Okey dokey...

I know that I should have updated a while ago, but I refused to waste any of the time that I had with David and yesterday after he left I was a bit of a mess and quite frankly, didn't want to think about it.

SOoooo...David's visit...

Lets see. Well, it all started rather epically. David's flight was scheduled to arrive at Incheon airport at 6:00 in the morning on the 30th. The buses from Pyeongtaek to Incheon take about 2 hours and the earliest one left at 4:10. I realized that there wouldn't be any taxis at the taxi stand outside of my apartment at 3:45 in the morning, so one of my coworkers called a taxi service and reserved me a taxi for 3:40 in the morning. She kept freaking out about it, going over details again and again because she knew that without the taxi I would be in serious trouble. On the night of the 29th, the director of my school had everyone out for dinner. It ran long, and when I got home I had laundry to do...sooo...despite all my good intentions to get to bed early, I ended up falling asleep sometime around midnight.

I woke up feeling somewhat distressed. Do you know that feeling? When you are hovering in between sleep and awake and you can't relax? I bolted upright in bed and checked my alarm. 3:51. Oh. Man. This meant that I had missed my taxi. What was I going to do? Quickly, I made a decision. I would have to run - 2 miles - to the bus terminal. I could only hope that I could make it in time to catch my bus. I threw on clothes, and sprinted out the door. I only got two blocks or so, when I reached one of the main roads. I bolted down the road and didn't stop until I saw the distinctive red light in the window of a vacant taxi...YES! Long story short, I made it to the bus terminal with 2 minutes to spare. I even managed to nap just a bit on the bus.

David's flight was late. Boy, that was frustrating. I could see people's legs through the frosted doors leading to the exit, so I was playing the "guess which one is David" game. When he finally got out...it was so weird. I hadn't seen him in 2 months and it felt really surreal. When I finally got into a hug, I could have stood there for hours.

We spent the first four days doing absolutely nothing. I made breakfast every morning, we walked around the city during the days, and we played cards and watched movies at night. At first, I kept asking him if he wanted to travel anywhere or do anything special because I felt guilty that I wasn't showing him around Korea, but he convinced me that just spending time together was the best way to spend our time.

*just hanging out at the apartment...probably downloading a movie for us to watch**

We actually got to run together! This was the second time ever....since our very first date. On the day he got here, we ran a quick 5 miles out into the country and I got to show him my favorite running route. We never got to do it again though. Davo had just gotten over this terrible cold, and Korean air is super dry during the winter. During the two times in the beginning of his trip when he tried to run, he got these terrible nose bleeds...He was actually bleeding all over the trail. I followed a trail of blood home one day. (don't worry, he was fine!) I was pretty pleased with myself though, until the day he left, I didn't miss one day of training.

**Well, I am either going for a run or going to rob a bank**

**All that water in my eyelashes was actually frozen! It had built up from my breath**

On the 3rd, Davo and I took the train from Pyeongtaek to Seoul. We had a hotel in Myeongdong (one of the hotspots in Seoul ) on the nights of the 3rd and 4th. That first night we took it easy. We grabbed dinner at a Korean restaurant in the streets of Myeongdong and spent the night watching Die Hard three with Korean Subtitles. On the morning of the fourth, I woke up, looked out of the hotel window and saw SNOW. From the 18th floor, people were just little specks with little umbrellas over them. Now, at the time, Davo and I just thought that the snow was a nuisance...we didn't find out until after we got back home that the snow was deemed a national "disaster" and that the 11 inches that fell was the largest amount since Korea started recording in the 60's. We simply carried on with our day.

**standing in front of our hotel...we had breakfast at the doughnut place in the background**

First thing, we took the green line on Korea's subway to the COEX mall. Now, I have tried to explain this mall to several people, as of yet, no one seems to be able to grasp the sheer magnitude of this place. Its underground, and there are like a million different corridors and every way that you turn there is another branch. The nation Kimchi museum is in COEX, as was our destination - a really awesome Aquarium.

**he doesn't scare me**

**I really loved this room**

**HEY! I found goat cheese!**

After the Aquarium, we switched subways to the orange line and got off at Anguk. This stop was near Gyeongbokgung palace and the national Folk museum of Korea. I have heard that it is a gorgeous palace, but with a blanket of snow, it was breathtaking.

Well, we were freezing after walking around in the snow forEVER. So we hitched a taxi into Insadong (another one of the main hubs of Korea - this one known for its antiques and it's original layout.) Once we got there we ducked into Starbucks. David got a Chai tea, I got a Mocha, and we shared a scone as we warmed up and dried off. Insadong is one of my favorite places in Seoul, i love how very culturally original everything is. I think David liked it too. We looked into Calligraphy shops, Antique stores, and poked our heads down all the little alleys. We actually found our restaurant for dinner that way. It was this beautiful little wooden restaurant with small nooks and crannies. We ordered the traditional 15 course Korean dinner. Some of it was amazing, most of it was good, and a little bit of it was flat out disturbing. Like the raw crab. Blurgh.

On the morning of the 5th, my amazing boyfriend talked the Hotel staff into giving us a couple of extra hours before checkout so that we could do a smidge more sightseeing. We took a taxi to the Namsan mountain cable car and rode up to the top so that we could see Seoul from a bird's eye view. I think it was a really nice way to end our stay.

*In front of the tower*

The 6th was pretty ick. The school's vacation was over and I had to go back to work. It seemed the height of foolishness to me that he was 10 minutes away and I was not with him. I was pretty low all day. On the 7th, Davo came to work with me to meet all the kids, which made things so much easier.

On the 8th, I was pretty upset...I knew that he was leaving the next day and I just couldn't handle the idea of me spending his last hours away from him. I knew that I would be no help at work, so I called in, used one of my sick days, and spend the day with him. I made us French toast in the morning, we went out to lunch downtown, and spent most of the day watching movies on our tiny sofa together. On the 9th, Davo left me.

So thats it. Davo is gone. I feel like I have gone back in time to November 15th. But I know that this time will be a little easier than before....and I know that David will be at home in Kansas City waiting for me when I return.

I love you all, I miss you all.