Ramen and Honkies

So I froze my butt off today on the way to work.. my hoodie is about as wind proof as mesh...

So i resolved to go and buy the jacket from Zara that i espied on Sunday... quite nice overall (*ahem* not as good as the one that i sent off -.-") but still nice enough, but i didn't want to buy it till i had a second opinion... so i left it on the rack.

TODAY however i SERIOUSLY regretted making that decision... I decided to put on mypolar fleece vest undersneath my hoodie.. so at least my bod was warm.... though i couldn't feel my arms after a while....

So i decided to go to buy i tonight... Sean (the new ELT from USA) was going to Myong dong and Jin was floating about that area so went to that Zara instead (the one i went to on Sunday was in Samseong.... not that that means anything to anybody...) unfrotunately they didn't have it... so really it was a wasted trip... i did buy a shirt however....
ANYWAY

So i head over to the "KENZO RAMEN" place down the road and sat down to enjoy my noodley goodness when i overhead the couple talking next to me.... I wasn't paying attention but curiosity got te better of me and as it turns out, they were speaking cantonese! (should be noted that in Korea, I've noticed that for the most part, people who work/live/study here are generally mainlanders, people who come here to shop tend to be honkies) So, when i realised i gave the girl a very sharp look (which probably wasn't very polite.... and unortunately she noticed as well... but then Chinese people here in general get weird looks when they speak)
So .. i listened in for some time and finally worked up the courage to say "You guys are from HK?"

*sudden looks of surprise..... mental images of draw dropping* and from there a conversation ensues throught the predictable avenues of conversation
what you doing
how long you here
where you from
*small talk bs*

i have to say... esp in Canto.. i've never been overly confident.... it's kinda funny but i think i usually get the jump on people mainly cos i don't look like i can speak.... which i think automatically lowers their mental standards. Anyway, i felt really proud of myself for coming out and actually having the guts to start a conversation, not even in English... but in canto... big moment for me :)
so after a fair bit of talking, they comment that my canto is really good....*blushes* but i know quite well my deficiencies in that language though it was nice of them to say.
Even funnier is when the owner turned to me and started speaking in.......


no... not canto (pfft) Korean... just flat out started yapping away happily like i actually understood what he said... though in fact... i found that i did surprisingly.... just asked where we're from and what language we were talking...
It was definitely a kudos moment for me cos i'm talking away (albeit nervously) in canto and then switch over to Korean pretty seamlessly :)

BIG BIG grin and pat on the back for myself :P hahahaha

peace y'all

AAANNNDD cos the clock's ticked over...


HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!!! you old bastard :P
better get in the damn kitchen and cook me a storm when i get my ass back to Austrlia!! :)
love you dad :)

Vegie Soup

So.. as a prelude to this I'd like to post up pics of my usual Tofu Gung soup which I'd made... Monday night.

Following ingredients:

Soup stock (this was made usuing the leftover pork bone from my Birthday Dinner while parents were here and the crab shell from the one that my landlady gave me last time imade the seafood version of this soup) ie... pork and crab soup stock ... REALLY good very aromatic.
Wun yee (black fungus thing)
Chicken shreds (from the box of fried chicken i bought the previous night and REALLY couldn't finish so i reheated it in the oven... ate all the re-crunchied skin of course ;) *YUM*
Dried shitake mushrooms (this time i put LOTS and LOTS of them in... kinda to make up for other things lacking)
Ham (this time i cut them a lot more thinly and fried them... much nicer thinner)
Tofu (of course)
and this time i decided to put some lil prawns in.. no other seafood



I took some to work for Jin and Joanna, Joanna took it home but Jin shared her box around the office..... it was a HUUUUGE hit

Understandably I was pretty big-headed about it and it really surprised me how many people actually tried it.... the box wasn't THAT big... i did fill it up but apparently Jin had it... as did Herena, Ashley, Amy, Linda and Stephanie maybe others..... so i got quite a few compliments for that :) hehehe quite pleased with myself i must say :P kekekekekeke

so anyway... onto the Vegie Soup

alright.... so strictly speaking it's not entirely a vegie soup... there are pork bones in it, cos last time i made the soup it was damn sweet (most likely due to the 3 large carrots)

Ingredients:
Pork soup bones,
7 tomatoes
1 medium 1 small onion
2 zuchinni
Half a small bulb of celery (smallest at the supermarket.. but still a LOT of celery)
Lots of mushrooms.... (like... 15?)


