small life lessons from 2 years abroad

1. Handwritten letters brighten an entire week.
2. Candy from one's childhood is the ultimate comfort food indulgence.
3. TV is a complete waste of time.
4. The types of books a person reads are very connected to the language they use in real life.
5. Language between people from different cultures can unintentionally convey so many negative meanings. Choose your words very carefully.
6. If it's not life threatening and the thought of doing it doesn't make you vomit - try it!
7. Live life in the moment, one month at a time.
8. You don't have to follow what the rest of society is doing.
9. If you haven't laughed at least 10 times a day, change something.
10. The best cure for most expat-related problems is a glass of wine and some friends to talk it out with.
11. Embrace ambiguity - it only makes life that much more interesting.
12. Don't put too much emphasis on stuff - it all comes from China anyways.
13. Family is important. Make time for them in your calendar each week.
14. Texting funny pictures to any one in any country at any time is always a good idea.

March Recap

March really went by too fast! I spent the early part of my month getting my life here back in order after India & Vietnam (read: saving money and buying perishable groceries). The second half of the month was back to normal Ashley power speed. I haven't seen my family in almost 15 months and am starting to get seriously homesick.

Week 1: Decorated my apartment with lanterns from Hanoi & Korean vocabulary I can never remember.

Week 2: Pizza & wine with the ladies, English department meeting at a Save The Children cafe, got a Hello Kitty manicure, Brunch with Choi at Flying Pan Blue, discovered an authentic fried Japanese food restaurant, went to a 10 Magazine Korean Culture lecture (bubble tea^^).

Week 3: Bought lots of cheap strawberries, met up with Justine and ABL at IFC mall for dinner and ice cream after work, spent White Day at a Taekwondo show with the girls - Lauren gave us chocolate and super-cute cards, went to Jeonju to eat good bibimbap and sleep in a hanok, my Korean friend and her daughter threw me a belated birthday party at my apartment.

Book club

Week 4: My Korean friend made me a bracelet, found Vietnamese milk to make cà phê sữa đá, lots of nights running along the Han River, met up with a couple of friends from Japan a few times, registered to take my advanced accounting midterm at the Canadian Embassy next month, hosted an Indian-themed book club meeting with my girlfriends.

Tuesday night walk around Sinchon

Seoul @ dusk

Thanks for the care package~~

Other notable things: crossed an item off my bucketlist (sleep in traditional Korean house), started tutoring a girl from North Korea (she is SOOO cool & one of those people with infectious optimism), signed up for an online HTML and CSS course, and a new Russian guy moved next door and I've been trying to set him up with Lauren (hehe).

March was a great month and April is going to be even better! Super excited to start my class at Yonsei, Choi and I are going to Jinhae for the cherry blossoms, Gareth Emery - one of my favorite DJs - is coming to Seoul, I want to get my accounting test out of the way. Ahhh~~ Off to meet a friend for coffee. Annyeong everyone!

Jeonju

The weather in Korea is finally getting warmer, which means road-trip season! I've wanted to go to Jeonju for a long time and at the last minute we decided to book a hanok (traditional Korean house) and head there finally!

If you haven't been to Jeonju, you really should. A few months ago a writer from the NY Times came to Korea and spent most of his time in Jeonju, if that's any indication. The architecture is nice, the food is delicious, and it's a much nicer atmosphere than can be found in most parts of Seoul. Think Insadong/Samcheong-dong times a thousand. If you are a foreigner, you can take a free bus from Seoul and it will drop you off right in the Hanok Village and from there everything is within walking distance!

First off: accomodation. We stayed at 학인당 (Hakindang), which is one of the only real, original hanoks remaining. Our room was 90,000 ($85) for two people plus breakfast and a tea ceremony/tour. If you go to Jeonju, try to stay in a Hanok!

학인당 entrance.We had to crawl through that little door.

Our room with both sets of doors closed.

Our room with one set of the doors open.

Inside our room. You can see again the two sets of doors.

Tea ceremony and hanok history lesson with the owner. (in Korean)

After checking into our hanok we wanted to jump right into Jeonju with bibimbap, the local specialty. 성미당 has the #1 rated bibimbap in Korea for approx. $12. A bit outside of the Hanok Village but only a 12-15 minute walk.

After a late lunch, we started wandering around the Hanok Village - the best way to explore Jeonju.

CU convenience store in a hanok. 

Paris Baguette in a hanok.

The street art here is soooooo neat.

We also went to the Yeomyeong Camera Museum/Cafe. Entrance is 3,000 won but it's pretty cool and includes a cup of coffee/tea. Nice place to charge your phone and escape some of the tourists.

The cafe even had these little animal houses - haha!

Cute little stores everywhere.

A vintage cafe/museum with some really fascinating stuff to look at.

At  Omokdae. Great view.

I highly recommend going to a cafe called 'Tomorrow.' You can see up on the 2nd floor on the patio and look out at all the hanoks.

We got cold and went inside. Still a fantastic view.

We also ate Seok Galbi - another popular thing in Jeonju. This is my new favorite Korean food.

Lots of souvenir shopping at good prices.

There are lots of handmade booths on the streets.

Jeonju was so nice. It reminded Choi and I of Otaru, a small artisan city in Japan where we spent a semester. I wish I could live in the hanok village. Highly, highly recommend~~

Our next road-trip is to the Jinhae Cherry Blossom Festival in 3 weeks.