south korea 3: etc.

LOOK! changing leaves! a season! fall! yay!

a Korean folk village museum

I got to eat at California Pizza Kitchen and had a 5-cheese pizza, which was amazing. In the bathroom they had a gargle-dispenser--very effective for preventing garlic-breath!

The weather was gorgeous--perfect fall temps. I thought the air was very fresh and clean, but my friend who lives there assured me that it's not!? She said it's really polluted and she often feels sick. This informed me that the air in Jhongli, Taiwan, is absolutely putrid and I should definitely be wearing my SARS mask at all times!

"Starbuck's" in Korean!

For some reason, there's a piece of the Berlin Wall in Seoul! Here it is!

After about 15 years, my childhood friend Naomi and I reconnect in Seoul. So random... and this is the only picture I have of us together--oops! I was pretty bad about picture-taking over the weekend. I guess I forget when I'm having fun! This is at a "noraebhang" or Korean karaoke place. We went with a few of Naomi's friends and sang till we lost our voices.

dancing to Britney Spears' "Hit Me Baby One More Time," haha...

*sigh* They have "Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf" in Korea. Luckies.

I went for a walk on Sunday morning and sat in a park for a while, watching people use the public exercise machines. Just watching, not exercising. (Aren't you surprised?)

It was a great weekend... like going to the States for a few days, almost. I got a taste of fall weather and what I considered to be clean air, I got to enjoy some Western delicacies like CPK pizza, and I got to spend a few days with an old friend who I haven't seen since we were pre-teens! It was a short trip, but refreshing. I was a little bummed to come back so soon when there was so much more I wished I could have seen in Korea, but maybe there'll be another chance for that. And I have a new appreciation for the super-friendly, foreigner-loving Taiwanese people I get to be blessed by every day.