Sunday, February 28, 2010
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Deja Vu
History has certainly been repeating itself over the course of our first week back in Korea. When we were preparing to come back here we had a laundry list of foods we wanted to eat and stores we wanted to visit again... and we haven't wasted much time!!
Galbi! Marinated pork, beef or chicken lovingly barbecued at your table by a gentle ajumma. We've already gone out for pork galbi twice and chicken galbi twice as well. There has been some exciting developments in chicken galbi in the last few years (or maybe we just never knew about this) but you can add noodles and cheese to the stir fry as well. I could never have it cheeseless again. So good.
Home Plus! In Suwon we were spoiled because we lived 5 minutes from a Home Plus and we probably went there 5 times a week as a social outing. There's not always a lot to do in Suwon! When we got here and needed to pick up some things for our apartment we promptly found the closest Home Plusuh in Jamsil (25 minutes or so away), but I have to say the layout wasn't quite as nice as I remembered and the prices were ridiculous. We'll be back... but after pay day!
Hot Tracks stationary (and other random foolishness) store! We found this on our first afternoon and also visited three other favorites that same day: Quiznos (LOVE!!!!), The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and the Kyobo book store, which has a large selection of English books. We used to travel for close to 2 hours to visit these places and now they're a 10 minute walk away. It's going to be a different kind of year!
Mr. Pizza! I love love LOVE Mr. Pizza and when we pulled up to our apartment for the first time I was very happy to see that one of their restaurants across the road from our place. Dangerously convenient. On our first night we ordered the classic "Mr. Pizza special" and requested 5 packages of garlic sauce, my favorite and most-missed condiment.
Myeongdong!! This shopping area has a ridiculous 10,000 or so shops and restaurants. Of course there have been some changes over the years- actually, my 2 favorite clothing stores (the dirt-cheap Myeongdong Department Store and Salvation Paradiso above the old Kosney) are missing, but The Gap, Forever 21, Zara and a 4-story H&M have all moved in and I certainly approve of these additions. We just window shopped on our visit, but that will only last for so long :P
The wanker in the above photo is holding a Remix, a cooler with 10% alcohol that tastes like cough medicine. Love!
Dakbokki! Rice cakes shaped like pasta and stir fried in a spicy sauce... yum. One of the first Korean foods that I really liked and we got to have some again on Tuesday night. We bought them from an ajumma at a street cart, just the way we like 'em.
Speaking of street food, we've also had hottoks (pancakes filled with brown sugar and nuts), chicken on a stick, and waffles this week. Actually, there's a waffle lady really close to our apartment so I have a feeling we'll be enjoying this often. For $1 she fills the waffle with frosting and then your choice of chocolate, caramel, apple, kiwi, blueberry or strawberry filling.
Chinese food! Well, not real Chinese food... the American-style stuff. We really missed this when we were in Taiwan. We went back to Ho Lee Chow's in Itaewon yesterday for sweet and sour chicken and noodles. So delicious, and there were ads in the restaurant for other Ho Lee Chow locations that seem to be even closer to our place than the Itaewon location. Win! After our meal we went back to another old favorite, the Hannam Supermarket, to buy some over-priced black market sour cream and then we went for dinner and a concert in Hongdae, a favorite bar district and the birthplace of the horse head. Which is still on sale, by the way!
Basically, it's nice to be back! There's still a few places that we're itching to visit, like a favorite Thai place in Songtan, a beloved galbi restaurant in Suwon, and shopping in Dongdaemun. And we'll do our best to get back to the Jeju sexy park, but no promises :P
Galbi! Marinated pork, beef or chicken lovingly barbecued at your table by a gentle ajumma. We've already gone out for pork galbi twice and chicken galbi twice as well. There has been some exciting developments in chicken galbi in the last few years (or maybe we just never knew about this) but you can add noodles and cheese to the stir fry as well. I could never have it cheeseless again. So good.
Home Plus! In Suwon we were spoiled because we lived 5 minutes from a Home Plus and we probably went there 5 times a week as a social outing. There's not always a lot to do in Suwon! When we got here and needed to pick up some things for our apartment we promptly found the closest Home Plusuh in Jamsil (25 minutes or so away), but I have to say the layout wasn't quite as nice as I remembered and the prices were ridiculous. We'll be back... but after pay day!
