Daecheon Dam 10K & Team AH-mazing

I completed my first 10K a few weeks ago. Like, my first 10K ever. I believe the last race that I partook in was a one mile race around Capaha Park when I was…hmmm, 7 years old?  And I’m fairly certain that I came in last for that one.  I’m still not completely certain why I decided to do this one but I did do it.  And that’s pretty awesome, I think. 

Cheongju, Subway, & Buddha’s Birthday

I’ve seriously been slacking on the blog thing.  I’m working on catching up. I promise.

May 28 was Buddha’s Birthday. Bet you didn’t know that, did you?  In the Eastern Hemisphere that qualifies as a national holiday so I get the day off to explore a little more of this fascinating little country. Last Fall, my friend Lily moved about 40 minutes away from Daejeon to Cheongju so we went to visit her and see her new home.  I didn’t have my camera that day so all the following pictures are stolen from my friends’ facebook pages.  Thank you in advance.

Cheongju is a substantially smaller than Daejeon but still boasted a nice little downtown area.  The city was really clean and a lot greener than Daejeon.  More trees, more flowers, more grass. It also contains three (yes 3!) Subway restaurants.  Daejeon has zero.  Yes, that was my first stop after we got off the bus in Cheongju.  Pizza sub!

Being that it was Buddha’s birthday, we decided it was a appropriate to visit a temple after lunch.  I’m told the temple we visited is closed most every day of the year so we were really lucky that the gates were open that day, probably in observance of the holiday.

Enjoy Chewing!~♥

Two words that you never want to see on your bottled beverage. 

Tonight I tried a new drink with my dinner.  Lychee juice.  I’m not a fan of lychee’s necessarily but I find that their flavor is pretty mild so I wasn’t too concerned.  And, I was sucked in by the pretty label and the pleasant pink color.

Patbingsu (팥빙수)

Korea takes “seasonal foods” to a whole new level. There is a long list of “Korean traditional foods” that quite literally are only available a couple months each year. Frustrating as that can be for foreigners, this particular food still makes it in my top 5 favorite things in Korea list. I also think it is responsible for my recent weight gain but that’s another story altogether.

Street Cred at the Kimbap Shop

In most countries foreigners tend to get a bad rap and Korea is no exception.  There are dozens of stereotypes (both good and bad) related to us foreigners and I’m proud to say that I think I broke a few last night.

A friend and I had a late dinner at a kimbap shop near my apartment.  (Kimbap shop equals inexpensive restaurant that serves most Korean foods.  Kind of like Korean fast food, but healthier in comparison to our view of fast food.)  Being the delightful person that I am I make friends almost everywhere I go, especially in Korea. At this particular kimbap shop though I have have not really made any friends. They are always polite but I really don’t think they care if they have my patronage or not.  They just take my order (several times a week) and hand over my food, generally without a smile. Making assumptions here, but I think it’s a thing with foreigners there.  This particular place gets a lot of expat business because it is 24 hours so they may just be generally unimpressed with us as a whole.

My Favorite Purchase

Possibly ever.

Let me begin this blog by saying that I am NOT one of those people that carry their dogs around in little purses/bags. No disrespect intended to people that do but I always felt that I was not one of those people.  When I leave the house the boys stay home.  I don’t take them recreationally to shopping malls, restaurants, and other places they really aren’t allowed.  However, a few weeks ago when I traveled to Jindo, with both dogs medically unkennelable, I had limited options.  I left Charlie with the dog sitter (he’s a bit big for a 5 hour bus ride) and went shopping for a travel bag for Messi.

Korea’s fashion sense (even in dog supplies) is unique.  It’s very 80s retro with a very ‘more is more’ mentality. The more colors, bows, ribbons, sequins, layers the better.  Simplicity isn’t really big here. And what I found was nothing short of amazing.

A bright orange purse screen printed on a gold bag.  It’s gorgeous.

Can read the words on the bag?  Let me zoom for you….

That’s right… It says “Amy Loves”. 

Absolutely spectacularly Korean. I love it.

Korean Horror Flicks

Pre-Korea, I had taken about an eight year break from scary movies.  While I have always loved a good scary movie, The Ring was so frightening that I took an indefinite leave of absence from the horror world.  Being that Korea is so well-known for having bizarrely twisted and gory thrillers, I have made a conscience effort to start tiptoeing back into them. 

Last night, a friend and I saw my second horror movie here, 미확인 동영상, or Don’t Click. Since I am in Korea, obviously the movie was in Korean with no English subtitles. It’s not difficult to grasp the plot though. There is an internet video that is being passed around and once you watch the video you die. (Sounds a little The Ring-ish to me…)  Anyway, for each person that watches it the video is a recording of their now imminent death, like a premonition but not really.  Does that make sense?