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Day 15 (Saturday, July 1): Learning about Buyeo(tiful) History
OOTD: White t-shirt, long denim skirt, suspenders, black tights, black Boy London shoes
Today was kind of an early start since we had to be at Yongsan Station around 9:30am to catch a trip to Buyeo, a city with historic significance during the Baekje era. My sis found this special trip that was subsidized by the Korean government targeted to foreign expats. We each only had to pay 10,000 won (a little less than $10 USD). What a deal!
My mother being the social butterfly that she is, she strikes a conversation and makes friend with the family sitting close to us. Once we get to Buyeo we go to eat lunch at a restaurant that serves Sam Bap, a dish that is famous in Buyeo. One of the ladies who worked there and was probably the owner was actually Vietnamese. What a nice surprise! The food was also delicious!
We wandered around the fortress after and got a super pretty view of the water and mountains and whatnot. Tbh the tour guide wasn’t doing a great job and we really didn’t get to see much or understood the history of the place that much but it was still kind of cool I guess. We wandered in the museum later on and the moved onto another part of the city to attend the festival.
It started to rain so I had to get myself a parasol, which was transparent and had light blue polka dots. Pretty cute! We got some fried chicken to go for dinner and got some snacks at the convenience store. The festival began with some dancing (both traditional and b-boying) and taekwondo.
We then somehow ended up walking in the parade and although it was kind of cool, I also felt so out of place because I couldn’t fully understand the meaning of the festival. I wanted to be able to understand appreciate what was going on but I felt so lost. The rest of the night was spent wandering the festival to take in sights and cool tings to see. We got home super late so we had to navigate by bus since the subway closes at midnight. What a long day!
Day 16 (Sunday, July 2): Many Changes, New Beginnings
OOTD: red and blue striped top, dark blue jeans, black Boy London shoes
The original plan was to go the restaurant owned by Kang Ha Neul’s dad since Kang Ha Neul would be working there from 12-4pm but my mom and sis weren’t down so we ended up heading over to Dongdaemun. A little bummed out but I hope I get to see him before he enlists in the military later this year. We spend a good chunk of time wandering and shopping in Migliore. I got a cute maxi dress with a plant pattern.
For lunch we had Shake Shack. I got the mushroom and burger and I got to say it was pretty darn good even if there was no meat. We headed into Doota Mall to do more shopping before I headed off to my hair appointment.
Ad then i came time for my hair appointment! I was so ready to cut my hair although I wasn’t sure how I wanted to color my hair. I originally wanted gray at the ends of my hair but that would be be a lot in terms of time and money. I went to JP Hair and my hair stylist Min was super friendly and gave me a great discount which was super nice. I ended up with kind of blonde ends. Tbh it felt like I went back in time January of last year when I had my RA dye my hair. Although I guess this is a bit more blonde? I am trying to go back to get my hair to be more ash blonde since there are parts of my hair that look ash blonde and I want that color overall. We’ll see how that goes.
I headed over to Yongsan first to scout where my apartment first since my mom and sis would come later with my luggage. I got to see my roommate Dorothy and checked out our cute room. It was nice and had everything we needed. OUR WASHER WAS ALSO A DRYER PEOPLE. YASSSSSSSSS. I got to talk to my roommate Dorothy for a bit before heading out again to meet up with my sis and mom. Just my luck it started to rain so we had to move all of my luggage into my apartment by traversing through the rain.
My mom really wanted to go see Namsan Tower even if the weather wasn’t at its prime so we hailed a taxi to go to Namsan Tower. It was at this point when things got tense between my family and I since they called me out for being in sucha bad mood all day and not being grateful and appreciative of them. Although I love them very much, I have to admit that I get easily frustrated with them and that I definitely took them for granted. I expected them to accept me for all of my flaws and was doing a very horrible job of showing that I cared about them. Ever since then, I have been doing a lot of reflecting.
