Never a dull moment

This past week I was treated to dinner just about every night.

Wednesday I met with my cousin Jincheon (aka Jay) who works at Adidas, in the Samsung Towers at Gangnam. He does some sort of marketing and management for stores worldwide, and gets a great discount at their stores. He took Minsuk and I out for galbi (which was delicious) and then took me shopping. I got a new pair of running shoes and some very soft sandals from the nearby adidas store, then we went to an E-mart for the mundane provisions. The E-mart is like a multi-story Wal-mart with flat escalator-like walking platforms between the floors. I got bottled water, snacks, and bathroom supplies. Afterwards he drove me back to the dorms and I got to see even more of Seoul by night, including the Ariram TV station building and Seoul Arts Center.

Minsuk's tiny, tiny apartment.

I think it's been over 15 years since I saw him, and I was just a kid playing with his robot toys in Canada. He still remembers it, too, but we obviously have very different recollections of that time.

The next day, Joonghyun took me to eat in Yongin near his parent's house. Jisue got to practice driving because JHK had torn a ligament playing soccer. She's been driving for about 3 months now, and Seoul is definitely not newbie-friendly. We went to a "modern traditional" Korean dinner, which meant everything was converted into some sort of salad. It wasn't bad, but I would've been happier with just "traditional." Joonghyun's older brother, Joongmin, paid for us all as thanks for hosting him when he visited Houston last year.

Look at that spread. All salads!

Doh!

It was still tasty stuff.

I visited their parent's place and met the family dogs and JHK's nephew. Cute little guy. I also learned that Joongmin's wife was an English literature major, but her husband (who has only visited the States) speaks more English!

Hi-moni feeds sooba to the little guy.

The Kim's.

All these animal pics. I guess because I know a vet.

Joongmin also drove me back to the dorms. I think I've only walked back from lab twice since I started. And I don't mind a bit.