a little Sunday adventure...

On Sunday, it was pretty warm outside compared to the rest of the week so we decided to do something that I knew could be done, but that I have never tried before.

Although, it was totally not planned.  At first, we thought we'd just take a walk along Seongbukcheon, the stream near my house, which we've done on many occasions.  But then we kept walking when we got to Cheonggyecheon (about a 20 minute walk).

where the 2 streams meet

We kept walking past Dongmyo and Dongdaemun all the way to Jongno!!  It took about an hour and half to get to the Jonggak area.  I have no idea how far the actual distance was, but we def took the subway home from there (which only takes about 15 minutes total even with 1 transfer).

the path from start to finish

'Tis the season..

Even though Christmas is not a really big holiday here in Korea, it still gives the city an excuse to decorate.  Decorations are showing up all over town these days.  Everything looks so pretty!  Yesterday I put out the tiny Christmas tree I bought at Artbox last year.

decorations on display at the local Daiso

entrance at COEX

Myeongdong stage photo op

Christmas tree at COEX Intl. Lobby

display at Spao..fair aisle is all the rage this year

Thankful.

lots of be thankful for this year...

-family
-friends of 15+ years
-friends of 1 year and 4 months (my family in Korea)
-kbf
-good health
-a steady job
-a steady income
-a free house
-heated floors
-time to travel the world
-the means to travel the world
-my galaxy s2 to enable me to call my family on Thanksgiving from Korea
-skype
-only about 4 more weeks of teaching my 6th graders before they leave forever (!!)
-puffer coats
-ugg boots to keep my tootsies warm at school
-living in a city I love
-non-rainy season in Korea (gotta look at the bright side of winter)
-waygook.org
-heat in the English room

...and of course 2 lovely friends for putting together a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner party once again this year. (plus the US army guy who was nice enough to bring the turkey from the base!)

the table

the spread

the plate

the pumpkin pie & homemade whipped cream

the lovely hosts breaking the wish bone (from last year)

"you should wear clothes like bear"

sometimes when it is going to be cold outside, my kbf will send me messages to warn me or tell me to take care of myself...they always make me chuckle, especially this one..

Baby it's cold..

..like seriously FRIGID.  It's not even December yet.  What the heck.

on the plus side, I got to wear my new scarf today.

School pictures (and my digital perm)

I just received a copy of my school photo via cool messenger.  This photo was taken back in September or something and, of course, nobody told me about it.

I was just sitting at my desk getting ready for class to start when my co-teacher was like..."Let's go downstairs to have our picture taken."...and I'm like..."for what?"  I thought it was just going to be someone with a digital camera taking a picture of the two of us together...but once we got down there, I realized what it was.

Therefore, I didn't have time to even check myself in the mirror or even put on chap-stick.  I had also gone to bed the night before with wet hair so it was slightly out of control.  All I could do is stand there and twirl and tame my hair before my turn came up.  (*for those of you who are curious about my perm..this is around the 2 month mark and what it looks like after applying mousse on wet hair and then sleeping on it).

Anyway, I guess it turned out fine...even though, it does seem they may have photo-shopped it to give me a slightly bigger face once again this year, but what can you do?


602  >>
I send your gorgerous photo.


441 Sonya >>
haha thank you!

602 >>
Oh my god! Not gorgerous but gorgeous

And also, here's a nice little selca (self-camera/cam whoring/korean style if you will) picture of my hair today.  It basically looks the same 2 months later, styled the same way (washed last night).  [see what I mean...my face is totally rounder in the school photo...I don't get it]

4 months after digital perm

Socks & Crocs :(

Currently sitting at my desk in my freezing classroom because the heat isn't working.  Winter officially made his presence known on Saturday night.  I made the poor decision of wearing shoes without socks today but grabbed some socks on the way out the door.  It's come down to wearing the socks with my school "slippers" aka crocs (which I don't actually wear everyday..only if I feel like the crocs would be more comfortable than my real shoes)..and it's still cold.    

안아고

Why are all of my updates food related lately?  Since being in Korea, I find myself eating a lot of things that I normally would not eat in America..and liking it.  For example, squid, both cooked and dried, among other random stuff that I don't actually know what it is. 

