Artsy fartsy edibles

Well, good sons.. It's been a while since I've attempted anything artsy fartsy, mostly due to the fact that I've sunk back into the hollows of my lazy old ways.. Old habits die hard, eh? .__.;; But last week, as I realised Valentine's Day was coming up, I figured I should get my act together quick smart and attempt to throw together something half decent for Angry Eddie's present.

Since I'm quite the cheapo and I refuse to give in and take the commercialised route of buying fancily-boxed chocolates at ridiculously marked-up prices, I decided to have a go at hand making some of my own. And thus, my (brief) affair with chocolate making began. XD

Most of the stuff was bought from Bangsan Market* in Dongdaemun, which is famous for its baking supplies:

200g bags of chocolate - 3,500 ~ 4,000 each 
Decorative chocolate pens - 1,000 each
Moulds - 1,000 ~ 2,000 each

Admittedly, I went a bit over the top and bought too much chocolate because I was worried about running out halfway.. In the end, I only used less than half of each bag. u__u Hah! (Oh well. They can be kept for another chocolate making session or if not... They're perfectly nom-able straight from the packet. Win win!)

So to start, I used the animal mould and filled the areas that needed highlighting, e.g. eyes, nose, ears, etc., with a deco pen. The deco pens aren't exactly the most high tech or precise, but they're simple to use and they work fairly well once you get used to them. Plus they only cost about $1, so you can't really complain. All you need to do is soak them in hot water for a couple of minutes until the chocolate inside has become runny, and they're good to go. :D

Once the deco pen's chocolate had cooled and solidified, I poured melted chocolate into the moulds. After that, they cooled down and hey presto!

Cutely shaped, handmade chocolates! :D

Sadly we had a slight casualty on the way.. Poor Teddy lost his ear. I made sure to give it a good home though. Heh heh hehhhhh. >:D

I also saw this cuuuuuute card idea floating around on Pinterest, which I promptly ripped off and made my own attempt at:

Take a piece of card and a googly eye (I'm sure there's a proper name for them, but I have no idea what it is lol), trace around the googly eye and cut out a hole in the card.. Add a red heart, and draw a cute little monster inside, and voila! >:D

Put the two together and there you have it... A simple gift from the heart that doesn't break the bank. :D

Hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day with plenty of edible goodies to nom on! :3



*Bangsan Market: 서울시 중구 주교동 251-1 (251-1 Jugyo-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul)
From exit 4 of Euljiro-4 subway station, go straight 100 metres until you hit Cheongyecheon stream. Turn right and go straight for another 100 meters or so, and you'll find the entrance to the market on your right.

Parking adventures

So a while back, I was really pleasantly surprised to learn that one of my students lives in the same building as I do. She's a super sweet lady and when she has classes at night, she very kindly gives me a lift back home after. :3 Luckily for us, the drive home is pretty short... But finding parking is a whole different story and, as irony would have it, usually ends up taking longer than the actual drive itself.

As you might imagine, given that Seoul is so crowded, parking can often be really horrendous. The spaces are super tiny and there's barely enough room to open your door and wiggle yourself out without scraping the paint off the car beside you. On top of that, it's hard to even find a parking spot in the first place. Of course, our building is no exception and we usually find ourselves circling the parking lot like vultures in order to hunt down a space somewhere. And since there aren't enough spaces, a lot of people even resort to parking in the lanes... Which of course means blocking other cars in:

Poor red Mini. :(

When I first saw this, I was pretty appalled. From past experience, I've learned that the culture in Korea is to have your cell phone number displayed somewhere near your windscreen so that people can call you if they need you to move your vehicle. But still.. Imagine waking up in the morning, rushing down to drive to work, only to realise that you've been parked in and that person isn't answering their phone? How furious would you be?! XD

Anyway.. One particular night, we were super lucky to find a spot quickly, though it required one of the cars in the lane to be moved so there would be enough space for my student to do a three-point turn. She simply told me, "Wait a moment please!" and hopped out of the car. I assumed she was going to call the owner of the car, but several minutes passed and I began to wonder why she hadn't come back. That was when I realised she had actually been pushing all the cars in the lane backwards...

You see, it turns out if you park in the lanes then you should leave your handbrake down and the gears in neutral. That way, anyone can roll your car backwards or forwards as needed in order to get out... Genius, right?! o__O (Of course, this kind of thing probably only works because it's in Korea. In Aus, if anyone left their handbrake down while in neutral, I'm pretty sure some smart-assed punk would come along and roll the car right out of the parking lot. -__-)

Here's my lovely student hard at work, pushing those cars. XD

Personally I found this concept was pretty cool, and I certainly had fun jumping out and rolling some of the cars back myself. Makes you feel like a superhero, having the ability to move cars with your bare hands.... Hahaha.

