Peggy and Rick in South Korea

My parents came to visit me in March!  They came on March 8th, and stayed for almost two weeks.  It was so great to see them and have them share a part of this experience with me.  They stayed with me in my sweet new apartment.  They got to experience galbi the second night they were here...yum yum!!  The first weekend we went into Seoul and saw the famous palace, Gyeongbokgung palace.

A ceremony at the palace

My dad and Gyeongbokgung

Me and my mom

The next day we went to Suwon (a neighboring city to me) to see the fortress.  It's the largest fortress in Korea, and we walked around almost all of it.  It was a nice change from the craziness that is Seoul.  

Ringing the good luck bell

Almost at the highest point of the fortress

After the hike, we wandered around the streets and came across a little food alley off of the main road.  We tried different things, but the mandu(korean dumplings) were definitely my favorite.  After eating a bunch of spicy food, we really wanted a beer.  So I took my parents to a Canadian bar called The Big Chill that I like to go to, but it was closed!  Turns out it doesn't open till 6pm, and it was only 4:30.  So we decided to go around the corner to Family Mart and get a beer there.  Right when we sat down in Family Mart to enjoy our cans of beer we had purchased, the cashier came over and told us no drinking alcohol in the store.  I was appalled!  This was something I have done so many times without an issue, and now we were being kicked out into the cold.  Being kicked out of Family Mart probably doesn't happen too often, but it sure happened to us!

During the week, my parents went to Jeju Island for a few days since I was working all day every day anyways.  They had a lot of fun and some memorable experiences there.  The next weekend my parents took all my English coworkers out to spicy chicken galbi (my favorite galbi of all) and it was amazingly delicious as always.  Then they actually came with us to ladies night at The Big Chill (it was open this time).  My mom got some free drinks and my parents both played beer pong for the first time ever.  It was fun to see them out with everyone.  They also came out in downtown Suji afterwards for a bit.  It was fun to show them where I hang out on the weekends.  

That weekend we went into Seoul one more time.  We went to Insadong to buy some souvenirs and then went on a boat cruise down the Han River.  It would have been a much more enjoyable boat cruise if it wasn't freezing cold and windy.  I also think it made it harder to handle the cold knowing that back home in Minnesota it was 80 degrees and sunny that day.  I know I am missing one of the warmest winters in MN, and experiencing one of the coldest winters in Seoul in over 50 years but oh well.  We still had a fun weekend in Seoul.

A random delicious mandu restaurant in a side alley of Insadong

Statue in a park

On the Han River

My parents also came in to my school to meet my kids and hang out for a bit two different times while they were here.  My class thought it was so funny and really liked having them there.  The girls kept drawing pictures for "Rachel Mom" a week after my parents left.  I don't think they understood that my parents were gone.  The last night they were here we went out for beef galbi.  It's supposedly the best beef galbi place in Suji, and I think it's pretty good.  I didn't know how to order, since I never do the ordering there and it's all in Korean, but I just said two in Korean and we got some tasty galbi.  I'm so glad my parents ended up coming to visit me!  The time while they were here went so fast, and now it seems like so long ago.  Thank you for coming to see me mom and dad!  I hope you enjoyed your time here!