As I am surfing around my Facebook wall, I found this video and I was moved by the kindness, love and dedication of Pastor Lee and his wife nursing abandon babies. It says hundreds of babies are abandoned in the street of Seoul, Korea each year.
If you want to help and support Pastor Lee with his life-saving ministry you can make a donation to KindredImage.org today.
There's really nothing much happening to me, it was my birthday last week and on Saturday my husband treated for South African meal at Braii Republic in Itaewon. We first went to Seobinggo station to look for Turkish embassy and we found the Vivien building easily so we left right away to Hongik University to find the FEDEX but it turns out it was not there anymore. Through free wifi and my phone I have found out online that the nearest FEDEX office was in Hapjeong so went there but didn't turn out well so we decided to just go to Itaewon to eat lunch as we are already starving.
Braii Republic is in exit 4 of Itaewon station (line 6), walk straight and turn left at the alley just before the McDonald’s. Go through the intersection, past the Juliette clothing store, and Braii Republic is on your left on the second floor.
I have ordered number 4 - Karoo Surf and Turf, it consist of 2 lamb chops, 4 prawns, green salad and potato while my husband ordered number 1 - meat platter consisting of 2 lamb chops, boerewors, pork banger with garlic potato, creamy spinach and slaw. The meal was delicious and awesome I could eat more if free. Haha
The service is good, the people are very accommodating. The place was a bit small but it was fine, a good place to hang out during the weekend if you love meeting other expats.On my over four years of existence in Korea, this is the first time that I attended a mass and go to Hyehwa-dong in Seoul. My friend and I met last Sunday in Hyehwa we attended the afternoon mass in Tagalog (1:30PM) where I am able to see and meet many Filipinos. It was like little community of Filipinos.
After the mass we went to the informal Filipino Market nearby, I am not able to look around when we passed by because we decided to attend the mass first before buying stuff I want. I bought few native foods and vegetables like string beans (sitaw), bitter melon (amplaya), ladies finger (okra) and kangkong.
The Hyehwa Filipino Market is only around every Sunday from morning ’until night. To get there get off the Hyehwa station (line 4) and go out at exit 4 and just walk straight.
For the first time I went to Hyehwa to attend a mass and shop at the informal Filipino Market. I have been asking my husband to drop by in Hyehwa every time we have something to do in Seoul but he always says that if I want I can go there alone. So last week when my friend told me that she went to Hyehwa to met someone I asked her if I can tag along with her the next time she go to the place, and right then she asked me if I want to attend the mass the next Sunday.
We attended the mass for about one hour and right after we went to the nearby Filipino market to shop together with her old friends that we met outside the church. I bought vegetables and other Filipino foods I want to eat, it was been a long time since I had these foods.
Other stuff I bought aside from the vegetables are rice cakes (kakanin), spring rolls (lumpia), barbecue and bopis. The rice cake is ₩3,000 each but you can get it for ₩5,000 if you buy two pieces while lumpia and barbecue is ₩1,000 per piece/stick, the bopis is ₩5,000 per order. I bought all the vegetables for ₩10,000 it consists of 2 (tali) spring beans, 2 pieces ampalaya, 1 (tali) okra and with free kangkong.
Aside from native foods, vegetable and cooked food some sellers are selling beauty products, chips and other local items that a Filipino cannot find in a local Korean supermarket.
I am quite busy these past few days that I am not able to update my blogs, kind of procrastinated eh. Anyway last Thursday I went to Seoul to meet my one and only friend in Korea, as we agreed I went to their apartment so we could eat lunch first before wandering around the flower festival. She cooked "pansit" for me but that's not all we ate, we had brownies, rice cake, tuyo and more.
After eating our sumptuous lunch we took the Subway to National Assembly Station where the Spring Flower Festival was held every year. We both wander and enjoyed the beautiful cherry blossoms on the street, there are lot of people as expected. As we want a picture together I place my camera in a tree but a kind Korean woman help us, she took the shot for us which are thankful.
When we think it is getting late we decided to find the nearest subway so we can go to another place we, I want to visit. I have planned to visit four place that day but time was not enough. So we ended visiting two places only, I am going to blog the second one on my next post.
These past few days I am not that active online anymore, I spend most of my time in the open forum reading stories and problems that's why most of my blogs are not well updated because of my new habit. I want to go back online, do my task and design the themes but I am not always on the mood, I can't focus probably because I am still trying to fit here in our new place.