You learn something new everyday, eh? :D

Calendar quest

For some time now, Uncle Yenny has been smitten with this little Korean character called Pery. I don't know much about him, his origins, or what exactly he does, but I find his bulbous head (which is hugely disproportionate to the rest of his body) irresistibly adorable. o__o

My first encounter with Pery was on Kakao Talk (a Korean messaging app, kind of like WhatsApp) where he appeared in a series of emoticons:

 Image credits: http://beasty9irl.tumblr.com/post/54196999462/3-1-2

I think the theme behind the emoticons "기분좋아져라!" roughly translates to "Get happier!" or "Let's feel better!", which adds even more to his appeal... Who can say no to such positivity?! :D

After a little stalking around on the interwebs, I discovered that the creator of Pery had a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/perytail . It was here, whilst ogling the pictures on the account, that I realised there was actually a variety of Pery merchandise available for purchasing, one of the items being a very adorable, artistic looking calendar. And from that very moment, my sons, it became my ultimate mission in life to get my grubby paws on one.

The task proved easier said than done. For starters, I couldn't seem to find anywhere to purchase it online. None of the regular online shopping sites like Gmarket or Auction seemed to have it. I even asked Angry Eddie to try searching for it in Korean, but to no avail. By sheer luck though, I finally stumbled across a picture of some items with a caption that roughly translated to "now selling at Dalssi Market* in Samcheong-dong"... And there it was. The only physical place in Seoul that stocked Pery merchandise -- a tiny little shop called Dalssi Market* near the Samcheong-dong area, very close to where the president of Korea lives. Samcheong-dong is actually rather far from my place because I live on the east side of Seoul and Samcheong-dong is north-west. However... Upon reading the caption, it was crystal clear exactly what needed to be done.

And so.. On a chilly, windy December day, I set off for Samcheong-dong on a quest to finally get my hands on a Pery calendar. Okay, so in my head it was going down as some hugely epic quest, like something out of a movie where the main character would have to scour the city for hours, venturing down countless dark and dangerous alleys, but in actual fact the store was rather easy to find.. Go out exit 1 of Anguk Station, walk straight for a bit, turn right and keep going straight. Somewhat of an anti-climax, huh? XD

The inside of the shop was like a Perytail dream.. (Perytail.. fairytail.. Hah! Pun intended!) Or, the one shelf right by the window was, anyway. (The rest of the shop is for vintage clothing, and it's really quite small, so all the Pery merchandise is crammed into one spot by the window.)

Feast your eyes upon the cuteness!!

The lady at the store was really nice and despite my refusing to be upsold to a "scheduler set" (calendar, schedule book, and coffee mug), she still kindly gave me some cute little Pery Christmas cards for free. (Yes, I was too cheap to fork out an extra 12,000 won ($12) to get the set lol. u__u)

Tah-dah! Life mission accomplished!

As it turns out, the calendar is a mix of handrawn artwork combined with artistic photography, and lovely little feel-good captions thrown in here and there:

The picture on February's page of him sprinting along and lugging a giant, heart-shaped cloud says, "Now, I'll bring this to you!" So adorable! XD

Unfortunately, I later learned that there is indeed an online store for Pery merchandise -- http://www.bburn.net, so I probably could've saved myself the journey of going halfway across town. Oh well. u__u

Finally, since we're on the topic of calendars.. Happy new year, good sons! May 2014 be filled with much happiness and many wonderful surprises and adventures for you! ^__^



*Dalssi Market: 서울시 종로구 화동 102번지 (Seoul, Jongno-gu, Hwa-dong 102)

New jib~ >:D

Happy weekend, sons!

At long last, here are some pictures of my new place. :D You can probably tell that I have a slight obsession with red things lol. I wanted to go for a black, white, and red theme so I was uber happy when I found some zebra print deco sheets at Daiso. (Love Daiso! It's a Japanese dollar store chain that sells all sorts of wonderful, cute, and practical products. I could spend hours roaming through the aisles there, and that's just the ones in Korea. Don't even get me started on the Daisos in Japan! o__O)

Kitchen:

Red utensils :D

Where's the fridge??
THERE'S the fridge! :O

Sofa and bed area:

Window #1 with the blinds closed:

My little feature wall ^^

Work desk, dining table, and window #2:

Aaaaand that's pretty much it, in a 360 degree-ish way. Hopefully it all makes sense. XD

What I love most is having two very large windows which let in a ton of light during the day. I've never really been a morning person before, but these days it genuinely feels like I'm more cheerful and energetic in the mornings than I used to be haha. Plus my old place was rather dim, so this is a really welcome change. At the moment, as it's winter, it's also really lovely having the sunlight come in through the glass. It warms up the room naturally, and thanks to that I don't need to use the heater at all during the day. Hooray for energy and money saving! :D (Having said that though, it'll probably be hell in summer time and I'll be sweating like a pig in a sauna, but I guess I'll worry about that when the time comes lol.)

One other thing that I really love about this apartment is that (so far) I haven't heard a single peep out of my neighbours. It's quite amazing. o__O On the downside, it is rather noisy outside because this area is pretty lively with a lot of restaurants and bars and so on.. It's bearable at the moment since it's winter and all the windows are closed, but come summer time when the windows will be open 24/7, I may have to start sleeping with earplugs in. Oh well. Not everything can be perfect, right? XD

Hope everyone has been having a great weekend, and may the last few days of 2013 be fantabulous for you! :3

The things you learn...

