the (oh so enjoyable) weekend.

Here, on the other side of the world, it is Monday morning, which means my weekend is officially over. It was fun while it lasted.

Fun began in the form of laundry, my first attempt since being here, at the house of Houston, where a cup of coffee greeted my arrival.

This was followed closely by a waffle in a paper sleeve, and a bus ticket to Seoul, which would be my first passenger train ride since being alive.

Arriving in Seoul, we took a taxi in search of Mexican food, found in the burrito form, filled with chicken and avocado, from a place called Dos Dacos. Funny fact: There was a Texas License plate on the wall, but instead of Latin tunes, our ears were graced with rap for a good portion of our meal.

Greeting us at Dos Tacos for a taco was Min, a friend of a friend, that lives in Seoul, and so a drop by his house, to see the view, and hear his mad guitar licks, was our next step before continuing on...

To the part of the city that would be considered the mecca of electronics, tents with ripped off DVD's, flea market type buildings with booths housing every camera of every color, speed, mega-pixel, and size...fans, music, massive televisions, washing machines...and every other electronic gadget or essential one could think of.
I bought some RAM, for Baxter, so that he could move a little faster.

We took another taxi to another place, and wandered the streets for a while. I tried on some dresses that didn't make the cut, and then requested the attempted consumption of coffee.

It was acquired at a cafe, where the bread and coffee are free, the ice cream is delicious, and if you like and pay, you can sit your feet in a tub of water for ten minutes and let these crazy little fish eat the dead skin off. I did, and it was frightening, and tickling, and relaxing all at the same time. And, my feet are seriously softer.

Post feet eating fish was a subway ride to the train station, and the purchase of five dollar tickets that allow us to board the bus, without taking a seat.

The ride back to Cheonan was made from varying stair wells, my bottom sitting comfortably on the greasy steps, moving and readjusting each time the train stopped, to let more passengers enter or exit.

Back in the city where I live, we arrived down town in hopes of finding a great little Indian dive, with good friends and good hookah. A walk in the rain brought us to the place that mostly did not disappoint. That part of the evening turned out to be oh so enjoyable, with great lighting, a seat on the floor, getting to know interesting people, in the midst of interesting conversation, and enjoyable drinks.

As all of the above happened in one day, by the time I found rest, it was already the next. When I woke up, I just rested some more. To say it was a lazy Sunday would be an understatement.

In contrast to a morning of isolation, the afternoon held a social visit to an art gallery down town, featuring Chinese artist Qiu Jie, an active artist who currently resides in Switzerland. The show was small, and a few of his pieces were not finished, but the viewing of his work was to me exceptionally enjoyable. Much of the matter being the contrast of social classes, with overlapping worlds crossing in overlapping perspective drawn in multiple layers, with intense attention to detail, but acceptance of imperfection. The canvases were the size of the wall in my apartment, and all of it done WITH A PENCIL.

We followed art with cheap, satisfying food, at which point I began to want ice cream.

A trip back to the house that housed my clean laundry, and the computer doctor who installed Baxter's new speed, was followed by a slow walk home, on a breezy cool evening, with ice cream still on my brain.

Arrival into the little four walled air conditioned box that most of my hours are spent meant the dropping off of clothes and computer, and a reversal turn out of my door, in the direction of Sun Mart, to purchase this mind consuming ice cream. I paced for a good ten minutes, as they didn't have the one I wanted. I settled with some crunch something or other, tore it open, and ate.

Arrival back at home meant the putting away of laundry with one hand, and ice cream in the other. I finished the sweet frozen crunchy milky concoction with no regrets, and wandered into the bathroom to put away my clean wash cloths. Glancing up, I catch a glimpse of my face, with a messy and sweet child-like chocolate ring trimming the lines of my mouth.