Monday, August 13, 2012
Goodbye Korea, What up? Cheese
This is my favorite song from this year. Please notice the make-up on these guys! Welcome to my Korean life.
This is a new quirky song that is all the rage, the video is hilarious and the song great to dance to. Some of the comments have said how funny Korean humor is... I kind of beg to differ, you rarely see things this strange!
This is my favorite song from my first year in Korea.
If this song doesn't get stuck in your head, I will judge you. It's horrible when that happens.
Korean music videos... can words describe??
The funny thing is that they're supposed to be saying 'RING Ding-a-Ding'.. however they say 'LING Ding-a-Ding', because it's hard for them to pronounce the 'R's :)
I want to be sure to remember these songs forever!
The goodbyes hath begun my friends!
So far on the list:
My hairdresser - Ji Yeon has been SUCH a lifesaver, and I told her that. I refused to get my haircut the first year I lived in Korea, possibly because I had shorter hair then and it is much easier to ruin. However, this awesome chick lived in Los Angeles for 4 years (has a tattoo.. big deal in Korea.. sold me) and is so sweet. I nearly cried when I hugged her goodbye. But alas, no tears yet.
My doctor - Nothing like a free doctor. Nothing like a free doctor who speaks fluent English. Nothing like a free doctor who speaks fluent English and always tells you about how your last name is the same name as a woman's dilation reflex when giving birth (the Ferguson dilation). He gave me a hug too today... it may not seem like a big deal, but Koreans just don't hug, so when I'm offered a hug, I jump right in there like a bear!
My student who I've taught a few times a week for the entire year - He planned the sweetest goodbye parting, and I got to meet his family for the first time, which meant a lot to me! HE also gave me a hug, geeze Korea, constantly surprising me with the embraces.
My expat friends on vacation - I've made some great friends here, the ones I love the most though are the ones I'm sure I'll see in a different country one day!
Past students - One by one as I see them, so long, farewell, COME VISIT!
Still to come: my best friends, coworkers, my favorite restaurants.
BRING ON THE CHEESE AMERICA, I HAVE BEEN DEPRIVED!
Friday, August 3, 2012
Jin-Jews Always Get Me in Trouble
What is it with the Jin-Jews?? Seriously! A girl is trying to behave herself.. and then they come along and, BAM!
So on Friday night I kind of sort of.. mm.. went a wee crazy! I tried to wake-up early enough to get my butt on an 8AM bus.. but I sort of ended up on the 12:20 bus. I was supposed to be meeting Christina and other Jin-Jews at the Yeosu World Expo at 1PM. Yeosu is 3.5 hours away from Jeonju.. fail! I slept the entire way there.. by the time I arrived (around 4PM) Christina said that the Expo sucked, and it was rainy, and the lines were crazy, so we were just going to head to Namhae Island and meet everyone else there once I found them. The Expo is HUGE.. so it took me a little while to find them.. in the end there were 7 of us in a clown car headed to Namhae Island. Did I mention that the car is being driven by a Scottish guy who I used to loathe (and now love), however he sounds just like Shrek and how can you hate Shrek?! .. so I was just absolutely praying we'd get there alive!
We made it.. found Kevin and the gang.. ate.. played card games.. got sloshed.. and headed to the beach for some fireworks. Well.. the fireworks never happened because we got kicked off the beach. The guys had changed into their swim trunks.. but the two girls who wanted to go hadn't, they decided to just get buck naked and jump in.. haaa.... I think they'll double think that decision from now on, because all of a sudden a bright spotlight shines out into the ocean...shining... shining... and then a coast guard guy comes out and tells us in Korean that they need to get out of the water. The guys got out of the water, but the girls were like 'NO WAY!'.. stop shining your light.. stop looking at us and we'll get out. I'm pretty sure the guard had zero clue what was happening.. we ended up having to shield the girls with huge umbrellas while everyone found their clothes.. HAAA. I still think it's so funny, and I'm so happy that I was still recovering from being sick and didn't go! Point for me.
Later, I learned some new games. We headed to a food tent and vegged out... then headed to the NORAEBANG... most likely the last noraebang of my Korean career. Sad face! We had so much fun, jammed, laughed, chatted.. Kev and I got all emotional because all of his besties are leaving in Jinju (guys that have lived there for yeaars), I'm about to leave, life just isn't fair!
The next morning, the token Irishman bought fireworks at 9AM and started setting them off in our pension's courtyard.. waking up ALL of the Koreans in the surrounding pension rooms. Luckily I got to play with the sparklers that came in the package.. yeehaw.. so I wasn't angry for being woken up by them!
We left fairly early, going down to the beach to check it out in the RAIN.. since it's rain season it rained the entire time we were there!
We left fairly early.. around noon.. and what does the Irishman do?! He buys fireworks for our ride home. And I mean that literally. Once those were used up, he bought more at our pee-break! Never in my life. It was amazing. Yet kids I don't recommend you do this at home, which is why I am NOT posting the video.. even though it makes me laugh every time!
Geeze Jinju! Such bad influences :).
Never a good idea.. however, quite entertaining!
So on Friday night I kind of sort of.. mm.. went a wee crazy! I tried to wake-up early enough to get my butt on an 8AM bus.. but I sort of ended up on the 12:20 bus. I was supposed to be meeting Christina and other Jin-Jews at the Yeosu World Expo at 1PM. Yeosu is 3.5 hours away from Jeonju.. fail! I slept the entire way there.. by the time I arrived (around 4PM) Christina said that the Expo sucked, and it was rainy, and the lines were crazy, so we were just going to head to Namhae Island and meet everyone else there once I found them. The Expo is HUGE.. so it took me a little while to find them.. in the end there were 7 of us in a clown car headed to Namhae Island. Did I mention that the car is being driven by a Scottish guy who I used to loathe (and now love), however he sounds just like Shrek and how can you hate Shrek?! .. so I was just absolutely praying we'd get there alive!
We made it.. found Kevin and the gang.. ate.. played card games.. got sloshed.. and headed to the beach for some fireworks. Well.. the fireworks never happened because we got kicked off the beach. The guys had changed into their swim trunks.. but the two girls who wanted to go hadn't, they decided to just get buck naked and jump in.. haaa.... I think they'll double think that decision from now on, because all of a sudden a bright spotlight shines out into the ocean...shining... shining... and then a coast guard guy comes out and tells us in Korean that they need to get out of the water. The guys got out of the water, but the girls were like 'NO WAY!'.. stop shining your light.. stop looking at us and we'll get out. I'm pretty sure the guard had zero clue what was happening.. we ended up having to shield the girls with huge umbrellas while everyone found their clothes.. HAAA. I still think it's so funny, and I'm so happy that I was still recovering from being sick and didn't go! Point for me.
Later, I learned some new games. We headed to a food tent and vegged out... then headed to the NORAEBANG... most likely the last noraebang of my Korean career. Sad face! We had so much fun, jammed, laughed, chatted.. Kev and I got all emotional because all of his besties are leaving in Jinju (guys that have lived there for yeaars), I'm about to leave, life just isn't fair! The next morning, the token Irishman bought fireworks at 9AM and started setting them off in our pension's courtyard.. waking up ALL of the Koreans in the surrounding pension rooms. Luckily I got to play with the sparklers that came in the package.. yeehaw.. so I wasn't angry for being woken up by them!
