Busan with Jen!

Jen and I went to Busan for a wonderful little weekend getaway! I've never had an awesomer (if thats not a word it is now) time traveling than with my best friend!!!!!


A pic of Busan at night.Jen and I went a little sparkler crazy. She has the videos on her camera and if she reads this....she should also include those videos on my picture cd so that I can post those too.
Next Jen and I decided that it was just waaaaaaay too cold by the ocean to actually sit and enjoy it. Instead we got up to no good in a nice warm hof (beer establishment) and made funny faces.
Me warming my mitts by the nice roaring fire.
Funny faces like this....
and this...

More sparkler fun!

Busan at night.

I had to do some things in Busan the weekend before I left and Jen decided that since she'd never been there, she would take the chance to go with me. We had a great time! I'm glad that Jen went with me....this was only a prequil to the shenanigans that we would be having in a much warmer and much nicer beach!

MANDU MAKING!!!

I've been talking to Aaron about heading to Doksun and his house for a long long time. Finally I got a week break at work and decided to take advantage of their hospitality. Little did I know, I would be attempting to fashion this little menu and trying to make it appear edible.





Aarons "tough-guy" pose....yah I know...kkk hilarious

Doksun doing the women's chores....JOKES...but really.


This is what is called Mul Mandu (or water mandu) its stemed and inside is a bunch of veggies (sometimes meat or kimchi but since Aaron is a vegan we opted for just veggie ones...healthier anyway).
Fried mandu....
I have no idea what this is called. Its a sweetened fried tofu triangle stuffed with fried rice mixture....actually super delish!



The meal.........which wouldn't be complete without a beer. We made soooo much food they mustve had leftovers for MONTHS!


Stay tuned........the next update is Jen and my trip to Pusan........and then finally Vietnam.

Volunteering

I've started doing some volunteer work in Seoul whenever I'm around. I'm volunteering at a soup kitchen whenever I come in on Fridays and its been really nice. I like to help out, though some times I think I'm more of a nuisance not being able to understand the commands that people are yelling at me and what not.

Anyway, after the soup kitchen, a group of us went for waffles and gelato at Mrs. Waffle and Mr. Gelato (or something like that).



Doesn't that look delicious?

The awesome group of people that I volunteered with one Friday.


Fun in Hongdae on a saturday night. Couldn't ask for a better group of people to hang out with :)

Life b4 Vietnam- Immigration Fiasco!

On the way to ChoonChun Immigration office.

oRich and his lady Lucy! They're so cute together.
i
just to catch up on shtuff before I put all my vietnam and philippines pics up.

Many of you know that just a week before I left for Vietnam I had to make a trip down to the ChoonChun Immigration office to get my visa renewed so that I could legally work in and enter Korea once I came back from my vacation. This turned out to be more of an adventure than was anticipated.

After driving an hour or so through the Korean country-side, we (packed in my coworkers car) arrived in ChoonChun. Not following the simple directions given to us by our friendly Yonsei office staff, we got lost. After about 20 minutes of driving around, we found the immigration office. (On the way back. we realized how simple it really was to get there).

While trying to park, my coworker backed into a parked vehicle and left quite a bit of damage. Thank goodness he had insurance and the guy didn't beat the crap out of us.

Upon entering the immigration office, the other teachers had no problems renewing their E2 visas. I on the other hand was denied a renewal on the basis that "I" had not submitted my criminal record check. Complete bullcrap as I had submitted everything with my application the year previous. Anyway, after flipping out for a little while, as I'm known so well for, I remembered that I had an extra copy of my criminal record check at home. The lady told me that I could fax it to her and then they would send my passport to me in Wonju. I told her that since I was going to be leaving to another city for the weekend, this would not be possible. She said that I would then have to come back the next day (Friday) and bring it with me. WELL!!!!!!