I tried 안아고 (anago=sea eel) in it's raw state for the first time.  I once saw some adjusshis frying up some live eel while it wriggled around on the grill.  I was pretty much mortified.  They also look totally sick in the fish tanks in front of restaurants...

I found this picture on the internets, but isn't it gross?

The only way I've ever previously eaten eel is cooked and in a sushi roll with that delicious black sauce.  I don't think you can actually taste the eel at all.  Anyway, it was actually pretty good..minus the weird bones that were in them.  We got it all chopped up and ate it with 쌍추 (big lettuce leaves) like you do with Korean barbecue.  

Here is what it looked like:

of course with some regular sushi too just in case the eel wasn't good!

Hello mozzarella.

My dinner last night was a salad from Paris Baguette.

I haven't had mozzarella cheese in who knows how long.

고구마!

Last night I made some 고구마 (goguma) fries!  고구마 is Korean sweet potato, but it's slightly different from the sweet potato that I'm used to.  It's more yellow than orange and a little less stringy?  I've also been told by a Korean person that they match well with kimchi..ew?  It's eaten by Koreans as a snack after dinner or in between meals rather than as an actual side dish with a meal.

Either way, my fries turned out pretty good even though they would have been better if I had an oven..

A Friday Off Work..

Last Friday, I didn't have school.  I don't know why...school anniversary/birthday...I don't ask questions.  I decided to spend the afternoon at Seoul Forest (서울숲).  [you can get there by going to Ttukseom station and following the signs from exit 8 I think...it's probably about a 10 minute walk]  I have been meaning to go there sometime this fall, but hadn't had a chance yet because of rain or other plans.  It was kinda gloomy that day and actually started raining a little bit as I was walking there, but overall, it wasn't too cold and ended up being a nice little day trip.  Actually...a lot of trees have already lost most of their leaves, but some of them were still alive!

I climbed into this sculpture thing rather easily only to tumble out of the small hole and terribly bruise both my knees.

in the sculpture park

one of the only pretty trees left

love how in Seoul, there are parks in the middle of high rises..those apartments must have a great view

there was also a playground for children (and for handicapped people?)

oh! and they keep bambi in a cage here

Korean Chicken Noodle Soup

Last week, after a Saturday night out at Club Holic, I came down with my first cold of the season.  I was actually just thinking to myself that I'm lucky I haven't gotten sick yet.  I thought that maybe I would avoid getting sick in Korea this fall because maybe my body has gotten used to the viruses here.  I got over it pretty fast by taking dayquil/nyquil, going to bed at 9:30pm for 2 nights in a row, and picking up some porridge from Bonjuk 본죽.

Korean people like to eat this rice porridge called juk when they get sick.  It definitely doesn't sound as appetizing as chicken noodle soup, but it actually really does hit the spot on a sick day.  It all comes nicely packed in a bag with handles and a nice re-usable tupperware which I have collected a few of already.  It also comes with a side of marinated beef which I really like and haven't had anywhere else except with juk.

야채죽 vegetable juk

Shufflin.

How to shuffle if you are a Korean high school student:

Cheetos

I love cheetos.  In particular, I like CHEEZ flavored cheetos.  In fact, they might be my favorite snack.  This kind...

For some reason, Korea thinks that flavors like hamburger and barbecue are better.  I can only find cheese cheetos at the foreign food market and pay 5,000won per bag.

wtf spicy barbecue!

You can imagine my excitement when I spotted a bag of 치즈 (cheese) cheetos at the mart near my house.  Sure, the color of the bag was a little off, but I held out hope that I finally found regular cheetos for a mere 2,000won.

strange LIGHT orange color

WRONG!  Dang.  They taste strangely of cheese, but still, it's not right.  At least they came with a free K-Pop trading card.  I think I got T-ARA.

new nails

Currently really liking my nail polish selection.  Blue polish from Skin Food under black crackle polish from the Face Shop.

I've always liked painting my nails, but I really LOVE the availability and price of nail polish in Korea.  Every time I pass a cosmetic store, be it Skin Food, Face Shop, it's Skin, etc. I am lured in by the new polish displays.  The most expensive polish I have bought in Korea was maybe 5,000won which is still significantly cheaper than brands like Sally Hansen Salon Effects and OPI.