Even if the weather was misty because of the rain, the cable car ride and the view from Namsan was still super pretty. I get blown away every time. Because my mom and sis had to rush home to catch the subway before midnight, we had a brief parting as I headed off to grab some cup of ramen from the convenience store for dinner. I felt so awkward wandering n the store and the guy there probably was wondering what I was doing as I just awkwardly paced around. Hahaha oh well. It all felt so weird and new to be sleeping in the new bed I’ll be using for the next 2 months in my Airbnb apartment. I had an amazing conversation with Dorothy and it was just so heartwarming and comforting that we were able to talk about all sorts of things. We also got to watch an episode of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo which was super fun! I am so happy!
Day 17 (Monday, July 3): First Day of Work
OOTD: white button up blouse, aquamarine pants, black Boy London shoes
Waking up in my new apartment was both thrilling and a little nerve wrecking as the first day of my internship was finally here! Ahhhhhhhh. My roommate made me some eggs and we ate that along with some bread she got from Paris Croissant (apparently the more upscale version Paris Baguette).
We headed off to work and met up with Lindy right at the light before crossing the street to our internship building. We met up with our boss Sean and had a meeting with him and Evelyn, someone who is working on Pop Korea — the show our company is currently producing. We started work that day and we later headed off to E-mart to eat lunch and do some grocery shopping, I realized then that buying groceries to cook can be quite overwhelming when you aren’ sure what to cook. I’m pretty much a n when it comes to cooking so I was very much overwhelmed. I ended buying some marinated beef, mushrooms, purple onions, kimchi, and microwaveable rice. Bless microwaveable rice since my apartment doesn’t have a rice cooker.
We then wandered around Yongsan trying to find a coffee shop and found this nice place with a lot of seating and a nice aesthetic. I swear Korea has so many aesthetic coffee shops. I love it so much. We did more work and was quite productive until we decided to go home before it got too late. Once I got home, I organized my luggage and had some kimchi with rice for dinner since I didn’t want to wake up my roommate with the sound and smell of me cooking. It was yummy and I was proud of my first “homemade” meal.
Day 18 (Tuesday, July 4): Not the Usual 4th of July
OOTD: Day – black “Alone” top, dark blue jeans, black Boy London shoes, Night – VIXX t-shirt, teal floral patterned skirt, black Boy London shoes
Second day of work was pretty chill and we found out that our hours were flexible as long as we made meeting times and had great work output. Nice! There isn’t much to talk about my work day so I’ll just skip to after work. I met up with my friend Juan Pablo to go see the musical “Mata Hari.” The main draw was to go see the lovely Leo from VIXX. Hehehe. We met at the Gyeonbokgong subway exit and then wandered Gwanghwamun area to see what food there as to eat. We ended up eating KFC (maybe we were subconsciously trying to celebrate the 4th of the July). We were so excited to see the show.
The venue was absolutely stunning and the set was so beautiful. We came to see Leo and he of course did not disappoint but OH EM GEE did Cha Ji Yeon aka Mata Hari killed it. Her voice was on point and her character was so strong and badass. Even if there was no subtitles, I got a pretty good understanding of the show and got excited when I was able to understand chunks of dialogue. Music and body language does wonders in conveying the story. The set and backdrop was also so immaculate and the movement from one scene to the next was all mechanized and went so smoothly. I was thoroughly impressed. We both ended up buying the program for the show since it was soooooo pretty. an I swear Korea goes above and beyond on the creative front from CD albums to show programs. I love it! After quite the eventful night, I was glad to get home safely to rest up for the next day.
Day 19 (Wednesday, July 5): First Girls’ Night Out
OOTD: Day – gray sushi top, dark blue jeans, black Boy London shoes, Night – gray sushi top, black skirt with attached suspenders, black Boy London shoes
Today was my attempt at actual cooking as I stir fried beef with mushrooms, green onions, and purple onions. Had that with some microwaveable rice. Yum! Before heading to work, I found out that I would be featured in our tv show’s MV reaction segment next week! How exciting! Besides working, we had our one on one meeting with our boss so we got to update him on ha’s going on. Mentioning to him that it’d be cool to react to lesser known artists such as R&B artists, it looks like I might react to Crush’s new song “Outside” or maybe even G.Soul’s “Tequila.” I mentioned to him that I wanted to go the NBA Buzzer Beat Festival since all of my faves would be there (such as Dean and Jay Park) so he helped me find a way to get tickets sinceI thought I would only be able to get the tickets through Interpark’s Korean website. Luckily I found out through my boss that there is a global site so I could navigate and buy the tickets through English. I’m officially going to going this Saturday with Lindy. I AM SO HYPEEDDDDD. I KNOW AT LEAST 20 ARISTS IN THE LINE UP. WHOOOOOOOW!!!!!!
