Finally, we were able to take another weekend adventure!  The weather has been getting warmer lately; definitely better than the weather I'm hearing about at home!  It's been in the high 30s, low 40s recently, but it still gets very cold at night.  We originally planned to go to the DMZ, Saturday, but we didn't book it in time, so we went with plan B... A trip to N Seoul Tower.  
Started out "early" Saturday morning heading for the train station.  I say "early" because we were supposed to leave BY 9, but this certain man that I live with has trouble waking up early on the weekends haha!  At the train station we ran into some other Americans who had just arrived in Korea and had no idea how to get to Seoul.  They kind of attached themselves to us like leeches, unfortunately.  See... these two people asked if I could tell them how to get to Seoul.  Well... Yes, I can tell you how to get there, but where are you going in Seoul?  That makes a huge difference!  I made the same mistake the first time we ventured to Seoul; you think there's going to be ONE place to go, but Seoul is huge and there are hundreds of places to go.  So, I asked where they were trying to go, and they told me N Seoul Tower [insert wailing emoji here].  I told them that's where we were going (mistake) and explained how to get there.  They asked if they could follow us there, and I said sure... THINKING they would you know, venture off on their own once we got there.  NOPE!  I really shouldn't sound so mean about it, but when you go on an adventure with your husband, you really don't want to have to be a tour guide for two randos.  Feel me?

The train ride was the most unpleasant two hours we've ever experienced on public transit!  JAM PACKED with people, no open seats, and it was hot hot hot from so many people, the heater, and wearing winter clothing.  I really miss my car and being able to drive places on my own!  (See you soon, cute little Focus.  See you soon.)  Anyway.  We finally made it to Myeongdong Station and quickly went from sweating our butts off, to freezing our butts off!  We super overestimated what the temperature was going to be in Seoul.
From the station, I led our little group to the cable cars that took us up Namsan Mountain to N Seoul Tower.  Originally, Drew and I had planned to climb the mountain to the top.  However, with our two tag-a-longs... we were sort of forced to take the cable cars up to the top.  I'm still a little bitter about that part, but whatever.  We bought ONE WAY cable car tickets; if I couldn't climb up, I was certainly climbing down, and headed up the mountain.  
Once at the top of the mountain, we made it to the base of N Seoul Tower and the Love Locks!

N Seoul Tower sits on top of a huge mountain in Seoul and can be seen from basically anywhere in the surrounding areas.  At the bottom of the tower are hundreds of thousands of locks that people have placed on the fences.  Drew and I bought a lock MONTHS ago and decorated it in order to put it on the fence, but of course we forgot it at home.  No worries though!!  They sold locks right there, and even had Sharpies to write on them.  We bought our lock, wrote "Olivia + Drew" on the front and "2015" on the back, locked it on the fence, and threw our keys out onto the mountain.

After walking around and looking at all of the locks, we climbed up to the very base of the tower to get tickets to go up to the very top!

The elevator to the top of the tower only took 30 seconds.  Once at the top, the view was AMAZING!  There were windows all around the tower so you could see out.  There are even a few restaurants up there that you can eat at while enjoying the view.  We chose to just walk around and take lots of pictures.  Even though the day was super gloomy and smoggy, we were still able to get some awesome pictures from the top!

I kept trying to picture what Seoul looked like before all of the high-rises and apartments.  Probably much, much clearer than today!  And a lot like the mountains in front of us.

We walked all the way around the inside of the tower many many times.  I kept taking pictures of the same thing and thinking I was still on my first rotation around!!  It was just so awesome being up so high and being able to see so much of Korea at once!

After taking pictures for about an hour, our tag-a-longs finally headed in their own direction!  Drew and I rode the elevator down to the bottom of the tower and people watched a bit.  As promised in my last post, I was on the lookout for MATCHY-MATCHY!  I was so sad that I only saw ONE instance of matchy-matchy yesterday.  What a let down.  BUT it was a pretty good example.  A family of four was all matching in the same, puffy winter coats and grey sweat pants.  Drew stood in front of me and pretended to pose for a picture while I actually took pictures of them!  HA.  Only, I was super obviously and everyone probably knew what I was really doing.

After we put enough time between us and the tag-a-longs, we started our climb down the mountain.  This made me even MORE mad that we didn't climb all the way up.  It would have been the easiest mountain climb we'd done since coming to Korea!

Once at the bottom of the mountain, we explored the area and looked for a good place to get lunch.

That's about it from our trip to N Seoul Tower!  Our ride home was even more unenjoyable than the ride up to Seoul!  We got lost somehow and ended up having to pay for our train tickets twice.  BUT we made it home and spent the rest of the evening snuggling with these two cuties.

