Olives

I really like olives-especially green ones in my tuna salad instead of pickles-so yummy. Tuna is really popular here and very easy to find good quality canned tuna at a very cheap price. A few weeks ago I went to the huge Home Plus store with a Korean friend and tried to find olives with no success. She even asked 3 different people who worked at the store where to find olives and they sent us to several areas in the store to look but we never found any. At that point I then figured they were just not available in Korea.
The theme for this coming week in Kinder is Ocean and Sea and we decided to make tuna salad as our cooking activity. I told my boss about my quest for olives and she told me she had bought them before and that she thought they were with peppers and hotsauce etc. So on Saturday morning I headed to the Home Plus to find olives so i could make tuna salad for lunch. I got to Home Plus 9am and they were not open yet. I had never been there at that time before so was not sure if that was typical or if it was because it was a holiday-Korean Independence Day. Korean Independence Day celebrates Korea's independence from Japan.
I was sad and a disappointed and returned home not a very happy camper.
A few hours later my friend Trina called to tell me she had found a new teaching job in a different town starting on August 25th. Her current job ends on the 24th and just found out about this a week ago and was really worried she would have to go home to the states but she found another job. I was so happy and excited. She said she was going to have some friends over for dinner to celebrate and she wanted me to come too.
So I got a few things together and headed to the Metro station and was very surprised to find out it was free to ride the Metro due to the holiday.I then went to the KTX station and got a ticket to go to Cheonan.
Trina met me at the KTX station and then we headed towards her apartment to get things ready for the Dinner Party. I had bought a box of nice sweet breads at the KTX station to bring as a gift for being invited to dinner. Trina was very excited about the sweet breads and could not wait to try them.
Right by Trina's apartment there is a very cute boutique that I have been wanting to check out but had not yet. Trina said we should go in there as their clothes were very cute and a good price.
They had the adorable tank tops and shrugs and I decided to buy a cute black shrug. Trina bought a beautiful light pink tank with lace and ruffles as a gift for me. I was so happy-it is so cute!!!! It was so sweet of her to do that. I also bought a cute little dress that would be good for going to dinner with friends,wearing to church or school functions.
We then went back to Trina's apartment and started getting things ready for the Dinner Party. I asked Trina if there was anything I could do to help and she said I could go across the street to the store and buy some paper plates and plastic cups. So I headed across the street to the Lotte Mart and decided while I was there I would look for olives. I easily found them and was so very happy. It is funny how happy the simplest things can make you sometimes especially when you are far from home.I found the rest of the things Trina needed and then headed back to her apartment to help her prepare for the party.
The Dinner Party was wonderful. Trina had 6 really nice friends show up-most who I had met before. She made Chicken Alfredo, stuffed mushrooms, and pan-fried garlic bread. Dinner was excellent and the night was filled with lots of fun and laughs. All the other guest had brought gifts to Trina too-such as coffee and chocolate truffles.
After dinner we went for a nice walk and then stopped at cute little coffee house and then went to the Singing Room.
It was a very pleasant and enjoyable evening and I was so glad I had decided to come.
I hope everyone is having a great weekend.
TTFN