I'm back after 2 Weeks

Hi everyone! I apologize for not updating for 2 weeks. Sorry to those who waited for my updates.

Mid-terms are finally over!!! After studying for the week and finishing mid-terms, I had readings for the next week and tried catching up on my dramas resulting in failing to update my blog. Yes, my dramas...they came first this time >.< 

Last weekend, I went out with Debbie on Saturday to the National Museum of Korea then the next day we went to a cat cafe then went to watch 2 movies at CGV.

Sorry for the delay! Here is what I've done since I've gone missing for the past 2 weeks :]

Thursday/목요일 10.22.15:

On Thursday of mid-terms week, I went to eat dinner with Debbie, Lisha, and Shena. We went to eat at Tong Tong Dwaeji (통통돼지) in Sinchon. We ate 2 orders of samgyeopsal (pork) and 2 of galbi(beef) then ordered another 2 of samgyeopsal (pork). The side salad to eat with the pork was really good! We got a kimchi jjigae (soup) with our dinner as well (it either came all the meals or it was service, one of those. It was free though :] and it was really good).

Shena cooking our meat~~

The yummy galbi. I loved the pork more. It was thicker than other places and really delicious. I want to go again!!!!

It was a little cold but we ate bingsoo anyways. For dessert, we got the melon and mango flavors.

Friday/금요일 10.23.15:

On Friday, I went with my Korean class to go eat chi-maek (치맥), which is an abbreviation for chicken and beer. We went to KyoChon in Sinchon, hung out and ate. We order a total of 4 chickens, 2 original and 2 spicy. I didn't take any pictures of the chicken but if you look at my previous blogs (you can refer to this) to see the pictures of the chicken (scroll until you have passed all the blue pictures :] Don't worry, this is the only beer I drunk for the night.

Afterwards, my classmates and I went to Pop Container to eat Bingsoo. Here we got an Oreo bingso. Since there was 4 of us, they wanted us to order another one...

...so, we got another order which was Espresso bingsoo. The Oreo one was very, very good! But, the Espresso on the other hand was bitter because they put the powder on top! Aside from the bitterness, it was good.  

Saturday/토요일 10.24.15:

Debbie and I took the subway to get to the Museum in Ichon. You can take Line 2, get off at Hongik University, then transfer to the Gyeongui-Jungang Line and get off at Ichon Station. After getting off the Subway, you can follow the signs for the National Museum of Korea. There is a passage that connects the subway station to the plaza of the Museum. There is also the National Hangeul Museum in the same area as the National Museum of Korea. After taking the escalator, go straight for the National Museum or turn right to go to the National Hangeul Museum.

If you don't want to walk the long hallway path after getting out the station, you can take this, like we did! After taking this and turning the corner, you can see the escalators leading up to the surface.

Here is the map of the place.

Debbie the 식혜/sweet rice drink advertiser. She says that the drink is really good and that everyone should try it once :] I also agree with her :] "JUST TRY IT!" You can find it at any convenience/ mini stop store.

These are stairs leading to the entrance of the National Museum of Korea. I seriously thought it was 6 floors... It was only 3 floors but there was 2 separate buildings. That may have been the reason why they said that it was 6 floors. The right exhibition is free of charge and the left exhibition is the special exhibition where you would have to pay. We only went to the free one. We also only explored the first floor. I will be coming back again for the next few floors. 

Panorama of the pond and the museum.

They also had Koi fishes in the pond.

The pavilion was so beautiful!!

I can almost reach it!

Debbie and I~

We walked around the plaza and looked at the outside displays before going inside. Before we knew it, we had already spent more than an hour outside. We arrive here around 12 pm and started looking at the museum a little past one.

They had a pagoda park, each about 5-story high except for the 1st one (pictured) which was nine-story high.

A beautiful pond that we would have missed because we decided not to follow the first arrows we saw while walking. We turned and followed the second set of arrows and saw that the first arrow lead to the same place, too.

I spy the rainbow!!

A heart shaped flower bed.

