Korean Diva

You be Triflin’

Lately, I’m obsessed with the word triflin’, you know from that Destiny Child’s song Bill Bill BIlls. You triflin’ good fo’ nuthin type of brotha’ The other day one of my kids asked me teacher what’s triflin’? I told her it’s a really bad guy…. whoops My kids are learning so many cool things for me. (Triflin’…Y’all… haha)

My cousin HyeJin came from Cali for a few weeks and it was so fun. We ate and drank at many places.. I had so much fun that when I weighed myself after she left I realized I had gained weight….so I started working out like crazy. 

Here is us in Myeongdong… with a million people haha

The weather has been amazing in Seoul… not too hot yet. But I know what’s to come… rainy season followed by…. super hot weather with no central AC. So I am mentally preparing myself for annoying rainy days and super sweaty ones with smelly people. Not that one can ever prepare themselves for B.O I swear I am allergic to it, but I always seem to find myself sitting next to someone with disgusting BODY ODOR. HAHA

Last weekend was the Lantern Festival and it was soooo pretty. I have a video I will post with my awesome commentary on it soon but here are some pictures from it. 

It was soooo much fun!! So I’m updating my blog right now sick as a dog. I probably caught this from one of my nasty germy kids, and I realized that even though I feel like dog doodoo I am incredibly blessed. When I first came to Korea after leaving my friends and family at home I thought omg I can’t wait to meet cool people in Korea….. I was very lucky to get close to my worker Keila and than her friend Patrick. Situations changed and Keila had to go back to Mooseland (Canada). I love Patrick he is such a great friend, but I was dying for girlfriends. I did get close to one girl for a few months, but she ended up being flaky, deceitful, and overall she just sucked. I don’t have time for negative debbie downers in my life… I only want Positive Sallys.  

Well I really do believe “Blessed are those who wait”. If you know me, you know I am not a very patient person. In Korea I have been learning this virtue whether with my kids or just with life. Initially it was really hard to make friends, or just meet “normal” people in Seoul. (I know most of you reading this are thinking Ashley is not normal. But hey, I’m really fun). But for the past few months I have been hanging out with some amazing people.

Teresa and Kelsey, without you I would have no one to get ready with, or do other girly things like talk about statement necklaces and clothes :) 


Also I feel so lucky to have met these cool guys, even if they like to dress alike and be twinsies. Without Chris and Michael, the world of Facebook wouldn’t know the incredibly girly (but fabulous) things I say all the time. 

And Patwick, I wuv ya, you my best fwend. ( Also I am sorry I don’t match, I was incredibly hungover picking out this outfit) 

Okay this weekend is Buddha’s birthday so we get Monday off… I will be off to the beaches in Busan. YAYAYYYYYYYY I really need this vacay!

It’s so fluffy.. I’m going to die!

I feel like the little girl from one of my favorite movies Despicable Me. She is soooo happy about her stuffed unicorn that she says my favorite quote “It’s so fluffy…I’m going to die. This is how I feel, these past few weekends have been soooo incredibly amazing(fluffy), that I am loving my time in Korea(I’m going to die).HAHA don’t make fun of my analogy! Maybe it’s because the weather has been warming up and it’s been so pretty outside or because I’ve been hanging out with some really cool people. 

Last weekend I went to my first Korean wedding! One of my Co-teachers got married and so all of the teachers went to celebrate. However I didn’t realize how different weddings are here. Of course as a girl, I have thought about my future wedding(if I land a hubby) and even got some planning ideas(thank you Pinterest), but I know one things for sure, I will never get married in Korea. People were talking during the wedding and on their cell phones… RUDE.. and there was a reception but it was just food.. no cake.. no dancing…no bubbly :(

 Here’s some of the Topia teachers

After the wedding, I met up with some friends to watch THE HUNGER GAMES!! And I loved it, our seats were even shaking during the movie, so it felt more legit. Also, I stole this from a friend but I am on TEAM PEENIS (Katniss+Peeta) bahaha

 Then I finally went to church on Easter Sunday with my friend Caroline. I really enjoyed the service and afterwards we spent the day in Gangnam eating,shopping, and going to a cat cafe!

