Cherry Blossom Festival Yeouido Hangang Park (여의도 한강공원 벚꽃 축제)

Spring in Korea is so beautiful. I love everything about it. The inconsistent weather, the warmness because I can finally shed that extra outer layer, and when it's sunny the sky is blue and the whole world just lights up!

Spring in Korea is pretty much like Vancouver's and the latter end of Spring here is like our Summer weather as well. That's probably why I have such a strong connection to the Korean Spring! AND with Spring comes the beautiful Cherry Blossoms, which I love and cannot take my eyes off of.

Luckily SCH has many Cherry Blossoms, Magnolias and Japanese Apricot trees lining the beautiful campus. So technically I don't need to even visit the Cherry Blossom festival, but since this is my last semester I might as well cross that off the list. Besides I was able to see part of the park I've never wandered over to and it's beautiful.

 I went with my good friend Kristen and our friend Cupid (the one that was able to help us score our Big Bang tickets!). It was so much fun, had a great time just relaxing, walking around and taking pictures. What makes for a better day than good company and the perfect back drop?

Midterms (증간시험/증간고사)

The past two semesters were a bit easier for me since my classes were in English. However, this time around my classes are all in Korean so I have to do quite a bit of studying for my exams. Plus I am taking full time Korean classes so I have about 5 exams this semester.

Right now I am busy studying away. I am taking a wee break to write this at the moment. My desk is a mess because my books are everywhere. This weekend I didn't leave the dorm, except to go to the nearest convenient store for drinks, snacks and dinner. Even more Korea students stayed behind so they can study, normally they will all go home to visit their families on the weekend. Since all my suites are studying so hard, I feel compelled to study harder than I normally would...hehe.

I know my friends back home are already finished their exams...I definitely envy them.
To all my Korean friends who are still in school, good luck on your exams next week!

여러분 열심히 공부하고 시험 잘 보세요^^

Nonsan Strawberry Festival (논산 딸기 축제)

On Saturday April 14 Kristen and I traveled to Nonsan, which is about 1 hr and 30 mins south from our university in Sin Chang, for the annual Strawberry Festival.

I wanted to go to this festival because I love strawberries. I wasn't expecting much to happen at the festival, but I was pleasantly surprised when I got there.

We were very lucky to have beautiful weather! Since it's spring time the weather has been kind of moody. I think mother nature hasn't decided if Korea should full be in Spring time, so time to time she'll throw in a cold day. However, during the festival she decided to throw in weather that was encroaching on summer time...

I didn't quite know how to get to the festival therefore when we got to Nonsan I got to test out my Korean skills and ask the guy working at the nearby Mini Stop. Not going to lie he left an impression on me, he had the brightest smile! Kristen even agreed and we wanted to go back and take a picture with him, but it seemed he had the early shift so by the time we got back to the Mini Stop there was already another part time worker there. Too bad, he really had the nicest smile.
When we got there we started roaming around at the tents. Just as we passed the main stage Bon Jovi - It's My Life came on. I was curious as to what was happening on stage. To my surprise a body builders contest was happening. After Bon Jovi, Adele's - Rolling In the Deep came on for the next contestant. I seriously wasn't expecting to see this at any Korean festival. It was definitely something.

Next we want into a group of older Korean gentlemen playing traditional Korean drums. It was so neat to see because they were so into the music. I was also fascinated because I learned how to play these drums last semester in my salmunori class.

Lastly we also came across a performance from an Ecuadorian Pan flute group. They were fantastic as well. The music was really soothing and totally captivated me and many little Korean children. Hehe.

I was really impressed with all the diverse cultural performances that was displayed throughout the festival. Right before leaving we were also able to see the local kindergarteners put on a performance to a very cute Kpop song.

For lunch Kristen and I ate hand made noodles. She had jjambong, which is noodles with seafood in a spicy soup, and I had jajjangmyun, which is black bean noodles. Technically it was black day, and on this day singles usual will eat jajjangmyun because they are single...haha.

Before heading out Kristen tried the fresh strawberry juice and strawberry toast, which also had cucumbers in it, to finish off our strawberry adventures.

I made a cake, which my suite mates eventually devoured in about 15 minutes. It was super delicious.

I highly enjoyed the strawberry festival. If you happen to be in town go check it out. The strawberries were super delicious. Kristen took about 3kgs of strawberries back and I went home with 2kgs. They are cheaper at the festival than the local super market! This is a super kid friendly festival as well, many opportunities for them to make masks and other souveniers to bring home. Overall, I had a really great experience! FYI, don't forget to wear sunscreen that was my biggest mistake =(.

