Parents' Visit Week – Day 6

Day 6 – Thursday

Thursday dawned beautifully through our huge window with a great view of the little harbor in Yeosu.  As I mentioned, I earned us some free breakfast by sleeping on the floor of the hotel, so we meandered down to the “American-style” breakfast buffet.  It wasn’t exactly “American,” but it was a pretty nice spread.  There was some spicy green sausage that Dr. Seuss would have probably enjoyed, and I loved the hazelnut coffee and funny Korean grapes.   

We took the shuttle to the Expo again and got there in time for a light Korean lunch (snack) of udon donkus soup – big udon noodles with breaded pork cutlet pieces.  Yum!  We followed that up with the Peru, Australia, and Russia Pavilions, but the lines were atrocious!  We waited over an hour for Russia, which was a cool exhibit, but not THAT cool.  We wanted to go to Sky Tower to see the desalinated water technology (and have a taste!), but the line was going to be TWO HOURS just to get in one of the TWO elevators that only held about TWENTY people each!  WHO THOUGHT UP THAT PLAN??  I want to punch them in the face... C’mon, folks, it’s a global attraction for thousands and thousands of people a day.  Think. It. Through!  Yeah, we didn’t wait in that line. 

We saw some fun street performers, and even got pictures with some eastern-Europeans on stilts!  There's also a huge puppet on a crane named Yeonani that we were creeped out by took a picture with.  My parents were just as impressed as I was with the stellar digital ceiling, too.  The Expo just had so much to see and do, like I said last time, that there isn't time to do it all in two days even if you're there *one time* and *without lines!*  We had a good time, though, all-in-all.  

We ate again in Argentina, which had my FAVORITEST food ever last time!  We had some empanadas and these amazing hot-dog-ciabatta-sandwich-things with a pico-type salsa... mmmmmmmmmmmm love!  I need to go to Argentina now.  It’s added to my list.  Way to go, tourism department, you did your job at the expo.  (And Lithuania, for that matter.  It’s added to my list too.  Well done, folks.)  Dad didn’t like the sandwich much, but Mom and I were pretty over the moon about the taste and the texture.  We also had some incredible Argentinian wine which made us pretty happy!  We found Dad some Cass after Argentina, so we were all happy and content with our time at the Expo.  We decided to leave on a good note (thank you Argentina!) and forgo the rest of the exhibits and, with them, the brutal lines.

We headed back to get ready to go to Gwangju.  At the bus terminal, we actually ran into the lady I was sitting with on the shuttle the night before!  Small world!  She and her family were visiting from Hong Kong and were headed to Busan.  We were completely crossing paths.  She and her sister were really fun to talk to and we helped them talk to the ticket folks and get where they needed to go. 


We made it safely to Gwangju and, after lugging all that luggage all over the country, we were finally able to deposit my suitcase-care-package at my apartment!  My mom had packed a bunch of stuff I’d asked for, plus my aunt included a real care package for me with Lucky Charms, Texas stuff, and a book with stuffed animal characters to read with my students!  It was so fun to go through it all!!  (Thanks Aunt Snue!!)

My parents checked into the Best Motel, where I stayed my first week, to get their own “love motel” experience.  They even were given the same exact room that I got when I first arrived!  In case you don’t know, love motels are all over Korea and they’re a great, mostly-clean, cheap place to stay a night if you’re traveling.  Since I have a tiny apartment, my parents couldn’t stay with me in Gwangju, so it worked out that they could get the unique Korean experience of a love motel during their trip.

We ended the day with dinner at my favorite galbi place in Pungam Dong (my neighborhood) and made plans to meet the next morning, when my parents got to go to school with me and meet my students! And so ends a good Thursday.   To be continued...

Goodbye Expo 2012!!!