Cat Cafes are cool because you can drink coffee and play with cats. They also let you feed them! This cat reminded me of my cat Salem

Then this weekend, I went to Everland!!! I felt like a kid, but my body told me I was getting old. I experienced lots of motion sickness and nausea that I don’t remember getting when I was a kid. But I am still scared of everything so that hasn’t changed :) And today I went to Yeouido for their spring flower festival. I had such a blast it was a high of 68 degrees, sunny, and B-E-A-UTIFUL! I just love Seoul, it’s such a gorgeous city. Sometimes, I forget that I really live here, in this huge beautiful city. Also I rollerbladed today… no big deal. I probably haven’t done that in like 10 years. And you know I was a classy betch rollerblading in a dress. 

I love love LOVE it here in Korea!! Especially thanks to all my new friends here, I feel so incredibly blessed to have met such a great group of people. But of course I miss all my friends and family from home, and I love being able to catch up via skype, fb,or text!  I’m so happy:) Here’s to more crazy adventures in Korea and photobombing everyone in Seoul!! 

I don’t wear pants on vacation… only leggings

So, I went on a little vacation/weekend trip in Korea, and sorry mom, you know I don’t like to wear pants, especially not on vacation (she hates that I wear leggings all the time). Haha, and I only wore leggings this whole trip. I had such an amazing weekend!! And it was exactly what I needed after the  horrible day I had on Friday. I am extremely clumsy and I know I can be careless but on top of that I have the worst luck….So I broke my iphone.. went through a complicated process to get a new one. Then my new one started malfunctioning.. of course. That on top of some other things going on, and I just needed to get away 

I went on a  Jagged Island hiking trip/Cherry Blossom Festival adventure over this past weekend and it was soooo much fun! We drove 5 hours overnight to an Island to go on a 6 hour hike. Had I known, how difficult/terrifying this hike was, I might not have gone. But I am soooooo excited that I did it, even though I am still hella sore from it :) There was this one wall that was super steep and you had to climb it using a rope. It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done.. but I DID IT!The view from the mountain was breathtaking and even though this hike had a million peaks (six) and seemed never ending, I still loved it.

After the hike, we went to a Sauna which was exactly what I needed after this grueling hike. You gotta love Korean saunas, always awkward but after you see someone naked, your friendship just only seems to grow from there lol. Then we had a BBQ dinner with the group and of course we had to drink some SOJU. The group of people on this trip were really cool, I met some other Southerners which is always nice and some other girls from NC. A group of us even crashed a University Soccer party which was sooo hilariously funny because they loved us especially when we shuffle danced with them. Then when we were leaving they gave us free beer, love it. 

The next day we went to a Cherry Blossom festival in Jinhae… but the problem was the cherry blossoms hadnt bloomed yet. Nevertheless we had fun, eating amazing BBQ pork and ribs and just being super tourists and taking millions of pictures.

Hopefully, we will all keep in touch after this trip. OH and I did find one little cherry blossom that bloomed on this trip…

Legendary Birthday in Korea

So, usually I love my birthday, I mean really who doesn’t. But this year I wasn’t really looking forward to my birthday because, first off I was going to be 23…ew old and this would be my first birthday away from home. So I wasn’t really expecting much just some casual drinks and food with my co-workers on my actual birthday and then dinner with friends on Saturday…

But… it always amazes me how blessed I am, with the incredibly thoughtful people in my life. Around midnight on my birthday after I got done skypping my bestie Layne, my mother skypped me to wish me a Happy Birthday in Korea(since we are 13 hours ahead). All of a sudden, someone knocks on my door, my mom immediately says DON’T ANSWER YOUR DOOR. Then I heard my co-worker Eric’s voice, so I went to open the door. I was immediately attacked by my co-workers in scary white masks with balloons and fake snow. They had sparklers too but I missed them because I took so long to open the door.. haha

I

This is me opening the door surprised ( of course I still have my awkward dinosaur hands)

yes… it looks like Im in a snow blizzard… thanks Ryan

Thanks Ryan, Caroline, and Eric(hes the one taking the picture) for the surprise!!