We left fairly early, going down to the beach to check it out in the RAIN.. since it's rain season it rained the entire time we were there!
We left fairly early.. around noon.. and what does the Irishman do?! He buys fireworks for our ride home. And I mean that literally. Once those were used up, he bought more at our pee-break! Never in my life. It was amazing. Yet kids I don't recommend you do this at home, which is why I am NOT posting the video.. even though it makes me laugh every time!
Geeze Jinju! Such bad influences :).
Never a good idea.. however, quite entertaining!Teach Me How to Writ-ie
Teach me how to writ-ie
Teach me-Teach me how to writ-ie....
I'm a WRITING TEACHER! How on Earth did this happen?! For some odd reason I decided to make my life a little harder and requested to teach writing this semester. That equals heaps of extra work.. a.)I've never taught it before, so I have to make all new materials. b.)I am teaching 8 hours a day, so I'm stuck in the office lesson planning for 2.5 hours every day. c.)I have to edit papers every day now. d.)Was I crazy??
I teach 2 back-to-back 80 minute classes of basic writing. It's going SO well, at least I think so. I'm thankful for having the opportunity and being able to put it on my resume! I feel like I can see my students improving each day, which makes me thrilled. I have one class who look SO miserable every time I walk into the room, that sometimes I tell them they make me want to jump out a window. And YES, I DID say that, because I truly felt that way! Can you imagine bouncing into a classroom with 13 students.. "Hey guys!! How are we doing?"... and hardly anyone looking at you, zero expression on their faces, boring, miserable people...... it's painful. They have their good days and they have their bad days. Thankfully I share the class with another teacher who teaches them speaking for 80 minutes, and she has the same issues. Thankfully they don't REALLY need any people skills to learn writing, I think I pulled the lucky stick on that one.
Also, thankfully I'm nice most of the time.. overly nice & up-beat.. so I don't feel bad one bit yelling at them. WRIIIIIITE!!! :::snap the whip:::
Teach me-Teach me how to writ-ie....
I'm a WRITING TEACHER! How on Earth did this happen?! For some odd reason I decided to make my life a little harder and requested to teach writing this semester. That equals heaps of extra work.. a.)I've never taught it before, so I have to make all new materials. b.)I am teaching 8 hours a day, so I'm stuck in the office lesson planning for 2.5 hours every day. c.)I have to edit papers every day now. d.)Was I crazy??
I teach 2 back-to-back 80 minute classes of basic writing. It's going SO well, at least I think so. I'm thankful for having the opportunity and being able to put it on my resume! I feel like I can see my students improving each day, which makes me thrilled. I have one class who look SO miserable every time I walk into the room, that sometimes I tell them they make me want to jump out a window. And YES, I DID say that, because I truly felt that way! Can you imagine bouncing into a classroom with 13 students.. "Hey guys!! How are we doing?"... and hardly anyone looking at you, zero expression on their faces, boring, miserable people...... it's painful. They have their good days and they have their bad days. Thankfully I share the class with another teacher who teaches them speaking for 80 minutes, and she has the same issues. Thankfully they don't REALLY need any people skills to learn writing, I think I pulled the lucky stick on that one.
Also, thankfully I'm nice most of the time.. overly nice & up-beat.. so I don't feel bad one bit yelling at them. WRIIIIIITE!!! :::snap the whip:::
Taming Wild Beasts
KIDS CLASS!!! Oi! Only 9 more days left of teaching children, and I will be screaming hallelujah when it is over. You know what the crazy thing is? I only teach one kids class a day, and it is one too many. HOW did I manage last year? HOOOOWWWW? Of course the girls are absolute angels. Yes, including the ones who are going through puberty and are extremely moody and awkward. The boys drive me absolutely INSANE. INSANE. I must say 'Are you crazy?' to them often, because now one boy says it all of the time. When he says it though, it is in the MOST annoying voice on the planet Earth. Honestly, I seriously hope that the students in America behave much better than the students in Korea. I can't even fathom having 30 in my classroom. Right now I have TEN. Just TEN. And they drive me INSANE! Possibly it is because they go to public school for 8 hours, then have 1 hour learning English with a Korean teacher, immediately followed by me teaching them for 45 minutes. THEN, some of them go to other private academies for music, history, etc. Kids will be kids.. especially if they're being forced to have the patience of an adult....
I do not want children for a long time.
I do not want children for a long time.
Saturday, July 28, 2012
Yes Ma'am... the Philippines Dude!
Vacation time baby!
Ali and I visited a huge organic farm on the sea, and I still can't get this place out of my mind. We went because of all of the rave reviews I had read on the internet about it. To get there, we each hopped on a habal-habal (motorcycle taxi) and off we went on a 30 minute ride through Panglao Island. When we arrived we were just amazed at all of the detail and random things that decorated the accomodation/pool/restaurant area. The place was huge! And all outdoors. It was absolutely precious.. once we walked to the edge of the restaurant area and noticed that we would have a gorgeous view of the crystal blue ocean, we were ecstatic. And once the fresh flowers touched our mouths, dreams of heaven began. No really, we went there with the main purpose of eating flowers :). We ordered two dishes and shared them Korean style. 1.) Spicy Flower Salad (stir-fried chicken, nuts, flower petals (hibiscus, cosmos..) & chili-ginger dressing 2.) Tropical Pasta (served cold, mangoes, banana, pineapple, basil, dill, honey mustard & coconut milk). Combined.. these two dishes created a fiesta in our mouths. We were ooh-ing and ah-ing the entire time.. does life get any better?
TRUDIIIIIIIIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Ali and I spent 73.5% of our time at Trudi's Place. A restaurant overlooking/on the beach.. nothing fancy, extremely simple actually, with delicious food & wonderful ocean/people watching. I can't even count how many Red Horses, San Miguels, Margaritas, Hamburgers, desserts and laughs we encountered while staying at Alona Beach for three days.
We also made new human friends.. Rotem (an Israeli guy) who taught us about the difference between a Red Horse and a happy horse.. I thought it was a great pick-up line, but I fully believe him that my Red Horse was indeed a Happy Horse and he did convince me that it secretly and luckily had more alcohol in it than the normal ones (of course that isn't written on the label.. nor was the Alc. % written on the bottles.. ever). Rum Rum (Filipino) the magical sand sculpture 'wow'ed Ali and I every night as he carved and patted and smoothed away the sand to discover mermaids, dolphins, dragons & inspiration. He was SUCH a sweet guy, he talked to Ali and I about his inspirations, life, future dreams, his current side jobs as a dance instructor and artist. We were sad to say our last goodbyes to him, but it was time for us to move on to new islands.
Alona Grove Tourist Inn was one of our favorite places to stay while in the Philippines. The lady and her family who ran the place were the nicest people ever.. we shared stories about our lives and I admired her for running such a great mom & pop business. I really hope she does well, it is one of the only budget places so close to the beach & with resorts starting to cover the place... I hope it holds strong through the wind! It was the first room I've stayed in that the toilets were only flushable using buckets of water... of all of the traveling I've done... I can only imagine the things I have yet to experience. And you know what?! Even though that wasn't the most pleasant thing to do every time, especially when dropping the aliens off at the pool, I became even more thankful for everything I've been blessed with in life.. running water.. flushing toilets.. using CLEAN water to flush toilets, even though some people don't even have clean water to DRINK! It was great!
