Love at First Sight...

Love at First Sight...
Lanvin Happy Mini Pop Bag

Sunday, August 23, 2009

long time no blog...

okay so, i know it has been a few days since the last time i have uploaded a blog. i will try to re-cap every moment vividly since the last time i have blog. okay here goes...

tuesday..
i cant seem to remember what happended on tuesday...so it must not have been anything to blog about.

wednesday...
okay, it seems like something happended on this day. i am trying to remember but i just cant seem to remember what happended on this day. oh i do vaguely remember. i actually packed my clothes this day. ohhhhh thats right! i believe this is the day a popular korean radio talk show was here and we attended the live taping. their were a lot of good artist there who performed and a hilarious comedian. i also, realized that ihad somehow smeared chewing gum onto a nice pair of white shorts. ugh...i was disgusted with myself about this.

thurday...
1st stop sooda cooking college
oooo this was such an exciting day for us. so, i got up, showered, flat ironed my hair, painted my face and put on my shoes and clothes and walked out of the door. so, what and why was it so exciting? today's schedule was 1st stop on the way to the Soodo Cooking College. Now this was actually really fun. now i am not that much into cooking. infact i don't think i have even owned a pot set. the typical appliances in my kitchen are my microwave and george foreman grill. and thats about all that i have (aside from plates, utensils, glasses and etc). So, the menu was a Korean Style Beef dish, Korean Sushi, Kimchi and Watermelon for dessert. we sat in the class as the instructor showed us how to prepare the meal. when she was done we began our meal. of course i damn near blew up the kitchen. i don't know what happended. it looked so easy watching her mix the ingredients and cook it on the stove. just my luck when my partner turned on the stove and when i attempted to place the ingredients in the skillet lord and behold the skillet caught a fire! and the entire eye was up in flames! i am not certain what went wrong but the skillet was on fire. needless to say the instructor immediately came over to me and i am not entirely sure what she said to me (as she was speaking in korean) but i was 100% certain that she did would prefer that i continue making something that required no cooking. so i proceeded to chop the ingredients and made sushi. you would think making sushi would be a lot more complicated than cooking beef. actually, not at all. i have made many wraps in my day (remember i do not have pots and pans) but i can make a fancy sandwich and or salad like nobody's business! the meal came out great and i really enjoyed it.

2nd lotte world...
now, this also was a lot of fun. apparently lotte is a huge franchise here in s korea. they brand lotte is huge. they are the manufacture of clothes, chocolate and other merchandise. (i guess it would be equivalent to disney brand but on a broader scale). an indoor/outdoor amusement shop/hotel/mall. (i guess you can say it is similiar to the mall of america in minnesota meets disney world) but much more advanced. (i wasn't that impressed with the mall of america). the rides were great. a lot of restaurants. speaking of food at lotte world. you cant go to a fair or an amusement park without having a corndog. right? well, of course i got a corn dog. now i was a little skeptical about this. i was expecting a tofu dog or a kimchi flavored hot dog. but i was pleasantly surprised it was a regular corndog. but with a twist. now you know i am in s korea, so everthing is done with a twist. inside of the corn dog batter were peices of peanuts. yes, peanuts. and it was actually really good! now on to the other meal at lotte world. so, of course whenenver josie, emma and i are together we enjoy trying food. so we decide to eat something american (since this has become a rare treat for us) we go to this fast food place at the lotte world food court. and the place is called L's (if i remember correctly) and it was a lot like mcdonalds. so much in fact the uniforms were the same and the menu was very similiar. but you know with a twist. so what was it that i ordered? a bacon cheeseburger of course! that is as american as it gets. you cant get any more american that that. right? wrong. so wrong. this was just not a the regular plain cheeseburger that i had in mind. the bacon cheeseburger was this: a burger, olives, banana peppers, a flat peice of thick cheese that was more like a cheesy hashbrown, a special sauce, ketchup, tomatoes and lettuce. now sounds good right? not so much. it was just too weird for me. the texture and the taste was just all wrong. it was too made up. too fancy for me. the fries were really good. oh and so was my coca cola. now once we finished our meal i was in need of a papertowel or a napkin or something. (papertowels and or napkins are not common in s korea, instead you may find a roll of toilet paper on your table or you may use a wipe). josie points to a child going to this electric machine on the counter of the checkout counter. and the child pressed a button and out came a wet wipe. cool huh? i thought so....

