Vote!

So I was with Sahar and her friend Stephanie last night in Sinchon and I hear music and see people dancing in Sinchon Rotary. I got so excited I ran through traffic to get up there and see what it was all about. Stephanie, who has the best grasp of Korean, said it was for some politician. That is the best, people dancing to promote a politician. It's weird enough when it is for a restaurant or loan company, but this time it was for 이영만, who knows what he stands for.

Sahar and I danced with these people for a while. I had a great time; it was such a blast SERIOUSLY. And the best part about acting stupid like this (like I do all the time) is that everyone will just think I'm drunk and I don't have to be embarrassed. One of the dancers was like cheering us on too. Then we went to the subway exit to catch a bus and see Jason and there he was in all his glory, Lee Young Man shaking hands with the young people. We took pictures with him and his assistant guy said we'd be in the newspaper. He was all excited because Sahar's like white and shaking hands with this guy.

Before than I'd been hanging out with Jay. We went to Yongsan; it was my first time going to the electronics mart and it was pretty exciting. He bought me a nice lens cover for my camera that actually attaches to my camera and doesn't fall off easily. Also, we bought gamepacks for our Nintendo DSes and then played each other in Tetris and Mario Kart. I ruled at Tetris and lost at Mario Kart though I won a few courses. I'm so excited now that I have more than two games. I am going to try to put movies and music on this thing and perhaps Nintendogs in English so I know what is going on.

Last night I stayed at 찜질방 and woke up way too late since they left the lights off and I was way too comfortable. I met up with Sharon in 이대 and we ate dinner at the LA DSB House or whatever it's called. Then met up with her brother and Nick for a second and I came home. It felt so good to shower since I'd been wearing the same sweaty, smelly (like meat) clothes for two days in a row.

Tomorrow I'm having lunch with Rex for the last time in a long time ㅠㅠ and then going to Lotte World for ice skating with Jay. I'm so sad especially since Rex and I got so much closer on the Hong Kong trip now he has to go back to America. But I do plan on going to Texas I really want to go to Austin and three of my buddies are in Texas! Especially Gloria. And I love Andrew too. I miss the semester and all our friends being here. I saw kids from the summer program and it made me miss my friends so much today.

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here?

Finally got to watch the video for the She & Him song since MTV sucks (so does ABC) and only lets people in America to watch videos. Dumb.

I also wonder what my aunt and uncle thing of me. I am this big waste of space with the messiest room and I'm only a temporary resident. I create an ungodly amount of trash compared to the rest of the family combined, as well as laundry. Also I will just text my aunt telling her I won't be home that night and they are all so cool about it instead of telling me to come home or get a meh meh.

Yesterday morning Sharon texted me saying I should head on over to Sinchon to get a pedicure with her. So yeah, despite the rain I felt the need for a pedicure. After all, we both have nasty fungus-ey toes from wearing high heels and not drying our feet after showering apparently.

I met up with Sharon and Dayena at the 김밥천국 because we can't afford to eat at a real restaurant and then we headed over to E-Dae to get our nails did. Dayena got a purple manicure, Sharon got pink toes and mine are orange. We went to a cafe and bummed around; they worked on teaching stuff and I helped a little.

Ten hours later Jay showed up after forgetting his phone he had to go back and get it. He was also wearing a shirt that was too big and belonged to his father; he said he didn't bring any clothes when he came. So took him to buy a couple shirts. We met back up with Sharon and we went to the fish place and they were like trying to close and kick us out. The same thing happened later at 노래방 and we didn't even know this place closed. Lazy people.

We met up with Sharon's little brother 뚱이 and went to the arcade. Then sent him off in a taxi to go to 찜질방 where we'd join later but I guess the big 숯가마 I always go to was closed for some reason which was weird and really sad. Dayena met us and we went to 노래방 and sang our hearts out.

