Chooch keeps arguing that no one in his class has gotten proper senior portraits taken and even if that’s true (doubtful), I was not letting him get out of this. It’s MOMMY’S LAST CHANCE to photograph her surly son, you know? Let me have this.

Anyway, I wanted to get some nice pictures of him while we were in Korea because of the aesthetics of course, but also because it’s meaningful. I haven’t decided which ones to get printed for friends and family yet, but here are the contenders!

We took these at one of the smaller palaces, RIGHT when it opened to avoid the surge of tourists. However, we had to contend with a throng of older Asian gentlemen who were lining up at the gates with their big-ass paparazzi camera equipment. Was there going to be a celebrity appearance at the Changgyeonggung Palace? NOPE, just spring blossoms. You guys, the older population go NUTS over cherry blossoms, magnolia blossoms, any type of colorful blossom in March is subject to exploitation. And when I say they are packing $$$$$ lenses, I mean it. It’s like TMZ-levels of photography.

These first three photos were taken on the walk to the palace:

I had to take this one extremely fast because the pap were gaining on us.

If we’re Instagram friends, you might have seen that Chooch actually let us buy him a jacket while we were there! NOT because he was cold, don’t even think that. But we wandered into a vintage shop in Insadong and the sweetest halmeoni helped Chooch decided on a jacket. She even gave my arm a loving squeeze at one point and said we were a pretty family and gave us candy and called me umma – this was the best trip to Korea yet. I felt like I belonged there this time more than ever, like what even was my past life because I am sure it involved Korea somehow.

It’s the only explanation.

This palace was just as beautiful as the other more “popular” ones. My tip to you if you ever go to Korea, if you want great pictures without a million tourists in hanbok milling about in the background, come to this one when it opens at 9 and enjoy the serenity and peacefulness. (We were there in March so this might be just as nuts in the summer as the other main palaces, so don’t come for me!)

Obviously this isn’t a contender for senior portrait prints, but I liked the composition of this one!

Celebrity blossoms.

I like this one because you can see the city and a glimpse of Namsan Tower behind his head. It’s nuts how much ancient history is interspersed with the modern city. Seoul is amazing.

Also! We finally saw our first  (AND ONLY) squirrel in Korea here in this palace! Chooch took this photo for me and when one of the old guy photogs saw Chooch pointing the SLR at a tree, he came scurrying over not wanting to miss a bloom I guess. But then when he saw the subject matter was a squirrel, he still seemed into it so he joined Chooch and started snapping away, as well. It was kind of adorable.

I posted a picture of the squirrel on Instagram using what I thought was the Korean word for squirrel, but Jiyong saw it and corrected me via Kakao Talk because the word I used was actually for chipmunk! Fuck you, Google Translate! Jiyong said that actually, most Koreans don’t even know the word for squirrel and just default to chipmunk and that there are more squirrels in the US than in Korea, apparently! What a great morning and learning experience.

I have more non-Chooch pictures from that day so we will revisit with more words (yay for you) at some point. Wow, look forward to that!

I’m still slightly jet-lagged and REALLY deep in my feels  and as much as that phrase makes me cringe as a broad in her 40s, I am at a loss to think of a better way to explain my listlessness, like I’m going through a bad high school breakup. It hurts to be so in love with a country on the other side of the world, lol. Is this a past life thing, I wonder? Because I feel so whole and alive when I’m there and then just whatever when I’m here. What does it meaaaaannnnn.

Anyway, I haven’t even started going through my photos yet because every time I start to, I end up weeping uncontrollably (like just a few minutes when I called Henry and gurgled, “I AM SO SADDDDD” and he was like, “Jesus Christ, we will go back.” So, until I’m able to compose myself and type out proper recaps of each day we were in South Korea, here is a list of things I have been wailing about missing since we’ve come home.

• The uneven sidewalks that Henry constantly – and I mean like perpetually – tripped over.
• Using my Haechan T-money card for the subway/bus everyday:

• Dunkin injeolmi lattes :( Generally we don’t do American chains while on traveling but injeolmi is one of my fave Korean flavors so I had to try this. It was so good, I had it twice – tried for a third when we were at Seoul station waiting for the airport train on our departure day but apparently this was a limited menu and it ended after March. :(
• 87 convenience stores on every block (ok maybe an exaggeration but really there are a ton) where we’d get total delicious trash food (& sometimes healthy food!) for breakfast ever day. I even bought a cute suitcase at a 7 Eleven in the subway station outside of our hotel and it was filled with treats!

