4-day weekend

Jeremy and an awesome 4-day weekend! The school had parent conferences and weren't involved, so we got the days off!! On Thursday, we went took the subway to Surisan station because wanted to finally go hike these mountains. Well, we weren't exactly sure how to get to the mountains, and looking at the map didn't help us much. We decided to just go one way and see where it took us. We eventually headed somewhere that led to a trail. We went right first, and it led us to a dead end at an old workout station that hadn't been used in many years. We went back and took the left trail. It was a weird trail at first. It seemed more like we were following a water drainage ditch, but turns out it was the actual trail. It came to a crossroad of more trails that were different lengths. Of course, Jeremy says "Let's take this one. It's only 3,000 meters." Reluctantly, I went. It was a good hike except for the fact that it had a couple long, straight up hills. We didn't make it quite to the top, but it was still very fun and a very nice view of the trees.
After the hike we headed to Costco for our monthly stock up. The weather finally changed, and it began to be very stormy while we were on the bus. There was lots of lightning, and the wind began blowing very hard. When we made it to Costco, the weather simmered down a bit, which was great because we didn't bring umbrellas or jackets with us. When were done with Costco, it was freezing cold outside. We ended up having to wait at least an hour for our bus to come. When it finally did, it was soooo packed full there was no way we could get on. Almost all the buses that stopped at the station were extremely packed full, like people crammed standing in the aisle as well as on the steps in front of the doors! So, had to miss that first bus. :( Thankfully another one came not too long after the first. We still had to stand in the aisle, but it wasn't bad. Jeremy almost lost his transit card, but we found it. :) When we finally made it home, as we unpacked our things, we discovered that Jeremy's little black bag was missing. We realized it had been left on the bus! It had my digital camera in there. :( After a little bit of panic on my part, we were able to figure out how to ccontact the lost and found office, but we had to wait until the next day.
So, about 9:15 a.m. I made a few phone calls, and we were able to get our bag back! I love that Koreans don't steal things! After being dropped off in the middle of Ansan Industrial Park, we got our bag, and walked for about an hour back towards the subway station. From there we headed to Namdaemun Market to try to find a few party supplies for our friend's surprise birthday party that was on Saturday. It was fun, but got cold. This time we were more prepared because we were going to be heading to the Seoul Lantern Festival that night, and I knew it was going to be chilly. I will make a separate posting about the Lantern Festival because we have a lot of neat pictures!
On Saturday we went to the Korean conversation class for the first time. It was actually pretty good! We were able to separate into smaller groups, and we were reviewing the alphabet with our instructor. It was almost better than going to the Korean class at the church! Our teacher is really nice, and she is about our age, too. For the rest of the day we just piddled around and got things ready for the party. I made homemade brownies and cookies from a pre-made mix (they didn't turn out good at all). The party was fun. We talked with some people that we never really talked with. AP was surprised and then she got emotional. :) On Sunday was a major runaround day for us. We were looking for a microwave to compare prices. We ended up buying one!! We are so excited to be able to heat things up in just a matter of minutes now! We also tried to buy a small hand vacuum, but turns out we bought one that is only for cars. The plug in goes into the lighter. :( Disappointing. Oh well, we know where we can get another one for about the same price, and we know it's an actual vacuum for the house, haha. When we were finally done running around, we decided to skip the Korean class, and just relax at home for the rest of the night. We had very yummy home-made chicken alfredo, and watched a couple of movies! For dessert, we got vanilla ice cream and mixed in some chocolate chips and the remaining pieces of the cookies from Saturday. What a great way to end the weekend!!