sabbath! And oh have we rested! First, Nyquil helped me sleep through the night. Then, we woke up without the alarm! Blueberry pancakes and a sermon by Francis Chan later we were feeling pretty good. Derek wanted to get some flowers so we went for a walk into town. He picked out the beautiful lilies. The best part is he has learned the Korean word for lily because they are his favorite flower to get for me. (He knows how much I love them.) I picked out the beautiful purple flowers to compliment them. Now, the are making me smile each time I look up. D is reading his bible and I'm blogging. Sabbath day is goooooood!