Hot Tracks stationary (and other random foolishness) store! We found this on our first afternoon and also visited three other favorites that same day: Quiznos (LOVE!!!!), The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf and the Kyobo book store, which has a large selection of English books. We used to travel for close to 2 hours to visit these places and now they're a 10 minute walk away. It's going to be a different kind of year!
Mr. Pizza! I love love LOVE Mr. Pizza and when we pulled up to our apartment for the first time I was very happy to see that one of their restaurants across the road from our place. Dangerously convenient. On our first night we ordered the classic "Mr. Pizza special" and requested 5 packages of garlic sauce, my favorite and most-missed condiment.
Myeongdong!! This shopping area has a ridiculous 10,000 or so shops and restaurants. Of course there have been some changes over the years- actually, my 2 favorite clothing stores (the dirt-cheap Myeongdong Department Store and Salvation Paradiso above the old Kosney) are missing, but The Gap, Forever 21, Zara and a 4-story H&M have all moved in and I certainly approve of these additions. We just window shopped on our visit, but that will only last for so long :P
The wanker in the above photo is holding a Remix, a cooler with 10% alcohol that tastes like cough medicine. Love!
Dakbokki! Rice cakes shaped like pasta and stir fried in a spicy sauce... yum. One of the first Korean foods that I really liked and we got to have some again on Tuesday night. We bought them from an ajumma at a street cart, just the way we like 'em.
Speaking of street food, we've also had hottoks (pancakes filled with brown sugar and nuts), chicken on a stick, and waffles this week. Actually, there's a waffle lady really close to our apartment so I have a feeling we'll be enjoying this often. For $1 she fills the waffle with frosting and then your choice of chocolate, caramel, apple, kiwi, blueberry or strawberry filling.
Chinese food! Well, not real Chinese food... the American-style stuff. We really missed this when we were in Taiwan. We went back to Ho Lee Chow's in Itaewon yesterday for sweet and sour chicken and noodles. So delicious, and there were ads in the restaurant for other Ho Lee Chow locations that seem to be even closer to our place than the Itaewon location. Win! After our meal we went back to another old favorite, the Hannam Supermarket, to buy some over-priced black market sour cream and then we went for dinner and a concert in Hongdae, a favorite bar district and the birthplace of the horse head. Which is still on sale, by the way!Basically, it's nice to be back! There's still a few places that we're itching to visit, like a favorite Thai place in Songtan, a beloved galbi restaurant in Suwon, and shopping in Dongdaemun. And we'll do our best to get back to the Jeju sexy park, but no promises :P
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
My Precious Collection
Hehe..I am quite happy today as I at last get to redempt another big head soft toy from guardian.Wohoooo!!I get sumore stamps from my fren and at last,I get to collect 40 stamps for my cute little hippotamus!!haha..so happy..I have already redempted the cute little elephant and thus hippo ahd added to my precious collection..^^
arent my hippo so ridiculously cute?omg
oohh..cute ears and nose>
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
oh Walgreenz.
I decided if i ever were to open a marijuana clinic, it would be called Walgreenz. But until that happens its all about Walgreens. Its a treasure trove of goods!
For instance:
Cross shaped chocolate? really?
For instance:
Cross shaped chocolate? really?
Korea vs Taiwan
Yes, we're back in Korea where our Englishy teaching careers began. It's so hard to believe that it's been 2 1/2 years since we were last here and in some ways it's like we never left but a lot of things have, of course, changed. It's the little things that you forget about a place when you're away for a while and we catch ourselves constantly comparing things to Taiwan, so I thought I'd type up a list of differences I've noticed based on first impressions before I forget all those little things about Taiwan too.
Seoul= Big
Taipei= Little
I forgot what a huge, sprawling city Seoul is, with so many unique districts. Taipei has lots of unique districts as well but on a smaller scale. For example, the Taipei Subway line has 3 lines where the Seoul Metro has 9 lines and I feel like such a noob trying to bumble my way through all the transfers and stations. The buildings are a lot larger here too- there must be 10x more skyscrapers in Seoul. A lot of the buildings in Taipei seemed to be 6 floors or less.
Seoul= expensive!!
Taipei= cheap
We could not even believe how expensive a trip to the grocery store was this weekend. After 6 months in Taiwan I guess anywhere would seem expensive, though. The food prices in Seoul are at least double and the same goes for almost any other product you can think of. For the price of the hamburger I got at Hooters yesterday I could have ordered 2 or 3 dishes at our favorite Thai place in Taipei and that hamburger was the lunch special! Luckily we've been able to buy a lot of the things we need to start off with in Korea from people on Craig's List for really good prices.
