Han River/Yeouido

Daniel and JiSu met me at Yeouido this week to explore. We went to the National Assembly Building first to take a tour. We got there 20 minutes after the tours close though, so we just enjoyed the air conditioning for 15-20 minutes instead of taking the tour. Honestly, I was just enjoying the coolness, and didn't really mind if we did or didn't see the building. It was insanely hot! 91F with 60% humidity and almost no wind!!
Soon to be military guys :)
National Assembly Building
We decided that dinner was next on the agenda, so after walking around trying to find someplace, we found a really cute Korean bibimbap restaurant. Bibimbap is mixed vegetables and rice sometimes in a burning hot place. The bummer was that the air conditioner was broken. We laughed about how we felt like we were bibimbap! It was the best bibimbap we'd ever had though, so it was worth it.

By this time it was almost 7, so we rushed to the boat launch, and went on a cruise. It wasn't too exciting at first, but there was a tv guy on the ship shooting for KBS, Korea's most famous tv channel. So that was kind of cool. We stood up for the first 1/2 of the ride, and then when we got to the turn-around point, the boat stopped in the middle of the river. The bridge in front of us started shooting out water, and it was beautiful! It moved and changed color to the music that was playing. It's the longest water-fountain bridge in the world. Not that there are tons of water-fountain bridges...but it was neat to see how proud my friends were that it's in Korea instead of any other country. I love how Koreans are so proud of their country. They want so badly for the world to see the uniqueness and power of Korea and its people. In the last few years, Korea has definitely come out of its shell, expanding its trade and building international relations that didn't exist before. I love being in a newly developing country. There are problems that of course come with this, with them trying to work out kinks, but overall, it's a really exciting thing to see first-hand.

Anyways...at the water show, us 3 were the only ones at the front of the boat watching the show. The others were farther back so as not to get wet. But it was SOOO hot, so the spray from the water felt so good. After 5 minutes or so of the show, it shot the water out farther than it had been, and the 3 of us were completely drenched from head to toe! I won't lie, it felt good, and we had been kind of asking for it standing so close to the front of the boat. What a fun day! I'll really miss these 2 guys...
Boat Cruise
63 Building: the tallest building in Korea
After we got soaked!!