Christmas in Toronto

So I made it safe and sound to Toronto and spent the week looking around, getting to know a bit of the city.  Because sometimes I forget about things (get the camera, right... ooooh, what's that?  Shiny!!) I didn't have my camera a lot, but I really enjoyed myself.

Toronto is a different kind of city.  Now I can honestly say as a child of the West, we sure aren't raised with any kind of love for this city.  We're actually suspicious of it, even a little hostile toward it.  I can even think of times when I've thought "Oh god, s/he's from Toronto, this outta be good" when being introduced to someone new - bad, I know, but true!!

Since living in Korea though I've met tons of people from tons of places, and while I'll admit that many of them help keep the stereoypes alive and well, most of them are lovely as lovely can be, making me so glad that I got away from home for awhile!

When I travel, it's rare for me to go to a new place to check out their cities.  I've been to HongKong, Beijing, Bangkok, Hanoi and HoChiMinh, and Sydney, but the cities were my least favourite of all those places.  I was trying to explain it to my mom the other day and said something like "I'm not much of a city girl" and she guffawed at me, hahaha, and with a laugh she said, "You are such a city girl, I don't know what you're talking about."

She's right, really, my poor mom.  I don't like to live in little places.  I want to live somewhere with art, and culture, and sports, and parks, and fun things to do - I grew up on a farm and spent plenty of time occupying myself but I love having choices of things to do.  I'm certain she still scratches her head and wonders where the heck I came from most days, with the way I have this need to travel, and adventure, and be out exploring the world.  Sometimes I wonder too why I'm not more like the rest of my family, but I'm happy they love me despite all my craziness!!  :)

So Toronto... did you know there's a CASTLE in Toronto??  It's called Casa Loma.  Now, not having Kings and Queens and such running all over the land, and being a baby in comparison to most of the rest of the world, Canada is NOT full of these things.  This one was built by a man who had a lot of money at the time (sad story eventually, he had to give it up when his finances took a turn for the worse... you can read about the history of the place here if you're interested!).  It looked like it must be beautiful in the summer, and I can imagine that thousands of wedding photos are taken there every year, it really was incredible (for the girl who has never been to a castle before!!).  I didn't get to go inside this trip (long boring story) but when I'm back again I can't wait, it's something I'm looking forward to!!
 

Casa Loma from the parking lot



The lion and unicorn from the Canadian coat of arms are on the roof



The unicorn was my favourite



Great lookin' place!



I also went sightseeing just wandering around in the neighbourhood where I stayed.  The houses were nothing like Calgary and Edmonton, and real estate prices were RIDICULOUS!   

Residential street in Toronto - Just off Dundas I think?

Also, as if there was any doubt that I would go looking for it, I found Koreatown in Toronto.  It was about a 25 minute walk from the castle - a FREEZING 25 minutes I might add!!  It was just like home, a few blocks of stores and services in Korean, I loved it!!  I dragged my friends to Korean food twice  :)

Koreatown, Toronto

Along with the restaurants (which were cheap and SO good) I also found the big Korean market and I was practically beside myself.  In Calgary and Edmonton there were little Asian markets where you could find some things, but this was a full-sized store that carried all SORTS of things for normal (not Import) prices.  And the outside of the market looked cool too:

BiBimBap Mural on the outside of the Korean Supermarket

When I wasn't walking around I caught the subway or used the buses to get around, and it was easy-peasy.  Not as simple or effective as Korea, but not bad either - WAY up there compared to what I'm used to in Alberta!  Mixed in with my forays into what kind of culture I could find at my fingertips in Toronto I also managed to get a haircut (yay!) and find a heap of SHOPPING!!!!  Boxing week sales were fantastic and I managed to get a few new things for work back in Korea.  Not ONE person told me I was too fat to shop in their store, and SOMEtimes I even fit a size SMALLER than I originally picked up - I love you Canada!!!  :)  The Eaton Centre Mall took most of my money this trip - a gorgeous tree sponsored by Swarovski was set up in the middle of the mall - the only thing I didn't like was the 13% sales tax, when in Korea it's included in the prices, and in Alberta it's only 5%.  However, I shop! shop! shopped!!

Eaton Centre Mall, Toronto

Lastly, I ate... I ate a LOT of good food... Mexican, Indian, Korean, Greek, ohhhhh how I ate.  And then, there was a box of these chocolates... I ate most of them too!!

Overall it was a good trip, and makes me excited about moving.  Well, really - why the heck not?  Come August, it's you and me Toronto!!