We walked around the park that was here too. Debbie wanted a picture with the bears but the children were on it :}

The hand display that was located on the field. I'm not sure why it was there but it was the only thing on the field.

Debbie pointed out that there were fruits on the tree. We don't know what kind of fruit is was but they looked big.

There was another fruit tree next to it. Some older ladies were picking them off the ground, collecting them, and then eating some. Debbie wanted to try too but didn't since I didn't want to :]

The path was paved differently but it was fun to walk on them.

The section of the park where there were 50 Korean flags. The park was called Yongsan Family Park.

Our first view of Namsan Tower. Little did we know, we would be seeing it more than once.

A panorama view of the 50 flags.

Debbie playing around with her camera while I ran around trying to get into the picture. I didn't notice until she pointed it out that I was doing the same pose for the four of them.

The Bell Pavilion located on the right side of the museum.

The bell at a closer look.

We walked up to the museum and took a break for drinks. There were different pumpkins and squashes growing at the top. Some were dried up as well.

The view of the pond from the deck.

Our drinks. I was sure I pressed the mango drink but the orange drink came out instead. I drunk orange instead and the vending machine took 100 won from Debbie since this drink was only 700 won, not 800 won.

I spy Namsan Tower!

Museum exhibition:

Display of Korea.

Chinese coins used for trade.

Photo time!!

A Confucius school for scholars.

The throne that we couldn't sit on :]

Korean wood block letters.

An old boat structure.

A jewelry piece worn during the era.

A rusted sword.

Duck shaped vessels.

"Tortoise and Serpent" piece that I remember seeing from my Korean Art Class with Professor Pat.

The three stories high pagoda that was displayed at the far end of the museum.

Gold earings.

Gold flower earrings.

Jar Coffins

Roof-end tile designs with a lotus leaf.

Golden crown with jade and the waist garment.

A closer look at the crown.

After finishing the first half of the first floor, Debbie and I went into the restaurant to have lunch. I got Galbi Tang, beef soup.

Debbie ordered the Octopus Bibimbap. It was burning hot since it was in a stone pot but very delicious. The octopus legs were really huge too.

For dessert, we got a yogurt ice cream.

We also got a cheesecake. I ordered a drink, Mango-Pineapple, but it came with the dessert instead of with our meal.

We finished the other quarter of the first floor since we started on the wrong side when we got in and finished one fourth of it at the beginning already. Half of this quarter was closed since they were including a new exhibition.

We finished only the first floor and then headed to the museum shop to look at what they had. I didn't notice that it was already dark outside.

Namsan Tower again :] We also saw it when we were eating in the restaurant but the building pillars were blocking our view.

Night view.

The pavilion is so beautiful at night :] We will come back again to finish the museum's second and third floor. I would also like to see the special exhibition too. Exploring the Hangeul Museum is for next time too :]

After leaving the museum, we decided to head to Yongsan to view the Doraemon display that Debbie saw on Instagram. BUT... we got there and no Doraemon was spotted. The display was already over and it was now empty. We went inside the mall after seeing the Totoro poster outside. We headed to the store with Totoro! But, there was so many different anime, cartoon, shows, and different Japanese related toys and figures. I even saw power ranger figures and toys.

Debbie saw this and went into crazy fan mode. But, she decided not to buy any since all but one figure was sold out. The Studio Ghibli store in the back had different accessories, stationary, and puzzles for the different movies. I love "Howl's Moving Castle" but it didn't have much merchandise.

We then headed to Banpo Hangang Park to look at the Banpo Bridge Rainbow Fountain. We made it for the last 20 minutes for the last show which started at 9 pm.

From here, we also saw Namsan Tower again. 

We also got some sugar coated donuts. Debbie bought 5 the first time from the couple selling it on the back of their truck and then I got 10 more to eat while we walked around the colorful buildings.

So colorful!

The beautiful lotus flowers in the water. The pink and orange (not shown) lotus was opening and closing. 

We went inside the first building and we saw these! Beast!!!