It's funny, isn't it, the remarkable amount of things you can learn about a person by living in a home after they've moved out. Here are some things that I've oh so pleasantly learned (or can at least make valid assumptions) about the previous tenant:

1. He had a strange obsession with masking tape. After moving in, I found the stuff all over the place -- on the window frames, on the front door, in the kitchen, on the bathroom mirror, around the toilet paper holder...  Evidently he would use it to fix everything, or... just for no apparent reason at all. The unfortunate end result though is a gummy, sticky residue on all those surfaces that even now I'm still struggling to remove.. Urgh.

2. He enjoyed showering while standing in a pool of filth. Or perhaps he just didn't shower at all. The bathroom was absolutely filthy, and by "filthy", I mean disgustingly, grottishly, how-are-you-not-in-hospital-with-a-systemic-yeast-infection-by-now kind of filthy. There was mould all over the place, on the walls and floor, even in the shower cubicle.. with a nice, festy pool of pink slime right on the spot where you stand under the shower head. Don't even get me started on the soap scum and yellowish-white build up on the shower glass and wall tiles. It took several hours of scrubbing and re-scrubbing over a period of several days to remove a satisfactory amount of it, though there are still some traces left that just refuse to budge. Urgh!

3. It is entirely possible that not once, ever, did he clean the kitchen in the entire time that he lived here. Picture this... Grease stains around the stove. Grease stains on the walls. Mould in the fridge. Mould on the fridge. Even worse, mould in the door seals of the fridge, with all the small grooves that are uber hard to dig into and clean properly. URGH!

So in conclusion, I have come to believe that the previous tenant was one DIRTY ass mofo, with either an immune system of iron, or some kind of futuristic bubble suit which he wore in order to move around the apartment without contracting any unsavoury illnesses. To be fair, when house hunting, I did see the mould around the bathroom and the grease stains in the kitchen, but I figured that he would have the decency to clean it off before moving out. Evidently not.
JERK.

On a brighter note though, now that my apartment is finally clean (yes, it's actually taken several days to get it this way), I can focus on unpacking and settling in properly. The place is a mess with boxes still laying about, because I didn't feel comfortable unpacking while there were still dirty spots around the place. (I'm pretty OCD about things like that. u__u)

Hope your weeks have been progressing well, sons, and with far less energy spent on cleaning than mine. XD

Moving news... :D

Hullo, hullo there good sons!

How goes life? Hopefully in the past 4-ish months, you've been doing well. :D
For Uncle Yenny, a few exciting things have happened over this period, the most recent being... choosing a new apartment to move into! :D

For the past two years, I've been staying south of the river in Seoul (yes, "Gangnam style" exactly) in an apartment that I'm not particularly thrilled about. I hear irritating neighbours talking excessively loudly on their phones with their TVs blaring away at full volume, dogs barking down the hall at 5am, weird stomping and dragging sounds coming from the room above, and random, drunken people stumbling along the street and shouting out things at all odd hours. Then there are these annoying, skankily clad call girls making visits to clients in the seedy karaoke joint located in the basement, all of whom hog the elevator to go down one single floor when they could easily take the stairs, thus causing the rest of us actual tenants who need to go up several floors to wait for an infuriating amount of time. And on top of all that, the utilities and building fees are uber expensive (typical of Gangnam), and the maintenance guys in the building half the time are like overpaid phone monkeys -- highly uninterested in fixing problems properly, despite the fact that tenants pay a hefty "maintanence fee" every single month. A good example of this would be one of the pipes in the kitchen starting to leak a couple of weeks ago but, instead of fixing it, the maintenance man simply stuck a jar under the pipe and told me to keep emptying it whenever it got full.
GG. =__=

So why then, you may wonder, have I stuck around in this place for two years? Well, good sons, the sad answer to that is probably 90% laziness and 10% apprehensiveness of the unknown. .__. Yes. I am a rather sad and lazy creature of habit indeed, and the effort involved with house hunting, then packing, cleaning, and moving, and also forking out for all the costs in the process just didn't seem worth it. (Over here tenants have to pay real estate agent fees too, usually about $200-$300 for single apartments, depending on the value of the property you're moving into. Yuck!) I also figured I wouldn't be able to find a place that had the same level of convenience.. Close to the subway, lots of cheap fast food places around, and a small supermarket just across the road.. It made me sad to think of leaving the neighbourhood that I'd become so familiar with.

Well.. Long story short, I guess you can tell how it ends. I've finally made the decision to move, and I think it was a pretty good one. :D Well, hopefully anyway. My new apartment will be on the east side of Seoul, not much further away from work than my current place, with a BIG 3-storey supermarket just a few minutes away, all the food places that I love (Maccas, Baskin Robbins, etc. hehe) and more, and the subway is pretty close by too. There's also a shopping street just around the corner with cosmetic stores, clothing and shoe shops, and more cafes, bars, and restaurants than you can shake a stick at. XD

Moving day is officially December 7th, so all that's left now is to start getting my crap together and getting ready for it...

