Things Bean Taught Me

Root Beer Tastes Better In Glass Bottles

                                             It's cute now, later it will make girls SWOON!

                                                          Reading in bed is RAD!

                                 You can be anything you dream you can be. ( Even an elephant)

                                      Let your aunt put makeup on you. Then rock the look.

Things Bean Taught Me

If you don't want to share your girl scout cookies, HIDE!

                                                   Hug your friends.... A LOT!

                           Have enough patience to teach me now, and my wife will appreciate it later.

                  If someone falls asleep on your couch, they get a blanket. No questions asked.

Things Bean Taught Me

Show me where to walk, and I will follow in your footsteps.

 If you screw up, be sure to take the punishment like a man.

 You'll find all SORTS of cool stuff, if you simply look around you!

 Reach for the stars... or the leaves... just be sure to REACH!

Things Bean Taught Me

It's been a little over a year now that Bean has been living with us. He turned 2 in December which makes him officially 28 months old.
When did I stop thinking of him in 'months'?
I can barely remember a time when I wasn't a G.G. and I  like that.
But it's been a LONG time since I blogged here, so I better catch everyone up.
My oldest girl had a son. The first time I saw an ultrasound picture, it looked like a teeny black and white jelly bean. Thus the name 'bean' was spawned. The name stuck. A good friend from high school allowed me to swipe her rad nickname of G.G. ( gorgeous grandma) because I'm just way to hot to be GRANDMA, nana or any of the other stuff. my pal wasn't a G.G. yet herself, so THANKS C, for letting me be a G.G. first! It's a rad name. ( she's a G.G. now too by the way)
Bean came to live with Pop and G.G. so mom could get her life straight. so far it's still crooked. That is all I shall say on that.
I'm back in college full time, only 2 semesters from my BA in psychology! Then it's on to graduate school!

I started posting tons of photos of Bean on my facebook, with short captions, entitled "Things Bean Taught Me".  I got so many positive replies, I decided to post them here.

I hope these pearls of wisdom bring you joy, enlighten you...
Hell I who am I kidding? I just hope you think my grandbean is as cute as I do, and maybe laugh your ass off once in a while.
Love,
G.G.

Sometimes You Want To Choke The Ones You Love

Those are words you never want to say, hear or think, but it's the truth. And I guess I need to face it. He has a heart condition, and he's basicaly refusing medical treatment, because he's a damn heard head. Not to mention a life long smoker and alcholic, which doesnt help.

His 'girlfriend' Cindy is taking good care of him, and called to tell me that he's going downhill fast, and to prepare myself.

So just how DO you prepare yourself? I wrote him a letter, and told him all over again how much I loved and appriciated all the things he's done for me all my life. All the things Ive always said to him every time I see him. I told him he's never let me down, he's always been there when I needed him, and I could always count on him.

I tried to think 'what would I want to hear from MY kids if I knew *I* was about to die?

all I could think of is that I'd want to know my kids would be ok. I'd want to know my kids would be happy, safe and to know I love them, that they'd remember everything IMPORTANT I'd taught them like dont marry somone mean, or stupid. a diploma is IMPORTANT! Dont drink and drive.. all that shit....

I just can't wrap my brain around the fact that it's about to END for my dad and I.
I just can't.

when I was little we lived in the country. Every spring the hill behind us would blom FULL of these purple flowers called johnny jump ups. He'd pay me a nickle for the very first one if I'd bring it to him. Id always wait and wait for it. I'd search for it and when I'd find it, I'd pick it and save it til he got home.
He drove an 18 wheeler, so he was gone all week. He'd come home and i'd have that wilted flower waiting for him and I'd get my damn nickle. I still did that even after my parents got divorced. I'd mail it to him and He'd mail me a nickle back.


know what gets my heart the most?

we never found my brother.

And it sucks.
I think it took 2 days to get here, at least it felt like it. It was about 26 hours, including a 6 1/2 hour layover in Michigan.

I stayed in Austin last night since I got in close to midnight, and picked up zeus at the doggy hotel. They said he had a GREAT time, and was ( and I quote) a RUNNI' FOOL! She said every time they would let him out into the HUGE play area, he'd just TAKE OFF in a mad dash around, and LEAP over any dog who got in his way, and just run laps around the acre of dog yard they play in! I don't think he wanted to come home to our tiny postage stamp sized yard!

