No Longer Scared of the Subway/ Once You Go Bidet, You Never Go Back

When I first got here, I was absolutely terrified to use the subway. Not necessarily because it's confusing--it's actually quite simple--but because I've never used any other form of public transportation than the bus. But this weekend, I used the subway three separate times (twice by myself).

On Friday night I went to visit my friend Alyssa in Gangnam. This was the first time I've seen her since I've been in Korea. I met Alyssa back at UVic through our mutual friend, Jayne. Alyssa and I get along very well. And, since she lives relatively close to me, I think we will be able to hang out a lot. Gangnam was far busier than Gangdong, where I live. There were never ending streams of people entering and exiting the subway. I've never seen that many people on a street in my entire life, I swear. Apparently that is the norm for Friday nights in downtown Seoul. It was pretty crazy. Alyssa and I went for dinner at a really nice Vietnamese place (Did I mention that I LOVE Vietnamese food). We also went to this really neat underground bookstore. I was able to pick up the best English-Korean dictionary and phrase book. Now, maybe, I will be able to pick up more of the language. My current knowledge of the Korean language consists of around there words (which I try to avoid using because people laugh at me when I do).

On Saturday night I went to Itaewon with Laura. Itaewon is the foreigner area in Seoul. We went to a Canadian bar called Rocky Mountain. I actually really liked this bar because they played the best music! It reminded me of back home. Then, on Sunday, I met up with Alyssa again in Bundang, where she lives. This area was so neat! It is a very new area in Seoul so all of the buildings were new and very commercial. But you could see that it was surrounded by mountains. It was like someone just decided to drop a bunch of huge buildings with neon signs in between a bunch of remote mountains.

The weekend was really great overall. I also found out that my toilet has a really neat perk! I noticed as soon as I moved in that my toilet had a bunch of buttons on the the side of it. It's a really nice toilet that is plugged into the wall with a button control pad on the side. I've always wondered what the buttons did but never had the nerve to test them out. So, the other night I asked Laura. It turns out that my toilet has bidet capabilities!!! There are different options for the kind of spray that you want, and you can control the temperature and length of time that you are being bum-bathed. I am hooked! Once you go bidet, you never go back!