• 24:7 kpop and I mean good kpop and barely any BTS, what a blessing. I was so happy at how much BIGBANG we heard as we walk down the sidewalks. One night in 명동 there was a bar and a store across from each other blasting two different BIGBANG songs at once, and a shop when we were in 경주 that was cycling through an entire BIGBANG playlist while we were there! Lots of Seventeen too – probably the group I heard the most of while there honestly.
• Chooch getting his semi-daily shot of coffee in the subway station:

• 그녕…the way it smells. I can’t explain it. But it’s nostalgic and comforting to me.
• The language. When I say it’s music to my ears…
• Matcha.
• MOTHERFUCKING SALT BREAD. Changed my life. Full post coming soon about the 소금빵
• Barely any Taylor Swift assaulting the airways! Blessed be.
• The convenience of being able to grab snacks from subway ajummas (kimbap, hodu gwaja, etc).
• The self-serve store in the subway station by our hotel exit that sold Levain cookies.
• CAFES BEING OPEN LATE unlike here in Pgh where most of them close at 2 or 3 because apparently no one drinks coffee after that, we move on to Bud Lite or something, I guess.

I will end with my current favorite NCT Dream song from their new album (that came out while we were there!!) which has become the soundtrack to the way I’m feeling post-SK. I’ll be ok, I know. Just bear with me while I work through this and be glad you’re not Henry, who has to deal with my mopiness IRL. (I think I probably just need to go to an amusement park….HINT HINT, HUSBAND. LOL not as gross as “hubby”, but I’ll still never do that again don’t worry.)

(RENJUN AT 2:51!!! THAT SMILE.)

(Great now I’m sitting here sobbing right as I have to begin working, I’m going to be loads of fun in group chat today.)

(Do I possibly need therapy?)

You’ll be shocked to know that I completely and totally didn’t want to leave Korea yesterday. I hate to say that I was thinking about this moment starting at the middle of last week which is so bad because obviously our looming departure prevented me from fully being present and enjoying myself. I mean, our last day was filled with misdirected outbursts and projections because I was so upset about having to leave the next morning. I hate it. I have never felt this strongly about a place before where it completely turns me into a monster when I have to leave, kicking and screaming, lol.

We arranged for a Kakao taxi to pick us at 5:50am to take us to Seoul Station. Here’s one last look at our hotel. I really liked it. We stayed in a different area this time – Seodaemun, and when I say that the subway entrance was right outside of the hotel’s front doors….literally couldn’t have been more convenient. If you’re in Seoul and not utilizing the exceptional subway system, I’m sad to inform you that you’re not doing it right! Cheap, easy, efficient. Plus, it’s part of the process. I am already homesick for the upbeat subway jingles (though I guess I can just reach behind me and push the button on our Seoul subway sign!).

My last banana uyu, at Seoul Station. :( You can get banana uyu in the States but it never tastes the same. I’m not being melodramatic – there is actually something different about it, I swear!

Chooch and his new Kakao Friend. It’s tradition for him to buy a Kakao Friend plushie on every Korea trip now. He moderately deviated from tradition by not selecting an Apeach version though! This was on the airport train to Incheon airport. :( I was numb for this ride. Emotionally dead.

The other two times we went to Korea, we flew Korean Air. This time, it was Delta and both flights were mid. Barely any Koreans on either flight and the flight attendants were meh. On this flight in particular, there was one older white dude FA who was actually such an asshole. He wasn’t rude to us in particular, but I witnessed him being a jerk to some other passengers and saying inappropriate things to his fellow FAs, like, “Can’t wait for this party to be over,” “Can I take my break yet?” “This is disgusting” while acting like pushing a beverage cart was part of a prison sentence.

There was an old Asian lady sitting across from us and one row up – she didn’t speak much English and all she kept requesting was hot water. But I guess at one point, this shit head was walking by and she tapped him to get his attention and he snapped, “DO NOT TOUCH ME. NO, WE’RE NOT GOING TO DO THIS” and I was so fucking tense around this prick like he was Alcoholic Dad just come home from the corner bar. THEN, later in the flight, he said to one of the other FAs, “That’s the hot water freak.”