We didn't end up going to 찜질방 because Sharon had work to do and Jay was kind of sick and so I just stayed at Sharon's. In the morning I had to leave with her and she bought me this toast from a morning 포장마차 WHO KNEW such a thing existed? I was delicious it was like two pieces of toast, an egg-ish mass, ham, ketchup, and sugar. I inhaled the thing on the subway while people stared. Then I fell asleep and woke up with a stonewashed, studded denim crotch in my face. Transferring during morning rush hour was slightly miserable but all right in the end. I got home and slept forever.

La La La

Today was pretty crazy but about half of my blog entries begin this way. More like I was crazy today the day had nothing to do with it. I headed into Seoul for some friend-meeting and went in the direction of E-Dae because I've been meaning to get some gladiator sandals as they are so in right now plus I realized I have no sandals besides the ones I shower in and the ones I broke then superglued back together so yeah. I think that merits a new pair. Peep toe heels don't count.

Um won't go into details here but basically I flipped out on this ajashi because he was giving me a hard time and made half the world stare at me while I went all crazy and hysterical but some random girl calmed me down a bit and then Sharon calmed me down and Jay calmed me down later except I was about to DRONKCHI Jay for taking forever to come to Sinchon.

I met Sharon for .5 since she had to head off to Incheon to see her mom and brother (I'm so jealous) and then I went to PC방 and waited for Jay who should have taken 30 minutes max but ended up taking an hour and I was already still a little leftover crazy but we got samgyupsal which is the best and then went to a cafe and then karaoke and recorded videos of ourselves singing.

We wanted to see a movie but I'm too ashamed to be seen coming/going to/from any dvd방 in Sinchon since everyone is in Sinchon we saw 강철중 at the theater it was pretty good. I was very worried it would be scary since Korean movies like to do that suddenly turn disturbing/scary and the previews were for horror movies and I was like hiding. Oh yeah before the movie we were sitting outside and I saw 개미 walk by so we stopped her except her name isn't 개미 (ant) but I don't know why everyone calls her that.

She had already seen the movie and said it was good and there was a lot of swearing and stabbing. What I really want to see is Wall-E I have been reading nothing but good reviews about it and I spent like an hour on the official site today but it doesn't come out until next month here which sucks same for na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na na Batman which looks SO GOOD. I am also sad I think that movie, The Good the Bad and the Strange is already out of theaters and I missed it.

Jay bought some sandals while we were in E-Dae last week but he said they were uncomfortable so he was wearing his dad's sandals but those were like tearing up his feet so I had to give him band-aids and me and 개미 made fun of him because we know what it's like to have torn up feet from shoes.

Then we went to his house and said hi to his parents and his dad looks way different from what I remember and he drove me home. I don't know how I'm going to wake up in like four hours and go to the office but I am so good at taking naps in that chair now.

At the Beach

Being the lazy 잠꾸르기 late crappy person I am, I nearly overslept to the point of not being able to go on this weekend trip. I woke up after not hearing my alarms and freaking out because I live out in China... so far from Seoul. I ran to the bus and shoved my way through people in the giant subway station and then got on the train and realized I didn't know the best way to get to Yeouido.

Any way I just barely made it before the time mami told me to get to KBS and it was a good thing he was running a little late. We went up to the office so he could grab some stuff. Some old man was sitting in a dressing room and shouted as we walked by asking why the bus didn't come yet and mami said it did. The old guy is the host of 전국노래자랑 and it's apparently only cool for old people.

We stopped at a big rest stop called Gingseng Land to get lunch and as soon as one grandma recognized the old man a huge crowd gathered around him. Mami had to follow him around and it was funny because I was following mami and it was a bit like babysitting.

Any way we went to Namhae, a little south of Pusan, took around four hours but I slept nearly the whole way. We put our stuff in the little motel place and my roommate 언니 (forgot her name but no one really uses names in Korea any way) and I went to the beach. We collected seashells and then went to see how the stage setup was coming. She was the makeup person and I already felt gross enough not wearing makeup and then later when we showered she gave me all these little packets of stuff and then came out and asked why I didn't use them I said I didn't know how.

