Day 1 of our Weekend Trip.

Last Saturday morning, Chris was already awake even before the alarm clock sounded. I guess he's really excited about the whole weekend getaway we planned. I wasn't ready to get out of bed yet, my head felt heavy and I couldn't keep my eyes open. I deliberately redirected my thoughts about the trip, and that helped me to move myself out of the bed and into the shower. It was cold that morning, around 1 or 2 degrees celsius. But other than the chilly temperature, the weather was perfect. By 8:30 am, I already packed everything inside the car and we were on the road shortly after. We first headed to Incheon area, and Chris made a few quick stops there to show me where he studied middle school and high school. As soon as we reached the boundary of Incheon, and I saw the signage saying we're officially in Ganghwa-do, I rolled the windows down and I tried to absorb as much fresh air as possible. The cool crisp wind felt really nice on my face.


I wanted to go some place near for this trip cause two days is awfully short. I didn't wanna waste our weekend being constantly on the road and strapped in the car.. Ganghwa-do seemed like the perfect place to go. It has the beach that I wanted (although not as beautiful as the others I visited), great seafood, and nice country side villages...

The beach-front accomodation came next to our itenerary.. I made it clear to Chris that I wanted to stay in a place that has a good view of the beach. A place like that is not that easy to find, so after 2 nights of endless online searching, he found the perfect place for us. I was in complete awe when he parked the car and I saw the house for the first time. Both of us instantly fell in love with the place...



It has this cute little balcony, adjacent to our room where we waited for the sun to set...






And here's the barbecue place...



After checking everything and our things are finally settled where they should be, we went out to drive around the area. Our first stop was this beach...








Chris brought me to a place where we took a boat going to a smaller island nearby. We didn't plan to stay there for a long time, so we decided to just leave the car at the parking lot.









Chris bought Oishi and we fed the birds with it. Feeding the birds is one of the coolest thing I've ever experienced! Imagine the boat running, the birds flying toward your direction, and snatching Oishi with their beaks from your hand.. Some birds were really aggressive and bit me a couple of times..^^ It wasn't really painful, but it's enough to make me shriek loudly.. After the biting incident, I was a bit scared to feed them with my hands so I just threw it and they catch it midair using their beaks with absolute precision. Around 50 birds gathered near us, patiently waiting for the next oishi I'm gonna throw.. ^^





We reached the smaller island in about 20 minutes.. Here's what it looks like..



We walked around the island on foot, and it was so tiring that we regret not to bring the car. So I looked for a shade, sat comfortably, and took a rest till the boat that'll take us back to Ganghwa arrived...

When we reached the car, it was already 5 pm. We hurried back to the house to catch the sunset in the balcony..



Later that night we started the barbecue... Chris was in charge of the grilling, and my job was to prepare the tuna chigae soup and side dishes.



The red wine we brought from home got frozen by accident inside their problematic fridge. So we were forced to drink semi-frozen beer instead. The beer didn't go well with the meat, but we had a good laugh drinking it in our wine glass. ^^



Everything was perfect that night. After finishing the barbecue, we strolled along the beach. There were a lot of stars that night. When it got unbearably cold, we headed back to the house. I was tired from visiting so many places that it didn't take long before I fell into a deep sleep.

Tired..

We got back last night from our weekend getaway, and I still haven't recuperated even after a good night sleep. The trip was awesome!!! I took so many pictures that my camera almost got busted. Well, it's old and has lived a long full life (including occasional brush with 'accidents'), so I'm expecting that it's going to wheeze it's final breath very soon... I'm deliberating hard whether I should buy a new one, but the crazy currency rate makes me think twice, even thrice (to the point of scolding myself for even bothering to consider ^^).. Camera is really important to me, and without it I feel crippled. So I'm ardently keeping my fingers crossed that it'll do it's job till I have enough funds to splurge on a new one. It's Monday, and I've got a lot of stuff to do around the house, hopefully I can do a bit of blogging in between. I have a lot of exciting stories to tell and pictures to post about our recent trip...

White Day.

