Payday Weekend!!

So...I was living off 20 000won before I got paid, sooooo you could imagine how happy I was to see money in my bank account.  I had told my co-teachers about how much I liked Mister Donut and they've never had it before.  Since they've been taking such good care of me and always gives me snacks, I figured that the least I could do was say thank you.

I brought them 10 Mister Donuts and they looooved it.  They don't really taste like normal donuts, they're a little chewy but that's what makes them so good.  Plus, who wouldn't want a donut that's made of little balls.  This cost about 12 000won of deliciousness =).

 

Friday night, everybody got paid so we decided we could treat ourselves to good food and drinks in Gangnam.  We went back to our favourite bar, Angus.  While waiting for everybody to arrive at Angus, we spotted this guy.  =P....Korea..you're awesome!!

After Angus, we wanted more food so we got a chicken dish.  We also got street food after this too =P.

The next day, our friends' church was having a picnic at a park and told me I should go check it out.  The park was beautiful, I would love to go back.  It's about a 10-15 minute walk from the Express Bus Terminal stop.  I think it's called Hangang Park or something Bo park =S.

 This big rock was kind of in the middle of the road, near the bridge.

They had these interesting structures on one side.

 And a more typical-looking park on the other side.

Claudia: "an apple with claws"

 

The bridge started spraying water and if you stand on the other side, you could see a rainbow too.  I heard there's a much nicer one in Vegas buuuut I still haven't been there so this looked awesome to me. =P

After chilling at the park, we went to Myeongdong and had dinner.  Because we finally got paid, we haaaaad to go shopping.  I actually didn't buy as much as I thought I would.  I'm pretty proud of myself.  I didn't find clothes I wanted.  I looooooove fall fashion but they still had a lot of summer stuff out and I'm searching for fall/winter stuff and I also need a super warm winter jacket for boarding.  My wool jacket just won't do.

I just bought necessities.  I was running out of my facial lotion and moisturizer.  However, looking for skincare in Korea is like a journey in itself.   There are soooo many stores that sell skincare and in the store there are sooo many lines.  I wanted something more natural for my sensitive skin, so my friends recommended Skinfood and Innisfree.

Myeongdong at like at least 2 of every skincare store so it was super overwhelming.  I got a few masks and a new moisturizer so I'm excited and set for the cooler months.  I also bought the cutest planner from Artbox.  This was was just 3000won.  It was on sale.

 

The best part about shopping in Korea, FREE SAMPLES!! makes me sooo happy =).

Today (Sunday), our friend Stefan suggested we check out a Disney Animation Exhibit.  It was sooooo coool!! Claudia suggested a Disney movie marathon.  I'm sooo exciiiited!! We weren't allowed to take any pictures and today was the last day, but if they ever have it in your city, you have to check it out.  It was held at Seoul Arts Center by Seocho station.  I hear there's like Jazz nights and musicals there too so I can't wait for that.

NICE! Foreigner discount.  It was 14 000 won and I we got 10% off sooo I think it was 12 600.

 All these people were just chilling around outside the Arts Center.  They were selling food too so people were sitting outside on tables too.  It reminded me of Venice.

I didn't bring my camera so you can't see the cool water stuff =(.  But I liked it =D.

After a day of fun, we had to find good food too!  I was like.."uhhhh is that fat?" and it is pig fat that we use as oil. 

Samgyupsal =)..never thought I would like fatty meat this much.  I don't remember what this place was called but it was on our walk back to Seocho station.

Budae jjigae - uncooked.

Budae jjigae - ready.  Apparently, this was originally served to men from the military.  There's sausage/hot dogs, tofu, ddeok, spam and veggies.  I really like it on a cold day, but Claudia didn't care for it so you have to try it for yourself.

Always nice to end a slightly chilly fall night with warm and delicious soup =). 

xoxo

Chuseok Holiday

As I already mentioned, Chuseok is like Korean Thanksgiving and it happens on the same day as Chinese Mid-Autumn festival.  Pretty much families just gather together and have a huge meal.  I heard that many women hate Chuseok because they're put under a lot of pressure to make a delicious meal.

Because we don't really have Korean families here, we decided to learn more about Korean culture on such an important day.

1. Palace.

This palace was called Deoksugung, it's right by City Hall station.

Claudia made me do it! lol 

Chuseok special performances.

So many people were there!

Cool trees so we took a picture there =P.

How can we not take a picture with a fountain? LOL 

2. National Museum of Korea.

This was right outside of the museum.  I really wanted to go inside, reminds me of old Chinese palaces in olden day Chinese shows  heh heh.

To prove that we were here =P.

Traditional crown. 

Taking a picture after our tour.

3. Food

Because it was Chuseok so everything was closed so that people could have dinner with their families.  We didn't have a Korean family to go to so we resorted to cup ramyun. lol a little bit sad but it was very good =D

4. Claudia's birthday fell right in the middle of Chuseok holiday.

What kind of friend would I be if I didn't take her to eat Popeyes? I'm pretty sure she had Popeyes for her last bday too =P. 

5. Zoo.

Taking the tram to go to the zoo.

My favourite picture, I will post more on facebook.

Everybody at the zoo for Claudia's bday =).  Do you like her Panda mask?

6. More food =P.

We couldn't find a bbq place so we settle for Dakgalbi again.  It looks ever better this time, I think it was because we were all starving.

Obviously adding rice at the end.  It seems like you won't be full if you don't add in some rice.  How can I go back to Joons in Canada after eating at "Yooganhye" in Korea? There's many locations, we went to the one in Gangnam but there's like at least 2 in Myeongdong.

7. Booze.

Claudia proving that she can handle her alcohol.

