The 4th of July in Korea

Eric and I have started the tradition of doing something "American" on the 4th of July since we have spent the last two of them in Korea.  We can't do fireworks or watch other peoples fireworks.  We can't have a real BBQ with our family and friends back home or have the day off.  So instead we go to McDonalds.  That's about as American as we know how to get on the 4th!  So that's what we did.  And as we were eating our hamburgers and french fries we planned next year's 4th at home to make up for the last two we've missed.  We did actually get to have our BBQ because on Saturday we had a few friends over and we BBQ'd up some burgers on the little charcoal grill that we have.  After enjoying these burgers (American style) we had our monthly poker night.  And yes I won again :)  I made a profit of about 8600 won!  It seemed like everyone had a good time again so we will be planning another Saturday poker night in August.

On Sunday we spent the morning and afternoon around the house relaxing and playing video games.  In the evening we went to a trivia night with some friends.  It's held in one of the foreign bars in Itaewon (a big foreign area) every Sunday night.  We had six people on our team and came in 4th out of 8 teams.  I am horrible at trivia so I was of no help to my team unfortunately!  But it was still fun so we might have to check it out again another weekend.

It has been SO rainy here the last week or two.  Last week I got caught outside in the middle of a monsoon twice and was just drenched (even with an umbrella!).  Sometimes the monsoon will come quick and leave quick.  Other times they stick around for a while.  Yesterday it seemed to monsoon all day long (fortunately it let up when I was going to work and when I was coming home!)!  It looks like it may be that way for a while too according to the forecast.  We also have to keep the windows closed in our house when it's raining because otherwise the rain will blow right in.  It seems like this rainy season has given us a whole lot more rain so far than the last rainy season but I don't know for sure.  We will just continue to trek through one more of these Korean summers!