Let the packing and moving madness begin! >:D

Artsy fartsy April, May, June.. XD

Just so you know that I haven't been a complete failure at using my time productively, here are the artsy fartsy things I've done over the past few months :P

April: Felt sushi tissue box cover

May: Charm bracelets

June: T-shirt painting

It was a lot of fun doing them, as it was my first time attempting each one and I just had to hope that they would turn out half decent lol.

So.. With the exception of the black fabric paint for the T-shirt painting, which I got from Homi Art Store in Hongdae, all of the materials I used (felt, beads, chains, charms, clasps, and jump rings) were from Dongdaemun Shopping Complex which is simply a crafter's heaven. If you're ever in need of supplies, I highly recommend going there. You could literally spend an entire day wandering around six floors crammed to the brim with rows and rows of sellers who stock everything from fabric to wool, to buttons and needles, and earring hooks and charms. Best of all, the prices are cheap and reasonable, especially if you're going there to buy in bulk. To get there, go out exit 9 of Dongdaemun subway station, walk straight for a couple of meters and you'll see a big white building on your left. There's a sign that tells you what floors to go to for what material (lol at "stuff" on level 3 and 4).

I find that I usually spend most of my time on the fifth floor, which is where the felt material, chains, beads, and other shiny, pretty things are at. (Mmmm... Shinyyyy... @__@)

Okay, so I know I'm missing an artsy farsty project for July.. I have to admit I kind of slacked off there and didn't make anything, but... there's still time left before the end of August to make up for it. (Lol hopefully I'm not being too ambitious here.)

Later days, sons!

Life changing stuff

For as long as I have lived in this neighbourhood, I've always wished that there was a bubble tea store near my home. Bubble tea (aka "pearl tea", as we usually call it in Australia -- I've become too Americanised lol) isn't really anything new, and as you might already know, it was invented in Taiwan back in the 1980s. It's been pretty popular around the world for many years now. For some strange reason though, when I first arrived in Korea back in 2007, bubble tea seemed pretty much non-existent and I always had to wait until I visited home to be able to satisfy my cravings. Odd, right? I mean given that Korea is so close to Taiwan and all the other Asian countries, like Hong Kong and China, where bubble tea stores are a dime a dozen.. In fact, it was only about late 2011 that bubble tea began to catch on and all these chain stores suddenly started popping up everywhere. (Before that, I could have counted the number of bubble tea places on my fingers -- and trust me, I'd already visited most of them as part of my futile attempts to hunt down decent bubble tea in Seoul.)

Anyway.. As I was saying about my neighbourhood.. There's only one place nearby that does bubble tea, but it's pretty craptacular. It's actually a waffle cafe, so good quality bubble tea probably isn't the highest thing on their agenda. The flavours are limited and the pearls usually come out hard, and in completely inadequate quantities.

Then last week, right across the street from the front entrance of my apartment, I saw this:

Coming soon... A bubble tea store!! >:D It's like all my prayers have been answered! Haha.

Admittedly, this isn't my favourite chain as it's a bit pricey compared to others (and we all know what a cheapo I am :P), plus there isn't that much variety on the menu... However, considering that it's literally right in front of my apartment, I'll take what I can get. Yes, I can literally look out my window and see into the store, that's how close it is to my building. >:D Muahaha.

Funnily enough, the place used to be a Calvin Klein underwear shop (as you can see from the picture). When Harry, Jaclyn, and Iain were here, we would walk past and always check out the store to see if anyone was in there, all the while musing over who in this area of apartments, office buildings, pubs, and business/gentlemen's clubs would actually have any sudden need for expensive, designer underwear. As it turns out, I guess nobody, since the place has shut down.

Anyhoo... For now I'm keeping my eye on this bubble tea place (no seriously, I'm like looking out my window every day and inspecting for progress in the construction) and I am greatly looking forward to its timely opening. >:D Hurrah!

Now, if only a Taco Bell would open up in my area.... If ooooonly... Hehehe.

High schools, summer camps, and a little self-reflection

Hello hello, my sons! How are you doing on this fine August day?

I do realise that it's been quite a while since I last updated, mostly due to me being lazy as sh*t. I'm sorry. If blogging was an exam, I would fail miserably. :(

That being said, you may be wondering what I've been up to in the past 2.5 months. (Or not. Not a lot of people really seem to care these days lol.) Well, to answer that question, I've mostly been mooching around, enjoying working only 3 hours a day -- dabbling in a little Korean studying, and working other odd jobs here and there, like substitute teaching and summer camps.

Perhaps when you hear the words "summer camp", you might picture something like a bright, sunny field with tents pitched up all around, and kids laughing and shouting and running all over the place, chasing butterflies, picking flowers, and having a wonderful time.... Right?

WRONG.

In Korea, "summer camp" basically means intensive classes that are held during summer vacation. How misleading. =__= Poor kids.

