Biznasty, H2OG and Smash paint Korea red-Part 3

So I'm a little slow...both in terms of blogging and mentalness (which isn't a word I'm sure of it) but here's part three of the best trip ever. Speaking of mentally slow though, I've been whining for the past 6 months about how I have such a long walk from the subway to my house but just figured out when my friends were here that I can transfer onto a bus right off the subway for free that gets me to my house in 30 seconds. I knew that you could transfer for free, and there are a bazillion buses that go down my busy street constantly, it just never clicked. So silly.

Day 8: AIR CONDITIONER GIRL. I almost killed her.
So, at our guesthouse we had our own room with two bunk beds so we had an extra bed for 4 nights. On our last night there were 2 Korean girls who I think just kind of showed up last minute so one of them slept in our room. There was no AC the previous 4 nights and it was roasting but they had it installed that day so we were stoked. We went to bed around our usual 8pm bedtime since we're a bunch of grandmas and around 10ish our new roommate came in and I heard her turn off the AC but I fell back asleep. About 30 minutes later though I woke up literally in a pool of sweat. Gross I know but it was horrible and I think Beth and Han didn't really wake up b/c they were on the bottom bunks and were a little cooler. So I got down, grabbed the remote and turned it back on. As I'm getting back into my bed, she gets down from hers, looks at me and turns it off. So I got back into bed and after about 30 minutes couldn't stand it anymore and got up to turn it back on. Got back in bed and about 5 minutes later she climbs down and turns it off. I sat up and said something like "You've got to be kidding, it's so hot in here. Turn it back on please" and I knew she understood me because I had heard her speaking English in the lobby earlier. So I got back down and turned it on. Then, about 20 minutes later she gets down and pushes a bunch of buttons so that it stayed on but barely any air was coming out. I knew that if I got back up I would probably have jammed the remote down her throat so I just sweat it out for the night. When we got up super early to catch our bus to the airport she was still sleeping and had the remote in her hand right next to her face in her bed. She's lucky she's alive.

We jumped on a bus, headed to the airport, and within a couple hours were back in Daejeon. The rest of the day was pretty chill which was great. We went and worked out outside in the 7,000 degree heat then went to dinner at my FAVORITE place in all of Korea called BonBon that has salads (can you believe it??) and all kinds of awesome stuff. In every downtown, there are always all kinds of posters and ads taped down to the streets so it's literally covered/littered with random stuff. Beth decided to take everything she could get her hands on so I'm sure her basement at home now is going to look like a true Korean street:)





Day 9: We got up and went into what we call the "old downtown" of Daejeon. It's basically a crazier version of where we had been the previous night. We met my friend Bethany who came down from Cheongju for the day and spent a couple hours in the underground shopping mall. After that we went back to BonBon. Yes! Bethany was the one who showed me BonBon and every time she comes to town we have to go. Then we went to Dr. Fishy which is a coffee shop in the other downtown where you sit around these pools and little tinsy fish come and eat the dead skin off your feet! I had done it once before but it still kind of freaks you out at first. So fun though. Then we headed to Holy Cross coffee shop which is this super great coffee shop in downtown. I would move in there if I could. After that we went and saw Step Up 3D (YES!) and went home to watch Jersey Shore before we went to bed. If anything makes for a good before bedtime show it's Jersey Shore. Knowing that even though sometimes you might be a little bit of a space cadet there are people that are 392,929,392X more dumb than you are makes for a very peaceful slumber.







Day 10: We were CHAMPS on this day. We got up at 6am so we could pack all of our stuff and get on a train so that we had an entire day in Seoul. We went back to Insadong and shopped our socks off. After that we went by Red Mango so Han could get a lifetime supply and then we went to COLDSTONE. Now, this could be a seperate blog in itself. Coldstone is one of my favorite things on earth. We're not just talking food...it is a huge priority in my life. I want it at my wedding. I want it at the birth of my first child. It's where you go when you want to celebrate, mourn, or just be a fat kid. And there are a couple of people in my life who have been my Coldstone buddies now for years. We've shared billions of calories (literally) worth of memories. Ok, too much? Well anyways, Beth is one of those people. She can eat an entire Coldstone before you can leave the parking lot. So since I've been here I just have had no desire to go because no one here shares in the same kind of joy that I do. So while Han ate her Red Mango (which is ALMOST as good...I'm not dissing on you Hanner) we had the best Coldstone that I have ever had. And the guy that served us looked like my friend Jonah. Maybe it was Jonah?



Next we went to Hongdae and continued to shop our socks off, find weird things which is pretty normal for Korea, and went for some osom Korean BBQ. On our way back, some creeper guy kept trying to take pictures of us when we weren't looking and when I accidentally put us on the wrong subway, he even followed us on and off of it and continued to be a major creeper. Nothing else really happened so it's not a great story but he was definitely creepy. On the subway though, Beth had an excellent presentation of her alter ego also known as "Deb" which was hilarious. Beth and one of my favorite people on earth, Erin Bremond, have had this ongoing skit for the past couple of years now where they completely change their voices into this hilarious tone and pretty much do the most amazing improv you've ever heard. Erin's character is "Kath" and they are two older women, maybe in their seventies, who live together and have been best friends forever. But they have never had boyfriends, (although Deb has a son so I don't know how that happened,) and the only thing that really matters to them is their garden. Really, it's something you just have to hear. And if you don't think it's funny then I'm pretty sure you were born without a sense of humor. Last year they got in an argument as Deb and Kath when we went to the Mariners game and it was probably one of the top 3 funniest things I've ever seen. So anyways, we got a little video footage of Deb on the subway.

Untitled from ashleigh houlton on Vimeo.

After Deb made her appearance we headed back to our amazing hotel, worked out and crashed.







Day 11: The minute I woke up I immediately felt kind of nauseous. Even though I had joked all week about how depressed I was going to be when they left I had really tried to avoid thinking about it up until that point. We got up, ate Krispy Creme, worked out (horrible combo I know) and then just lounged around. When we got onto the bus to go to the airport I cried the entire way but it was one of those cries where you try so hard not to cry that the tears just kind of sit there on your eyeballs and only fall down if you move really fast. Not gonna lie, this day just really sucked. So tough. I just didn't want to say goodbye to them, didn't want to be left here without them...just didn't want to be in Korea period. I cried the whole way home. Got home and cried. And it was a weird thing because yesterday I was talking to a friend here who's boyfriend just left and he had gotten here the same day Beth and Hannah had. I asked her how she was and she just said "I don't want to be here. Having him here makes me wonder what the heck I am doing here" and that is exactly how I felt. When we first left our homes it was different because we were excited and nervous which kind of cancelled out some of the sadness. This time it was just pure sad. And I did think "What in the world am I doing here? This is insane." because it's hard to be reminded of what you're missing at home and the people that you wish so badly you could be around all day. So to have that for two weeks straight, I almost forgot how different my life is here, and it has been really really hard to adjust back to that. I think even when my mom was here it was a little different because things were still a little new. But I guess that is the challenge of living on the other side of the world.

It was so amazing to have them here. I am so unbelievably blessed to have family AND friends that would come visit me in Korea. Seriously, I can't get over it, it's just that cool. Thanks so much Beth and Han for coming! I love you guys!