Ali & I discovered a new way of watching fireflies... while practically being eye level with the tree canopies in the jungle. Seriously, that's where the magic happens! We peered over the restaurant balcony at Nuts Huts (our accommodation for the night) only to discover fireflies roaming about in their playground of leaves. We took a minute to be thankful for the moment.. let it soak in.. then a high five ensued.
It was SO awesome seeing the tarsiers in their natural habitat. We visited the Tarsier Sanctuary and walked around some trails to find them. They're nocturnal, so they weren't moving very much.. just sitting there.. staring at us with those ginormous eyes of theirs. CUUUUTE!
6. BUTTERFLY SANCTUARY
Never in my life would I have thought I would enjoy a butterfly sanctuary as much as I did at the one in Bohol. Ali and I had an absolute riot. Our guide was hilarious, two of his jokes that we'll never forget: 1.) As he was telling us about how some butterflies are accidentally born half male and half female (one of their wings is a male version, the other looks like a female).. "We call these LadyBoys.. just like that guide over there (SE Asia humor)" 2.) "We also have lesbian butterflies, but you won't find any in the sanctuary.. they're all in the kitchen doing the dishes." Ali and I were almost crying his jokes cracked us up so much. Such a fun time!
Boracay is famous for a.) having one of the most beautiful beaches in the world, b.) having heaps of international restaurants, c.) some of the best nightlife in SE Asia (next to Thailand). And luckily, we got to experience every bit of it! Minus the few days of rain, since we were there during rainy season.. we lived up every moment we could! There were awesome backpackers at Frendz Resort that we went out to play with.. Ali and I ended up at Bamboo Bungalow, an awesome dive bar on the beach.. mingled, met a JMU alumni (LOVE those moments!), partied with the hotel staff whom I love, and had many great nights! One of the nights was spent getting down on the dance floor, latina style... LOVE... I was elated, there is absolutely nothing I adore more! And boy could those boys dance.. holla :).
Two weeks
+ Paradise
+ Friends
=A total bummer to find out that we're returning to Korea to be lesson planning in the office/teaching for 11 hours/day... over-time $ yay... freedom nay...
+ Paradise
+ Friends
=A total bummer to find out that we're returning to Korea to be lesson planning in the office/teaching for 11 hours/day... over-time $ yay... freedom nay...
Luckily, I've been keeping a travel journal of the past few trips I've gone on.. and as the 11 hours a day suggests.. I haven't exactly had the time to blog or update about what has been happening the last few trips/with the Philippines. So I'm going to pick and choose a few of my favorite things from the Philippines.
1. THE PEOPLE
Where was I?? In South America?? I haven't loved people this much since I met latinos! The Filipinos absolutely rocked my socks off.. they went out of their way to talk to us, help us, feed us and love us. Some of my favorite moments from my trip are the simple conversations I had with Filipinos while riding buses or chatting on the beach. They were so joyful and hilarious. We like totally bonded.. witty humor, laughter, smiling all of the time.. love.
2. BOHOL BEE FARM
Ali and I visited a huge organic farm on the sea, and I still can't get this place out of my mind. We went because of all of the rave reviews I had read on the internet about it. To get there, we each hopped on a habal-habal (motorcycle taxi) and off we went on a 30 minute ride through Panglao Island. When we arrived we were just amazed at all of the detail and random things that decorated the accomodation/pool/restaurant area. The place was huge! And all outdoors. It was absolutely precious.. once we walked to the edge of the restaurant area and noticed that we would have a gorgeous view of the crystal blue ocean, we were ecstatic. And once the fresh flowers touched our mouths, dreams of heaven began. No really, we went there with the main purpose of eating flowers :). We ordered two dishes and shared them Korean style. 1.) Spicy Flower Salad (stir-fried chicken, nuts, flower petals (hibiscus, cosmos..) & chili-ginger dressing 2.) Tropical Pasta (served cold, mangoes, banana, pineapple, basil, dill, honey mustard & coconut milk). Combined.. these two dishes created a fiesta in our mouths. We were ooh-ing and ah-ing the entire time.. does life get any better?
3. TRUDI'S PLACE & ALONA GROVE
We made new dog friends.. Choco Latte and fam.. who always blessed us with their presence so we could love on them, scratch them & feed them with our spoons. Because we're so pet deprived in Korea, our souls smiled every time they pranced about.
We also made new human friends.. Rotem (an Israeli guy) who taught us about the difference between a Red Horse and a happy horse.. I thought it was a great pick-up line, but I fully believe him that my Red Horse was indeed a Happy Horse and he did convince me that it secretly and luckily had more alcohol in it than the normal ones (of course that isn't written on the label.. nor was the Alc. % written on the bottles.. ever). Rum Rum (Filipino) the magical sand sculpture 'wow'ed Ali and I every night as he carved and patted and smoothed away the sand to discover mermaids, dolphins, dragons & inspiration. He was SUCH a sweet guy, he talked to Ali and I about his inspirations, life, future dreams, his current side jobs as a dance instructor and artist. We were sad to say our last goodbyes to him, but it was time for us to move on to new islands.
Alona Grove Tourist Inn was one of our favorite places to stay while in the Philippines. The lady and her family who ran the place were the nicest people ever.. we shared stories about our lives and I admired her for running such a great mom & pop business. I really hope she does well, it is one of the only budget places so close to the beach & with resorts starting to cover the place... I hope it holds strong through the wind! It was the first room I've stayed in that the toilets were only flushable using buckets of water... of all of the traveling I've done... I can only imagine the things I have yet to experience. And you know what?! Even though that wasn't the most pleasant thing to do every time, especially when dropping the aliens off at the pool, I became even more thankful for everything I've been blessed with in life.. running water.. flushing toilets.. using CLEAN water to flush toilets, even though some people don't even have clean water to DRINK! It was great!
4. BALICASAG ISLAND - SNORKELING
I've gone snorkeling in parts of Thailand and the Galapagos Islands.. but this experience was BY FAR the most amazing I've had. It was like a Disney wonderland down there... there were heaps of different types of healthy corals, lots of fish I'd never seen before and so many crazy colors. It was like my brain was on some sort of drug.. everyone needs to experience that feeling while looking at schools of fish!
5. FIREFLIES AT NUTS HUTS
Ali & I discovered a new way of watching fireflies... while practically being eye level with the tree canopies in the jungle. Seriously, that's where the magic happens! We peered over the restaurant balcony at Nuts Huts (our accommodation for the night) only to discover fireflies roaming about in their playground of leaves. We took a minute to be thankful for the moment.. let it soak in.. then a high five ensued.
The rest of our evening was spent journaling and reading on our goddess-style pillowed platform on the balcony. Heaven? At last.
It definitely wasn't heaven leaving though.. 300 steps + a 15 minute walk through the jungle & jungle heat to get to the highway... at least we got to pet some goats and see some baby chicks on the way though :).
6. TARSIERS
It was SO awesome seeing the tarsiers in their natural habitat. We visited the Tarsier Sanctuary and walked around some trails to find them. They're nocturnal, so they weren't moving very much.. just sitting there.. staring at us with those ginormous eyes of theirs. CUUUUTE!
