Wow, it's been a long time!

Hey, to anyone that reads my blog.... it's been a loooong time since I have updated or made any post.
Nothing much on this end. Korea still feels like home (I've been here 3 years).
I have been getting healthy and exercising a lot more. Never thought I could pull it off. I started to run about 3 years ago, off and on, but never liked. In fact, I hated running. Then, when we moved from Konkuk Uni area (Gwangjin-gu) to 10 mins walk down from Itaewon Station (Yongsan-gu), I was closer to everything. Including an English speaking gym, at Noksapyeong Station, with personal trainers and group fitness. AW-SOME by the way.

I started fully exercising in May 2011. I started with Zumba on a Tuesday (unfortunately, my zumba instructor went back to Hawaii with her husband recently and I no longer have zumba.) and the went to the foreigner's gym on a Wednesday.  (I remember this because Zumba was on Tue/Thurs and Condition/GX was on Mon and Wednesdays. Both were awesome and I started to lose some fat and see a lot of changes in my body.

Come around August 2011, I started to watch what I eat and try to cut out junk food. I did very good until Halloween came around.

Crochet

I tried crocheting a squid but it looks rather more like a jellyfish cross with an octopus.
I decided to not make a squid because the tentacles looked not squidish. Hmmm
I should try again... someday

Kimchi jeon 김치전

I decieded to make some korean kimchi pancake.
I used several sources to find a good recipe, but i for got the sites. I remember the recipe, it was for about 3 people.

120 ml flour 밀가루
100 - 120 ml kimchi juice 김치
200g kimchi (drain, cut with scissors or chop it into smallish chunks) 김치
1 egg 계란
Half a green onion 파 (optional)
15ml oil 기름

<u>method </u>
Mix together and then pour some into heated pan with oil. Spread thinly and cook for 1 - 2 minutes until reddish brown and flip. Make a few more and enjoy Enjoy 맛있게 먹어요!

New phone and new job

I got a new phone because my lollipop was rather outdated. I decided to get a smartphone just until the new iphone comes out, but i will wait for about a year.

I have new job now and its tons of fun, i am enjoying it so far ^^

From left to right: Cloy (pronounced Chloe), Amy, Jian and Brian ^^

This is the classroom where my desk is and where I eat lunch

Left: Sarah, Ryan

the baby class: Daniel, Joshua and Arthur is hiding his face

After school class: this is Eddy and Ally. The bricks decided to fall on

him the moment I took a picture. haha

Miso

Miso is a korean performance of music and dance at the theatre that is down the road from the canadian embassy.

It is basically only for foreigners, the whole theatre was filled mostly with japanese ^^

It was very beautiful and the bad guy hugged me in the photo! Thats why bad guys rock. ㅋㅋㅋ

I recommend going of you want to do something in korea. I'll look for a map just in case.

When in Rome do as the Romans!

WEll, I'm not in Rome. I am in South Korea and here, they don't usually have ovens in their households.
So how does one go about making a cake that doesn't cost an arm and a leg??
***(as beautifully crafted cakes in local Bread shops range from 10,000won to who knows HOW much. and these beautiful and yummy cakes, although expensive are usually REALLY tiny. You'd have to buy two or three just to have a birthday party)


Well! I know! Use your rice cooker!! Wait, what? Yes, I am serious. Use your electric rice cooker to bake your cake! Its very simple.
I used this recipe here and it turned out wonderful and like this blogger, I didn't do the filling but I did do the butter cream icing on top but my icing turn more darker... it may be because I didn't use butter - I use margarine (Thats all I could find in short notice near my area at the furthest convenience store from my house/apt/one room-thingamajig) and I added a dash of Kahlua and vanilla syrup (like latte style syrup) because, well, the margarine style butter cream didn't taste as good as normal butter cream and I didn't have vanilla extract. (I originally wanted a whipped cream icing because its whiter and fluffier, but you can't find whipped cream r even 35% cream in the convenience stores here in Korea [outside of Itaewon].

But, for my cake I had to run it through the cook process 3 times, instead of 2 like the original recipe. It turned out perfectly the way I like it, nice and brown!! HA!

Anyways, Here are some nice pictures of my cake!

