Amanda Takes Off...

"It's like 'pay' with the 'y' and 'a' switched and an 'e' at the end. So really it's not like 'pay' at all." That's Michael describing the word 폐문 (a permanently closed door). He then explained the word 폐교 (a permanently closed school).

This weekend was exhaustingly fantastic. Yesterday I met a friend at COEX mall. I was hoping to get a decent haircut and find some jeans, not expecting either to be very successful.

Salon Uno gave me a fantastic, fast haircut for only 20,000 won. I'm trying to grow my hair out a bit and the woman understood immediately what I wanted. I got her card; I will be back.

Then my friend said, "Well, let's start looking for jeans. We'll probably have to go into several places."

We started our journey at Giordano, home of the ads with the two incredibly hot guys, 비 and 장동건.

And score! I bought two long-sleeved shirts in olive and grey, as well as a great pair of jeans that I love. Had I looked at the price tag before I tried them on, I never would've found out how great they are. I spent more than I've ever spent on jeans and it was worth it. I want to wear them, sleep in them, work in them, play in them, and never, ever, ever take them off.

Today Michael and I went to 만리포 (Mallipo) beach together. I got to drive for the first time in three months and the beach was fantastically empty since it's "not summer." We got there around low tide time; the tide was quite low, as you can see in this photo.

Freakishly, the beach resort area featured a Statue of Liberty and a teepee. The teepee housed public squatter toilets.

Michael brought a picnic feast for my birthday, along with a cake with 천사 (angels) on it.

The high tide had left several tide lines, including this one, starring some crab bits. A baby crab body was nearby as well.

We stayed long enough that the tide came in again. Shortly after taking this photo, I started seeing the 날치 (flying fish, bait is 낚시) of the West Sea. They really do look like the Mario Brothers' flying fish. They leap out of the water, glide, and then flop straight down into the water again. Very strange.

And here's me, on my 26th birthday, in my new jeans.

In other news, I've started watching Korean music videos, leading to bopping my head to some Taiwanese trio's obnoxiously catchy little song Super Star. Of course, I can't understand anything other than the chorus (and one of the videos includes a scary teddy bear throughout it) but the song still gets stuck in my head.