The next day at work, I get a lovely surprise when I get my birthday package from my mom and sister and than a surprise one from my bestie Jiyeon. My sister sent me some Swedish Fish, Sour Patch kids,other goodies and all 3 Hunger Games books. I was sooo excited!! My mom got me a beautiful Juicy Couture bag that I love. Jiyeon got me a Justin Bieber toothbrush and some candy. I love this toothbrush, it sings 2 Bieber songs for 2 minutes each so I can brush my teeth while jamming out. Thanks girl! Some of my kids brought me candy and one student brought me a brownie. 

Then after work, my co-workers and I had planned on grabbing some drink and getting some food. We stopped by our apartment, and when I stopped by Caroline’s apartment, my best friend Patrick busted out of the bathroom totally surprising me. Since Patrick lives an hour away and I get off work at 10, I hadn’t planned on seeing him until Saturday. I swear, Patrick is the greatest friend ever, he surprised me by coming all the way to Ssangmun, with a cake, champagne and a home-made birthday card with pictures. I don’t know what I would do without him here in Korea, I am so lucky to have him in my life. We went out in Hyehwa and got food and a bottle of Absolut. The bartender surprised me with a flaming shot, that I swear took off 5 years of my life. After that we went to Apgujeong and went to this bar that gives free bottles on your birthday. At first, they said that since it was 1:30, my birthday was over, but some random guys yelled at the bartender for 30 minutes and that’s how i got a free bottle of tequila and the worst hangover the next day. 

Yay! Birthday

In Apgujeong at Monkey Beach

So, to continue the birthday festivities on Saturday, I got dinner with Patrick, Sean, Caroline, and Esther. Then we went to a friend’s apartment and I went to my first house party in Korea. Since most foreigners here are teachers, we all have tiny apartments, but this guy has an amazingly huge apartment. He had stocked his entire fridge with beer (yes Blue Moon and Sam Adams too!), made a million jello shots, and had a lot of liquor. It was a fun night, even with the birthday toasts that I apparently missed, sorry Ryan! And of course my night ended off with dancing in Hongdae. I had such an amazing birthday!! Thanks everyone for making it so legendary! I love yall!

Teaching in the Ghetto of Seoul

My kids always say to me “Teacher why you so funny”? or “This class so funny”. Even though I swear I try really hard to be strict. Yes, we sing KPop songs and dance around the classroom but in all seriousness I am very tough on them when it comes to their homework and doing the classwork. I just want them to all be really good at speaking and understanding English. I know, I shouldn’t care this much because most of the kids don’t give a flying poo about me. Some of them really like me…. maybe too much… one girl called me mommy and I screamed and ran away. WOMP WOMP I can’t help it, you know this is how I deal with some of my problems sometimes haha.  I know some of these kids are from the ghetto. 

YES I SAID IT THE GHETTO!! Okay so I recently found out that my area Ssangmun, was once the ghetto of Seoul. Apparently its changed but I really do understand my kids better now especially the middle schoolers. I have changed my teaching methods to be more gangsta thug fo’ lyfe. I have been getting particularly fond of this one kid Daniel, hes so annoying but he cracks me up! I will post some hilarious videos of him later!

I just got my hair trimmed and colored… its a little bit lighter than I wanted, but I’ve gotten a lot of compliments from my students. They told me “teacher sooo much better”, which makes me wonder what they thought of me before…

Here’s my new color.. I think it makes me look more Korean hehe

So my birthday is in a few days and I’m about to be 23 Ewww soo old no more golden bday age of 22. It’s making me incredibly homesick. This time last year, I got to spend my birthday with my mom and than with all my wonderful friends. I had an amazing time on the party bus and just going out and raging with everyone. This year will be sooo different, but my mommy told me she just sent my birthday package so it should be here for my birthday and that makes me super excited!