I am 100% filling out a survey about this flight.

He made me so uncomfy!!!

I have so much to write about and so many pictures to sort through! This is going to take a while and I’m going to be crying a lot, I think. Henry kept calling it a vacation but this was so much more than that to me. Korea is my everything. <3

Anyway, I somehow made it through my first day back at work but now I’m ready to crawl back into bed at….5:30PM.

It’s our last night here in Seoul and I am wrecked. In full disclosure, I was a raging asshole all day, truly. I know I should have been enjoying the last full day here but the reality of leaving was weighing on me and I was sooooo snippy and couldn’t make up my mind with what I wanted to do, eat, drink, buy, etc.

in the end, we were all over the place, roaming aimlessly, but I guess when you think about it, at least we were here.

In Korea.

My favorite place in the whole world. :(

I’m excited to get home to my cats, though. If it wasn’t for the cats, I wouldn’t miss home AT ALL.

Two things that happened today which were kind of cool:

• We were in the area of Tongin Market, on some random side street in a quiet area while Chooch was eating his 떡볶이, when a red-haired girl walked past us. I did a double take and said, “OMG it’s CariCakes lol.” She’s an American YouTuber that lives here in Seoul and I have been watching her videos since late 2016/2017. I have learned so much about this country from her channel. It was hilarious though because Chooch kept saying, “look there’s Cari Cakes” and “When I was in Gangnam without you, I saw Cari Cakes” – you know, being his usual pest self. And then we ended up ACTUALLY seeing her. Henry was like “go say hi!” and was being really persistent about it but then she was already pretty far gone so we had to speed walk but since we were behind her at that point, I couldn’t find a good way to approach her without looking like we were following her (I mean, we were). But anyway, she was super pleasant and didn’t seem too alarmed at my trying-to-not-ambush but-still-kind-of-ambushy approach. We chatted about the cherry blossoms and where we’re from and how the blossoms just feel more magical here in Korea. I dunno, it was just really nice and also surreal because her vlogs are always like, “Today I’m taking you guys to—” so it always feels like she’s talking directly to you and then in this brief moment, she actually was. Social media really makes the world such a wild place, you guys.
• On the subway, a woman walked past us carrying a bag (like a gift bag?) with the name of the law firm I work at on it so that also was wild. A city with millions of people and today we saw a YouTuber and a bag with the logo of the place I work. Seoul, you are fucking crazy magical.

And now I’m just sitting here listening to Henry and Chooch bitch at each other while Henry furiously tries to pack everything – we had to buy two extra carry-ons while here lol. The one I bought on Wednesday and filled it with stuff IMMEDIATELY. Henry had to buy a second one tonight in 명동 while Chooch and I were doing last minute shopping. ;)

I wish I could put my feelings into words other than “ow my heart.” I am going to be really depressed for quite some time, I think. Henry keeps saying, “we’ll just have to come back” every time I remember yet another thing that we didn’t get to do this time around. I really hope so. I try not to take things like this for granted so any time we do come back, it feels like such a gift.

Chooch, please become a super successful computer guy and buy me an apartment here so I can visit twice, three, four times a year.

Today we explored to a new-to-us neighborhood (문래) and it ended up being pretty excellent honestly. A little out of our comfort zone, but that’s part of traveling, right? Being able to read Hangul really comes in clutch.

Anyway we are about to go back out for dinner but I wanted to post this picture of Chooch because I spent all morning taking “senior portraits” of him with the “good camera” but then this picture I took with my phone in Mullae ended up being better than all of them. Isn’t that always the case!!

I only post when we’re on the train I guess, so here I am with another quick check-in on the KTX from Gyeongju back to Seoul. We did an overnight trip here and it was…chaotic and full of dramatic arguing as is our brand but also really fun and beautiful too. Gyeongju is famous for having Silla Dynasty burial mounds and they were breathtaking in person, I was actually in awe.

