Brooklyn Burger

 I was trying to remember the story of how I first discovered Brooklyn Burger. Magaly had heard about it and we'd been craving real burgers for sometime so we made the trek out there. All the great reviews had been from military wives loving it and giving driving instructions from the base and we were like WTF, where is this place. So we went to Seocho station and cabbed it over, turns out Express Bus Terminal station is much closer, directions at the bottom.

 Want real burgers with actual cheese and bacon? You're in the right spot. I've been there more than 5 times at this point bringing a new person every time and at one point we were going every other weekend. They have many different burgers all delicious, except for the potato chips one. The chips on it were kinda weird, Mags said.









They also have MILKSHAKES!!! Oh goodness, such unhealthy goodness. Nutella Marshmallow, yes please. We were getting both the burgers and milkshakes in the beginning, but had to stop 'cause we couldn't move afterwards.

WARNING: There's always a wait, at least on the weekends. First visit an hour and a half wait I'd say. WORTH IT though. Remember to write your name on the wait list. The staff is super nice and can speak okay English. Sometimes it's nice waiting because there's an amazing coffee shop, Monmouth right beside it where the coffee is divine and the blue lemonade is mesmerizing. Also macaroons!

Just down the street is Seocho, the French Village! There isn't that FRENCH stuff happening except for some rando signage and the French school. We haven't taken any of the back streets 'cause we've always been TOO FULL. We have however taken a detour and while walking to Seocho Station (Line 2) we found this really cute park called Mont... something really French. It's perfect for chilling out and watching hot French dads!

You can also easily get to Itaewon on the bus from here. Take the 421 from the bus stop diagonal to Exit 5. In case you wanted to get some groceries while stuffed!

Directions: Express Bus Terminal (Lines 3,7,9 Exit 5). Cross the street, turn right and head for the over pass. At the Hana Bank turn left and walk til you see the resto!

Seocho Park: Walk back towards the metro and take the 1st/2nd left and walk down the street to the main road. Make a left on the main road and walk up the hill. Make a left at the top and walk until you see the park entrance. 

Also cheese fries! Clearly not real cheese, still yummers.

 

Root Beer Float 

6 month update

Well, shoot! Turns out I haven't updated here in 6 months. Also, my mom totally noticed as per her email which stated "UPDATE YOUR BLOG!" Alright! It's been a while so let's take this point by point.

School: Little Fox and I started off a little rough as they kept comparing me to the last Joshua-teacher. No problems with pay, thank goodness. I still do my happy dance when I see my bank account. Some wounds never heal, LOL.

My hours are FANTASTIC: MW 2-8:05, TR 2-6:15, F 2-7:10 and I start teaching at 2:40. My director and I have been doing Tuesday meetings where I come in at 1:30 and chat about each and EVERY class I have. The kids don't progress that much from week to week so it was getting pretty tedious. I've only got one truly terrible class and we finally had to switch me out for only once a week instead of 2. Now in our meetings we're watching training videos! It's super fun and totally not something that I should've seen first week instead of at six months. Okay, some stuff is informative like how the point chart is actually supposed to work, but I'm concentrating on how the instructor's shirt keeps changing during the same one video. He really enjoys horizontal stripes, not a good look on anyone!

Now everything is going great. My kids have calmed down, my 8 8-year old class has stopped giving me headaches from being so loud,. They just need to work on their high five skills! Director wants everyone to start reading books so portions of my class are now reading time, so I get to read too! The library sort of sprung up and it's like my childhood in there. I just finished Are You There God? It's Me Margaret and am currently on The Secret Garden. I like showing the kids and saying one day this could be you. 

 It's the week of my birthday, 87 years young! So we're having class parties. It's also sticker party days, where the kids get trinkety things for the stickers they've earned, so classes are getting interrupted anyway. 

Friends: I have amazing friends, enough said, LOL. Since it's Korea things are in a constant state of flux and people come and go. I "lost" the brother sister team of M+J for amazing new adventures and I'm super excited for what's in store for them. 

I have a great group of girls who I can gossip/bitch/eat ice cream and travel with. 

I have my nerdy boys who I can chat about comics and have them explain the origins of stuff to me. They're getting me into nerdy card games with too many rules and I listen to them talk about Star Wars video games and they don't mind I only watch Arrow for the shirtless exposition. 

Food: I said at the start of the blog, I really only like Korean BBQ. Well it's been expanded to Mandu-gu (dumpling soup), Haechandle Ssamjang (red soybean paste that goes with anything), various soups that I don't know the name of and... I think that's it for now. My friends and I have discovered AH-MAZING burger joints and the deliciousness of S. African cuisine. Those reviews will get posted soon. I also love seafood and now that M+J are gone we can INDULGE ourselves. I am actually sorry that they have serious food allergies. See my post about food delivery. I gotta add Gringos Korea to the list. They deliver supremely delicious burritos, salsa and bean dip (to die for) to your door! I've never really enjoyed burritos before until now. You gotta order by Thursday night and delivered on Tuesday. Yummers!