But she was very nice we went to play with these puppies together. The owners of the place we stayed at had a dog and we loved it and said, she has kids want to see? and we did and my 언니 pained my toenails. We all went to dinner and had all sorts of seafood, but the good kind it was kind of like Japanese-style. Everyone was basically drunk and thank God mami was there to tell people I don't drink. One girl was pregnant and these ajashis were like, OH IT'S FINE. But our side of the table was crafty and replaced soju with water and threw out shots when the ajashis weren't looking.

The next morning it was raining here and there and we were all worried but it ended up being okay. I wasn't too useful just running a few scripts and moving a couple chairs. During the filming I got to wear a headset but people mistook me for someone who knew what they were doing. People would ask a question and I'd act like I was too important to answer or my 언니 would save me and answer for me.

All these random singers came and people on the beach took notice and surrounded the canopy and followed them and when we were all done about 2332208823 policemen had to escort the old man host out (I keep forgetting his name). There were a couple drunk ajashis so the police had to deal with that too. This one random girl had her own posse of a codi (stylist), makeup, hair, and some random guy with an umbrella. Me and the makeup 언니 were like who the f are you? And we made fun of everyone and all the funny ajumas dancing.

This ten-year-old girl ended up winning and I was rooting for her since she was scared in the morning and I thought I heard her tell her dad she couldn't do it. But I was glad she stayed when I heard her sing it was pretty amazing.

At KBS I got into a car with a couple of the 언니s that are backup singers and one dropped us off at a subway station except it was line number 1 which is confusing as all hell and outdoors and it was raining. Fortunately I found my way back to Pyeongcheon unfortunately there were very heavy showers and as I ran from the bus to the apartment building I got completely soaked. I don't know if I've ever been so happy to shower.

Heat Wave Coming

As if the hot and humid summer was not enough the mosquitoes have to be going absolutely crazy on me lately.

I got my hair cut. Yesterday I went to Korea University to get a form filled out plus visit for the first time. Except it was like the worst day to walk around ever as it was about ten degrees hotter than the Sun. I had no idea where I was going; I found some map and forgot it as soon as I walked away so I wandered along shady paths and somehow ended up in front of the building I needed to be at.

Called Jay and he said he was going to get a haircut something that he is always in need of. I met him and his friend Ji Hyeon in 이대 and she took us to a place she knew. I desperately needed mine cut as well. Their friend 개미 came and we wandered 이대 and Jay bought some clothes.

Jay and I went back to his house and his mom was there and she is very nice but I never understand what she is saying to me. Well she was talking about how the place was messy and there was no food because essentially the nanny was busy lately or something like that. We went to Yeongdeungpo which is a place that I don't know why people like it but 마미 likes it and Jay likes it even though he doesn't drink and it's like all bars.

He convinced me to go to dvd bang even though I'm afraid of them but Sharon said they're okay and we ended up having a great time. We watched two Korean movies. The first one was like history/action/adventure (my fav) and then we went to eat/leave but then we got the food to go and took it back up and watched a comedy. It was pretty perverted, though, even for me.

His mom had made up an extra bed so I could stay there since I live out hurr in the boonies. Jay woke me up all early and I was pissed but drove me to work and Ted said "impressive" about my 10:15am appearance. We (Ted and Joseph, I just watched) cleaned up boxes and a desk and we plugged in the lonely G5 that had been hidden in the corner and I am using it now. It's a great computer and now I don't have to lug around my notebook.

At work 마미 called and inquired about my weekend plans and invited me to go along with him and his show team to some sea/beach for some filming. I am going to stay with the codis (because they are girls) but I don't know if they really need three stylists for one host. Well I will see when I get there. And I hope I get to play in the water/sand.

So Humid

This weekend was wild. (I found a new word that isn't "crazy") Friday I went to the 63 Building for some awards thing for luxury brands that we were partly sponsoring, though I'm not quite sure what that entails. After this I went to 동대문 to meet up with Sharon and Dayena. I bought the same 참옷 that Sharon has because I wore it once and it's great you don't even have to wear pants.