March 14th is the day they celebrate "White Day" here in Korea. It's like the counterpart for Valentine's Day where men are obliged to give chocolates to the ladies. Since this celebration is more of a social obligation, men are expected to give chocolates not just to their girlfriends and spouses, but also to their female friends and colleagues... And a lot of stores are taking advantage of this cause they are willing to pay mad bucks for chocolates in fancy boxes and wrappers. But of course, they could always choose one, and just ignore the others like what Chris has been doing for the last 29 years... ^^

One Costly Craving.

Today's menu is smoked salmon. A recent trip to VIPS got me in the mood for it. So after deliberately and purportedly kicking enough tantrum as I can manage, Chris ordered it online. I guess you could call me a wimp for doing so, but it's only with this display of temperament that Chris would be willing to oblige. So last night, the salmon arrived and I could barely wait to have it all thawed and sink my teeth on it. It was really good, and I couldn't get enough of it. A portion of it, we ate raw like carpaccio without the sauce. Then I sliced up some, and tossed it in my salad. I marinated the remaining salmon in lemon juice, waiting to be pan-fried later. But the hefty price tag kinda makes me feel guilty... I guess 30,000 won for a bunch of cut-up fish is just not worth it, like Chris redundantly pointed out. The price is something I wasn't aware of, till it was packed and delivered in our doorstep. Who knew salmon could be that expensive? I could have had a big, fat, juicy steak for the same price!

Spring fantasies.

It's officially Spring, and I just couldn't wait to get on the road again. Chris and I are planning a weekend trip, and this thought makes me fidgety, and gets me into a dizzy spin of daydreaming. It's actually a peace-offering from Chris for not being able to celebrate his birthday with me. I was totally miffed when he left me home-alone last weekend, while he drank his guts out in a party of some sort. For 3 days now, I've been unexpectedly immersing myself into making plans for this trip. I'm thinking bonfire, barbecue, and a nice beach-front accomodation, and it's his job to make it happen. Right now, we haven't gotten to the 'where' part yet, I'm still looking for the best place to have our weekend-getaway. It shouldn't be that far cause we only have 2 days...

Last Spring, I got to visit Cheolla-do for the first time.. It's was the perfect time to go there. Everywhere I looked was worth snapping a picture. But Spring is their peak season, so be sure to shell out twice or thrice the normal price if you're planning to go there.



This is a view from where we stayed, and it's not even a tourist spot. It's just a place where people have barbecue...



Since we only had 3 days, we didn't get to visit a lot of places. Good thing I was able to include Boseong green tea plantation in our scrimpy itenerary..



Here's a view from Wando...




The three-day day trip to Cheolla-do was too short, and there are still a number of places I wanted to visit. So a couple of months later, we came back. Summer is not really a good time to travel in Korea, not unless you're in for a heat-stroke. But it's the only time Chris could get a long vacation. For 5 days, we were on the road, exploring every tourist destination we heard of. The trip was a blast, and I'd say it was the best 5 days of my life.

Of Wallowing and Weddings.

I was chatting with my sister a while ago, and I noticed she seemed really perky these days. She must be excited about something, so I suspiciously asked if she's pregnant. That question made her answer "I'm so~ not", in her most defensive tone. We talked about visiting Palawan together when I come back home next month. It must be fun cause we never really 'bonded' for the longest time. Like I said in my previous post, she and I are really different but we're surprisingly close. We were inseparable before, even sharing the same condo when my parents decided it's about time for us to move out of the house. She's more like a bestfriend to me, a constant shopping buddy, and my very own fashion critic, so I kind of miss her a lot. While we were growing up, I hated her so much and even called her my 'evil sinister sister'. There was a lot of sibling rivalry going on between us. I was my father's favorite and she was my mother's. She's more of the 'intelligent type' being the class valedictorian from elementary to highschool, and graduating cum laude in UP. I was more of the 'academically challenged' like how my father likes to put it, no special awards or anything, just mediocre grades. What's the point of studying when you'll just be compared to someone like her? And besides, I thought school is about having fun, being with friends, and having a hell of good time. Our difference doesn't stop in academics, and it's very much evident by how our rooms look like (mine is loud purple now, and although I haven't seen her new flat, I'm guessing it's peach). I'm a neat freak and I like things ridiculously organized, she's anything but neat and organized. I like black and pink... and she adores lemon color, mint green, and peach tones which happen to be the top 3 colors I'm never gonna be caught wearing. Physically, our differences can fill up a whole journal. She's three inches taller than me, fairer by several shades, and has that distinct chinita look. I, on the other hand was always referred to as the smaller, darker, and relatively the non-chinita uglier one which totally defies our strong chinese surname. But as we got older, our similarities became more evident. We like going to the same salon, shopping at the same places, reading the same stuff. Both of us love traveling, going to the beach, and having family picnics.