Hana Cooking School - kongbubang field trip

Today, instead of Korean Class, we had a field trip to a cooking school near Mia station.

We make 제육볶음 (jeyukbokkeum), 된장찌개(doenjangjjikae), and 주먹밥(jumeokbab).

It was very delicious.

These here are the 주먹밥. They are similar to Japanese Onigiri.

Me and my group decided to make ours look cute!

On the left is 된장찌개 (Soybean Paste Stew), it was awesome.

I really put the perfect amount of salt. Although I wish there was more 된장.

I felt it wasn't dark enough. But it was still awesome.

On the Right is my friend(Joanna)'s 제육볶음 (Spicy Stir-fried Pork). I took a picture

of her's because my other group members making the Pork was too far away. ㅎㅎ

But they all looked the same, so it didn't matter to me.

And I didn't have space on my Cellphone to take too many pictures.

I hope you all learn how to make Korean food! Its really delicious.

P.S Although we all had the same amount of gochujang for the bokkeum,

I felt that it wasn't spicy at all.

P.P.S If you want recipes for these things, check out

maanchi.com

# 11 and 12 of Touristy Things

Touristy Things to DO in Korea

Halloween Night

At the Seoul Drink n' Draw club

So much fun, I believe. I really enjoy going, although I went only twice. I will definitely try to keep going!

Oct 30

Baby Om!

I have been going to a Business Korean class for that past 4 months. Yay for blogging about it... NOT.

But one of the students at the class (he is a Yoga teacher at one of the universities in Seoul - forgot which one) just recently had a baby and today we get to go to his house and meet him! **heartheart**

The baby's name is Om.

Touristy Things to do before I leave Korea Forever

(This is just a copy from my facebook notes. I want to do it here too - hahaha)

(but I won't be leaving Korea too soon yet harharhar)

1. Meet and talk to 노홍철 from 무한도전.
2. Meet all the guys from the tv show 무한도전.
3. Half-master Korean language.
4. Take the topik(test of proficency in korean) and get good mark.
5. Visit another province in Korea (again)
6. Visit a Hanok village (traditional style Korean village)
7. Visit namsan tower. **done**
8. Go to a live 무한도전 concert.
9. Go to a live gag concert (kinda like korean version of snl)
10. Visit the old capital of city of the Joseon dynasty
11. Visit the re-vamped gwahwamun square.**done**
12. Take a picture with the statue of king sejong at gwanghwamun.**done**
13. Meet big bang ;) (or just go to their concert)
14. Visit Jimjjilbang **done** (several times done)
15. Be on a commercial in Korea
16. Go to jeju
17. Experience a temple stay
18. Pay off my credit card debt
19. Wear hanbok(Korean traditional clothes once more)
20. Purchase hanbok for myself

Will add more as I think of them...

Chuseok!!

It was fun, we went to my hubby's parents place and did the normal thankgiving "korean style" stuff.

We're off to the in-laws.

Mmmm, Yummy food!! ^-^

But right now, it's for the ancestors. So lets bow, so they can eat the yummy food first.

Me and Jang ik's cousin. I think her name is 다회 (Dahee...)

할머니, Jang-ik's uncle, and me ^^

And the end of a loooong day of eating and 3 hour car rides

from Namyangju to Incheon. ㅠㅡㅠ

Flooding before chuseok!

it had rained all morning and we found that our alley had slightly flooded. i made a joke about incheon having to worry about flooding and not us, and later found out on the internet that incheon area flooded pretty badly!

This is our area: At children's grand park station/konkuk university soccer field

These are the other areas:

^

kangnam area

^

Incheon area

^

Hongik University station

^

Also, hongik university station

^

Gwanghwamun subway

.

(these last images i got from my hubby that was on korean websites. None of these places are near my house)

Korean class, taxis, and Cicadas

Today, I have Korean business language class. I am so far, we have had
two assignments. One was writing 10 sentences using 수 있다 and 수 없다
(what I can or cannot do), it was super easy because I learned that
many months before this class and the next assignment was to do the
first quiz from the book. I think I it two wrong.

