"Aeroplane"

I'm so in love with this song right now, I kept on listening to it over and over again. My Tal Bachman addiction started after watching "American Pie Presents Band Camp", and they played the song "Aeroplane" at the end of the movie. You guys should check it out cause this song totally rocks!!!

Party for 1.

I'm enjoying every second of this solitude! Well, I feel like a kid whose overprotective parents are away for the very first time! Ok, now I'm exaggerating.. There are three things I need to make this night as enjoyable as possible.


Wine - I got this cheap wine at HomePlus months ago. We just forgot to drink it as there's always plenty of beer around here. I'm not really picky when it comes to wine. As long as it looks, smell, and taste like wine, it's ok with me.




Sushi - I don't have the money to splurge on expensive sushi bars right now, but I wanna eat sushi, so I went to HomePlus and bought this. I actually bought two boxes without looking at the expiration date. Now I'm gonna have to force myself to finish all of it. I'm half-way done with the first box, but I'm already full. I only got till 12 midnight before I start getting stomachache from eating this.




Nail Polish - This wasn't actually part of the plan, but I passed by Skin Food today looking for a lipgloss (I had to borrow Anne's the last time we went out). I forgot all about the lipgloss when I saw the nail polish counter. As you could see, I'm obviously a sucker for deliciously-colored nail polish. The only color I'm missing is yellow. I got a headache looking for it. They only have 'lemon yellow' which I hate so much. I wanted something more like 'banana yellow' which I couldn't find in any of the stores around here (I know I'm quirky, so deal with it^^). So if you guys happen to know where to get that color, call me. I only bought the nail polish, stickers, and the strawberry-scented nail polish remover, the rest are for free!



If all these aren't enough to keep me up all night, I have two movies on standby, Brandon Routh's Table for Three and The Haunting in Connecticut. But since I'm alone, I think I'm gonna stick to the first movie.. ^^

Alone but not Lonely.

Chris went to military training camp early this morning, and he wont be back till Sunday. I'd normally hate to be alone at home for a couple of days, but this is a rare exception where I'm actually enjoying it. We're always together that I sometimes feel suffocated! We badly need some time apart and this might just be the perfect chance to have some peace and quiet. Don't get me wrong, Chris is a nice guy. But at times, he could be a little 'strict' and treats me like a child. I grew up to be very independent and free-spirited. I don't like to meddle with other people's business the way I don't want them to meddle with mine, and Chris just so happens to think my business is also his. Ok, this post isn't about ranting and venting, so enough of those.

I get excited thinking I'm gonna have the house all to myself for two days! This means I don't have to cook korean food, I don't have to wake up early, I could stay up all night watching movies and playing "Need for Speed" for as long as I want to.

Since today's sunny, no sign of rain or anything, I went out and took pictures. I'm in a really good mood today, so I wanna give you guys a tour in our area. We live in Suwon, it's 45-minutes away from Seoul by bus. Compared to Seoul, I don't see much of a difference when it comes to amenities and facilities. Whatever Seoul has, it's also here.




With almost every apartment complex, there is a park like this where children could play. There are swings and a giant seesaw that could entertain kids for hours.





There's also a place where the adults can work out for free. These machines (and a few others which I wasn't able to include in the photo) were recently installed. Had I known earlier, I wouldn't have enrolled in a gym.





This is the university where I studied before. The university is really big (like most universities in Korea), and it also has it's own hospital. It's gonna take hours to explore it.





This is where the university students play soccer and baseball. It's also the place where concerts are held. I attended two different concerts here before. First was SG Wanna Be, and the other was Super Junior.





This is a picture I took while crossing a random bridge. Cute isn't?





Some random road I pass by every single day. I'm so familiar with this road that I could literally cross the streets blindfolded!





At the other side of the bridge, there's the Youth Cultural Center. It's a place where people could play just about any sport imaginable (swimming, basketball, badminton, volleyball, tennis, even kendo, squash, and Korean sumo wrestling). The best thing about it, it's for free. You only have to pay for the locker.





Among dozens of parks scattered all over Suwon, this is our favorite place to visit. You'll see why..









Right in the middle of numerous coffeeshops, restaurants, bars, and shops, there's this cute little fountain where children could play. In the Philippines, we usually don't let kids get wet playing in the fountain, but it's different here.





Suwon may not be as happening as Hongdae, Myeongdong, or Apkujeong in Seoul. But we have a lot of these quirky little shops that are hard to find in the metro.





80% of Koreans live in apartment, so whichever direction you're facing, you could always see endless rows of apartments like this..





And the small percentage of Koreans live in houses like this.





I was tired, not to mention burnt from walking in this very hot weather. I badly needed something cold to drink, so I went to my favorite coffee shop to relax a bit.




I hope you guys enjoyed the tour!

Crisis.

Memories of the past keep haunting me for some reason, and I don't like it. Maybe because I'm not exactly happy how things are happening right now. I know I should be, but I'm not, and that sickens me. I maybe pushing 30 in a couple of years, but inside I'm still a kid, and most of the time I still get overwhelmed with so many things. To be honest, everything feels uneasy, tiring, and scary right now, and I'm seeking that familiar comfort I get when I'm around people who knew me even before this korean life has started. But sadly, they aren't here...

Friends and Festivities.

I met friends J and A yesterday to attend the Philippine Fiesta event held at Banpo Hanggang Park in Seoul. The journey to go there was already an adventure itself. We crossed where we're not supposed to, walked for hours in a desert-like condition, asked directions from clueless taxi drivers, walkie-talkie carrying police officer, and even a stranger on the street carrying a crying baby. No one seemed to know where that place is. We met a couple of interesting people along the way like the pinoy guy who stopped to ask directions from us and as a result, he too lost his way. There's also the weirdest taxi driver we met who kept on singing "bibidi bobidi boo", who stopped while the meter is running to buy some popsicles, and fulfilled his life-long dream to act as a traffic enforcer while sucking on his chocolate-flavored popsicles (half of which he gave to my friend A). At some point I thought it wouldn't be so bad to miss all the fun at the fiesta if we got to experience those things.

After the long and painful walk, we finally arrived and met my good friend T and her husband. The first part of the program just ended so it was the perfect time take pictures and stuff. Here's how the fiesta looked like.


This is the stage where the pinoy performers did their thing. There were singers singing traditional songs, there were acrobats and contortionists, and a couple different bands who played songs we didn't know.




This group represents the Igorot community.




I'm not sure if these guys were from the Penagbenga group, let's just pretend they are.




Whenever we think of fiesta, there should always be a Santacruzan right?




I've never been to a Santacruzan in my life, so I wanted to know how it feels like to be standing right next to a hunky, umbrella-holding "consorte" (is that word even right?).




With friends A and J.




After all the waiting and walking, we all grew hungry so went some place to eat. What's better to celebrate newfound friendships and rekindling old ones, than to hangout over dinner while drinking good old Hite!





This may not be related to the occasion, but I'd like to thank you guys for cheering me up, and for thinking that I'm cool, energetic, perky, and fun despite all my bitter-sweet hangups. You guys are the most unassuming, unpretentious, down to earth people I've known. My life in Korea will never be the same without you!