The summer camp I did was at a high school on the south-east side of Seoul. The camp was about learning how to make a presentation in English, and on the last day the students took turns giving their own presentations about a topic of their choice, all of which were really interesting to watch. It was actually my first time working with high schoolers, so I was a little nervous, but my co-teacher was just amazing, and the kids turned out to be really awesome and truly lovely. I honestly feel very lucky to have met them and been able to work with them, even though it was just for a short time.

During the camp, talking to some of the students made me realise just how fortunate I was to have grown up in Australia. The pressure on students in Korea to study, study, and study so that they can get into a good university is immense. Mind-bogglingly so. It is not uncommon for a high school student to have a 16-hour school day -- they arrive early at school to study, do their regular classes, stay behind after school to study some more, and/or attend private lessons and academies that specialise in different subjects like math, English, science, etc. (Think like Kumon or North Shore, only these academies commonly run until midnight or after. o__o) On top of that, they spend almost all of their free time studying.

I asked some of them what they were going to do that weekend, to which they replied, "Study." "Go to academy."

What did they do during vacation? Study. Go to more academies. Attend summer camp. .__.

I asked another girl what students liked to do in their free time, when they weren't studying. She told me that most students liked to watch TV, watch movies, go to karaoke, etc. You know, regular stuff. Except their free time is basically limited to one week in the year, only after all of the exams are over. The urge to have fun and be a teenager is definitely there, but it must to be suppressed until that one week, once a year, where they can finally let loose. Until then, students are required to cram, memorise, and study their asses off, day in, day out, from dawn until the wee hours of the morning. Forget sleep. If you want to attend the top universities in Korea, getting only 3 to 5 hours a night of shut-eye is just one of the small sacrifices you should expect to make.

She also told me that during lunch time, students mostly just stay in their classrooms and either listen to music to unwind, or.. collapse on their desks and zonk off until the next class.

All of this was quite shocking. I mean I've always known that students in Korea (and other Asian countries such as Japan, Singapore, etc) work much harder than students in Western countries, but to hear it first-hand from the students themselves really just drove it home.

I do appreciate that schools in Korea and around Asia turn out some of the smartest, most brilliant, and most disciplined students in the world, and there's no doubt that a rigid education system plays a huge part in that. I truly admire how hardworking these kids are, and how much self-discipline they must have in order to do what they do.

But at the same time... Phew. I thank my lucky stars that I was born and raised in Australia, and went through school there. While it is important to study in order to get into the course you want at uni, it's definitely nowhere near as stressful or competitive as it is over here.

Talking to the students also made me realise that my lifestyle could do with a few changes... Work harder. Study harder. Do more with my time. Enjoy life as much as possible.

So.. With that in mind, I'm going to turn over a new leaf and study more Korean, read more, blog more, and attempt to work on a few other personal goals. Stay tuned to see if I make good on those promises. :P

Wisdom tooth ouchies

Hullo, good sons! Today I had the pleasant experience of having my wisdom tooth extracted in Korea. @__@ If you've read this blog before, you might remember me posting about a trip to the dentist a couple of years ago in which I learned that my bottom wisdom teeth were growing horizontally. At the time, I was told I didn't need to worry about them, but if they decided to grow out then I would have to get them removed. I remember thanking my lucky stars that they were still buried deep inside my gums, and prayed that they would stay that way, never actually surfacing to see the light of day.

Well.... Apparently I didn't pray hard enough.

The joyful little chap on the right side of my mouth began peeking through the gumline a few weeks ago, partially exposing himself but still staying partially covered, and in the process very inconsiderately creating a pocket where lots of food and gunk was becoming trapped. Concerned about the tooth in front also becoming decayed as a result, I did some research and finally chose a dentist close to my home to have the deed done.

Now, just in case this post is ever being read by someone who lives in Seoul and is also looking for a good dentist, I'd like to recommend this particular place I went to. It's called Hus-Hu Dental Clinic, located very close to exit 3 of Apgujeong Station (literally you go out of exit 3, make a U-turn, and walk straight for about 20 meters. You'll see the sign for their clinic located on the 3rd floor of the Gu-Jeung Building, above Paris Baguette on level one and Caffe Pascucci on level two).

I know that visiting a dentist in a foreign country can be frightening, daunting, nerve-wracking, *insert-other-synonyms-appropriate-for-describing-a-horror-movie*... But I can honestly say I was pleasantly surprised and super impressed by this clinic. I was able to make an appointment over the phone in English without any problems. The staff spoke English and they were super polite, friendly, and professional. When I went in for a consultation, they didn't try to up-sell any unnecessary procedures. Instead, after we were done talking about wisdom teeth extraction, they asked if I wanted anything else done. When I said no, that was that.

Fast forward to today where, before having my tooth pulled, the assistant/translator/receptionist (3 roles in one... Superwoman right there!) came and reassured me that it was a simple procedure. Instead of abandoning me after that, she stood in the room and proceeded to make small talk to calm my nerves while we waited for the anaesthetic to kick in, which I thought was a really nice and friendly gesture.

