................Taking Flight...............: HOLIDAY

Today was a National Holiday, so no school! :)

I had to get up early to meet Bohye at a subway station over an hour away. As I was getting on my subway, I got a message from her saying she just woke up and would be late. I was a little disappointed because I woke up extra early and I could have slept a little more. Anyway, I got to the station and had to wait about 45 minutes for her. We got the subway to Chuncheon, a city east and a little north of Seoul. It took an hour to get there and since it was a holiday everyone was going to Chuncheon. It was very crowded and we didn't get a seat. I was actually kind of amused because our station was the first one of the line, so when it pulled up and the doors opened, everyone rushed in and tried to get a seat. It looked like a game of Musical Chairs, haha. I really wish I could have taped it because it was so funny to see.

We finally arrived and saw some pretty flowers with benches and stuff-photo op kind of place. So we went there to take pictures. I was taking a picture of Bohye and an ajuma asked me if I wanted her to take our picture so we were together. I agreed and showed her how to use the camera and went to join Bohye. Then she asked me to take pictures of her and her friends with her phone. She also asked me to take pictures with my camera! Then, she gave us her email address so I could send it to her, haha. She talked to me and asked me if I was Japanese. Unfortunately because we stopped to take pictures, the line for a taxi was so huge! While standing in line we had a grandma and grandpa behind us and the grandma asked Bohye a question about the buses/taxi. So, we started talking to them too. They asked where I was from and when I said America, they asked me if I was "gyopo" which is a Korean national living abroad. So, I just answered yes. I had a short conversation by myself with them. The grandma asked Bohye if we could share a taxi to the location we were going and then gave Bohye 2,000W for the fare. The ride only cost 2,400W so Bohye paid 400W.

Both of us were quite hungry so we went to eat right away. We had the famous "Chuncheon Dak Galbi" which is a spicy chicken stirfry. It was really good. After lunch we went Nami Island. It became really popular and famous because of a Korean drama that was filmed there. There was a shuttle boat to take us there and then we walked around the island. We heard there were ostriches on the island so we were on the hunt for them the whole time. Bohye and I finally found them in their pen! Anyway, the island was really beautiful. There were quite a few people there, but even though the island is small (only 5k around the perimeter) it didn't feel very crowded. Until we wanted to leave. And then we had to wait in line for a boat for 45 minutes. Wow. We took a taxi back to the subway station and had to stand again the hour back. When we got into Seoul, we went separate ways. I stopped in Hongdae so I could have dinner with Kwangmin and his niece. She was in Seoul to have Lasik eye surgery. We went to an Italian place and then went to a cafe. Afterwards, we did some shopping and I got 2 shirts.