A Much Appreciated Gift From Home

Judy asked, and she received! The harsh, cold Korean winter would have been much less bearable without this Snuggie and slippers.
It was such a drag to have to pull our hands out of the blanket to change the channel, but thanks to Rhonda and the geniuses behind The Snuggie, that was no longer an issue.

Thanks, One Lens Cookie!

Halloween

Sadly, we weren't really in the Halloween spirit this year. It's very difficult to get excited about a holiday like Halloween when you're living in a country that neither celebrates, nor really understands it. Our friends were still dressing up and going out for it, and we felt lame just saying, 'no' and staying home or going out and not dressing up, so we decided to find an excuse as to why we were busy and couldn't come that night. Our excuse came in the form of a one-man Broadway show.

Without You, by Rent star Anthony Rapp, was a very personal, depressing and emotional account of his time with the show on Broadway, the death of the show's writer Jonathon Larson, and the slow decline and eventual death of his mother from cancer. He went back and forth between song and monologue to tell his story, which left most of the crowd fighting back tears, or in Andrew's case, bawling hysterically and making the ugly cry face. It's a traveling act, and if it lands anywhere near you, we highly recommend it.

Self-timers before leaving

The show was in Gangnam, so after the show we headed to Sideways Wine, the place we discovered with Miranda for some wine and snacks. Once the wine sunk in, we got a little more talkative and made friends with the two Koreans that were sitting behind us. We ended up jumping into a taxi bound for a Halloween party in Itaewon with them, the place we were trying to avoid. The girl (don't remember her name) was a little weird, but she ended up ditching us for her Military boyfriend anyway and leaving us to hangout with Jin alone, so it worked out just fine! Jin, and his girlfriend Heeji, are now two of our favorite people in Korea.

Exploring - 가로수 길

가로수 길 - Garosugil

Garosugil is a high-end shopping and dining street in the Sinsadong area of the Gangnam neighborhood in Seoul. It's known for it's quirky cafes, vintage boutiques and costly eating establishments.

Sweet hat

A Perrier Topiary!

Judy's new beaux

Like a pizza party for a little league team, only it's a Taekwondo Dojang at a fried chicken restaurant!

A new restaurant called,
Burger Hunter was having it's grand opening

No doubt the largest burger in Asia

Interacting with art

The crazy architecture of Gangnam

Miranda Visits! - Leisurely Last Day

On her last day, we were all exhausted, so we slept in, went for breakfast near our apartment, and then ran a few errands.

In the market on the way to breakfast

Dried peppers, an ingredient in 95% of Korean dishes

Mmmm...appetizing...

'Shrooms

Side-dishes o' plenty

Tomato Kimbap, a regular stop of ours

Miranda's last day also marked the first day of Andrew's mustache.
Ain't she a beaut?!

Baby Coke

Eats

Good fountain pose

Farewell, Miranda!
Thanks for coming!

Miranda Visits! - Alex's 이태원 B-day Bash

The obligatory self-timer shots before leaving...

A couple of Max's for the walk

Some of the ladies

Kristin snagging her bullseye

_____, James & Judy

The birthday shot

The birthday boy not looking so good after his birthday shot!

This man could DANCE!

In awe of his moves

Dance lessons

BFFs

Andrew trying out his newly learned moves...

...and he clearly didn't learn a single thing!

The special for the night was, "Order 4 Jaeger Bombs and get a free plate of nachos." The nachos were just as terrible as the bombs, but totally worth it!

Miranda Visits! - Cat Cafe

The day Miranda went to school with Judy, Andrew ended up getting a half day, so we all met for lunch, then Andrew and Miranda went off to a special, special place, the Cat Cafe. Andrew had been interested in establishments like these for a long time (Korea has them for both cats and dogs), but Judy refused to go with him and they aren't the type of place you want to go alone. So, Miranda was willing and Andrew seized his opportunity...

Miranda & Mr. Cat

Cat cafes, sadly a common thing in Korea, are coffee shops where people go to sip coffee and pet kitties. Weird. And gross. How can something as filthy sounding as that exist, much less thrive? Andrew and Miranda found out: disgusting Koreans.

Picture a Starbucks, and then line it with scratching posts, cat houses and ramps, add the smell of the Humane Society plus freshly ground coffee and you've got a Korean cat cafe!



After you order your drink and sit down, an employee comes and gives you a handful of cat food to feed the felines.

Feeding Time!

A perfect example of the disgusting people that keep places like this afloat.

This short-haired Egyptian creature was so skittish (and gross)

Poor cat... :(

Once Judy was off work, she met us in Myeongdong and we headed for (yet again) another of our favorite restaurants, 새마을식당.

Tasty Stuff

Saucy, spicy bacon grilled with cabbage and onions

These people next to us had ordered pork skin, and Andrew was curious to try it. So, he played the 'I'm foreign' card and asked them, in poor Korean, what they were eating. It worked perfectly and they gave us all a piece to try. Grilled skin of a pig wasn't bad. It certainly wasn't good, but it wasn't bad. The closest description we could come to was: a hot, savory gummy worm!

Pooped!