Alright so first of all i put the pork bones (which were frozen after i bought them fresh on ... Monday) into some boiling water to cook out the blood.
After that i put the (now seriously boiled) bones into a big pot of water (i didn't wait for it to boil first just checked them in)
While the bones were boiling away happily I quartered and skinned the tomatoes (last time i made the soup the skins pissed me off after a while)

Next i roughly cut up the onions (wanted them to be chunky)

Then i quartered the mushrooms (more chunks!)
and cut up the celery

The last thing i cut up was the zuchinni, because i thought i'd put them in last.... seeing as i figured that if i boiled them too long they'd just fall apart (which they did.. but only a lil bit)


The tomatoes were the first thing i added into the bubbling pot of pork bones cos i needed to boil them into oblivion.



next in were the mushrooms followed by the celery and onions after it reboiled.
Last was the zuchinni...



plenty of salt and pepper... and because i felt like it.. i also added some oregano in there as well.... mixed in quite well actually.... but we'll see how my workmates judge the soup tomorrow.... and now seeing as i know they're the sharing sort.. i just gave them one big tub instead. :P

the finished product.

A little surprise

So this particular surprise was tehnically spoilt by herself ....
however this particular surprise involved a series of notes ...( a LOT of notes) that she had written to keep me company until we see each other again.

I had instructions that i was to read 3 a week, Wed Fri and Sunday over every week until we saw each other once more.

So here is the lovely silvery package i received... on a Tuesday i believe it was.....




and here are the phenomenal multitude of notes that she hand wrote for me.....



and the card was for our 18 months Monthiversay :)


THank you :)

BIG BIG BGI HUGS for you :)

1.5 years, 18 Months, many weeks, and many many more days.....

To my girl...

There have been many many highs.

And many lows

But we have made it this far

Not without sadness, and not without tears

But together we are still.....

After these one and a half years


There are more difficult times ahead...

But there's also plenty more time to have good ones too

:)

Be strong :)

let us both be strong so that we can see this through.. together....




and THANK YOU for being so strong thus far... for holding us together when i had almost given up... thank you for fighting to hold us together still...


thank you for 18 months :)

thank you.....

2008 Seoul Drum Festival. (4-10-08) *updated*

Just some Vids from the 2008 Seoul Drum Festival :) all acts were excellent :)

the kid in the band with the red drums... he's 11... the band's from Japan... see if you can figure out what's the first song they're playing.. it's an AWESOME rendition of it.... it's the 7ths one down...


***okay now i have ALL of the videos on :) i actually ran out of memory that night much to my dismay.... right at the end where this psycho drum player was getting the crowd to chant "tae han min guk" (south korea's official name) with the drums.. was seriously cool!! ****

Gangnam day out.

So it's been a while since i've blogged about me going out anywhere... so today.. it's "Foundation Day" in Korea so it's a public holiday.
This week has been SOO awesome for me... it's a short week and on top of that, Monday and Tuesday were both exam days so we didn't do anything except administer tests (boring, but easy) and Wednesday was our only real day of work (after which I spent the night at a jjimjilbang 찜질방.... )I got there around .. 1030 or so and i left at 930 the next day.... of those 11 hours.. i honestly think i spent about... half of it under water.... it was excellent. THE best thing was spending a couple of hours soaking in the 41 degree spa punctuated by dips into the 18 degree pool (horridly refreshing... a truly rude awakening) then getting out and going to the 24hr canteen to get myself some cold noodles washed down by an even colder beer =) blissful :).