Dayena went back, Sharon and I ate 만두 and then headed back. I got my nails done while she took a nap. I went to PC방 to quickly write about the Pakistan reception. Here I am again at the Gaia PC방 I love it here what can I say. Any way I met up with Sharon to meet up with our NK teacher and his wife. They are damn cool let me say.

We went to Watts On Tap where none of us had ever been before, because it's geared toward white people, which we are not. Any way since it was July 4 all Americans got a free shot of tequila, we never got ours though. hmm. We had a beer and then proceeded onto the meat buffet/grill. Our teacher had never been and he was excited to put it lightly. His wife is amazing, she is pretty, nice, humble, fun, and hello a fashion designer.

By the way some kid next to me is playing Audition and keeps doing "So Hot" by the Wonder Girls. I love that song but please too much.

We had a great time eating 삼겹살 and talking about everything from fashion to North Korea to meat buffet and ghettos in Seoul. By this time Sharon and I were pretty drunk but we had to go meet up with friends because EVERYONE IS LEAVING. ㅠㅠ

We went across the street to Monkey Bar where Dan, Greg, Kevin, and some of their friends were hanging out. Then we ran over to JunCo where a bunch of people were for Peter. We went back to Monkey Bar and made the mistake of drinking more, but hey, it was Dan and Greg's last night. Our scooter buddies. Our 똥침 buddies. The big group went to some other bar where we ended up but then a bunch of drama happened and it was stupid.

All throughout the night during our crazy running around, Sharon and I were doing absolutely the stupidest stuff. We 똥치ed random people or tried to subtley grab the arms of random guys as they walked by. I ended up getting pretty sick and threw up about 23483 times it was really attractive I'm sure.

We had to say goodbye to Dan and Greg and Kelly and I really can't believe they're gone. I'm so glad to be staying in Korea for another semester.

Sharon took me back to her tiny one room because I was much too sick to find my way to the 찜질방. Our feet were dead and the sun was coming up. It took way too long to walk up that long hill to her place. The next day we woke up and farted around for hours and finally showered and met up with Dayena and Olivia.

We went to the arcade and Olivia had to leave and soon she has to go back to New York. We did the mini 노래방 and recorded videos of ourselves. I am trying to access them but I'm not a Korea citizen so I can't make an account which is one thing I hate about some websites here. Other people have already watched and ranked them.

The three of us headed out to the City Hall area for some hardcore protesting. We were just going to stop by but ended up staying a while. First they had blocked off a crapload with police buses. We found our way to the action and this semi-crazy lady comes up to us and asks if we came on our own. We were quite confused about the protesting it was something about North Korea. The woman gave us these signs and said something along the lines of, you're such smart young kids coming here on your own. And at that moment we looked around and realized everyone was middle-aged or older.

To the side were lines of riot police and protestors shouting at these protestors. We put the signs away and walked around. At one point it seemed things might get interesting when these men were exchanging words about being communist and such. Also we got stuck in the middle of the riot polices' formation lines and thought we'd get trampled. It was exciting because a lot of the guys were pretty cute. It's crazy to think they're our age, some even younger.

This old man came up and tried to talk to us. We were getting sick of crazy people so we pretended to only speak English. But this grandpa was actually pretty good at English and ended up having a lot of interesting things to say. He told us that some of the protestors were actually North Korean defectors and then complained about the young kids not having war experience and how America is our friend and he likes American beef it's fine. Then as things started to heat up with people shouting he told us to watch up and step back.

We were about to leave so we walked along the stream for a little, then went to eat at Kraze Burger. We had chili cheese fries and it was glorious. When we got out it seemed that things were done, but as we walked toward City Hall we realized there was a huge march proceeding. We walked with everyone and I got to sing my favorite song even though I don't know all the words.

