my merry little christmas

As most of you know, I was stuck in Seoul this Christmas after I was unable to go on my perfectly-planned oh-so-tropical Bali vacation.

A White Christmas not meant to be.

It was a major oversight on my part. Lesson learned: always research the passport regulations of a country before you travel! My passport was only valid for 5 months and Indonesian immigration requires at least 6. So close! I like to think I’m an experienced traveller, having been to 17 countries, so I’m feeling pretty silly and embarrassed by the whole situation. Actually, what I’m feeling most is disappointment at not being able to visit Bali! My Teacher’s College friend Shannon and I were going to have a fabulous Christmas filled with pina coladas and white sand (separately ;P). We searched for hours to find the perfect hotels in the perfect spots, from Kuta for New Years to Ubud and the Gili Islands. Not to mention the sun and humidity would be the perfect cures for my wintertime blues and dry skin.

Snowy Seoul… not impressed.

BUT I will not despair and break down like I did at the airport, subway, embassy and other various public places in Seoul. Every cloud has a silver lining, right? So I will now list the various ‘silver linings’ to my cloudy holiday.

1. I got organized. Like, SUPER organized! I don’t think my apartment has ever been so organized and I am loving it!!

2. I read two novels in three days. One of my favourite things to do on vacation is just lie on the beach with a good book. So I turned the heat up in my room and just relaxed with some light reads!

3. I finally went to the bank with my huge bag of coins. It totalled $52!!!

Yeah… moneybags!

4. I caught up with friends. I sent out a plea for company on Christmas eve and got to have an American-style on base with friends that I haven’t seen in a long time. I’ve also been spending a lot of time with my (former) co-teacher who I don’t get to see much outside of school. Lots of food and friends makes any holiday great :)!

A Christmas Eve Feast!

Sarah tried to look like a goober so I tried to look like a rasinette 😛

5. I consumed more chocolate and wine that I have all year. Maybe this shouldn’t count as a plus, but it definitely did at the time! Plus I had time to go to the gym, so win-win!

My post-christmas-eve-feast dessert 🙂

6. I did my first nail art! (See previous blog) ^^

7. Best of all… My DAD IS COMING TO SEOUL!! As soon as he heard I was unable to go to Bali he booked a ticket and should be here tomorrow afternoon! To quote my sister “He’s really taking this YOLO thing to a new level”!  WOWEEEEEE! I am so excited to show him around and spend time with him!

Me and Dad in 2010. Can’t wait to ring in 2013 together!

I feel much better after writing this. So often we (well.. I know I do) focus on our disappointments and forget to count our blessings. Merry Christmas everyone!!

panda-licious

Yesss… my first nail art ever!!! Korean women are ALL about the nail art. So many people spend incredible amounts of time and money at nail parlours, changing their nails to match their mood, the latest trends or the season. After watching Bubz paint mini pandas on her nails I thought “hey, I might just be able to do this”! Watch her video tutorial here.

So here is my first attempt at nail art:

Supplies! My nail polish is from Nature Republic. Wine is optional.

First I put a light taupe as a base coat. Easy!

Next, I painted a “squished circle” as Bubz calls it on the tip of my nail. This was also pretty easy. I just used to the nail polish brush. I had to do two coats but the second coat was a lot easier than the first!

Then I used a bobby pin to make the ears. They’re all lopsided and different shapes but I figure real pandas don’t have perfectly shaped ears…

Then I took the same bobby pin and made the eyes. I was always hesitant about nail art because I didn’t think I had the right tools (or steadiness-of-hand) but who doesn’t have a million bobby pins lying around!?

For the nose and whites of the eyes I used a safety pin since I don’t have toothpicks. Just don’t press too hard ;)!

Finito! I just added a top coat once it was dry. It was so easy and quick… the only frustrating part is the drying time. I did little paws on some of my fingers just to test it out! The result was so cute, I can’t wait to try another style!! Awesome!

