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Monday, May 31, 2010

A date with Sangyeon

So here it is:- the low-down on the bf...
Name: Sangyeon
Age: 30
What's he like: Lovely!!
We met in December at a ski resort, went boarding pretty much every weekend for the rest of the season (he is really good at snowboarding btw), and then just continued hanging out after that. I wasn't sure where is was going at first, but almost 6 months down the line things are still going well, so I decided it was time to tell you about him.
He is really amazingly kind and sweet, and lots of fun. He works very hard though, so we only get to hang out on Sundays, when he usually organises some great date!
This past Sunday we went to a wedding and then to a nearby sea-side town called Samgyocheon to check out a navel museum. We got to see lots of really interesting stuff, including what the underground bunkers looked like in the Vietnam war - very cool!


This is what the traditional part of a Korean wedding looks like (after the bridal couple changes out of western-style dress and suite).

Sangyeon hates being photographed so I don't have many of him. Will make a note of posting more from now on.



Tuesday, May 25, 2010

BUSAN :)


Taking the plunge ~ the water was freezing!


Jagalchi Market...Koreans like it raw!


The U2 Bar!!


Our gang


Hakdong Black Pebble Beach on Geojedo Island


Delicious lunch!!


Cocktails = dancing!


Rain, rain, rain


The Aquarium was really amazing to see!



So we spent the long weekend down on the south coast in the amazing city of Busan - beautiful people, beautiful beaches, beautiful food, and fun fun FUN to be had! I wish i could live there...
We arrived very early (5:30) on Friday morning, in glorius sunny weather, spent the morning on the beach and the afternoon exploring the fish markets. On Friday we went out to explore the night life and found a bar called U2 which turned out to be awesome. Sadly the weather went down hill from Saturday (much rain came down), but that didn't stop us from hopping on a ferry to a nearby island called Goejedo. It was beautiful but we didn't have much time to look around. We did have a superb lunch of grilled shell fish, followed by a manic taxi ride back to catch the ferry in time - our taxi driver was awesome, but I did think we were going to die a few times!
On Saturday night we had a crazy night of cocktails and dancing till the early hours, it was so great. In Suwon I spent most of my time studying and being responsible so it was good to let loose a bit.
So Sunday we allowed ourselves to sleep in (nothing to do in the rain anyway), and went to the aquarium in the afternoon which was so cool. We wanted to dive with the sharks but it was fully booked, so we'll do it next time we're down.
There's loads that we didn't get to do, so I am for sure going back this summer. I LOVED BUSAN!

I've also been listening to 5FM via streaming audio pretty much every day since I got my laptop. It's really helping me get into the World Cup mood, getting very excited! I just have to learn the diski dance now ;) 16 days to go!!

Monday, May 17, 2010

English teacher?

In my post yesterday I misspelt ECUADOR - sorry. It's no big deal really, but these days I feel stupid all the time - being an English teacher I probably should never get things like that wrong, but we are still human after all. And besides, there are probably loads of other things I messed up too, and haven't noticed. I apologise in advance.

And f.y.i: the sport I went to watch with Lindsay, is in fact, not Taekwondo, but Yongmudo:- a fairly new sport which was invented in Korea at the Yongin University! Lindsay's instructor had a hand in creating it, so he's quite famous. He's a cool guy, was really nice and gave me a free Yongmudo T-shirt!

Busy weekend = exhausted = I'm getting old

I had a really busy weekend - it was great, but I am truly exhausted now, which must mean I'm getting old?
(Excuse the back-to-front order of the photos...once I'd realized I'd uploaded them like that, I was too lazy to make it right!)

