enjoying a not so rainy saturday

Well, Saturday rolled around and guess what?! It wasn't raining!!! We got to skype with our good friends John Paul and Jolie Churchill, you can check out their blog here. We have missed them so much and also missed the birth of their daughter by about a month :( While we have seen pictures, its not the same. We got to "meet" little Eva on skype and that was really fun! :) After talking to them, we headed out for a day of fun in the city! We have gone through phases since arriving here. At first, we went out every night and every weekend, just taking in everything we could. Then we became a little more "home bodies" and just enjoyed being at home in the evening. This weekend, we decided to go see some sites so we went a little "touristy" and it was fun! 

We started the day out at an open market which is a real tourist spot. You see people from all kinds of countries and they have their little Seoul tourist book out and their cameras out. It was kind of fun to see them. :) We ate Middle Eastern street food which was super delicious and then finished it off with some fresh pineapple skewers. YUMMY!!! We really do like Korean food, but we eat it everyday for lunch and then many dinners as well so we like to get some different kinds every once in awhile :) 

Right in the middle of busy Seoul, there was this building that looked like it came right out of Paris. I have no clue what this place is, but it just seemed so out of place :) 

From there we walked to one of our favorite shopping spots called Myeong-dong. It was quite clear that everyone else in Seoul is pretty sick of being indoors as well! I think it was the busiest it has ever been!

This lady cracked us up! Now that's what I call shopping!!! 

A really crazy thing that happens here is that they allow cars in packed out pedestrian streets. Its so annoying! And the drivers always look so pompous as they honk at you to get out of their way. Hello? its kind of packed with people on foot?! 

Robert always goes to Starbucks while I peruse the three story Forever 21 :) There were so many people in there that it was overwhelming, so I ended up joining him rather quickly. By this time the day was extremely humid and it felt kind of nice to be indoors (even after I was dying to be outdoors :) 

After we exhausted ourselves shopping, we decided to go to "Captain America". The man at the counter told me to go to "floor 2" and "theater 3". We got on the elevator, rode to the second floor and when we got off, only saw a "6". We asked a Korean custodian and showed her our ticket and she pointed to the door behind her. We were a little hesitant but went in anyways. We knew that our movie was to be set in WWII, so when we got in there we saw military vehicles and such so we figured it was the right one. Everyone was seated and the movie was beginning and we walk all the way, around the back and are halfway to our seats when the opening lines come in Korean. *freeze*... We are in the wrong theater. So backtrack all the back to the door and find another employee who tells us its "B2 floor". Luckily our movie hadn't started yet and when we sat down, we heard English so we were in the right movie :) It was a fun movie and a great end to the day. 

Now, this story happened earlier in the day at the open market. I had been needed some shoes and found these cute sandals. We talked the guy down $10 and were happy with our savings. Next we went to an import store and found maple syrup for $10 a bottle, which is a much cheaper price than our local store has! So, we got two bottles. We walk outside, happy with our purchases and on our way to find more. We have two bags in our hands and decide to consolidate. I tell Robert "yea, its a sturdy bag". Literally, the words aren't out of my mouth when *CRASH* the bottom falls out of the bag and one of the bottles is broken and spilling maple syrup all over the ground. 

Life lesson: you can't cheat the system... it will always come back to bite you. Yes, we saved $10 on the shoes, but we walked away with a $20 bottle of maple syrup. 

The end.