Mr. Gibbons' Last Day

Ben's last day was on Tuesday. He then left us early in the morning today to go back to England for 6 weeks, never to return to DYB. This awkward picture is in memory of Mr. Gibbons.

Thursday was Cecily's birthday, so we celebrated in Bundang (a satellite city of Seoul). There's another big DYB branch in Bundang, and it is also where Peter has moved to. We started the night at a western bar called Traveler's, which on Thursdays has a $6 "pour your own drink" bonanza. They hand you a bottle of liquor and a mixer and watch as your pour your own drinks. Needless to say, it was a classy night. After Traveler's we went to a bar called Dublins. This was our crew:

Poor Cecily found herself roped into one of Peter's drunken philosophical debates.

On Saturday, we had a barbeque for Cecily's birthday (seriously, does her birthday ever end??) on the rooftop of our apartment building. Greg bought a grill and some charcoal at Costco earlier that morning. How many grown men does it take to build and light a charcoal grill? Answer: about 5 and an iPhone. 

Alan's afraid of heights so he hid in the corner. 

The view of the city from the roof. Not as many high rises as you might imagine. 

We ended up having a full on picnic. See the pink bowl on the table? It's made of potato salad. Potato salad that I made. My first attempt.. it didn't turn out too bad, but it was unfortunately sitting next to the tortilla chips, so everyone ended up using it as dip.

On Sunday, Cecily, Nancy, Armando (Ben's replacement) and I went to see the musical Wicked. We decided to get dinner before the show. We ended up at a little Italian joint in some back alley. We sat down with 40 minutes til show time thinkin there was no problem because Korean food is notoriously fast to make. However, Italian food is a bit different. My pasta came out with 5 minutes to go, so I had to eat really fast. I'm normally a slow eater, theres rarely anyone who finishes their meal after I do. Needless to say, I was a little grumpy and in pain because I couldn't enjoy my food. 

However, the musical was fantastic! I didn't know anything about Wicked other than it had something to do with the witches from the Wizard of Oz. The cast was made of native English speakers, which was nice, and the set was amazing! I didn't even know the things they did were possible for a play/musical. I was almost as taken aback with the backdrops as I was with the musical. Overall a great time.

Cecily fell in love with the male lead and his tights. She was doing a somewhat less-than-lady-like pose with the picture that I desperately wanted to include in the blog, but didn't want to offend anyone. 

After the show we went for dinner round two. A Miller draught and a chili burger. This time I got to enjoy my food, and enjoy it I did. 

This is the new advertisement in the subway station at work. If you look closely, you can find Peter..

There he is! After 17 years at DYB, Peter finally got some recognition. 

At cooking today we made Galbi JJim, which is sort of like a beef stew, with the beef left on the bone. We made it in a western style by adding mashed potatoes and making gravy. 

One of Emily's friends who is visiting from Singapore has been here this week. Since today was my day off, I volunteered to take her around the city. First we went to the traditional Korean house village. We kept walking down the streets and thinking "This looks totally Asian"

This is the start of the Korean traditional houses. I know I already came here and posted some pictures, but this time I got some new and different ones. 

It was crazy to see the old houses with the high rise city buildings in the background. We were wondering if rich people lived in these houses or if they were passed down generation to generation from families who owned them in the past. Then we saw a Landrover turn the corner.. 

In the background you can see the Seoul tower.

I would love to live in a house like these. It reminds me so much of Naruto, where a house is like a rectangle, and in the middle of the rectangle there's a small open courtyard. This one is being remodeled. 

After the Hanok village, Vicky wanted to check out the baseball game, so off to Jamsil we went. Between the innings, they had a beer chugging contest on the big screen between two random people in the crowd. It was pretty entertaining.