Tell It Once: 2012

Monday, September 3, 2012

Hong Kong and Singapore

I've been back in Canada since last Sunday and it's been exciting and exhausting to get back into the swing of things. From looking for jobs to reuniting with friends to spending time with family, it's been insane. So much has happened in so little time.

I started this blog when I left to Korea so it seems weird to still be blogging now that I'm home. I think I'm just going to keep it up only because 1, nowhere in my blog does it indicate that this is a Korea blog (lol) and 2, I just want to =P. Also, I did promise a HK, Singapore blog so here it is.

All You Can Eat Tuna!!!

Who doesn't love good tuna sashimi? After I read this article, it didn't take a lot for Claudia and John to be convinced to try "Lee Chun Bok Tuna" (이춘복참치) with me =)

Everland!

Sorry, so this is a very much delayed post but I've been busy and travelling and watching the olympics sooo I didn't get around to posting this till now. Forgive me please =D

Monsoon Season!

So, July/August is monsoon season here in Korea. We just missed it when we arrived last year but there was a huge flood. So far, we've only had one or two days of heavy rain. Apparently it started late this year as well...sooo we got lucky?

DMZ

Last weekend, Claudia, John and I went to the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone). Basically, went on a tour to the border of North and South Korea. Apparently this is dangerous and not a lot of Koreans take these tours. You could click here to find out more information about the tour, costs and how to make a reservation. We chose the combined tour: 3rd tunnel and Panmujom. It was kind of pricey, it was 120 000won, but it was very interesting and informative. Our tour guide was hilarious too.

Around the World!

FLIGHTS BOOKED!

Wicked!!!

May was super busy, Michelle, family, Jessica (Claudia's sister) all came to visit. To top it off, I got really sick the past week and missed two days of school. Sorry I wasn't able to post as much as I wanted to....BUUUUT last night was amazing. Now that my cough is finally going away, I have more time and energy to DO stuff =).

Last night, we went to watch Wicked in Korea. How random is that?! It was pretty freaking darn amazing though! I can't stop listening to the songs..I can see the show in my head right now. I want to see it again!

Teacher's Day =)

So in May, Korea has Children's Day (5th), Parents' Day (8th - they don't have each parents' day separated like us), Teacher's Day (15th) and I think there's a Black Day or something too for single people. Needless to say, a crap load of celebrations. On Teacher's Day, students bring letters, flowers, gifts and even cake for their teachers. I was very sad when I didn't receive any cake, being the fatty that I am, but no teachers at my school did either. I wasn't sure why this was, until my co-teacher informed me today, that our VP announced in a meeting, for homeroom teachers to not allow (more like discourage) students to bring gifts for teachers. Apparently only letters were allowed.

Dobongsan

Koreans LOVE to hike. My co-teacher pretty much goes hiking every weekend. All the ahjummas and ahjusshis are always decked out in their hiking gear on the subways, streets, restaurants, you name it. Since living in Korea, I've always wanted to try hiking, but I was always a little nervous. Also, I didn't always have time and the weather wasn't really on our side until recently. Since Michelle is here visiting with Sabrina, we thought what better time to go hiking. I could show them a little bit of Korean culture and check an item of the list.

Food..food...more food =)

So, as I mentioned in a previous post, all of us are starting to freak out a little bit since we've already been in Seoul for almost 8 months now and it feels like there's so much we still haven't done. Especially with the weather warming up a little bit, we decided to kickstart this weekend by eating at the restaurants we've been craving but haven't had time to check out.

Rain..rain..please stay away...

For as long as I've been in Korea, there hasn't been too many rainy days, but I still can't stand them. All you people who love rain.....you're crazy LOL. The weird thing about Korea is that no matter how light the rain is, you will see everybody on the streets holding umbrellas. You have no idea how many times I left the house without one and people look at me like I'm crazy because I'm only wearing a hood in the rain. Needless to say, I've learned my lesson: never leave the house without an umbrella, even when it's barely drizzling.