One group was all standing on a platform all dressed as V for Vendetta it was quite eerie. A bunch of people with black capes and the V masks in the middle of Namdaemun was pretty surreal. We didn't really know what they were there for but they shot off roman candles and everyone liked it so they're probably with the main group. After getting thoroughly sweaty and exhausted we found a subway station and headed home. Dayena and I went to 찜질방 and got all the dead skin and dirt scrubbed off of us it felt so nice. She went back and I spent the night having a great time sleeping and wandering whenever I felt like.

Also I have a new hobby. At all the face/makeup/lotion stores they have people standing outside on mics shouting at people to come in and offering free gifts if you go in and buy something. We decided to take the gift and go in the store and pretend to look around but we didn't know how to get out so I pretended to see someone walking by, shouted "오빠" and ran after a crowd then Sharon and Dayena had to follow me. This way we got the free gift without having to buy anything.

Jude Law and [Another] Semester Abroad

Gloria left Korea this morning and I am already missing this girl. I still have her face airbrushed onto my left index fingernail, though. It's a bit tacky I'll admit, but so is the half-chipped hot pink polish on the rest of my fingernails.

Today I made it to work at a kind of decent hour. At least I planned to, but I had a wardrobe crisis. I know I have too many clothing items and I keep buying more, but I don't seem to have clothing appropriate for work and/or shoes to match. My favorite sandals, the gold ones, broke this morning. It's fixable but I panicked. Then I walked out the door without glasses. Then I had to consider whether or not to bring an umbrella. Being premature monsoon season in Korea I had to even though I didn't end up using it.

Today we went to some man's office. He used to be a journalist but now owns a bunch of slot machines. On the first floor we passed a bunch of them, but they look more like an anime arcade game. Many guys in suits were playing, and some were drinking; it was actually kind of sad.

Randomly the police chief of Yongsan showed up. He is like my favorite badass. I met him at the Parade of Nations and he was very friendly and introduced me to one of the guys he works with, also a badass. I wanted to ask him if the whole Bush changing his trip thing was a big pain in the ass for him since he is in charge of all that security stuff for foreign diplomats but he can't speak English too well and I didn't want to struggle through the Korean. But he's a very friendly guy, took us to a special fancy lounge in the Hyatt to kill some time and said if I was ever in any sort of trouble in Korea he'd take care of it. Then he had to leave because some UN secretary general was visiting.

We then went to the Pakistan embassy for a farewell/welcoming reception for the commerce counselors. I had to leave to meet up with peeps in Sinchon. I thought it was the last time I'd see Dan and Greg but hopefully they'll come back tomorrow night for Peter's farewell. I am getting a strange sort of homesickness with everyone leaving Korea; I don't know what it is.

I'm dreading dealing with these forms the study abroad office sent me when I finally decided to notify them I'm not coming back until December. Apparently I have to apply to not do an exchange program. MSU and its red tape. I should do them, though, since they're all overdue. But it's not like they can say I can't go since I'm already here.

Saying Goodbye To My Friends

I woke up late today (big surprise) and didn't make it to work because I was already late to meet up with the girls for Gloria's last day. Of course it is impossible to find taxis in this town so I waited forever for one to take me to the subway station, and it took an hour to get to Sinchon.

On the subway this guy got on all dressed up in a white tennis outfit and sunglasses and wristband and had a tennis bag. It really looked like 철웅 but I didn't want to be a big idiot and shout his name if it wasn't him, since I am awesome at mistaking people for other people. Any way I figured it was him since he was about to get off at Sinchon and I stood next to him and he saw my reflection and we walked out together. He thought I was back in America already. Nope I be here until December.

We had the sushi buffet for lunch and stuffed ourselves then took sticker pictures at the arcade and sang in the mini 노래방. Jason, Esther, CJ, and Noorim met up with us. Sharon and I used the new nail art machine at the arcade and got Gloria's face on our index fingers. That machine is the coolest although mine didn't turn out too well since I have hot pink nail polish in the process of chipping off my nails.

