4th of July (I'm American, no matter where I live)

For the 4^th of July weekend June, Natalie, and I decided to go to the beach at Gangneun. June went early to meet a friend, but for Natalie and myself, like the trip to the Butterfly festival, this required getting tickets for the last bus out at 10:30 and a mad dash after work Friday to get to the bus station in time. The three hour bus ride was not bad and they even showed the Brazil vs. Netherlands game. Once there, we walked down the strip of restaurants and motels along the beach until we came to the Star Beach Motel, decided that was a good name, and went in to find it decently priced. (I stole some of Natalie's pic's so hers are marked with an *)

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We settled in, then went for a 2am snack before going to bed (the snack consisted of “point and order” food at a local café/bar… always an adventure).

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View from our motel window.

Saturday was rainy… all day. We went to a BBQ hosted by some other Americans in the area and most people joined teams to play dodge ball (I happily sat that one out). It was fun meeting some other people (Kim!) and enjoying the beach. By late afternoon we were drenched so we went back to the hotel to dry off and change before enjoying a wonderful crab and assorted seafood dinner.

* The raw squid (right) was pretty good, but that red and orange stuff - NASTY.*

*Shrimp and Snails - both pretty good.*

*Our crab we picked from the tank. Sorry Mr. Crab!*

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*Mmmm, fish head soup.*

*Kim and June*

*Natalie and Me*

Sunday started a little overcast, but the clouds burned off and it turned into a beautiful sunshiny day. Natalie had to leave early, but June and I spent the day walking the beach, sunbathing, and getting hit on by strange men – June by an older Korean man and me by a South Asian man with a thick accent.

Man: Hello. Where are you from? Me: Umm, (looking to June for help, but getting nothing) Seoul. Man: Where are you from? Me: (realizing June has moved behind me) um, USA… Man: Are you from Transylvania? (ok, so he probably didn’t actually say ‘Transylvania’ but that’s what it sounded like) Me: It was nice to meet you (walk away). Thanks a lot June!

June and my feet - can you guess whose are whose?

Star spangled me.

All in all, it was a good weekend with good friends both old and new. Happy Independence Day all!