sunday, november 27th i met hyejin and traveled with her up to the northern part of seoul where we met up with yeonhee, who we hadn't gotten together with for many months. she'd been studying hard for a test to become an elementary school teacher in korea and was always too busy to get together with us.

hyejin and yeonhee were kind enough to assist me, as my mission for the day was to buy lots of gifts for my friends and family that i could bring back from korea for them, which is why we met near insadong. it's a somewhat touristy area with lots of shops that specialize in korean traditional gifts and souvenirs.

we couldn't do any shopping on an empty stomach, so first we set off for a restaurant to have some lunch. there are lots of good places that focus more on traditional korean food, and the place we ended up choosing was very good.

after enjoying that hearty meal, we set off on what would be a very fruitful early afternoon of shopping and gift buying. i was surprised at how quickly and efficient we were, while still getting lots of great gifts. unfortunately, i haven't given them out yet so i can't reveal exactly what i ended up getting, but eventually i'll put some pics of them up here.

once we were finished, hyejin and yeonhee were tired and cold and needed to get some rest and some tea.

the weather was cold, so it was a mistake getting a cold drink when i would have preferred something that would warm me up. hyejin ordered a really great green tea, so i was jealous of her but managed to steal a few sips.

after that we said goodbye to yeonhee and hyejin and i went all the way back down to gangnam where we met some of her former coworkers for drinks that evening. hyejin's friend 다� (da young) gave me a very nice going away green tea gift from o'sulloc, the green tea cafe.