Namdaemun

Saturday was lovely here. The sun was shining, a bit of a breeze was blowing, and I was is a happy mood. I decided to head out aroud lunchtime and go to the outdoor market in Seoul, Namdamun (which means South Gate). The market covers blocks and blocks outside, and is found near the city's old South Gate. I walked over there to take some pictures, but I guess sometime last year it was nearly burnt to the ground so it is covered for renovation and not near finished yet. It is a gorgeous gate, I'll snap a photo for you to see once it's all redone!

So as I said, the market covers blocks and blocks and blocks. It carries everything you can imagine, and I'm sure that despite the fact that I've been there 5 or 6 times, I still haven't been down all the streets. There are areas that sell traditionally Korean food items like ginseng (In-Sam) and seaweed (Kim), other ares with shops selling childrens shoes, womens purses, sports jerseys, belts, hair accessories... it's like a big garage sale as well, with some tables piled high with $1/$2 shirts or pants etc.

The sound of the place is also an experience of its own... some places sellers are yelling out like they're at an auction, motorobikes are slowly put-putting down the streets that are crowded with people, women are talking back and forth carring trays of dishes back to their restaurants on their heads, kids are screeching and grandpas are spitting... at the end of the post I'll try to put up a video and you can check it out for yourself!

I also managed to FINALLY take some pictures of handbags for mom, I've been wanting to figure out what kind of bag she wanted so I can bring it when we get together next month - now I just have to get the videos off to her!  :)  So mom, if you see a bag you like in the video you'll just have to tell me so I can go hunt for it again!!   :)

I stopped for a bite to eat as well after all my wandering, and for the FIRST time since I've been to Korea, as in first time EVER, I finally bought myself a steamed bun... omg it was so good I almost went back for another one, lol...

In the background of the picture you can see the metal circles piled on top of one another... those circles are full, layer upon layer, of these lovely buns... I bought the 'meat' bun, but there was also kimchi or redbean available (but the meat is the best!).

As I was walking along I came across this woman sharing her crackers with the pigeons just outside the market... she didn't seem to be bothered by the fact that pigeons are such 'dirty' birds (most people here are afraid of them)...

After the bun I stopped at a little toast shop where they mi fresh fruit into blended fruit drinks... got myself a fresh strawberry juice, and wow was it good...

When I got home I sat at the side of the fountain in the park near my apartment and read my book, listening to the sounds of the water, and feeling the spray in the breeze...

What a day wonderful for my senses... good food, beautiful sunshine, happy people, bustling market streets... Happy Saturday!

Where Did It Go?

Wow, I can't believe the weekend is already over! I had many things on my to-do list when I went to bed on Friday, including catching up on some emails, watching BOTH of my class videos for my stats course that started last week, doing a bit of shopping, finding the hapkido dojang that's nearby and getting in some exercise down by the river.

However...

Saturday morning I got up and cleaned up my apartment. I once marvelled at how little time it actually takes to do a proper clean of the place since it's so small... on this day I marvelled at how LONG it can take when you'd rather be doing anything else!  :)  So a few hours after waking up at 7 I'd played with the dogs (who are doing great btw), showered, cleaned my place, finished the book I've been reading (Weiner's Geography of Bliss, recommend it 4sure if you like that kind of thing), and decided to get on a bus into Seoul to find some new clothes.

Though I did not relish the idea really, having NEVER had much success clothes shopping in Korea, I put on the 'what the heck' attidude and caught the bus. So what if I was going to spend the afternoon squeezing myself attempting to squeeze myself into some Korean clothes, maybe I could fit some of the adjumma stuff in the camping stores, lol...

When I got where I was going, Noon Square and Young Plaza in the fashionable Myeong-Dong neighbourhood of Seoul (which, I might add, I might have not tried if not for the recommendation of a coworker), I was totally intimidated by the size of the stores and the absolute CRUSH of shoppers that filled the aisles. Once I got in there and started picking things up to try on I was so happy I could burst... Korea's fashion district has INTERNATIONAL brands and stores with M Y   S I Z E!!!  Even though many of the items in the stores were WAAAY overpriced (even for my new non-comparative KRW/CAD$ brain): THEY FIT ME! Now granted, many things I tried on did not LOOK nice, but THEY FIT! THEY FIT! THEY FIT!

I can't even begin to explain how good it felt, to try things on and actually be able to pull pants up over my hips, or shirts down across my shoulders without contorting myself into some sort of pretzle-shape!! 4 1/2 hours of shopping, an hour of getting lost and walking until I was sure my hip was going to give out on me, 3/4s of an hour of wandering a new-to-me-palace that I'd stumbled upon, and 2 hours of bus rides later I was back home again. With me were 2 tank tops, 2 polo shirts (more of those to come, the material is incredible soft brushed cotton!), and a gorgeously simple black bead-accented long dress for the wedding I have to go to next weekend. Eeeeee!! I'm still glowing with the self-satisfaction of the whole ridiculous shopping adventure, lol...

