Two Fridays ago I spent the night alone in my apartment just having me time. I watched Freedom Writers, which is an amazing movie. If you have not seen it, I definitely recommend it.
That Saturday Sarah, Chris and I had plans to hang out. Sarah and I got together around 10am as we wanted to check out a nearby massage place that her friends used to go to when they lived here. We headed out to Jukjeon and tried to find the place. It ended up being next to a dental office, had Chinese decor and was not really labelled but we tried the door anyways. Communicating what we wanted was a bit difficult because of the language barrier but we agreed to something and went with it. We got put into a room and were told to change into these great clothes.
Then we were asked if we preferred to have a male or female massaging us and we didn't care, so they brought us into a room with a man and woman waiting for us - which makes me wonder what they would have done if we said we wanted females! The man massaged me, which seemed strange at first, but in the end I actually liked it better. Women have really skinny, boney fingers and those aren't always nice for massages. So to have the opposite of that was nice, and it was such a great massage! The first twenty minutes was a kind of overall massage over the clothes, then the next forty minutes was an oil massage on our bare backs. I figured they would have left the room for us to get undressed, but instead they just shimmied our shirts off as we laid there. Kind of awkward as we didn't know what was happening at first but it wasn't as weird or bad or sketchy as this post is probably making it sound. We were having a real cultural experience! It was a great massage, I will definitely go back. Plus it was only $40 for one hour - unheard of in Vancouver!!
While we waited for Chris to meet us out in that area, Sarah and I grabbed cinnamon buns and coffee. Such a great start to the day already! With Chris we headed to Express Bus Terminal to do some underground shopping. We spent the whole day there shopping - didn't leave until 5pm. We all got some great things. Sarah and I bought several matching outfits - she has great style! Although this did lead us to walking into work Monday morning wearing the same outfit!
That night we got together at Sarah's to make spring rolls together, which were so good! We ate so much! To finish off the day we watched Pitch Perfect and laughed the night away.
Sunday I decided to check out a board game group that usually meets every Sunday. I tried in December to go to one of their meetups but arrived at the cafe and didn't find anyone. So this time, I messaged the group and one girl was willing to head there with me. I met her at the subway station and we headed to Coffeesmith to play some board games. I was super excited since I did this back at home a lot and hadn't played any games since being in Korea. As well, I got Super Munchkins for Christmas and I was excited to play that.
That day I met Gemma, Kris, Joel and Al. We played Phase 10, Saboteur (such a cool game, I really want it but to buy it online on a website that will ship to Korea it's $50, whereas in Canada it's $13. How does this happen?!), Catan, Cards Against Humanity and Super Munchkins. The meetup definitely went longer than I thought it would, but I enjoyed every minute of it and was so glad I went. We played board games for five hours then went for Mexican food for dinner afterwards. Great company and I can't wait to play some more!
Gemma, Myself, Kris and Al - playing Catan
This past weekend we tried to go see a movie, but tickets sell so fast here and it's difficult to order them online. So unless you go to the theatre a few days in advance to buy tickets, the movie is sold out or there are only really bad seats. We wanted to see The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, but it was basically sold out by the time we got off work. Instead, we found a copy online and Chris, Megan and I went over to Sarah's to watch it. I have heard a lot of good things about the movie, and it was good, but I found it to be less inspirational than I thought it would be.
Since coming to Korea, I have been wanting to see this dance musical called "Ballerina Who Loved a B-boy", so I messaged some friends earlier in the week and we made plans to go this past Saturday. We met up and went for dinner at a place called Cafe Mama which had delicious paninis. Then we headed to the theatre. The venue was much smaller than I thought it would be. I was thinking it would be like Queen Elizabeth Theatre but it was smaller than the Orpheum. We had seats centre in the third row which gave us an awesome view. The muscial (which was non-verbal, so really it was a ballet/hip hop performance) was incredible! I absolutely love watching dance so I enjoyed every minute of it and the dancers were super talented.
While very artistic, there was a lot of dancing with creepy masks on while the main girl character "had nightmares". At one point, the stage was dark except for the spotlight of her sleeping then another spotlight turned on and a guy with a mask jumped into the audience which made everyone jump. But the show was an impressive blend of romance, thrill and humour.
At the end of the performance, one of the dancers came out to thank the audience for coming. As foreigners, we got pointed out and everyone clapped for America, and then for Canada. It made for a good laugh.
Chris, Laura, Bo, myself and Sarah with the main guy.
Us again with the guy who brought the humour to the show.
All in all a great weekend. I've also been playing my guitar on almost a daily basis which has been fun. I've decided to go back to the basics and have been doing a beginner's course since it's been awhile since I've really played. I'm having fun with it. There is a great online course for free if anyone is interested www.justinguitar.com. As well, I have been doing yoga almost every night before bed as well. Yoga is also something I miss doing as I did it often in Vancouver. Things aren't as convenient here, but I found an awesome website that has free videos you can do at home! www.doyogawithme.com if you want to check it out :)
Although this is a bit embarrassing to admit - Sarah and I have started watching the Bachelor together so Tuesdays have gotten significantly better. Every Tuesday we get together, make dinner and watch the show together. Such great company! I'm going to really miss that girl when she leaves at the end of February!
I hope everyone else has been having fantastic weekends. I've heard Vancouver is getting tons of rain, so stay dry! Thinking and love you all.
<3
No comments:
Post a Comment