Holiday weekend

We've had another busy week! Even with a holiday that let us stay home on Thursday. 

Nicole got her bike back on Monday evening. Thanks to one of her part-time students, she was very hungry for some hamburgers so after a run to the store & the awesome market down the street, she made some bacon burgers and John was excited when he got home from work. He didn't eat lunch earlier! It was also his school's first day on the new curriculum. Monday was the start of a rough week!
John has a slightly different school schedule now that the curriculum has changed. On MWF he works from 1:30-8:00 with 3 2-hour classes; on TTh he works from 2:30-9:00 with 2 3-hour classes. 

By the end of Wednesday we were both exhausted! Nicole's coworkers took advantage of not having to go into work the next day by hanging out by the river after work. That's when she found out there's a "killer" tick around South Korea. There have been a few reported cases of death by this tick. It has a poisonous bite with symptoms of sudden high fever, diarrhea, vomiting, and organ failures. We probably won't be hanging out by the river too late anymore. The fatality rate of this killer tick is low but it's also new.

On a much lighter note, Thursday we had the day off! It was South Korea's Memorial Day. We did much of nothing! It was fantastic & really helped us to unwind from the major stress & exhaustion we've been feeling since we moved. We did get up early to go to the store for some needed food but we were back home by 11:00. On our way back home there was a little girl about 3 years old running around the sidewalk with her dad. When she saw us she got really excited & ran towards us. She pointed her finger out to touch Nicole's leg & started jumping up & down like she won something. It was so adorable & hilarious! We were laughing the rest of the way home. After a lazy day of laying in bed & playing some games, we went to work out with our friend. It was a long & rough workout! Nicole got a little dizzy but her body was just adjusting. Afterwards, we went home to take some showers & eat some beef! We love our beef dinners.

Friday we had to return to work. But at least it was Friday! Nicole is "official" to South Korea. She received a free drink at Cafe Pascucci after getting 9 stamps on her card. The 10th drink is free! When Nicole got off of work she was excited to bike back home... but she had ANOTHER flat tire! The same one! So she had to walk home. It took almost an hour for her to walk home. It didn't help that she had old-lady legs from the workout the day before. John's arms & Nicole's legs were hurting bad. We are quite a pair. Later we went out with some of Nicole's coworkers that night & had some fun.

Saturday was a lazy & relaxing morning. We had to go to the 7-Eleven down the street to get ourselves energy drinks before we did anything. We explored around Time World for a bit since we live right next to it now! It's different in the day time. We found a pole fitness place! Nicole was very excited. After the discovery we went to eat a late lunch at Isaac Toast - pretty delicious sandwiches! Then we went to Smoothie King & headed to Emart for a few random items we needed. (Keep in mind we are still very sore from our workout on Thursday & John's workout on Friday). We got back home & relaxed some more. Then we got to work on our apartment! From 8:30 to 11:30 we were cleaning, unpacking, & rearranging. It amazed us how disgusting the person who lived here before us left things. But now our apartment looks SO MUCH BETTER!! We are satisfied.

Today we've had a relaxing day. Not much to do after last night but enjoy our clean, organized & spacious apartment. We were both finally feeling more recovered from workouts. Still some pain but we can at least function normally. John decided he was going to go workout again. Knowing that the workout would be all running, Nicole decided to stay home & give her legs more recovery time. This evening we went out to eat at a new restaurant : Dino Meat Grill House. All you can eat good quality meat. Just fantastic. We all love meat! It was a good end to the weekend & now we must go to bed for another stressful work week! We anticipate that once June is over our work stress levels will go down.

Next weekend we are taking a trip to Seoul. We decided to pass on this weekend due to the holiday. We are going to Myeongdong to see the N Seoul Tower & the dog cafe. We can't wait!

Our apologies for the lack of pictures this week. But there are sure to be MANY next weekend after our trip to Seoul!



Here are some things we learned about Korea this week:
-South Korea is ranked 13th when it comes to amount of cigarettes consumed per year. In comparison, USA is ranked 51st.
-Koreans have a fear of the number 4. It's pronunciation is closely related to word that means death. In many elevators, you will see that the buttons will say 1, 2, 3, F, 5, 6...
-There are so many cats roaming around the streets because you are considered cursed if you kill a cat.