Afterwork, I headed off to Dongdaemun with Dorothy and Lindy. We ate some yummy 닭갈비 with some fried rice and cheese 떡벅이. Sooooooo delicious. We ventured around to a few malls and I got two new tops that were tank tops with huge arm slits that had another tank top underneath. Perfect to wear for dancing or just to feel badass. Hehehehe. I might wear that to the festival on Saturday. We even got to see the LED roses in Dongdaemun up close. It’s so pretty. We took some cute selfies~ HEHEHE. I had so much fun hanging out with the girls as we tried our best to converse with one another in Korean. So happy that I’m with these girls this summer! Dorothy and I ended the night with another episode of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. I am so happy she’s super into the OTP like I am. Lee Sung Kyung + Nam Joo Hyuk = GOALS. ❤
Day 20 (Thursday, July 6): Weightlifting Fairy on a Rainy Day
OOTD: ㅅeoul t-shirt, dark blue jeans, black Boy London shoes
For lunch I reheated some of my stir fried beef and had ate that with rice and kimchi. Yum! Work again was pretty chill as I continued to work on my project which was to compile a list of all birthdays of Korean artists. It was raining today so we all decided to not go exploring today. Thankfully the rain stopped for awhile so Dorothy and I were able to go to the ATM and make it back home since we didn’t bring our umbrellas. For dinner I made some eggs and had that with rice and piece of chicken Dorothy gave me. Very filling dinner! Spent the rest of the night watching a few episodes of Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo as we tried to figure out the laundry.
There were so many buttons so I tried Googling a manual. Somehow it all worked out and I am so glad our washer is also a dryer since I hate having to deal with air drying my clothes. Yay to finally catching up on my blog posts!
Day 21 (Friday, July 7): My Kind of Friday
OOTD: “It’s good to be kind” top, black jeans, black Boy London shoes
We met someone pretty col at work today! His name was Roman and he’s done some acting and translation work in Korea. he’s been an extra in a Sistar music video CF and even Kim Soo Hyun’s movie “Real.” Apparently Kim Soo Hyun came up to talk to him and he was very dorky and cute. How adorable! He asked for Roman’s number (since he wanted foreigner friends) but apparently hasn’t contacted him yet. Bummer! Roman is from Australia and apparently his roommate is or knows some by the name of DJ Freekey who is really famous in Korea. Beenzino and Zion T. has come to his house before but he didn’t know who they were. WHATTTTTT. SO JEALOUSSSSSSS.
After work, I went with Dorothy and Lindy to explore I’Park Mall. We stumbled upon this Studio Ghibli store where that was a huge catbus and a recreation of Kiki’s rom for “Kiki’s Delivery Service.” The store had so many cute crafts~ We then stopped E-mart (for like the third time this week) so I could stock up on grocery and other home essentials. Since it was raining and we were pretty tired, we decided to just stay in for the rest of the night. or dinner I cooked the hamburger steak I just bought and sautéed mushrooms with onions in the same frying pan. #resourceful My roomie Dorothy and I ended watching some more Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo as we squealed over OTP and the cuteness that is Jeon Joon Hyung staring lovingly at Kim Bok Joo. Those feelings be real. Nam Joo Hyuk + Lee Sung Kyung = goals. ❤ I lvoe that i get to fangirl with my roomie over this rama. It also feels great to rewatch KBJ all over and relive the feels. ❤ ❤ ❤
[Something] for the Seoul 