Buddha's Birthday Weekend

Alright so this weekend was seriously amazing!!!! I cannot begin to describe how perfect this weekend was! We had Friday off for Buddha's Birthday which was awesomeness in itself! But what to do with a three day weekend? After much debating whether to hit up Seoul for the festivities or go to Busan for the beach, I decided to stay here this weekend. It was the best decision I could have possibly made! On Friday, my Korean friend Son Ha and I went to Sikjongsan to climb up 4.5 km and back down 4.5 km to see the temple there. It was an amazing hike and very challenging! My butt and calves are still sore! At the top, they served us a meal of Kimbop. It was delicious! The view was spectacular! The temple was small but there were fewer people there. It was a good experience anyways. The nature was gorgeous! I could not have asked for a better hike! We saw new born baby birds following their mother on our way back down the mountain. It was incredible! They couldn't even fly yet.


Friday night, my friend Douchi and I went to a few different bars. It was amazing. We were walking around figuring out which bar we wanted to go to when we saw this sports bar on one of the top levels. We decided to check it out. We walked in and sat down in one of the booths. I noticed a very tall and well built Korean at the bar wearing an Ed Hardy t-shirt. It was crazy because most Koreans aren't built like that and most Koreans don't wear Ed Hardy. But Douchi and I were sitting there talking and a Korean girl came up and offered us some menus. She asked us how we knew about the bar, and we told her that we didn't know about the bar; we just thought that it looked cool. Then she told us that the guy in the Ed Hardy at the bar was a famous baseball player here in Daejeon. He plays third base for the Hanwha Eagles. His name is Song Kwang Min. She asked us if we wanted a picture with him, and we said sure because we thought it would make the guys at the gym jealous. He came over and took a picture. Then, he sat with us a bit. He invited us to the game on Saturday. They told us they would save us some seats right by the cheerleaders. He also told us that we should invite our friends to the bar for a party. We talked for a bit about the game and baseball. Then the cheer captain came over to sit next to me. It was hilarious because he had kept looking over at us from his table, and so Kwang Min called him over to join us. He showed us a few of his cheers. It was fun. He acted a bit nervous. So I asked him if I was making him nervous because he was sitting next to me, and he said no but I made his heart beat super fast. Hahahaha. I was laughing so hard!!!! One of the girls reminded him that he had a girlfriend that he was about to marry. I only laughed harder. It was awesome! We stayed there until it closed at 2. After, we went to a restaurant down the road for a bit, but it wasn't as exciting as the first bar.

On Saturday, it rained so the baseball game was canceled. We were so bummed, but Douchi and I decided to go out anyways. We started out at Mr. Chicken because we both love their Cajun Chicken Salad. Then, we went to this bar called NASA which wasn't anything special. Then, we went to a couple of different "Modern Bars" that had a good chilled atmosphere but weren't exactly what we were looking for. Then, we walked into this one bar thinking that it would be a more upbeat place, and it turned out to be a gentlemen's club so we immediately turned around and walked out. It was hilarious! It's times like those that it would have been handy to be able to read the Korean. Finally, we ended up at the same restaurant as Friday night. One of the guys from the gym joined us, and we all had a really good time! I met a few guys that were sitting at a table near ours. They were really good guys. One is a soccer player (they kept telling me he had nice legs...hahahaha). The others were all kind of shy and didn't talk much except for one that really wanted to practice his English. He told me that he lives in Seoul and that I should call him if I go up to Seoul. So we exchanged numbers, and he texted me immediately after I had left. Hahaha. It's awesome that the guys here don't have issues contacting you within 24 hours of your meeting. They are always so polite too. It is definitely one of my favorite things about this city!

Today, I am just doing a bit of house cleaning and resting up for my work week. This weekend has been a lot of fun, but now I am exhausted!!! Hahaha.