As some of you may or may not know, last week was the wonderful American holiday for the giving of thanks. Being South African, I had never celebrated Thanksgiving before, and my friends were not about to let that tragedy slide. My celebrations started early as I was invited around to Shaina's apartment on Thursday night for an extravaganza of homecooked food - devilled eggs, spiced chicken, macaroni and cheese, vegetables and mash with a dessert so divine that it is beyond my ability to describe (see picture on the left). Thanksgiving is usually a family holiday, but since most of us here in Korea-land do not have any family around, we make do with our family-away-from-home and surround ourselves with friends. This was definitely the case on Thursday and there was an abundance of laughing and just being happy as the sparkling wine flowed freely. I was the first to leave, as I had work early on Friday morning, but I left in high spirits with a full belly and a (slightly alcohol induced) smile on my face.

My Thanksgiving celebrations continued on Saturday as I met Chanel and Emmy at the bus terminal and we boarded a bus to Seoul. We had a full day planned, and on our arrival in Seoul, we quickly hopped on a subway and made our way to the guesthouse where we would be staying so that we could drop off our stuff and start the day's mission. First on the list was, of course, food! It was lunch time after all, and Emmy had opted out of the makeshift breakfasts that Chanel and I had found for ourselves (Chanel's being a treat from the Tous Les Jours and mine being a roll of gimbap). After feasting on some tepanyakki and Chinese food, we hopped on a bus and headed to Namdaemun, the first real stop of the day, to look around the market. This stop was mostly for me, as I had heard that Namdaemun was the place to go for second hand lenses, and I was not disappointed (see picture on the left). I ended up finding the lens that I wanted for a little cheaper than expected and was even tempted to invest in another, but held myself back, realising that it probably wasn't the best idea in the world. After being dragged away from Namdaemun, we hailed down a cab and instructed him to take us to Myeongdong. He gave us a funny look, and when we insisted that this was where we wanted to go, he drove two minutes down the road and stopped outside the Myeongdong entrance. Little had we known that we were so close! We got out, all a little red-faced, and raced to the Forever 21 and H&M for a little outfit shopping before returning to our guesthouse and changing for our real Thanksgiving celebrations.

Meeting up with Jessica, we made our way to a little restaurant that I had never heard of in Itaewon. Chanel had discovered it and it's Thanksgiving menu, and had intrigued us with talk of turkey and pumpkin pie, enough so to convince us that coming to Seoul would be a good idea despite my experience the previous weekend. On arrival at the restaurant, the first thing that caught our collective eye was the waiter. Well, we decided, if nothing else, we would have something pretty to look at all night! We were quickly seated and our starters of salad with balsamic vinegar and olive oil dressing were brought to us. We dug in, and the first bite was absolutely heavenly - I had forgotten just how good balsamic vinegar tastes! The salad was followed by the main of turkey, stuffing, green beans, mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce, all wonderfully prepared and all absolutely delicious! Amy arrived just in time for the main course, but having already eaten, she merely picked at little odds and ends on our plates to test everything and make sure none of it was poisoned. Once our plates were cleared, the final course was brought out, and I had my first experience of pumpkin pie. A big deal was made of Amy and I having our first bites (Amy also hadn't tasted it before) and it was just as delicious as the rest of the meal - wonderfully spiced, though I have been told that it is far better when it is hotter and when it is homemade, as our pie was evidently store-bought. This didn't dampen our spirits, however, and we went about polishing off our slices in revered silence until nothing but crust remained. With our stomachs full, we returned to the guest house for a brief respite before braving the cold once more to find a hof for a drink or two. By 1am, I was just about passing out at the table (from exhaustion rather than drunkeness) and it was decided that it was hometime.

Our trip to Seoul was concluded on Sunday with a trip to Wolfhound for an English breakfast, a quick stop at Forever 21 for Jessica and Amy's sake (though Chanel and I still ended up buying some stuff as well) and then returning to the bus terminal only to get a bus back to Cheongju at 4pm. This meant arriving back in our city at 6pm, a rather unfortunate time, as it meant that we wouldn't have a chance to go home, shower, change and drop off our bags before dinner. Dinner was another special occasion, as it was what Amy refers to as her Australia Day. Amy is adopted, you see, and her Australia Day is the day when she was brought from Korea to her Australian family. Back home she often celebrates the day by eating Korean food, but being in Korea, she decided that the opposite would be appropriate, and we instead headed to Outback Steakhouse for another feast of epic proportions. Bread, chocolate sauce, wine, soup, steak, jacket potatoes (with sweet butter - WHAT THE HELL!) and brownies were the order of the night and once again, I left feeling a great deal heavier than before. (Picture: Amy celebrating her Australia Day with a glass of Australian wine.)

After my weekend of eating, it was expected that I would need some time to recover and get back to feeling normal rather than the bloated that had been the norm of the weekend. However, by Tuesday, I was feeling beyond bloated. When I almost fainted during class on Thursday, I knew that something was wrong, and when I was told that Amy was feeling the same, we decided to visit the doctor together. After analysing my stomach (and by analysing, I mean painfully poking it), my chest and my arms and legs, I was given four different diagnoses - I had bronchitis (which explained the feeling of being kicked in the stomach whenever I coughed), a common cold, dehydration and something wrong with my stomach (he did tell me what it was, but I couldn't understand.) Either way, I was given a range of pills (10 to take three times a day) and sent on my way. I quickly found out that Amy and I were not the only ones infected by the disease - Emmy, Jess and the other Amy who had joined us for dinner were also diseased, and we quickly realised that we all had one person in common - Chanel. Evidently she hadn't been quite as over her illness as she had thought, and her coughing and sneezing affected us all a lot worse than any of us could have realised.

Unable to eat much without throwing up (sorry for the overshare) and not really feeling on top of the world, my weekend was nothing very special. I spent Friday night lying in bed, Saturday at Amy's house watching a marathon of 90's movies in my pyjamas and Sunday in bed again, only getting out to drag myself to quiz which we lost once again.

I returned to the doctor yesterday and was given another regime of pills, and have found myself slowly starting to feel better, so here's hoping that the illness will be gone soon soon! There is one thing to be said for sickness though - I checked my weight this morning for the first time in a week, and despite my indulging, I have lost weight and have reached the lightest I have been in Korea! Now let's hope it stays off when I get better!