Day 52 February 7 2009 Saturday
I took the bus to the subway. I actually got off at the right place!!
I met my friend Michelle at the subway at 11am. She also invited 2 other people...Tim(21) and Jonathan(34) who are in the Army in Uijeongbu. They are both from the states and have been here for over a year. They both found korean girlfriends over here. Jonathan was on his phone texting his girlfriend all day long. she keeps in touch with him (a little too much!).
when I was at the subway I went in the bathroom. I found out they have squat potties at the subway. I'll never use the restroom there. Its just a hole in the ground and you squat over it.
It took us 2 hours by subway to get to Ansan. We got on the dark blue line for a few minutes then transferred to the light blue line. We had 36 stops on the light blue line before making it to our destination.
We arrived in Ansan sometime after 1pm and we went to eat at a Korean seafood restaurant. It was a place where you order a big dish and share it with everyone. It was a bunch of little fish pieces and a lot of side dishes. I like the egg dish. The sweet potato I tasted was really hard. I liked the Korean pizza. The seafood was okay. a little spicy but not too much. one of the guys ended up paying for the meal. We stayed in there for a long time because we were watching figure skating on tv. they were really into that figure skating, even the guys! All the guys mostly talked about was "i'd date her, she's really flexible."
Then we took a short cab ride to Hanyang University for the wedding.Michelle knew the groom from the gym and he invited her. It was in a room like a ballroom and everyone sat at tables. We were actually late. The bride was walking down the aisle when we got there. I loved the bride's veil. it was pretty. It was a very long veil that was longer than her train and it had sparkley things on it. She also wore a nice wedding gown. it was fitted at the topped with rouching and flared out a tiny bit at the bottom but not as much as a ballroom gown. She kept having trouble with the veil getting caught. It got caught on the ground when she was walking down the aisle before and after she got married. The groom was Korean but the bride was from Taiwan. She doesnt speak Korean so sometimes he had to translate for her. maybe they both speak english. I know the bride does.
There were a lot of differences in the wedding. I didn't hear them say any vows, there was no exchanging of rings, the whole wedding ceremony only lasted like 15 minutes, no stopping for music just went straight through, no bridesmaids, and they don't stand when the bride walks in. They took the cutting the cake photo and the champagne glass photo during the ceremony. Then the groom stood in front and raised his hands and said something in Korean. then he picked up the girl and squatted down and got up. then he said something in Korean. he did that 3 times. then they asked them to touch their favorite part of the other person. he touched her nose and she touched his eyes. at first she didn't understand it and he had to translate. they also kissed each other on the forehead then later kissed on the lips. they also bowed to each set of parents. Then they walked down the aisle with the song you play when you leave. then they turned around and had their photo time. I was actually in a couple of their wedding photos. haha. one day they will look back and try to figure out who the only white person was and say "where did she come from?!" Michelle was in the picture and she wanted me to be in it to. It was me, Michelle, the bride and groom and a lot of the other guests.
Then I went into a little room where they were having a traditional ceremony. they were wearing the traditional Korean clothes. I didn't stay for the whole ceremony. Michelle said they just do a lot of bowing to people in the family.
while we were there one of the guys was telling us what the color scheme of his wedding will be. He wants green, black, and a dark red. He wants his bride to wear a black dress thats short in the front and long in the back. He things black is sexy. I've never heard a man talk about color schemes of his wedding. Usually they don't care.
We didn't stay for the reception. Michelle said you had to pay for it and it was expensive.
We took an university bus back to the subway. there is a bus that takes university students to the subway so we took it. We had to take a ton of stairs to get up to the subway!! Then we took a 2 hour subway ride back to Uijeongbu. The subway was packed every time we got on. all the seats were full and people were standing in the aisle. Its weird how people just stand in front of you on the subway. you're sitting down and you have someone standing in front of you facing you. its funny to watch everyone sleeping. a lot of people sleep sitting up on the subway. Some weird man kept bothering me on the subway. he was going around trying to get tips from people. He'd hold out his hat and point to my pocketbook. I didn't have any cash. I shook my head no. He would leave then come back later-he came by about 4 times. One time he was doing a little dance hoping I would give him money. He was this older man with something wrong with his eye and missing a lot of teeth. scary. I've also noticed that a lot of blind people get on the subway looking for money. they walk through the aisle with their stick and they are holding a box out. at the subway in uijeongbu there was a man who was laying down in the middle of the stairs acting like he was praying or something. People would put money in his hat and he would open his eyes and grab the dollar bills then go back doing whatever he was doing. So many beggars around here. its weird.
I went to KFC at central tower. I ordered a twister but they gave me a chicken sandwich instead. The twister was #7 so I held up 7 fingers. then the girl said "number 7". oh well. the sandwich was good. Its odd how everyone does their to go orders..they put your drink in a bag.
Then I rode the bus home. At the bus stop I saw one of my middle school students. She waved and me and I said Hi. I didn't go to our house warming party. I didn't get home till 7:30 and I was tired. I took a series of naps. 30 mins, 20 mins and 20 minutes.
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