Incredibly Loved || My Last Week in Seoul Part 2

This is an overdue post on my last week in Seoul. The second part of it. I've been home for a week. I've been really busy but I've also had a lot of downtime where I do absolutely nothing. I'll be doing a major renovation of this blog. I've got tons of ideas on what I want to write and do on top of my 366 photo project. Sometimes I really wonder what I'm doing, why did I even start a blog and where is this all going to go? It can be discouraging when looking at stats or when I browse through other blogs, but now isn't the time to give up. It's always hard to start and maintain something.

Wednesday March 7, 2012

I spent the day with Liz and Peter. We went to Fell + Cole which is an amazing ice cream shop in Seoul. They had flavours like burnt salted caramel and perilla (green leaves that we usually eat with Korean BBQ). 

{62/366 - too cool for school}

After ice cream Liz and I just wandered around Hongdae, a really fun area in Seoul. I ended up buying new glasses. Here we are in Too Cool for School looking around at their make up. 

After we made our way to Gangnam to meet our other friends for dinner. The rest of the night ended up being one of the most craziest and unreal nights of my life. I was incredibly blessed and shocked and overwhelmed. 

Read more to see what happened!

I met up with a few girls to get dinner. I was really tired so I wanted to go back to my friend Gina's house to relax and do my nails with the girls. On our way to Gina's place, another friend really wanted to stop by a coffee shop to get a drink. I was pretty set on going home so I could get into my sweatpants and unwind. But the other girls also wanted to go to the coffee shop so I had no choice but to follow. We arrive and my friends are really persistent that I go into this big open room where it had a huge table but no chairs. I kept saying, "Why would we go in there? There aren't any chairs!" However, they just told me to go in. I kept walking in when another friend started to hit the wall. I looked and then I saw two posters on the wall that said Hannah Love Yoon ----> We're waiting for you. That's when I started to freak out. There was another bigger room in the back so I cautiously walked toward it. As soon as I walked in the lights turned on and I was bombarded with over 30 people saying, "SURPRISE!" I was super shocked and overwhelmed. A few of my friends were snapping photos like I was some celebrity and there were others who were filming and the rest either stood there staring at me or demanding that I cry. It was definitely a memorable evening and I was blown away by the love of my friends in Seoul. I was not expecting any of it and was actually quite bummed that not many people would be able to show up for a dinner I had planned for Thursday.

I was pretty shocked and speechless. It was also really weird having so many people just look at me, overwhelm me with gifts, hugs and songs. 

 Here's most of the people who showed up. I'm hiding for some reason. 

And here was a petition made by Peter to veto my departure. I had told him that if he could get over 1001 signatures then I'd consider staying in Korea. I didn't think he'd actually do it. 

I'll have to write another post about how amazing this night was. I had mentioned earlier to Liz that I'm really good at figuring out surprises, but now with Facebook anything can be done so secretly. 

Thursday March 8, 2012

{63/366 - cloud mugs}

Thursday was a really busy day. Went to visit my aunt, met up with Peter to find my wallet (couldn't find it but ended up finding it in my backpack at home), ate dinner with a few good friends and then spent the night going from cafe to cafe to hang out. It was a great night of playing silly games, laughing a lot and reminiscing and dreaming. 

Friday March 9, 2012

{63/366 - last goodbye}

This was my last time seeing these girls. I went back to my old workplace to say my final goodbyes to my students. Their moms came by early so we met them at a cafe. As I sat in the gym I started to feel really sad. They kept calling me teacher and asking my permission to go to the bathroom. It was hitting me that I wouldn't be back in that gym with them for a very long time. They're going to grow up as I try to avoid growing up. 

Saturday March 10, 2012

{64/366 - goodbye friends}

Gina, Jo, Peter and Liz came to the subway and airport with me. It was pretty funny and hectic trying to get these huge bags down escalators, onto the subway, onto carts and even onto the airplane since they were SO heavy. I had to pack a year of my life into two suitcases and two carry-on luggages. It was an adventure. 

It was an incredible week. I discovered what it meant to BE LOVED. It's honestly really difficult for me to receive love in very outward and affectionate ways. It was really beautiful to be in the presence of so many amazing people and to see how much they loved me. 

Thank you. Every single person that I met and interacted with in Seoul was such a blessing to me. I really received a lot more in Seoul than I ever expected.