Chuiee's Adventures: October 2014

Monday, October 20, 2014

So the day before my co-teacher, literally called me and said I was going to go to a sports competition. The first thing that came to my mind was "how about class?" He told me that they all will be participating in the event. However, I had to teach after school classes. It would of been better if he told me ahead of time in advance. I'm pretty sure if its a city wide event, the days were most likely set. I had lesson planned for all my classes for nothing and I can't use it for next week either. My co-teacher teaches the sections and we alternate sections on what the students left off. Hence, that I only go to that school once a week.

My co-teacher is not the best person to describe directions at all..neither am I. That is the reason why I don't give directions to anyone and that is why they would receive a map from me. So I ended leaving my house at 8:20am to give myself a head start in case I get lost. So here I go walking around remembering the directions in my head that he gave to me over the phone the other evening. I followed the instructions and 20 minutes passed by and I didn't see any signs that lead me towards city hall. I started to doubt the directions he gave me and gave him a ring. We were going back and fourth on the phone until I told him just let me know what the name of the place is, I can find it myself. I was a bit frustrated...so my co-teacher told me to give my phone to a stranger, not a bad idea. So I found a plant shop with a cutie inside haha.. I said hello in Korean and literally stuck my phone in his ear because he didn't know any English at all.

But anyways, October 17th was a city wide sports athletic competition in my town. The best runner of each age group represents there school. I also seen some of my other students from my other two schools that I teach at. They all greeted me with big smiles. I told them a term that Koreans use a lot, fighting! I was wishing my students the best. It was a nice experience to watch my students participate in the athletic competition. I hope throughout this school year I will be able to participate in more school events and cheer on my students.

First Baseball Game in S. Korea

I went to my first baseball game in Masan, NC Dinos vs. TWIN. I was voting for the NC Dinos because my friend was a hardcore NC Dino's fan, however I'm not a big baseball fan but the baseball game in S. Korea is definitely more exciting and exhilarating. I went to a Yankee baseball game in New York City before. Baseball in S.Korea is very popular. It is just like how the U.S.A is with football. However, in the baseball game stadium in Korea, you can bring whatever you want in the stadium but you can't bring glass items. They also sell boos and snacks. They literally have a CU convenient store built underneath a couple row of seats. Every person that was at the game had a jersey on with their last name or their favorite Korean baseball player even the infants...which I find very adorable... The parents get them started on baseball..young hahaha....

Almost the same with the States. So before heading in the baseball stadium, they have stalls of vendors selling snacks and food such as kimbap, squid, octopus, popcorn and so much more. I got sucked into buying the grilled octopus and boy was it yummy!..I love squid and octopus...but after eating it, it makes your mouth reekkk like no tomorrow....hahahah...I actually pigged out that day. I had octopus, corn chips, and beer. I not a fan of beer because it makes my belly bulge out but it was a compliment it had with the chips was delicious. hahaha The NC Dinos won!!! Woot!! Woot!! We didn't watch all 9 innings. We head back to my friend's house and started packing. And we had patbingsu at Su-bing..Deliciousness, we wanted to get Mango but it was out of season, we ended up trying a really nutty cheesecake patbingsu with honey toast bread...It was pretty good! After are indulgences in sweets, it was time for us to depart..

Seoul Weekend

As I’m writing this post, I am sitting in the most tight-est awkward spot on the train...since I didn’t purchase the train tickets ahead of time, so the tickets were sold out. I had to stand for 2 hours…I just love to procrastinate... TT.. this is what I get for not buying it early…When I arrived at Seoul station, my friend came to pick me up from the station and took me to Wangsimi to Pink nails to get my natural eyebrows and eyeliner retouched since are appointment was at 3. The second time around, is called a touch up. It hurts like a b*&%$. When I first got it done, there was barely any pain, however the numbing cream did get into my eyes and that *&#@!!! stings. I was literally yelling, “Appa, Appa!!!” hahaha the tattoo technician laughed at me because she knew I couldn’t speak Korean. (J.F.Y.I “Appa” in Korean means hurt by the way.) It took only an hour and I was finished. I was happy with the results and my eyes and eyebrows were swollen for the day. After getting my touch up done, of course I wore a hat the entire day to hide my swollen eyes. We went to the popular Bong Chu Restaurant. The restaurant was packed and there was a line that was formed outside of the restaurant, but we decided to wait. We were both so hungry because we usually don’t eat breakfast.hahah..

