the last two weeks in review, as per usual

here's a page or two out of our post-china day planner:

we went to the seoul grand park zoo and it was sunny and perfect fall weather. the zoo in seoul is the tenth largest in the world and has a chair lift to transport you from the entrance of seoul grand park to the animals (see pic). the park is situated in a valley south of seoul, and the lift takes you through trees and over a lake. it was awesome. we bought tickets to the dolphin show for only ₩2,000 and were definitely the only foreigners + the only people over the age of 10 who didn't have an entourage of children ...

last weekend, we went to an awkward and entertaining "dinner party" at our wealthy bosses' ... ahem ... estate. the lees don't speak any english, so events with them are always more entertaining after a few drinks when communication becomes through charades instead of through a fumbling english translation (think, 5 minutes of loud and emphatic korean paused for a 1 and a half minute english blurb that makes you wonder if that was really what was said).
and while they live in an apartment like 95% of the korean population, their flat was stunning. marble floors, over 5 crystal chandeliers, the hugest non-projector flat screen television i've ever seen. they even have hired help. we drank very expensive whiskey and hula hooped in their living room. it was sort of awesome.

i've been keeping busy during the week as i've joined the local gym. and while it has adequate facilities (free personal training, free work out clothes, indoor driving range anyone?) the machines are a little more out-dated. and by out-dated, i mean potentially in a 1980s time warp. move over goodlife, this workout club offers not only treadmills, recumbent bikes, steppers, and weight machines, but also the dream healther. hello, old school. literally, it's a machine with a platform that vibrates to shake all your fat away. and while standing on it for five minutes is recommended, so is placing your hands instead of your feet on the platform. uhh, what? alternative butt-in-the-air fat jiggling? the gym also has two (currently nameless) machines that have the giant elastic that fits over your ass to wiggle your gluteus maximus skinny. yes, like this. while i'm really skeptical of how efficient fat-jiggling is when it comes to weight loss, i suppose you could take a look at the size of most locals around here ... i'll report back with my results.

tomorrow, i'm off to brave the hairdressing world of korea. i've been putting off cutting my hair, despite there being 3 salons on every block around here. but after 6 months of highlight grow-out and trimming my own bangs, i've given in. it's overdue. i even got a "teacher! hair half yellow half brown!" today, just to cement my need for an appointment. perfect.

and finally: yes, that's right. 6 months. SIX MONTHS! what a crazy feeling to pass over the hump of our year here. less time to go than what we've already got under our belt. the passage of time has officially boggled my mind.