Tiny Roving Doggie Packs & Cherry Blossom Beauty
4/6:
As per usual, Monday is pizza night in the Collard household, and the worker (maybe owner?) of Pizza School (our go-to spot) now knows us and greets us accordingly. The only new thing from this Monday was the addition of a spicy chicken filet pizza (center) which was very good, and provided us with leftovers for quite a few days. Besides work and pizza, Monday was an inside-day where Taylor and I didn't leave the comfort of our living room unless we had to. I mean, when you have nice wifi and food, why leave?
Plus, as you can see by the second picture, I gave myself a little handy-man job of taking down the stained wallpaper. You can see more of my exploits on Facebook :P And um, suggestions are appreciated. Currently my plan is to kill the mold (already done as of now, 4/13) slap two coats of anti-fungal paint/primer on it and then re-wallpaper with a sunshine yellow (just from the window down, don't worry) that can be seen on the low-table. Yes? Let me know any tips/tricks you know!
4/7:
Tuesday was another birthday party (Jin's, one of Danella's friends, and a very fun, kind gal) who graciously invited us all our for Korean BBQ, I believe her group reached close to 20 patrons as well and we filled the little local BBQ joint we met at. In case you are not familiar with what Korea BBQ is, it is meat that they bring to your table (with many accompanying dishes) and then they leave you to do the cooking! They put flames/oil burners under the table and a metal 'grill' on top and then leave you to do as you may, Our group was so large we had four sets of food/burners going but the below was the prettiest one (cooked by the far right end of the table, which was mainly Koreans, hence the dish's beauty :P)
In general, it was a success of an outing :D
4/8 &/or 4/9 (because my phone didn't stamp-date them correctly):
4/10:
Friday once again! My how times flies here! This particular Friday Taylor and I were feeling rather homey, so we invited co-people over for card games in our PJ's! We had Danella and Laura over and a bit after midnight Aaron joined as well, everyone stayed until close to 2:30 and the evening ended with Aaron singing and playing guitar for us, he is very talented!
And how could I forget, the tenth was Taylor and my first payday in Korea! And our first payday in six weeks! Whew! But unfortunately, due to Korea's 'anti-phishing' laws, we aren't allowed to get an ATM/Debit card or online banking for three months after opening an account, which unfortunately meant we got out of work at 8:15 and all the banks were closed and we couldn't get any of that lovely paycheck out...so we really didn't get 'paid' until Monday. Grr.
4/11:
Saturday I woke up to a sunshine filled day full of energy, so I went for a run to work and back (about a 15 minute walk, one way), I was quite impressed with myself, as running is not a natural or recommended activity for me. After my run, I walked Grim to work and back, where we ran into a little doggie pack (dogs in Korea seem to be very small and very cute, rarely, if ever, do you see a golden retriever or larger breed). First a Korean couple walking their dog (Kim) stopped to pet Grim and let the dogs say hello, then a woman with a little puff of fur joined, except her doggie had its ears and tail-tip dyed bright pink, I'm talking NEON pink, and then just behind her came another woman walking an even smaller dog with its ears and tail-tip dyed purple...I'm telling you, they take cuteness seriously over here! The little white (and pink and purple) dogs were much less kind and Grim was having none of the growing dog pack, so we continued on our way. I should have gotten a picture.
After my eventful morning and afternoon (it is now 1:30pm) I got home...and woke up Taylor. Yes, he had been sleeping all this time, but at 2:00 we were to meet Danella and Laura and Caroline in the lobby for a Cherry Blossom Picnic that Bona had planned (keeping up on all the names still?), so a sleepy Taylor rolled from bed and got ready for the day, at about 1:45 :P
And now the true wonderful part of the weekend...the Cherry Blossom Festival!! There are many festivals all over South Korea (and Japan) when the cherry trees begin to pop, and though some are so crowded they lose their fun-ness, some are less-known but still beautiful, and that is just were we went...by luck and complete accident :)
We originally were supposed to meet others at Exit 4 in Sinchon station to go to Seodeamoon Park in Ansan (isn't that a mouthful!) but we ended up at Exit 4 in Sinch-E-on station...oops. Once we finally arrived at Sinchon after an hour and a half of subway-ing and an arduous and cramped bus ride, we had trouble finding the rest of the group, and then were informed that at the top of the mountain (where they were for the picnic) held no cherry blossoms. So we basically just settled at stopped in a little pavilion and had our own picnic with the group we had acquired along the way. There were a few cherry trees, but not many and we were all a bit disappointing, but bad attitudes solve nothing! Pictures below :)
The mountainous view from our picnic pavilion, and though you cannot see it from pictures, we could actually see the city curving between mountains and following the valleys around hills, it was pretty neat!
And our group (or at least part of it) and the view again we enjoyed as we snacked and talked with each other. There are always new people to talk to here, and everyone so far has been very friendly!
