Wicked.

On Saturday, Lisa and I went to Itaewon to meet up with Mi-yeon. Itaewon is near one of the military bases here. It's known for its delicious Western food, great shopping, (and line-dancing bar, if that's your thing!) :) It's completely overrun by foreigners, and it's the only place in Korea where you have to worry about crime. Nothing serious, of course, but bikes and purses being stolen, things like that. It's sad that the city with the highest crime rate is the city populated mostly by foreigners.

Anyway, Lisa hadn't been to Itaewon yet, so she and I went there. Lisa was on a mission to find some books, but other than that, we were just going to wander. We met up with Mi-yeon and did some window shopping for awhile. We eventually decided to make our way to the Han River. Technically it's within walking distance, but not really! After 30 minutes of walking, we made it to the river. Whew! What a hike! But it was worth it. We walked for bit along the river, Lisa took some pictures, and then we sat on a bench and rested for awhile. Lisa and I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so we decided to head back into town and find somewhere to eat. Instead of walking back, we decided to take a neighborhood bus. It's similar to a city bus, but just a mini-version. :)

We hopped on the bus, (after paying $0.70?!) and headed into town. Korea is known for its scary drivers, but I have not yet experienced any crashes or accidents. Somehow amidst all the chaos, every car, bus, and motorbike seem to squeeze by unharmed. However, this time we were not so lucky. About 10 minutes into the bus ride, the driver was trying to maneuver the bus through a tight street. He thought he had clearance on both sides, but ended up scraping the side of a work van that was parked on the street. A heated exchange took place between the workers and the bus driver, and eventually, the bus driver told everyone to get off the bus.

Well, this left Lisa, Mi-yeon, and me in a very unfamiliar part of town. Wonderful. After weaving in and out of neighborhoods and small alleyways, we were so turned around. We had no idea where to go. Mi-yeon chose a direction, and we all started walking. We ended up finding a street that was all antique shops. OBVIOUSLY we had to stop in each one of them and see what fun treasures they had! It was great! It killed time, we got some great photos, and we eventually found our way back to Itaewon. Success! We stopped in at Taco Bell. Lisa ate lunch, but I just got a drink. We would be eating dinner soon, and I didn't want to ruin my appetite.

At 5pm, we headed over to Outback to make a reservation. We ran into Amanda (who we were going to meet up with later!), so all four of us went to "What the Book," an English bookstore with new and used books. We looked around there for about a half hour, and Lisa was able to find all the books she was looking for. The books were cheap, (but still not as cheap as a Kindle!) :) We ended up parting ways with Lisa, and Amanda, Mi-yeon, and I went to Outback. We had DELICIOUS food!! It was really nice to have food from back home, that you just can't find in Korea. Mmmm. After Outback, we walked about 20 minutes to the theater where we would see WICKED. Woot! We were so excited!

The show started at 8pm. There was an intermission at 9:30pm, and the show finished up at 11pm. A long show, but it was fantastic! I have actually never seen "The Wizard of Oz," so I was a little confused by some of the references in the story. After the show, they were explained to me, and it all made sense. The singers were phenomenal, especially the actor who played Elphaba. Wow. It was really impressive! The show was entirely in English, of course, and there were TVs across the front along the floor, and two TVs hanging from the ceiling all with Korean subtitles. It was an interesting setup. But the stage was phenomenal, and the special effects were great. Just awesome. After the show, we all ran for the subway, so we could make it home before the trains stopped!