I have to talk about The Tree though as the main topic of this post. When we arrived yesterday, it was downpouring. Like, 100% rain all day. Long story short, we ended up switching plans around and instead of Gyeongju World, we headed back to this trendy little tourist area around the burial mounds called Hwangnam Dong. On our walk into it, there was this lone magnolia tree in front of some of the mounds and some people were getting their pictures taken there. I wanted one too so Chooch took one of me and Henry but I didn’t like it so I wanted a do-over but by then, there were more people waiting and I panicked so we left.

Henry and I woke up around 6am this morning because I wanted to go back out and see everything in the not-rain before going to Gyeongju World, and to also have him take my picture by the tree again but it was still just as frustrating!! Some guy came over and started taking pictures at the same time so I felt self-conscious and stepped away from the tree but then a couple with freaking paparazzi lenses showed up and did a full-blown fashion shoot and then another couple came and they started talking pictures FOR each other and I was like FUCK IT!!! so we left.

The terrible picture Henry took of me squinting into the sun.

Anyway, after walking around for a bit, we came back to the tree because we had to pass it to go back to our guest house anyway, and I was like “ok there is only one couple there, let’s wait.”

Yo. They were absolutely fucking ridiculous about this tree. The amount of pictures the boyfriend took of the girlfriend was absurd. With her jacket on. With it off. With it over her shoulder. With her back to the camera. With her side to the camera. Facing the camera. All the while, some man was flying a drone RIGHT OVER THE TREE.

Then the girl swapped places and started taking pictures or the boyfriend!!! THEN THEY STOOD TOGETHER UNDER THE TREE WHILE LOOKING THRU THE PICTURES.

THEN SHE WENT BACK AND STARTED POSING FOR MORE.

THEN ANOTHER COUPLE APPROACHED and I said WE HAVE MAGNOLIA TREES IN AMERICA WHO THE FUCK CARES and stormed off. And that is the end of my story about The Tree.

However, we had time to kill before catching our train so Chooch and I went back and walked around the main burial mound area where we stumbled across an even more popular tree.

I mean, this really is beautiful though. But not standing-in-a-line levels of beauty. Also I would die of anxiety having my picture taken in front of a literal queue.

Also? Those aren’t hills. They’re actual burial mounds for the royal family from the Silla Dynasty.

It gave me chills, for real. But also, when the first mound was created 100s of years ago, I wonder if those people ever would have predicted that it would turn into a historical/tourist destination with a street lined with self-operated photo rooms, cafes, and pancakes in the shape of giant Korean coins and stuffed with melted cheese.

Yo! We’re on a KTX to Gyeongju right now so I have some downtime to check in with you, Blog. First of all, I can’t believe it’s Thursday already. I started getting the WE HAVE TO LEAVE SOON panic basically from the very first day here. This country has me by the heart. I don’t know that I will ever be able to explain it but the ensuing crash of depression once we get home is going to hit me hard so probably just best to avoid me for a while if you know me IRL, ugh.

Anyway, for today’s micro update, I will talk about yesterday morning’s scheduled activity! I thought it would be meaningful to make our own wedding bands while here in Seoul and I found someone offering a ring-making workshop on AirBnB Experiences which I never look at but something made me check it this time.

The workshop is held by a jeweler, 충호, in their studio in Hongdae (actually a bit outside of Hongdae I think). We were a half hour early because we just wanted to make sure we knew where the place was and were going to just continue walking around but she ended up showing up just then and unlocked the door for us so we got started right away!

First, she apologized for not speaking much English but she did a great job explaining the process to us and even though we couldn’t really have a conversation, the vibe was still pretty chill and casual. I mean, I was my usual spastic self though because I was worried about fucking up my ring but it was fine!

Then, the three of us (Chooch wanted to make one for himself too) had to choose the style and we all somehow chose the same so it’s like these are our family rings now lol. Except that Henry and I chose to have our engraved. My ring has his initials and our “marriage date” and his has mine. AWWW.

I was actually surprised that Chooch opted to do this with us rather than roam about Pokemon Go’ing.

I wonder if Chungho was happy to get rid of us though lol.

Chooch is currently sitting across from me on the train, spinning his ring on his finger like an old man gangster.

And yeah that’s the story of our wedding bands. Now I just have to get my replacement engagement ring lololol ugh.

