There and Back Again: Observations, Slow Week and Fond Farewells

Well, with friends visiting the states this week and being busy, as well as having to return to school for deskwarming, I haven't been super busy, which means my life hasn't been super interesting this week haha. Sorry. But, in an effort to keep you all updated, here's my weekly post!

As I said last time, Monday was a hectic day, and it was also my anniversary. Aaaah one year. Today (the 24th) is also technically the last day of my contract, so tomorrow my new one officially starts!

This year has been so weird in terms of how I've changed. There are lots of things that I do differently, I think.

First of all, there are lots of foods I eat now that I never would have before.

I eat seafood a lot more (even raw sometimes)

I eat spicier foods now

I eat a lot more fruit, especially watermelon in the summer. It's offered a lot in the office and at lunch, and it's rude to refuse, so I eat a lot more than I used to. Which is probably good.

I also actually drink coffee, green tea and bubble tea. Clearly I was missing out before!

I have eaten more rice in one month here than I EVER DID IN MY ENTIRE LIFE AT HOME OMG SO MUCH RICE. But really, now when I don't have rice at a meal (like at BBQ), I feel like something is missing. But none of that rice and kimchi stuff for breakfast. Nope. I'll take eggs and pancakes any day.

I also eat kimchi now. Not just kimchi jjigae. Plain old kimchi. I have evolved. I'm slowly turning Korean, as Young Ah says.

I'm sure there's lots that I am forgetting. But I'm also much more independent. I take care of my apartment by myself, I navigate the transportation systems without help, I actually know where I'm going most of the time, I pay my own bills, it's crazy! I'm kind of like an adult now!

And even though I'm still frustrated with my level, I know about 1000% more Korean than I did last year, and I plan on studying hard this year as well. I'll be decent someday! I hope...

As my new contract starts, I'm looking forward to discovering more about myself and Korea!

Onto my week:

On Tuesday, I went grocery shopping, made food for lunch for my deskwarming days, and then met up with Sarah and her mom and grandmother, who are visiting from the States.

there are some new buses in Seoul, Tayo
buses, that have cute faces on them. I
wanna ride one!

some lady brought a chair on the bus >.<

The dog cafe was fun!

We liked this one. And then he spilled
Sarah's mom's tea haha

I still find it cool that I can read and understand
this, even if it's still simple

I spent Wednesday and Thursday as I usually do, going to work and then rushing home, making dinner and heading to Korean class.

My co teacher had to be in the office on Friday all day, and he surprised me with some juice! It's nice that I have a decent relationship with my co workers, and that they bring me small gifts from time to time. Don't worry, I try to reciprocate occasionally.

It's called salad juice. Apparently there are
like 10 different vegetables and fruits in it?

As I said, most of my friends are in the States or are busy, so I spent the weekend relaxing and cleaning my apartment, since it got quite messy with 2 people living in it. It's decent sized for Korea, but still pretty small. It feels good to have it clean and mostly clutter free again.

I also decided that since I got paid, I was going to go roam around Myeongdong for a bit, which is a stupid idea haha. I had one item I really wanted to get.

I really liked my hair, so I thought I
should go shopping. Can't waste a good
hair day!

Some Japanese tourists (I think) were
taking pics at the cafe near my apartment

I always find gems shopping:

I should go back and buy this, it's hilarious.

This whole thing said "the best of time of my
life with you" or something like that

You try, Korea. You try so hard...

and then I saw this on the subway. bahahaha

Yep. One thing on my list and I come
home with this. I DO WHAT I WANT.

I went for a shirt that I had been eyeing a few weeks ago, and ended up with 2 shirts and 2 t shirts, an umbrella (mine is breaking, so that's legit, right???), a new charm for my phone, some socks, foot masks and some more face products from Etude House. I would say oops, but most of it was on sale and I do what I want!!! I think I only spent like $50 on it, cause most of the places are having sales now. I saw winter coats out. WINTER COATS. IT'S STILL AUGUST UGH.

These random "play me" pianos have been
popping up all over Seoul. I like them!

Sunday was a little tough. I had to say goodbye to a good friend, Maria, as she heads back home this week. I met up with her, Lauren and Anna for one last dinner, where we talked about our first year here, the silly Korean things she would miss, stories from our schools, crazy religious people in Seoul, things we can't wait for in America, and the future. It's sad that she's leaving, and I know it will be hard for her, but I think she made the best decision she could. It's hard when you love people in both places.

We didn't get to hang out as often as now realize we should have, and I'm sad to see her go. Still, thanks to FB, we will be able to geek out about Kpop and Kdramas, especially anything BigBang related.

That's life, isn't it? Hard to go, hard to stay, hard to be left behind...

Because I'm trying to feel upbeat but am sad, here's a song that is also that way. IU's Good Day is catchy and fun, but the words are not quite as happy as the song sounds.

And because of our love of Big Bang, here's one of our favorites. As a popular tumblr posts states, "Everybody says they're done with Big Bang until Haru Haru comes on."