Okay so then Thursday was suposed to be a teacher's seminar day (basically a day of pure BS where we have a meeting abotu 'stuff' where the end result is that nothing changes anyway) but because last Friday, some schools went on an excursion to Everland (theme park just 40 mins outside of Seoul) the parents wanted to have a 'make up' class. But then because it was basically an excuse to babysit we didn't end up doing much anyway. First lesson the kids were late and missed, 2nd lesson i ended up just chasing my kids around on the 4th floor, 3rd and 4th lessons i played chess with the kids :P hahahaha fantastic day.

and TODAY after what seemed like a weekend already (the 찜질방 has scary recuperative qualities) ... was Friday :P so i met up with Jin and Ashley at the hair salon and for me i basically just hung out there for 2 hrs... watching "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" on my mp3 player..



After that Ashley left and Jin and I went and grabbed some Italian (my first here.. and definitely not disappointing). I really should've taken some more pics there actually..... but yeah had garlic bread, tomato and basil and 2 cheese pizza and some Chicken cream pasta... all quite good, and i washed it all down with a Chilean Merlot served chilled... which really wasn't too bad at all.. quite an enjoyable wine... cheap too.... sweeter than i expected from a Merlot, but good =)


After the LUNCH we went to the Leina Cafe, and just chilled out. Got a table near the open window thing and just one look at the boards outside i just KNEW i had to put my feet up and as soon as i did.... felt SOOO right being there =) like in Balmain or something. Got a couple of looks but y'know.. i don't care what others think... sipping on some excellent tea my feet up and just chatting to a friend.... an excellent day to spend a Sunday.... and an AMAZING day to spend a Friday public holiday MUAHAHAHAHA :P




My French *something something* Earl Grey and my Marco Polo tea i think ( super nice EG and MP is basically high grade mint tea... 10,000 Won !!! each pot !! )



"got coffee bitch?" :P



"got coffee roaster bitch? " :P



and the whole kit out where the FRESHEST roast coffee is made.... from all around the world...



I felt that this picture was really good.... to me it just feels .. relaxed, but the concept of the picture is a bit cliche really... though also typical of Korea in one way and not at all in another.
Is/ the presence of technology, ear phones in.... hand on the phone.....
Isn't/ the solo thing..... it's rare to see Koreans doing things by themselves.... my impression is that everything that is done, medical appointments, errands, nail, hair, .. everything... is always done with company.
But for me, i fel this pic is..... fitting.
I know i just spent the last 7 lines ranting about a picture with me in it.... but y'know what ?

IF you don't like it you can go shove it :P hehehe



Jin's version.... the ever present coffee in front of her (though i admit, the coffee there is AMAZING.... not bitter at all, if anything it tastes watery.. but you can really smell and taste the chocolate, nutty, and all those other aromas and textures you read on the labels of others.) and phone to her head, trying to look super popular :P



Our dessert.... Ice Cream Waffles....



and again cos i like the focus of this pic....... I'm a photograph noob so it's rare when i pull off what i think is a nice shot.



And here we have a group of peeps dancing out a Ad jingle for a noodle shop called "Neoguri"



I didn't catch this pic in time but after the finished dancing and started walking away, the dude in white from the previous 2 pics pointed to me and they were all jumping up and waving :P hopefully the video uploads and you'll see it at the end of the video.



Afterwards we went over to Lotte World, Jamsil for a manicure..... that's right... i went and got a manicure (at Jin's behest) always wanted to see what goes on... and seriously... not much at all IMO...... shrugs* an experience nevertheless.



as a precautionary measure i'm going to say....."Shim, Ben, Joel..... and just in case... Seng...... SHUT THE HELL UP"

After THAT, we went down to the shooting range and shot off a couple more clips (2 beretta and 1 USP) 2 98's and 1 97. I couldn't convince Jin to shoot anything .... CHICKEN "i love peace' BAH!!!


and now... i'm at home :) chillin out posting here and someplace else too =)
;) *you know where*

Tomorrow might be meeting up with a friend to go to "Hi Seoul" festival at "Seoul Forest" which is nearby... will chuck some pics up of that too.