Korea, my love <3

OK...So maybe this title is exaggerated a little, but it was such a nice Valentines Day! I'm not gonna lie, I have mixed emotions about a single day in the year when love fills the world from east to west. It seems that love should fill the world each and every day of the year! However, realistically speaking, I'm aware that we need a day to be reminded of our affection for those loved ones who hold a special place in our hearts! This is exactly what Chris and I did on V Day. We had fun together and were reminded of why we enjoy each other's company so much!

Our Valentines Day was just a classic date night with dinner, a little shopping, some photo booth fun and a movie. I've been wanting to see "He's Just Not That Into You" since I read about it online a few weeks back. It's a chick flick, and it has a power cast. Not to mention, I enjoyed and had to force myself to live by the book after being introduced to it in college. Unfortunately, I too, have met a few guys through out the years that just weren't that into me :) Anyway, there have been no previews on TV for this movie to come to Korea. So, I thought I was just gonna have to wait and see it a couple of months down the road. Much to my surprise, when we went to the movies to see that Benjamin Button movie,the lovey dovey chick flick had made it our way!!! Chris said we could watch the other movie another time, and so I got to see it. We actually both enjoyed it (or he at least acted like he did). I was so happy, it really made the day!

In true Korean style, we made our way to a photo booth after the movie. We had seen this place a while back, but never ventured in to see exactly what all the hype was about. I should back up for a moment to explain a little something about Korean culture. You see...people are extremely obsessed with their appearance (even more than what would be considered normal in the US). Everywhere you go you see women (and men for that matter) snapping pictures of themselves: on buses, in supermarkets, in restaurants, in the doctors office and even in the restrooms!!! Ok...yes, I'll admit it, I will occasionally snap a picture of myself to make sure I don't look really creepy, but NOT while I'm sitting in Starbucks or in a public restroom...this is just too far. Also, these people are crazy about stickers with animated characters and anything shiny, it's sooo tacky! This being said, a Korean photo booth session takes all of these things and combines them. You go in and cheese it up, then you pick your favorite shots, then you use a computer to glam your photos up with glitter and virtual stickers. It's about 15 minutes and 5000 won worth of Asian heaven. It really was fun, or maybe it was just really funny. Either way, here's what we walked away with, stickers with our faces on them...oooo Korea :)

We didn't even make it to the end of the night before someone else had captured Chris's interest. We came upon this beautiful dog, but don't worry I wouldn't let him take it home! He often has to remind me that I shouldn't buy new clothes because of the fact that we have a plane ride and two suitcases standing between us and home. This time it was me reminding him of the difficutly in making extreme purchases while abroad. The fact that the dog practically knocked a Korean woman down by jumping on her and then licking her perfusely, only added to the affection that we instantly had for this dog. If there wasn't a big ocean standing in the way, we would definitely have a dog today!

Valentines Day did not end here, but this is all I have time for now...more to come later!