Beach Talk.

If there's one thing I always include in my travel itenerary, it's going to the beach. For someone who can't even swim, it's a little weird to say that I love spending time at the beach. There are so many reasons why I like to go there, maybe it's the sweet briny-smelling wind, the seaweed-laden sand, or the relaxing sound of the waves that varies during different parts of the day. I love the serenity it gives, perfect for days you wanna do some soul searching. I also love long walks by the shore, especially during sunrise or sundown when the clouds change color and the water becomes sparkly, glittery, and shiny. The thing that I love the most is seeing people's happy faces and knowing everyone's having a blast doing all sorts of things. It's rare to see Koreans smile, but you get to see that a lot when you visit the beach.


I've lost count how many beaches I visited in Korea, some of them "swimmable" and some exclusively for sightseeing purposes only. A few of them turned out to be a disappointment, but others were pretty memorable like Gyongpodae, Gwangalli, and Haeundae (the 3 most famous beach in Korea). Some people asked me how the beaches here compare to the ones back home, I say they're different in so many ways. I can't say which is better, afterall this is a different country, and the experience that goes with it is nothing like what you can get back home. The sand may not be as white as what we have, but the beach here has it's own charm.


Like in the case of Gyeongpodae, it's surrounded by beautiful pine trees, the steel blue water is cold even during the hottest part of summer, waves are big and strong and seeing that forming in the middle before it crashes to the shore is really awesome.


Gwangalli is nothing like what I've seen before. It may look ordinary during daytime, but as the sun sets, it transforms into one magical place illuminated by a thousand different colors from cafes, nightclubs, and restaurants nearby. The Gwangan bridge (the biggest in Korea spanning 7,420 meters) right in the middle is colorfully lit at night, colors changing in sequence. Seeing this made me want to have a DSLR so bad... (*I hate this picture and believe me, if I have a better one, I'm not gonna post this).

Haeundae is by far the most popular beach in Korea. During the peak of summer, it gets unbelievably crowded here (by crowded I meant more than 100,000 people). It's surrounded by huge 5-star hotels, lots of restaurants, and high-rise apartments that makes it colorful at night. I noticed the crowd here is different from the rest of the beaches in Korea. There are lots of good-looking people with drool-worthy bodies, scantily clad in the tiniest swim wear. Having seen this kind of people makes me wanna ask why some gets to have it all (a pretty face, body to die for, perfect skin, perfect hair, and height we could only dream of having), while some of us gets to be funny, smart, or articulate. (*picture taken during the early part of summer, the water is still too cold for swimming)

If you're planning to go to the beach here, it's imperative that you carefully plan which beach you should go to, so as to avoid disappointment. That's because it looks different from place to place. If you visit the West coast, the water looks muddy and sand is dark (as in really dark you're gonna think twice whether to swim or not). East coast is better cause it's not too crowded, waves are stronger, and the water looks nicer, cleaner, deeper, and colder. The Southern part without a doubt is the best. The water is nice and warm, the sand is lighter and finer than all the other places, plus you get to be surrounded by beautiful people. My most amazing and unforgettable beach experience happened here. I visited Jeju for the first time, and saw the most beautiful beach in Korea!




This beach is not as popular as the others, so there were just a few people there when I visited. The sand is the lightest I've seen so far in all of Korea (reminds me a lot of Boracay). Some part, the water is black due to volcanic rocks, some part it's seaweed green, but for most part it's turquoise, emerald, and deep dark blue. The water is warm and shallow, perfect for people who don't know how to swim like me. But I must warn you, Jeju is sweltering in summer so bring your SPF 50 sunblock. 30 minutes was enough to burn me beyond recognition. My sunburn was so bad that I had to visit the hospital and take painkillers to sleep at night. It took 3 months to get my old color back. But it's worth it, as I got to see what paradise must look like!

Not just another Birthday.

I celebrated my 28th birthday yesterday! I can't believe that I just turned 28 cause maturity-wise, I feel like I'm forever stuck at sweet sixteen. Half of the day I spent moping in front of the computer cause Chris seemed to forget that it was my special day. At noon he called to greet me "Happy Birthday" (he even sang the "Happy Birthday Song" in korean). To cheer me up, he gave me a one-day, guilt-free shopping pass, turns out it was totally useless considering the heavy rain...

