magnetonic

So we were summoned by Jackie's father on Saturday. We were to be in 천안 (Cheonan) by 9 am. On Saturday! I couldn't complain much, because, well, when your future-father-in-law asks you to come out, you go.

The problem started Friday night. I couldn't sleep. I'm not used to getting up early anymore. So to pass the time, I fired up my new game with one of the longest titles: Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. Fortunately and unfortunately for me, it's so far an amazing game and I played until about 4 am Saturday. I slept, dreaming of my new lightsaber that I'd just crafted out of spare parts but that I couldn't wield just yet—not because I wasn't a Jedi or anything, but because I really needed to sleep.

I woke up three hours later needing to take a shower and get ready to go within the hour. It takes about an hour or so to 천안. Suffice to say, we were late.

On the highway, I took my first nap of the day.

We met her dad on the side of the road somewhere in 천안. We then proceeded to follow his car. We ended up just having brunch and talking about this and that.

We parted, took a picture, and got back in the car. We were to meet later a friend of Jackie's who had just recently moved to that city. As we waited for the friend, Grace, I took my second nap of the day.

We met up, decided to pick up Grace's daughter 원아 (Won Ah), and went to a place called Arman, near the Galleria Department Store. The decor was quite nice. Lots of brick and wood—a nice change from all the ugly architecture of run-of-the-mill buildings that litter Korea. Anyway, it was billed as a "family restaurant". We had a caprese salad (not very good and quite expensive) and some nachos (not bad, but super expensive). Jackie's friend's daughter's meal turned out to be the best: a three-course meal of spaghetti, "hamburger steak" with mashed potatoes and zucchini, and ice cream.

At one point, we gave 원아 an English name: Annie.

We left to get Annie changed into warmer clothes and to get a camera. Here, I took my third nap of the day.

We went to a national park-type place which houses the former residence of 이순신 (Yi Sun Shin), an Admiral of the Korean military, many, many years ago. He is credited with creating the "turtle ships," wooden boats with iron plating to keep the Japanese flaming arrows from burning the ships. I'm sure he's done lots more that I'm not aware of. In fact, there's an historical drama series currently airing that tells of his life and adventures. They tend to use lots of, I guess, old Korean, and it's hard for me to understand.

I ran around a lot with Annie (she's six) and later regretted it somewhat as my legs got sore. She's really cute. We almost didn't make it as the guard was saying they close at five and it was 4:20 already and he couldn't let us in, since if he lets us in, then he'll have to let everyone else in after us. We pleaded, saying we'd came all the way from Daejeon. He looked around as if to be thinking really hard about it, and, not even looking at us, waved us in.

We did make it out by 5, and we dropped the two locals off at home. Daejeon was our next desination, and in the car, I took my fourth nap of the day. There was intermittent traffic along the way. We stopped at a rest area and ate some 우동 (udon; Japanese noodle soup) and 김밥 (kimbap; rice wrapped in seaweed). We also ate some sweet potato fries. They're crunchy, like Hickory Sticks, but obviously sweet.

I took over behind the wheel and we made it back home. I was glad to lie down properly.

And, on this Thursday, I am finally finishing writing this post.

P.S. I'm buying it.