Some interesting facts:
-they can't move their eyes so they have to move their heads when they hunt.. and they can turn their heads around 180 degrees making it easy for them to jump backwards with precision
-one tarsier needs about a hectare of space, they're extremely solitary
-it can leap over 3 meters in length
-they eat lots of insects, as well as lizards and small birds
-they can kill themselves if they get too stressed (especially when in captivity) by banging their heads up against a tree.. so sad!
6. BUTTERFLY SANCTUARY
7. MEETING UP WITH REHANA & KERRY IN BORACAY
It's surreal saying goodbye to people in one country, and then saying 'HEEEYYY!' in a different country a week later. Ali and I were on our own the first week.. discovering Bohol, Panglao & Cebu City together. Then we flew to Boracay, arrived at Frendz Resort.. and found our FRIENDS!!! It was just so exciting.. even though we hadn't seen each other in 1 week.. we had so many stories to share with each other!
8. NIGHTLIFE ON WHITE BEACH
The Philippine Islands are an AMAZING place to visit... I can't wait to go back and spend more time there!!
The Year of the Dragon Lesson
As I sit here in a coffee shop in Korea.. looking back on my vacation to the Philippines, I can't help but feel at peace. I rediscovered myself in the Philippines. I hadn't lost myself per say. Well, maybe? This year in Korea was a mental challenge for me.. I went through my first semester very unhappy. I don't want to say that I regretted coming back to Korea, regret is a strong word, but I think that I was meant to move to Jeonju for a lesson more than an experience.
If you followed my blog/life while I was in Korea the first year, you know it was a bit of a .. mm .. crazy-party-circus-happy-fun-loving good time! I realize now, that it is probably a good thing that I didn't return to the same sort of life (even though that was what I was expecting). I had the best time of my life there.. but I needed to grow up a little (a LITTLE, let's not get carried away). That year was an experience. This year has been more of a lesson.
When I first moved here, I was upset about having to say goodbye to my family and friends AGAIN (when I returned from Korea, it was hello for 2 months, goodbye for 4 months as I backpacked S.America, then hello & goodbye for 2 weeks.. back to Korea), I hated teaching old grumpy university professors, I hated that I lived so far away from my school, I hated that most of my girlfriends had moved back to Jinju and I was stuck in Jeonju, I hated that Jeonju was such a horrible city (although, I've grown to love it more now.. I still hate it, I'm merely lying to myself until I escape), I hated how cliquey everyone was in this city.. I just wasn't happy.
I was good at acting happy though.. unless you were one of the unfortunate souls who truly knew me really well and talked to me often on Skype during my first few months (my parents, Maw-Maw, Ashley, Lindsay..).. you saw me cry, you saw me laugh and cry at how stupid I was, you heard me go on and ON and ON about everything that was driving me crazy. I'm so thankful for that, because living abroad has its ups and its downs.. you guys kept me sane and motivated.
For the most part I think I kept a positive attitude about it. I had to learn to tell myself that everything DOES happen for a reason. You make your life what it will be... I'm choosing to look at this past year as a time of growing. A time of making yourself happy.. choosing happiness.. finding happiness in an unfriendly city.
Early on I met a Canook who would end up being one of my bestest friends in Jeonju, Chelsea. I thank God for her.. she hated Jeonju just as much as I did and she knew how unhappy I was, no need to hide it or sugar coat. She was the first person I found (and one of the only ones in the end) that LOVES traveling, loves experiencing, enjoys discovering new parts of Korea, can get down on the dance floor and still be SO chill. We bonded immediately, she had lived in Korea for months.. being bored to tears, experiencing the same feelings of loneliness, and cursing Jeonju's name every time it was mentioned just like I did. We vented to each other, discovered friend rice and saved each other from ninjas in Japan. Our reunion is already in the making!
When I first started working at the university, I was given a desk in the office right across from two amazing ladies, Vida (Ali) & Noxema (Rehana) . Fate had us sitting across from each other so we could talk too much and plan exciting things in our lives together.. however unfortunately for the other teachers, our voices (Rehana & I's) didn't always adjust.. sometimes you would think we were screaming at each other from opposite sides of the room. And we always have to explain, it's not screaming.. it's uncontrollable excitement. We share every part of our lives together (unfortunately for Kerry, sometimes it's a bit too much.. turtle.. woopsies.. tourettes moment..), we build each other up, we support each other, we laugh and wine and dine together... I think some may call us inseparable. We encouraged each other through the Vagina Monologues and we will never ever EVER forget each other. The three of us will re-unite again, I'm 100% positive of it. These girls showed me that it IS possible to like Jeonju, the word love would push it a bit too far. They've lived here for 4 years and have never left. Well, Rehana is moving back to the states at the same time as I am.. but Ali is staying behind, being amazing and instructing away! I'm prepared for the tears to flow for hours when I leave..
Jeonju, I'm going to have to break up with you. It didn't work out, I'm sorry.. I think we just weren't a good fit together. It was you, not me.. and that's just how it's going to have to be.
I have 3 weeks left.. my soul feels elated, my mind is clear, I am open and ready for everything the universe has on offer. I'm scooping up all of the love I have received this year and keeping it in my heart forever. I'm moving home, I will get to be around my family and friends for more than a hello/goodbye session, and I am ready to figure out my future.
To conclude: WOOHOO!
Thursday, June 14, 2012
You Take the Picture, Then You Stick the Picture
When I was but a girl.. I always wanted to have sticker pictures made with my BFF. The only thing.. was they were expensive & a bit hard to find.
Now that I am but a woman.. STICKER PICTURES ABOUND in my life.
One time Chelsea and i saw a girl on the subway in Busan literally looking at HUNDREDS of sticker picture sheets she had in her purse... we were amazed... to be a child in this society, must be like eating skittles and looking at rainbows everyday of your life! (we'll forget that they study in a private school until 10PM every day...for now... different blog)
So basically, you go into a store that has at least 15 different booths... you wander around, choose a booth that is 'speaking' to you through pictures... put $5 worth of 500Won coins into the machine.. choose a few backgrounds.. the machine countsdown.. pose.. pose.. pose.. choose a few more backgrounds.. pose.. pose.. pose.. (and if you're lucky, and you get a wicked awesome sticker picture business, they'll have costumes and funky wigs you can put on)..after you leave the booth, you go into a smaller booth, where there is one screen & 2 'pens'.. you add squiggles, pretty things, bows, misspelled English words, poop pictures, etc.... (EVERYTHING is on a timer by the way, so it is almost like participating in a game!)... wait a few minutes, then voila! The man at the front desk will cut your pictures up, and then you're on your way!
The machine Rehana, Ali & I used was from Japan.. it automatically made our eyes a bit bigger... and in one of them I could change my eye color :) (Jeonju)
Chelsea, Faith & I had pictures made in Gwangju.... SO FUN!
Dana and I had sticker pictures made right before I left Korea the first time. (Jinju)
Seonyudo Island
Many people say that Jeju Island is the Korean form of paradise. I beg to differ. I found paradise, and I like to call it Seonyudo Island. Jeju is gorgeous.. and well dubbed the Hawaii of Korea (::cough:: Hawaii with SNOW in winter), it's just such a hassle to get to & to get around on. And Seonyudo took all of 3 hours to go from the Jeonju bus station to sinking my feet in island sand... and for $9 a day you can get your own personal bicycle to ride up and down the island hills, transportation: check!
