A day of firsts

My Korean friend C invited me to go to a wedding. She thought it would be cool for me to see one, and it was very cool! And, it was my first (Korean wedding that is). We met at a subway stop and headed over to the wedding together (my first SOLO trip on the subway). I wore a black cocktail dress and heels. This was the first time I have ever worn, and stayed in, heels for AN ENTIRE DAY (up until 10:30 PM actually).
When I say I wore these heels all day. I really mean that I wore them. I walked up and down those subway stairs, walked the remainder of the way to the wedding, walked to the bus stop, got off the bus and walked around the university area, walked to the "after wedding party", walked, walked, walked.....
OK... So I will give you the run down here....
Here is the subway stop we met at.




The wedding was non-traditional apparently, but, it seemed lovely. (Seemed lovely b/c I have no idea what anyone was saying).




































Sorry the pictures are such poor quality, I took them with my cell phone...
After the wedding ceremony we went downstairs to have a (buffet style) lunch. The bride and groom changed clothes and came down in traditional outfits to greet their guests.









After lunch C and I walked around Seoul for a while. We took the bus down to the university area. SUPER cool area. Tons and tons of cool, trendy shops and restaurants. It was packed with people. We killed a couple of hours until the "after wedding party". We went to a small bar type of place, hung out, ate and drank. I did lots of smiling and head nodding b/c I was the only American there. :)






I tried the "Korean Pizza" and it was pretty good. I think it's more of a pancake... I only tried a little bit of it. (The octopus part). :)

After having a nice time at the bar we all piled into vehicles and drove to the Hilton for some karaoke. :) Some of the folks we were with thought this would be a great experience for me b/c it's VERY much part of the culture here. Also, C told me that there are many karaoke bars, but, the bars at the hotels are very, very nice. This was an extra special experience. The Hilton was extremely nice and fancy. Also, for those of you who don't know, here in this part of the world when you go to a nice karaoke bar, you get your own room. Kind of like a private party I guess. So the groom ordered a bottle of whiskey, about 12 beers and an assortment of nuts and snacks (like dried octopus). This assortment is called a "set" (lots of things come in "sets" here actually). The total of this set (NOT the room and the karaoke... JUST the beverages and snacks) was $1000.00!!!!! Gulp. I couldn't get a good shot of the room b/c of the lighting (and the cell phone camera)... but, here is an idea.









I didn't pick up the mike myself (big surprise). C told me that I need to sing at some point, before the year is out.


The last (Korean) first was my solo taxi ride back home. C hopped in the taxi long enough to let the driver know where I needed to go, then she hopped out, and I was on my way. The taxi driver and I had a lovely (although VERY broken English) chat all the way home.....


xo
K.