Seoul Sisters

This post may be a little disjointed, but I wanted to take the chance to write about a great group of ladies that I met through Meetup and the good times that we've had lately. For those of you who haven't heard of it, I'll explain what Meetup is and why it's one of the best things that I learned about when I was preparing for my trip to Korea!

To use Meetup, you create an account and select your location and interests. (So, for example, I selected Seoul, South Korea, and listed my interests as reading, cooking, eating, conversation, hiking, language exchange, photography, volunteering, coffee, vegetarian eating, music, etc.) Then Meetup sends emails about events that are happening in your area that relate to your interests. Within my first few weeks of being here, I got an email about a group of ladies called "Seoul Sisters" who meet up to have brunch or dinner or coffee, and I decided to go check it out!

The first Meetup that I went to was at Neal's Yard, a brunch place in Itaewon. It was such a diverse group: one woman is a grad student who is studying English, another is a professor of English, another is a stay-at-home mom, another woman is here with her husband for his business, another is an art-class instructor, and another is a business-English teacher. Everyone in the group was so welcoming and friendly, and I wasn't the only new person, so we just got to know each other and chatted about our jobs, where we're from, and books and movies. The food was delicious too!

At this Meetup, we got to talking about movies and decided we should have a movie night. One woman graciously invited us over to her apartment, so we went the following week and had a little potluck and watched The Heat (HILARIOUS movie, by the way, if you're okay with quite a few swears).

(Melissa McCarthy and Sandra Bullock in all their glory.)

There was another Seoul Sisters Meetup this past Tuesday at The Blue Bridge Winery and Restaurant in Itaewon that doubled as a goodbye party for one of the ladies who was leaving to go back to the US for a few months. I met three new ladies and saw two that I knew already...the group seems to be ever-evolving! 

One of the girls at this dinner was only in Korea for 10 days, so we made plans to hang out again on Thursday night so that we could see her again before she left. Five of us went out for dinner at Sonamuyaa in Cheongdam on Thursday night; here we are! 

One of the girls is an entrepreneur who makes raw vegan chocolates and desserts. She brought some to share, and they were so amazing! I have no idea how she does it! 

After dinner, we took a bus from Cheongdam to Itaewon to have drinks. I hadn't been on a bus in Korea yet at that point, so I didn't know what to expect. But OH MY GOODNESS IT WAS TERRIFYING. Suffice it to say that I prefer the subway ;)

Here we are at whatever bar this was in Itaewon! 

I wanted to take a cab home that evening, but I didn't think I would be able to explain to a cab driver how to get to my apartment. So one of the girls wrote "please take me to Hangnyeoul subway station" on my hand in Korean so I could show it to the cab driver (Hangnyeoul is the closest station to my apartment; I was able to give directions to my apartment from there). The cab driver thought it was so funny when I showed it to him!

It has been so fun for me to get to know new people, have a group of ladies to hang out with, and try out different restaurants in Seoul! Meetup is like heaven for my extrovert's heart! 

I also found out about a free Korean class through Meetup. It starts in December and goes until February, and it takes place for just two hours each Saturday. I registered for the class, and I'm really looking forward to meeting new people there and studying Korean, of course!

In my next few posts, I want to talk about safety in Korea, what a day in my life here is like, what a workout my daily life is, and things that I witness or experience on a daily basis that make me happy. What should I write about first? 

Thanks for reading!