Jeonju City Trip

I went to Jeonju City today, which is the capital of North Jeolla, a province in South Korea. I first heard about Jeonju from a Korean who suggested a returning tourist to visit the place so as to confirm the buzz about this city’s special flare in serving authentic and delicious Korean food. The suggestion was not liked I guess, because the trip never pushed through. I was nevertheless given a chance to do a walking tour of the city and invited myself in. I personally wanted to have a feel of how it is like in South Korea’s smaller cities in the provinces.

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An Authentic Seollal Family Gathering

Koreans do spend time with their families, too.
And may even invite non-members to the kin, you know =)

The Koreans and the Chinese celebrate the lunar new year on the same day, but Koreans call their first day of the lunar year as Seollal (설날). It's one of the biggest holidays in South Korea and they are spent with lots of food and quality time with the family.

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A Valentine Visit to the Incas

I got hitched to a couple’s Valentine’s date to a museum. Yeehah! (LOL).

I was out with my housemates today, who thought it would be nice to relax in the evening and get some fresh air. So off we went to the National Museum of Korea (Ichon Station, Subway Line 4, Exit 2) and caught on the exhibit of the Incan-Peruvian Civilization. Some people may find this whole museum tripping such a boring idea, but you see, Peru and Machu Picchu will forever be a dream travel destination for me. I also happen to live with a housemate who is a History major, and she has always loved arts and the galleries. She felt the need to keep herself updated with her passion. Not bad, eh?

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The Winter Ski Experience

One important thing that I will always remember about skiing: It will forever be such a hard sport unless I eat a full breakfast and get more than three hours of sleep the night before I get on to it. Hahaha.

I spent the night yesterday trying out skiing for the second time with workmates. Quite redeeming, I must say. The first time I tried skiing was just two Saturdays ago, and it almost killed me as I geared up for the sport with barely three hours of sleep and very little food in the stomach. Then there were the slightly defected ski and ‘pole-less’ attempts to glide in my bloated ski outfit. These, along with the long lines for the lifts under the surprisingly glowing sun on that snowy weekend, really let me brand skiing as such an exhausting sport. Nah, but first time experiences will always be memorable for me.

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Happy 25th or 27th, your call.

Unlike last year when I went panicky on how to go about in celebrating my birthday outside the country for the first time, I was more willing to let my 25th year on earth today pass by just like any ordinary day. I wasn’t as excited as how I would normally be, recalling the 23 times that I have celebrated it in the Philippines. And I have my reasons: (1) instant pre-occupation with life and work in South Korea, and (2) acceptance of the difference in birthday norms here and my home country.

I remember sharing my February-4 birthday last year with my male housemate, lucky that the moon told him to take that date, too. For this year though, my housemate’s birthday has moved away to a later date, which I think as of writing, he still has not quite figured out when.

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