Seoul= soft landing
Taipei= hard landing
It has been much easier to get set up in Seoul. Mind you, it was a lot of work getting our documents together from overseas but it's so nice to have everything taken care of for us. The flight? Paid for. My trip to Taipei was out of my own pocket. The apartment? free. Is it a little small? Yep, but it's free. In Taipei we got so frustrated looking for an apartment and our school didn't offer us a lick of help either. And even before our first day of work our schools in Korea have already given us over $1200/CAN in landing bonuses and housing subsidies. It took me a month to even find a job in Taipei. Easy. Landing.
Seoul= stairs!
Taipei= escalators!
Of course there are escalators in Seoul but there are more places without them than with. My legs burn after walking so many flights of stairs this week- I don't know how the ajummas do it!
Seoul= olds!
Taipei= youngs
Speaking of ajummas (old ladies)- there are so many of them! I don't remember Seoul being full of so many old ladies with perms. Taipei is definitely filled with a younger crowd.
Taipei= run your garbage down when the musical truck drives by once a day
Seoul= leave your garbage downstairs whenever you like
Seoul= BBQ
Taipei= Hot Pot
Seoul= Pushy
Taipei= A slow mosey
Koreans PUSH! Everyone seems to be in a hurry and I have been elbowed all over the place walking around Seoul the last few days. It's okay, I can elbow with the best of 'em. In Taipei the foot traffic seems more laid back and orderly, but for us it was too slow and we were always trying to get around groups of slow-mo walkers. In Korea, when the subway train stops at the station people push their way onto the train through the people who are trying to get off the train and then shamelessly run to any available seat. In Taipei, everyone on the train is let off first before the people boarding the train try to enter and seats are gladly given up for the elderly or passed up all together.
Taipei= all-day fireworks and funeral parades
Seoul= TV truck with a loud speaker
Seoul= dry!
Taipei= humid!
In Taiwan, our clothes and bedding smelled like fart and our apartment was covered in mold. It was just so damp all of the time. In Korea, my hands are dry, my fingers are covered in hangnails, and I wake up so thirsty. Mel bought a Hello Kitty humidifier from Craig's List yesterday :P Temperature-wise though, it's about 10 degrees cooler in Seoul but I'm not noticing much of a difference... probably due to the lack of humidity.
Taipei= Hello Kitty, Ampanman and Domo
Seoul= Miffy and Dalki
There is a marked lack of cuteness in Seoul... maybe I just haven't found the Domo store yet but there seems to be a lot fewer cute characters and mascots at the stores here. Mister Donut still has Pon De Lion and his sweet friends, but there's no Open John at 7-Eleven or Domo noodle shops. Korea likes Dalki and Miffy, which are NOT global celebrities and are- let's face it- LAME.
Seoul= affordable stores and malls (and by affordable I mean a little overpriced, but when the paychecks start coming in, y'know...)
Taipei= cheap night markets or extraordinarily overpriced luxury malls
Seoul= spicy food and fried things
Taipei= organs
I don't think the Koreans have much interest in eating organs, and if they do it's certainly not as widespread as in Taipei. There was a guy with a cartfull of organs on just about every street in Taipei, but things here are a little more recognizable.
Seoul= beer and chicken
Taipei= tea and cake
I can't get over how many bars there are in Seoul- Koreans love to drink. The only bars we saw in Taipei were swanky clubs, so maybe Taiwanese prefer their drinks in more classy settings.
Seoul= men smoking
Taipei= everybody smoking
Also, there's indoor smoking in Seoul! It was so shocking to be asked "smoking or non?" at a restaurant yesterday.
Seoul= so many foreigners
Taipei= hey, look- there's a foreigner!
We went to a bar with Hannah and Shanda last night and everyone was foreign! It was so strange. In Taipei there are foreigners of course, but you'd only see 1 or 2 on a trip out. ESL is a booming business in Seoul!
Seoul Tower= meh
Taipei 101= awesome
Seoul= clean and new!
Taipei= could use a visit from the Clean Sweep crew
There is a lot of clutter and hoarding going on in Taipei and, outside of the Xinyi district, the buildings were often kind of dingy and grey and the clutter of stores spilled out onto the street and sidewalk. There are areas like that here too, but since Seoul was conveniently bombed a few decades ago things are a bit more modern and shiny.