Sistar!!!

The bridge view with Namsan Tower in the back..

It was cold but people were still riding these boats.

It's so expensive to ride these. I think it was 36,000 for 6 people for 60 minutes and about 10,000 more won for 80 minutes (I could be wrong, but it was expensive).

The opposite view with the smaller orange lotus flower.

Sunday/일요일 10.25.15:

On Sunday, Debbie and I hung out again :] Since we wanted to eat Chicken the day before and didn't, we ate for brunch instead. We ordered a chicken each and potato wedges. The waiter told us that it was too much but we said it was okay. Debbie said that we can eat it all. We ended up with a lot left over and brought it home instead. 

Next, we went to a cat cafe in Sinchon. I liked my cafe latte. It was perfect, not too bitter and not too sweet.

The cats and their names.

None of the cats came to us. They went to the other couple sitting at the left side even when they didn't have snacks! So, we decided to get snacks to attract their attention and it worked! Here I am feeding Koko.

This black one just stayed there waiting to be fed the chicken.

This was the one that Debbie wanted to hold and pet. Debbie told me to try and get its attention for it to come to Debbie. It finally noticed me and came over.

Debbie was scared at first but then was okay after a few times feeding the cats :]

After the Cat Cafe, we headed to the CGV in Sindorim.

It's too dark to see us :[
We first watched "The Throne" (사도). This one is about the relationship between Crown Prince Sado and his father, King Yeongjo, leading up to his death. The main character were played by Song Kang-Ho and Yoo Ah-In. Moon Geun-Young also played as Crown Prince Sado's wife.
We then decided to watch a second movie because..... why not, we were already there and it was the first one we wanted to watch anyways. It was an action comedy film, "The Accidental Detective" (탐정 : 더 비기닝). The leads were Kwon Sang-Woo and Sung Dong-Il in which they try to prove the innocence of their friend and fellow detective from murder.

We came back to Sinchon after the movie ended at 9 and ate at the street food stand. I'm not sure if the Ajumma remembers us but I've been there about 5-6 times ever since I came to Korea :] She even took a nap while we were eating because she was so tired from working and cooking. We watched the store for about 10 minutes. It costed us only 9,000 won for our dinner. The fish cakes aren't included in the picture. 

Wednesday/수요일 10.28.15:

For this day's dinner, Deebie, Lisha, Shena and I went to go eat Ramen! This is a Japanese restaurant in Sinchon (I forgot the name).

I got the soy sauce ramen.

The rest of the girls got the tonkatsu ramen but Debbie and Lisha got the set with the rice and meat. This flavor is better tasting than the soy sauce one.

We walked down Sinchon and found a shop that sold CAKE! The cake was delicious. The red velvet wasn't my favorite but I liked the rainbow one. The cream on it wasn't too sweet which is a plus :]

Thursday/목요일 10.29.15:

For lunch, we went to the Student Union Cafeteria on the 2nd floor and got some lasagna and pizza!

The pizza was so huge! It was about 19,500. It is way cheaper than eating the pizza from Pizza Hut with was about 23,000 won and is way bigger in comparison.

Friday/금요일 10.30.15

On Friday night, Shena wanted to eat at Abiko so we ate dinner here. It was Shena, Debbie, and I. I ordered a level 2 spicy Pork Curry Udon but a chicken one came out instead.... It was still good though. Shena and Debbie both got Seafood Curry Udon but Debbie got a level 3 and Shena got the spiciest one which was a level 4.

Shena's broth looked really red! For me, it literally tasted like eating pepper. She even finished all of it! Yay Shena! Yay Debbie for finishing hers too. I think I'll stick to my level 2 spicy for now. They drunk all the water and was sniffing while they ate, too. :]

Thank you for reading! Sorry again for the very late post.

Come back again on Thursday for the next post on our MT trip with our club and eating in Itaewon this past weekend. This time, it'll come out on time as I am currently writing on it :]

Thank you ♡♡♡

♡ Christina