Friday Letters #72

Happy Friday Y'all! 

How lucky- two posts in one day. But I've had a lot of free time at work, and I thought this would be a good use of my time. There's only so much facebook one can take at a time. 

So I haven't done a letters post in a while, so here is what we've been up to. 

-Weekend adventure trip to Seoul 

-Watched a Korean baseball game Doosan Bears vs. LG Twins 

-We sat on the Doosan side and had a blast. The cheer section was amazing. I think I am going to do a whole post about it

- I really committed to my team and bought this super cute bear headband 

-After the game we hit up the Hard Rock Cafe Seoul. 

-Booked our tickets to California to visit my dad 

-The next day we went shopping around COEX Mall. This is the world's largest underground shopping mall

-We ate some yummy Mexican 

-Went to the aquarium 

-Drank some delicious Gong Cha bubble tea 

-Last weekend, I went to a baby shower for a friend at church

-We got a care package from my Fahey grandparents

- I started working on my family history work again 

-Kept running (I'll be hitting the 5 mile mark this weekend) 

-Found this cool ice cream Avengers cake for Matt 

-Had a date night to see Avengers last night

-Experienced a Korean photo booth 

-Finished up our 2nd to last week of teaching (only 4 more work days left!)

- Watched Star Wars with Matt 

-Bought the rest of the yarn for my ripple pattern blanket. Don't ask how much that cost

And that pretty much sums up our last few weeks. We are getting a little sad about leaving, but mostly just so excited about this new adventure we are starting! 

Happy Friday again. 

Love, Alex 

Reflections #20

Happy Monday Y'all! 

Well, we've made it to our last month. On the 10th, I hit 20 months of living in Korea. 

This is our last month living in Korea, and I am filled with mixed emotions. In 26 days, Matt and I will be boarding a plane headed for the ole USA. 

Mostly, I am excited about going back home. I am ready to be in a country where I can understand 100% of what is going on around me. I am excited to eat the yummy food. I am excited about not having to work at my current job ever again. I am excited about our really cool summer plans (Harry Potter world, Georgia, Idaho, Utah, California, Disneyland!!!)

But this weekend, Matt and I stayed up in Seoul for a mini-getaway and it reaffirmed my love for this country. I absolutely love Korea. I would move back to Korea in a heartbeat if the jobs we were offered were way better than our current situations. And if we had a way nicer apartment. 

I was siting on the subway heading back to our apartment last night when I realized Matt and I didn't get lost once this weekend. And in fact, we haven't gotten lost in a really long time. Navigating the train and bus lines and walking around the city has become second nature to us. I think at that moment it really hit me that this is home. I always felt like Korea was my current home, but I realized this weekend that we've really adapted to it. The language is still a huge barrier, but it's gotten so much better.

There are a lot of things that annoy me about this country, but I know the same can be said for America. This really has been a wonderful last 20 months.

I am really looking forward to starting our new adventure back in the states. I am excited/ nervous to start graduate school. And I know that we are just pressing pause on our expat adventure. I know that we will return overseas within the next few years. Where that will be- I have no idea, but I know we are going to try as hard as possible to move overseas again.

One more month y'all! 

Reflections #19

Happy Monday Y'all! 

It's been a while since I've reflected on my time here in the ROK. In fact, I left off on month 16. Way back then I listed things I was excited for and things I was nervous for. 

And that list has pretty much stayed the same. Except I am way more excited to be going back, but way more nervous about driving. 

The thing I've realized about nearing the end of your time in a foreign country there are highs and lows. Some days I can't wait for time to speed up (actually this is most of the time). And other days- I really want to take in as much of Korea as I can. We have a few more Korea trips on the books that we are looking forward to. 

We love Korea. We are just tired of teaching English and working for our schools. We are tired of our teeny weeny apartment (and by apartment I mean room). We are tired of the lack of American products. 

But we will miss traveling. We will miss the pretty great public transportation. We will miss living in a foreign country.  

So like I said- highs and lows at month 19 (and really closer to 20). 

Things feel a lot better now that we know exactly where we will be going in May. We are excited for our summer vacation before Matt goes job hunting and I start school! 