Taipei= Cone hats
Seoul= Huge visors on permed heads
Seoul= less-frequent trains but you can eat on them
Taipei= frequent trains but you're hungry
I had a granola bar on the subway today. It was awesome. I also waited 7 minutes for a train. Does not like.
Taipei= so many temples!
Seoul= so many Coffee Bean & Tea Leafs!
I think there are more sights to see in Taipei. The emphasis in Seoul definitely seems to be on eating and shopping.
Seoul= orderly traffic and pleasant, spacious sidewalks
Taipei= watch out for that scooter! Better walk on the road because there's clutter and scooters parked all over the sidewalk.
Seoul= English music
Taipei= Korean music
Basically, both cities are great but they each have their own quirks. Right now, we are really enjoying being right in the middle of Seoul with so much yummy food and great shopping around us. I never realized how limited we were when we lived in Suwon. Seoul is the place to be, I tell ya. But we're already starting to miss our special trips for guava (Mel) at the night market in Sinjhuang and only spending $5 on a big meal in Taipei.
Also, I keep wanting to speak Chinese to the Koreans here. That would probably be pretty rude, right? I've got to learn some more Korean.
Seoul= Big
Taipei= Little
I forgot what a huge, sprawling city Seoul is, with so many unique districts. Taipei has lots of unique districts as well but on a smaller scale. For example, the Taipei Subway line has 3 lines where the Seoul Metro has 9 lines and I feel like such a noob trying to bumble my way through all the transfers and stations. The buildings are a lot larger here too- there must be 10x more skyscrapers in Seoul. A lot of the buildings in Taipei seemed to be 6 floors or less.
Seoul= expensive!!
Taipei= cheap
We could not even believe how expensive a trip to the grocery store was this weekend. After 6 months in Taiwan I guess anywhere would seem expensive, though. The food prices in Seoul are at least double and the same goes for almost any other product you can think of. For the price of the hamburger I got at Hooters yesterday I could have ordered 2 or 3 dishes at our favorite Thai place in Taipei and that hamburger was the lunch special! Luckily we've been able to buy a lot of the things we need to start off with in Korea from people on Craig's List for really good prices.
Seoul= soft landing
Taipei= hard landing
It has been much easier to get set up in Seoul. Mind you, it was a lot of work getting our documents together from overseas but it's so nice to have everything taken care of for us. The flight? Paid for. My trip to Taipei was out of my own pocket. The apartment? free. Is it a little small? Yep, but it's free. In Taipei we got so frustrated looking for an apartment and our school didn't offer us a lick of help either. And even before our first day of work our schools in Korea have already given us over $1200/CAN in landing bonuses and housing subsidies. It took me a month to even find a job in Taipei. Easy. Landing.
Seoul= stairs!
Taipei= escalators!
Of course there are escalators in Seoul but there are more places without them than with. My legs burn after walking so many flights of stairs this week- I don't know how the ajummas do it!
Seoul= olds!
Taipei= youngs
Speaking of ajummas (old ladies)- there are so many of them! I don't remember Seoul being full of so many old ladies with perms. Taipei is definitely filled with a younger crowd.
Taipei= run your garbage down when the musical truck drives by once a day
Seoul= leave your garbage downstairs whenever you like
Seoul= BBQTaipei= Hot Pot
Seoul= Pushy
Taipei= A slow mosey
Koreans PUSH! Everyone seems to be in a hurry and I have been elbowed all over the place walking around Seoul the last few days. It's okay, I can elbow with the best of 'em. In Taipei the foot traffic seems more laid back and orderly, but for us it was too slow and we were always trying to get around groups of slow-mo walkers. In Korea, when the subway train stops at the station people push their way onto the train through the people who are trying to get off the train and then shamelessly run to any available seat. In Taipei, everyone on the train is let off first before the people boarding the train try to enter and seats are gladly given up for the elderly or passed up all together.
Taipei= all-day fireworks and funeral parades
Seoul= TV truck with a loud speaker
Seoul= dry!
Taipei= humid!
In Taiwan, our clothes and bedding smelled like fart and our apartment was covered in mold. It was just so damp all of the time. In Korea, my hands are dry, my fingers are covered in hangnails, and I wake up so thirsty. Mel bought a Hello Kitty humidifier from Craig's List yesterday :P Temperature-wise though, it's about 10 degrees cooler in Seoul but I'm not noticing much of a difference... probably due to the lack of humidity.