Incheon City

I finally went to visit Incheon the city, not just the airport. Since Vancouver is a medium sized city with a bit of bustle and a bit of that suburban neighbourhood vibe, Incheon was pretty similar. It's right along the coast so it overlooks the ocean! Since Vancouver is surrounded by water, whenever I visit a city that has water near it I automatically feel a connection.

I met up with my suite mate, Soon Min, in Seoul and we took the train out to Incheon together. First we went to get a bite to eat, of course. We stopped over in Sinpo Market and grabbed this popular chicken dish called Dak Kang Jeong (닭강정). It was delicious. The chicken is deep fried so it was super crispy and the sauce was sweet and spicy. It's spicier than the regular chicken I have tasted but the spicy-ness wasn't that much for me to handle. However, my suite mates that ate the left overs said it was quite spicy.

Next we took a nice walk after lunch to go and find Juja Park. There is a statue of General MacArthur here commemorating his service during the war and helping Korea gain freedom. The park wasn't that far from the market where we ate lunch, but it was still a trek. Took us about 20 minutes to walk there at a semi leisurely pace.

The view from the park was pretty amazing. You can see the ocean and all the cargo containers because Incheon is a major port city. After that we walked down to Chinatown since its right next to each other. Everything was super easy to find because there were signs with arrows pointing in all the right directions.

We walked these steps that had a statue of Confucius. The stairs separated the Japanese settlements from the Chinese. So on one part of the block you will see Japanese style architecture and then on the other Chinese style structures. Incheon's Chinatown is the largest official one in Korea.

In Chinatown I also found LEGIT bubble tea. I've mentioned this before, you are able to get bubble tea at Dunkin Donuts but I heard its mediocre. I've also ran into some other places where I've seen you can add bubbles, but I wasn't too compelled to try it. Since this particular place was in Chinatown, I thought it might be closer to the stuff we have at home. Also the menu was written in Traditional Chinese so I was super excited. One step closer to real bubble tea. It turned out to be delicious!!! Not cheap but it was good.

After this Soon Min took me to Wolmido Amusement Park and a Korean Culture Park. Wolmido has a pier and the viking is one of the most popular rides. I was told when the amusement park first started the viking was one of the original rides.

I didn't feel like riding any of the rides, but I really wanted to go on the Ferris Wheel so we can get a better view! The weather was beautiful and warm, so we got a really nice view of the water and the buildings below.

I love it when the water sparkles from the sun shining on it.

Lastly while walking through the traditional Korean Park we had a chance to wear hanboks dressed like the royals. They even had the hair pieces, they were super heavy. I cannot imagine what it'd be like to have to wear all that hair all day long. I think my neck would have broken.

To finish off the day we went shopping in Incheon's biggest underground mall located at Bu Pyeong Station. I had a really nice time and was so happy that my suite mate had time to show me around. Other people told me they found Incheon boring, but I had a really great time exploring a place I've never been. Plus I am used to the "slower" kind of life since Vancouver is a mid tempo city. I'd recommend you visit Incheon, even if it's just for a day, while in Korea. It definitely has a completely different feel than Seoul.

Authentic Filipino Food in Seoul

You would think I would have tried real Filipino food in Vancouver before since there is a decent Filipino community. However, even though I have been to Marwin's birthday a few times, I think the only authentic food I've tried is the spring rolls (still amazing).

So it was a pleasant surprise when my Filipino friend, Annalee, in Korea took us to the Filipino market (that is open on Sundays at Hye Hwa 혜화 station). It's very fun because it's set up in the typical Asian street stall style and it feels homey because very nice older Filipino ladies are cooking up the food for you.

My friend told me it started about 20 years ago, and we ate at the stand that started the entire Filipino market in Seoul. Filipino is awesome. It has a similar feel to Hong Kong style Chinese food, so it felt very familiar. There was rice, veggies, meat, fried items...perfect combination of everything. I loved everything I ate, I'm not too sure of what the names are but it was delicious. If I am around that area again on a Sunday, I definitely wouldn't mind stopping by again.

Check it out if you are in the area! It's also close to Sungkyunkwan University and 2 major palaces!

Hanbok (한복)

Last Friday in my Korean Culture class I was able to try on a hanbok (traditional Korean clothes) for the very first time since I have been here!

I've wanted to try on a hanbok for a long time now so I am happy I had so many choices. Here at school the Korean education department has sets of hanboks for us international students to try! Hanboks are so beautiful. I really want one, just like how I want a kimono, but it will cost a lot of money and I won't have any occasions to wear them except maybe for Halloween.

All of my classmates and I gathered together and dressed up, almost felt like Kindergarten all over again. Brings me back to when I was just a kid, dressing up for no reason at all.

Culture class is always a good time =D.