My Jeonju friend Dawn sadly left us a few days ago.. her last request was to visit Seonyudo (no, she didn't die.. she just left us for her home country.. also known as the USA :) ). And my am I glad she wanted to see Seonyudo one last time.
We took a bus for 45 minutes from Jeonju to Gunsan, then a 15 minute taxi to the ferry terminal, after a bit of waiting.. we boarded our glorious ferry & it dropped us off on Seonyudo.
I hadn't looked up any pictures of the island before we went there.. so my mouth pretty much dropped. I'm used to awesome beaches.. Thailand, Mexico, the Galapagos.. and I'm not saying this island totally compared to those, but it is definitely up there for me!
Chicken
It was super relaxed, not a lot of people.. but when there WERE people, holy moly did I have a good time!A group of Koreans started playing a hilarious game of what I have dubbed 'Chicken'.. I couldn't stop laughing while we were watching them play.. and eventually someone asked me to join, then Rehana joined (I'm the only one standing without neon hiking gear on.. Rehana is the only one on the ground already :) .. I still have the skill of not moving until I HAVE to.. geeze do I hate competition! ).
Basically, you have two teams. You start out in two lines facing each other.. then everyone holds onto one leg, you hop around until you ram into someone from the other team and make them fall down.. once everyone from one team is down, a winner is crowned!Koreans are so amazing. They were SO sweet and patient with us.. of course we didn't understand a word of the rules, a random guy spoke a few words of English.. but Rehana and I started pushing people with our hands (against the rules we figured out during round 2).. but no one tattled on us, everyone was just happy playing.. whether a stupid waegookin pushed them down illegally or not!
These people were amazing, it absolutely started my trip out on the right foot... no literally.
Jet Ski
This is year #2 that a jet skier has ridden up to the beach and I've hopped on... does life get any better (or cheaper) than that?? Of course I never got to DRIVE them.. but it was fun playing passenger. So basically this time was much safer than when I did it in Samcheon-po while living in Jinju. This guy actually: a.)rode right up to the beach (the water wasn't even up to my knees) after I waved at him.. last year I had to swim a bit out to them to get their attention b.)the first thing he did was whip out a life jacket... last year, I lived life a bit more on the edge I suppose, my mom also threatened to kill me herself if I ever did that again sans life jacket c.)this guy seriously knew how to do tricks, I think I honestly peed a little sometimes!Rehana jumped on for a ride next, we had SOOOO much fun.. it's too bad his friend didn't want to give rides as well.. we could have had a race :).
How many I LOVE KOREA moments can happen in one day??
Good times, good people. Again! Again!
So Long Early 20s!
Do I have to grow up? I like the number 3.. may I keep it please?
Today.. my friends.. I have to part with my early-20s and welcome my mid-20s. Just typing this, I must be honest.. my heart jumped a bit. I don't even know what to think, I'm excited, I'm not excited.. I'm blessed with another amazing year to live, I had an awesome 23rd.. but I HAVE to ask myself, where are my bells and whistles?
Cheers to 'the day' being better than the day before!
Tomorrow:
Calling my parents so they can wish me a happy birthday :) hehe
Ali, Rehana & I will be going to the sauna.. getting all sparkly clean/eating lunch/doing nails/sipping cocktails/relaxing during our 5 hour lunch break.
Power hour after I get off work at 8PM.
Dinner with friends at 9PM @ TEAM.. my favoritest Italian restaurant in Korea! :)
Utter chaos for dessert?
Deep breaths til then.
Today.. my friends.. I have to part with my early-20s and welcome my mid-20s. Just typing this, I must be honest.. my heart jumped a bit. I don't even know what to think, I'm excited, I'm not excited.. I'm blessed with another amazing year to live, I had an awesome 23rd.. but I HAVE to ask myself, where are my bells and whistles?
Cheers to 'the day' being better than the day before!
Tomorrow:
Calling my parents so they can wish me a happy birthday :) hehe
Ali, Rehana & I will be going to the sauna.. getting all sparkly clean/eating lunch/doing nails/sipping cocktails/relaxing during our 5 hour lunch break.
Power hour after I get off work at 8PM.
Dinner with friends at 9PM @ TEAM.. my favoritest Italian restaurant in Korea! :)
Utter chaos for dessert?
Deep breaths til then.
My awesomely amazing friend Ali (Vida) adopted a stooooopid Panda in my name from the World Wildlife Foundation. Happy Birthday to Paula the Panda and I :)
Monday, June 4, 2012
Girl's Weekend Continued
Day 2
Sunday
Moaksan Mountain
Nothing spells success like this post... so the first time I hiked up Moaksan, I practically died. I was huffing and puffing all of the way up.. Noxy and I were the last ones up the mountain.. huffing and puffing for a good 30 minutes after we'd reached the summit.. and my ENTIRE body was literally sore for the next 4 days. It hurt to go up stairs, it hurt to touch my muscles.. everything was just painful, not the best of experiences, yet I was so happy to have done it.
This go round.. I was the girl on fire, not to be confused with The Hunger Games :). Vida and I absolutely rocked that mountain, it was such a nice, relaxing, beautiful time! And THIS time, there were many more beauty stops along the way. We found 3 mirrors strategically placed at the different rest stop/gazebo areas. A girls gotta look gooooood, right?! Or as my professor says, no one will save her if she accidentally slips down the side of the mountain while looking mediocre.
Sauna
I hadn't been to a sauna IN Jeonju yet, and neither had Vida, so we headed to Spa Lequa. My goal.. to have a body scrub.. I haven't taken the best care of my skin recently, so it was much needed. It was Vida's first time getting a scrub from an ajumma.. so it was fun to be there during the madness.
Check out this blog post from my first year in Korea to see some of the crazy things that happened my first time getting a Korean scrub at the sauna.
This go round, my lady was wearing a lovely (sarcasm) red matching panty set.. I think Vida's lady was wearing a purple leopard print one.. and then there was another randomly lady having a scrub on the table in between Vida and I. The first thing my lady tries to get me to do is take off my anklets and some of my bracelets (I had already taken off everything I was able to take off without cutting them..), and I of course knew they would do that.. but I body languaged that that wouldn't be possible. It's always quite awkward in these situations, because we never know when the Koreans are really talking about us.. I got the gist every now and then when my lady would talk to the other two Korean workers and then they would look over at me.. and then one time she tugged at my anklets and said "GOLD UH SILBA! GOLD UH SILBA!" then she tugged at my bracelets "GOLD UH SILBA!" .. she is of course doing it in a silly ajumma way, because they can pretty much get away with anything.. and wouldn't you tell people what to do if you were given that sort of power?! So we chuckled together.. and I pointed to my two rings and my nose ring and said "SILBA! haaa" and that was that.
I noticed that they even smack the Korean ladies on the side of the bum when they wanted them to roll over onto their stomachs or vice versa... so it wasn't like they were only doing that to me because I couldn't speak Korean. I still giggle every time they do that.
I would still have to say that the Korean sauna experience is one of the most culturally diverse things that a foreigner could do in Korea... I love the innocence and pure love of it. It's a wonderful place when women can come together, strip down to their birthday suits, not be ashamed (although if you have tattoos/scars/things of that nature I think you're meant to be ashamed.. but times are changing.. slowly), truly understand that everyone was made differently and accept everyone at their most vulnerable.
