Korean Independence Day.

On Tuesday night after work, I took a subway and a bus to Suwon to meet up at my old academy. My old co-workers were going out to celebrate Darren's birthday, and he invited me to go. I was so excited!! I arrived at the school around 7:30pm, just as their last classes were getting out. Perfect timing.

For his birthday, Darren wanted to go to Outback Steakhouse, so we all headed over there after they closed the academy down. (Darren had Room 5, the "in trouble" room, so he had to wait there for the kids to finish their work.) We had a reservation, so the rest of us went there and started eating and drinking. Darren didn't end up getting to Outback until about an hour later, so that was kind of a bummer! We just ordered more drinks and food when he got there though, so it was fine! :)

We hung out at the restaurant for awhile. It was really great to catch up with everyone and see people. I met the new Korean teacher, Aile, pronounced (Ay-lee). Anyway, she lived in the States for like 6 years, so she has perfect English. She's young, and easy to talk to. We talked to each other a lot and hit it off right away. We're gonna be friends on Facebook and hopefully meet up soon!

After dinner, Amanda, Abby, and I were ready to keep the party going, but everyone else was exhausted from the week. We didn't have school the next day because it was Korean Independence Day, so we could potentially stay out as late as we wanted. But, everyone was tired, so we all parted ways...bummer.

Amanda, Abby, and I went for some ice cream at Baskin' Robbins when we got back. Then, Amanda and I headed back to her place. She was nice enough to let me crash there! We talked for a bit, and were ready to watch a movie. But, by the time we downloaded it, we were both falling asleep. By then it was almost 3am, so it's understandable, right?

The next morning, Amanda and I caught the bus around 11:30am, and headed into Gangnam. We wanted to go to a really great breakfast place called Butterfingers. They serve American-style breakfast, with foods that you just can't find in Korea! Except for there... :) So, I had a Belgium waffle and hash browns, and Amanda had pancakes, sausage, and eggs. So delicious!!

After breakfast (at 1pm!), we decided to see what was playing in the theaters. What I've failed to mention until now, is that there was a TYPHOON happening outside!! Monsoon season is officially over, but over the past few days, it's been randomly pouring outside, and it comes out of nowhere! We were particularly bummed because it was a holiday, and rain really puts a damper on things. Anyway, we saw that Step Up 4 was playing, but not until 6pm. We brainstormed ideas of what to do for a few hours while we waited.

I remembered there was a board game cafe nearby, so we decided to do that. We fought through the rain and found the cafe nearly empty, which was nice. We ordered coffee and got a board game from downstairs to pass the time. It was really nice to just relax and warm up after being rained on all day. Both of our phones were dying, so we took them to the front desk downstairs and asked them to plug them in for us. (That's a really great thing about Korea! Pretty much any cafe or restaurant you go into, you can give them your phone and they'll charge it for free...even if you don't have your charger!) Awesome, right?! I think so. Before we knew it, a few hours had passed, so we packed up our board game, got our phones back, and headed back to the theater. Step Up 4 was really fun, and we really enjoyed it! It was a great way to spend a holiday in the middle of the week! Only two more days, and then the weekend! :)