Travel: I only got 3 days of vacation this summer, I'm not bitter, just telling it like it is. So, I had a staycation where I took the red buses around and saw the sights in the air conditioned comforts of a bus because it's been TOO DAMN HOT. Like face melting, it's been great! I was starting to turn into my dad, with my sweat rags.
I'm planning a couple weekends away in the near future so get ready for hearing about them. So far I've been to Seonyudo Island where we camped under a porch the first night cause the hotels were full. Oops! We still had some much fun and made forever memories, LOL. New Hoboton forever! Took days trips to Eurwangni Beach (을왕리 해수욕장) out by Incheon Airport to get rays, get cocktails in a bag (cocktailsinabag, cocktailsinabag), eat seafood and get a tan! My kids never get the joke about me needing to get darker, sigh. I also wanna visit all these islands.

Home: It's amazing. It's the biggest one for me so far and a couch can fit! It's great, no complaints except for my dorm fridge. I enjoy that I live in Dosim rather than Guri, because it's just far enough away that I'm not out every night. Next time anyone saw me, I'd be 500 pounds of beer! 

Last thoughts: Phew, can't believe its been 6 months since I've got here. I'm having a great time and I'm riding my high. I'm eagerly awaiting the maybe/possible/almost definite visit of my mom in November. It would be really great to see her after only getting a week of family time last Christmas in California. 

I swear I'm gonna be more on top of this blog and get back to reading more. Let's see if I can do it!

Currently reading: The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum. This is some dark s--t for a kids book, damn. People well creatures are getting straight up murdered all over the place. Also, those ruby slippers in the movie are supposed to be SILVER. What up with dat??? I also wanna be Dorothy for Halloween.

Listening to: Sara Bareilles, The Blessed Unrest. 

Venezia

 Valentines Day 2013: I had the perfect date. The bestie and I had a 3 course meal at a great Italian restaurant in downtown Gumi. Her bf was at a school dinner so I made a fabulous substitute.

First off, this place had an amazing atmosphere. I love a good tree in  the middle of a cafe/restaurant. The music was quiet, but listenable. It was also western style service: water immediately refilled and substitutions were allowed, that never happens!

 Some stuff was still way Korean, like WHIPPED CREAM with your bread. Who decided that was a good idea, LOL. It's okay the bread was warm and quite tasty. 

Chicken Salad canapés 

The potato soup with bacon bits and croutons was delicious. It was a great size and it was made with real potatoes. You could tell because it didn't taste like you were eating fat, which is a bonus! 

The main courses were delicious. I'm in love with squid ink anything so I got the squid ink gorgonzola pizza. I also love gorgonzola anything! Anyway, it came with honey which was great. Only downside, way too many sliced almonds, it made the texture weird.

 V got a cream pasta and substituted(!) for tortellini pasta and it was delicious. To complete the meal, you got an after dinner drink. I got a hot chocolate and my date got some lemon tea. Both went down great after a not too heavy meal. Definitely recommended and a return visit.

Directions: Gumi Station, exit out the back escalator. Take a quick left and make a right down the first street (CU on the corner). Walk to the end of street (it's a couple minutes) and make a right at the lights. Walk down the street, it's beside Cafe Droptop.

Miss. M Pie

The next couple days are gonna be goodbye dinners and last minute finding of cute shops in Daegu.

Today, Carrie, Elana and I went glasses shopping. Eye exam, lenses and frames were $40 bucks. That's amazing, considering my last pair from Canada were probably around $200. We all got 2 pairs, LOL. We had to it was soooo cheap.

 The owner was so nice and had decent English. He gave us drinks! It was easy and we were in and out in less than an hour!

Directions: From the Chilgok Donga, cross the street and walk in the direction of HomePlus. It's a couple doors down from the Paris Baguette cafe.

Next we headed to downtown Daegu, did a little underground shopping, leggings shopped in Uniqlo and bought many different Skinfood products. We were gonna do lunch at Lazy Diner, but it was an hour wait, so we decided to pie it up!

Lazy Diner is amazing. I think it's better than Travelers. Anyways, they have a brunch set with pancakes, scrambled eggs, hash brown (real!), bacon (real!), and breakfast sausages. It's delicious and well worth the 8,900won.


Anyways, the shop is super cute and very cozy with limited seating. All the pies are made fresh everyday.  Today we went with the Strawberry Shortcake, Pecan Pie, Tiramisu and Lemon Meringue.

C loved her Shortcake. The pecan is actually made with walnuts, but the consistency and texture was still the same and wasn't too overpowering in regards to sugar. I didn't like the tiramisu which means it was great. I ordered the wrong pie, LOL.

