My best friend from Japan came to Seoul this past weekend to hang-out together. I have the coolest friends!
Narumi was only in town for 48 hours due to her work schedule. Every year since we have met, one of us has traveled to see the other and for next year Narumi wants to meet in Singapore. I suggested NYC so only time will tell.^^
Narumi and her friend Chinami stayed at my apartment for two nights. As is tradition when a Japanese person visits someone when traveling, they bought me many presents from Japan. Thanks Narumi and Narumi's mom^^
I picked up Narumi at the airport around noon on Sunday. I was starving so I wanted to grab some food before getting on a train. After I finishing ordering Narumi was already Skyping her parents to tell her she had arrived and I got to say hello to her family, who I've met a few times over the years. Narumi's brother is really into break dancing these days and he is really good. I think I need to go back to Japan and see one of his performances!
Note: because I have the longest arms I was the default cellphone photographer.....
Narumi was only in town for 48 hours due to her work schedule. Every year since we have met, one of us has traveled to see the other and for next year Narumi wants to meet in Singapore. I suggested NYC so only time will tell.^^
Narumi and her friend Chinami stayed at my apartment for two nights. As is tradition when a Japanese person visits someone when traveling, they bought me many presents from Japan. Thanks Narumi and Narumi's mom^^
I picked up Narumi at the airport around noon on Sunday. I was starving so I wanted to grab some food before getting on a train. After I finishing ordering Narumi was already Skyping her parents to tell her she had arrived and I got to say hello to her family, who I've met a few times over the years. Narumi's brother is really into break dancing these days and he is really good. I think I need to go back to Japan and see one of his performances!
Note: because I have the longest arms I was the default cellphone photographer.....
Fresh off the (air) runway!
After meeting up with Chinami (she arrived a day earlier) and bringing their luggage to my place in the pouring rain, we hopped in a cab to Myeongdong. We were supposed to meet up with some other girls but plans changed so we shopped, ate dinner, and took Japanese-style Polaroids.
After Myeongdong we took the subway to Ewha, made a reservation at a princess-themed cafe, and explored around the area.
At Ewha Women's University, the first university in Korea { was founded by American missionaries}
Eventually we made our way to the Princess Diary cafe. At this special kind of cafe, you pay for a drink and then you pay an additional $10-30 to try on a dress and use the props/backgrounds to take pictures for up to one hour.
First you order something and eat/drink it. Then you change into dresses and you're not allowed to eat or drink anything while you are in the dresses.
Enjoying our peach tea. We all ordered the same thing because it was the cheapest. kkk
Narumi fixing her tiara. :)
No need to get married now...
After our rather exhausting photoshoot, we agreed on getting drinks somewhere. The girls really wanted to go clubbing but on Sunday nights nowhere good was open. I suggested going to Itaewon {an expat neighborhood} and trying an American-style pub, to which Narumi responded "Let's find you an American boyfriend." HAHA.
So we hopped back on the subway to Noksapyeong and sat out on a patio testing out some new craft beers.
We were all pretty worn out from all the neighborhood-hopping we did. Being that the Noksapyeong/Itaewon area is a very international neighborhood, practically all the couples walking on the street are mixed {Asian/Western} couples. Narumi asked me if I was going to marry a white guy or an Asian guy... We headed back to my place, got some food to-go from 김밥 전국, and kept the party going for another hour before we all passed out from fatigue.
I made green smoothies for breakfast each day. They really liked them and were taking pictures of all the ingredients as I was putting them into a blender - haha. They said they are gonna make them in Japan!
Then on Monday after I finished work we walked to a standing BBQ restaurant. I had never heard of this place before but it's very popular among Japanese tourists so we decided to check it out.
Waiting in line outside the restaurant.
서서갈비!
No seats was an interesting concept. Definitely a local hotspot but we were the only non-Korean people.
Then we decided to wanted to eat bingsu so I took them to busy cafe street in Hapjeong and told them to pick a cafe. We ended up at one of my favorites. :)
patbingsu!
The girls were going to go clubbing so I pre-gamed with them making some drinks outside of a convenience store. In Korea they have free tables and chairs for you to sit outside at - it's awesome! I saw a Korean newspaper article a while back about fun mixed drinks to make at a convenience store so I finally attempted one.
Soju- rice liquor, Korean Sprite, and melon-flavored ice cream = SUCCESS!!
I actually saw some students in the convenience store while we were buying the stuff. I made them introduce themselves in English to Chinami hahaha.
We did a lot of stuff in 48 hours!
Narumi flies back to Sapporo today and Chinami is heading to Los Angeles for two weeks.
来てくれてありがとう Thanks for coming!! See you next year somewhere^^