After the picnic began to wind down, we broke off from the main group with two locals, an Egyptian man named Abdalla, Taylor, Laura and myself. During our subsequent wanderings, we found a beautiful valley nestled between hills with a stream trickling down into a lake with the city beyond it, connected by floating stepping stones and a waterfall and more cherry blossoms than I ever thought I would see! It was a beautiful sight! Here are just a few of the many, many pictures I snapped...
Finally after we had wandered for hours and took pictures and eaten convenience store gimbap, we went back to the main stage to listen to the music and enjoy the evening fares of the festival, We soon discovered that nighttime brings a whole new beauty to the blossoms! All of the below pictures were taken by Abdalla with his camera as my phone died hours earlier after a valiant fight with the battery-drain that iPhones are known for. We were sitting beneath these trees as we cheers-ed and listened to live music...
It is pretty cool to look up and just see cherry blossoms for as far as you can see, definitely something I could get used to, unfortunately the cherry trees only have blossoms for 1-2 weeks and after the heavy rain we got on Monday...well, I doubt we will get another weekend like this one.
I was going to try and add Sunday to this post, but as it is already grossly big, I will leave it as it currently reads and make a new post to get you up to my current day (which is now Wednesday night). Stay tuned.
All of my love,
Tea
As per usual, Monday is pizza night in the Collard household, and the worker (maybe owner?) of Pizza School (our go-to spot) now knows us and greets us accordingly. The only new thing from this Monday was the addition of a spicy chicken filet pizza (center) which was very good, and provided us with leftovers for quite a few days. Besides work and pizza, Monday was an inside-day where Taylor and I didn't leave the comfort of our living room unless we had to. I mean, when you have nice wifi and food, why leave?
Plus, as you can see by the second picture, I gave myself a little handy-man job of taking down the stained wallpaper. You can see more of my exploits on Facebook :P And um, suggestions are appreciated. Currently my plan is to kill the mold (already done as of now, 4/13) slap two coats of anti-fungal paint/primer on it and then re-wallpaper with a sunshine yellow (just from the window down, don't worry) that can be seen on the low-table. Yes? Let me know any tips/tricks you know!
I have grand plans for our home! But for now, it just looks like a wreck :(
4/7:
Tuesday was another birthday party (Jin's, one of Danella's friends, and a very fun, kind gal) who graciously invited us all our for Korean BBQ, I believe her group reached close to 20 patrons as well and we filled the little local BBQ joint we met at. In case you are not familiar with what Korea BBQ is, it is meat that they bring to your table (with many accompanying dishes) and then they leave you to do the cooking! They put flames/oil burners under the table and a metal 'grill' on top and then leave you to do as you may, Our group was so large we had four sets of food/burners going but the below was the prettiest one (cooked by the far right end of the table, which was mainly Koreans, hence the dish's beauty :P)
Also, the red goupy stuff is kimchi, not guts which I now see it resembles :)
And the very unique 'bar' we went to after dinner, where you walk in, sit down and then serve yourself! No really! The cases behind us are all labeled with prices and you simply pick which bottle you want and at the end of the night bring your empties to the front clerk (like you would at a gas station) and pay for them. It's really not so strange, just buying the bottles after consumption instead of before, but it sure felt weird to Taylor and I! We both had one drink (I had a pineapple cooler), sang Happy Birthday to Jin, ate cake and chatted with some new faces (Kael on the left, Jin next to me, then Laura, Caroline and Lee on the right) and then took the last subway home with Laura, as it was a Tuesday and we did not want a repeat of Saturday,
In general, it was a success of an outing :D
4/8 &/or 4/9 (because my phone didn't stamp-date them correctly):
My hunt for cherry blossoms continues on a walk with Grim in the morning before work :)
They're coming, I can smell it...literally...
And because I'm cheesy, I had to take a picture of this...
And look, oh joy! Our washing machine wanted to help us do our dishes! How thoughtful!
(I got a Korean version of drain-o the next day, and we haven't had any backups since)
And the beautiful mountains that pictures never do justice to yet I keep trying to capture on film at the end of our street. You can see layers upon layers of mountains in almost any direction on clear days and I love the change in landscape from Michigan's relatively flat terrain.
Friday once again! My how times flies here! This particular Friday Taylor and I were feeling rather homey, so we invited co-people over for card games in our PJ's! We had Danella and Laura over and a bit after midnight Aaron joined as well, everyone stayed until close to 2:30 and the evening ended with Aaron singing and playing guitar for us, he is very talented!
And how could I forget, the tenth was Taylor and my first payday in Korea! And our first payday in six weeks! Whew! But unfortunately, due to Korea's 'anti-phishing' laws, we aren't allowed to get an ATM/Debit card or online banking for three months after opening an account, which unfortunately meant we got out of work at 8:15 and all the banks were closed and we couldn't get any of that lovely paycheck out...so we really didn't get 'paid' until Monday. Grr.
