Welcome to Seoul

We flew to Seoul and took the bus to see our friend Teri (aka the T-1000) and her boyfriend Saint. It was my first time meeting him, so I was very interested to meet the man courting my best lady friend from university. I suppose I always pictured dudes named Saint to be ruthless, badass assassins (not actual saints for some reason) but it tuns out that Saint is super nice and he and Teri are really great together. I'm super happy for them.

They were perhaps the most gracious hosts of all time. Due to fortuitous working circumstances, they both were able to spend most of the four-day weekend with us and took us on a whirlwind tour of fine exotic dining, power shopping, and sightseeing, all while handling all negotiations and treating us like royalty.

The shopping highlight was buying Perin several pairs of designer sunglasses frames for super cheap, then taking us to the eye doctor, getting us free eye exams and brand new lenses for the glasses for super cheap. We got free fruit juice boxes too. Actually, the very best part was when the eye doctor told me I had the best vision he had ever seen (English was his second language so that's how I'll interpret it) and I didn't need any glasses. He warned that I need to always need to wear sunglasses when outside though, because I have "light eyes."

Needless to say, I instigated numerous "can you read that from here?" contests and won them all, which helps to prove that I'm also super modest.

We had so many delicious meals and went to so many cool places, but I think my favorite place was the bowling lanes. We didn't even get to bowl! First, I was sent in solo to get our names on the bowling list and see if we could get a table. Mission accomplished. Management filled my name in for me: "foreigner." We ordered some drinks and drank in the atmosphere - semi-creepy clown photographs and clown art everywhere, with loud techno music playing and several big screens showing a Victoria's Secret modeling show.

The lanes closed at 3am, and we were informed that the wait list was so long we wouldn't get to roll. That's okay though because we played a couple games of super volatile air hockey that shot our puck into standers-by multiple times.

In this chronologically incorrect detailing of events, we then went to Taco Bell and ordered numerous hardshell tacos. The line of people waiting to order was pretty ad hoc, and as such, when new people showed up they tried to cut in line. A constant, unblinking, semi-concerned stare from me for a minute or two pretty much sorted that out every time. Taco Bell was so delicious! How can that place ever lose money? I'm buying stock as soon as I get back.

We returned to the T-1000's baller crib to play a few games of Rumikub and finally went to bed at 4am. We beat that the next night rolling out to Korean karaoke where Perin impressed everyone by not needing the microphone.

In addition to making runs to the border, the other food item I missed tremendously was spectacular proper sandwiches. Teri came through and got us some super tasty melty cheese sandwiches and satisfied all remaining food cravings.

Hanging out with Teri again was great and I hope to get to do it again soon. I also hope to get to do some more male bonding with Saint - he seems super cool.