Sometimes, happiness is finding clothes in your own size in a country where few people seem to be!

Sunday I woke early again around 7am with big plans to catch up on emails, finish up my blog from LAST weekend away (almost done, but I want to put the pictures in before I post it, it's coming - I promise!!), and attend my courses from last week. I woke in a bit of a funk, so I dragged my sorry butt out for a walk in the early morning sunshine (we have no snow here, sorry 4Us back in Canada, feel bad for ya!). About 6 minutes into my walk my MP3 player died, even though I just charged it 2 nights ago (must have left it turned on again, argh!), and I lost most of my motivation for a long walk.

(That, and my hip was KILLING me last night when I went to bed, and even moreso when I woke up this morning - I have to get that figured out as it's causing me pain even after just WALKing now, not running!!)

I searched out the hapkido dojang (mini search really, a couple of blocks up and down from the bridge) but didn't find it, and then returned home again to get started on school. Long story short, my day included rollerblading, another walk, reading a new book in the park (Coehlo's Like the Flowing River), had ramyeon for lunch and shrimp fried rice for dinner, had a caramel mocha latte for dessert, watched SEVeral episodes of Chuck and Army Wives (all caught up now, thank you Vuze torrents site!), wrote (but didn't photo) last weekend's blog, watched HALF of one class, and played with the puppies... not a lot accomplished, but overall I feel very rested.

Lesson learned at the end of the weekend after spending much time sitting with my back up against a tree in a park, talking with it about life (my life) in general: I need to join one or two more activities that could lead to making some more friends. My coworkers are good at work, but not so social outside of it; other foreigners I've met have been great, but far away and/or a bit flaky and/or reclusive; the girls at Korean class are nice but 20; my Korean friends are also sweet but unreliable (in their early 20s) with making plans... they get a LOT of stomach aches, lol... it would be nice to have a few people to possibly make plans with, even if it's just a movie sometime on the weekend: you know what I'm saying??

So that's on the list this week... along with a visit to my doctor's office tomorrow at 2 for a referral about my hip (accupuncture maybe?), MUCH school work so I'm all caught up in time to attend Fridays' stats course lecture (I can get the first half hour live, yay!), and searching for an english yoga class near home. That, and of course the emails and pictures that I still need to catch up (I'll get to them, I will, really!)...

Hope you are well, and that your own rambles are leading you to happiness and peace in the rain, sleet, snow or sunshine, whatever your case may be!!  Sending you sunshiney wishes from the Korean peninsula.... S.

No Too Fat

Yesterday on the way to the vet I passed the sock truck. Usually I don't stop here, because I think a person can only have so many cute pairs of socks (truth be told, it's more that I just don't really like their patterns/characters or I'd have bought the woman right outta stock!). Today though I noticed that there were packages of nylons - score! I wasn't REALLY expecting they'd be my size, but what the heck... worth a shot, right?


The woman who runs this particular sock truck isn't all that put together. In fact truth be told, she often walks around talking to herself, she's pretty grubby and I'm not sure if or when she combs her hair, but she is very friendly (even to this foreigner once she found out I could speak Korean) and she loves Maggie.


I figured there was a good chance that the nylons were good-ole'-Korea-one-size (which translates directly into not YOUR one-size big fat white girl!) but I thought I'd ask anyway.


For the FIRST time in nearly 4 years in Korea the saleslady didn't tell me I'm too fat! Instead, what she said (in Korean) was "Oh Miss, you're a little bigger than Korean size, so you should choose from these packages."


I couldda kissed her!

Once I paid her (it was onlny $11 for 10 pairs, holy crapola!) she told me to pick a pair of character socks "service" (which means 'thank you for spending your money here, please take a free gift!') AND, when I got the nylons home: they fit perfectly - three cheers" for the socktruck adjumma!!

Getting Out of the House

Well, it took me 5 hours, 3 different neighbourhoods, and 4 stores today but I finally managed to track myself down a new pair of rollerblades! They're women's, they're my size, and they're comfortable, and they were only $95 (a good deal if you've ever shopped for skates!). Running has not been doing great things for my right leg (trip to the chiropractor and orthopedic guy next week) but skating doesn't seem to bother it. I went out tonight on the Tancheon river path as soon as I got back, and (embarassing) after 20 minutes I could barely breathe, lol... With the nice weather lately I want to spend some more time outside, so hopefully this will help!! :)

Shopping, as always, was interesting. The store I finally bought a few groceries in (E-Mart) had NO PLASTIC BAGS so it was either (a) try to pack everything into several small paper bags and carry them home, or (b) box it up like everyone else does.

So here's my shopping 'bag' (which I lugged home on the subway with my new skates and my backpack with the heavy stuff in it)...

