haaaaaayyyy

September 19, 2011

WARNING: This will be ONE LOOOONG entry.

It’s been 26 days since I’ve been in Korea and I must say it has been good thus far.

After 3 weeks of spending most of my time with family, I have now (finally) been able to hang with friends here.  Don’t get me wrong.  I love my family, but I definitely wanted to do a little more exciting things, hah.  They’re not boring, but, it’s hard to do lots of traveling when your baby cousins are always asking for something and getting tired of walking.  Wandering on my own has been pretty nice. 

Here’s a update of what I’ve been up to for the past 2 weeks.

Lasik Surgery: This was slightly scary because they were operating all up in my eye, but otherwise it was not too bad.  I saw the entire surgery, except certain moments when they puts some eyedrops in my eye to numb it or make it blurry.  Despite the discomfort, I have NO regrets in getting the surgery done.  The morning after, everything was crystal clear. Didn’t need to reach over to grab my glasses.  Felt like I was re-born.

So, post-surgery, there are several things that I need to do to ensure that I had a good recovery.  I need to put in medicated eye drops 4 times a day for 2 weeks, not get water in my eyes for 4 days (meaning no washing of the face, use wash cloth), no intense rubbing of the eyes for a month, no sauna for 2 weeks, hat and sunglasses for a month, no strenuous exercise for a few weeks, and finally a week of wearing these bad boys to bed (so that I don’t unconsciously rub my eyes).

Lots of things I couldn’t do, but for the most part, I was able to live pretty normally.  There is one thing I REALLY wanted to do in Korea which is go bungee jumping, but because I got the surgery I can’t… BOO. O well, I’ll just have to do it some other time.

>FAMILY TIME:

During choo-suk (Korean version of the American Thanksgiving), my 6th aunt’s family and I spent a lot of time together.  It was pretty nice just doing whatever we wanted, being quite spontaneous. 

Off to the mountain we go.

Cuties.

On the way, I saw this. Uncle told me it’s a baby’s grave. Yeah… pretty creepy.

At the top there was an outdoors gym.  Korea has a lot of these.

Little one trying to be like her older brother and sister.

Hula-hoop time.

Guess what this is…

Despite its size, it wasn’t that bad trying to hula-hoop. 

Choo-suk festival at the Seoul History Museum.

Random stations had clothing from different countries. Cousins tried on the various clothing,

:)

The sign says that the station will be open to give out free food at 15:00 (3PM). My uncle and cousins started lining up at 2:45 P.M. hah.  Everyone else followed after their lead. They so would, anything for free food.

Felt like we were a traveling soccer team.

At a nearby outdoors market.

Yoot- no-ree time! A traditional Korean game. First time playing and it was fun.

Whee.

Look at this pro.

Other random things we did:

Facemasks :)

Go to the playground

Celebrated mama’s birthday :) :) <3

>TRAVELING W MOM:

Mother and I were able to meet up with a neighbor from when I was an elementary student.  It was so weird to see each other after all these years, but it was real good catching up. Yeeeee.

Ate, walked and ate again. Hah.  Mom left after 2 weeks because of work. (*Freeedommm, haha jk)

>TRAVELING & FREINDS:

Met up with Moon and Richard in Myung-dong. 

It took a really long time to realize that they spelled ‘cone’ wrong.

$1.50 ice cream. Yeeeee

Hah.

Good seeing you Alma :)

Off to Busan!

The water nearby is so nice!

It was sooo, O-SO beautiful.

Moo-joong oppa! Thank you for being such a great host!

Silly. mMMmmm good foooood. 1st dinner of the night.

1 hour after, we had our 2nd dinner for the night.

Then another hour later, our 3rd dinner for the night. I have never, EVER ate so much in my life.

I LOOOVE Busan. :) Sorry but, I like it a lot better than Seoul. :) YAY BUSAN!

Thanks oppas for allowing me to have such a fun time! Yall were great hosts!!! Come back to America, ASAP!

HAH. He always takes pictures like this… terrible.

Back in Seoul.

Mini GLDI reunion with Lydia and Kyu-kwang oppa! MISSED YALL SO MUCH!

Long live the yujs, Balboa 103! <3

Good to hear from you! Please keep us updated on how you’re doing! :)

Lydia unnie had an app that shows you how you look like with plastic surgery. I look… not human.

On the way to meeting my friend I saw this ad… The difference is… remarkable. Can NOT imagine how painful the revcovery must have been.

Time with IRENE :)

We were waiting in line for…

waffle icecream! Mad good.

Coffee shop.

Great catching up with you giirrrlllllll~

Miscellaneous things:

I can actually reach this in Korea :)

‘Bretzel’ = Pretzel

??? Don’t know what that means…

That update took forever… haha.  Still got another week. Probably won’t be as exciting as this past weekend, but probably will be nice meeting up with friends and walking to random places. Was going to update on my thoughts while I have been here, but I’m too tired to write anything else.  Update will be tomorrow. :)

September 5, 2011

Day 6

2nd major stop: Grandparents house in Dong-bok = farmland.

Had not seen my relatives in 9 years and so it was so good especially seeing my grandparents.

