“Parting is such sweet sorrow that I shall say goodnight till it

be morrow.”

One of the things you get used to while living abroad is saying goodbyes. Korea, just as

Copenhagen was, is a temporary home for most of the foreigners here, including myself. This means that you become really close very quickly to friends but you also must part sooner. This morning I had my first Korean goodbye, but while Rachael is moving home this is more of a see you later than an actual goodbye because she is planning on returning to Korea to travel and might actually come on my trip with me in September (cue little happy dance!). Even though it is more of a see you later we decided to have a bucket list weekend for Rachael. Our day started at 9:30 AM.

First on our itinerary was a shooting range. All of my friends here seem to be British, so they were all very excited to touch real guns for the first time. Look at this photo! I totally look like i know what I'm doing!

Then you see this photo and see that Rachael did not think I knew what I was doing. Turns out I didn't know what I was doing.

There were many different handguns to choose from. Rachael and I went for the Glock, or the police gun. Alex and Beth went for the revolver. They wanted to be cowboys. We were also given bullet proof vests and headphones.

We look like we know what we are doing. We didn't.

Rachael just fell into a fit of laughter halfway through her rounds. It was also difficult because the guys with us did not speak English, so they couldn't tell us what to do differently.

We did so poorly that the owner of the range came and told us he couldn't let us leave with these scores. I'm assuming the score is out of 100, if you can see in the top left corner those scores read right to left, 21, 24, 23,80. The 80 was not mine.

The owner then actually taught us what to do, gave Rachael and I an easier gun to shoot, and watched to critique our shooting.

At this point Rachael learned she had to close one eye to aim. That is a pretty important point to know.

This time I scored an 85 out of 100!

Next up was lunch! This weekend was also Alex's birthday so we took the opportunity to decorate.

Sally needs to start a food blog. She is amazing at finding amazing restaurants. This restaurant was made of shipping containers and was decorated with wrenches and lockers. For lunch she just ordered an assortment of the food for all of us to share.

After lunch we completed our 4th escape room. This room was the most difficult we have attempted and unfortunately had to dance for clues three times. Yes you read that right, when you want a clue everyone in the group has to dance. There are cameras in the room so the staff can see what you need help with.

Remember we started at 9:30? This was about halfway through our day. We then got cake at Rachael's favorite cake shop, Sugar Daddy's. These people are Alex, Emma, Joshua (he cannot take a serious photo), Sally, Beth, and me.

We then climbed a mountain to see Seoul tower. When I say we climbed the mountain I mean everyone except Joshua, Sally, and I climbed the mountain. We took a cab 3/4th of the way up, it was too hot to climb a mountain. It has been in the mid-high 80's for the past couple of weeks.

Do you remember in Mulan where the man lights the watchtower to alert China that the Huns have arrived? These are the Korean version.

Its a tradition for couples to lock a padlock on the fence by the tower.

Beth was the mastermind of the day and had thought ahead to get Rachael a lock that all of us wrote on.

We then climbed down the mountain back to Seoul by this time it was about 8:00 PM and our day was not through.

Then the girls went to Dragon Hill Spa. When Americans hear the word spa it conjures pictures of quiet serene rooms with massages and facials. Korean spas are completely different. The first thing you will notice is that this spa is open 24 hours. It only costs about $12 for entrance into the spa, so if anyone is every in a strange city you can always find a jimjilbang (Korean for spa) to have a cheap place to stay.

When you enter you are given a key:

The key opens your locker but you also use the chip to pay for food, massages, and to play games. Yes there are games to play.

There are different floors for men and women because...you are completely naked. Yes you read that correctly, everyone just walks around naked showering and going in and out of different pools, each pool is a different temperature.

Dragon Hill is huge! It has 7 floors, there is only one floor devoted to men and women each. The rest of the floors have saunas, game rooms, restaurants, and exercise classes. On the floors that are Co-ed its required to wear a pair of shorts and a t-shirt that the spa supplies.

While at the spa we all got scrubs and massages. It is the weirdest experience I might ever have. I was with three of my closest friends, naked, with naked women scrubbing our entire bodies. Here's a video of a guy getting the scrub:

As he says in the video it hurts a lot, but at the end you feel the cleanest you have ever felt.

We finally ended our day at 1:00 AM. Everyone was exhausted but very very relaxed.

Sunday Rachael, Beth, and Alex went hiking while I slept in. Sunday evening however we all met up again to attend my first Korean baseball game!

The day was in the 90's and we were sat in direct sunlight. Note for next time: buy tickets on the opposite side of the stadium.

Each team even had their own cheerleaders.

The weekend was crazy and had more packed into it than I have done since being in Korea. I am still recovering. After the airport this morning, I returned home to clean and nap.

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”

- Buddha

Buddha's birthday was on May 14. It is interesting to note that according to the 2005 census 29.2% of Koreans identify as Christian, while only 22.8% identify as Buddhist. It is nice to see that everyone is able to get along and still enjoy the cultural significance of Buddhism. My friends and I visited Jogyesa Temple in Seoul to see some of the amazing lanterns and then stayed to watch part of the lantern parade.

Nothing is sacred in Korea. This lantern is characters from a Korean cartoon that they play on buses and trains called Larva, as in bug larva.

Korean's are also obsessed with the Little Prince.

People could pay to write prayers or wishes on pieces of paper. Then each paper was attached to one of the thousands of balloons draped everywhere. Every inch of the temple grounds was covered with lanterns.

The lanterns in the parade were really cool, but in between the giant lantern floats were hoards of people carrying small lanterns. I believe my attention span is getting shorter and shorter the older I get. We only stayed at the parade for about an hour, Rachael and I couldn't take anymore sitting on the ground.

It seemed as if every single group in Korea got to march in this parade. There were children, monks, women, people with disabilities, and every other group under the sun. Each carrying different types of small lanterns.

I was also able to go to an island off the West coast of Seoul. We climbed a mountain, took a nap on the beach, and walked back to the bus.

To get to the island we had to take a 2 minute ferry ride. Korea sacrifices efficiency, in order for people to have jobs. They could definitely build a bridge which would be cheaper and easier, but they have to have jobs for the people who run the ferry. Side rant: They pay grandmas and grandpas to go around the streets with tiny little brooms sweeping up trash. Why not instead put trash cans around the city and start having anti-littering campaigns? Ok end of rant.