Mr. Panda loves them too!!

skin deep

I’ve been inspired by my latest youtube obsession – bubzbeauty (check her out!)- to share with you some of my daily make-up routine. You may be thinking… “I thought this blog was supposed to be about Korean things?” and you would be perfectly correct. Korea has some of the best cosmetics in the world. Women and men from all over Asia (and probably the world) flock to Korea for skin and hair products… some of which I will be demonstrating in this blog. Instead of just telling you about some popular products, I thought I would show you my personal supplies and how they work on my face.

Let’s get started – what Korea is known for first and foremost (cosmetics-wise) is BB Cream. BB stands for blemish balm and was first developed to help people’s skin heal after plastic surgery. It has miraculously turned mainstream and we can now buy it for very cheap. Personally, I use power perfection from The Face Shop. It costs about $20 for 1.4 oz. If you are buying BB cream in Korea, be careful of products containing a whitening agent if you don’t want to go for the paler-than-pale look.

You can order this one online if you’re not in Korea, but there are lots of international brands that have started making their own!

I start out with a primer (I use Nature Republic ‘provence’ blending primer) to help control oiliness, minimize pores and of course it helps blend the bb cream for a more even look.

Applying primer to my not-so-fresh morning face!

I use just a tiny dab of BB cream to cover my face and blend it in with a make-up sponge. I use this instead of sunscreen (it’s SPF 37), cover-up and foundation. ‘Tis a miracle cream!

Just a dot will do!

After I’m all blended in, I like to use an eye highlighter to brighten up the bags under my eyes. and to highlight my cheekbones. This one is called ‘Botanical Vanilla Eye Brightener’ by Nature Republic. It cost about $5 and blends nicely with my skin.

I highlight down my nose, under my eyes and the tops of my cheekbones. There are lots of diagrams online to show you what will be the best for your face.

The post primer, BB and highlighter face.

A bit of blush, eye makeup and hair and I’m ready to start the day!

Another very Korean product is the sheet face mask. These are like very cheap facials in a pouch. A sheet mask is different from a regular face mask because it actually comes in mask-form… no sloppy goo to layer on your face and wash off, just open, stick, wait and peel.

These are not even a fraction of your options but you get the idea!

Ok, the flash fades out the wrinkles a bit but believe me, they’re there!!

The one I’m showing you is from Olive Young (Korean Rexall equivalent) and cost about 80 cents CAD. I chose the collagen for tonight because just today one of my students was pointing out all my wrinkles to me (she’s so considerate!). There are tons of different types, made for everything from moisturizing to firming to whitening.

Spooky!!

There is no possible way to make this look cute!

These masks always leave my face feeling smooth and refreshed but I’ll sometimes get a pimple the day after I use one. Maybe it clogs my pores? As you can see, I still have the wrinkles, but I like to think it makes a difference little by little.

Ahhh, silky smooth. Mr. Snowman says hi!!

I’ll just demonstrate one more product for today but I have lots more to show you :)! I like to use a tint on my lips when I want to add some colour. I use ‘mango-tinted lip & cheek stain’ by benefit. I won’t tell you how much it cost but I will tell you that I used a gift card!

So shiny!

It feels like I’m painting my lips with nail polish!

I like tint so much better than lipstick because it gets absorbed right into your lips and you don’t even feel it. I apply lip chap over it so my lips don’t get tried out and the colour lasts for a few hours! You can use it on your cheeks too but I haven’t gotten used to that yet.

MUAH!

So those are my top 3 favourite beauty products that I have only started using since I got to Korea. I love to experiment with make-up so any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Can’t resist ;)! Peace out!!

fantastic baby!

Big BANG! R-L G-Dragon, TOP, Taeyang, Seungri, Daesung

I haven’t written anything about K-pop for a while so I thought I’d let you all know how super-duper incredibly pumped I am to see Big Bang live in concert! At the moment my favourite K-pop group is on a world tour promoting their album ‘Alive’. Their last concerts are going to be in Seoul at the end of January. Tickets go on sale soon and I’m not too worried about getting them as I don’t think they’ll completely sell out because there are three shows during the weekend.