The lemon meringue was DELIGHTFUL. It was light, the right amount of tart and the crust was great. Yum!

Miss. M is so sweet with limited English, my girls go there every weekend so they practice their Korean/English with each other. She might also give you free stuff if you're a regular. Today we got free full sized coffees and she warmed the milk!

Directions: Travelers/Lazy Diner: From the 2.28 Memorial Park walk down the Novotel side of the  street to basically the end and look up! 

Directions: From the 2.28 Memorial Park walk down the street until Francisco coffee shop (green). Make a right down the alley (Nail Salon Alley) 2ish blocks and it's on the right.

Shoes that fit!!!!!

Pointer Sisters "I'm So Excited"

Soundtrack to my delight at a PAYLESS SHOE SOURCE in Myeongdong. Turns out the company is expanding the brand to Asia and we're getting 6 locations in Korea!!! No idea where the other locations are, but I'm sure they'll pop up soon enough. This location's only been open 2 months. 

It was fantastic boots/heels/sneakers with Western sizes as far as the eye could see (3 floors)! The boots were also on sale. I even bought a couple pairs of boots for the bestie. 

The employees were super nice, helpful and had a fair amount of English ability. Plus, WESTERN SIZES. I now have cute boots that actually fit. No more squeezing into size 8 anymore!

Directions: Look left when walking down the main road out exit 6. Should be the second street. 

So Myeongdong is increasingly becoming my favourite area. It's a western shopping mecca. 2 H&Ms, Zara, Uniqlo and Forever 21. Unfortunately, the M Plaza that houses 21 and Zara was undergoing construction, so it was closed. 

I got there pretty late so I went in search of food. I wasn't in the mood for Korean anything so I walked around and around. I ended up in the Noon Square mall for some eats. I ended up on the 6th floor at Smokey Saloon. The burger was amazing, real cheese and actual bacon! The onion rings were a little greasy, but overall delicious and great for sharing. Turns out there's several other locations: Itaewon and Gangnam. 

Side Bar: I headed straight to Myeongdong after my work meet and greet. I took the long way and it took 75 minutes. That included waiting time, so I think I'm in a good position to venture into Seoul at a reasonable time. Next up: Project Eggs Benedict.


*UPDATE
Payless is GONE. I was soooo sad when I found out. It's something not related to shoes.

Korea delivers: western food, appliances, etc!

So, it's not that I don't like Korean food, it's just not my favourite. On the world food spectrum: Ethiopian is my favourite and Korean is somewhere not near the top. I do love their jjimjilbang concept though, so great! Also, what is Canadian food anyway? Aside from the obvious poutine and beavertails. That's another discussion.

Anywhoo, I've assembled a list of online and curb side stores that sell foreign (western/other) food, uneasily found herbs, appliances/clothes/couchs, etc. Bonus you can usually pay bank transfers, so no credit cards required! Another thing I love about Korea!

 Gmarket: The standard (no food) for shopping junkies and the thing people miss most when they leave, though they do ship internationally. While they have an English website, it can be pretty confusing the first time around and something like extras are still in Korean. Hopefully, you have Korean co-worker/friend who can translate. The pay scheme can be confusing too, but the animal oneies, furniture, clothes, shoes, etc. make it worth it! Gonna buy my couch off here.

The Arrival Store: The Arrival destination. You can buy bedding, house appliances and basic foreign food. You can get a phone too: different plans. They deliver to the airport and payment options like 2 month deferred to help you get settled. I'm getting my bedding for the new place from here!

High Street Market: They deliver to Jeju now! Check out what I wrote about this and the Foreign Food Market before. They also have single portions of lasagna and other delicious treats!

Alien's Bake Shop: Satisfy your craving for homemade, cruelty-free goodies. All items are vegan are made using organic, unrefined cane sugar and organic soy milk. And yet, it's mighty tasty. I've had: Apple pie jam cookies, Pomegranate cranberry cookie bits, Ginger molasses cookies, Gluten free chocolate chip cookies and the Marble cake. All DELICIOUS, SCRUMPTIOUS and other adjectives. She also makes postcards and custom cakes (pickup only).

Gavin's Sausages: He's a Scottish butcher living in Seoul for many years. He makes authentic sausages, meat pies, ham and bacon! There's even a delivery service.
Storefront: basement of Shinsegae Department Store in Myeongdong, Line 6. 

Nice Market: Just found this one. Sells fresh herbs, kitchen appliances and food at reasonable prices.

Costco: They deliver! Membership rules still apply for 35,000won. The Korean version Emart Traders is also great, not sure if they deliver, but no membership fee!

I'm sure there are others. I'll update as I find!

Happy eating, shopping!

-kilmosnaps

Imagination vs. Reality: Job Edition

 My imagination can get away from me sometimes and when reality comes around it can suck.

