A Dinner with Ilya's Parents

I've been wanting to post this entry for quite some time since I did enjoy the time when the parents of my  pal right here in Korea invited me to have dinner with them. So, it was Ilya's parents' special visit to Korea that made it even more meaningful. Ilya--my friend and kind-of-my-younger-brother from Kazakhstan  --had been so busy the week his parents visited him in Korea last December (2011).

 We had this special dinner at a Chinese restaurant just around the block near our campus.
I remembered vividly that it was a chilly and windy night of December. But, the warmth of the dinner and especially Ilya's parents and auntie made it worthwhile for me to remember the occasion.
One thing I treasured: they even ordered just a special food for me since they'd known (thanks to Ilya) that I happened to be a vegetarian.
.....
Some of our friends were also invited in the dinner: Aigerim, Yelena, Aizhan (three of them from Kazakhstan), and Taekcho (from China).
The best part: it was such a wonderful occasion since it was (surprise...surprise) a customary (is it?) in Kazakhstan to bring along some present to their guests. Wow what a treat.









I mean...I got this whole bunch of candies and fruits from Kazakhstan...that I would not have tasted, had I not known these friends of mine. Amazing, right?
(more pictures and stories of these colorful candies later on^^ my other entry).

Another thing that I want to keep in mind was the fact that both of Ilya's parents did invite us to their homeland should we have a chance of going there. Why not. It would be such a great trip should I be able to realize this dream of going to Ilya's country--someday. Fingers crossed? ^^. Some say dreams do come true, right?

classmate's birthday

Yesterday was the first time ever that within 6 hours I had meals three times. For sure it was not completely me at all. I had a late lunch  after class (2.pm) when my friend asked me to accompany her for her late lunch...at 5pm. Well, since it would be a good time to talk since I had not met her for quite a while....
Just when I had not yet finished having my 2nd lunch....my friend, Taekcho, texted me...informing that it was our friend's--Illiya--birthday. So, he asked me to make a surprise party for him. Since Illiya sits next to me and he's been more like a brother to me...I could not help but agreeing to his plan.
So, we met again at 8pm.
Since it would not be any birthday party without any cakes, we decided to buy some at Paris Baquette near campus. It's a good thing that I had my LG membership card for additional 10% off. ^^ (one of the so many privileges of having this LG Card--not to mention the free movie ticket every month for any movie I want to see in any cineplex) ^^ what a treat.
back to the party...

then we met four other friends and off we went to a Chinese restaurant.
It was the first time ever for me that a restaurant in Korea served lamb satay and fried eggplants just like what I had back home in Indonesia. Hmmm what a treat. So, we did have a goooood time celebrating Illiya's B'day. The dish (though we felt so sorry for not being able to eat them all) was good and the cake was yummy.




Since we were in Korea..and this would not have been any close to Korean culture should we just go back home after party.....we ended up throwing ourselves into another 2-hour session at noraebang or karaoke room. It was a shocking revelation to each of us since most of us sang! we did sing songs that actually kinda portrayed the true and real personalities of who we were individually. It was a good thing that we spent the time together like this since it would eventually work just fine for our friendship.
It was 1 in the morning.
We were strolling back to the dorm.
..........and today...two of us...came late to class.
and what's worse.....we were a weezzzyyyyy sleeeepppyyy...during the class:)
our sonsaengnims were wondering as to why we were kinda tired.......
Oh, swell....