I wasn't used to hearing her talk about boys, so I was startled when one day, approximately 2 years ago at age 24, she came home saying somebody's courting her. After a couple of months, she had her first boyfriend ever. I first met him when I came back home in 2007, he was there at the airport together with my whole famliy. He kept on calling me 'ate' which creeped the hell out of me considering he's a year and a half older. But he was nice, polite, and awfully quiet. But then, for some profound reason I felt exactly the way she felt when she saw Chris for the first time.. She thought Chris was geeky with a creepy sense of fashion, and that's exactly how I felt with her bf.. I have issues with guys wearing plaid polos, I think it's specifically worn to annoy people.. and plaid happens to be his favorite pattern and he wears that most of the time. ^^ I heard they met in the church where both of them are active members. I also found out that my sister was his first gf ever, and for some strange, unspoken reason, that thing bothered me. And just like how my mom hated Chris, she also hated my sister's bf, but since we're way over the legal age, she couldn't do anything about it. It didn't take long before he finally proposed, and fast-forward to 15 months, they got married. Now that little sis is a married woman, she became more practical. She has cut back on her weekly retail therapy and saved instead. I heard she even enrolled in a cooking class. I've never seen her cook anything besides fried egg and Lucky Me pancit canton, so the whole marriage thing is doing wonders in domesticating her.. One thing I'm kind of regretting is the fact that I wasn't there when she was doing the whole wedding preparation thing. She actually asked me to be her wedding planner right after she got engaged, but I wasn't able to fulfill that duty. But even without me, her wedding turned out nice. It was very simple yet memorable, like how she always dreamed. She's moving to Australia sometime next year, and this saddens me to the point that I'm wallowing cause I'm not used to not seeing her for a long time (we were never separated for more than six months). But now that our separation has some degree of permanence, I feel bad that I took her for granted. I should have been nice to her when I had the chance...

I'm posting some photos from her wedding last December...



Bridal Car.




The Aisle.




Happy.




The Rings.




Cake and Cupcakes.




The Centerpiece.




Floral Girls.




With Mom and Francis.




The Lake at night.




Newlyweds.

Of teeth and insecurities.

I've had my braces since 2006 to treat my malocclusion. The upper part of my teeth are so crowded that my teeth moved into a crooked position. This is my second gig with braces, the first time I got it was several years ago. I don't remember the year exactly, but at that time, the dentist failed to fix it. It gave me constant migranes and my mouth were all swollen so I had it removed after a couple of months. The next time around, it went perfectly well and results were evident after the first month. My case was a bit difficult than most, so it requires longer period of treatment... My sister also wore braces the same time I did, only she's ahead of me by one year. She had it removed, and continued with the standard retainer procedure for a year. She finished wearing retainers just before her wedding. I was really curious then to see her, cause for the longest time I've seen her with braces that I already forgot how she looked like without one. I remember asking her how was it like after the dentist removed everything. She said she felt 'exposed' cause her teeth were all naked, whatever that means. I'm going to remove my braces soon and I'm dead-curious how I'd look like. Hopefully I wouldn't be needing retainers after... I don't plan on wearing one cause I heard how uncomfortable it is to wear them. I really miss the time when I still didn't have braces, my teeth were all simple then ^^ I smiled a lot eventhough I felt really insecure about my teeth. Right now, I'm not really comfortable smiling. It's like I developed a complex to constantly hide it cause I think it's hideous. A few more months, and hopefully I get to smile the way I did before.

Sushi Nights.