When Chris came back home, he gave me a bouquet of flowers. I was in awe cause he's so not the type who gives flowers. All I could say is "you remembered!"... He bought it during his lunch break, and kept it in a plastic bag while he was working, so some of the flowers were damaged a bit. I guess he hasn't heard of the word "DELIVERY" yet?! ^^



Despite the rain, Chris wanted to have dinner at some restaurant, so I changed into an orange bohemian-inspired dress which I bought on impulse the other day (blame it on Tessa cause while we were at ZARA last Sunday, she said orange is my color, and when I saw an orange dress on my way home, I remembered what Tessa said and bought it without thinking..^^). When Chris and I went out, the rain was so strong that part of the street was flooded. We had to go back and change into something more comfortable (by comfortable I meant house-wear). It didn't really matter what we wore cause at an instant, we were totally wet from the rain.

We went to a Japanese restaurant that serves all-you-can-eat Tuna sashimi. The guy who cuts up tuna was very welcoming, he even gave us towels to dry our hair. The restaurant is really nice and cozy. It's lucky that we were the only customer at that time as we got the best spot and the privacy we needed. I wasn't able to take a picture of the whole restaurant, but it looks a little something like this..



Like any other tuna sashimi restaurant, they first served some crab porridge and miso soup.



Their tuna is really good! The quantity looks small in the picture, but did I mention they serve this non-stop?



This is one delicious Japanese salmon egg roll.



Since it's my birthday, and we're both shivering from the cold, we had to have some alcohol to go with the tuna.. Ok, I know I said a hundred times before that I don't drink anything besides beer and wine (and a few cocktails), but this is a rare exception where I actually craved for something to warm me up.



While eating, we talked about politics, a bit of history, Lee Myung Bak, and North Korea. It seems boring, but not if you happen to see Chris making funny facial expressions as he try his best to articulate difficult words such as "expatriate" and "solidify".

After dinner, we spent the night at Noblesse. Chris woke up early and got ready for work. He said I should sleep more so I stayed there till 2.

The only thing that's lacking in my birthday story is the gift right? Well, in the middle of writing this, the delivery person came and brought it.



It's NIKE DUNK 6.0 in brilliant magenta and vivid blue color!!! I like how they said "BRILLIANT" and "VIVID" in the box, it sounds so enticing, LoL. So it's cute (CHECK!), outrageously different (CHECK!), color so bright it'll give you eye-sore (CHECK!), but this shoe is so me and I could totally see myself wearing it in the mall, up in the mountain, at the park, or by the beach!

Apart from the flowers, dinner, and the gift, the thing that I'm most thankful for is having Chris in my life. (Picture taken somewhere in Pocheon, Summer '08)



To Oppa,

Last night, while we were talking about lottery and you were doing all those mathematical equations, I realized one thing, and that is having you in my life is like hitting the jackpot! Thank you for making each day better than the last!

"Aeroplane"

I'm so in love with this song right now, I kept on listening to it over and over again. My Tal Bachman addiction started after watching "American Pie Presents Band Camp", and they played the song "Aeroplane" at the end of the movie. You guys should check it out cause this song totally rocks!!!

Party for 1.

I'm enjoying every second of this solitude! Well, I feel like a kid whose overprotective parents are away for the very first time! Ok, now I'm exaggerating.. There are three things I need to make this night as enjoyable as possible.


Wine - I got this cheap wine at HomePlus months ago. We just forgot to drink it as there's always plenty of beer around here. I'm not really picky when it comes to wine. As long as it looks, smell, and taste like wine, it's ok with me.




Sushi - I don't have the money to splurge on expensive sushi bars right now, but I wanna eat sushi, so I went to HomePlus and bought this. I actually bought two boxes without looking at the expiration date. Now I'm gonna have to force myself to finish all of it. I'm half-way done with the first box, but I'm already full. I only got till 12 midnight before I start getting stomachache from eating this.




Nail Polish - This wasn't actually part of the plan, but I passed by Skin Food today looking for a lipgloss (I had to borrow Anne's the last time we went out). I forgot all about the lipgloss when I saw the nail polish counter. As you could see, I'm obviously a sucker for deliciously-colored nail polish. The only color I'm missing is yellow. I got a headache looking for it. They only have 'lemon yellow' which I hate so much. I wanted something more like 'banana yellow' which I couldn't find in any of the stores around here (I know I'm quirky, so deal with it^^). So if you guys happen to know where to get that color, call me. I only bought the nail polish, stickers, and the strawberry-scented nail polish remover, the rest are for free!



If all these aren't enough to keep me up all night, I have two movies on standby, Brandon Routh's Table for Three and The Haunting in Connecticut. But since I'm alone, I think I'm gonna stick to the first movie.. ^^

Alone but not Lonely.

