Crossing The Border

My cousin Jeff is studying in Japan next month, so he came to visit me in Korea last weekend. Seeing him made me feel like I wasn't so far away from home. Being the adventurous guy that he is, he signed us up for a tour to... North Korea! It's a legit tour that costs roughly $77 including tour bus, tour guide that speaks your language, several tour locations, and a meal. We had to meet at the Lotte Hotel at 9am and I suck at getting up early so I stayed over Jeff's hotel (located closer to our destination than my dorm) the night before so we can venture out together. His hotel looked iffy from the outside, but his room was really spacious and nice. It even had a full kitchen and washing machine!

So the next morning we got up unnecessarily early, ate breakfast at Paris Baguette, and walked in the freezing cold to Lotte Hotel, which turned out to be omega fancy with a giant waterfall in the lobby and five star restaurants surrounding it. We got there early so we loitered like lost souls until it was time to board the bus. Our bus had maybe 20 or so people, but we were told more people will join us later.

The first stop was Odusan Unification Observatory. There we sat in a "North Korean elementary school classroom" and listened to a North Korean defector talk about her life and how she escaped. It was amazing to hear about how she survived the hardships and the bravery she and her sisters must have had. We also went to the theater to watch a short film on the living conditions in North Korea. I was surprised how terrible the commoners have it compared to the wealthy lifestyles the upperclass citizens have. 

We then went up to the observation deck where we could see North Korea on the other side of the river. The weather was bad, but we could still see land so it was pretty exciting. I thought it very ironic that the speakers were randomly playing B.A.P's "One Shot"... 

Next, we went to Imjingak park where we saw a bridge that used to be used to transport prisoners (I think? My memory is a bit foggy). After that, we had lunch and more people joined us for the second half of the tour. 

Then the exciting part! Actually, I fell asleep during the lecture -____- But we were at the official border! We had to leave all our belongings and transfer to a different bus and we couldn't even take pictures. Apparently there is a peaceful village inside the JSA where people actually live. I don't know why you would want to live in there but you can only become a resident through marriage with a villager and once you move out, you can never return. The village also has a strict curfew, but the men inside are exempt from mandatory military service. 

Crossing the border! 

ISpy a North Korean! "Please do not wave at him."

This is a memorial in honor of 2 UN soldiers that were murdered by North
Koreans (WITH AN AXE) for... trimming a tree o__o

The JSA was a bit intimidating because we had to walk in a single file line and were surrounded by soldiers. We were only allowed to cross the border for like 2 minutes and there was only one North Korean soldier standing on that side, but it was still an experience not many people can say they've accomplished.

I'm pretty bad at explaining and our tour guide gave us a lot more information, but I can barely remember it all >___< I think it's something you have to experience for yourself because I feel like I learned a lot.

Useless Food Spam 2

Yes, it's time for another food spam post because all I do here is eat and eat summore. I AM GETTING SO FAT T_____T But food so cheap and good D: But seriously, that is practically all I do... this blog must be so extremely boring to read already >___<

Dippin Dots from the convenience store! 

$2 Chicken+떡+tater tots in a cup

Miso ramen~ It was actually kinda meh...

/sobbing 

Caramel toast :9

"PRIED POTATOS"... more like microwaved fries xP

CHEERS

So smart! That giant metal thing protects us
from getting splattered by the spicy sauce 

Spicy chicken fried rice
$15 and it fed 4 of us!

Uhm... idk if this counts as food spam
but this is what we found in our dorm mailbox :P

10 freshly made ones for $2! Red bean or custard inside ^^

More fatty toast time~

Marvelous flavors at Baskin Robins *O*

Original, Hazelnut, Strawberry, Cheesecake, & Tiramisu ♥

They had different types of Asian noodles :9

I haven't been taking pictures of my food the past few days though because I'm trying to save more money and eating measly junk food meals >__< So hopefully my posts will have more variety to them!

@eatyourkimchi

So the other day, a bunch of girls and I went to hunt for eatyourkimchi aka Simon and Martina's studio in Hongdae. If you're unfamiliar with eatyourkimchi, you can check out their youtube channel here or their website here. They're originally from Canada and started off blogging about their life in Korea for their own enjoyment, but now has grown to a "company" with 300,000 subscribers that watch their videos about Korean culture, music, food, you name it. 

The studio is really close to my school and my roommate and I were surprised that we had totally passed it at least twice when we were at Hongdae the week before. It's easy to miss because it's on the third floor of a not-so-spectacular looking building. Under the studio is an overpriced cafe, where we sat around hoping to catch a glimpse of the two. Unfortunately, we didn't meet them BUT! Take a look at this:

Yes! They retweeted our picture! I thought that was pretty cool and made them seem more like normal people and less like semi-celebrities. Maybe we'll actually get to talk to them next time (:

Public Drinking and Unique Interior

Back at home, I'm not of legal drinking age so I've been taking advantage of my drinking privileges here in Korea. The thing is, I have no idea where the good places to drink are so my friends and I always just wander around and go in to random bars or restaurants. Lesson learned: the nicest looking places can be a letdown and the sketchy looking places could be the hidden gem. We had to try peeking into a few places before settling down and the two places we tried were pretty cool. 