Next weekend we are hoping to go on another fun adventure.  To a Folk Village or a city we haven't been to yet!  The following weekend is FINALLY our trip to the DMZ!!  We are so excited for that.  For those that don't know, the DMZ is the Demilitarized Zone, the border between North and South Korea.  While we're there, we will get a chance to actually cross the border into North Korea!  We'll be in a building, but still.. I think that counts, and I'm totally adding it to my list of countries I've visited!  Can't wait to post about our trip there:)
We're down to about 10 weeks until we leave Korea and head back to the US!  So incredibly excited to come home and see everyone!  It won't be long!

In addition to chocolates, there were also displays of fruit gift boxes, and of course Spam gifts boxes!!! But, these were for the Chinese New Year next week, not Valentine's Day.

While all of the Korean women are going crazy over chocolates for their lovers, the men are waiting, and maybe preparing, for next month.

One month after Valentine's Day, on White Day, it is time for the men to reciprocate and give gifts to the women. This day is called White Day because the gifts used to be all white chocolates and lingerie. Now, they stray a little from those gifts, but they still make sure to get something! Apparently there is a sort of unspoken rule, The Rule of Threes, that says the men have to spend 3 times as much on the White Day gift as the woman spent on his Valentine's Day gift. I'm not sure if people really follow that rule, but I read about it!!

So anyway. The girls get the guys stuff, the guys get the girls stuff a month later, and if a guy buys a gift for the same girl that bought him a gift the month before, it's happy ever after for them.

A month after White Day, on April 14th, is Black Day. A kind of depressing, but hilarious holiday for ALL THE SINGLE LADIES and men, but they weren't in the song. Apparently, on this day, single people get together and eat jajangmyeon, which are black noodles. Maybe they all get together in hopes that they will meet another desperately single person and fall madly in love? I'm not really sure. It sounds like an awesome holiday though; wallowing in self pity with a bunch of other losers!! ;) kidding. Sort of.

After that, there's a bunch more love days, but those aren't widely celebrated or advertised. Diary Day, Rose Day, Kiss Day, Silver Day, Green Day (lol), Photo Day, Wine Day, Movie Day, and Hug Day. 


Koreans are super into coupley things. You can spot a Korean couple from a mile away; not because of PDA or anything, but because of the matchy-matchy!

In Korea, public displays of affection are kind of taboo. You rarely see couples holding hands, and I've NEVER seen anyone kissing! The way couples display their affection for one another is by wearing matching clothes. This ranges from wearing the same hat, to wearing the same colors or patterns, to matching your entire outfit; hat to shoes!! It is so common to see a young couple wearing the same shoes, pants, shirt, and hat. I have also seen lots of older couples wearing the same coats! Matchy-matchy is huge here. They say it's a way to connect with your significant other; something they share just the two of them. This video explains, and shows, matchy-matchy perfectly. It's 6 minutes, but it's worth the watch! It's funny to see just how many couples are matching. And yes, you really would see that many matchy-matchy couples in a day! 

After the ice festival, we all had dinner together. Bulgogi, rice, quail eggs, some pancake-y things, and lots and LOTS of soju.  (And my 80-something-year-old landlord pouring beer into my cup every 5 seconds.  Which resulted in Drew drinking twice as much beer as he normally would have haha.  NO family, I still don't drink beer.)

As always, the bus ride home was karaoke central, with your girl carrying the team. LOLOL I'm totally kidding. I just really wanted to say that. We started out with our regulars, Wannabe and Titanium. And from there, Shit. Got. Real. (Thankfully, there were no BUZZKILLS on the bus with their puking children this time, so we were actually able to act like adults [or not] and have a good time.)

Me and the greatest rapper of all time, Megan, performed Super Bass. Drew rapped some Snoop Dogg too, but none of that is on video :( We were all awesome. Okay, Megan and Drew were awesome. I just pretend. Ray, our downstairs neighbor, was rockin the freestyle rapping. Really, all of our friends are just super talented when it comes to drunk karaoke. So, enjoy the following videos. Make fun of us, be impressed by us, be jealous that you didn't see it in person, whatever.  Just enjoy. 

Clearly, Sissy always makes sure everyone has a great time!  Can't believe we only have a few months left here to enjoy all of the fun and excitement (and alcohol) Sissy provides!!!

BY THE WAY.  Since I know my grandparents and Drew's grandparents read this, let me explain that we have not become alcoholics in Korea.  Basically, being in Korea is like being in college.  For those that didn't go to college, it's their one year to pretend they did.  For those who did go to college, it's our one last chance at pretending we're still there.  I blame the soju.  And our bad* influences of friends.

*AWESOME

I'm not a HUGE fan of these, but they're much better when I make them myself and know what is inside! I usually end up picking a gross one from the store!

That does it for all of the Korean food we made this weekend. In the past, I've also made bulgogi and bibimbap (rice, meat, veggies, and egg in a bowl. I just need more practice with everything so I can come home and cook it all for you!

I'll end with some puppy pictures so you can all get your fix.