“Halmuhnee, make sure to smile!” - Eyes are closed…

“Halmuhnee! Your eyes are closed, make sure to keep them open.” - No smile… this went on for about 3 more photos, haha.  She’s too cute.

This woman is one amazing woman.  At the age of 75, she literally still runs the house and cares for all her children.  She’s the mother of 9 children, including my grandpa, and raised them all herself.  She’s so selfless, quick to give all that she has to others.  I hope to become so giving and so chill like this woman right here. 

Grandpops. Age 81. He doesn’t look like he has aged since the last time I have seen him, but his health has definitely deteriorated a lot.  He’s become a little more lax than before, but his stubborn character remains.  He continues to say that we must visit more often before he passes away.  He’s not yet a believer and so I pray that God softens his heart and accepts Jesus as his Savior. 

Pictures that grandma and grandpops saved over the years. Had a good time of reminiscing, looking at old pictures of the entire family. 

Grandma Haeseon helped grandma peel this root called “do-la-gee.”  There was a buttload that needed to be peeled. At grandma’s house there really isn’t much down-time because things like prepping for meals/laundry/cleaning take up most of the time.  I spent most of my time preparing for meals and washing dishes, haha.  It was good to be away from the computer, simply enjoying small talk with halmuhnee and grandpa.  After peeling, we dried them out in the sun on the rooftop.  This is what I call ‘quality time with the fam.’

Fortunately we were there on ‘jang’ day or market day where everyone busts out their produce and products.  Old school babyyyyy.

Typical korean photo, no one is smiling, well, except me and ma. Hah.

Love these two women :)

Day 8

3rd major stop: 6th auntie’s house in Seoul!

I got to see the cousins I never met because they were born during the 9 years I couldn’t go to Korea. They are adorable!

They are so fun to be around. Of course tiring at times, but nevertheless, such a joy to be around.  I wish they could move to the States… it’s mighty lonely without our relatives around.  We only have one aunt, uncle and 3 cousins in the U.S. Don’t get me wrong, I’m SOO glad they’re here :) However, I do wish more were here.  We’re doing our best to persuade them to come :)

She helped me choose a fedora hat :) cutie.

He loves me.

This young’n is too adorable. She’s such a burst of energy and a jokester <3

Only one of the many foods I’ve eaten. My aunt is an amazing cook.

Other foods I’ve eaten:

Some kind of seafood. Tasted like the sea. It was aiite, hah.

Called “choo-uh-tang.” Pureed fish and sesame seeds with many other herbs and vegetables. It was a hearty and very flavorful meal. mMmmmmmMmm

Other random things:

To FDFD: I’M INTERNATIONAL BABY, I’M INTERNATIONAL BABY (while doing the FDFD choreography) HEEEHEEEE

HBS, I miss you guys too! Think about you all often! Hope Gtown is swell :)

Fail. Got gum stuck on my glasses after competing with my 9 year old cousin in trying to make the biggest bubble. I won, however, my glasses have suffered. Timing is perfect though because I’m getting LASIK SURGERY TOMORROW. WHAT WHATTTTTTTTTTTT!! No more glasses for me :) Now I must take good care of my eyes…

Btw, I got my 3rd piercing and cartilage pierced :) The woman actually punctured my ears (haha sorry) three times… She made the 3rd piercing to close to the 2nd one and so took it out and re-pierced my ear.  The pain was managable. Mother scolded me and told me not to do it… yeah.. didn’t listen, haha. So glad I got it done though, yeeeeee. 

More to come…

August 29, 2011

Being in Korea is still a bit surreal to me.  It is currently day 5 and I’d have to say Korea is a pretty nice place.  Tons of things to do which all include spending that cash money. 

Planeride was alright, but I don’t want to do that again… felt nauseous the entire time.  It’s been 9 years since I’ve been on a plane to Korea and since then, technology has improved so much (AWWW YEEEEE).  I watched two movies on the plane: Unknown and The Adjustment Bureau.  I like the latter better (Matt Damon, wahoo!).  Perhaps it’s because I LOVE the Bourne series, hah. 

Arrived in Korea after 13 hours and 10 minutes later. Was picked up by auntie and uncle and proceeded to go to my aunt’s house (which btw looks like it’s from a Korean drama!) and then passed out.

Next day, spent the day hanging out with ma and the aunt (2nd aunt, I have 6 aunts and 2 uncles on my madre’s side of the family).  The day after, my uncle’s friends daughter showed me around Kang-nam and Dong-dae-moon shopping areas.  At first I didn’t want to buy anything because everything looked real strange, but after a while I started buying more and more things. 

One thing I found out is, I HATE HAGGLING.  Seriously, I hate doing it and I stink at doing it too.  Man, never has shopping ever been any MORE stressful.  I slightly nudged my friend to do the bargaining for me.  It was definitely a good experience, but I was BEAT when I got home, o boy.  Next day, went to Ap-goo-jang and it was aiite, ate so much so the food here is so cheap and delicious!

Mi-Jin, tour guide for the weekend!

OYY, must go, but I shall update very very soon!