You Can't Go Home Again???

... Oh, yes you can.

With the North Korea thing not happening, but with arrangements already made for a cat-sitter etc, I decided to head to Suncheon for my first real visit since I'd moved. Yes, I had been in Suncheon when I first got back to Korea in May, but it was a quick one-night thing that involved a lot of grabbing stuff that I'd left behind and running off with it to Mokpo.

After my week of whining about boredom in Mokpo, it was so great to be back in Suncheon, where you can't walk 5 feet without tripping over a foreigner, and where I know my way around (every time I leave my house in Mokpo, I get lost). I started my visit on Friday afternoon, with a visit to the glasses store. Yes, Meron, I walked in and said, "Can you show me a pair of glasses that Meron is guaranteed to HATE?", and they did. All hail the return of THE NERD FRAMES. And, they were ready in TWENTY minutes. I love Korea.


From there, I headed over to Cassandra and Haydar's to admire both the new kitten and her new ring, and to drink a bottle of wine before heading to Nina's (Nina is a great cook and very generous with food, and I found it handy to always show up at her place around mealtimes. This is much to the chagrin of Yongi, her cat, who fears me beyond comprehension...) to watch TV and eat pizza, and get a sparkly pedicure from Nina, who was also rocking diamonds on her toes....


Then, it was off to Carol's, where I was actually sleeping (Carol is not there, but Lola - a kitten who could give Jakob a run for his money - was). This is a picture of me being stalked. Yeah, sure, she LOOKS sweet, but she's a wild one!


Feeling parched, I headed off to Julianna's to meet up with Michelle and Cassandra and the rest of Suncheon. *cue the theme from Cheers* I loved walking in there and being greeted by friends who I hadn't seen in ages - and getting to make new friends too. It was a great night of dancing and fun and some of the details are kind of fuzzy so, you know... uh, typical Suncheon night.

The next day, I arrived at Nina's just in time for breakfast and we rallied the troops to head out to a swimming hole in Gwangyang (me, Nina, Nicole, Michelle, Arlene, Jessika and Amanda), which was wicked awesome.


There were lots of people, but more than enough space for all. We were joined at one point by a few of the boys of Suncheon, including James, who is soon heading back to England. This is Jessika and James:


Exhausted, we headed back to Suncheon and went our separate ways with promises to meet again, which we did a few hours later at (where else) Julianna's. It was like a Ladies' Night or something, with some rather hilarious conversation about Amanda's hair. Anyway....

I stayed that night at Cassandra and Haydar's, since they were away and needed a cat-feeder, and made it just in time on Sunday morning for lunch at Nina's. While I sat there and monopolized her TV, Jeannie arrived and we chatted for a bit (Jeannie is heading back to Canada soon - bye Jeannie!!!! I'll miss you!), until I headed off to Michelle's where Nicole, Michelle and I made a wicked awesome supper, washed down with generous amounts of wine and dyed my roots....

Before:



After:


Monday morning, I headed back to Mokpo, feeling like I'd managed to pack a lot of visits into just a few days, and also feeling like Suncheon is always going to be a big part of my Korean world. I also got a chance to say goodbye to James and Jeannie and make new friends like Amanda and Jessika.

Another week to go before my summer camp starts and friends start returning to Mokpo....