I gave my neighbor her gifts and her kids loved the 'splat' balls I got them. I took my pal Jim his Boston Redsocks jacket and he was totaly suprised ( but LOVED it!)

Kayla got some birthday money and had me take her to do something I had been saying no to for 18 years... well maybe not since BIRTH, but for a while anyway... she wanted to get her damn LIP pierced.

so she took the 20$ her Grandma sent her and the 10$ her Aunt sent her and got her bottom lip pierced. They will BOTH want to kill her when they find out, which is my own personal vengance to her... yeah I'm ratting her out! muahahaah!!

This weekend I'm keeping a promise I made to her.

A few years back, she started talking about getting a tattoo. A lot of her friends did 'home made tats, some had parents who had tattoo guns, and Kayla KEPT begging me to let her do it. So I made her a deal. If she waited until she was 18, and didn't do anything stupid like get a home made tattoo, in unsafe or unsanitary conditions.

The deal is she picks WHAT tattoo, and I pick the size and pay for it. I pick WHERE IT goes on MY BODY and she can pick where on hers.

soooo she chose to do the 'see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil fairies'. We'll get them done early next week. The tattoo dude is working up a sketch from the 4 pics we took him tonight ( we want a mix of all 4 pics) He wont be this weekend, so we'll check Tues after I get off work to see if he has time to do it then.

As for me, I'm really blue, and missing my hubby. leaving him again was tough. Jet lag has me all jacked up, and, well, I'm sad.

We went to a show called "Cookin' with Nanta" tonight!! It's one of the top 10 tourist attractions in Seoul!! It's been running for over 12 years, and is the longest running show in Korea, since 1974!!!

It's 6 actors ( one is female) who all dance and use cooking utensils as drums, and knives and chop, dance, fling food, fire, water, etc!! its really funny, amazing and just an amazing show!!

the premise is the 'manager' tells the 'cooks' a wedding is planned and they have to cook a huge meal by 6pm ( its 5pm when he tells them) and oh btw, his nephew is here and is going ot join them to help cook ( nephew is a misfit and screws up all night long)

so they are all banging on pots, and pans in perfect rythym, choping heads of lettuce, onion, and throwing knives, plates, and chopping, banging knives, like a drum corps while dancing in perfect sync! the audiance gets into it, clapping and cheering them on....

well at one point, the manager comes in to 'taste the soup' and he gives it a thumbs down, so the cooks need some help to get another opinion... they come into the audiance to get some help. who do they pick?? a female, and ( Im pointing at chris..) THEY PICK CHRIS!! hahah!!

He goes up and they dress him up with a hat and little shirt, and hand him a bowl of soup. they make a big show of making him taste it, then pretend to chase a fly around stage, swatting it with huge knives, then while one cook 'distracts' chris, the fly 'lands' in his 'soup' then they make him 'eat it' ( the pretty cook spoon feeds it to him). then they pretend that they hear a loud fart and it MUST have come from chris... and chris played along and that it was the soup made him do it... HE WAS JUST PERFECT!! The audiance was just HOWLING with laughture!!! I was CRYING I was laughing so hard!! ( in the very beginning they said we couldnt take pics or video damnit)!!

Well then the cooks announced that the happy couple was the couple that was GETTING MARRIED!! lmao!!! AND at the very end of the production, when all the cooks had a HUGE drum scene with kettles full of water, pounding on them, water flying all over... the audiance was clapping, cheering etc, the final scene was a 'wedding photo' on the backdrop of... CHRIS AND THE WOMAN!!! hahahaah!!!

as a thank you for participating, they gave him 2 photos of it, and a cel phone charm!!

while we were walking out, the woman and her parents stopped us, and asked chris to pose for a picture with her! they thanked him over and over for getting up there, and said he was GREAT!! She asked us where we were from, and they were just tickled to death to meet us! they kept bowing and saying "Kam sam ee dah"!! ( thank you) over and over, and bowing.

we both bought "Nanta T-shirts" to commemerate his wedding day! : )

Or maybe just a fool.... lol I just wont buy ANYTHING without trying to get it cheaper. Even if I just get it for like a the equivalent of a DOLLAR less.. I'm going for it.