On Friday night we went to catch the Battle-of-the-Bands competition at Indie Suwon. There were some great bands, and I got to see Edward's ridiculous (sorry Ed) new haircut, which he got against his will. Beware the non-English speaking hair stylists!!
Then on Saturday, I got up early, went to Korean class then went to meet Lindsay and her friends at the Folk Village. They were up here for the weekend with their Martial Arts club who had a competition at the Yongin Sports University. It was good to see them, and I love the Folk Village so I was quite happy to meet them there, even for only a couple of hours.
Then I left them to head to a roof-top braai, which was awesome - fresh air, city view, good company and a real brrraaaii! YUM :)
And on Sunday we got up early to watch a bit of the Taekwondo competition with Linds in Yongin, by which time I was almost dead. So I went home, got a couple of hours sleep, and then went to watch the new Robin Hood film with my Korean friend Sangyeon. My other friends went to see the soccer game between Korea and Equador in Seoul, I was jealous! But Sangyeon and I watched it on TV after the movie, and it was very exciting! Korea was great, and really look good for the world cup next month!
Exciting times ahead, with our trip to Busan this long weekend (Buddah's birthday on Friday - the biggest, most celebrated holdiay in Korea).







Thursday, May 13, 2010

Boerewors and sunshine!

A few weekends ago I won the rugby raffle at Scrooges in Itaewon. I don't know if you remember, but I won the raffle when I was there last year too....Looks like I have some kind of lucky streak with the rugby team, so I should go back more often!
Anyway, I won a k of South African boerewors, and it arrived today!! So tonight I cooked some of it up with lekker 'sous', and it was delicious! Not quite like home, but good enough :)


Spring has also finally sprung, and I'm delighted!! The weather is gorgeous at the moment. And the flowers are in full bloom. This weekend I'm going to a roof-top braai with some fellow Saffas to celebrate the arrival of the new season.



Monday, May 10, 2010

A birthday message for my Nopie

Little Noa is turning 2 today and I can't believe I'm not there to see it happen! I miss that little squirt like anything!!
I managed to get some photos off my old South African cellphone after I got my laptop (did I tell you how much I love my laptop?) They are from the months just before I left SA last year, and there are a couple that really remind me of being at home with Nopie!


Driving to work in the morning, trying to keep her entertained in her car seat...


True little farm girl on the tractor.


Shopping at Spar, she always insisted on carrying my handbag...even though she could barely lift it!

Happy Birthday Noa, I hope to see you soon my girl. And until then - be good and stay as gorgeous as you are!

I dont' have much other news. I was really sick this weekend with those traumatising stomach cramps that I get :( I missed Mom lots and the way she always managed to make me feel better, even with no medicine! Anyway, I basically slept the whole weekend and that seemed to help, becasue I feel all better today :)

Thursday, May 6, 2010

Children's Day

Korea is great - they have a national holiday in honour of the children, who get money and presents, and nobody has to go to work!
So on Tuesday night we went for some acoustic music at our favorite local, the Big Chill, followed by Norae Bang which ended at 5ish....so I had a nice lazy lie in yesterday and then hit the World Cup Stadium with my Irish friend Ciara. We saw a soccer game between the Suwon Blue Wings and Daejon city. SBW used to be one of the best teams in the K-league, but they are not very good any more. They do however, still have the biggest and best fan base in all of Korea, and I can sure confirm that after the game yesterday. The atmosphere was fantastic, and the fans compare with, if not beat, the fans in England quite easily.
Well, I've fallen in love, and am a true Blue wings fan now. Looking forward to many more games this season!
Also, I'm SO excited for the World Cup next month :) They are having a South African pre-world cup braai early next month which should be great!




Monday, May 3, 2010

I'm back!



As promised, I am going to get my blog back up and running. Now that I have a snazzy new Sony laptop and internet connection at my apartment, it is hopefully going to be a bit easier!!
I have been so busy (what's new?), and done so much that I'll never be able to catch up all the news. So I'm just going to start posting current news.

This photo is from a trip to Everland - a very cool amusement/theme park (never knew they could be that much fun!) that we went to a while ago.
I took so many photos this day, that it might actually be worth posting about.

On that note, it's good to be blogging again!