At one point, it was Vida and I, and these 2 pre-pubescent girls in one of the tubs in an outdoor area.. Vida and I were talking about how if we were their age (about 10-12 years old) and we saw someone who was in their 20s buck naked.. it would probably be like a mouth drop 'omg that's what we're going to look like in 10 years' sort of freaked out thought.. but to them it is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I just can't even fathom it... there is something beautiful about women all being able to come together, saggy boobs and all, to learn from each other. We're all the same, we all go through the same life cycles.. erm, and menstrual cycles.. there is nothing to be afraid of, we need to be proud of who we are, because even though it seems like what is happening to our bodies is sometimes the end of the world.. it's not.. it's the beginning of a new generation!
For example.. I've now learned what I'm probably going to look like stark naked at the age of 95.
Have you?
Food for thought.
Blog Continued: The 7-11 Man
Day 3
Sunday
I piddled around the apartment.. we weren't really planning on meeting again.. however Rehana called.. of course she found another bottle of wine, so off we went to Deokjin park.. It has gotten GORGEOUS! Now, the dead dried lilly pads are back alive and green.. there were lots of people. Plenty of people that stopped and chatted (well tried to) as well. We celebrated Dawn's last Korean Italian meal at Team... then off to sleep I went!!! What a great end to the 3-day weekend!
Sunday
Moaksan Mountain
Nothing spells success like this post... so the first time I hiked up Moaksan, I practically died. I was huffing and puffing all of the way up.. Noxy and I were the last ones up the mountain.. huffing and puffing for a good 30 minutes after we'd reached the summit.. and my ENTIRE body was literally sore for the next 4 days. It hurt to go up stairs, it hurt to touch my muscles.. everything was just painful, not the best of experiences, yet I was so happy to have done it.
This go round.. I was the girl on fire, not to be confused with The Hunger Games :). Vida and I absolutely rocked that mountain, it was such a nice, relaxing, beautiful time! And THIS time, there were many more beauty stops along the way. We found 3 mirrors strategically placed at the different rest stop/gazebo areas. A girls gotta look gooooood, right?! Or as my professor says, no one will save her if she accidentally slips down the side of the mountain while looking mediocre.
The picture below is of a ginormous container of makgeoli (the Korean rice wine).. this is one of 2 about mid-way up the mountain. I don't know how this isn't dangerous for them to do.. but drinking and hiking seems to be the way to go here. It isn't the easiest of hikes either, I would tumble all the way down the mountain if I tried to drink and hike!! 1 point - Koreans.
Sauna
I hadn't been to a sauna IN Jeonju yet, and neither had Vida, so we headed to Spa Lequa. My goal.. to have a body scrub.. I haven't taken the best care of my skin recently, so it was much needed. It was Vida's first time getting a scrub from an ajumma.. so it was fun to be there during the madness.
Check out this blog post from my first year in Korea to see some of the crazy things that happened my first time getting a Korean scrub at the sauna.
This go round, my lady was wearing a lovely (sarcasm) red matching panty set.. I think Vida's lady was wearing a purple leopard print one.. and then there was another randomly lady having a scrub on the table in between Vida and I. The first thing my lady tries to get me to do is take off my anklets and some of my bracelets (I had already taken off everything I was able to take off without cutting them..), and I of course knew they would do that.. but I body languaged that that wouldn't be possible. It's always quite awkward in these situations, because we never know when the Koreans are really talking about us.. I got the gist every now and then when my lady would talk to the other two Korean workers and then they would look over at me.. and then one time she tugged at my anklets and said "GOLD UH SILBA! GOLD UH SILBA!" then she tugged at my bracelets "GOLD UH SILBA!" .. she is of course doing it in a silly ajumma way, because they can pretty much get away with anything.. and wouldn't you tell people what to do if you were given that sort of power?! So we chuckled together.. and I pointed to my two rings and my nose ring and said "SILBA! haaa" and that was that.
I noticed that they even smack the Korean ladies on the side of the bum when they wanted them to roll over onto their stomachs or vice versa... so it wasn't like they were only doing that to me because I couldn't speak Korean. I still giggle every time they do that.
I would still have to say that the Korean sauna experience is one of the most culturally diverse things that a foreigner could do in Korea... I love the innocence and pure love of it. It's a wonderful place when women can come together, strip down to their birthday suits, not be ashamed (although if you have tattoos/scars/things of that nature I think you're meant to be ashamed.. but times are changing.. slowly), truly understand that everyone was made differently and accept everyone at their most vulnerable.
At one point, it was Vida and I, and these 2 pre-pubescent girls in one of the tubs in an outdoor area.. Vida and I were talking about how if we were their age (about 10-12 years old) and we saw someone who was in their 20s buck naked.. it would probably be like a mouth drop 'omg that's what we're going to look like in 10 years' sort of freaked out thought.. but to them it is absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. I just can't even fathom it... there is something beautiful about women all being able to come together, saggy boobs and all, to learn from each other. We're all the same, we all go through the same life cycles.. erm, and menstrual cycles.. there is nothing to be afraid of, we need to be proud of who we are, because even though it seems like what is happening to our bodies is sometimes the end of the world.. it's not.. it's the beginning of a new generation!
For example.. I've now learned what I'm probably going to look like stark naked at the age of 95.
Have you?
Food for thought.
Blog Continued: The 7-11 Man
Day 3
Sunday
I piddled around the apartment.. we weren't really planning on meeting again.. however Rehana called.. of course she found another bottle of wine, so off we went to Deokjin park.. It has gotten GORGEOUS! Now, the dead dried lilly pads are back alive and green.. there were lots of people. Plenty of people that stopped and chatted (well tried to) as well. We celebrated Dawn's last Korean Italian meal at Team... then off to sleep I went!!! What a great end to the 3-day weekend!
The 7-11 Man
After the sauna, Vida and I decided we needed some MORE relaxation time. We decided to do what we do best.. a patio party.. with ourselves! So.. here we are, sitting at this 7-11 in Seoshin-dong, and ajushi (Korean man.. in his 50's) pulls up a plastic chair and plops right on down with us. He then proceeds to reach over, and grab our soju bottle. He blabbers some Korean words, I slightly tap (smack) his hand and take the bottle away.. moving it farther away from him on the table.
Vida and I are just looking at each other at this point with that "Another drunk crazy Korean man trying to talk to us.. how shall we get rid of him this time?!"
Then we know exactly what he is asking even though he's talking Korean.. basically a "You know what soju is? You drink soju? America? Where are you from? America? What do you do?" The same basic questions we would normally get by the same sort of stranger walking up to us.
The thing that ticked us off the most.. was a.) half the time they don't even say 'Hello' first.. they just start babbling on and asking their questions when we obviously do not know what they're talking about, b.) they seriously don't get the blatant hint to go away half of the time, c.) you just DON'T take someone's soju!! That's just wrong!
Lucky for us, he got distracted by his 'English Teacha' (the only English words he could say) friend and left.
5 minutes later, guess who comes back??
Oh yea, he sits down again.. calling over his 'English Teacha' friend, who is in fact just a golf clothing store owner who speaks a little English (SHE was very nice though).