Men ALWAYS give me a 'discount' but the WOMEN?? hell no. they are HATEFUL!!! good gawd. YOUD THINK I WAS TAKING FOOD OUT OF THEIR BABIES MOUTHS! ( eye rollllll).
Yesterday I was looking at these cheap ass coin purses for my mother in law. yes she's a cheap ass herself so it's ok.
The aji-mah says 2 thousand wan. FOR A TEENY LITTLE PIECE OF CRUD?? come on now. thats like a buck 75. its worth maybe a buck. SHE paid probably 10 cents. Im sure. so I said ok what if I buy TWO of them... I will give you 3 thousand for 2. She says GO AWAY. and turns her fat back on me. NOW THAT WAS JUST PLAIN RUDE.

so I took my money and found a nice man to give it to and HE gave me the discount and told me I was PRETTY on top of it!! so THERE YA OLD BITCH!!

ok so you need to tilt your head sideways to look at these pictures, but tough titty. the top pic is a FLAT escalator! NO STEPS! It's at the airport. Ive never seen one of those so I was amazed.

And this one is a freakin TALL ASSS escalator at one of the train stations weve been riding on.

These trains can be confusing as hell!! But we have MASTERED THEM! wooohooo!! You have to really study the maps on the walls, and since Koreans are a short people I DO NOT KNOW WHY they put the damn wall maps about 9 feet high!! and make the print microscopic! DAMNIT PEOPLE! We finaly got a little paper map ( which is now warn to a frazzle and you can barely read the damn thing).

You have 6 different lines, and you ride part way on like 2, get off and nam dea mong, walk over there, ride the escalator up, but you BETTER stay to the right becuse the LEFT is for people who WALK up the escalator and they WILL shove your ass. then you find out that line 6 has TWO trains. one goes one direction and one goes the opposite. so depending on which way you need to go you BETTER read and pay attention!

So you get to where you transfer to you stand on the footprints printes on the ground and wait a few min. a litle chime sounds, announcing the pending arrival of the train. It wooshes into the station and a crowd charges out the doors and a crowd charges in. You better flow in WITH them or get smashed in the doors when they slam shut. we saw a lady get caught in the door and another one get her bag caught in the door.

sometimes you get a seat. sometimes you have to stand up. there are neon signes announcing what stops come next, and which side you will exit on. we consult our map to see where we need to get off or transfer to next. and do we need to buy another ticket. because some tickets only take you so far, then you have to buy another ticket.

at the end of your trip, the ticket thingy sucks up your ticket for good and you dont get it back.

by today we are pros at this train thing and are helping other americans buy tickets and showing them where to go. we race up the escalator and onto the train. We stand up and ride and dont fall over when the train takes off. we dont stand at the map and look like lost fools. we can actualy prounounce things like nam dae mung and Ita wan. ( even if I cant spell the shit).

Its been a learning experiance and its been so much freakin fun I can't even begin to tell you how much we've enjoyed it!! I just hate that it's almost over.

Today we did some shopping where CHRIS wanted to go!! See Im NOT entirely selfish when it comes to shopping after all!! lol. we found a HUGE place FULL of musical instruments, and he was in HOG HEAVEN when we found this section full of guitars. He's been teaching himself to play the guitar, so we spent a while looking around, while he drooled over all the cool crap.

I bet there were 9897864289720695062948574985728 diffeent thingies with stringies there.

speakers, amps, and that was just the beginning. There were also banjos, ukaleles, horns of every kind, pianos... if it made a sound, it was there.

He's making plans on bringing his pal who plays guitar and banjo back with him so they can check it out again when they can wander around some more!!

This was our luch yesterday!! We decided to eat 'Authentic Korean food. We found a little place that had great looking pictures in the window, and went in to try it out! The entire menu was in Korean, so we just pointed at the picture that looked good! And it sooooo WAS! I tried a teeny bite of the gross stuff, and about threw the hell up. But I TRIED IT. so thats what counts.


While we were walking around shopping, this vending machine cracked us UP!! What's the other option... Coffee WITHOUT a can???

Isn't my hubby a cutie pie?? We both ate like authentic Korean, chopsticks and EVERYTHING!! : )

This is one place I was NOT about to experiance. ... can you IMAGINE what they serve here??