The actual procedure took about 15 minutes, didn't hurt (thanks to the anaesthesia) and the after care instructions were all explained to me in English. They also handed me a pre-frozen ice pack to apply to my face straight away, which was I thought was amazingly considerate and a really nice touch (something that I haven't ever seen in the west!). Finally, after arming me with some extra gauze in case of persistent bleeding, a paper with the after care instructions written down in English, and a prescription for some A-grade painkillers (woohoo!), they sent me on my way.

The most amazing thing about the whole experience? (Other than the wonderful service they provided.. ^_^) The extraction cost only 19,500 won (with health insurance). That's about $19.50 AUD. Mind-boggling. @__@ I'm super glad that I chose to go with Hus-Hu, particularly as I had visited another clinic in Gangnam that (probably assuming I was an ignorant foreigner) wanted to charge me 80,000 for the job, even with health insurance. BAH!

So I have yet to go back tomorrow for some kind of check up and dressing(?) procedure, which I'm told will only take about 5 minutes, and then back again in 5 days to get the stitches taken out.

Now to enjoy the taste of my own blood while I wait for a clot to form. Mmmm, vampire-ish. =__=
Fingers crossed that the healing goes well!

Artsy fartsy March II: Advent calendar

So while we're in the process of talking about artsy fartsy stuff two months overdue, here's the second thing I worked on in March:

An advent calendar! ^^ I know.. Traditionally advent calendars are for counting down the days until Christmas, which is a joyful occasion. However, Angry Eddie had been busy preparing for an exam in April, and despite exams hardly being joyous events, I figured an advent calendar might help to keep him motivated with studying.

Using blue and white felt, I sewed some envelopes by following this very cute and simple pattern *here* on a blog called Allsorts. Her gorgeous little envelopes called for a simple running stitch, which would have saved a lot of time, but unfortunately I can't do a running stitch to save my life. Quite sad, eh? XD For some reason, mine always turn out looking wonky and uneven, so I just blanket stitched my way around each one instead.

I then attached each envelope to a thick felt mat (I think originally it was supposed to be a place mat?) that I'd bought at the dollar store. Finally, I stuffed in an inspirational quote and a piece of chocolate for each day. (What is an advent calendar without chocolate? :P)

The final result before sealing off the envelopes with thread:

It was a little time consuming, mostly because of the blanket stitching, but the end result was worth the effort. Hoorah! ^^

Artsy fartsy March: leaf print Easter eggs

Yes, I know.. It's almost the end of May and as such this post is almost two months late. =__= Booo to me and my inability to do things in a timely manner! T__T

So originally I saw this idea on my friend's Pinterest page. Someone had made some beautiful eggs with the shapes of leaves imprinted on them by applying the leaves to the eggs, wrapping them in stockings, and boiling them in onion skins to give them a lovely brown colour:

Aaaand... Monkey see, monkey do. :P

Unfortunately mine turned out nowhere near as gorgeous as the ones in the picture. For starters, I mustn't have pulled the stockings tight enough when I was wrapping them, which led to the leaves and stems moving around and creating blurred outlines rather than nice sharp shapes, or just not showing up at all because the dye was able to come between the plant and the egg shell.

As I didn't have any onion skins on hand, I used instant coffee instead. First I boiled the eggs, let them cool before wrapping them, then let the eggs sit in a pot of cold coffee for a few hours.

To be honest I was kind of disappointed, because the process took quite a long time (n00b fingers fumbling around lol) and in the end they didn't even turn out as good as I'd hoped they would.

If you're planning to try this yourself, make sure you pull the stocking material REALLY tight, and hopefully yours will turn out better! ^^

Goodbye March, hello April... :S

Greetings, good sons! This is a slightly long and perhaps ranty update on what's happening in my life. (I doubt many people actually give two hoots, and I don't think anybody reads this blog anymore, but it just feels good to get it off my chest. Hoho!)

I know.. March is already over. Time has simply flown by the past couple of weeks, as Uncle Yenny has been somewhat busy with friends from high school (Jaclyn son, Iain son, and Harry son) coming to visit. For Iain and Harry, it was their first time in Korea, so it was a lot of fun showing them around and wow-ing them with some of the quirky stuff this place has to offer. For Jaclyn, who's been here before, perhaps the wow factor had worn off a little, but I'm pretty sure she enjoyed chowing down on lots of genuine Korean food. (Mmmm.... Fooooood....) So yes. Basically I had a wonderful excuse to spend the last two weeks doing lots of fun, touristy stuff and being a complete bum otherwise, without needing to feel guilty. Hoorah!

However, now that everyone is gone (sadface.. my apartment seems so empty T^T) it's back to reality and once again thinking about what the heck to do with my life. Basically, I've finished my daytime job at the elementary school ("The kiddy school", as I like to call it) and, since the beginning of March, have only been working at the adult school for 3 hours each evening. This means all my daytime hours are completely free and I have a looooot of time on my hands. This was great at first, and I decided that I would allow myself some time to soak it up and enjoy being a complete bum... Sleeping as late as I wanted, indulging in as much cheesy daytime TV as I pleased, and basically just whiling the hours away without any concern for being productive, whatsoever.