I went back to the school(office) with the hope of finding a signed and sealed criminal record check. The next morning upon arriving at the school, I look into my file and find an OPENED signed and sealed criminal record check. WTF!!! Who opens something that has been signed and sealed for the immigration office....stupid people, that's who! I literally said out loud "you've got to be fucking kidding me!" in the middle of the office. At this point I was furious!

Anyway, I drove the 1 hr to the immigration office with my letter in hand. Upon arriving, the lady told me that this letter was acceptable however, it now needed to be notarized by the Canadian Embassy, because it had been opened!!!!!! Note, notarization costs 60.00CDN! Thankfully, the woman processed my visa with the stipulation that I submit the notarized criminal record check upon returning to Korea. Wonderful.....super duper....the school better pay for this.


*Update....I have now gotten my criminal record check notarized and will be taking it to the immigration office on Friday....cross your fingers that they don't say "I'm sorry, this criminal record check is a year old, you are going to need to submit a new one".

I think its funny

I've noticed this trend since I've started reading peoples' blogs. It seems that when people have something that they know isn't the nicest thing to say but still want to write it down, they post it anonymously. I think its hilarious. Honestly, do you think I'm going to get mad? When I have something to say to someone, I just say it. Even if its not the nicest thing in the world. Wut are your thoughts on this? Its easy to hide behind your anonymous comment isn't it :)

kkk

Annie

You guys aren't very good at guessing.

Are you serious? I've had a few people guess 400.00/ 600.00 but honestly...how much do you think one full suit costs? It's still tailor made to fit my body. There was approximately 64 things there.......even if I only paid 10.00 each I would still be over 600.00 USD. you people aren't very good at guessing are you?

Jenn is the closest at 2000.00 though I paid a little less than that for everything. and I probably would have paid around 4500 for everything in Canada I'm guessing. that's going to the mall to get everything (and nothing being custom fitted).

Total is 1054.00USD (Jen was a little off....but i think anyone who thinks they can get this shit for 600 is insane ;).

1. 2 pairs of silk pants (one black/ one silver) (10 USD each)=20
2. 1 short sleeve vietnamese design silver and blue shirt (10)
3. 1 long sleeve ...... turquoise (15)
4. 3 pairs of pants (all same price) (10)=30
5. 2 silk dresses (western style party dresses)(25 each)=50 (one of the dresses was designed from the Victoria Secret catalogue and the price was 75.00USD!)
6. 3 regular anytime dresses (2 cotton/ 1 I have no idea) (20 each)=60
7. 1 full slip/2 slip skirts (20 total)
8. 2 pairs of knee-high boots (1 green silk/1 converse runner red-black paid style)(26 each)=52
9. 1 pair burgundy ballet slippers (13)
10. 5 pairs of beach flip-flops (2 each)=10
11. 1 spring/summer kaki jacket(26)
12. 1 wool winter coat (40)
13. 2 best quality suits (1 brown- jacket, pants, and skirt/ 1 gray- jacket, pants) (390 total)
14. 3 cotton skirts (knee length)(12 each)= 36
15. 2 t-shirts (little nicer than a t-shirt though)(8 each)=16
16. 6 button-up dress shirts (2 at 30, 4 at 12)=96
17. 2 tieing 1/2 shirts (I have no idea wut to call these)(8 each)=16
18. 3 short sleeve shirts (8 each)=24
19. 1 long sleeve shirt (15)
20. 2 cotton halter tops (8 each)=16
21. 2 cotton tank tops(8 each)=16
22. 5 hats (4 at 4USD, 1 at 7 USD)=31
23. 7 necklaces (5 at 3 USD, 1 at 16, 1 at 8)=39
24. 5 pairs of earrings (2$ each)=10
25. 1 bracelet (3$)


Okay that's what I paid. Is that a lot? I think you might think that's a lot if you shop at walmart and get poor quality....but i was actually surprised with the excellent quality of the products that were made specifically for my body. Chances are, they won't fit your body.......my arms/legs are too short....YES no one will borrow clothes from me again! jokes. But when i get to boracay i'm going to model for Jen...and we are going to take pics of everything (well maybe not the slips). ;P
Anyway,,,talk to ya'll again soon.
P.S. i colored my hair again...red ofcourse...and cut it all off in the back...well really short anyway....just the way i love it.
i actually got into a fight with the hairdresser because I wanted it to be cut shorter in the back so that it looked like it went up and not longer so it looks straight. Mom, you totally know wut i'm talking about.