He grabs for the soju, I move it farther away. He reaches for Vida's cup because he wants to drink from that, she pulls it away. Vida tells him, 'Get your nasty old man hand away from my cup!' He goes for the soju again, and I just shouted out an "Aniyo!!!! 7-11, GO! Soju, 7-11!" The man could obviously afford to buy his own soju, he was dressed nice, had keys to a nice car (which eventually fell out of his pocket, and were left lying on the sidewalk.. I told Vida I really wanted to be mean and move his car to another street so he can't find it, then leave the keys with the clerk.. but we decided that would be a bad idea), pretty sure he was already drunk.. based upon the red face and all.
He eventually left, thankfully.
And after him, a few police officers came with a Korean family.. from what I could understand by spying.. the boy lost his keys and someone took his car.. ironically enough Vida and I found keys, although we were awfully sure we knew who they belonged to.. the police officer we told said "Leave them there" (... SUCH a lazy Korean police officer thing to say!).. however, later on he took the keys to the clerk and left them in there.
OooOOooOh Korea! It's amazing how outgoing some Koreans are.. the oogling and questioning never ends! (Although I do find it humorous at times.. and it gets old at other times! Oy vey.. my life in Korea!)
Back by Popular Demand (from myself).. GIRL'S WEEKEND!
Day 1
As I've mentioned time and time again.. my life is quite different this go round in Korea. I've lived here for 9 months now, and have not yet had a 'true' girl's weekend (like in Jinju). My mom is probably thinking this is a great thing.. mainly because my first year in Korea was.. a bit crazy! I think I controlled myself quite well, but seeing as I had JUST graduated from University, and had worked a lot while in University.. I didn't have the craziest Uni life you could imagine.. so.. I let Korea make up for that a little bit! However, night life in Korea is more of a cultural experience, almost more than any cultural experience you would receive during the day.. the Koreans are Night Owls! Seriously.. their coffee shops don't open until 11AM or noon.. but they will be guaranteed open until 4 or 5AM at night.. err in the morning! No joke.. one night I was walking home from a dance club that had closed down for the night at 4AM.. and the coffee shop was PACKED. It's strange.. but that's how Korea works. I don't understand it.. I would like to have a coffee at 8AM when I'm headed to a bus to go traveling on the weekends... but we don't all get our way now do we?!
Luckily a national holiday was upon us.. Buddha's Birthday.. thank you dear Buddha for having a birthday so that we may have a 3-day weekend.. and a break from teaching. I would normally run as far away as possible from Jeonju on a long weekend, given the chance, but I felt differently this time! We're about to go on holiday to the Philippines for 2 weeks, and then 6 weeks later I leave for Turkey and home. Plus.. I've been dead tired recently, this chica wanted some relaxation time. So Rehana (who will now be called Noxy), Ali (whose new name is Vida) and I (Chi-Chi) planned a girl's day for Saturday.. which ended up turning into the entire weekend.
Saturday
#1 Brunch - Fish & Chips!!
Noxy and I went on a lovely walk to Gaeksa (downtown). The weather was gorgeous, coffee in hand, getting our stroll on... we were headed to meet Vida at DeepInTo for brunch. Although this brunch doesn't open until noon (::cough:: British people!), luckily Brits eat fish and chips at all times of the day.. so that's what I got to eat, WITH tartar sauce. This doesn't happen very often, so I was ecstatic. We had a lovely time reading Cosmos that were 4-9 months old, making a list of everything we wanted to do that day, gossiping, pouring orange juice and vodka down Noxy's throat so she could get the courage to pierce her belly button, which was next up on the list.
#2 Belly Button Piercing
Now this is a funny story, Noxy has always wanted to have her belly button pierced, however she's always been too afraid to get it done (and it probably didn't help much that I told her that my belly button hurt WAY worse than my tattoos.. which was a true story, although it only hurt WAY worse for all of the 20 seconds it takes to get it done, rather than for 30+ minutes). And you know how a lot of people say they're too afraid to do stuff like that, but it's really because they just don't want it bad enough? Well this was NOT her case.. she had gotten a tattoo 8ish years ago, and literally passed out one or two times while she was getting it done. When we got within 10 minutes walking distance of the piercing place in Gaeksa.. her face went totally pale, she couldn't fully form correct sentences, she was shaky... I couldn't quite take her seriously because she HAD gotten the tattoo done, and that had to have taken a lot more guts than getting her belly button done. But Vida and I held her hand as she picked out the jewelry.. and once she had FINALLY decided and was FINALLY ready.. the piercer (who spoke ZERO English.. while none of us really spoke Korean at all) just shook his head and said he can't do it if she is going to pass out. Through body language, we told him that she had fainted when her tattoo was done.. and he just shook his head again.
The strange thing, is that here in Korea they pierce you while you're standing up.. I've never seen a piercing 'studio' (I use quotations, because none of them are actually studios.. more like stores, with a stool that they do the piercing part at) that had a bed/table to do those piercings at. And the even funnier thing was that Koreans rarely get their belly button pierced, and as Noxy is finally going through with it (with Vida and I behind her, bracing for when she passes out), 2 Korean girls walk in and the looks on their faces were about as shocked as Noxy's was. It was hilarious. But Noxy was a trooper, and although she nearly passed out and had to lie down for a good 5 minutes before she got any color to her face again, and a tiny walk to the bathroom to nearly puke. SHE DID IT! We were all so proud, and she is one happy girl that she had the bravery to do it!
#3 Sticker Pictures
Once Noxy was back to normal, we moseyed on over to the sticker picture shop!!! This is one of my favorite places to be in Korea.. I've made sticker pictures with Dana, Chelsea & Faith before.. all of which were heaps of fun to do. I was sadat first, because the shop didn't have any cool hats or costumes that we could dress up in during them... HOWEVER, they had a booth that was made in Japan that automatically makes your eyes bigger (Asians LOVE this.. zero surgery involved :) ). I was satisfied with this option. AND satisfied with the results!
#4 Shopping
Lots of fun wandering around.. my main goal was to find a shirt with horrible English on it.. I was unsuccessful. Of course, I found many shirts that had horrible English, however none were BAD enough for me to invest in one (invest all of $5... HOWEVER I've realized that whatever I buy now, I have to carry tote around with me in Istanbul on my layover!). My favorite I found was 'Weepublican" Get it? The girls found plenty of things though, so it was definitely a success.
#5 Coffee Shop
On our way to the sticker pictures shop, we had found a precious coffee shop that was tucked in between some buildings, so we went back. It was SOOO amazing.. with gardens, lots of tables, HOMEMADE cheese cake.. you had me at homemade.. and lots of character.
#6 Sunset
The weather was SO beautiful, we didn't want to leave it. So at about 5PM we ran into Homeplus and grabbed different wines, headed to the riverside. Plopped our tired butts down and enjoyed everything around us. Of course, there was the usual 'random ajushi/ajumma' that was curious and wanted to talk to us.. the funniest thing though is when each of them continues to talk to you and ask you questions when they KNOW you don't speak a lick of Korean.. it's nearly impossible to shoo them away, yet quite entertaining for me most of the time.
We sat down on some exercise equipment (because you can find outdoors equipment everywhere around Korea cities..and when you can't find a normal bench, you can always use a sit-ups bench as a table :). I managed to do 1 pull-up.. I was too excited that I did one properly, that I wasn't able to fully do another one.. but I think I could have!!
