Bibong Hiking

Today (Monday) I don't have to go to work because it's "School Remembrance Day" and the rest of the week I have orientation, so no work this week, yay!

I changed the picture above to a picture I took yesterday. Those rice fields are literally just 5 minutes walk from where we live, so yes, we do indeed live out in the boonies, but more pictures of that later.

On Saturday we went hiking on a nearby mountain by Anseong, Bibong Mountain. The hike itself was okay, not too hard except in the beginning where it was all steps. There were a few temples and things on the way up, and we had a picnic of sandwiches, fruits, snacks, and sodas while we're up there. It was pretty fun, enjoying others' company while enjoying the view. There was a woman and kid selling ice cream on the way down so Glen and I got some ice cream bars, which were uber frozen and for the first 10 min I couldn't lick it because my tongue would get stuck on the bar, lol.
















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Game Night at Soda Star

For the next few entries I have a couple of new updates telling about what have been going on in the last week or so.

Last Friday (not today, but last week) we had a mini game night at soda star. It was only five of us (of which I was the only girl), but we had a lot of fun playing different card games, including gullotine, flux, gloom, and illiad. Of course we also ordered some yummy drinks and some flower tea to share between all of us.










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yummy desserts, lanterns, and sickness

It's Monday yet again, which means another week of work.

Last week, we went out to this coffeehouse/cafe type place, where they had these really delicious yogurt/smoothie type thingies. They were served in this huge glasses, and were creamy, sweet, and just delish. They also had this weird desert thing which was pretty much a plop of ice cream on sweet bread. It was a bit weird but not too bad.



This weekend, on Sunday, we went with Glen, a new expat we've met recently, to the Lotus Lantern Festival in Seoul. It was on this street, which was filled with booths that had everything from foods, teas, tshirts, and lots of different craft making booths as well. Glen and I both made a little lantern, but Aaron didn't. There was other craft making booths like masks and clay and archery, but most of those cost money, but the lanterns were free. Near the temple area, there was all these lanterns hanging up and it made a very colorful canopy. After we walked around a bit, we headed to this little cozy restaurant near Insadong, where we made very tender bulgogi and side dishes. I got this tea called five flavors fruit tea, which was almost too sweet. After that, we chilled for a few hours at a coffeehouse near the Insadong and festival area, and bought two very delicous slices of cakes- blueberry and strawberry cream. Later that night we headed out and saw the parade, which had lots of people walking and lighted up statues of elephants, buddhas, lotuses, etc. We then had to rush back home, but even so, we didn't make the last bus, so we had our first taxi ride to our little boonie area.



















In other news, my sickness is almost all ok. I cough occasionally, but not nearly as bad. For Aaron of course, he just caught it and is feeling pretty sick today. I hope he feels better soon! Click here to read more

last few days

It's Monday once again, and the beginning of another week.

The last few days were somewhat productive, but not the most eventful.

On Thursday, we went with a bunch of other expats in Anseong for some galbi, which was pretty good. There was a lot of expats, including some new ones as well.





And then on Saturday we went to Emart and picked up some random groceries and such. Going to Emart is always an adventure because it's like a 40 min bus ride, and somehow the bus over there never comes on time so we wait for a long time. We also checked out a "World Market" near downtown Anseong, but the selection was kinda eh. We did buy a couple of different curry packets though.

On Sunday we journeyed all the way to Daejeon. We had to take a bus to Cheonan and then transfer, apparently. The transit there didn't accept Tmoney so we had to buy everything with cash, which was a hassle. The subway there was very clean, because it's very new, and only had one line. It wasn't nearly as crowded as Seoul's. Anyway, so while there we went to costco, where we bought some stuff like hash browns, pancake mix, tortilla chips, sausages, etc. Then we went to another Emart because I was curious about a few dogs I wanted to see in that area, and then afterwards we ate some bibimbap at the food court as well as a few snacks (rice cake, juice, some bakery thing) while we waited for our bus back. Click here to read more

last few days, cell phone, and sickness

Right now it's Sunday morning, yet another weekend. So far we've been here for 5 weeks now.

On Thursday my school had another dinner, of which they of course didn't tell me until the very last minute possible. Literally, I was just going out the door when they were like "Oh, did you want to come to dinner?" So that's how it is, last minute plans. We had a spicy chicken stew, dakbokkemtang. It was pretty good but pretty hot and spicy. You don't really drink the broth, you just eat the pieces of chicken from it.

On Friday evening we met up with some other expats in downtown Anseong for dinner. Since no one could decide, we went back to that samgyeopsal place again. We did meet a few new people, so that was pretty nice. There was a guy Paul who came from Seattle only a few days ago who seemed pretty nice, so we invited him to join us to Seoul the following day.




So on Saturday was our "seoul errands day." First we went to Yongsan, the electronics district. It was quite confusing because there was a ton of buildings and stands and it wasn't very organized it seems. So finally we ended up in a cell phone booth in one of the buildings and I got my cell phone. I got a prepaid phone since I didn't think I was going to use it too much, and txt messages are pretty cheap anyway. Also, Aaron already has a phone as well so we can use his if we really need to call anyone.

Aaron's phone

my phone

Next we went to costco. We didn't buy toooo much, but we did pick up more cheese, some bacon, rye bread, conditioner, curry, etc. We didn't spend as much as last time! We also got some lunch by buying a bulgogi pizza at the food area, which was actually very good.






I think I am getting a little sick these days. I've been coughing and having itchy/sneezy nose these days, but I really don't know what medicines and stuff I can take here. I did buy some halls at a local store to maybe help my throat a little bit, but we'll see. It's a little inconvenient to be sick right now

And now for three random pictures.

We saw a turkey last morning near our area!

"cheese factory"

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