Then, after two weeks had passed and it was the middle of March, I began to feel just a tad guilty for being so lazy. I had promised myself before March that I would use my free time wisely and productively, and do useful things like study Korean, find some other casual jobs, go out and explore more of the city when the weather got warmer, etc.

Well... Epic fail on studying, definite fail on finding other jobs, and as for the last point... Hmm. My excuse is that the weather hasn't quite reached a nice enough temperature for me to venture outside of my apartment of my own accord. u__u (What can I say.. I'm from Australia. I'm accustomed to warmer temperatures. That, and I think the lazy bogan way of life is ingrained in my blood. Hah.)

Anyway.. Tomorrow is Monday the 15th, and that means the start of a new week along with the mid-point of April. I don't know what it is about Mondays that makes them seem like good days to start new things, but I think it's time I turned over a new leaf and made some mid-April resolutions (or rather, revised my new year resolutions from back in February  .__.;;). One-third of the year may have already passed by unproductively, but it's not too late to salvage the rest and make sure I don't waste it.

Goals from tomorrow onward:

1. Study Korean. Learn 5 new words per day (at least), along with studying grammar. 5 words a day may not seem like much at all, but... baby steps, sons. Baby steps. XD

2. Exercise every day. Considering that I have never actually joined a gym before, nor done any form of exercise for more than 20 minutes in one go since graduating from high school (curse those horrid, mandatory PE lessons, bah!) I'm going to start off with 10 minutes per day of aerobics/cardio workouts, and work my way up from there. Again... Baby steps. Haha.

3. Continue making more artsy fartsy stuff. This is probably the only resolution I've managed to keep since February, but I want to step it up a bit more and finish at least one project every two weeks.

4. Eat healthier and take my vitamins regularly. When I was leaving home last year to return to Korea for another year, my mum loaded me up with oodles and oodles of vitamins, mineral tablets, and health supplements, everything from Vitamin D, magnesium, and krill oil to the oil of evening primrose for PMS. @__@ Truthfully, I've been neglecting my supplements and just letting them sit in the cupboard because I'm too lazy to open 12 different jars and pop a dozen different pills each day. Now I realise that I'm not only wasting my mum's money by doing that, but also being unappreciative of all her efforts to keep me healthy while I'm away from home. Negligent daughter of the year. :(

5. Take one random bus each week and see where it goes. Time to be more adventurous! I've lived in Seoul for almost 5 years, and I'd like to think that I know it all, but the truth is... I don't. Not even close. There is plenty more of this city out there just waiting to be discovered!

Well, that's it from me for now. It's time to stop ranting, as it's already nearly 1:30am and if I want to make good on my resolutions of studying and exercising tomorrow, I'll need to get up somewhat "early". (As in some time before 3pm. =__=)

Here's to hoping I pull my weight with these resolutions. Fighting!!!

Friday night haul

You often see people on the internet talking about "hauls", whether in their blogs or via Youtube -- basically talking about a big load of stuff they bought from somewhere, such as clothing hauls, shoe hauls, makeup hauls... The list goes on and on.

Unfortunately, Uncle Yenny is neither glamorous nor rich enough to afford any such hauls of the above kind. The only kind of haul I can afford comes in the form of weekly groceries from the supermarket, lol. =__= But that, good sons, is exactly what I want to write about today. >:D

Last night, I hauled (yes, pun intended hah! -__-) my fat ass to the big HomePlus supermarket a few stops away from my workplace after finishing my shift. I had only intended to go there to stock up on green tea, but ended up walking away with a whole lot more... Feast your eyes upon this!!

Clockwise from the top left:

* A huge tray of juicy, sweet strawberries discounted from 12,000 won (about $12AUD) down to 4,500 won. Bargain! Fruit and vegies in Korea are soooo expensive, so when you see stuff going at prices like this, you have to jump on it quick smart, like a fat kid on a Smartie.

* 4 different types of teas, 3 of them organic, 1 of which I have never tried before.. "Yerba mate" tea. Google tells me it's South America's answer to green tea, which sounds good to me. The other teas are plain green tea, chrysanthemum tea, and jasmine green tea. (Added bonus that the jasmine tea was almost 50% off. Love love love!)