Chris went to military training camp early this morning, and he wont be back till Sunday. I'd normally hate to be alone at home for a couple of days, but this is a rare exception where I'm actually enjoying it. We're always together that I sometimes feel suffocated! We badly need some time apart and this might just be the perfect chance to have some peace and quiet. Don't get me wrong, Chris is a nice guy. But at times, he could be a little 'strict' and treats me like a child. I grew up to be very independent and free-spirited. I don't like to meddle with other people's business the way I don't want them to meddle with mine, and Chris just so happens to think my business is also his. Ok, this post isn't about ranting and venting, so enough of those.

I get excited thinking I'm gonna have the house all to myself for two days! This means I don't have to cook korean food, I don't have to wake up early, I could stay up all night watching movies and playing "Need for Speed" for as long as I want to.

Since today's sunny, no sign of rain or anything, I went out and took pictures. I'm in a really good mood today, so I wanna give you guys a tour in our area. We live in Suwon, it's 45-minutes away from Seoul by bus. Compared to Seoul, I don't see much of a difference when it comes to amenities and facilities. Whatever Seoul has, it's also here.




With almost every apartment complex, there is a park like this where children could play. There are swings and a giant seesaw that could entertain kids for hours.





There's also a place where the adults can work out for free. These machines (and a few others which I wasn't able to include in the photo) were recently installed. Had I known earlier, I wouldn't have enrolled in a gym.





This is the university where I studied before. The university is really big (like most universities in Korea), and it also has it's own hospital. It's gonna take hours to explore it.





This is where the university students play soccer and baseball. It's also the place where concerts are held. I attended two different concerts here before. First was SG Wanna Be, and the other was Super Junior.





This is a picture I took while crossing a random bridge. Cute isn't?





Some random road I pass by every single day. I'm so familiar with this road that I could literally cross the streets blindfolded!





At the other side of the bridge, there's the Youth Cultural Center. It's a place where people could play just about any sport imaginable (swimming, basketball, badminton, volleyball, tennis, even kendo, squash, and Korean sumo wrestling). The best thing about it, it's for free. You only have to pay for the locker.





Among dozens of parks scattered all over Suwon, this is our favorite place to visit. You'll see why..









Right in the middle of numerous coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, and shops, there's this cute little fountain where children could play. In the Philippines, we usually don't let kids get wet playing in the fountain, but it's different here.





Suwon may not be as happening as Hongdae, Myeongdong, or Apkujeong in Seoul. But we have a lot of these quirky little shops that are hard to find in the metro.





80% of Koreans live in apartment, so whichever direction you're facing, you could always see endless rows of apartments like this..





And the small percentage of Koreans live in houses like this.





I was tired, not to mention burnt from walking in this very hot weather. I badly needed something cold to drink, so I went to my favorite coffee shop to relax a bit.




I hope you guys enjoyed the tour!

Crisis.

Memories of the past keep haunting me for some reason, and I don't like it. Maybe because I'm not exactly happy how things are happening right now. I know I should be, but I'm not, and that sickens me. I maybe pushing 30 in a couple of years, but inside I'm still a kid, and most of the time I still get overwhelmed with so many things. To be honest, everything feels uneasy, tiring, and scary right now, and I'm seeking that familiar comfort I get when I'm around people who knew me even before this korean life has started. But sadly, they aren't here...

Friends and Festivities.

I met friends J and A yesterday to attend the Philippine Fiesta event held at Banpo Hanggang Park in Seoul. The journey to go there was already an adventure itself. We crossed where we're not supposed to, walked for hours in a desert-like condition, asked directions from clueless taxi drivers, walkie-talkie carrying police officer, and even a stranger on the street carrying a crying baby. No one seemed to know where that place is. We met a couple of interesting people along the way like the pinoy guy who stopped to ask directions from us and as a result, he too lost his way. There's also the weirdest taxi driver we met who kept on singing "bibidi bobidi boo", who stopped while the meter is running to buy some popsicles, and fulfilled his life-long dream to act as a traffic enforcer while sucking on his chocolate-flavored popsicles (half of which he gave to my friend A). At some point I thought it wouldn't be so bad to miss all the fun at the fiesta if we got to experience those things.

After the long and painful walk, we finally arrived and met my good friend T and her husband. The first part of the program just ended so it was the perfect time take pictures and stuff. Here's how the fiesta looked like.


