Feb. 7 - Feb. 11: Lunar New Year
This was without a doubt one of my best weeks here in Korea. Monday was my only day to have to work, and it was a breeze. I had a very good laugh that morning when one of my six-year olds jumped up out of his chair in class, ran to open a window, screeching, "Daniel has a stinky hiney!" Good to know my southern dialect is wearing off on these little people!
In order to repair my hair mistakes from Sunday night, I found an English-speaking stylist in a foreigner magazine, so I immediately made an appointment for Tuesday. I went to the fancy pants Aveda salon, and as soon as JT told me he worked at the Vidal Sassoon in London, I knew I was in good hands. He took one look at my poor hair and almost passed out! He first had to bleach my hair twice to get it all the same color, recommended an intensive conditioning treatment (which included a lovely upper body and hand massage), put an ash blonde color in my hair, before finally trimming the ends. Five hours in a chair later, I walked up to the counter to pay. I almost died when he told me the final price...God, I'm actually too embarrassed to admit it! Okay, the total was...gulp...$360. No, that is not a typo. Of course, I had to tip, so I walked out of the salon in a daze, absolutely feeling $400 lighter. Ouch. So much for saving money this week...or this year, for that matter! That night I went out with a couple of my new Pyeongchon guy friends for some much-needed drinks and card games.
Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole! KOREA!
Wednesday was spent lounging around my apartment, doing absolutely nothing but relaxing in anticipation of the night's main event: watching Korea play Kuwait in a World Cup Soccer Qualifiers match!!! I met up with my newfound Pyeongchon friends at their building, and together we made our way to Seoul's World Cup Soccer Stadium. The place was abounding with the buzz of rambunctious soccer-crazed Koreans and tons of foreigners. We made our way into the brightly-lit stadium and were met with massive spanses of red shirts, posters, Korean flags, scarfs, and banners waving wildly in the crisp night air. And to say that it was cold is an understatement...the stadium is outdoors and the temperature was easily below freezing, which was not helped by steady gusts of wind throughout the evening. Once the game began and the fans got excited, the chill wasn't too insufferable. The highlight of the evening was when Korea scored its first goal...the crowd went wild, toilet paper rolls and confetti were flying through the air, and I was blowing my noisemaker as hard as I could with about 40,000 other crazy people. Good times! We ended up leaving in the middle of the second half of the game in order to miss the crowds and headed to nearby Hongdae for a late dinner and drinks.
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A little cold here...
Thursday was another low-key day. I had to force myself out of my pajamas and into the shower around 4:00 pm, then met my coworker Chris to run some errands, namely, grocery shopping. Yippee.
Today is the end of my lovely week away from work. I finally caught up on some sleep, not awakening this morning until 11:00 AM. My gym has been closed for the past three days, so I was glad to be able to get back in there this afternoon for a few hours. Kelly is probably going to come over later and we plan to find something around here to do tonight...I need to enjoy my last two days of freedom before it's back to work on Monday!
In order to repair my hair mistakes from Sunday night, I found an English-speaking stylist in a foreigner magazine, so I immediately made an appointment for Tuesday. I went to the fancy pants Aveda salon, and as soon as JT told me he worked at the Vidal Sassoon in London, I knew I was in good hands. He took one look at my poor hair and almost passed out! He first had to bleach my hair twice to get it all the same color, recommended an intensive conditioning treatment (which included a lovely upper body and hand massage), put an ash blonde color in my hair, before finally trimming the ends. Five hours in a chair later, I walked up to the counter to pay. I almost died when he told me the final price...God, I'm actually too embarrassed to admit it! Okay, the total was...gulp...$360. No, that is not a typo. Of course, I had to tip, so I walked out of the salon in a daze, absolutely feeling $400 lighter. Ouch. So much for saving money this week...or this year, for that matter! That night I went out with a couple of my new Pyeongchon guy friends for some much-needed drinks and card games.
Ole, Ole, Ole, Ole! KOREA!
Wednesday was spent lounging around my apartment, doing absolutely nothing but relaxing in anticipation of the night's main event: watching Korea play Kuwait in a World Cup Soccer Qualifiers match!!! I met up with my newfound Pyeongchon friends at their building, and together we made our way to Seoul's World Cup Soccer Stadium. The place was abounding with the buzz of rambunctious soccer-crazed Koreans and tons of foreigners. We made our way into the brightly-lit stadium and were met with massive spanses of red shirts, posters, Korean flags, scarfs, and banners waving wildly in the crisp night air. And to say that it was cold is an understatement...the stadium is outdoors and the temperature was easily below freezing, which was not helped by steady gusts of wind throughout the evening. Once the game began and the fans got excited, the chill wasn't too insufferable. The highlight of the evening was when Korea scored its first goal...the crowd went wild, toilet paper rolls and confetti were flying through the air, and I was blowing my noisemaker as hard as I could with about 40,000 other crazy people. Good times! We ended up leaving in the middle of the second half of the game in order to miss the crowds and headed to nearby Hongdae for a late dinner and drinks.
.jpg)
A little cold here...
Thursday was another low-key day. I had to force myself out of my pajamas and into the shower around 4:00 pm, then met my coworker Chris to run some errands, namely, grocery shopping. Yippee.
Today is the end of my lovely week away from work. I finally caught up on some sleep, not awakening this morning until 11:00 AM. My gym has been closed for the past three days, so I was glad to be able to get back in there this afternoon for a few hours. Kelly is probably going to come over later and we plan to find something around here to do tonight...I need to enjoy my last two days of freedom before it's back to work on Monday!
posted by Tiffany Joiner @ 3:55 AM
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