Also this weekend is St. Pattys (Paddys* I get confused about the spelling) and the weekend before my birthday so I am going to spend it with my family and friends.  I’ve been spending more time with my cousin HeeJung and I absolutely love her!

This is us out in Hongdae last weekend, such a fun night! 

Just when things seemed to go downhill.. I had the best weekend

So, those of you who know me, know that I am a slight control freak… and by slight I mean I like to have every thing planned out and know what’s going on. No big deal right? In Korea, though I have adjusted to not being able to control or plan things because things don’t always go according to plan. But it always seems like everything always falls into place.

This weekend was one of the best weekends I’ve had in Korea, and in the beginning, nothing went according to plan. First off, we had planned this trip for the first week of March, but we moved the date so that we could volunteer that weekend. Then originally it was a group of 4, but then one person flaked the day before so we were down to 3. This ended up great, because the 3 of us had such a blast. So we wake up early Saturday morning to catch the bus to Yongpyong Ski resort. This is a popular resort especially because it will be hosting the winter Olympics. Well, we couldn’t find the bus station and ended up missing the bus. This was very upsetting until we found out there was a free shuttle(Yongpyong shuttle was $28) to Sungwoo another ski resort. So although we had never heard of it, nor knew where it was, we got on the shuttle bus heading for the resort.

When we got there, we were hungry, it was snowing and we had to find a place to sleep for the night. So, we walked around, lugging this huge bag of snowboarding gear(I could fit in the bag and was told that the resort was booked. So, we grabbed lunch, had our first drink in a month,(Patrick and I took a break from drinking and did not drink for one month) and started to ask the people who worked there for help. One of our waiters got the manager for us, and I told him about our situation. This is why I love Korea, the hospitality, people will surprise you by doing the nicest things. He said he would go and find out if there were any cancellations. After about 20 minutes, he found us a room with 2 bedrooms with a kitchen and living room which could easily house like 10 people. Since the room was a bit more than we wanted to pay the guy discounted our food, and to top it all off he went with us to the front desk to help us book the room. 

Ryan posing with his Snowboarding gear… while waiting for the bus

first drink of February!

Then once we get to our rooms we take a nap, and find out there is a DJ rave event at the resort later that evening. So we got ready, drank some Kirk(this huge bottle of Costco brand Vodka haha) and then just had a ridiculous evening that ended with Patrick losing his tshirt. 

All a girl needs is some hot 6 (energy drink), vodka, and some good friends 

Patrick getting it down at the rave, hmm you still have your shirt here

fuzzy pic of me and Patrick at the DJ rave

Then Sunday morning, we woke up (Pat made breakfast) we had to piece together our night, find miscellaneous items, clean and check out of our hotel, all while still feeling the after effects of last night. Then, we were on our way to ski. It was a beautiful day and the resort had the most breathtaking beautiful views. 

Right before we started to ski

I really had the best time ever, even when in true clumsy form one of the funniest things happened and my ski boot slipped and I literally fell into my food.

Mom, you should be proud of this picture

Such a fun and amazing weekend of skiing in Korea with my friends! I loved every moment of it (let’s be real, almost every moment haha) 

I hope life treats you kind and I hope you have all you’ve dreamed of.

I love love love this song by Whitney Houston, because it has the most beautiful lyrics. I am not a hopeless romantic by any means but when I listen to the words of this song… I’m like just left in awe that love like this exists. Maybe it’s because I have never felt this kind of love, where you love someone so much, you put their needs before your own… maybe one day I will (probs when I get a dog haha jk) 

I dedicate this post to the true Diva who inspires my inner diva, Whitney Elizabeth Houston. It’s a sad day when a true diva passes, and I am truly sad to see her gone. I’ve always loved Whitney, two of my favorite songs are by her, Greatest Love of All and I Will Always Love You(and yes I know this is originally Dolly Parton’s song, but Whitney truly made this song amazing thus, I think it belongs to her). Many people have probably heard my awful voice attempting to sing these songs at some point haha.

