Bags were packed, and I was ready to go for my weekend on Friday night. Got to bed at about 2:30am, and did wake up at the arranged time of 7:30am, but fell back to sleep. Woke up at 8:30am, and rushed for the shower, to catch the bus at 8:50am outside my apartment. I don't know why, but I haven't eaten, and then brush my teeth, after a while I feel a little sick, and I was feeling it on the local bus. For those who have been in Korea, you KNOW about Korean buses. For those who don't, let my try to paint a picture here.
As soon as you get on the bus, you have to hang on. If you're the first one on in a long line, then you have a small amount of time to get a seat, or to walk to another section of the bus. If not, hang the f**K on. The bus drivers here don't drive a bus like a bus. They drive the bus like its a small 4-door hatchback, and have just got off their Learner's permit, and this its cool to not use the break in a safe "the other people can't put on seat-belts because there are aren't any" kind of way. At least one hand to hang on to the seat in-front is mandatory. You press the button to alert the drive that you will got off the bus at the next stop, and this is when they use the breaks like there is no tomorrow.
So yeah, not feeling all that good after getting off the bus, so I bought my ticket for Jeongeup, and got a bottle of water, and waited outside for the bus. It was a decent day, weather wise. One thing I noticed on my natural mineral water, is that it said it had zero calories. It's about as obvious "be careful, the contents may be hot" on a coffee mug, a sign at a beach saying "don't swim when sharks are in the water" or an "i'm with stupid" t-shirt.
Got to Jeongeup and bought my KTX tickets for Seoul. I have no problem with sitting in a seat that faces the other way (half of the regular class seats in KTX face the other direction), and you get a small discount for asking for a backwards facing seat, so I got those. Geomdo was good. Went over 예도 1번 and 2번 and learnt 3번. Kinda changed the direction I wanna go in Geomdo. Not really phased about doing comps now. I'd rather try to get 2nd level black belt before October. And, with only 9 things to learn (and having done 3 already), I think its possible, and my Geomdo teacher seems to think so too. Also had a go at some archery after Geomdo, which is what the kids are getting into lately. I didn't do too bad for my first time.
Got the train to Seoul and was met my M and G, and we headed for Hongdae for H's cafe to have some coffee while she was on the way, but did make the effort to buy umbrellas, since the weather did turn a bit nasty. It was a nice cozy place there, and the iced caramel 마키아또 was the best one I've had so far (sorry for the Korean, I can't remember how to spell the English). After H arrived, we had a chat. We were all pretty tired from out respective previous 24 hours. We then headed for Jenny's, a small cosy restaurant that serves the best salads and spaghetti in Seoul (no joke).
Then got the bus to a place near H and M's place, and met up with one of their friends, Han, and went to Noraebang. I did cue up a Korean song, but when it came up, i just wasn't in the zone, so cancelled it. It was one of a few rare times at a Noraebang, where I actually had an awesome time. Definately has to do with the company I was keeping at the time. After our hour and 10 mins was up (I love "service" (freebies) in Korea), we headed for a bar for a chat. I was on water, due to tiredness and heart meds, but everyone else had a few drinks, and we all had a good chat about stuff, things and things that involved stuff (not to mention stuff that involved things).
Got back to M & H's place, and got out the 화투 cards and played some 고스톱. M was intrigued and G was a bit too tired to keep up. After M and G went to bed, Han, H and I kept playing, and then switched to poker. Warning: don't play poker with H - she will clean you out! We finished up at 4:30am, but I didn't get to sleep until 5am.
Woke up at 10:30am, with the intention of going back to sleep, but the body said no, so watched some stuff on my iPod. Everyone kinda rose in the afternoon. H had to go to work, and Han left too. M, G and I kinda relaxed around the house. G wasn't feeling all that good, so he slept it off, and I had a shower and then went to get some food. Found a KFC, but with the lack of sleep, lack of breakfast, wasn't a good idea for the heart/heart meds. So, got some KFC for the crew, and M got some sandwiches (which were damn tasty).
G went back to sleep, and M and I did a bit of sticker shopping. I kinda got some inspiration from M's compy, to decorate it myself, so I thought, lets go shopping. We found a generic 문구, and a Morning glory (yes, it's a stationery chain in Korea), and then a
10 X 10 where we both bought some stuff. Then got back to M & H's place, and M was finishing her packing for her visa run to Japan, and I was getting my shit sorted too. I was feeling out of it, with the whole 5 hours sleep and staying up late thing, and I'm sure that everyone else was too.
We made our way to Sinchon, and has some Mexican food. We had a bit of time, and danced the idea of going to see H at work, but I was way out of it, and just wanted to get to the train station to go home. We parted ways at Sinchon station, and I headed for Yongsan to get KTX.
At that time, I sent a message to a "H" in my phone. I have two H's in my phone (yes, they have the same name that starts with H), and I labelled them incorrectly when I got my new phone. So, sorry to both H's for all that. If the other H didn't call me Monday night and sort it out... well... it... um.. would have gone on for longer until one of them eventually told me. *^^*
Had a half sleep on the train, which kinda helped, but almost missed my stop. Luckily almost doesn't mean I did miss it, and got off the train, and got a taxi back to my apartment, which I am glad that I had budgeted for. Unpacked, set up a wash, and crashed.
Awesome weekend, thanks peeps *^^* Will have to do it again sometime soon ;)