Taipei= Hello Kitty, Ampanman and Domo Seoul= Miffy and Dalki
There is a marked lack of cuteness in Seoul... maybe I just haven't found the Domo store yet but there seems to be a lot fewer cute characters and mascots at the stores here. Mister Donut still has Pon De Lion and his sweet friends, but there's no Open John at 7-Eleven or Domo noodle shops. Korea likes Dalki and Miffy, which are NOT global celebrities and are- let's face it- LAME.
Seoul= affordable stores and malls (and by affordable I mean a little overpriced, but when the paychecks start coming in, y'know...)
Taipei= cheap night markets or extraordinarily overpriced luxury malls
Seoul= spicy food and fried things
Taipei= organs
I don't think the Koreans have much interest in eating organs, and if they do it's certainly not as widespread as in Taipei. There was a guy with a cartfull of organs on just about every street in Taipei, but things here are a little more recognizable.
Seoul= beer and chickenTaipei= tea and cake
I can't get over how many bars there are in Seoul- Koreans love to drink. The only bars we saw in Taipei were swanky clubs, so maybe Taiwanese prefer their drinks in more classy settings.
Seoul= men smoking
Taipei= everybody smoking
Also, there's indoor smoking in Seoul! It was so shocking to be asked "smoking or non?" at a restaurant yesterday.
Seoul= so many foreigners
Taipei= hey, look- there's a foreigner!
We went to a bar with Hannah and Shanda last night and everyone was foreign! It was so strange. In Taipei there are foreigners of course, but you'd only see 1 or 2 on a trip out. ESL is a booming business in Seoul!
Seoul Tower= meh Taipei 101= awesome
Seoul= clean and new!
Taipei= could use a visit from the Clean Sweep crew
There is a lot of clutter and hoarding going on in Taipei and, outside of the Xinyi district, the buildings were often kind of dingy and grey and the clutter of stores spilled out onto the street and sidewalk. There are areas like that here too, but since Seoul was conveniently bombed a few decades ago things are a bit more modern and shiny.
Taipei= Cone hats
Seoul= Huge visors on permed heads
Seoul= less-frequent trains but you can eat on them
Taipei= frequent trains but you're hungry
I had a granola bar on the subway today. It was awesome. I also waited 7 minutes for a train. Does not like.
Taipei= so many temples!
Seoul= so many Coffee Bean & Tea Leafs!
I think there are more sights to see in Taipei. The emphasis in Seoul definitely seems to be on eating and shopping.
Seoul= orderly traffic and pleasant, spacious sidewalks
Taipei= watch out for that scooter! Better walk on the road because there's clutter and scooters parked all over the sidewalk.
Seoul= English music
Taipei= Korean music
Basically, both cities are great but they each have their own quirks. Right now, we are really enjoying being right in the middle of Seoul with so much yummy food and great shopping around us. I never realized how limited we were when we lived in Suwon. Seoul is the place to be, I tell ya. But we're already starting to miss our special trips for guava (Mel) at the night market in Sinjhuang and only spending $5 on a big meal in Taipei.
Also, I keep wanting to speak Chinese to the Koreans here. That would probably be pretty rude, right? I've got to learn some more Korean.
Monday, February 22, 2010
Sakai's gathering..
I duno how to describe my feelings now.I am just followed my parent's idea to apply for some college for some course I dont have interest.Erm..okay..maybe a little bit,coz accountancy deals with figures and figures look not so frighteneing to me like others,although I am not really that pro in it.In a nutshell:I dont hate it but I am not talented in it also.>< Scared ah..Gambathe HUIMING!!!><
Actually today quite haappi,coz I went to hang out with my sakai friends to celebrate ah bing and andrea's birthday..hehe..we went to the kepong newly opened old town white coffee cafe and then to brem mall and lastly we went to yaolin's house and started playing cards.haha..I win a lot ooh..XP long time I din hang out with u all guys..realli happi today seeing you all..12 of u all..:) although I am a bit frightened by rose who did something accidentally..== I thought of that Patrick immediately..haiz..1st Patrick,2nd Tin,3rd u??shit..aiz..luckily nothing else..>< grumbles..Why I am so unlucky in the year of tiger!!*sobs*Tomorrow gotcha work and then meet Tin again..aih..wish me all the best..I will try very hard to avoid you from now on..Juz see..O.0 ==
Actually today quite haappi,coz I went to hang out with my sakai friends to celebrate ah bing and andrea's birthday..hehe..we went to the kepong newly opened old town white coffee cafe and then to brem mall and lastly we went to yaolin's house and started playing cards.haha..I win a lot ooh..XP long time I din hang out with u all guys..realli happi today seeing you all..12 of u all..:) although I am a bit frightened by rose who did something accidentally..== I thought of that Patrick immediately..haiz..1st Patrick,2nd Tin,3rd u??shit..aiz..luckily nothing else..>< grumbles..Why I am so unlucky in the year of tiger!!*sobs*Tomorrow gotcha work and then meet Tin again..aih..wish me all the best..I will try very hard to avoid you from now on..Juz see..O.0 ==
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Change Of Address
So, we've left Taiwan. Shhhhhh.... don't tell anyone!