When I found out about her death last Sunday, on my way to get my eyes checked (1st day after LASIK), I was devastated. So much so, that I had to do some retail therapy. Then last night I watched the Glee version of I will always love you and it made me really emotional and I am not an emotional person. Then tonight I started watching the Grammys, and the water works started again. I think what breaks my heart is that Whitney had a rough couple of years, and she struggled a lot. Even true divas can make mistakes, especially when their hearts get broken by stupid men named Bobby Brown.

I have made my fair share of mistakes, but right now I am very content with being a single diva. Who cares mom, that I didnt get flowers on Valentines Day, because in Korea, Feb 14 is the day in which girls give guys gifts. Then on March 14 it’s White Day and the boys give girls gifts. And then the holiday I will be partaking in on April 14, Black Day, in which all the singles go eat black noodles. Really Korea? Black Day for the singles….is this real life? BUMP that, I will be partaking in Single Diva day, by drinking wine, eating chocolate, and being fabulous. RIP WHITNEY HOUSTON

Perfect Vision

I have been wearing glasses/contacts since the 5th grade. That means I have had bad vision for over 11 years! How crazy! I hated my glasses and got contacts in 7th grade and continued wearing them until recently. I have always wanted to get LASIK surgery and then 2 weeks ago, I realized it was time for my annual eye exam and to get new contacts. So instead of doing that, I thought I should just go ahead and get a consultation to see if I could get LASIK. So last Wednesday, I went to get my consultation. I had to wear glasses for a week prior to my appointment, because contact lens change the natural shape of your eyes. So, after being 4-eyed for a week I was ready to get rid of them. My eyes ended up being really healthy and the doctor told me I had slightly thicker corneas which was an advantage for me. I wanted to get the surgery, sometime in February and my doctor suggested that I just go ahead and get it done the following Saturday (11th), so I did.

I really liked the place I got the surgery done, because first off they spoke English YAY!! Also they were very attentive and even though there were always sooo many people there and everyone seemed super busy they explained every test/step/procedure to me. I felt super comfortable and confident about getting my eyes corrected there.

So, OMG of course I am super NERVOUS, they are going to be all up in my eyes! Also it didn’t help that my friend Nancy (haha LOVE U!), being concerned about me, told me stories about people who didn’t have such good luck with LASIK. That made me nervous, on top of all the research I did, I still found people who were unhappy with the surgery. But I had to go through with it! I did know of many people in Korea who had gotten it done and loved it, which made me feel a lot better.

So, of course I had to wear glasses until the procedure but, I had gotten used to it at this point. I may even have to get some fake glasses so I can still feel smart haha. 
So a few days before my surgery, I received an email from the my lasik place Dream Eye Center.  Here’s the beginning of it:

Dream of your brightened world after the operation.Certainly, you didn’t forget about today.It is the day when your eyes will meet a new world as you have wished and dreamed about.We are glad to share the experience with you. We’ll do our best to ensure an accurate and safe operation. 

I know they probably send that email to everyone, but I thought it was really nice

On the day of my surgery, I was sooo scared and anxious, I had all these knots in my stomach. But my cousin came and her being there just made me feel at ease.(She had the procedure done 10 years ago). Also I had a really sweet nurse who disinfected my face and held my hand during the surgery. I won’t go into all the details…. hehe If you want to know more details about it let me know, I will share it with you. Basically, the doctor explained every step to me from the noise of the drill to things about the laser. They gave me a stuffed animal to hug, and all I thought about was how I should have brought Emily. For those of you who don’t know who she is, shes my stuffed bunny that I have had since I was 1 year old. I also squeezed the crapt out of the nurse’s hand. As soon as my surgery was done,a congratulations song came on, and it was so cheesy I laughed. Then I was led into a room to rest for 30 minutes, in which I had chosen to listen to KPOP(you could pick your music genre haha) Then I left, with my cousin to buy drops for my eyes, that’s when things got painful. My eyes just felt like something was pushing on them, and they were watering like crazy. It hurt to keep them open. I don’t think that many tears have ever come form my eyes, because we all know how emotional I am (not). But after 3 hours, my eyes felt fine. They were still a bit hazy, but I went out to dinner with my friend Patrick and I was fine. 