Preparing Korean meal is so tedious, so I'm always on the lookout for things that are easy to make. A typical Korean meal has rice, soup, meat, and several side dishes. It usually takes me about an hour to prepare everything, sometimes even more. I remember a time when I still prepare breakfast for Chris early in the morning. He normally wakes up at 7 am, and I was expected to wake up at 6 and start cooking. It was so tiring! After I'm done cooking and cleaning up, I was drained, and I didn't have energy the rest of the day. Then I discovered the wonders of cereal. I buy 3 boxes of cereal at a time in HomePlus, just in case he gets tired of eating the same thing. Sometimes, I'd make him a sandwich at night, put it in a ziploc bag, and it's ready to eat in the morning.

This season, he's not that busy at work so he comes home at 7pm to have dinner with me, and it's necessary that I prepare the typical Korean meal for him. But when I'm feeling sluggish, I just buy 2 boxes of sushi for our dinner. Chris doesn't usually complain about the food I serve, as long as it's healthy. And what could be heathier than Japanese food??

Lesson learned.

I was raised to believe that older people equals respect, and this might also be the case for most kids growing up in a standard Filipino household. But does it really have to be that way? I think just because your older and you've been in this planet longer, that doesn't give you the right to be mean, disrespectful, and insensitive to the feeling of others younger than you. Age doesn't work like a badge entitling a person to lash harsh criticsms, verbal diarrhea, and what not... something they couldn't be comfortable doing with people their age, but they find surprisingly easy and instinctive, almost reflex-like to younger groups. Why can't they just mind their own business and stop being nosy? Why do they have to be pesky, grouchy, and plain irritating? And above all, why do they tend to do things that are annoyingly irksome (they're probably aware of that) thinking they could easily get away with it? Respect is earned, and should never be obligatory.


At age 27, it's tempting to use my age as a leverage to my younger peers, but I don't do that and I don't think I ever will, cause yeah~ I know exactly how it feels. I've encountered a lot of those plain 'nakakainis' kind of older people who deluded themselves into thinking they're better, smarter, and all adjective in it's comparative form. And did I do something? Nope, cause sadly, my upbringing gets in the way. I still have that familiar fear that if I say anything rude to people older than me, I'd be punished. But I learned a valuable lesson in dealing with them, and staying out of trouble. And that is 1. BE QUIET, 2. PLAY DUMB (they like that), and 3. JUST WISH IT'LL BE OVER SOON.

Yet another birthday...

Chris is celebrating his lunar birthday today, and for some freakish coincidence, so as his father. Both of them were born on 11th of February (how convenient), but like most Koreans, they celebrate it using the lunar calendar. I couldn't find a family picture of Chris, so I'm just gonna use his grad photo for all intensive purposes. Just don't ask me why his mom is the one wearing toga.. It's meant to be funny, although I'd say in a very peculiar way.



His dad is hosting a party today at their residence for his staff and other people who works for him in his company. Tomorrow, he'll be hosting yet another party for his friends, associates, and golf buddies. I feel sorry for Chris cause they share the same birthday, and he's obliged to participate in a party where he's the only young person. He'll be forced to drink soju with them, and I know just how much he hates the taste of soju.

Felt guilty as I wasn't able to get him a birthday gift last February 11th, so today I bought this long-sleeved shirt for him. The shiny collar buttons bothered me so much, but I thought the shirt will look good on him so I ended up buying it anyway.



Last night, we were having the whole birthday talk, and I asked him what his birthday wish is. I was eating sushi then, and I almost gagged when he answered me. He actually wishes*** not to get fat, lose his hair, and have wrinkles. I laughed so hard cause I've never heard a birthday wish vainer than that in my entire life!

In my case, I wish him good health this year. Career-wise, I know he couldn't wish for a better career than now (I could actually kill for a job like his ^^). He works under the procurement division of Samsung Electronics. There is no striking difference with regard to his paycheck to other employees of the company, but his position gives him great benefits. He deals with mostly CEOs and Presidents of manufacturing companies that supplies certain parts that Samsung needs. For some specific item, he's the one who gets to decide which company they'll do business with. This could mean a very big income for the company who'll get chosen, so they suck up to him with expensive liquors, cigars, chocolates, teas, pastries, toiletries, and other gift items. Except for liquor and cigar, I'm the one who conveniently takes advantage of all those stuff. It doesn't end there, he gets to travel a lot, eat and drink at the most expensive places for free, and that is what he likes the most. The last time he went on a business trip to China, there was a limo waiting for him courtesy of a CEO he's dealing with. So for four days, he got to move around China in a limo, ate as much sharksfin, bird's nest, and lobster as he wants to, and he got a lot of stuff for free to give me.