Anyway I am going to the embassy in Seoul this Thursday to renew my passport and I will also make use the time to meet my friend in Seoul it was been a long time since the last time we met, probably two years have been past since our last meeting.
So I'll be away for the whole day, my biggest problem right now is how to wake up early in the morning because I have to be in Seoul very early for my embassy appointment. I have to take a bus which takes one hour and a subway so I can reach our meeting point.
Today is my husband's birthday but we celebrated it yesterday when we went to Seoul to buy new lens for his DSLR camera, we ate in a Kazakhstan Restaurant that serves Kazakh and Russian food. Most of the food we ordered are Russian cuisine, anyway after our sumptuous meal we looked for A La Do a Russian Bakery but we already spend a lot of time looking for it we never found it so we decided to take the subway back to the bus terminal, better luck next time.
We are not able to get the current bus when we reached the platform the bus is already moving away, I felt embarrassed when my husband pointed out the long line to me . So we went at the back on the line but when a new bus arrived which is not going to Icheon the people moved to the bus and there's a new line forming in Icheon platform so we transferred there but as the line is growing a not so old man caught are attention, saying that the old line is going to Icheon. Confusing huh? So we transfer again in the line and just on time a new bus to Icheon arrived.
It's been ages since I joined nostalgia because I have been busy and partly I can't think of something that will remind me. The photo below was taken a year ago in our old apartment in Seoul, it has two rooms and the small room that will supposed to be kid's room is our dresser or room for clothes. We are heading to China the next day that's why our clothes are already packed and only left on the rack are my day clothes.
That day too my husband new camera just arrived and he took a sample shot of me while closing the door in the balcony.
I am quite busy yesterday and today tweaking templates so I was not able to post something here, as I am blog hopping I have seen some post for color connection, Ate Rose had invited me the other week but I am too busy as we hike to Dobongsan.
So I am taking the chance to join tonight, above are the colorful flowers taken in flower shops along Gangbyeon station. They are so lovey isn't it? Pick one or as many as you can Ate Rose for your birthday (Happy Birthday). Yes guys, the mommy blogger is celebrating her birthday so hop in to her blog and greet her Happy Birthday!
I am being pre-occupied these days, it looks like there are no days that I am feeling busy, I called it feeling because I don't know if it meet the standards of the word busy. Lol! I almost forgot it is Orange Tuesday yesterday, I am one day late again. Anyway here's my share, Catlaine bought this for me us when we visited National Museum Korea when we first meet alone, I mean just the two of us without the big bears. I could say it is the best tangerine chocolate I ever tasted, so yummy!
We went inside the souvenir shop, I bought a small notebook and she bought chocolates, four of this and she gave the two to me and the other two to her. Thanks again sis!
I still can't manage my time in blogging and for everything, I always end up cramming. I think I need to set aside few things then know and choose what is my priority, blogging, tweaking or blog hopping? Hard to choose isn't it? Because they are all part of blogosphere.
Anyway I am sharing this yellow police barrier, I have taken this when went to Seoul a year ago I guess or months ago.
As expected of sleeping late it is too tiring to wake up early, as I have blogged previously we should be in Seoul today but guess what when the alarm clocks strikes,
Ryanne: "Sweetie, I don't wanna go!"
Pokie Bear: "Me too, I am too tired, let's just see it next year"
So the result return to bed, we slept as early three o'clock in the morning and wake up at seven o'clock in the morning, and it seems four hours of sleep is not enough to start our day and travel to Seoul and in that case we have to wait until next year to be able to witness the ceremonial rites (Jongmyodaeje a Royal Ancestral Memorial Rite of Joseon) as it only happened once a year on first day of May. Haist, what a long wait, next time learn to sleep early!
I have been busy yesterday tweaking my blog templates, I am the type of person who won't stop until I don't want too and until I know I can do it I will do it. So I was not able to post blogs on my blogs aside from the other one.
By the way just sharing some photos from Seoul Lotus Lantern Festival 2010, it was taken in Insadong. If you don't know yet, the Lotus Lantern Festival held in the Jongno area is one of Seoul’s landmark traditional festivals. Maybe this guys are the one who entertained the King and the back is the old man as the geomancer or adviser of the King.
The time-honored festival which originates from an exciting tradition of Gwandeongnori has been keep alive throughout the entire 600-year history of Seoul.
