A Saturday Romp

Yesterday was a blast.  We got up, went to the gym and then to E-mart to get a few things for the picnic.  Then we got all the food together (onigiri, chopped veggies, apples and imported beer).  We met Ben and Amy at their apartment and walked toward Uirimji where there's a small park tucked in the rice paddies.  I forgot to take a picture of the food we brought.  When we picnic again, I'll be sure to document it better.  We ended up sitting to the side of the pagoda (where everybody else was) because there wasn't much room, but we still got to see and talk to everyone.  Amy brought snacks and delicious homemade peanut butter cookies.  I ate two.  That's where my joyful spiral into a day of overindulgence began.  

A Korean guy who I hadn't met before (and called himself "Mountain Man") came and sat next to us for a few minutes.  His English wasn't very good, but he was pretty cool.  We offered him an onigiri and he ate it in one bite, struggling to get it down since the rice was a bit water logged and gluey.  He made quite a show of it, but then he ate three more.  So, we gave him a beer, figuring he needed and deserved it.

Here are some terrible photos of each of us, none of which feature the meal in the slightest:

Basically everyone showed up to say goodbye to Hayley, Kate and Pete (at the picnic and then later at SJ's and the bar), so it was nice to see everybody.  A few of the many, from left to right: Kate, Hayley, Pete, Liz, and Andrew.

Ben, Amy, Ian and I left to go see Robin Hood and everyone asked us to come to SJ's after, so we obliged.  After the movie, we walked to SJ's and decided to detour up to a hilltop park which is lit with lanterns right now for Buddha's Birthday on Friday.

Then we hit SJ's apartment and the evening ended in soju, juice and a streetside encounter with a few Indian men and one Korean that ended with us giving him a small banana; our gift prompted a "Who's on First?"  episode in which the Korean guy asked me about a hundred times (in Korean) how you say "banana" in English (it's "banana" in both languages). 

As usual, everyone ended up at Metro.  At one point, Ian ran to Buy the Way to get cash to pay our tab.  He got in the elevator with Jamie's wife (a Korean woman) and she asked him where we work.  Ian told her and she said, "Oh!  You're boss is crazy!"  Apparently she had heard about her when she worked at Wonderland.  It's too bad we didn't know how Julia's reputation preceded her, but it's nice to know we're not alone.

It was a long, and very fun day.

Good... afternoon!