It just wasn't working out. I'm an experienced teacher and in 6 months and dozens of applications I still couldn't find a full-time job in Taiwan. I can see on online forums that a lot of people are having this problem right now with the economy the way it is. The timing just wasn't right for me and although it was a REALLY NICE country, I was tired of being poor in Taiwan- that's not why I'm here. My ass has student loans to pay down. Oh yeah, and the school we worked at jerked us around one too many times **cough cough lyingbastards cough**
So, boo-urns... on to plan B. Posts soon!
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
BURKE KITTIAMS
Also... i dont usually get into videos like this because i find them really sad and mean.................but in this case, bitch had it comin!
Starting Over...Yet Again.
Day One.
Today i decided that my life had taken a turn for the worst, when i was greatly saddened by a scheduling error on the part of the Soap Network. I had it all ready. I was going to wake up, make some breakfast, PAUSE the beginning of the show while I'm cooking (as to gain Fast Forwarding credz), plop down and watch my daily dose of the OC at 1 and 2pm. Only to find that some shitty ass Soapnet original show was on. I mean, i guess it could be said that REAL rock bottom would be engaging in this show instead, but luckily the universe had my back in another regard when i realized i had an Oprah saved.
The point being, that now i'm writing a blog, so that while i watch tv i have something "productive" to do.
Anyway.
SOAPNET is trying to get us down man, in their commercials they literally say ZONE OUT! WATCH TV ALL DAY LONG! They use the term "supersized" in describing their TV blocks. Similar to fastfood, Supersized TV Programming leaves you paralyzed in a overindulged stupor.
8am-3pm?! Although i will say its fun watching 90210 episodes from 1992, because everyone dresses the way people dress now.
I think i'm gonna go see Dear John now...
what is more depressing:
to just get dressed at 5:30pm to go see a romance movie alone on a friday night?
or to keep myself tucked away in my cavern...possibly to watch What Not to Wear and Hoarders?
Today i decided that my life had taken a turn for the worst, when i was greatly saddened by a scheduling error on the part of the Soap Network. I had it all ready. I was going to wake up, make some breakfast, PAUSE the beginning of the show while I'm cooking (as to gain Fast Forwarding credz), plop down and watch my daily dose of the OC at 1 and 2pm. Only to find that some shitty ass Soapnet original show was on. I mean, i guess it could be said that REAL rock bottom would be engaging in this show instead, but luckily the universe had my back in another regard when i realized i had an Oprah saved.
The point being, that now i'm writing a blog, so that while i watch tv i have something "productive" to do.
Anyway.
SOAPNET is trying to get us down man, in their commercials they literally say ZONE OUT! WATCH TV ALL DAY LONG! They use the term "supersized" in describing their TV blocks. Similar to fastfood, Supersized TV Programming leaves you paralyzed in a overindulged stupor.
8am-3pm?! Although i will say its fun watching 90210 episodes from 1992, because everyone dresses the way people dress now.
I think i'm gonna go see Dear John now...
what is more depressing:
to just get dressed at 5:30pm to go see a romance movie alone on a friday night?
or to keep myself tucked away in my cavern...possibly to watch What Not to Wear and Hoarders?
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!
