Seollal Seo-lolz

Today is Seollal, Lunar New Year in Korea. It's one of the biggest holidays of the year here- much bigger than December 31. It is also one of the biggest travel holidays in Korea- about 35-40 million people hit the highways, busses and trains in just two days. I decided to head to Daegu, a city about two hours away, with CR, Tony and Jenna for a second chance at New Year's Eve. Eve and her boyfriend (visiting from New Zealand) were supposed to come, but because of traffic delays, he didn't arrive to Jinju in time to catch the train with us. 

walking the streets, a cold, sunny january day!

Tony and Jenna were there already and had found us a 'love motel,' which is basically a super cheap, scummy (but awesome!) place that Korean 'couples' stay at. To better describe it to you, there is a window that allows you to see into the shower, a very large, comfortable, sometimes vibrating bed, at least one 24/7 porn channel, and always a 'love kit' with all the essentials for lovers included. Perfect! The theme to our room was "Marilyn Monroe: A Tribute." Tony and Jenna got "Lichtenstein: A History."

We went to a super delicious buffet at a brewery right next door with WESTERN FOOD and microbrews! It was unbelievable- all you can eat AND all you can drink for less than $20!! To top it all off, there was a house band, husband and wife, playing 80s hair band covers, no joke. They were dressed in Axl Rose attire, and they were actually incredible. I can't wait to go back.

CR, Tony, Jenna and I loving the buffet!

After the buffet, we ventured out into the city where we met this guy, Jason Irish, who is from Lewiston, NY! He went to school with the Clark sisters, two of my dear friends from Buffalo!! It's so crazy, I really do meet people from Western New York so frequently here. We started a "LET'S GO BUFFALO/Bills make me wanna SHOUT/716!" chant, ate pizza in a cup and drank gin out of a bag (they do things differently here). I made friends with the bartender and fun times were had!

representing buffalo in the far east, two well behaved americans 

Bar Art/Bart

99+ luftballoons

In the morning, CR and I gathered up all of our strength and got ourselves home. It was a little more difficult than we had anticipated- we forgot we were competing for train seats with thousands of other people- but we managed to snag two seats on the bus and snored all the way back. I spent the rest of my vacation in various forms of disrepair, in and out of bed, and loving not doing anything. Most everything in Jinju is closed today- and it's far too cold out for me to be motivated to do much else :)

Tomorrow I hope to do more of the same! Haha. Happy New Year again!!
More soon,
<3M