Angus.  Stefan's determined to make this OUR bar so that everybody who works there will know all of us by the end of this year =P.

8. Karaoke

Finally ending her bday away from home with Noraebang.  Hope you enjoyed your birthday!

9. Amusement Park

The last day of my Chuseok break, my coteachers invited me to Seoul Land.  If you're really into roller coasters, this might not be the place for you.  I love roller coasters so I was a bit bored.  It's a location better for families with younger children.  Although the rides weren't my favourite, I was able to meet my co-teachers' children so I felt like I bonded with them more and felt more like we were a family.

This was probably the only ride that was decent.  My co-teachers were too scared to ride it with me so her 7 year old daughter had to.  She was so brave!  She pretty much thought every ride was boring and didn't really smile until she got off this ride =P.

                                     

The same ride that you see that the Ex that spins really fast and makes you squish the person sitting at the end.

The difference? When you go backwards, they put this cloth over you, "It's kiss time!" LOL..I'm not even lying! 

First time spending Mid-Autumn Festival away from home.  Feels nice to be with people who feel like family during times like these.  Makes us miss home a little less.

xoxo

Surviving Korea with 70 000won.

I guess having never lived by myself, I didn't use my money wisely.  There is still 8 more days until payday and I only have 70 000won left.  That's about $70 CAD lol. It's doable..just..difficult.  I was determined to stay in everyday this weekend, my body and wallet needs it lol. Buuuut on Saturday there are free Korean classes, a BBQ, and probably drinks and snacks after so I couldn't hibernate the way I wanted to.  I'm probably going to skip the drinks and snack part in order to make it alive till the 24th.  Plus people drink a lot here, I'm not even someone who drinks a lot and I've already drank a lot more than I normally would in Canada, my body can't really handle it lol.  If you decide that you do wanna go out and play you have some other options to save money.

I already mentioned Issac Toast in my last blog post, that Bulgogi sandwich we ordered was only 2600won.  If that is still too expensive, you have another option.

Kimbap!! It pretty much means "seaweed-rice" This whole roll costs 1500won, which is like $1.50cad.

It looks like Japanese hand rolls but they're very different.  There is egg, ham and some veggies in this one. Not bad for 1500won.

Lately, I've been super busy and exhausted.  I took a lot of pictures over Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving; it's on the same day as Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival) and I still have to organize and arrange all the pictures.  I'm trying to get everything done so that I could make a blog post about it this weekend.  Hope nobody else is suffering with money like I am =P.

xoxo

Embracing Korea

I'm not really a sports girl but I really enjoy watching sports with my brother, boyfriend and my friends. To be honest though, I don't really know all the rules to the sports we watch.  I just enjoy their company and the excitement I get from watching a cool dunk, crazy tackle or a nice goal.  Baseball is one of those sports that I don't really watch alone or with people.  I don't mind playing it, but watching it seems really boring to me.  I know that baseball is really big in Korea so when Stephen asked if I'd go to a game, I said sure.

Before we met up with Stephen, Claudia and I went to Issac Toast for lunch.  We have heard good things about this place, and it's right by us.

We just call him Issac now because he works there and he makes sandwich-making such an art.  I love watching him put butter and sauces on our toast.  He's so delicate and makes it seem like he really cares about our food.

 Our Bulgogi MVPs.  You get an egg and this bulgogi patty thing lol.  It comes with shredded cabbage, pickles and like sweet and tangy sauces.

Here's the patty.  Probably not the healthiest meal, but soo good =).

 Cute Korean packaging.

 

Take a bite!

Finally, we went to Sports Complex station and met up with Stephen and Farhan.  There wasn't that many people there yet, but it's good thing that we went early because tickets were selling out pretty quickly.

 Waiting in line to buy tickets.

 They sell buckets of KFC outside the stadium. =P

 The most expensive tickets were sold out so we got the second most expensive ones.  12 000 won and we were by the first base.

 It took us a while to figure out which team we were supporting.  We decided we had to support the home team - Doosan Bears.  I can't go to my first baseball game without buying these whatever they're called LOL.  They were 2 for 2000 won.

 Getting exciiiiiittteeed!

So cute =P

 Finally inside =).

 Stretching.

We didn't know that this said so we asked these kids behind us.  It means Doosan is the best?  These kids had awesome English! I wish they were in my class =P

 Waiting...

And waiting...... 

Getting excited after hearing the other team's cheers and chants.

 They were all so synchronized.  It was mesmerizing.  We were almost watching this more than the game itself.

 Getting darker, I love when those lights turn on =).

 


I really didn't think I would have such an awesome time watching a baseball game, but the atmosphere was awesome.  Plus we won =D.  We very quickly became loyal Bears fans LOL.  After watching the game, we were starving and some people wanted to watch a soccer game in Itaewon, so we headed over for dinner.  Soccer again is one of those sports I don't really watch.  Not that I don't enjoy it, just..it's so long and sometimes it's a pretty slow game.  I pretty much only watch soccer when it's World Cup.

Streets of Itaewon.  Some people don't like it here, but I really didn't mind.

 We had burritos

 and quesadilla.  Exactly the something different we were looking for.

 Hollywood Grill where we watched soccer surrounded by a whole bunch of English men lol.  Watching soccer while listening to people scream at the screen with a British accent makes it that much more interesting.

All and all I had an amazing day.  I love how we could embrace Korea but also do things that make us feel like we're not in Korea at all.  It might be kind of weird that I had such a good time watching sports because I'm usually a very girly girl, but it was a different experience and the people made it exciting.  I know my boys back home would be really proud of us for spending a whole day watching sports ;).

xoxo