I have a lot to say about this because it’s been 23 years in the making, but for now, as a placeholder: IT WORKED. WE DID IT. HENRY AND I GOT MARRIED TODAY (3/26/24) IN SEOUL!

I’m eternally grateful for my dear friend Jiyong and her husband signing as witnesses for us when we visited them in Jeonju on Monday, and for the Jongno District Office not requiring witnesses to be physically present.

I’m appreciative of my friends back home who endured my constant stressing and hand wringing over the logistics. “What if this doesn’t work? What if we go all the way there and they’re like NO and then I look like a dumb dumb, like, ‘ha, u thought.'”

I love that Chooch came along for the ride and I love that he was thoroughly put-out when he had to CROSS THE STREET to come over and take these pictures for us GOD FORBID we interrupted his Pokemon Go’ing that he was doing while waiting for us to complete our bureaucratic gymnastics.

I love that in spite of all the people over the years who hated us, spread rumors about us, stood in front of our house harassing us, cyber bullied us…ok this is really just two people lol…we stuck it out all these years. It was really rough at times but we made it work.

This feels like such a relief and it’s also still kind of surreal but don’t worry, within 30 seconds of the license being stamped, I was already telling him he was annoying me so really not much has changed. Back to the regularly-scheduled Henry beratings :)

Now I’m going to relax and fully enjoy the rest of my time in my favorite place in the world without this hanging over my head!

Good morning from the Yongsan train station! We’re currently sitting on the 505 waiting to depart for Jeonju where we will be spending the day with my friend Jiyong! I haven’t seen her since she moved back to Korea in 2021 and I’m so stoked for this!

I have so much to recap already but for now, here are some pictures from our last destination last night – the DDP. It’s one of my favorite places in Seoul and we will be going back at some point during the day but I wanted to see it at night when it’s at its most majestic.

DDP stands for the Dongdaemun Design Plaza and it has several futuristic, space-shaped buildings that has restaurants and galleries, shops, a museum, a space for exhibitions (there is an NCT127 one happening right now!!!)

Right before we exited the subway station to the DDP, we stopped at an Emart and as Henry paying, Chooch goes, “Look–there’s an NCT Dream T-money card” because my plight on this trip is that I couldn’t find a T-money card (to use for the subway) that spoke to me. They used to have vending machines full of cute options in some of the more popular / college stations but we couldn’t find any and the convenience stores didn’t have any I liked so I ended up going with some non-T-Money option called NAMANE or something, which can also be used as a debit card. I only went with that because they had Wiggle Wiggle designs, one of my favorite Korean brands.

Anyway, I thought Chooch was joking but then I saw it (it was Haechan!!) so Henry was like “Jesus Christ” and went back in and bought it hahaha.

I texted this to Janna because she can never tell which one Haechan is. When I said what I was doing, I heard Chooch whisper to Henry, “Oh that’s who that is?” Wow.

It was so good to be back here. The vibe is impeccable – so chill and cool and fun to run around looking at everything. This is also where Seoul Fashion Week was happening the first time we were here in 2018!! These steps are actually where the celebrities were walking when they were dropped off there!

I love that it’s so futuristic yet it is also the location of the Igansumun Floodgate of Seoul City Wall.

Henry’s gonna Henry.

P.S. this was supposed to have posted yesterday but my blog is a piece of shit.

It’s 6:03pm and we’re at our hotel – Shilla Stay in 서대문! We landed around 3pm and everything went smoothly – got to take the subway for the first time, Henry was only moderately embarrassing, etc etc. Oh it was annoying on our Delta flight here (Korean Air is so much better but the droll flight itself is best reserved for the vacation journal) because before we took off, one of the flight attendants said to Henry, “WOW, excellent job on the overhead bin!!” and you know that fucker is taking that compliment to the grave.

First food of Korea: subway kimbap!

View from our room. You can see the Blue House in the background! (Where the President lives except I believe this current one has opted not to live there.)

Well, we’re all going to freshen up and then go out and explore! We’ve never seen much of this area aside from the major tourist attractions so bye for nowwww!

Exactly six years ago to the day, we were heading to Seoul, Korea for the very first time and today we are going back for the third!

We’re in the Minneapolis airport right now, boarding in less than an hour. This airport is pretty spectacular btw.

I’m about to pee my pants. Bye!