4/11:
Saturday I woke up to a sunshine filled day full of energy, so I went for a run to work and back (about a 15 minute walk, one way), I was quite impressed with myself, as running is not a natural or recommended activity for me. After my run, I walked Grim to work and back, where we ran into a little doggie pack (dogs in Korea seem to be very small and very cute, rarely, if ever, do you see a golden retriever or larger breed). First a Korean couple walking their dog (Kim) stopped to pet Grim and let the dogs say hello, then a woman with a little puff of fur joined, except her doggie had its ears and tail-tip dyed bright pink, I'm talking NEON pink, and then just behind her came another woman walking an even smaller dog with its ears and tail-tip dyed purple...I'm telling you, they take cuteness seriously over here! The little white (and pink and purple) dogs were much less kind and Grim was having none of the growing dog pack, so we continued on our way. I should have gotten a picture.
After my eventful morning and afternoon (it is now 1:30pm) I got home...and woke up Taylor. Yes, he had been sleeping all this time, but at 2:00 we were to meet Danella and Laura and Caroline in the lobby for a Cherry Blossom Picnic that Bona had planned (keeping up on all the names still?), so a sleepy Taylor rolled from bed and got ready for the day, at about 1:45 :P
And now the true wonderful part of the weekend...the Cherry Blossom Festival!! There are many festivals all over South Korea (and Japan) when the cherry trees begin to pop, and though some are so crowded they lose their fun-ness, some are less-known but still beautiful, and that is just were we went...by luck and complete accident :)
We originally were supposed to meet others at Exit 4 in Sinchon station to go to Seodeamoon Park in Ansan (isn't that a mouthful!) but we ended up at Exit 4 in Sinch-E-on station...oops. Once we finally arrived at Sinchon after an hour and a half of subway-ing and an arduous and cramped bus ride, we had trouble finding the rest of the group, and then were informed that at the top of the mountain (where they were for the picnic) held no cherry blossoms. So we basically just settled at stopped in a little pavilion and had our own picnic with the group we had acquired along the way. There were a few cherry trees, but not many and we were all a bit disappointing, but bad attitudes solve nothing! Pictures below :)
Some of the cherry blossoms we did manage to sniff out...
And Miss Laura and myself and a background of cherry blossoms...
The mountainous view from our picnic pavilion, and though you cannot see it from pictures, we could actually see the city curving between mountains and following the valleys around hills, it was pretty neat!
And our group (or at least part of it) and the view again we enjoyed as we snacked and talked with each other. There are always new people to talk to here, and everyone so far has been very friendly!
And a better view of our group taken on someone else's camera...can you guess whose?
And yes, he used a selfie stick, which is actually seeming a good investment to Taylor and I...
After the picnic began to wind down, we broke off from the main group with two locals, an Egyptian man named Abdalla, Taylor, Laura and myself. During our subsequent wanderings, we found a beautiful valley nestled between hills with a stream trickling down into a lake with the city beyond it, connected by floating stepping stones and a waterfall and more cherry blossoms than I ever thought I would see! It was a beautiful sight! Here are just a few of the many, many pictures I snapped...
The stage where the live music was after dark...
And my first glances of the valley from the top of the hill...
And just a small sliver of the magnitude of cherry blossoms we encountered!
Here is a shot by Abdalla that I simply had to post because I can't believe he was so close, taking a picture of us with his big camera and not one of us noticed :P
And the sun goes down...
And I did promise floating stepping stones, right?
And the old mixing with the new which seems a popular view in Seoul...
This picture shows how the cherry blossoms seem to pop up by the droves, as all the white you can see are cherry blossoms.
And a snack of triangle gimbap from 7/11, but boy was it a good 800W spent (roughly 80 cents)
A beautiful waterfall that (some nights) has a musical colored lit fountain, just like in GH! :D
And later views of the cherry blossom valley we discovered and spent the evening in and around.
And a couple more group shots by Abdalla :)
And Taylor being Mr Model ;)
And look! The lanterns are lit! Oh, and a lantern-selca, because I can.
Finally after we had wandered for hours and took pictures and eaten convenience store gimbap, we went back to the main stage to listen to the music and enjoy the evening fares of the festival, We soon discovered that nighttime brings a whole new beauty to the blossoms! All of the below pictures were taken by Abdalla with his camera as my phone died hours earlier after a valiant fight with the battery-drain that iPhones are known for. We were sitting beneath these trees as we cheers-ed and listened to live music...
It is pretty cool to look up and just see cherry blossoms for as far as you can see, definitely something I could get used to, unfortunately the cherry trees only have blossoms for 1-2 weeks and after the heavy rain we got on Monday...well, I doubt we will get another weekend like this one.
I was going to try and add Sunday to this post, but as it is already grossly big, I will leave it as it currently reads and make a new post to get you up to my current day (which is now Wednesday night). Stay tuned.
All of my love,
Tea
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