I look forward to reflecting for the next two months! 

Have a great week. 

Monster Cupcake {몬스터컵케이} : Seoul

Happy Tuesday Y'all! 

A couple weeks ago, Matt and I took a quick day trip up to Seoul for a little adventure. One of the places we stopped was a little (and I mean little) cupcake shop. 

The theme of this shop is just as the name suggests- monsters. 

The decor was all out monster and horror. And the cupcakes were so beautifully decorated. If you  have a craving for some monster ade out of a blood bag- they have it. 

From what I heard- tiramisu is their best, but I don't like tiramisu- so we opted out of that one. I loved the look of all the cupcakes. It seems that a lot of the cupcakes are regulars and just a couple are switched out every week. 

I heard the red velvet was good, so I tried the red velvet Mummy, and Matt got the Jack Skellington Vanilla. Red velvet is my favorite flavor and I must admit this was not the best red velvet I've tasted. But these were the best cupcakes we've had in Korea. 

The sweets here in Korea are very different and often times don't taste like what we expect, but the vanilla cupcake and the frosting on both was delicious. 

I would come back here to buy cupcakes. I think I would try the dark chocolate or the mint. Maybe even strawberry. 

The shop is really small and there is not a lot of seating (as in just one little table inside and one outside)- but they do wrap up cupcakes to go in a durable little container if needed. 

This was definitely a go to shop if you're in the mood for a good cupcake and like themed shops. 

Basic Information: 

Hours- 12:00-10:00 pm 

Closed Mondays 

Cost: About 4,800-5,000 Won per cupcake 

Location: Off the line 6 (brown line). Noksapyeong station exit 2. (One station away from Itaewon) 

*Use the underpass to cross the street. Turn right down the street to the left as you come out of the underpass. Walk towards the large church. Cupcake shop will be on your left.*

**It's small, so be careful not to pass it.** 

{image via}

Seoraksan: Gwongeumseong

Happy Tuesday Y'all! 

If you remember- way back in October- Matt and I took a quick trip to Seoraksan for a little exploration. Since I am way behind on everything and I am still letting the blog slide- I thought I would share our experience with our mini hike to Gwongeumseong. 

We woke up bright and early and walked from our hotel (Hotel Seorak) to the main gate of the park (which was about a mile). There are buses that you can take, but the traffic was really bad so we thought it would be faster walking. 

We then hopped in line for our cable car passes. We were lucky and got on a cable car within 45 minutes of getting into the park. *The times for the cable cars are scheduled for about every 5 minutes. You buy a ticket for a certain time of the time. So if you want an early ticket time- get there early. The tickets do sell out.* 

Once you get to the cable car stop- there is a guest center with snacks and of course the views are pretty great. 

From here we could see the nearby city of Sokcho, which is where the intercity bus took us, and the East Sea. 

 You then have a mini hike to get to the Gwongeumseong. Once here, you can take pictures and walk around, or try your hand at climbing to the very top. 

I really didn't want to climb to the top. It looked a little sketchy and you had to use climbing ropes a little bit of the ways. So Matt went up by himself, and I stayed at the bottom. But then I kept seeing really old people make it up there, so I just went for it. I was really scared the whole way, but Matt was with me and helping me with each step. 

And I made it. I even bought a little medal to prove it. It was 10,000 Won well spent. 

From here you can see our hotel (the triangle looking one). 

Even though the park was really crowded because of the holiday weekend, we had a great time. The fall colors were so beautiful and the weather was great. There is plenty to see and do around the park. The park is huge. There are tons of hikes for you to do if you are into that. 

Basic Information: 

Location- Sokcho, Korea *Take an intercity bus for about $20 - then take a bus from Sokcho to the park 

Cost: Park admission- Adults 3,000 Won, Teens 1,000 Won, Elementary 500 Won 

Cable Car- 9,000 Won round trip *Children under 13 are FREE* 

Parking Fee: Between 2,000-9,000 Won depending on size of car

Click here for more information. 

*There are many hotels in Sokcho and a few hotels within Seoraksan. If you are not going during a busy time- I would recommend just staying in Sokcho. There are more restaurants around the area and the commute is less than 30 minutes.