추석/Chuseok + 타사의 정원/Tasha's Garden + 홍대/Hongik University

Hope everyone had a wonderful 추석/Chuseok/Korean Thanksgiving holiday! Mine was pretty uneventful, but I met my cousin's sons. Apparently, they're my cousins once removed? They're SOSOSOSO cute:

Hyunsoo/현수

Insoo/인수

Here's Hyunsoo/현수 being adorable and playing by himself. He did this for like 30 minutes straight: 

So cute.

Here are some of my aunt's watercolor paintings. My family is so talented! 

And here is a cousin who isn't directly related to me, but he's quite talented: 

The day after 추석/Chuseok, I met up with my uncle and aunts at this quirky restaurant called 타사의 정원/Tasha's Garden. It had fusion food with so many courses. So good: 

Beautiful with so many flowers.

Café area.

The traditional Korean part of the meal.

누렁지

Complimentary coffee. 

I then hung out with my friend in 홍대/Hongik University again, but this time, I got to experience the street musicians! Here is my absolute favorite: 

First time eating 호떡/hodduk/mini pastry with sweet filling in Korea. Noms. 

Saw these things and thought they were hilarious: 

Back to real life on Monday! I'm picking up my alien registration card, which is exciting! I hope they don't take ridiculously long for the pick up too...

배봉산/Baebong Mountain & Killer Mosquitos

Okay. So maybe I'm exaggerating a bit, but mosquitos are crazy here. There was one in my room last night and it feasted on my hands, and only my hands. I don't understand. There are at least 20 small bites on my fingers. This time, I am not exaggerating. I took a picture of the biggest ones:

The bites are swelling. It's absolutely terrible. And the mosquito bites kept coming at 배봉산/Baebong Mountain.

배봉산/Baebong Mountain is not exactly a mountain per say. It's more of a very tall hill. There were quite a few elderly folks there getting their exercise. I went with Shiloh, Dennis, Joe, and Peter from KU. We're all from the US, and Dennis is the only one who is not in the AU-KU Dual Degree Program. Going up, we stopped by this interesting area:

You take your shoes off and walk on these stones. Yes, it is painful, but apparently Koreans believe that walking on these stones are good for your circulation. I don't know if that is true, but it made your feet feel refreshed. After walking on these stones, I once again got eaten alive by mosquitos (yes, I'm exaggerating just a little), but only on my legs and ankles this time.

Here's a picture of us minus Joe:

Me, Shiloh, Dennis, and Peter

The exercise was great. The slope was quite steep and there is a lot of exercise "equipment" throughout the trail. We had quite a bit of fun with the "equipment":

However, we were nothing compared to this intense grandma, who had to be up there in age. We were just playing around compared to her: 

The view from the top of the mountain is beautiful, but unfortunately, the tree is blocking some of it: 

Afterwards, we walked through one of the outdoor markets: 

School starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!