Thursday, Myeong-dong - It's Friday and Jake is officially done working until I leave, so I'm trying to keep this up with less downtime! Yesterday we met one of Jake's students, Christine (her English nickname), for lunch in what I have dubbed the Seoul loop...lots of office buildings, financial district, people in suits. When Christine informed us of her choice for lunch Jake was a little worried I wouldn't like it, but the "dried fishy" was actually pretty tasty...and I am getting so good with chopsticks! After lunch we went for coffee...well, I had a strawberry blended drink since I'm drinking caffeinated coffee and I don't think I should have too much. Christine told me I had a small face...which I find funny because she's the tiniest thing, but Koreans think they have large round faces.

Jake and I walked through Yeouido Park where there would've been cherry blossoms a couple weeks ago. We saw the Nationaly Assembly Building and the 63 Building (Seoul's tallest) as well.

Christine said she would take me out that night and show me around...so, we met at Yeongdeungpo Station...well, of course, without a cellphone there was a bit of a misunderstanding because we agreed to meet at the coffee shop Jake and I have been frequenting, but there are two in that area! We eventually found each other and headed to Myeong-dong which is street after street of shopping...lots of people, food stands, music, Japanese....

Another of Jake's students, Olivia, met us for dinner at a popular restaurant which has the grills at the table...we had think pork that you dip in sauces and wrap in lettuce with lots of things, including grilled kimchi...delicious! We also drank some plum liquor which tasted sort of like cough syrup but still good. After dinner we went to a bar to have a beer...tried another Korean beer called Cafri which is similar to Corona.

We walked along Cheonggyecheon, a stream through the center of the city that was coverd by concrete in the 50s, but has seen a revitalization recently (that may have come straight out of the guidebook). Lots of lanterns for Buddha's birthday...very pretty...and a popular date spot. We saw the new city hall and lots of cops were occupying the area for protests.

It was awesome to hang out with Christine and Olivia and see Seoul with some locals. They are both level 1, so their English is limited, but we had no problem communicating, especially with cell phone translators. I'm so lucky that Jake has some wonderful students who want to show me around. We took lots of pictures and exchanged email addresses.