As what I have said we had a dinner in a buffet restaurant in Seoul last Friday evening. Garden Buffet ‘Ciel Garden’ is on third floor of Ramada Seoul located in Samsung-dong, Kangnam-ku, Seoul. The restaurant opens at six o'clock in the evening we are thirty minutes early so we waited together with other locals, we are the first one who went inside as we are the first one who came.
They also have crabs and a lot more menus but I cannot eat them anymore my stomach is very very full. No more place for another plate, when we got home it feels so hard to breath having a big stomach. I did not even ate all food in my third plate, you will see it small but there's a lot of food below the shrimps. I did not finish my steak so Pookie did it for me.Take out of Baskin Robbins at the bus terminal, Pookie bear was not able to eat ice cream because we are running out of time. We spend two hours inside the restaurant with non-stop eating, they are having a 20% discount.
Buffet cost Lunch 33,600 / Dinner 41,600 (per person and tax not included) Converted in USD - $29.82 and $36.92 respectively. Below are the photos promoting their event, 20% discount, are you going to say No to this?
I just got home from Seoul a few minutes ago, and I'm still feeling incredibly full from dinner. 😂
This is actually the dinner I mentioned in my scheduled blog post that was published earlier this afternoon.
We left around three o'clock in the afternoon and didn't arrive home until around ten o'clock in the evening. It was a long day, but we had a really good time.
I was even wondering if this was our advanced Valentine's dinner. Hehe. ❤️
For dinner, we went to a buffet restaurant where there was so much food to choose from.
There was all-you-can-eat steak, sushi, sashimi, crab, cakes, ice cream, and plenty of other dishes that I can't even remember anymore.
With that much food available, of course I had to try several things.
And now?
I am so full that I feel like my stomach is going to explode! 😂
That's always the problem with an all-you-can-eat buffet. You tell yourself you'll only eat a little of everything, and before you know it, you're sitting there wondering why you ate so much.
But hey, you already paid for the buffet, right? LOL.
Pookie Bear didn't even get to enjoy ice cream at the restaurant because it was already getting late.
We still had to catch the bus home, so we couldn't stay any longer.
But he wasn't about to give up on his ice cream.
He ended up getting Baskin-Robbins to take with him from the terminal.
Priorities. 😂
At least he got his ice cream in the end.
I had originally thought about wearing my violet clothes, but I changed my mind at the last minute.
Instead, I wore pants with a black Natasha blouse called “Crescent” and my gold Natasha sandals, “Mesmerized.”
The sandals looked nice, but unfortunately, my feet didn't agree with my fashion choice.
They were hurting so badly that I could barely walk properly by the end of the evening.
Maybe my feet have gotten bigger, or perhaps I'm just not used to wearing those sandals anymore. Either way, they definitely weren't my best decision for a long day in Seoul.
And here's another funny thing I noticed.
I seemed to be the only woman wearing open sandals.
Almost everyone else was wearing winter boots!
Maybe that should have been my first warning. 😂
While everyone else was keeping their feet warm, I was walking around Seoul in sandals and wondering why my feet were freezing and hurting.
Fashion can sometimes be painful, I guess.
Despite the tired feet, the long bus ride, and the food coma, it was a fun day.
Good food, a little shopping and wandering around Seoul, and spending time together made the long trip worthwhile.
And if this really was our early Valentine's dinner, then I'd say it was a pretty good one.
Although next time, I'm wearing boots. 😂
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| My self timer photo in Itaewon, thanks to the stairs. |
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| Traffic going to Seoul |
I am tired that's all I can whine today. I only sleep five(5) hours, I wake up very early in the morning waiting for the alarm clock to ring but it does not happened after few minutes. Darn there's no used setting an alarm clock if I wake up before the clock do its job. Around 6:15 in the morning we are already outside walking on snowy street I almost slide two times, the sky is still dark and I guess everybody is still sleeping because there's only two or three people in the street and it is all empty, we saw one videoke bar which is still open and there are people and we heard someone singing. We arrived the bus station around 6:30, Pookie bear was a little pissed off tickets are all sold for the early trip, the available bus will be at 8:00 in the morning. We need to be at the Bangladesh Embassy as early as we can because the embassy office hours is between 9:30 and 11:30 in the morning.