The flowers are all out in my neighbourhood now, azaleas are EVERYwhere!! Here they're called Jin-Dal-Lae, and they're so bright and pretty! 

After my shopping and skating I retired back to my apartment to play with my pups... a good start to the weekend I say!

Shopping!!!!

Okay, so right now I should be working on homework rather than typing on my blog, but I don’t feel like it – so here I am! It snowed here in the past couple of days, so that has made me moody, so I need to find somewhere to redirect my energy. I can say that it’s been harder for me to focus on school here than it was at home. I can’t attend the classes in real time and I have to watch recordings after the fact, which I'm not always highly motivated to do (due to the boredom factor), and of course nobody double-checks that I even do that - I'll be glad to be done (in the year 2078!). So, needless to say, when I have to do it I’ll do it, but as usual, it ain’t gonna happen before then!

 Anyway... went back to Home Plus again yesterday! It’s a terribly fantastic store and I easily killed 2 hours wandering around the aisles checking things out. I can get just about anything I need there, and they have nice produce (which is a real plus in a big store!). I picked up a few more things for the apartment, a small heap of things for the puppy, as well as some groceries so my fridge and cupboards are now nowhere near bare!!

I found a new comforter without any shades of fuchsia, along with a new pillow...

 

I got some new dishes to cook with and to eat off of...

   

And this is the first real meal I've eaten at home that didn't revolve around ramyeon soups...

I picked up a pretty humidifier (yes, I said 'a pretty humidifier', no need for plain-Jane in Korea!),

I got some new teas (jasmine and chamomille),

and I finally bought a bag of coffee... we’ll see how that works out when I brew some in my 4-cupper tomorrow!

And for the cherry on top, I also picked up a bottle of Jacob’s Creek greanache/shiraz (good old Aussie wines) which is very nice cold... ahhhhh.... 

 

That's it for the shopping until payday at the end of the month, when I might buy a mattress pad and a couple more things for the house (oh, and some plants!!!). Shopping is much fun, even when you have to lug it all home on the subway... there was a very nice man in the station walking up from the train who carried half of my bags to the entrance as I was walking up the stairs - I appreciated the small kindness!

Video - Shopping in SeoHyun

This is a test... This is only a test... Here is a video I took for you walking through SeoHyun... now that I know it works I'll take a couple around my neighbourhood and maybe at school so you can check it out! Let's see if this worked...

Shopping Shopping Shopping

Okay, so it should be called window shopping shopping shopping because I didn't buy much of anything, but nonetheless I have gotten out of my apartment to check out some of the places to spend my hard-earned money when the time comes! Yesterday I already mentioned AK Plaza over in SeoHyun, and today I went to Costco in YangJae. Costco was identical to home (other than the food court where shoppers leave their goods lined up neatly in carts unattended while they eat... nobody bothers their stuff; and I follwed behind a woman after dressing my hotdog, and she was carrying a plate loaded only with chopped onions (that I assumed must be for the hotdogs at her table)... the onions were piled high with a bit of ketchup and mustard on top... once she sat at the table next to us I saw that they weren't for hotdogs, they were just to mixy-mix and eat!! I was making the same face you were as I watched her, lol, and then I noticed it was almost at every table and had to wipe the look off my face, hehehe... So here are some photos of my shopping experiences!

First... AK Plaza inside and out...

AK Plaza and SeoHyeon Subway Station

More AK Plaza, Baskin Robbins and Burger King on the right of the stroll

Even More AK Plaza... Krispy Kreme and Dunkin Donuts on the left of the stroll

Inside AK Plaza... many floors stuffed to the gills with name-brandy goodness... EVERYthing in this mall comes from Prada or Burberry or Gucci or... (you get the point I'm sure!)

AK Food Plaza

More Food Plaza; Each little area runs independently from the others, if you want something from the counter you pay at the same place

Puzzle for charity I think? Buy a piece, write what you'd like on it and add it to the wall...

More Puzzle Dedications, and of course short skirts and big boots!

Bedroom Wow, and check out that couch!

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

 And on to Costco... same same but different!

Pretty much like home

Not so busy Wed. night!

Books in Korean and English

Movators that lock the wheels of your cart going up and down, with a staff member to assist you pull it up/down at each end found in many department stores here

Hahaha, gel pens!!! You know I'm gonna buy 'em at some point...

If you go for food in the foodcourt you just park your cart full of purchased goods at the entrance until you're done eating, and nobody messes with your stuff - very nice

So that is shopping over the past couple of days... tomorrow I'm going to Home Plus in Ori to get a few groceries and maybe another quilt for my bed (blankets aren't heavy enough!!)... one that's not fuschia and peach maybe??   :)