Sinsa.

I had an extremely packed and productive weekend!! I woke up early on Saturday morning, 9am, and caught the subway into Seoul. I officially signed up for my Korean class, which will begin next weekend. The class is from 10am-12:50pm every Saturday. I finally got the motivation I needed to sign up for an official Korean class. I want to get better at reading and speaking, and this language institute I'm going to has come very highly recommended. I'm so excited!! Signing up for the class only took about ten minutes, so I got right back on the subway and headed home. I was back by noon, which was awesome. I still had the whole day ahead of me!

When Johnny got off work, (yes, he works on Saturday mornings now, as most academy teachers do...but not this girl!!) we met for pizza at Pizza School. Pizza School is a really yummy pizza chain that's all over Korea. It's not actually a school of any sort, and you don't learn how to make your own pizza either. Very deceiving, I know. Anyway, a pizza is only 5,000 won, which is just under $5. Pretty sweet deal! After pizza, we went back to his place. He played some computer games, and I bummed around on Netflix. I'm so excited that Netflix finally works here!!

Around dinner time, we met up with Tommy and tried a new chicken and beer restaurant in the neighborhood. It was DELICIOUS!! It ended up being way too spicy for me...but we're definitely planning on going back! We're going to try something a little less hot next time... :)

On Sunday morning, I met Arri at a coffee shop close to church. We grabbed some drinks and then headed to church. The usual pastor had the morning off, so the associate pastor did the sermon. It was a completely different feel than normal, but the message was perfect. Just what I needed to hear. After church, Arri, Reuel, Michelle, and I all went to Dos Tacos for lunch. It was yummy as usual. After lunch, we were trying to make a plan for the day. Some ideas were thrown out here and there, and then "Sinsa" was mentioned. Sinsa is a place really close to Gangnam (where the church is), that's really great for food and window shopping and coffee. I mentioned that I had never been there, and that's all it took. Our plan was made. :)

We grabbed a taxi and headed to Sinsa. We walked in and out of a lot of shops they had, looking at clothes and shoes and books. We all bought a few things that we just couldn't resist. :) We ended up at a coffee shop at the end of the road. Because all the tables were taken, we got to go into the private room by ourselves. Lucky us!! We all ordered a drink, and Reuel pulled out Bananagrams! Now...if you don't know that game, you definitely need to play it! It's very similar to Scrabble, but you have your own pieces and your own game space. You're basically competing with everyone else to get rid of all the pieces on the table. We ended up playing for HOURS!! We played individually a few times, and then rotated so we were all partners with each other. Not to brag or anything, but...every partner I was paired up with ended up winning. I would like to officially declare myself MVP of Bananagrams.

By the time our game-playing was finished, it was dinnertime. Again, we had conversations about where to eat. Japanese, Indian, and Thai food were all thrown out as options, but no one could decide. I mentioned that I had never had Thai, and again, the decision was made. We collected our things, and headed for the Thai restaurant. We all ended up getting a different dish, so we could share. All the food was so yummy!! We ended up with seafood fried rice, pad thai, curry, and some kind of crunchy noodle things...very odd. Anyway, it was really good! Great food and great company.

When we finished eating, we decided we needed something sweet. Obviously. We ended up at a coffee and cake place. I got a chocolate smoothie, Reuel got some kind of fruity tea, and Michelle got a slice of chocolate cake. YUM. Arri said there just wasn't any more room for food.

This weekend was perfect. I didn't expect to have a girl's day on Sunday, so that was a pleasant surprise. Now, I feel really well-rested and prepared for another week of school. Today officially starts our new schedule. Kate and Sue, two of the Korean teachers, have left, so it's only Amanda, Jessica, Iris, and me. All my classes are new, so I'm excited about teaching other students. I like that we change schedules every three months because it keeps things interesting. Well, here's to a new week!! :)