If we will take the eight o'clock bus will going to arrived Seoul after one hour or it depends because the road has ice. Then it will take us another one hour to take the subway and walk up to the embassy it is okay if Pookie has no class this afternoon but he has, he just told her co-teacher that he might be late and not absent. So as we walking on the bus terminal, Pookie bear found a bus with a tag EAST SEOUL, so he thought taking a chance to take that route, so we went back to the ticketing office to ask. Anyway its on the other ticketing office so we need to walk back and fourth to buy and return the old ticket after wards. Well still a lucky day, the new bus left anytime so as we are standing a new bus arrived. Just in nick of time its full, we left the terminal at 7 o' clock in the morning and arrived in East Seoul around 8:15 AM. We transfer to another building and took the subway. We arrived at the Bangladesh Embassy 30 minutes earlier with their office hours, the officer entertained us even they are still close he look on our documents if it is complete or not. After it he instructed us to pay for the processing fee at KEB bank while waiting for the embassy to open its window for visa or passport applicants.
Thanks to the officer instruction and we found the bank, anyway we I also asked one of the sweeper in the area where is KEB bank I just show him the deposit slip. So done paying the processing fee, what we need now to have a photocopy of our ARC and Travel Itinerary. We've went inside the Capital Hotel and luckily they offered that serviced, so we found ourselves inside the Bangladesh embassy again waiting for our time to submit our documents, the window is busy serving another applicant. Then done documents are submitted we I need to return on Tuesday to pick-up our passport.
After it I am running like in marathon just to walk with Pookie bear, he walked so fast. We took the subway again and went to the Express Bus Terminal, the terminal for the 8 o'clock bus. The terminal is so big that we get lost even we always ride a bus there, anyway I am the one to blame because I am the guide. instead of going out I took him on the 4th or 5th floor by escalator. Hehehe, I just told Pookie bear I am sleepy and hungry lol. We had an eleven o'clock bus, while waiting for the bus to arrived I bought some gimbap rolls and water, when I have to pay for my water darn it is so expensive W1,800 for one normal bottle so I have to ask for another one thousand won from Pookie bear. I am busy munching my gimbap rolls when the bus arrive and open its door, as we sat I open my water.."What kind of water is this, why is it sweet?" Lol, Pookie bear told me if I did not noticed it is not water, so I look on the bottle and read POCARI SWEET. Pookie bear seconded that's why it is expensive because it is not water. He told me to get water and I grab this on the fridge because it is the only white drink among the assorted drinks but its not water eh. After one hour and ten minutes we finally arrived at the bus terminal here in our place. Have to walk 15-20 minutes though to get home, on the way home we went inside the super market to buy an olive oil, toothpaste and small package of meat for my food. Done for the day I tried to sleep when we got home but my eyes are wide open, so I just lay and stretch my achy back and now back to blogging after the bear left for school.
After a short visit with the Bangladesh Embassy we return to subway by walking 20-30 minutes. We went to National Museum of Korea and spend few hours wandering around the artifacts, learning about Korean ancient history and non-stop photo session. After our visit we went to souvenir shop just inside the building, I've bough a notebook souvenir items from G20 Seoul Summit, Emelyn bought 4 small boxes of Tangerine Chocolate which she hand the two boxes to me. We had a lot fun walking around, then we took the subway and had a shirt shopping on the subway stores, I bought one long sleeve turtle neck shirt and she bought two.
Then we went to Itaewon to eat late lunch, we ate at a Mexican Restaurant its a treat from her. After eating we went to their apartment and Guro and had photo session too. After staying for few minutes I have to go home I will have a long travel by subway and bus. She gave me a bag of goodies and walk with me up to the subway which is around 20 minutes from their apartment I guess. Then we bid goodbye till next meeting, I reach the the bus terminal around 6:35 PM, and I got a seven o'clock bus. There's a little traffic so we reached our place around 8:10 in the evening, then I walk home so fast that took me ten minutes only instead of 20 minutes. When I arrived home Pookie bear is making his meal, his first word when I enter the apartment "Will you explain why it took you 12 hours in Seoul". I just told him I did not catch the six o'clock bus and we went to Emelyn's apartment anyway he did not ask anymore when he noticed that I left late in the bus station here and arrived the embassy in the mid-afternoon. That means I only have short time with my friend, it was the travel that makes me longer in Seoul. The moment I arrived I just took off my jacket and finished cooking his meal and wash the bunch of dishes in the sink which is empty when I left.
