Loving life

Elly and me

Last Tuesday I ventured into Seoul for a concert. I met up with Hunter and we went on our excited way to the venue. We arrive to the completely unexpected announcement that it is SOLD OUT. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. We had done everything we could have, so there was no one to blame. Leaving disappointed and slightly heart-broken, we wandered around the area for a little. Then Hunter was struck with an idea, so we hopped on a bus. We boxed out our frustration at a Wii bang - a Wii room, that is. We rented a room, Wii sports, and played boxing, golf, and bowling. It was still a very fun evening.

Bang = room. Norae bang = singing room = kareoke. There are DVD bangs, PC bangs...

It is a rainy morning as I write this. I've been lucky that the little rain we seem to get happens during the week. Weekends are still sunny. Saturday morning I went running along the river, out for Korean lunch, then hung out at Central Park with a group of about 8. It was a beautiful day to sit outside. Oh! We went for ice cream too. I ended up getting two flavours (which I don't usually splurge on) because I couldn't decide...they were both such Leah flavours: blueberry aloe, and honey granola. YUM! Sunday I had two coffee dates and a dinner date. Melissa was up first. We went to Zoo Coffee and then on a nice walk. Then I met up with Elly at this new coffee place across the street from a new piercing and tattoo studio that opened just over a month ago. I go into the studio every weekend to look at the jewellery and have bought a couple pairs of earrings there. I always chat with the two females that work there. They are so nice! So when I was at coffee with Elly, they saw me and came over to say hello. With Elly as my moral support, I went into the studio and asked the girls for their phone numbers so we could hang out sometime. Success!!

Elly and I had some extra time before we went on our respective dinner plans, so we wandered around and did a little shopping. (Bright green nail polish? Yes, please!) Then I went to Christian's for dinner. He made a most DELICIOUS spaghetti bolognese. We had a great visit, as it had been a while.

I love Korea. I really do. Here are a few more reasons why:

-on Saturday when I was waiting for a few friends, a boy of about 15-years old came over and said "Excuse me, can I help you with something?" So sweet! (In retrospect, I did have my agenda open, pen in hand, and I'm 98.5% sure I was sporting my concentration face that some people confuse for confusion.)

-When I was buying produce from one of my regular vendors, I wanted some cherry tomatoes and a cucumber. She gave me about a pound of tomatoes (about $3), threw in a GIANT apple, and gave me THREE cucumbers. Grand total was less than $4.

-I am going on a Temple stay a few weeks from now!! I am SO LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

-I am meeting up for dinner tomorrow with a Canadian/Polish gal I met on my bike trip who went on a temple stay this past weekend.

-At the buffet in Gyeongju, I tasted this refreshing persimmon/cinnamon flavoured drink. I found it at the grocery store here on the weekend. This may be up there with red bean.

Continued...Friday morning.


Elly and Selina

Man oh man. This has not been a normal week for me. I've been a social butterfly. Wednesday evening I was out with Elly and Selina (sisters) for a couple drinks. Selina used to work with us, but she left at the end of February, so it was nice to catch up. She took us to this REALLY great place...relaxing atmosphere. We sat on cushions at a table beside the pond that it is in the middle of the restaurant/bar. I will definitely be back! For whatever reason, I decided around 10pm that night that it was time to start learning the Korean alphabet. Selina and Elly wrote out the characters for me, and I made my notes on the sounds. Then they were giving me words to write out...I did a pretty good job! Now it's just a matter of memorizing the letters, so that when I'm out I can actually read, rather than have to refer to my cheat sheet. I plan to study on my bus ride to Gwangyang this weekend. And the brings me to the bus.

Before Elly and I met up with Selina, we went to the bus station to get my ticket. The Saturday morning bus I wanted was sold out. I wasn't expecting that.

NOTE TO SELF - THIS IS THE SECOND TIME SOMETHING HAS BEEN SOLD OUT. PLAN AHEAD.

Anyways, what could have been an easy roll-out-of-bed on Saturday to catch an 8:20am bus (a 4-hour ride) is now an early-get-out-of-bed-and-get-to-Seoul for the 8:20am leaving from there...which is 5 hours, because it's north of here, and I'm going south. Oh well. Lesson learned. I'll know for next time. I don't know what I'd do without Elly. Most of the phone lines and websites are in Korean. She is SUCH A HUGE HELP ALL THE TIME. The best. I owe her my life. Haha

I had a LOVELY LOVELY evening with Magdalena last night...my new Polish Canadian friend that I met on the bike trip. We went out for Indian, and then for tea, as we both did not want the night to end. It's amusing and strange at the same time, how ALIKE we are in so many ways. We had SO MUCH to talk about. We really really enjoyed other's company. It's great she lives only a ten-minute walk away!!!

Ok. I really must be getting ready for work...what to wear today?! I haven't had two seconds of NOTHING in the past couple weeks. I am actually looking forward to my long bus rides for some me time!! Happy almost-weekend!!

Bicycle Bicycle Bicycle! or Cherry Blossom Paradise

Saturday, Day 1: 4:15am wake-up. Make peanut butter and jeam sandwiches for me, Elly, and Karen. Pack last-minute items. Unexpectedly catch a cab right outside my building to Beomgye station (was expecting to have to walk a little to find out). Arrive at Beomgye station at 5:00am, too early. The first train is at 5:21am. That's okay. I take out my crosswords. Karen arrives at our 5:10am set meeting time. Where's Elly? She calls. Almost there. She comes down the stairs to the platform at 5:18am, announcing "I MADE IT! I'M STILL DRUNK!" Everyone stares on. This is hilarious. Elly never gets drunk. It doesn't matter. We're all there for the first train.

