Long Weekends & Little Sleep

I am a stickler for time-order, as I'm sure you know by now

So, let me give a quick run through of the week leading up to our lovely long weekend...

A kindie field-trip to an authentic Korean blacksmith village...

One weekend a month I volunteer with this fun high-school group. Basically these awesome English speaking/learning teens go to different cultural events or festivals or locations and teach me (in English) about the history. Its nice to be the student instead of the teacher, and many of them are quite near fluent, so there isn't much I do besides let them practice.

This month was a (you guessed it, you Sherlocks) traditional Korean folk music lesson! We essentially took a 4 week class in 5 hours. Maybe many of you are thinking 'Hm, music? For our Tierney? I thought she was terrible at all things musical/artsy?' and to that I would say...you are correct. I super, super sucked, but it was fun & I have a new respect for drummers.

Or people who can use both hands semi-simultaneously.

The high-light of my pre-vacation week(end) was getting to see one of my favorite TV personalities;

Kimchi!

She is a Korean-American drag queen, who was the runner up of RuPaul's Drag Race reality competition show. She is also an amazing makeup artists and designer. Her style and skill on the show was so beyond where most contestants were at. Laura and I watch each season quite religiously, and when we heard Kimchi would be coming back to her motherland for the first time, well, we had to go show our support.

Alas, she was a much bigger hit than even she expected, and though we lined up earlier than most, many people cut the line (grr) and Laura and I were the first poor saps in line after it sold out. But we did see her waltz in & therefore we counted it as a win. I mean, we saw her in person, not on TV, the length of time hardly matters ><

Instead of heading into SKRT to see her, Laura and I cut out losses and Laura and I headed to Hongdae for a night of dancing. We had a blast, arguably a better time than the drag show would have been, even finding a hidden little corner of a club called GoGos so we could dance in complete peace ^^

Ready for some speed pictures?

Okay.

So here we have some of the cutsie cafe creations I (or Laura) have had in the last week or so...

Here we have how I Macgyver my steamed broccoli in the mornings.

Big pan + medium strainer + medium lid + kitchen towel to hold steam in from around the strainer

And yes, it works!

And here we have what happens when you buy much too much spinach...and then the next day a parent brings the foreign teachers (Emma in particular) about 75 tomatoes (no exaggeration)

So what does one make with an excess of spinach and tomatoes?

^Egg white poof with layers of spinach + Wheat, spinach, marinated tomatoes & pepperjack strings^

I super enjoy my little cooking experiments

Now for the main course (of this post, I mean)

MY LONG WEEKEND

for Korea's Foundation Day

Friday evening:

Every year, for the end of summer, the social events organization I help with has a huge

New Moon Party

Like a glow paint party essentially. This year we had 400 attendees, and a pretty epic fire performance! It was a very fun night full of friends and, of course, neon glow paint!

Saturday:

What do you do the day after such a fantastic evening?

EAT

Laura and I went to our absolute favorite all-you-can-eat Korean BBQ spot in Hongdae; Meating

We also checked out a local mall and hung around my place.

We went out to see Kang (brother from another mother, who was on leave from the ROK army for the weekend) briefly that evening, but we weren't about to have two nights out in a row, so it was short lived.

Sunday Funday:

One of Laura's favorite bands came to Korea for the first time

Nightwish

So of course we went! Standing room, quite close, and let me say, this isn't my genre of choice, however, I had a fantastic time. Her voice is a true instrument and I was in awe. Plus it was a blast to share something to near and dear to Laura's heart and past.

(Nightwish is to Laura, as La Dispute is to me)

Between getting there, waiting in line, the concert, getting out and the cheesy abomination make-your-own Mcdonalds we had for dinner, our day was full and we headed home after, quite early, considering it was another weekend night since Monday was work-free.

Monday:

Is it even a weekend if we don't spend at least one afternoon in a cat cafe? We didn't think so. So we checked out a new one by the Hongik Uni park, and we were not disappointed (are we ever?)

Later we met up with our dongsaeng (little brother) Kang for a movie

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children

(Chocolate shrimp flavor should never be a thing)

I enjoyed the film of course, but the best part was after...

A RACCOON CAFE!

And I'm not talking about a little one like the Ehwa Uni spot Laura and I visited last year, oh no, I mean like cat-cafe style, but with trash pandas! (and some dogs too)

It was on the fifth floor with an open air balcony section and a beautiful view of Seoul's skyline. I think it was called Bonito, across from Zen bar in Hongdae, 4 floors above Artbox & 3 above The Fox and the Fool bar.

After this I headed out to a work-dinner with my SGW crew to talk about the event Friday and start planning the Halloween event (SGW's two year anniversary)

Then home and sleep and TUESDAY BACK TO WORK O.O

All in all, it was a jam-packed, incredibly fun weekend, though I felt the need for another long weekend after this one just to rest up and actually be ready for a work of week.

The next post will be a bit shorter, I promise, because, well...there just isn't that much going on this week ><

All my love!

Tea

P.s.

I'm posting a chapter or so a week of my fantasy fiction little writing hobby

It's on my Facebook page if you'd like to check out a different style of my writing ^^

Enjoy!