friday...
okay, on this day i got up washed my clothes, took a shower, flat ironed my hair, painted my face and put on my clothes, put my clothes in the dryer and headed to the global atm. (in s korea you must go to a global atm in order to take any money from your account. seems easy enough right? um nope not so much. it seems that finding a global or international atm is almost next to impossible in s korea. you would think by this being such a tourist attraction country and with it being so technologically advanced that this would be of no issue. well, it is. s korea is a cash country. and everything is paid in cash. unless you have a korean bank account. well, why not just get a korean bank account and have money transferred into that account? well, funny you should think this. actually, i do have a korean bank account. that was set up during my orientation. however, since i am a foreigner and the bank account i have is very basic. it appears that i will need to set another type of bank account for int'l transfers. so why don't i just do that? well, it's no that easy. i have to wait until i receive my alien registration card. so you are probably wondering well, why didn't you just take all the money you had with your or why not just use your debit card since it has a VISA logo. not that easy. a lot of places will not use an international card and it doesn't matter what type of card it is. as for taking money with me. i didn't want to be carrying money with me and i stupidly assumed that if i had my visa logo card i would be able to grab money from an atm here. bad mistake and assuming on my part. so what do i do for money? thank GOD i have really good friends here. and also thank GOD my job has paid for everything and i really don't have to pay for anything. (except for extra stuff- and i love extra stuff) and thank GOD i have really only be dead broke for about 3 days now! my concern now is trying to get money out of my banking account. dear LORD please place a global atm before me!

got that off my chest...
so, now that i have sent out a special request to the LORD above to grace my prescense with an international atm. i can leave that burden on his shoulders and finish with my blog. so, back to friday.

still friday,
so after i got dressed and got ready i decided to head over to the next building i inquire about the global atm and its whereabouts in my area. i was adviced to go to the building next door and use the international atm. that atm takes visa. so i hurry off to this building and lord and behold the atm is only in korean and there is no button to press for english. so i figure well let me just figure this out... so i then notice big red symbols flashing across the screen. of course just my luck the atm is out of order. ugh! i was too done with this how in the world can the most technologically savvy place in the world only have one global atm within my proximity? ugh...
i then walk my sad sorry disgusted self back to my room. get my clothes out of the dryer and get ready to head over to the farewell orientation.

so long good bye...
the farewell orientation was really good. somewhat sad. everyone got together and we went over things to expect during our tenure and things that we have experience since we began this journey together. we would be seperating and going to our seperate locations and this would be the end for some and a long time for others to see each other. i think i may have also been teary eyed but i was wearing my makeup and i have keep every drop of makeup, lord only knows with my luck if i actually find a mac counter here we then had a great lunch. said our goodbyes, some were off to catch a flight others to take a long drive.

the long drive...
so i departed suwon and arrived safely to my province. pleasantly surprised. i love my bathroom and i love the room i am in. can i control the air in this building. of course NOT. but other than that things are good. i mean it's not like my place at home. but i do like. it is cute and quaint. and the atmosphere was good, real good.

on to super saturday...
so, now let me tell you about this day! of course, i got up, showered, flat ironed my hair (actually i did not flat iron my hair today, as i was considering wearing a hat), painted my face and put on my shoes and clothes. i had breakfast. and then we were off.