We went to a cafe and then had to see Gloria off at the bus stop. It hasn't really hit me yet that she's leaving now, and that everyone will soon. But I am excited to stay in Korea, I love it here and can't wait for the new semester. Now that I know I'm going to Korea University for sure I have a lot to take care of as far as MSU goes, I haven't notified them yet. Also KU needs to hurry up and send me my admission stuff so I can apply for housing since the deadline is soon and I need to sign up for classes.

I need to stop being so lazy and make it to work at a decent hour. I am proud of myself for finding the right bus home instead of giving in and paying for a taxi. Although a lady helped me.

Last Night In Town

All our friends are leaving. I guess it's a fact of making friends in a place where no one lives; we all have to go. Saturday I headed out to Sinchon and met up with Dayena, Rex, and Dayena's adorable little cousin 한솔. We went to dinner and then karaoke and then a hookah bar and then JunCo. After everyone got good and drunk they went home and Rex and I went to 찜질방. He passed out and I tried to sleep by him but he was outside and I kept getting bitten by mosquitoes so I went inside.

The next day I woke up and met up with Sharon and Justin and Jason and we ate 삼겹살. It was delicious as we were leaving this ajashi was shouting something at us like we didn't pay or left something. We went back and he sprayed us with Febreze it was great.

I went back with Sharon to her room and took a nap. Later we met up with Andrew, Justin, Jason, and Dayena because it was Andrew's last night in Sinchon. It's quite unreal that there are so many people we'll probably never see again. It sucks when they're close friends. I spent the night at Sharon's because the subway stopped. She slept while I got re-addicted to Tetris and I went to sleep when she woke up.

When I woke up Sharon and Dayena yelled at me to go brush my teeth and wash my face and put on some clothes. We went to lunch at Pizza Hut which was a rip off and totally the world's smallest pizza. Then Sharon and I went to the Seoul Times and hung out for a little bit. Then we got on bus 18 instead of 19 so went out to like the country and then finally found our way back to Yangjae station. I was so tired I took a taxi back here even though it was like $15.

I'm exhausted. Tomorrow's our last time to see Gloria.

Hong Kong

I had an amazing week. Everything is real strange right now and busy/nothing to do, etc. Saturday night was Andrew's birthday celebration. We went to Junco and had kind of an awkward time. Half the group went to hang out with IYC and some of us wandered around stoops in Sinchon. After coming home Sharon and I went crazy and dug through the mountain of trash in the lounge. It was such a treasure trove. People were throwing away boots, makeup, food keke, jeans, etc.

But the best find was a giant Chinese flag and Beijing 2008 flag. After grabbing all the useful crap we could find we tied the flags on us and ran over to the guys' side of the dorm, where we were forbidden to go for fear of getting kicked out of the dorm/Yonsei. But hey, it was the last night. It was actually pretty boring. We ran into Dan who showed us his trash find: a giant plastic horn. We found a dictionary in the refrigerator.

I tried to sleep but wasn't really able to. There were a bunch of European guys in our lounge watching some football/(soccer) game. As soon as the game was over the security ajashi came and kicked them out of there. We said sleepy goodbyes in the lounge and Amy, Rex, Jason, and I headed off to the airport. The weather was CRAP it was raining and gross.

We took Thai Airways, a first. It was fun, they serve so much alcohol and our plane was all shaking so we downed red wine to the point where my face was bright red, Rex's neck was red, and Jason just passed out. Upon our arrival in Hong Kong we were completely lost. None of us were responsible or planned any part of the trip; we were to meet Tiffany at our hostel.

Somehow we made it there. But the place was disgusting and shady and scary. There were actually cockroaches on the walls. We were too tired and disoriented to really do anything so we waited for Tiffany. As soon as she got to our room we all decided to get the hell out of there. We're all pampered kids who have never stayed in a hostel.

Our hotel was in Mong Kok, on the island of Kowloon. It was very fancy and since we all stayed in one room (not allowed) it wasn't too expensive. Tiffany and Rex checked in and asked for a really big bed and the hotel staff asked if it was some sort of anniversary or something.