#7 Movie
'To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar'
Never in my life, did I know that Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes starred in a drag queen movie. I never would have imagined that they would do SUCH a good job either. Wow, the entire time, I got lost in the fact that they were who they were, and they were playing who they were playing. Such a funny and positive movie!
We decided that Ali was Patrick's part (Vida) because she's so white and he's so white.. and they both have such sweet hearts, Rehana was Wesley's part (Noxy) because she's ghetto like that, and I would be the latina (Chi-Chi) for obvious reasons.. ha, I wish... We are still calling each other these names.. woohoo!
As I've mentioned time and time again.. my life is quite different this go round in Korea. I've lived here for 9 months now, and have not yet had a 'true' girl's weekend (like in Jinju). My mom is probably thinking this is a great thing.. mainly because my first year in Korea was.. a bit crazy! I think I controlled myself quite well, but seeing as I had JUST graduated from University, and had worked a lot while in University.. I didn't have the craziest Uni life you could imagine.. so.. I let Korea make up for that a little bit! However, night life in Korea is more of a cultural experience, almost more than any cultural experience you would receive during the day.. the Koreans are Night Owls! Seriously.. their coffee shops don't open until 11AM or noon.. but they will be guaranteed open until 4 or 5AM at night.. err in the morning! No joke.. one night I was walking home from a dance club that had closed down for the night at 4AM.. and the coffee shop was PACKED. It's strange.. but that's how Korea works. I don't understand it.. I would like to have a coffee at 8AM when I'm headed to a bus to go traveling on the weekends... but we don't all get our way now do we?!Luckily a national holiday was upon us.. Buddha's Birthday.. thank you dear Buddha for having a birthday so that we may have a 3-day weekend.. and a break from teaching. I would normally run as far away as possible from Jeonju on a long weekend, given the chance, but I felt differently this time! We're about to go on holiday to the Philippines for 2 weeks, and then 6 weeks later I leave for Turkey and home. Plus.. I've been dead tired recently, this chica wanted some relaxation time. So Rehana (who will now be called Noxy), Ali (whose new name is Vida) and I (Chi-Chi) planned a girl's day for Saturday.. which ended up turning into the entire weekend.
#1 Brunch - Fish & Chips!!
Noxy and I went on a lovely walk to Gaeksa (downtown). The weather was gorgeous, coffee in hand, getting our stroll on... we were headed to meet Vida at DeepInTo for brunch. Although this brunch doesn't open until noon (::cough:: British people!), luckily Brits eat fish and chips at all times of the day.. so that's what I got to eat, WITH tartar sauce. This doesn't happen very often, so I was ecstatic. We had a lovely time reading Cosmos that were 4-9 months old, making a list of everything we wanted to do that day, gossiping, pouring orange juice and vodka down Noxy's throat so she could get the courage to pierce her belly button, which was next up on the list.
#2 Belly Button Piercing
Now this is a funny story, Noxy has always wanted to have her belly button pierced, however she's always been too afraid to get it done (and it probably didn't help much that I told her that my belly button hurt WAY worse than my tattoos.. which was a true story, although it only hurt WAY worse for all of the 20 seconds it takes to get it done, rather than for 30+ minutes). And you know how a lot of people say they're too afraid to do stuff like that, but it's really because they just don't want it bad enough? Well this was NOT her case.. she had gotten a tattoo 8ish years ago, and literally passed out one or two times while she was getting it done. When we got within 10 minutes walking distance of the piercing place in Gaeksa.. her face went totally pale, she couldn't fully form correct sentences, she was shaky... I couldn't quite take her seriously because she HAD gotten the tattoo done, and that had to have taken a lot more guts than getting her belly button done. But Vida and I held her hand as she picked out the jewelry.. and once she had FINALLY decided and was FINALLY ready.. the piercer (who spoke ZERO English.. while none of us really spoke Korean at all) just shook his head and said he can't do it if she is going to pass out. Through body language, we told him that she had fainted when her tattoo was done.. and he just shook his head again.
The strange thing, is that here in Korea they pierce you while you're standing up.. I've never seen a piercing 'studio' (I use quotations, because none of them are actually studios.. more like stores, with a stool that they do the piercing part at) that had a bed/table to do those piercings at. And the even funnier thing was that Koreans rarely get their belly button pierced, and as Noxy is finally going through with it (with Vida and I behind her, bracing for when she passes out), 2 Korean girls walk in and the looks on their faces were about as shocked as Noxy's was. It was hilarious. But Noxy was a trooper, and although she nearly passed out and had to lie down for a good 5 minutes before she got any color to her face again, and a tiny walk to the bathroom to nearly puke. SHE DID IT! We were all so proud, and she is one happy girl that she had the bravery to do it!
#3 Sticker Pictures
Once Noxy was back to normal, we moseyed on over to the sticker picture shop!!! This is one of my favorite places to be in Korea.. I've made sticker pictures with Dana, Chelsea & Faith before.. all of which were heaps of fun to do. I was sadat first, because the shop didn't have any cool hats or costumes that we could dress up in during them... HOWEVER, they had a booth that was made in Japan that automatically makes your eyes bigger (Asians LOVE this.. zero surgery involved :) ). I was satisfied with this option. AND satisfied with the results!
#4 Shopping
Lots of fun wandering around.. my main goal was to find a shirt with horrible English on it.. I was unsuccessful. Of course, I found many shirts that had horrible English, however none were BAD enough for me to invest in one (invest all of $5... HOWEVER I've realized that whatever I buy now, I have to carry tote around with me in Istanbul on my layover!). My favorite I found was 'Weepublican" Get it? The girls found plenty of things though, so it was definitely a success.
#5 Coffee Shop
On our way to the sticker pictures shop, we had found a precious coffee shop that was tucked in between some buildings, so we went back. It was SOOO amazing.. with gardens, lots of tables, HOMEMADE cheese cake.. you had me at homemade.. and lots of character.
#6 Sunset
The weather was SO beautiful, we didn't want to leave it. So at about 5PM we ran into Homeplus and grabbed different wines, headed to the riverside. Plopped our tired butts down and enjoyed everything around us. Of course, there was the usual 'random ajushi/ajumma' that was curious and wanted to talk to us.. the funniest thing though is when each of them continues to talk to you and ask you questions when they KNOW you don't speak a lick of Korean.. it's nearly impossible to shoo them away, yet quite entertaining for me most of the time.
We sat down on some exercise equipment (because you can find outdoors equipment everywhere around Korea cities..and when you can't find a normal bench, you can always use a sit-ups bench as a table :). I managed to do 1 pull-up.. I was too excited that I did one properly, that I wasn't able to fully do another one.. but I think I could have!!
#7 Movie
'To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar'
Never in my life, did I know that Patrick Swayze and Wesley Snipes starred in a drag queen movie. I never would have imagined that they would do SUCH a good job either. Wow, the entire time, I got lost in the fact that they were who they were, and they were playing who they were playing. Such a funny and positive movie!We decided that Ali was Patrick's part (Vida) because she's so white and he's so white.. and they both have such sweet hearts, Rehana was Wesley's part (Noxy) because she's ghetto like that, and I would be the latina (Chi-Chi) for obvious reasons.. ha, I wish... We are still calling each other these names.. woohoo!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)