I have survived being homeless for a week and living out of suitcases in 4 different apartments in Hongcheon! People would ask me where are you staying on a given night and I would reply, I’m not sure – whoever will take me! Despite my living situation, my last week in Korea was pretty good. I spent my time off hanging out and saying goodbye to all my friends I have made over in Korea.
At Caffe Bene with friend Amy and Jessica
Dukgalbi for my last dinner in Hongcheon with Jessica, Adam, and the owners. We were the only ones in the restaurant. The owner's name in translation is Bible. I tell her that her restaurant is heaven because it is so delicious. She gave me the last meal for free "ServiceE". I will miss this lady sooo much!
One of my last meals. Samgyetang - a whole chicken in soup stuffed with rice and ginseng. It is so good! Traditionally supposed to be eaten on a hot summer day to cool you off. I love it anytime of the year though.
One morning off I went to lunch with Sharon and we picked up two kids, Scott and Joseph, and took them to eat and then to the park with some ice cream. It was so much fun to hang out with them. I really miss those little rascals. I gave the school’s graduation speech for the 7 year olds. It was weird but went all right. Everyone seamed to like what I was saying which was good. Either they liked what I was saying or they didn’t understand it and are just being nice, I’ll never know. Haha.
On my last Saturday night I hung out with my foreigner friends in Hongcheon. Dan, my MN friend, organized the gathering and set up reservation at Hongcheon Garden, a nice restaurant in our town that we like to go to. It’s barbeque, a great last meal to eat with them. My Korean friend Claire even drove 2 hours from her house in Seoul to come hang out with me. It was a lot of fun. I will miss those strange individuals in Hongcheon. They may have been very odd, but they were quite entertaining. After we finished eating at the restaurant we went to WaBar for drinks. It was a great last night; Adam had them play me a farewell song at the bar as well.
At Hongcheon Garden with my fellow waygooks!
At Wabar with Claire and Adam
Michael
My last weekend in Hongcheon I spent hanging out in Jessica’s house with her parents and sister Megan (she speaks English and has been to Australia – I really like her sister). It was fun hanging out in a Korean home and seeing what they do. Not much different from my home; hang around, watch tv, eat yummy food. A couple big differences is that they lay on the heated matt, not the couch. They also eat from a small table on the ground and not in chairs at a table. When I stayed there, I slept in Jessica’s bed her room while she slept on the matt with her mom in the living room. However, Sunday night I slept on the matt with her and her mom because her brother came home so I surrendered my bed.
Making kimbap with Jessica and her mom!
All the yummy ingredients
The final product!
My parents for my last days in Korea, Jessica's mom and dad. They were so cute!
Monday early morning on, March 5th, Jessica and I set off for our journey to Minnesota. We got up at 4am for our 9am flight. Her parents drove us to the airport. It took about two hours from Hongcheon. Our flights took a total of 25 hours going from Seoul to Shanghai to Los Angeles to Minneapolis. It was quite the trip. I didn’t get much sleep so I was exhausted. We arrived in MSP around 6pm on Monday night. When we made it home there was some cheesy hashbrowns and chex mix waiting for me that I had told my mom I wanted earlier that day. I think I said I wanted that because she had asked me at breakfast time and I was hungry! It was delicious though. Soccer clinics started at Dynamo on Tuesday morning and I got roped into helping out with them for 2 hours with little kids (Jessica came and helped as well). So we were up and coaching soccer the next morning bright and early – Welcome home Julie!