Since Rex, Jason, and I are irresponsible and lost, we hadn't eaten since the plane. Tiffany took us to get real Hong Kong/Chinese food: noodles and soup and dumplings. We went for a swim on the roof of the hotel, very nice, and then got slightly dressed up to go up to Victoria's Peak and take pictures of the city. After we were sufficiently bitten by mosquitoes we headed over to Lan Kwai Fong aka LKF, the hippest part of the city, or where all the cool bars and stuff are. We had overpriced appetizers around 11pm as dinner and went back to sleep.

On our second day we went to Stanley Market to buy souvenir stuff. Then we went to the beach, except the sand was not too soft. We went to a grocery store and bought meat, chips, snacks, etc. and took a taxi to the next beach over to have a bbq dinner. Except none of us had never barbequed and we were all completely clueless as to how to light coal on fire. We were starving and some guy let us use his fire. Finally we got ours working after a couple hours and by the end we were exhausted. A group next to us was really nice; it was someone's birthday and they had all just graduated and they had us try some of their food and even spoke a little Korean to us.

The next day we woke up early and went for a morning swim. Tiffany and I fell asleep by the pool; it was so nice. We went out to Times Square for dim sum which was delicious. We just stopped into the Gucci store to peek around except Tiffany and I completely fell in love with this one bag. Except it was $700.

Jason went back to the hotel to chill and we went to Ocean Park. Everyone says Disneyland Hong Kong sucks so we shouldn't go there. Ocean Park had PANDAS. They were adorable. I was so excited I've always wanted to see live pandas. They ate and played and drank and slept it was amazing. We rode the cable car over the mountain to the other side of the park for the non-kiddie rides, except they kept stopping. We were getting worried because it was really windy and at one point really thought we would die. But the view of the mountain and bay was beautiful.

As we got toward the end we noticed people weren't coming back the other way. We got down and found out that the "Level 3 Typhoon Has Been Hoisted." So all the fun rides were shut down. We went to look at sharks, fish, turtles, octopi (??) and other sea life. By the time we were getting ready to leave it was pouring. We had to take a series of escalators down the mountain and then a shuttle bus to the main entrance. As consolation this woman gave us crappy pins and key chains and ponchos because we complained.

We met up with Jason and went to check out this store with designer bags. Tiffany and I ended up getting the bag we fell in love with (in different colors) and Rex got a Gucci messenger bag. We felt like such Gucci whores. I owe Rex a lot of money right now. We hurried up to Victoria's Peak to have dinner at Bubba Gump (authentic Hong Kong cuisine!) and everyone kept talking about the coming typhoon which would be at level 8. Level 10 is the worst and at level 8 employers can't force employees to work.

We got our food to go and hurried back to the hotel and ate there. It was pouring all night. We slept in the next morning because every time we looked out the window we could barely see. It was pouring and wind and well, TYPHOON.

It started to clear up and we went to the Hong Kong Museum of History because on Wednesdays the museums are free. We went back to shop at the mall attached to our hotel/chill in the sauna. We got slightly dressed up again and ate dinner and went back to Lan Kwai Fong for ladies' night at the clubs. We were told Beijing Club would be cool. A sign said strict dress code was enforced but I was wearing jeans. They didn't check our ids either and the minimum age was supposed to be 21.

While we were dancing around Tiffany freaked out a little and told us the old guy next to us was a really famous celebrity. We saw him a bunch of times, and there was another old guy celebrity with him. Tiffany took a picture with him and thought it was Jackie Chan but we were like, that is so not Jackie Chan.

This morning was gross and rainy again. We had a final lunch and Tiffany took us to the bus stop. We didn't really get a proper goodbye, but hurried onto the bus to the airport. We all split up outside the airport, taking buses to Gimpo, Sinchon, and me to Anyang. I was worried about being able to find a taxi but I was lucky and the guy even helped me get my giant heavy suitcase (29 kilos) into the car.

I don't know where my aunt and uncle went but my cousin is here watching tv in his pajamas. It feels good to be back here. I have a lot of unpacking/rearranging/laundry to do.