3:55pm
Okay the result is in, I got all the questions right!
And also, we did the chapter 2 quiz in class and out of 11 questions, I
got 3 wrong :(
But also, we didn't actually go over the material in that chapter,
except for 수 있다/없다
We learned 네요 but very little. So it kinda messed up my mark.
We don't have class next week because of summer break (for schools)
but i almost wish I could go to a Korean language hagkwon or even take
the Korean at konkuk university, which is right beside me house!!!
But I will study for next time. I will study the whole chapter 3. It's
only 4 or 5 pages.

My goal by next April is to be able to take the Korean proficiency
test. ^^b wish me luck!
And by doing this test, I will then be able to apply for a job, and
maybe even take ece in university here. (or online distance). But i
really want the degree and not just the diploma. A degree actually
means more.

Also, earlier today, the crosswalk told me that is was safe to cross
the street. Well, just as I passed a taxi, he decided to run through a
red light and nearly hit me.
You see, the one really cool thing about Korea is that if you get hit
by a someone, you demand their name card or phone number and a couple
days later you call them and ask for a certain amount of money, so you
won't take them to court. Even if you are perfectly ok.
That is the first thing that came to my head when i glared at him and
he pleasantly waved to me.
Asshole.

And before that I actually got to see a Cicada.

Here is a picture of one

'



A video of one singing a lovely song.

Warning, he is loud and very high pitched.

This is a test

This is a test to see if I can send blog posts from my iPod touch.
Next time I am on blogger, I will delete this message... Maybe.

Love Katie

P.s also adding a picture

p.p.s I found out that I can also edit from my Ipod touchs browser... But only on HTML mode, I think because I couldn't get the keyboard to come up on compose mode...

Today, I slept until 12:30pm

Today, I slept until 12:30pm, played on my computer all day, ate pizza
from mr.pizza, played on computer again and now I'm bored. I want to
study but my brain feels fried and I don't have the enthusiasm to
study at home, I'd rather go to a cafe. Maybe I'll do that but ...
It's 7:30pm.

Omg what should I do...

Now it's 12am soon. I am on my iPod right now, because I have nothing
else to do as I cannot sleep. Gah. What should I write about?
I hope I win that draw for that magazines and crochet hooks. I really
can't find my only one.

Sent from my iPod

P.S = I didn't win :( Maybe next time

오늘은 좋아~

Hello world,
Today is a good day! All the teachers helped out but eveN thought it's
ok at Id a little and once in a while, I'm still going to quit because
it's really tiring. I really hate all the yuchiwon that gloria gave me
at nowon station. I think this station is bad luck :(
So bad!! 너무 나빠요 !! ㅋㅋㅋ

Sent from my iPod

이쪽으로 보세요

As I am waiting to cross the street at ssangmun station there is a
taxi blocking the side street and a cop across the first cross walk.
(this is a four lane, one way street - two for cars, two for bus)
Since it's a green light, no one can cross, not even the traffic
police, he whistles to him and yells "아저씨!" a couple times. The taxi
driver is clearly ignoring him, soI think in my head, 'should I help
the police guy ?'
I think the odds, by the time the police gets to cross the street, he
won't be able to give him a ticket because, he'll drive off. So it's
ok to help.

I knock on the passenger door and point to the other side, as at first
I forgot what to say, and he didn't know what I was doing pointing.
Then I saw, "이쪽으로 보세요" and he looks to where my finger points
and sees the police and then drives off.
The police kinda laughs and nods his head in thanks. ㅋㅋㅋ

Although then, it sounds so right and it was the first thing that came
to my head. Now that I think about it and read it, I should have said 저
쪽으로
ㅡㅡ
I think.

Funny thing I saw in the subway:
지하철 의자는 추구골대가 아닙니다
And the guys legs were wide open as a goal post in the picture, with a
ball going towards him.

오프사이드 반칙은 싫어요
And a picture of a guy running really fast out the train with a ball

Sent from my iPod

Shoes

My pink shoes don't match my yellow shirt and they are getting really
ugly.

There is a weird curly hair foreigner in the seat across from me and
he looks exactly like one of those stupid ones that are here because
they can't do anything in their own country. But he kept looking at
me, even still as I walk passed the outside of the train.

ughhhh so gross.

Sent from my iPod

July 1st - New hair cut + 3 things

3 things:

1) Completely forgot about Canada day.

2) Completely forgot about Independence day

3) Got a new hair cut and some new clothes!