We arrive in Seoul at 6:00am. Our bus is set to leave at 6:30am. Plenty of time. We're laughing.

We get on the bus. It is pretty full. The tour actually has three busloads of people all together (about 100 people). Elly and Karen sit together and I sit across the aisle from them. Enter Bernard. As I sit down I'm offering PB&J and orange juice to the girls, and Karen is offering sliced of orange and banana. Bernard comments how organized we are. I say I hope he's not allergic to peanut butter. The bus gets going. Everyone quickly falls asleep. Bernard and I chat away, instant friends. We have very similar senses of humour. We've both stayed at the same hostel in Budapest. We get along great. So great, that the guy in front of us asks us to keep it down. Too much laughing for this hour. Oops.

We arrive in Gyeongju shortly after 10:00am. Maps are distributed, with the instruction to arrive at the hotel by 6:00pm, as the dinner buses depart at 7:00pm. Our names are called in the order we signed up for the tour, to pick our picks. I initially have a pretty lime green bike with a basket picked out...last minute I change my mind and opt for a mountain bike, something I am more used to. And we're off! The first picture I snap is the one above...perfect, smooth hills. I just want to roll down them. And skip and hold hands.



City walls




Karen, Elly, and me in front of Cheom Sung Dae tower

My trusty steed

Gnarly, dude

Elly the trooper, and me

Okay. We actually did skip and hold hands in this field. Elly asked someone to just keep taking pictures of us, as we played Ring Around the Rosie and played about. It's fun having a Korean around!

Cherry blossoms

See how perfect the weather is? (I even got some sun!)

Bomun Lake

Check out these paddle boats!

I finally have evidence of a matching couple! This isn't even a good example, because they are not perfectly matched. Seriously, couples are doing this EVERYWHERE in Korea. MATCHING OUTFITS. The matchier, the better.

Arriving at the hotel at 6:45pm...we underestimated the final (intensely uphill) stretch of the bike ride, and took a wrong turn that cost us another twenty minutes. Oops. Karen is standing at the entrance of our six person room. Yes. That's right. Six. Not to worry, there is a pile of blankets and pillows in the corner! (And the floors are heated.)

Delicious ssam bop dinner (a bit of meat with many veggie and seafood sides...similar to Korean BBQ without the BBQ...basically wrapping stuff up in lettuce leaves and sesame leaves), followed by a night stroll.

Anapji Pond

The bus brings us back to our hotel, and I fall asleep immediately, 11:00pm. Day 1, success.

Sunday, Day 2: wake up at 5:00am for sunrise hike. The hotel lobby is deserted, except for me, Elly, Karen, and Bernard. Has everyone else left already? The doors are locked. Nope. No one has left. We have to unlock the doors to leave. Only the four of us did the sunrise hike, of all the people on the tour! I couldn't get over it!

5:40am departure

Exercise and fuel stop: hoola hoops, orange slices, and pineapple juice

Two hours later...at the top!

Elly, Karen, me, Bernard...the hiking and biking champs

High on life...ahhh

Gyeongju is known for its breads, and right next to this little temple was a bakery. You'll never guess which type of bun I bought...a red bean filled one!! Actually, the smallest box was a box of 20. I didn't want 20 buns. The lady was nice enough to sell me five (three traditional buns and two mini pancake sandwich style) for a good price. I thank Elly for negotiating that.

Our second day of biking was very flat, through the rice fields!

We happened upon some workers, who offered us soju (Korean vodka). Shots at 11am? Heck yes!

Ring around the sun???

The pretty bike

We had an AMAZING Korean buffet lunch. Oh my goodness, wow. SO MUCH DELICIOUS FOOD! Well-deserved after our hiking and biking adventures. Said our goodbyes, swapped information, and left on the buses at 4:00pm. Got into Seoul by 9:00pm. Asleep at home by 10:30pm. Dead on my feet on Monday. Totally worth it. Refreshing!!!

Happy Black day

Valentine's day = February 14 = girls give gifts to boys
White day = March 14 = boys give gifts to girls
Black day = April 14 = people who don't get gifts eat black noodles aka singles day haha

I took some pictures on my walk home last night...it's really lovely here in springtime! I'M SO EXCITED TO BIKE IN GYEONGJU THIS WEEKEND!!! Gyeongju is way on the other side of the country, and quite south. It takes about four hours by bus to get there. Amazing how four hours will take you to the other side of the country!!

Have I ever mentioned how much Tuesdays rock??

In the mornings I teach arts and crafts to all the six-year olds (that's Venus and Jupiter class). After lunch, I teach arts and crafts to Pluto class. Then I only have TWO elementary classes for the remainder of the day (other days I have four or five elementary classes). On top of that, one of the elementary classes is my FAVOURITE group - perfect little angels that ALWAYS do their homework, and actually LOVE learning and apply all the lessons to how they speak - and the other elementary class is a group of six-year olds that I get to do yoga with on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

Let's recap: (arts and crafts) x 2 + angel group + yoga = TUESDAYS ARE AWESOME!

Funky chicken, arts and crafts

I would like to share what a responsible Canadian I am. Last week I mailed my application to receive a special ballot for the upcoming Federal election. My voting package arrived yesterday (I was notified via email late last week that it was on its way, complete with tracking number), and I've sent my ballot back to Ottawa.

Also, I think I could eat kimchi jigae every day (with a side of some sort of red bean delight, of course). Kimchi jigae is kimchi stew. Kimchi is spicy fermented cabbage. The stew is spicy, and also has tofu and little bits of pork in it. It's a beautiful thing.

Happy birthday, Matthew!