Cesca Arrives in Korea!!!

Oh happiest of happy times!!! My lovely, wonderful, beautiful, awesome sister has finally arrived in Seoul, and it's more amazing than I ever dreamed it would be!!! THIS IS THE BEST WEEK EVER AND EVERYTHING IS AWESOME LAAAAAAA I CAN'T EVEN EXPLAIN HOW HAPPY I AAAAAAAAAM.

Ok. I'll calm down eventually.

We've had a lot of adventures already this week.

Monday and Tuesday were normal enough. I continued with camp, and thanks to the absence of one of my problem students, it went incredibly well! I also had to go to immigration. Because I had an appointment, everything went smoothly, except for the awkwardness. The appointment window just happens to be on the Chinese immigration side of the office, not the non Chinese side. As such, I was standing waiting for my appointment in the midst of, well, all asians. Seriously, there was like 1 other non asian there. And I could tell the Chinese people waiting were like "what the eff is this girl doing??" But thankfully, my appointment went smoothly and I can legally live here for another year!!!

Yes, lose weight so that guys can leer at you on the
subway instead of staring at you with distain

Immigration, the least fun place ever

THESE THINGS ARE SO DAMN LOUD
OH MY GOD WHY

the appointment window

please note the lack of westerners. 

Lololol beyonce

and a Hello Kitty store

caught a shot of this fine specimen of
ahjumma attire

men often carry the purse of their significant other.
I always find it hilarious. Extra points
for the hot pink today.

why.

cooking class PB & J

This is how they make sidewalks in Korea

On Wednesday, I hung around after camp for a while, because I didn't want to run home and then rush to the airport. The anticipation was killing me; I had too much energy and couldn't sit still, so after I did my Korean homework and reorganized my desk a dozen times, I ended up leaving early for the airport.

I was nervous that it would take a while to find the gate that Cesca would come out of, but Incheon is easily navigable and so I was there with lots of time to spare. Especially when her arrival time got delayed. I was too excited to sit still, again, so I paced around the airport terminal so many times that I think the employees thought I was crazy.

And then, it landed. I was so excited, but I told myself it might take a while. Finally, the board switched to "arrived" and I hoped it wouldn't be long. I was anxious and excited. 15 minutes passed. 20. 30. 40. Nothing. I saw dozens of reunions, and not one of them my own.

After about an hour, I finally saw my bella!!! Apparently, there had been a baggage mix up and her luggage was almost misplaced. Thankfully it all worked out, and it wasn't a visa issue or anything. I was SO excited to see her, and I saw some people look on happily as we reunited.

I made a sign with hearts. Cause I looove
her!!

FINALLY arriving!

exhausted but happy!

our first selca!

so. much. stuff.

Cesca is not having it. 

 Cesca was exhausted, but she was a champ and put up with a subway ride, lots of elevators, and a taxi, plus 4 flights of stairs. It was a loooooong journey, but we finally made it! As she rested, I headed out to grab some dinner from the Korean place near my apartment. 

she had a bulgogi stir fry for dinner.
And then she passed out.

After sleeping for about 10 hours, I got Cesca up so that she could come with me to the last day of my summer camp. It was a BLAST to see the reactions of my co teachers and students. Some of them just openly gaped, and others giggled and cheered when we talked to them. They all told me how similar we are (duh) and that they all think Cesca is older >.<

First bus ride!

We got ice cream after class 

Cesca thinks it's weird

We rested and then got dinner~mandu
and naengmyeon, which are cold noodles.

Don't worry Cesca, we will practice with the chopsticks.

On Friday, I had a follow up appointment at Yonsei Severance Hospital for my leg. The place is huge, and I had to go to orthopedics, which was scary, but thankfully they have English speaking guides to help you out. Turns out, they can't really find much wrong with my leg or knee, but I got prescribed some more muscle relaxers in the hope that that will help. I'm a little annoyed that they couldn't find anything, but now I know that the aches I'm feeling aren't caused by anything serious. Hopefully. 

had to get x rays done. Wooo classy look

I took Cesca to BK for lunch, so that she could see what it's like here (very different~ they have hot dogs, and NO DIET COKE, which I hadn't noticed, since I don't drink it haha). 

They also have the old style fries and chicken
circa 2008

Cesca met the resident dog of the coffee shop around the corner:

And then we met up with Sarah and Janell (who's flight to Hawaii had to be delayed because of the hurricanes :( but at least she got to meet Cesca!). We decided to do the Friday night right, with some chimaek and noraebang!

an evening with some of the best ladies in Seoul

The first of many nights of chimaek, I'm sure

So many songs!!!

Saturday was a chill day. We started watching my favorite drama, Queen In Hyun's Man, and Cesca did some pre orientation stuff. We also cleaned my apartment a lot, because between the bedding on the floor, my clothes, and the two massive suitcases of things that we had to sort through to find Cesca's appropriate-for-85-plus-degree-humid-weather-clothes, it seriously looked like a bomb went off in my apartment. It's much better now! Phew. 

On Sunday, Cesca and I went to a musical that we've geeked out over since approximately 7th grade. Cats. 

I unabashedly love Cats. It's an awesome dance show with catchy music (and a very typical Andrew Lloyd Webber score, which means it's got some edge and awesomeness to it), and we were so excited to see it. It was in English too, which is always a bonus. I like listening to stuff in Korean, but it's nice to be able to understand everything haha.

So, before and after the show, we goofed around and took awesome pictures.

I love Korea. Musicals are only here for
a short time each show, but they
still go all out with decorating 

cheap, high up seats, but still awesome

I can't believe the first time we saw Cats live
was in South Korea

perfect

I could totally be in Cats

Adoring the Rum Tum Tugger

during intermission and parts of the show,
the cats come up in the audience and
amuse people/freak them out

being awesome

omggggg 

One of Cesca's favorite cats

"I'm going to paw at him like
 they do in the show"

She's one of my favorites

"I should start doing the peace sign pose!"

Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer!

I decided to be obnoxious and show off.
I managed to impress a group of anonymous
Koreans. AWESOME!

We had such a good time!

The ONLY thing that sucked was after the show, it was POURING. Like, TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR, soaked to the skin even with an umbrella pouring. Holy monsoon season, Batman!

This was the sky even tho it was around 7:45
and it's normally getting dark then

It was crazy bright and yellow. So bizarre.

So, because of the rain, we both curled up in my apartment and relaxed with some TV, facebooking, and now blogging. Which takes foreveeeeer. But it's a labor of love!

We also decided face masks would be fun

WE'RE SO COOL

Anyway, it's both awesome and bizarre to have Cesca here. I've spent so long away from home and my family (around 355 days!), and so I was nervous that we would both have changed or it would be weird, but we just fell back into our normal camaraderie, which makes me super happy. Look forward to many more awesome adventures in the future!!! 

You all know I love BigBang, right? Well, waaaaaay back when they were a young group, Korea had a Korean production of Cats, in which Daesung, a member of BigBang, played none other than Rum Tum Tugger. It's hilarious and awesome haha. Enjoy.