Last night we grabbed a late night meal at McDonalds.. even there, it has a "Korean flair" The workers wear brown uniforms with berets, and the menu is different! They have yakimandu burgers, shrimp burgers, spicy chicken something or other burgers... green tea shakes even! and like most restraunts, you can order by the 'set' where 3 people can eat. you get 3 main dishes, 3 sides and 3 drinks for one price. usualy for what we'd pay for less than 2 meals in the states. Chris got a yakimandu burger and I stuck with nuggets. we both got fries and a drink. They didnt bother to ask us WHAT we wanted to drink OR what sauce I wanted. they gave me sweet and sour sauce and it wasnt the same kind they have in the U.S. ( but it was still good) the fries werent NEARLY as salty, and NONE of the tables have salt or pepper on them and come to think of it NONE of the restraunts have salt or pepper on the tables, OR sugar. even the 'american' restraunts like outback! we got ONE Ketchup packet for both of us, and our drinks were small sized and we were both given cokes. ( the only other choices would have been fanta or coke zero and sprite. )

When we dumped our tray even THAT was different! there was a hole to dump your ice and soda, a hole for food, a hole for paper trash and a hole for the cups. then you put your tray on a rack. All through the airport ( and everywhere else) there are trash bins with recycle bins. you put paper in one can, plastic bottles in another and trash in another. NOBODY throws trash on the ground, and everywhere you look, somone is cleaning up. Its a very clean and well kept place!

I'm having so much FUN here with my sweetheart, I can't even begin to explain it! Everywhere I look, I see things Ive never seen before, and we get to laugh, and wonder over it together.

Like yesterday we were on the train, and it's full of typical teenagers with ipods or cel phones plugged into their ears, eyes glued to the screens. ( just like here in the U.S.)

But then we'd see something we WOULDN'T see but once in a blue moon back home.

EVERY SINGLE TIME an elderly person, pregnant person,or a mom with a toddler would step on board, the teens would stand up, eyes never leaving the screen of the ipod, and give up their seat. I mean INSTANTLY. Not one eyeball roll, not a "hey do you REALLY want my seat? * sigh.. if I HAVE TOooo....*etc, it was a beautiful site.

Something else I notice here is that everything is pleasing to the eye. All the things are displayed like art! The window of an ice cream place had a vase full of cones stacked up and arranged like flowers!

In the grocery stores, the produce sections are FULL of extremely FRESH produce, and almost ALL of it is organic and has TONS of displays cut up to look like works of art. Flowers, faces, you name it! I could look at it for DAYS! yes I need to tak pics dont I?? again I was just so in awe I forgot to whip out my camera. damnit.

I also enjoy how CLEAN the places are here! the trains are IMMACULATE! AND you dont see the people snacking or eating on the run like we do. ( probably why Americans are a lot 'fluffier' and Koreans are so stick thin huh?) No trash lying around, no graffiti, no gum stuck on the floors or seats.

BUT you WILL get run the hell over while your walking on the sidewalk, in the shops etc. And they arent being rude. Its just how they are. I've never been plowed down by so many little old ladies in my LIFE! lol

Today we're planning on goind to this neat show were some cooks do this cool show with drums, knives and food. They throw food around and slice it up. Sounds cool!! Probably more shopping, but NO MORE HEAVY ASS MINK BLANKETS!!

I dont know what posses anyone to MAKE OR BUY these dresses, but I had to take pis....

He was such an AWESOME cool person! We all hit it off right from the start like I knew we would! My little sign is for Brandi.. It says "wish you were here" with an arrow.... We thought about you ALLL DAY LONG MY FRIEND!!!! Every few feet, one of us would see something and say 'OMG BRANDI WOULD SOOO LOVE THIS WOULDN'T SHE? (usualy something I thought was hidiously ugly of course : ) like that dress at the top of the page. eeewwww!!

The guys were any womans shopping DREAM dates!! They just let me wander,and look and stop wherever I wanted, and they didnt make me stop and look at ANY boy stuff! They even carried all my crap!! ( includidng my FOUR HEAVY MINK BLANKETS!see other pic)

I got a HUGE portion of my shopping done YAAYY!!! I also got myself a COACH PURSE FOR 20 BUCKS!!! and a matching wallet for 10!! YIPPEE!! you should have heard me barter!! I was getting GOOD! well *I* think so. I probably sucked, and could have gotten it for a lot less, but hey, I was tickled pink.