* Lastly... Century eggs. Holy mother of bajeebers. I never thought the day would come when I would find century eggs in a Korean supermarket. Basically these little babies have been preserved for months and, when shelled, will reveal a soft, jelly-like completely black body, perfect for putting into congee (rice porridge). "Century egg and pork congee" is a staple on almost any Chinese restaurant's menu, and something that I have really missed a lot while being away from home. Though I've never tried cooking with century eggs before, I'm SO excited to have a go at making my own congee really soon! >:D

Okay, so that was pretty much the highlight of my night. I guess it's a sign you're either getting older, or duller (or both) when grocery shopping on a Friday night is what gets you all hyped up and excited. =___=

*Sigh.* What an exciting life I must lead! u___u

Artsy fartsy February II: DIY earring holder

Happy fourth week of February, sons! :] Here's another attempt at something artsy fartsy...
A DIY earring holder! :D

So Uncle Yenny has been looking for a way to store her earrings for a while, other than chucking them higgledy piggledy into a plastic container where they become a jumbled mess. Throwing them all randomly in a container not only makes them tangled, but it tends to keep your earrings out of sight and out of mind. So if you're like me and don't end up wearing half of the accessories you buy because you're too lazy to untangle them all, or you constantly forget you even have them, then read on for an easy and cheap solution! >:D

I found this suuuuper cute DIY earring holder >>here<< by 'H is for Handmade' which I thought I would have a go at. Now, the one on 'H is for Handmade' is really lovely, but it requires sewing and ironing, and that requires more effort than a lazy bum like me is prepared to put in. So, I cheated a bit and took some shortcuts with different materials.

Here's what you'll need:
* A photo frame
* Wrapping paper
* Lace
* Craft glue
* Paint and top coat (optional). If you don't have any paint top coat, just use nail polish top coat. ^__~

Step 1: Take the glass and backing board out of the frame, and paint your frame if you want to change the colour. (To paint my frame, I used red acrylic paint and then went over it with an old bottle of nail polish top coat to stop the paint from peeling off. Yes, I'm too cheap to buy a proper paint top coat :P)

Step 2: Cover the backing board with wrapping paper. Here I just used some leftover dotted red paper, and as you can see I did quite a shoddy job with the measurements and wrapping around the back. No matter though, as people probably won't see much of the back of your frame.

Step 3: Cut your lace into strips long enough to stretch across the backing board. If they end up being longer than the board, no worries. You can simply tuck them around the back of the board in the next step (see picture above, lol).

Step 4: Apply glue along the top half of the lace only and glue the lace onto the backing board in rows. Stretch the lace tight, and be generous with the glue, as you want enough holding power for any dangly or heavier earrings you may have. Also make sure you apply the glue along the top only, so you can keep the bottom of the lace free to lift up. This will make it easier to put on and take off any earrings with clasps at the back.

Step 5: Once the glue has dried, pop the backing board back into the frame, and voila! You now have your own DIY earring holder where you can easily attach and detach earrings, like so:

Your new earring holder is perfect for standing up on a tabletop, or hanging on the wall. :D

Stay tuned for a arsty fartsy DIY attempt at a necklace holder in the near future... ^__~

Artsy fartsy February: felt chocolates

Hullo, good sons! Uncle Yenny is proud to announce that she is actually making good on one of her new year's resolutions... Making more artsy fartsy stuff! >:D

Ta-dah! Felt chocolates for Angry Eddie (a.k.a. the bf) on Valentine's Day:

Being Valentine's Day, I couldn't think of anything more fitting, particularly since Angry Eddie loves chocolate like there's no tomorrow. Plus we all know that as a Valentine's gift for a male, chocolate trumps flowers any day. XD

In closer view, you can see that my sewing still needs work haha.

Anyhoo.. Happy belated Valentine's Day, sons! <3 I hope you all had excellent V-days sniffing flowers and scoffing down magical chocolates that don't make your teeth rot. ^__~

Kpop Star O__O

So.. While bumming around at home today, I randomly flicked over to one of the music channels on TV and found that Kpop Star season 2 was playing. (Kpop Star is a reality show similar to Australian Idol where judges from the 3 biggest labels in Korea try to find potential new singers, aka fresh meat XD). As I looked at the rather girly-looking little boy on the screen, who was awaiting judgement from the likes of YG himself, JYP, and Boa from SM Entertainment, I was reminded of one of my old students from back when I used to work at the kindergarten.

This particular student had always stood out from the rest, image-wise anyway, because he grew his hair long (once he even got it permed XD) like some kind of pop singer. I remember asking my co-teacher once why he had hair like that, and she told me it was because both of his parents were singers.

When I asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up, he replied that he wanted to be a singer too, and I remember just smiling and nodding at him, all the while musing to myself, "Can this kid even sing?" I guess I was going with the theory that when two beautiful people have children, their children usually turn out ugly, and so if two good singers have children, then logically wouldn't their children turn out to be bad singers? XD (Yeah, the ridiculous things I spend my time pondering, I know. =__=)

In the entire year that I had taught him, I had never once heard him sing other than in a huge group at graduation where the voices of a hundred other children pretty much drowned his out anyway. So, imagine my astonishment when I realised that the little boy on TV who reminded me of my former student was actually my former student!



Apart from some of the words being unrecognizeable (he's 11 years old and English is not his first language.. It's excuseable.. lol), I think he did a pretty good job. ^^

Here's his performance of Justin Bieber's "Baby", for which he wrote the Korean rap himself.



Now he's made it into the show's top 10, and officially found himself a new fangirl. *points at self* Muahaha.

I'm so proud of him! Fingers crossed for this little guy. :3