Sighs..My long waited cny celebrations with my cousins ended so fazz!! 2day is already the 4th day of cny and I am already back from my few hundred miles away hometown--->Johor.I juz reached home a few hours and have finally done all the cleaning.=)Haha..Gotcha start my long time no see blog^^ Chor 2 I went to my mother's side house and that was fun.Since my grandmother have 6 daughters and 2 sons,it was terribly fun and excited at my grandparent's house.Whoa!Each "children"is having at least 3 childrens,and some of them are big enough to hav their own childrens!That means grandgrandsons and grandgranddaughter.Haha.A lot of them are still in kindergarden and primary school and it was cute><
This is my cousins
->
my lovely cousin jia jia and me
->
->
That cc zhexue..haha..
->
lovely..isn't it?^^
It was fun when I first reach there as all of my aunties wear wearing so nice dresses and we kept taking photoes.Then suddenly my cousin suggested that we take some whole family pictures and we started to snap photos of aunts with grnadparents,uncles with grandparents,blabla..It was fun.^^Haha..aishhh..my off days seems to fly away so quickly..aih..I had to start working again.T.T
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
The Museum Of Drinking Water
Yes, on Monday we went to see The Museum Of Drinking Water. I've been bugging Mel to go to the museum with me for weeks now just because it sounded SO BORING that I thought it would be funny and she finally relented on Monday, but only because she wanted to shop for boots at a nearby market. I was so excited to visit that I even called ahead first to make sure they were open. We've hit a new low. Ever feel like you were on vacation in a place where you felt like you'd done everything you wanted to and the vacation really could've ended a while ago? Yeah, that's where we're at right now. Can we go back to work now?
There was a room full of water pumps!
Pipes, through the decades.
You could climb up a small ladder to see this amazing air vent passage!!
A collection of fittings!
There was a garden full of old pipes to pose with!
And the garden was conveniently accessed through- you guessed it- pipes! The museum is a little cheeky!
Look at all the pipes! Isn't this SO INTERESTING?????
Random ape to pose with. We really had to muscle our way through the crowds to get our picture!
We came to a random hiking trail and decided to check it out, to get the most out of our $50NT admission. At the base of the trail there was a sign warning about snakes (cobras actually, according to the picture). But wait a minute- why is the word "snakes" taped onto the sign? What did it originally say?
"SNACKS" are active in this area!! Aha ha aha hahah ah ahahaaaa!!!
At the top of the trail was this thing.
We continued to follow the trail which brought us to this interesting piece of pipe, which was bent during the 9/21 earthquake that happened 10 years ago. Imagine the force of the earthquake that would have bent a pipe like this? 2,400 people died and 100,000 people were left homeless. There's a museum about the earthquake too, but it's not located in Taipei and we's po.
The trail continued around through the woods and we passed by a row of seductively dressed palm trees. It had started to rain, as always, so the "Beware of slip" signs the park had posted were useful reminders. PS: Neither Mel nor I bewared of slip enough and wound up almost falling twice. Not a good thing because Nareesa would surely have left us to be eaten alive by snacks. The trail ended at a closed gate near some sludge tanks and a closed water park so we turned around and walked back home to dream further about pipes and fittings.The Museum Of Drinking Water- don't miss it.
Bonus: Their canteen sells "papcarn"!
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Fancy Bowling
And we continue to delve into the arcade culture of Taiwan. On Friday night we went with Nareesa to get some Thai Food and Charmy at the Shilin Night Market and afterwards we went to the nearby City Jungle arcade building that Kris had told us about to go bowling. This was the nicest bowling alley I've ever been to! Located in the basement of City Jungle, under a few floors full of arcade games, the bowling alley looks more than a nightclub than one of the dingy, dying bowling alleys we see at home. The lights were dimmed, there were leather sofas embellished with faux-diamonds to relax on and a computer automatically calculated your score.
The walls were lined with big screen TVs showing music videos. Here's Katy Perry mocking my bowling skills in the shot above.
It was big ball (American style?) bowling at this alley, which Mel and I had only played once before. We usually play with small balls at home (that's what she said). As you can see in the scores above, it took me FIVE rounds to get past 3 points!! Those are some heavy balls (WHAT SHE SAID).
After bowling we played our favorite basketball game and a few rounds of darts which was pretty fun... I like the dart boards that automatically keep your score. The one thing we didn't try, and will have to come back to do this week, is the coin-operated mechanical bull!! Loving the arcades here!
Friday, February 12, 2010
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Super Mario Fever And A Duck Gang Bang At The Lin Family Mansion
This summary is not available. Please
click here to view the post.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