After talking with the current teacher at my new school, I had these grand designs about the job/apartment, etc. It's not his fault, my head just got away from me. 

Visiting the school this week was great. It's really cute and not sterile like my first job. The rooms are all named after planets: Jupiter, Mars, Uranus (haha), etc, there's a library filled with YA novels, I won't begrudge them the Twilight I saw and other education centric work books. The curriculum seems interesting and it'll be fun to teach. 

The kids were cute and were very interested in seeing the new teacher! My co-workers all seemed nice and supposedly super helpful according to the vacating teacher. The director was nice, a little awkward, his English wasn't THE BEST, but we were able to communicate. 

I'm moving up a week early for (paid!) training and living in a hotel for the week, 'cause the teacher's leaving on the 1st. At the motel there was something about having my bags in the room would cost extra, because they have to clean or something. Seems fishy, but it'll get sorted when I move in. 

Now the most important thing: The APARTMENT.

All in all, I really can't complain. I've got a big bed (less than Queen more than a double), a decent sized bathroom, a kitchen with many cabinets, a double sink and usable pots and pans. 

I can still assemble my "dream Korean apartment." A couch will fit nicely, maybe a kitchen island for additional appliances like the toaster oven I'm getting.

Minor complaints (had to make them):  No actual closet, just a hanging rack which counts apparently; a dorm size fridge, no racks/cabinet in the bathroom. It seems I was very spoiled in my tenure on Jeju at Marion House. 

So, I'm still excited for my job. I will choose my battles. As my BFF told me yesterday while getting day drunk because we on vacay (!!) she will slap me if I complain. Especially since at the the end of the day: I'm getting paid more, my job is easy, my apartment is decent and even though I'm on the outskirts of the boonies, my area is central and 2 minutes from the subway/bus into Seoul!!! 

With my imagination now grounded in reality. I'm excited for the new year, meeting new people and continuing on my project: Eggs Benedict Seoul!

-kilmosnaps

Weaving in Daegu

I'm actually quite proud of the post title. It could allude to getting a weave or weaving through traffic. Both of which happened yesterday!

It never occurred to me to go to the army base (Camp Walker) to get my hair done.

Easy, simple, cheap and well done.

Pat did a fantastic job! She's a Nigerian living in Korea for 6 years. Perfect English and is popular among the army people/workers/brats (?), I don't know the classification. Anywhoo, she has look books filled with braids, weaves, dread locks, and white girl braids.

It was relatively cheap at $140US or 160,000won and came with 2 full bags of hair. The hair was good quality as well, with curly or straight choices. 

She was really personable, but as with most hair stylists when her friends showed she proceeded to have loud convos in Nigerian. Aside from that, it
was fantastic and would highly recommend her and go back there, if I wasn't moving to Seoul.

I look so purdy! This picture actually reminds me, I need new glasses. So scratched, I can barely see.  Onwards to Seoul!














Directions: Take the #730 from the mass transit zone in Downtown Daegu and get off the stop after the Palace Hotel. Walk back and make a left towards the gate #4. Ps: If you take this bus from Chilgok, you see the Citizen Stadium and the Spectrum City Emart!

-kilmosnaps

Let us catch up!

Seems my last post was in October. Oops, my bad. That's probably because I wasn't doing a lot/winter blahs. Seriously, I almost had my Canadiana revoked. Actually, the cold here is SOOO different, it gets in your bones and never lets go. That would be the one bonus of living on campus. Never having to leave the building.

Anywhoo, my tenure at the English Village is finished and I'm doing another year in... SEOUL! I'm so excited to move to the big city and continue my quest for eggs benedict. I'm moving to Namyangju, a Seoul suburb, so 30min to 1 hour depending on the website to the city, but on the Metro, so premo  bonus.

I started my job search in November when I found out I wasn't being renewed. I held out for a job, I actually thought was good, because remember what happened, when I jumped at the first offered job. Actually, as my best friend has said, "It got you in the country." So true. I was aiming for Pohang, because the bestie is moving there and it would be nice to be in the same zip code as her. Plus, they have an awesome expat community and a great BEACH! I was on the hook for several jobs, but nothing panned out. Ah well, just means I won't be hanging out at White Boards every night!  Boards is the expat run bar, but reminds you of someone's basement (good thing), except with SQUAT TOLIETS. I will never enjoy them, I go to the Lotteria around the corner. Bonus: they have soju and juice pitchers for 8,000won.

I went home for Christmas vacay, well I met my family in California. My mom was trying for half way, but this was the best she could do, LOL. It was a fantastical trip and seeing my family was so great. My family time resevoir is filled to the brim with family time and food and shopping.


Finally, I'm headed to Seoul tomorrow for a couple days to visit my work and see my apartment! Hopefully, it can accommodate all the grande plans I have for it: couch, microwave oven, etc. It's gonna be a good year!

-kilmosnaps