His job didn't come easy as he had to work really hard for it. The job appeals to a lot of applicants, therefore the competition was really stiff. In their team of 8, 4 graduated from American Universities, 2 from Seoul Nat'l University, and the other 2 were from Hanyang (which includes Chris). The job calls for excellent command in English, so having a Filipina gf works for his advantage as he gets to pratice his English a lot. I'm not giving myself entirely the credit, cause he got accepted there even before we met, but I kinda help him 'stay' in the competition. Out of all the negative effects of our interracial relationship, I'm glad there's one good thing that comes out of it.

I did a bit of shopping for seafood cause I'm going to cook Haemultang for him tomorrow when he arrives. It's his favorite dish and I'm dead worried that it might taste anything but Haemultang. So I'm preparing the cookbook and some internet stuff I printed on standby, just in case.

About music and my sister.

For some inexplicable reason, I had a really hard time sleeping last night so I listened to songs till all my anxieties dissolved. I actually have a lot of frightening and unsettling thoughts running through my head... I found myself repeatedly listening to these 5 songs. I'm particularly drawn to the alternative genre (although not exclusively), it's kind of a mood-setter for me.. But if my sister gets to read this, she'll probably roll her eyes on me.. I remember a time she blurted, "From Seether to THIS"? She's referring to a Jesse McCartney album.. She meant to be sarcastic cause she obviously had issues with him though I can't understand why.

My sister discovered this bizaare theory (thru a magazine I suppose, she likes reading 'em a lot) that a person can be 'read', not exactly read but 'assessed' through the kind of music they listen to. I know... she reads a lot of Cosmo magazines but I'm dead curious what was her assessment with me. Sis is entirely the opposite of me. She likes the typical chick flicks and chick music.. I like conspiracies, tragic endings, and the unpredictable. She'd always say she exactly knows what kind of music I like.. Like if she hears a certain song, she'd know if it's 'my' music or not. I don't know how she does it cause most of the time she's right. Is there some sort of distinct rhythmic pattern that she unraveled, something that draws me but I wasn't aware of? I don't like EVERY alternative song there is... I'm a bit more choosy that what she gives me credit for.




I don't know why but whenever I talk about music, I always associate it with my sister. Probably because she loves music as much as I do. Or maybe I just miss her.. We're so different in so many ways, but we're pretty close. She's always the first one to know if I'm troubled or if something's bothering me.

It's tedious to create links for all five of them, but I'd really want to share it with everyone. I think it's pretty great.


Faber Drive - Tongue Tied

Fuel - Wasted Time

Skillet - The Older I Get

Graham Colton Band - Best Days

Twelve Stones - Running Out of Pain

Those are new links. I tried to fix it cause the previous ones didn't seem to work. Happy listening!!!

The juk.

For some strange reason, I was craving for my mom's arroz caldo last night... It's weird cause I never liked eating it back home. I thought 'juk' is good substitute as it's the closest thing to arroz caldo here, so I called up Chris to buy me some on his way home.




He got me the Beef and Mushroom porridge, which isn't the one I ordered. I specifically instructed him to get me the Mixed Seafood juk, but he must have forgotten what I said. The serving was huge, like it's impossible for one person to finish all of it. As always, I skimmed the powder-like seasoning they sprinkled on top, never did like it. The 'juk' has a lot of mushroom but none of the beef (didn't see a single piece of it) like advertised. But I'm positive they used beef in it cause I could taste it. Broth perhaps? But then, they should have named it 'Beef Broth and Mushroom juk', you know... just to be clear.




I saw the ever ubiquitous F4 boys and Geum Jan Di in the paper bag they used. Aren't they just 'EVERYWHERE'?