Seeing them at the Mnet Asian Music Awards in Hong Kong (on TV of course) made me sooo much more excited to see them live! I think it’s going to be an amazing show! Here is their performance from MAMA:

I love how they all have their very distinct characters. Top is always so pompous sophisticated with his giant hats and capes. I think they were trying to show his inner wild side through his crazy contact lenses. GD is just a born entertainer and I think the most talented member of the group. He actually changed his hair colour during the award show (when he accepted his first award it was bright yellow)!! Seungri is always the classic gentleman, although the Japanese tabloids would have us think otherwise. Taeyang is the party animal always bopping around full of energy. And then we have my precious Daesung… personally I don’t think the mesh/fur/leather ensemble suits him at all. On TV he is always so sweet and bubbly but I guess that didn’t match their ‘monster in me’ theme. I think he looks a bit lost here and that the costume people just threw as much as they could on him trying to make him look cool. Nevertheless, he’s still my fav!

No matter what they boys are wearing, I’m positive they’ll put on a FANTASTIC show and I can’t wait to see what they have in store for us :)!

So excited to get my CRAYON with G-D!

날 사랑 해요?

The shortest distance between two points is a straight line while the shortest distance between two hearts is Love Itself. – Austin Ogwu Chinuwa

My co-woker, Sunny got married last night at the Intercontinental hotel in Gangnam. It was an absolutely gorgeous venue and the bride looked even more stunning than usual. Plus it was my first Korean wedding experience!

We left work at 6 and debated whether to take the bus and subway rather than a taxi because with rush hour it would have been tight to make it there by 6:45 (even though it’s a 10 min drive!). So we opted for public transportation and ended up at the venue with a few minutes to take a picture with the bride in her ‘sitting room’ before the ceremony.

Beautiful Sunny!

The wedding hall was beautifully decorated. very similar to a reception room for a wedding at home, except that there was a raised aisle going down the middle of it. The ceremony started promptly at 7, as the groom walked down the aisle followed by Sunny and her dad.

The ceremony wasn’t too long… apparently the priest talked a lot about Jesus and religion but obviously I couldn’t understand what was being said. Even though we didn’t know what was going on, us foreign girls were the only ones paying attention during the ceremony! Everyone else was on their phones, taking pictures of themselves or eating the rice cakes that were on the table. It was quite bizarre and I was glad that Sunny was turned away from the crowd so that she wasn’t offended.

After the service, the dinner started right away. It was delicious; there was a really yummy smoked salmon to start, then a very creamy mushroom and oyster soup. Each course was brought out JUST as we finished the previous one. It was all very efficient but it was clear that we weren’t supposed to linger over our food. The other courses included a prawn and steak dish, green salad, spicy traditional wedding noodles, then coffee and an amazing raspberry mousse cake. NOMS!!!!

During the meal the bride and groom were still up on the stage/alter thing, where they took picture after picture; cutting the cake, toasting with their parents, lighting candles, and standing with their friends and relatives. One of their friends serenaded them but there were no speeches otherwise.

As soon as the last of the mousse cake was downed, people started leaving. We stuck around for a while to take advantage of the free wine and flower arrangements but basically the whole thing took an hour and a half.

Everyone was taking the flowers… the waiter just happened to hand me the most ginormous bouquet!

There were a lot of parts of the wedding that we didn’t witness, such as the traditional ceremony that usually happens with the groom’s family. Also the couple took wedding photos a few weeks before the wedding and had them as a slide show during dinner.

Saying their ‘thank yous’ to each table.

I wouldn’t say Korean weddings are better or worse than weddings at home as I’m not a huge advocate of big white weddings in either place. The bride looked gorgeous and the groom had a huge grin on his face the whole time so I would say it was a huge success ;)!

so precious 🙂

Pics are all from facebook – hope you’re ok with that Sunny 😉