Freakin' Geocaching..

You may or may not know that pretty much every Sunday, Claudia and I go lesson plan at our local Zoo Coffee. Obviously we spend a lot more time chatting, web-surfing and the occasional facebook stalking. This past Sunday, Claudia read about our fellow Canadian Epiker, Holley and her boyfriend's Geocaching adventures. Claudia worked her little magic and suddenly now we have a brand new adventure to look forward to. Seriously..this has probably been the single most exciting thing I've done yet!

White Day

Double post? =D

So March 14th was "White Day" in Korea and it's another "couple's day." Seriously, to be a single Korean living in Korea..it must be extra depressing. As far as I know there are 3 Valentine's Day-type days in Korea and White Day is one of them.

Korea...you're so awesome....you boggle my mind!!

So..if you guys have read this post, you know that Korea has some amazing and cheap clothes/shoes/accessories, you name it. Claudia and I grabbed dinner at Sadang Station today and HOLY CRAP..we found the best deal yet.

Big Bang - Big Show Concert 2012

On the same Friday that Ace left for Toronto, Claudia, John and I had bought tickets to see the Big Bang concert. I was so conflicted..I was sad that Ace left..but I was also pretty excited about the concert. Similar to the feeling I had with the YG family concert..I was just meeeh about it until I got there..people there just gets you SUPER excited! Honestly..by the end of the concert..whether it was the heat, the screaming VIPs or Big Bang themselves, I started to feel like I was drunk without the alcohol LOL.

I'm very happy that they sang a lot of their old songs too. Me..being the bad fan that I am..only knew two of their new songs from the Alive mini album that they just released, buuuuut I liked them =P.

None of the YG concerts I've been to allowed cameras buuuuuuuut...I kiiinnnnddaa..maybe...sorrrrta snuck mine in......lol..I managed to get some good shots..but then a man came over and said something in Korean..and I would like to say I was being smooth and pretended that I didn't understand..but I ACTUALLY didn't know what he said even though I could assume from the way that he looked that he wanted to take my camera or delete my pictures. Whichever the case may be...he failed..soooo here are some of the not-allowed-to-be-taken pictures that I have......I'm horrible...I know

Subway Shopping

So I've been in Korea for about 6 months now, and I've only been in a department store like..5 times? In Korea, anything imported is realllly overpriced. I remember when I went to Hong Kong, all of their own stuff was super cheap and imported stuff. For example, I remember going to H&M in Hong Kong, finding more stylish and cheaper pieces than back in Canada. However, H&M, Zara, Converse, etc. are all a lot more expensive and the styles aren't very different from the ones back home.

I've resorted to shopping in subway stations....."wtf?" you ask? Yes...subway shopping..LOL

BBQed

Around the World: Tokyo and Osaka

To start off..I want to say yay!! my bf is here and he brought along a new Macbook Pro for me so I can can blog freely without worrying that my computer is just going to turn off =D.

Sooo...it's been almost a month since I've returned from Japan so it's about time I shared my thoughts. I mean EVERYBODY says this but for me it was pretty true, people in Japan are soooo nice. It's possible that I went during the Lunar New Year and the amount of people getting on and off the subways could have been significantly reduced from the average day, but.....NO SHOVING! I was shocked especially since I've been living in Seoul for the past 5-6 months, getting on the subway without getting shoved comes as a shock to me. This also worries me, because it means that I am starting to become desensitized to all of the shoving in Korea..to a point where I have almost stopped realizing how annoying it is until I left the country. With that being said, I still very much think I would prefer living in Korean rather than Japan. I love it here =D

Update: Japan blog post FAIL

Sooooo I really wanted to write a post about my experience in Japan and post a video as well..buuuut my laptop is total crap. Every time I try to do something it just turns off and takes half my life to load up again. Ace will be here on Saturday and should be arriving with a new laptop for me sooooo I'm super excited!! Also, by then I should be able to have all my pictures and videos and whatnot together. Sorry for the delay. If you're bored I have pictures up on facebook - http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10100615034044130.2744209.48914887&type=3 ...if you don't have facebook..sorry..you'll have to wait.

