Fish ate our Feet, now we are real Koreans

I have put together a picture show to catch you up on our last few weeks in Korea:

First, Chris and I went to a bar that had a doctor fish bowl where you put your feet in and tiny fish eat the dead skin off your feet.   Yeah, thats normal in Korea.  

Then we went out with our Korean friend John, who studied English at TIEP (where I used to work in Austin).  To help us celebrate our four year anniversary, John took us to Seoul Tower where couples are supposed to attach two locks to a fence, write a message on the locks, and throw the keys off of a cliff. 

This is a picture of Chris throwing his key off the cliff.  Oh yeah, that's the manly man I fell in love with four years ago.

John and I ran into a real live Mexican Mariachi band and I got a chance to practice speaking Spanish.

And finally, we took care of a friend's dog to help fill the void that Honeybucket has left.

Don't be shy, leave a comment!  This means you Grandma!

How We Halloweened

I apologize for just now getting around to posting about Halloween, but what with the time zone difference and no daylight savings time here, it's actually like 1996 in Korea.

Anyway, for Halloween, Laura dressed up as Governor Sarah Palin (or SCARE-ah Palin, since it was Halloween):

Unfortunately, it's not a very authentic costume since she isn't smeared with moose-blood and ignorance.

I went as Podongi (포동이), the mascot of our city, Anyang:

Again, not as authentic as it could be. I wanted to respect the integrity of the mascot and go pantsless, but ol' conservative family values Gov. Palin censored me and said I had to wear the shorts. [insert tasteless comment about how there could have been even more grapes]

Also, did I mention how Halloween is not celebrated at all in Korea? A bunch of us teachers dressed to go to CLUB PYSCHO, a foreigner-centric bar that was the only Halloween game in town. We tried to catch a cab, but for some reason no taxis were willing to take a chance on a (former!!) Vice-Presidential Republican candidate, a ninja, a mohawked punk, some from DJ Jazzy Jeff's posse circa 1989, a pirate, a hippie, a magic eight-ball, a white Korean schoolgirl, and a fully grown adult who voluntarily attached several balloons to his clothes with scotch tape.

We decided to split off into smaller groups composed of the least provocative combination of costumes, but for some reason, my group (I was with the ninja) still couldn't catch a break with a taxi. Finally, I had to hide behind a tree, and when one brave cab driver reluctantly stopped to pick up the ninja, I sprung from the shadows and into the taxi. Now I know how a black person in America must feel: like an anthropomorphic bunch of grapes in Korea.

Hope everyone had a GRAPE HALLOWEEN. I know I did.

Too many hugs.

BONUS ROUND: post your Halloween costume in the comments!