This is the stage where the pinoy performers did their thing. There were singers singing traditional songs, there were acrobats and contortionists, and a couple different bands who played songs we didn't know.




This group represents the Igorot community.




I'm not sure if these guys were from the Penagbenga group, let's just pretend they are.




Whenever we think of fiesta, there should always be a Santacruzan right?




I've never been to a Santacruzan in my life, so I wanted to know how it feels like to be standing right next to a hunky, umbrella-holding "consorte" (is that word even right?).




With friends A and J.




After all the waiting and walking, we all grew hungry so went some place to eat. What's better to celebrate newfound friendships and rekindling old ones, than to hangout over dinner while drinking good old Hite!





This may not be related to the occasion, but I'd like to thank you guys for cheering me up, and for thinking that I'm cool, energetic, perky, and fun despite all my bitter-sweet hangups. You guys are the most unassuming, unpretentious, down to earth people I've known. My life in Korea will never be the same without you!

Of drinking parties and one obnoxious boss.

What is with Koreans? Why do they have drinking parties for just about anything? Resignation, promotion, engagement, weddings, pregnancy, someone got hired/fired, someone moved their house, someone recovered from an illness.. and the list goes on and on. The next thing you know, they're gonna be holding parties for someone's new pet!

This week alone, there were 3 separate occassions where Chris and his team had to drown their guts in alcohol. First was Monday. A certain Toshiba president came and they held a party for him, but since the Japanese are not as inconsiderate as Koreans when it comes to drinking, the party ended early and nobody got drunk (much to the dismay of the Koreans there).

Then came Wednesday. There's this girl who got pregnant, she'll be resigning in a couple of months when her belly gets big and all. Ok, I understand the part where she's gonna resign so they had to have a party and all (an excuse to drink), but that aint gonna happen soon! The pregnancy, that I couldn't really fathom. I'm absolutely positive that there is no pregnant girl in the world, who enjoys drinking alcohol while trapped inside a room full of chain-smoking, barbecue-smelling, half-balding, neck-tie wearing bosses and colleagues. I understand that pregnancy calls for a celebration, but a drinking party for that matter is totally inappropriate.

Friday was good, till their Chinese counterparts came during the afternoon, and they had to have some sort of an 'emergency-party' for them. We actually made plans to go on a date, but Chris (of all people there) was chosen to be the host of their little program, and he has to give some lousy 'thank-you-for-coming' speech. He called just as I was picking a dress to wear that night. He told me about the party but he promised to come come home around 10, but 10:30 came and he's still somewhere else. I received another call from him saying he's stuck in a bar with them, asking me to pick him up as he was too drunk to go home by himself. What's weird is the fact that he asked me to wear something nice, but the rebel in me thought otherwise. So instead of wearing that pretty little dress I planned to wear, I donned my mickey mouse shirt, denim shorts, baseball cap, and my good old sneakers. I called Chris just before I entered the bar, asking him to bid goodbye to his friends so we could go home, but his boss specially requested to meet me and I couldn't say no.

So he 'schemed' me alright, and I was angry as hell, but I managed to fake a smile when I saw them. The pregnant girl Eun Mi was there too, wearing a bondage-themed heels which disturbed me for some reason. Why is she even there? Isn't she supposed to be at home taking care of her belly? His boss was also there, and another guy I met once before. After the standard niceties and greetings, the boss asked me if I want something to drink. When I ordered a martini, he just popped the 'are-you-old-enough-to-be-drinking-that' question (I swear he must have seen my neon pink and baby blue painted nails) which annoyed me even more. Last time I checked it was a bar and aren't people supposed to be drinking when they're at a bar? He's annoying alright, but I love how he says the word 'other' (he has this mild British accent), it sends tingles to my spine. Thank goodness Eun Mi was there. I heard she was schooled somewhere in Illinois, so she speaks English fluently, and I got to talk to her about so many things. But then she received a call and shortly after that, she went home. After she left, the boss's attention drifted to me. He started asking about Philippines and stuff. He said he visited 53 countries already, but he never thought about visiting Philippines. But now that he had a chance to meet a Filipino, he's planning to visit there really soon. This guy is only 34 years old, but 53 countries?! Damn, I need a few more rounds of booze to believe that. Who does he think he is, Ban Ki Moon?

Well anyway, the night dragged. I find talking to him so energy-consuming. He laughs unnecessarily, and his breath reeks of soju, a couple different cocktails, and Corona beer. I could get drunk just by listening to him! It was past 2 am when we finished. Just before we separated, he took something out of the backseat of his car, it was a huge paperbag filled with a couple different things. I was a little surprised when he handed the bag to me and said "this is for you, thank you for coming to meet us tonight". It turns out, he's not as obnoxious as I thought he was. And then we said goodbye.