I hope nobody else has to deal with annoying, useless, aggravating, irritating, send-you-to-a-mental-hospital technology like I do.

Happy Tuesday!

xoxo

P.S. Only 4 more days! Can you tell that I'm super excited?!??!?!

P.P.S. Ms Chan..I will be forever grateful of you sitting through my countdown and made a conscious decision to still be my friend =D xoxoxo

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

SNOW!!

Sorry I haven't been posting. I was just so exhausted after Japan and resting two days did not seem enough plus I got sick. I'm also trying to buy Big Bang concert tickets, not to mention my computer is crap (Ace might be arriving with a new laptop for me...I'm super excited) and of course planning lessons =P. I'm slowly uploading my camp and Japan pictures so I'll hopefully have a post up about those soon.

So in school students have two more weeks before they have their vacation to start the next school year (it doesn't really make sense but that's how it works here), so we don't have to teach morning classes.

While I was doing my lesson, my co-teacher pointed out that it was snowing outside, I was shocked at the big flakes but thought "no biggie..I'm from Canada." Like minutes later I looked up again...

Updates: Japan

Sorry I haven`t been able to post anything lately. I am currently in Osaka. We just got off a 8 hour bus ride from Tokyo to Osaka and I am SUPER tired. We are not able to check into our hotels until 3pm so we just left our luggage with the front desk, grabbed some morning Egg McMuffin combo and are now in a internet cafe. I think people sleep here over night too..you can get a open room like we are in now OR you can get private rooms or pair rooms (Korea PC Bang anybody?) LOL..I`m not sure but there are showers in here too..crazy! Anyway..just wanted to give a quick update since we have internet for now.

I hope everybody had an awesome Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year!! Year of the DRAGON!! =)

xoxo

Friday, January 13, 2012

Latest Obsessions

So friends from home know that I kind of have this obsession with finding skincare products to make my face softer and smoother and finding hair products to do the same thing. I've been hearing forever that Korea has awesome skincare products so when I arrived, I got super excited and tried a lot of different things. Korean skincare brands such as Skinfoods, Innisfree, The Face Shop, Nature Republic, Missha, Etude House.....etc. etc. could be found EVERYWHERE. They have shops inside stations, on the streets of Myeondong and Hongdae....seriously...everywhere.

My blog posts aren't usually specific to products but I've been obsessed lately and really want to share. Sorry to any guys reading this..you probably won't be interested. My bad!

Juno Hair

I am pretty particular about my hair so I was terrified to get a haircut in Korea. I heard horror stories where people go into a salon in Korea and tell the stylist how they want their hair cut, but due to miscommunication and stylists disregarding their clients' demands, they end up with a hairstyle that they hate.

I haven't done anything to my hair since I arrived in Korea and frankly, it was turning into a hot mess. I had split ends, it got tangled all the time and it just wasn't soft anymore.......sexy right?..I know! =P

My friend Claudia had the same problem so we sucked it up and headed over to Juno Hair.

Daejeon

After the first week of winter camp, my co-teachers all wanted to go on a overnight trip so we can "hang out." They chose the location and all I had to do was bring a towel. The teachers all show up with their little purse and here I am with my duffle...fml lol.

Anyway, we ended up going to Daejeon by car which is about 1 hour drive from Seoul. Some of my co-teachers go to Daejeon with their families because teachers get discounts and it's right by a beach.

Happy New Year!

It's finally 2012, hope all of you had an amazing year in 2011. I figured it would be a good time to do a quick recap of all the happy moments in 2011 =). Looking back at all the pictures, I notice that nothing too exciting happened until I arrived in Korea =P.

Here are some of the things I've done the the past year in no particular order:

1. Before Korea...