The food was really good but it was spicy hot..it is one of those spicy Korean food,,haha..were you take one to three bites but if you take more than that, it gets spicier and spicier every bite.…it tastes very similar to Galbi-Jim but much spicier and it was with chicken. Of course, after lunch we had to get dessert… my favorite bubble tea, duh…duh..dun…“Gong cha”. I got taro milk tea with pearls….so good!! I wanted to get another one but my eyes are definitely bigger than my stomach. I also tried Gong Cha’s Green Chou Chou for the first time. It was a roll cake that was really dense and the filling inside also was really dense like thick thick whip cream. However I didn't really like it even though it is a famous cake in Taiwan. It wasn't my cup of tea. Just because it's famous doesn't mean it is good all the time.

After are indulgences in sweets, we went to Seongsu-dong…why Seongsu-dong?...hahha well, the last time when I visited my friend she was talking about getting my shoes customized because it was so hard to find my shoe size. She herself bought 2 pairs of customized shoes from Tandy…she also has a difficult time finding shoes since her feet are too small...she is a size 5…baby feet!!! Lol…I happen to be the other way around….to big!!! And that is the sad part; Tandy didn’t make my shoe size they only go up to 290. However the sale rep. told us about Seongsu-dong, so he was forgiven. He was very helpful and that is when we decided to go to Seongsu-dong.

Seongsu-dong is the largest shoe place in Korea. In Seongsu-dong they have endless strips of shoe boutiques, customize shoe shops and shoe factories. Seongsu-dong is well known for best prices for customized shoes ranging from 100K-500K Won. I happen to walk into several shoe shops but most of the sale associates said they don’t know if they were able to make my shoe sizes…and they would get back to us later…so I was a bit disappointed. After walking around Seongsu-dong, we came across Kimme Shoes. The sale associate was great. My Korean friend did all the talking. I was glad that she was there because I wouldn’t be able to get this far. The sale associate was super nice and she took down my foot measurements. My shoe size in women is a size 13 W. My feet are a bit weird. I have arched feet but when I walk, my feet becomes super flat… Even in the states, it is really hard finding my shoe sizes and I usually wear men shoes, but when I buy men shoes I’m a size 12 or 12 W. At Kimme’s shoe store, I picked up two pairs of shoes one is a dark cognac oxford and a burgundy flat with a cute bow tie to finish it off. She said it would take up to 2 weeks. The sale rep said after making my feet mold, she said it would be easier for me to purchase more shoes. I don’t know about getting anymore, two pair of shoes was enough for me. My bank account is looking really sad right now, but I am super excited to check out my new customized shoes. In two weeks…babyyy!!!

After Seongsu-dong, we had dinner at Kind Octopus!!!

Most Delicious Octopus Jun I ever had!!!

Cold soup to cool down are blazing hot mouth..

********************************NEXT DAY***************************************

The next day, we got up a little late. We ended up going to a few more places before I had to go back to my little town in Korea. We went to my favorite shopping mall, Garden 5 plaza, and a jewelry store. One Sterling Time (OST) and had lunch. This time around I really didn’t buy much since I spent a butt load of money on two pair of shoes. I wanted to get some sweaters but they range from 30K-50K for knitted sweaters. I remember that I have so many in the states that I didn’t want to get any…I didn’t bring them because the weight limit issue. I was worried about bringing all my candy, coffee, necessities and personal care. IF ONLY IF I KNEW!!!…. They had it in Korea…everything would have been so much more easier, honestly… I will do a what you should pack guide for Korea hahaha… seriously… to help others..if you are going to be teaching in South Korea..Time flew by so fast this weekend that I literally felt like I just arrived and now I’m going back home. I had a great weekend with my friend catching up with her and her gossip at work… I’m so grateful that I meet such good friends in college… My friend was again super nice and took me to Seoul Station…and I gave her a giant hug and off I went on the train back to my little town…<3 <3 <3 xoxo-chuiee

Friday, October 17, 2014

Meet Jack

Jack is are third dog, we adopted. We rescued him from an abusive owners that also neglected him. He is the most sweetest and fluffiest dog. "IT'S SO FLUFFY, I'M GOING TO DIE!!!" He wasn't trained well but after several months, he was trained to fetch, sit and come. I was so proud of myself...hahaha but he is a really fast shih tzu. He out runs my jack russell but he is also 3 years younger than my Ace.

Meet Tai

Tai was my second dog. He was the opposite of Ace's personality. He was a chicken sh*t...hhaha He literally got scared of everything he encountered. He was loving and very friendly. He was also a very obedient dog. He was a lovely companionship. He would be the one to stop a dog fight. He was the most peaceful dog, I ever had. He loved to sleep a lot and he acts mostly like a cat. I felt like he was a cat but trapped inside in a dog's body. He left us a little to soon..He will forever be remember.... R.I.P Baby Tai Tai April 2013 <3 <3

Meet Ace

Ace is my first dog are family got. He doesn't like strangers...he will roar like he is the biggest dog alive...haha He is a very clever and a genius little bugger!