After doing a 90 mile ruck march home at 200 mph thanks to long legs Ric ( good GOD that man walks fast! sheesh! : ) we went out to eat at a GOOOD mexican place, where I had a REALLY good strawberry daqueri ( yes thats mine in the pic you'll see) then Chris and I drug all our treasures home.

We have finaly mastered the trains here I think! YAY FOR US! by the time we got back to our hotel I was EXHAUSTED! MY FEET HURT and I was ready for bed at 9! Jet lag is still kicking my booty!

Chris was trying to get me to stay up late, but I was OUT! lol Poor guy.

It was one AWESOME Valentines Day here in Korea!!

Thanks for sharing your hubby with me Brandi!! We loved spending time with you Ric, YOU ROCK!!!

There was just NO WAY I was comming home without getting a pic of these squatting toilets! Kayla would never have forgiven me! on the left is a vew from the side and on the right is a view from the front. Your supposed to straddle it, and stand facing the 'hood' and let 'er rip!!

I forgot to explain the pics in last nights post! whoops! 

Rather than "exit" the signs say "WAY OUT" ha ha! I find this semi funny.. I'm always thinking of some stoned hippy asian saying 'way out dude....' ok so I'm easily amused. so what. 

The Korean McDonalds every other block was self explanatory, but thought it deserved a pic as well. : )

Today I'm carrying my camera like a tourist, and I WILL get lots more pics I SWEAR IT!! I hope I find another squatting toilet. I have to get a pic of that for Kayla. She found that totaly HILARIOUS! Me? not so much. I was just happy  I didn't have to poop. Thank God for small favors huh?

I found some REALLY YUMMY instant coffee here of all things! mocha type, with cream and sugar already added in single serving packets! and the best part is that its SUPER CHEAP! YAY FOR A TASTY BARGAIN! 

I woke up to a freakin ROOSTER crowing this morning. wth?? a ROOSTER? We are in the CITY.. not a FARM for cryin out loud! So I just woke Chris up. That's what a good wife DOES right? And like a good husband, he didn't complain ONE BIT! ( nudge wink) 

Ok we're off for more shopping fun with Ric!! 

Did you know that red lights are only a SUGGESTION to stop??? Well that's what the van drivers from our hotel think!! OMG, when they took us from the hotel to the airport ( the only place they will take us) I about died. LITERALY!! Dude was driving a million miles an hour, laying on the horn, and would blow through red lights like there wasnt even a lighte THERE! Once in a while he MIGHT slow down, and when a scooter or motorcycle would drive by, weaving in and out of all the cars, and trucks, UP ON THE SIDEWALK... I just had to close my eyes. IT'S FREAKIN NUTS I TELL YA!

We decided to try Dongdaemun market today. We got our ride to the airport and with the hotels advice, took the bus there. It cost us about 13$ for the ticket for both of us. The ride was a little over an hour. Nice muddy scenery all the way since it was raining, but a little rain never stopped me from working so no way is it gona stop me from SHOPPING!!

We arrive and I see nothing of shop worthy value. Lots and lots of MATERIAL.... shoelaces...lace trim, buttons, and some blankets. not even CUTE blankets! Chris and I are like wth?? Where is all the GOOD STUFF? we wander around, and we are STARVING! All the way up there we have seen a MILLION McDonalds, starbucks, Baskin Robins etc, but NOW there is nothing 'American' to be seen! and for breakfast, Im just not feeling squid.

We finaly found a sidewalk stand selling what looks like plain sugar donuts, and they were GOOOD! STILL WARM! We get 2 each. I eat my first one mmmm. The 2nd has some sort of brown filling, is it CHOCOLATE?? I take a second bite. nooo not chocolate. I taste the sugar on the outside, but the filling is... BEANS!!! NOW WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND PUTS BEAN PASTE IN A DAMN DONUT???? COME ON NOW PEOPLE!!!!

The cans of coke are smaller too. they are skinny like a can of red bull only shorter. I bet when a Korean person comes to the states they think we are fat gluttons. ( JELLY IN THE MIDDLE OF A DONUT???YOU GROSS PEOPLE!!)

