July!

Hello! It's been awhile, friends and family. How ya doin?

I've been busy visiting with some amazing friends. :)

First of all, Lyndsey, Gene and their friend Gunther - who's now my friend, if I may be so bold- came to visit last week. It was sooooo great to hang out and catch up with them. Gene has family here in Seoul and his parents were in town visiting as well. We were invited to lunch with Gene's family and enjoyed spending time with Gene's cousin Sun and her husband Joon throughout the weekend. We also found time for two relaxing evenings in Gunther's room (THANK YOU, Gunther, for sharing your room with all of us!) to continue our tradition of marathon West Wing parties. It's our favorite show to watch together. Thanks to Lyndsey for introducing me to that amazing show. :) I wish I had more photos from my time with Lyndsey, Gene and Gunther but I have to bug them for their copies (gimme, gimme, gimme!). But I'll post a few below.

This last weekend I had a work retreat near Yong Pyong, just thirty minutes from the east coast of Korea. About 20 of us teachers piled onto a bus for a day and a night of fun. We played some games, took awkward pictures with strangers during a scavenger hunt, had a talent show (my talent was juggling. Yes, I am amazing.), and ate some BBQ outside in the beautiful mountains. I really like my coworkers. And I'm not just saying that in case they're reading my blog because I don't think any of them have the blog address. :)

At the end of this month, my college roomie/birthday buddy/the other half of the amazing road trip duo will be coming to visit! Liz flew out to DC last fall to move me home to Minnesota for the four months I spent with family and friends before I moved to Seoul. We made our way home by way of New York, Boston and Chicago and had the time of our lives, of course. And in a few weeks, we will be road tripping through Korea. And by road tripping through Korea I mean flying to Jeju Island. It's an island off the southern coast of Korea and it's supposed to be beauooootiful. I can't wait.

Also, congrats to Mrs. Sara Edmundson! One of my close friends/teammates from college got hitched this weekend in Minnesota. I'm so sad that I missed the wedding but Liz helped me to witness from afar. She sent me pictures on her i-phone throughout the evening so that I could see Sara walking down the aisle and dancing with her hubby. Congrats, Sa-Sa-Sa-Sosa! ;)

Hope everyone is well!
Kelly


Gunther, Lynds and Gene at the lovely JW Marriott in Banpo.


Gunther and Lynds with Mr. Park - Gene's father. :)


Gene with his momma. To Gene's parents: thank you for a lovely weekend! It was such a pleasure to meet you both. :)


Out to lunch with Gene's parents, grandmother, aunt and uncle and cousins. Gene's family is so lovely. And the food was delicious - we had duck!



We went for a hike with Gene's cousins on Sunday. Gunther beat us to the top. But only because we weren't really trying. ;)


There were a bunch of these cool-looking...things..at Namsan Tower. This one reminds me of Spiderman.

My former coworker from DC, Ellen, had a layover in Seoul on her way home from a conference in Vietnam, so we met for lunch and some exploring. We were at Gyeongbuk Palace which I had only seen in winter weather, so I was excited to see some green trees and mountains in the background this time around. Ellen, thank you for a lovely morning!! :) :)

We took a short stop to explore a temple on our way to Yong Pyong for the work retreat. I love these guys! They were painted on the doors and sides of temple buildings.

Woopsies! Thankfully, I wasn't eating off the grill that started on fire. ;)

Some of the foreign teachers performing in the talent show.