A SHOPPING SPREE in Hoi An Vietnam!

Okay...so most of you know that I'm in Vietnam. I've been here for 11 days....and have gone waaaaaaayyyy over my budget.......why may you ask??? I went on a shopping spree in Hoi An. Later in this post I'll list most of my major purchases for you to guess on the prices. Now I'll just talk about why I spent so much.

So ya'll know i live in Korea....well Korea...Canada it doesn't matter where I am, the clothes never fit me. Either the sleeves are too long, my chest is too big, the pants are too long, my calves are too skinny, or some other random thing that makes the clothes not fit properly and either results in my begging my mother to hem them, walking on the bottoms of my pants until they are ruined, rolling things up, showing off my breasts to innocent bystanders (my dress shirts have been known to gaps between the buttons exposing my beautiful bras for the world to see), wearing the item and hating it and never wearing it again, or just giving up and never buying the cute item at all (probably the better choice but rarely the one I choose). As such, I purposely made time in my oh so "busy" schedule to take a short trip to Hoi An....clothes making capital of Vietnam and a shopaholics paradise....or hell (I prefer the word paradise but my bank account prefers the word hell).

Upon arrival, I feasted my eyes upon store after store of shops whose sole purpose it is to make you clothes that make you happy. I arrived on Monday evening....I'm now leaving, 5 days later...on friday evening. Did I see many cultural heritage sites in this historical town? Ofcourse not...........I ... was shopping! I spoiled myself and I'm tickled PINK! well....I may also be pink from the sun....maybe half sun and half the excitement from shopping! Yah that works.

Now....I'm going to list my items that I have purchased...I'll give you a brief description and a chance to guesstimate the costs of each item. (You can just make a general guess if you wish...you don't have to guess every item.) Anyway...the person who is the closest is a champion and will get a highfive from me when I see you next!


1. 2 pairs of silk pants (one black/ one silver)
2. 1 short sleeve vietnamese design silver and blue shirt
3. 1 long sleeve ...... turquoise
4. 3 pairs of pants (all same price)
5. 2 silk dresses (wester style party dresses)
6. 3 regular anytime dresses (2 cotton/ 1 I have no idea)
7. 1 full slip/2 slip skirts
8. 2 pairs of knee-high boots (1 green silk/1 converse runner red-black paid style)
9. 1 pair burgundy ballet slippers
10. 5 pairs of beach flip-flops
11. 1 spring/summer kaki jacket
12. 1 wool winter coat
13. 2 best quality suits (1 brown- jacket, pants, and skirt/ 1 gray- jacket, pants)
14. 3 cotton skirts (knee length)
15. 2 t-shirts (little nicer than a t-shirt though)
16. 6 button-up dress shirts
17. 2 tieing 1/2 shirts (I have no idea wut to call these)
18. 3 short sleeve shirts
19. 1 long sleeve shirt
20. 2 cotton halter tops
21. 2 cotton tank tops
22. 5 hats
23. 7 necklaces
24. 5 pairs of earrings
25. 1 bracelet



Okay...that is the list of things that I purchased...essentially: a whole new TAILOR-MADE wardrobe....minus underwear and bras right? well....now its your turn to do some work.........how much do you think I spent? Better yet....how much would this have cost in Canada.....I will follow up with a subsequent post with the total amount at a later date.


Take care everyone....miss you all tonnes!!!

Love Annie