So we decide to head to Lotte World. We venture to the 'train' which I call the subway. Ive never ridden a subway until last night, so this is new to me. We find the train station and then stand at the map on the wall looking like 2 bumfuzzled idiots. We don't see "Lotte World" anywhere on the subway map, so we ask the ticket man. He cant even repeat the WORD "Lotte World" so he's no help. I smile and say thank you and he looks at me again like I'm an idiot. I'm FEELING like an idiot, and go back to the idiot wall and keep looking, hoping for some divine intervention. Well she comes along. A lady asks "can I help you" THANK GOD!! she was SO NICE! she showed us where to go on the map, where to switch trains, translated to the ticket man for us to help us buy our tickets, then she showed us where to get on the correct train. She was riding that same train, so she got on and then we all got off the same stop. she then told us we had to go upstairs and get on line 2. We thanked her profusley, and went upstairs.

Only to find out she'd told us wrong... there was no line two upstairs... so again we are looking lost and stupid. So much so, that an elderly gentlman asks us almost immidatly 'do you need help'? yes, apparently we do! so we tell him we are looking for line 2. He tells us its downstairs. we sigh and chris explains we were trying to get to Lotte world, so the man says 'come with me, I will take you so you dont get lost. ( what a pumpkin!!) So on the way, chris tells him how the lady had tried to help us, but had mistakenly told us wrong.... the man says "I show you, and you not get lost. you not listen to no more BOO-SHEET!! omg we both died laughing!!!

But he was right, he got us right where we needed to go!! We spent the rest of the afternoon ( after spending the first 5 hours doing mostly riding around and wandering) Shopping and checking out the stuff at Lotte World. There is an ice skating rink there ( we saw NUNS ice skating!) don't know why that made me laugh, but it did. I'm sure even nuns need to have fun too huh? I didn't buy much today, just a few small things for each of the kids, and I got a purse I THINK I like. yeah yeah.... I know. shaddup.

I got some fish flavored funions for the kids... didnt know thats what they were when I got them, but I think they'll like feeding them to their friends! lol

We ate a GREAT lunch and AWESOME dinner! Lunch was at the "Blue Spoon" we had a "set" I see this at a lot of places where its for 2 or more people. it inlcudes a main dish, soup or salad, and a beer or wine for each of you. I got Prawns in a spaghetti sauce,( the shrimp were HUGE and I got about 8 of them) with a fried egg on top, and chris had Carbanara ( bacon and cheese pasta) we shared a huge salad with crab, and we had 2 glasses of wine. Before dinner I had a mocha cappaccino and chris had a beer. Our tab was about 32$. For dinner we ate at Bennnigans. It had a "Korean flair" I guess you could say.... They had some of the usual menu, along with several Korean dishes. Water was served at room temp with no ice and as always they dont expect a tip! We each got a 'trio' of steak, shrimp and chicken for only 17$! Much cheaper than in the states! A beer was only a bit ove 2$!

Here in our hotel room, even though it is a much older place, and it is a VERY small room, it's still pretty nice. The wood floors are heated, and the room comes with full sized bottles of shampoo, conditioner, liquid soap, mens and womens cologn, and lotion, hair spray, q-tips, cotton pads, a brush and comb, along with a few other disposable toiletries. The bed is HARD!! I swear it feels like a wooden box with a sheet over it! Odd thing is, we didnt wake up sore. hmm. No closet or drawers, so were living out of our suitecases and the room is a dang mess. But oh well!!!

Tomorrow is gonna be FUUN!!!! we are meeting up with a friend of ours weve known for YEARS but never actualy MET!! Ric is stationed here in Seoul. His unit came over here just a couple of weeks before Chris's unit did. I met his wife Brandi several years ago on the ivillage message boards, and we became really great friends! I'm still totaly and completly BUMMED that Brandi can't be here with us tomorrow, but it just wasn't possible for her to be here, so I promised her I'd give her hubby extra hugs and luvin's for her, and take LOTS AND LOTS of pics of him for her, ( which I will!! I SWEAR BRANDI!!) So tomorrow we are gona meet Ric and he's gonna show us where HE'S been shopping, then were gona eat, and shop more and shop more and.... well whatever else we decide to do.. like um SHOP.... : ) ( since I will have TWO pack mules I plan on making the MOST of this day!!!)