1st stop boseung tea plantation...
now this was a beautiful destination. there were rows and rows and rows of green tea. it was breathtaking. until...the purpose of visiting this plantation is to hike up the every so TALL mountain so that you can really see the green tea field and the ocean from above. now, i thought this was wonderful. just not wonderful for me. the most exercise i have gotten in the past 5 yrs has been me taking my dog rita out to pee. other than that i don't do much exercising. so this was going to be super tough for me. did i do it? you betcha. did i say i was going to turn back and go back to the bus? you betcha'. when someone said "but shayla the view will be worth it you will see all of the green tea and the beautiful view of the ocean!" what was my response? like i care about an ocean i am from florida i can drive past an ocean and i buy a tea bag and just cut it open. so, as i sweated and felt the sensation of a charlie horse in the back of my both legs i finally made it up that mountain after only attempting to quit 11 times and taking 5 breaks. was it a hard as i thought? yes, harder! was the view spectacular? actually yes it was! did i feel like i had accomplished anything? hell no! the only feeling i had was how soon can i get my chubby ass down from this high ass hot mountain and grab one of those famous green tea ice cream cones!

lunch break...
had a great typical korean style lunch. and i loved the food

2nd stop naganeupseung village...
now this was super interesting. apparently this was not only an observation camp site but also a residential area. their were natives there who have lived there for years. they were living in real villages! yes a real village! what kind of village? the kind where the wash their clothes by hand and grow their own vegetables. the kind where the still sleep on mats. to paint a picture they havent really upgraded thier living accomodations since the early 1900's or before. this was amazing to really see people walking around like this. there were no blackberries or iphones. no one had a laptop. no fancy cars. none of the luxuries we everyday people have. did i feel as if i wanted to experience this life. um no! you know if i cant plug in my flat iron or wifi that is problem for me! but i will say i am interested in the bed and breakfast they have on the premises. you can experience living next door to the natives for the week or even wkend. i think before i leave this gorgeous country i will experience leaving the flat iron and the laptop and all of my luxuries at home. who knows i may even enjoy it! now before i forget i must mention this.

finally get my 5 minutes of fame...
so, while walking around this amazing village i notice a crew of photographers about (30 or so) and they were taking photos of the oldest natives in the camp as they proceed with their everyday activities. i lock eyes with one of the photographers and i see him turn to the rest of his crew and they all stop and stare at me. i thought this was odd. but i thought nothing of it. i mean i have been in s korea for now going on 3 wks and not too many people have really made a big deal about me being here. until....i was just about to get ready to leave the village. and i met up with the rest of my group (of course that consisted of 3 other foreigners who are white) and s korea really puts whites on a pedestal they are usually in awe of white americans. because they associate white with america and dark with africa. yes very true. so the photographers don't see me and i see the same camera crew (about 30 or so) whipping out thier huge len's and taking numerious photos of my friends. picture after picture after picture!!! they were in awe. until they saw me. lord have mercy! they rushed over and was saying look here, look here, no look here, oh my god she's beautiful. so of course. i did what any american celebrity would do. i fluffed my hair pulled out my mirrow made sure everything was in place and smiled like it was my job. i figured if i was going to be on the cover of "weird and foreign things" i would be fierce!

3rd stop suncheon...
so i got a close look at the city i will be living here. i went to the suncheon musuem. very cute and interesting. i am excited to finally move to my city and get situated.

dinner time...
so, after all of this excitement we were all pretty hungry. so why not barbecue. everyone loves barbecue right? of course. so we arrived a cute restaurant with the entrance that had a row of cubby holes. for shoes of course. so i took off my shoes and socks and walked to the seating area. yes seating area. and i sat on the floor on a mat and there were several dishes placed before me. there was a grill on the table. korean barbecue is a lot different than american style barbecue. when we barbecue in america it is done outdoor and the food is usually chicken, ribs, steaks, hotdogs and etc. not in korea. now like i told you before. everything here is done with a twist. korean barbecue is done on the table that you are sitting at. at you fry your foods and there are many sauces you dip them into. all i can say it is tooooooo good! something that anyone must try! infact, when i come home i would love to find a korean barbecue restaurant. this is my new favorite thing.

so today was filled with many things and it was a wonderful day and i enjoyed it emmensely...

until next time...
smooches

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