Friday Letters #37 & 38

Happy Friday Y'all! 

I hope you had an amazing week. Mine went by pretty quick seeing as I took two days off of work to hang out with my dad. I missed last Friday's Letters because we were really busy exploring around Korea, so today I'll do a bit of a catch up. 

Dear Last Week, I can't really remember if anything exciting happened. I know the work week went by fast and that's about it. 

Dear Friday (May 23rd), It was great having the day off work. My dad and I spent the day walking around the Suwon Fortress. Dad insisted we walk the whole 5k around. I'm glad I did it, but man was that a long day. Although I did take part in an archery experience and that was pretty cool. 

Dear Dad, Thank you for coming out and visiting. You might not have been impressed with our knowledge of hotels, but I think the trip can be counted as a success. I enjoyed showing you around the country that is home for us right now. It was great taking you around and seeing all the Koreans look at you and smile. It was especially fun when a group of school children would pass us saying 'Hello. Hello. Hello. Hello. Welcome to Korea.' I enjoyed posting pictures with #popsinkorea. 

Dear Saturday and Sunday, The weekends are usually pretty boring for us because we are usually laying around and catching up on Netflix, or I am studying for the GRE. But this weekend was pretty jam packed full activities with my dad. Dear DMZ, I really wasn't looking forward to going on another tour again, but it was actually pretty fun. Stepping into North Korea is always pretty exciting. And we saw things on this tour that we missed out on last time. It was worth going to again. Dear Olympic Park, It really was cool seeing you again. It was actually better this time because we visited the velodrome and my dad has a friend who raced there at the 88' Olympics. 

Dear Korea War Museum, This was probably my favorite stop of the entire weekend. The museum was really amazing. Pretty interactive. Great displays. And there is a memorial dedicated to those that lost their lives in the Korean War. Matt's Great Uncle and namesake was killed during this war, and we were able to find his name along the memorial. It was such an amazing experience and I'm glad we got to see this. Matt's Great Uncle was Tetsuo Kiyohiro. His Dad is Kevin Tetsuo. And Matt is Matthew Tetsuo. It was also even more special because while we were doing this in Korea, Matt's Grandmother was putting flowers on Tetsuo's grave in Hawaii. It was very touching. 

Dear Sunday, We sent Dad on his way for his fishing trip, and we saw X-Men Days of Future Past. We really enjoyed it. I love when American movies come here!

Dear Monday and Tuesday, It was back to the grind as both Matt and I worked while my Dad took a fishing trip in the mountains. It was nice to see my students, but more exciting to only have a three day work week. It was also my little brother Jud's 11th birthday. Matt and I skyped him and sang happy birthday. We sang in Korean and then Jud said "That's cool, but can you sing in English this time." So we sang again. 

Dear Wednesday, It was another exploration day as my Dad and I took a day trip to Busan. It was nice to have some time to just chat on the train and then peak around Busan for a bit. I really really love Busan. It's becoming a favorite place of mine. 

Dear Thursday, Today was the last day Dad was in town. We spent the day exploring Suwon Folk Village. Dad was picked to participate in the Farmer's Drum and Dance performance, and it was so funny to watch. We had an amazing last meal with Dad that consisted of a huge platter of meat. It was so delicious. Then we put Dad on a bus and waved goodbye. Dad it was great to see you! 

Dear Friday, So glad to see you again. Today was a pretty fast work day. I was in such a hurry that I got onto my bus without paying. I had sat down and the bus driver was yelling at me, but I just totally spaced. So I walked back up and scanned my bus card. I guess I was just ready to be home. 

When I got home, Matt and I were looking at plane tickets and we decided to book a trip to Mongolia! We had been going back and forth on visiting. The ticket prices were really expensive and I just couldn't get over paying so much money, but I changed the dates and the tickets were slashed in half! So now in September we will traveling to Mongolia! Dream Come True. 

This weekend we will be getting ready for our Tokyo trip. We need to clean and pack up so we are all ready to leave bright and early Friday. There will also be a ton of studying going on in our house. 

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend! 

Love, Alex