Hwanyeonghamnida (welcome) Krista!

We got our first visitor to Seoul!
{Lyle's brother, Lynn does NOT count since he only had an hour layover and couldn't leave security.}

After about 30 hrs of driving to, and sitting in airports, and flying time Krista finaly arrived!

This is her "fresh" off the plane at the Incheon airport with her dad.



After a semi-good nights sleep on our very firm couch (Koreans do not like soft anything when it comes to home furnishings) She was ready to check out the neighborhood.




Next, we needed to sit and ponder with the rat about cow poop and where to find a bridal gown.

(Those to subjects just don't seem like they should be in the same sentence do they?)

Anyway wedding dresses won. Peace little rat buddy...we are out of here!




We thought our map to the wedding district was good....but we ended up walking in four different directions, because everyone we asked pointed to a different street. (I don't think they really understood us so they probably just wanted to get rid of us :) Things were starting to smell just a bit fishy...



OK, maybe alot fishy! (We were kind of glad we packed our own lunches, but we felt a little guilty eating tuna fish sandwiches.)

This korean lady was busy fixing all kinds of goodies for sale in her little shop. She was nice enough to let us take her picture.

So after walking around aimlessly for about an hour and down yet another narrow market street, this 20something guy stops his car in the middle of the road and asks me if I would mind if he takes Krista's picture?!?! We agreed (keeping in mind we had been outside in a steady drizzle of rain with no umbrella for quite some time and looking really swell)! The best part was he worked at a near by hospital, knew the area and spoke decent English. Yea! He understands us!!

I asked him where the wedding dress shops were, and the next thing we know he is clearing off the seats of his car and telling us to get in and he will take us there. I thought "Hooray!" and Krista gave me that "are you kidding me Mom?" look.

Aparently she had just watched some scary movie about a girl being kidnapped while in Paris.

Me, being forever practical thought he seems nice, clean, well educated (yea I know, so was Ted Bundy), and its two against one. Not to mention the fact that we are wet and desperate, besides I know its close by...about a mile and 5 minutes later we were finaly there. All for the meager cost of one more picture!

So many shops, so little time...

Each shop has their own seamstresses and dress designers, and they all tell you they can make any dress you want in about four weeks. We should have done our homework and ripped pages from brides magazines before coming.

These are all pictures of dresses we didn't buy.
It was alot of fun. Krista wore out before I did. But then I was the one sitting on the couch, and she was the one that had to keep changing dresses and was still feeling the jet lag.

We went back to the first shop we ever went into (of course) and ordered her dress from there. Custom made to fit her in 20 days. The lace on the dress we chose is from France and its really beautiful, but you will have to wait until June 20th to see it!

Morals of the story:

Fish can sit out on a wooden table all day and still be considered "fresh".

Don't drive with strangers in any country other than Korea.

Being the "baby" of the family definately has some advantages!

{Sorry Kacey and Lisa, you had the birth order disadvantage.}