Warawara: We ordered small pitchers of the pineapple soju and strawberry lemon soju. When that wasn't enough we ordered a large pitcher of berry soju, which was my personal favorite. You can also choose to get it strong or weak. The interesting thing is, they bring the cut up fruits in a Magic Bullet and blend it/ mix it with soju right in front of you. For food we ordered fried goodness: ham+crab meat+cheese and fries. 

2nd: The interior of this place was really cool. You have to take off your shoes to get to your individual table, which is raised above ground because surrounding the tables is WATER! There's like a mini stream running between the tables and I felt like a fairy having a drink at my tree stump or something. Cocktails here were a rip-off and we had to order food in order to get drinks. The whole place reeked of cigarette smoke and the big groups were making tons of noise, but I still liked the whole mystic forest feel. 

While we're on the topic of unique interior, I also ate at a post-it restaurant... I don't know how else to explain it. The walls are covered, ceiling-to-floor, in post-it notes of all shapes, sizes, and color. I guess it's better than graffiti, but it still looked messy and unattractive to me. Some notes had the typical "___♥___", but some were funny like "I will lose weight and come back one day". The menu was fairly normal, including a variety of fried rice or pasta. It tasted and looked very homemade.

Kimchi+cheese fried rice topped with tobiko :9

Well, until next time~

Useless Fashion Post 1

Coming to Korea, I've had to come up with ideas to stay warm while trying to avoid looking like a giant ball of clothing. It's harder than you think when most of your life you've lived in a place where the coldest it gets is hoodie+jeans weather. Under all my outfits I am wearing at least another layer or two.

Navy sweater: Brandy Melville
Acid wash skinnies with studs: Pac Sun
Pyramid necklace: Brandy Melville

Mint Sweater: Brandy Melville
Black skinnies: Pac Sun
Cross necklace: Brandy Melville 

Black, long, graphic tee: gift from Japan
Mauve, suede shorts: g.u. (Japan)
Pink scarf: Genius Outfitters
White, knit jacket: Billabong
Knee-highs: American Apparel

White collared shirt: Gilly Hicks
Striped sweater: Japan (I don't remember the exact store)
Denim skinnies: Pac Sun

Maroon sweater dress with faux leather pockets: g.u.
Black leggings: Uniqlo

Navy v-neck top: Gilly Hicks
Pleated mint skirt: MURUA
Black tights: Forever 21

Bijoux top: MURUA
Cardigan: Hollister
Mauve, suede shorts: g.u.
Leggings: Uniqlo

Close-up of my shorts

And of course I can't leave my room without my winter coat and boots (sorry, not pictured). I know all my outfits are pretty simple, but I have fun choosing what to wear every morning and keeping track of it all >w< Although ironically, I am blogging while wearing a hoodie and sweat pants... Oops :T

Kpop Adventure 1: YG

I have a confession to make... I am a giant kpop fangirl. No, not those crazy hardcore ones that stalk celebrities wherever they go, but I do own quite a number of albums and merchandise from my favorite groups. I've also seen three groups perform and the walls of my room are covered with posters. With that said, how can a girl like me sit around in Korea without basking in the kpop glory of kpop land?!

Last week, my roommate and I took the subway to Hapjeong (only 3 stops away from my uni) to visit the YG building. If you aren't familiar with YG, they are one of the "Big Three," as in they are one of the top kpop companies out there. It was surprisingly easy to find and pretty close to the station. But...

Expectation

Reality...

We were sad they took down the giant bear balloon even though Lee Hi is still promoting her song, "It's Over". Another letdown was when we saw a black van drive by so we got super excited and ran after it with our cameras ready, but in the end only 1 middle aged driver man came out after parking the van T__T So to make the most out of our visit, we just took some stalkerish pictures in memory of our mini adventure. We weren't expecting to see Big Bang or 2ne1 just walking around, but hey a girl can dream.

Could one of them be Big Bang's van?

Attempt at taking a peek inside

The building looked nicer from the side

YG auditions anyone?

Useless Food Spam 1

My food pictures are piling up, so I thought it's time for a food spam post. So if you're hungry and don't want to drool over your computer, I advise you to skip this post entirely. The average I spend on a meal is like $5, which is pretty unthinkable to do back home since there's tax and you also have to tip. Most of the food is from in or around my campus.

Mr.Pizza

짬뽕 (super spicy T^T)

Chicken

Kimbab with egg

Pizza & sausage bread from Paris Baguette 

Waffle with 3 scoops of ice cream & apple syrup (only $1.50!!)

Tempura Udon

Meat party~

"Chef's noodles" where they pour the soup after they bring it to your table
so the noodles don't get soggy

Mandoo! The noodles were orange :O

Bulgogi & ham+cheese soondubu 

Han's Deli for some non-Korean food

Omg look at that heart cake >3< So jealous of whoever gets to eat that!

My blueberry cheesecake mousse from Twosome Place 

Mixed mandoo plate, super yummy 

Tuna Kimbab & Kimchi Kimbab from school

Me being fat and pigging out on donuts

As you might have noticed, I haven't really been eating nutritious meals. Nor have I been eating properly at all... I would skip breakfast, then eat around 2 o'clock and snack throughout the day and not be hungry for dinner or I would eat barely anything all day then eat a big dinner D: I should change my habits soon and start eating healthier too! It's really hard to do though while on a budget and having NO kitchen T____T Help me!