OH I ALMOST FORGOT!!!

I PEED IN A REALLY WIERD TOILET TODAY!!

I had to 'go' so I went in the public toilet right? First odd thing is you have to get your t.p. OUTSIDE the stall. It's in the outer area by the sinks. OK fine. BUT the 'toilet" is a porcelian HOLE IN THE GROUND!! yes I am telling the truth. I stood there, just straddeling it, staring at it.

I had peed in the dessert.

I have pooped in the dessert.

But I have never squatted to pee IN THE MALL!!

Until today.

I'M HERE!!

Made it to Seoul after a 22 hour long trip. HOLY HELL was that one long day!  I got up at 4 a.m. Wednesday and arrived at I don't know  what time Thursday night Korean time. I think it was around 9 p.m. ish. I lost a day in there somewhere. 

That flight SUCKED. the seats were TINY, there was ONE tv, but the only rows that could actualy  SEE it were the first 4 rows or so. Guess where I sat? YEP the next to last row.  And did I get the window seat I requested when I bought my ticket 2 months in advance? nope. I got SMASHED in the middle row, between 2 people. One stank to high heaven, and the other lady fell asleep on MY SHOULDER!

ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME???

so I get up to use the bathroom, and in the last row, there is a guy in the centre row, ( that has 4 seats like my row) only hes ALL BY HIMSELF! he's stretched out, laying down, reading . I asked the flight attendant ( a nice one) could I sit in an empty seat if I saw one open. she says sure. So I tap mr. comfy  and ask him if I could sit at the end of his row? he says sure. so I go get my stuff. well this red headed HATEFUL flight wench  sees me sit down and she says to me " He was TRYING to lay DOWN!!" I smiled at her and said WELL I asked him if I could sit here and he said yes." She did the "hmph" thing and stormed off. 

mr comfy was very nice  and we chatted a bit off and on during the 12 hour leg of the trip, and later on, he asked if I could move my carry on bag because he was going to lay on the floor so he could stretch out all the way. ( he was like 6 foot something) I said sure thing. well miss bitch comes BACK and even tells ANOTHER attendant to 'come look at what she did NOW! She shoved him out of his seat and into the FLOOR!!" ( hands on her hips, shaking her ugly red head)." I sat up, and told her I DID NOT DO ANYY THINNNGG! I DIDNT SHOVE HIM OUT OF HIS SEAT, I DIDNT SHOVE HIM IN THE FLOOR EITHER! " 

old bat bugged her eyes out at me.

her friend gave me the thumbs up ( HA!)

mr. comfy kept on snoring.

I finaly got to Seoul, and just followed the flow of traffic. The signs didnt say "baggage claime" It said  "Arrivals" and had a picture of a suitecase on wheels, so  figgured well there are a thousand people heading this way, and I just 'ARRIVED, so, it must be the right way to go! Then everyone stopped at these doors and I waited for the english words to appear after the Korean words ... ok now Im waiting on a TRAIN?? WTH? 

ok so I'll keep following the crowd. 

about a bazillion people cram onto a 'train' which actualy looks like a subway thingy. ( Ive never been on one of those either but Ive seen them in movies though) were litery CRAMMED in there so tight that when it jerks on take off, I WOULD have fallen over, but were packed in so tight, nothing happens!

When we stop, everyone POURS out and heads up to stand in line to get passports stamped, and head to baggage claim. THIS takes forever. 

FINALY I get my 2 bags, ( oh and in Korea you dont have to pay for the luggage carts! they are free! YOU GO KOREA!) 

Chris was right there waiting for me and I heard his voice the second I walked out of the baggage area! It was the best sound EVER!! : )

Our hotel driver is NUTS! He ran red lights all the way here! The hotel is older, but decent. Chris decided to stay at 'the Oceanside' rather than the Dragon Hill Lodge" He just wanted to get totaly away from the military post for a while. The floors are heated, and the bed is HARD! But the decor is really pretty! We have a jacuzzi tub, and the dude at the desk  has offered to take us around anywhere we want to go for a decent price. so thats nice. 

Tomorow we are going to do some SHOPPING!!!! YIPPEEE!! Im so wide awake right now, I wish it was daytime. this jet lag blows.