When we arrived home, I hurried to open the bag and saw this...



Those are just 2 bottles of liquor and 2 different kinds of tea. I don't drink anything that's over 13% alcohol so Chris is just gonna give those to his father. But I tried the tea and it was pretty good!

Hair Talk.

Chris called from work yesterday saying he's gonna be out drinking with his co-workers. A girl from their team got pregnant and now she's quitting her job so they're having a party for her. I was a little pissed cause I know he's gonna come home drunk, smelling like soju (and God knows how much I hate the smell of that). He ended the conversation with a promise that he's gonna drink as little as possible (duh! like that's ever gonna happen).

So I got bored and decided to hit the salon on impulse. My hair looks dull so I wanna add some color. The staff at "Madeleine" (the salon I frequent) speaks english, so it's not difficult to communicate with them. After half an hour of probing and tinkering with the hair-color samples, I finally chose one that resembles caramel. Two hours later, I was already at home sporting a new do. Chris came back home shortly after that, drunk as I predicted. He didn't even recognize the very noticeable change in my hair.

When I woke up this morning, I saw him looking at me. He said my hair is different, so I told him I got it colored at the salon last night. He said it looks nice and it matches the color of my eyes. Honestly, I'm not too happy with the result. I wanted a subtle change, but the color turned out lighter than I expected. I didn't want to hear Chris giving a long and tedious speech on how I should NOT do things on impulse, so I kept those thoughts to myself. But I think I've learned my lesson now... ^^

Here's a picture I took this morning while still on my pajamas ;-p

Baked.

The weather is sweltering today! News says that today's the hottest day this summer season. I can live with this temperature, but not this unbearable humidity! It's hard to move without breaking a sweat, and sweating happens to be one of my biggest pet peeves, so this is pure torture for me.

When I went out to jog this afternoon, I sweated like I never sweated before so I got tired faster than the usual. It's hard to exercise in this kind of weather, but I know I shouldn't stop or else, everything I did will be in vain.

I get out in the sun a lot lately, so I'm doing everything I can to take care of my skin. Nobody wants any of that premature aging and wrinkles you can get from the sun, so I use sunblock whenever I get out of the house. But we all know when it's humid as hell, it feels so uncomfortable on the skin. So I threw away the old product I use which I got from Beauty Credit (take this as a warning people, don't ever buy that!), and started using Nivea Sun Spray. I'm addicted to it cause it's very light on the skin, and I don't feel sticky at all (unlike the others which sometimes make my skin feel like the back of a sticker). The best thing about it, it's so convenient to use. Just spray it on 15 minutes before you get out in the sun, and re-apply it after two hours. I'm so in love with it that I don't think I'm ever gonna use another brand.



I didn't know about the importance of SPF before (all I know if it's higher then it's better), so I googled it. Here's the thing, you multiply the SPF you use to the amount of time it takes for you to burn your skin under the sun. In my case it only takes 10 minutes. For someone who is not so fair, and who hails from a tropical country, I burn pretty fast. So 10 minutes multiplied by 30 (the SPF I use) equals to 300 minutes. This means I'm safe under the sun for 300 minutes.

Saturday Escapade.

Yesterday, the weather was nice. Too hot alright, but it was perfectly bright and sunny (no sign of rain) that we had to go and visit some place. Chris and I both agreed that we shouldn't waste a perfect not-too-humid sunny day lying around the house and watching TV, so off we went to Everland, the nearest amusement park in our area.

The adventure starts with the ticket. A single one-day pass that lets you ride anything and everything you want costs 30,000 KRW or about $23, multiplied by two.. well, you do the math.



Here's the entrance.



Cable car anyone?



Behold, the scariest rollercoaster in Korea built entirely of wood. This was fun though it scared the hell out of me!



The parade.



One of their numerous floats.



Here's the stage where the laser show and fireworks display can be seen at night.



I love how they added smoke here. If I remember correctly, it wasn't there (the smoke I mean..) during my 7 previous visits.



I find this angle particularly funny that I just had to take a picture.. Ok, I know what you're gonna say.. "Me and my sick humor"...



That's my hand y'all! If Chris hadn't been so slow you might have seen 7 or 8 birds in my hand.



We stayed eventhough it was so late to watch this.



That's all everyone! Hope you had a great Saturday!!!