The next day, when I went for my check up, the doctor told me my corneas were all healed and that I had better than 20/20 vision and that my eyes will continue to get better during the week! Hooray, now I just have to sleep in really cute goggles for a week and then I will have eagle eyes… whatup I recommend getting LASIK, I think it’s one of the best things I ever spent money on!

Also my final recommendation(there is no scientific proof) but, I think I healed so quickly because of this:

I Don’t Do Flaky

This post goes out to all those people who also hate flaky people. I feel your pain brothas, I think this is one of the most aggravating things ever. 

Urban Dictionary.com defines it the best:

FLAKY

An unreliable person. A procrastinator. A careless or lazy person. Dishonest and doesn’t keep to their word. They’ll tell you they’re going to do one thing, and never do it. They’ll tel you that they’ll meet you somewhere, and show up an hour late or don’t show up at all. Also spelled “flakey”, or “flake” in the noun form

She told me she would send me her pictures, but it’s been 3 months and she hasn’t send me shit. She’s flaky as hell. 

Ewwww I hate flaky people almost as much as I dislike the word flaky. Flaky, flaky, flaky. The most disgusting things are flaky like dandruff or dried skin. There is a reason that these things are associated with the word. I find that these flaky people are the same ones that always expect you to be there for them when they need it, but are never there for you. Oh like your boyfriend is being a douchebag again? Oh you are having the hardest week of you life? I guess I can drop everything in my schedule and be there for you. You flaky potato people, please stop, it’s becoming really hard to be happy around you.

OKAY I am finished being a girl now. :) 

On another note, I got my consultation for LASIK today and after getting tests done for 2 hours. I found out my eyes are healthy and I am a good candidate for the procedure…So I will be getting it done this Saturday!! EEEKK!! I am super excited/scared, so the next time I blog (with my new perfect vision) I will tell yall everything! 

Happy 6 months Korea!!

WOW, I can’t believe its been 6 months since I’ve moved to Korea! So many things have changed, I learned to cook Korean food and have turned into a little domestic goddess. My dad should be happy about this since he was worried about me landing a hubby with my lack of domestic skills. I can take public transportation, minus the bus which is still very tricky for me. And I totally embrace the Korean culture which many can see by how my hand seems to always shoot up a peace sign in ever pic. ( I don’t know why I keep doing this btw). And I know I look super Asian in all my recent pictures because I am rocking my glasses this is because I am getting a consultation for LASIK on Wednesday (can’t wear contacts for a week) so hopefully I can get the procedure done soon. 

Basically Korea is great, minus the fact that it’s sooooo cold. Waaahh, just have to get through this cold February month and then it will warm up in March. So, some of my friends and I have decided to lay off drinking for the month of February. I thought this would be difficult but it’s kinda nice waking up and not being hungover on the weekend haha. If i slip… it’ll be a couple of glasses of wine on Valentines day… I need something to complement my girlie movies and box of chocolate. 

I have had the best and most productive weekend ever!

On Saturday I went with my co-worker Caroline and volunteered at the Angel House Orphanage, it’s an orphanage for disabled orphans. It was the most rewarding thing I have done in Korea, and I fell in love with so many of the residents there. They were all so happy and full of life, it was so inspiring to interact with them. Also I got to do laundry using a washboard, way old school, but it was fun to experience how people did laundry back in they day. All I can say is thank goodness we have machines now!

This is me and Esther, with her brand new watch. 

This little baby was way more interested in the TV than taking the pic :)

Clay, Caroline and some of the kids awww

Then today I went ice-skating with my friend Patrick and Sean it was so nice on such a pretty day. Also we were in the middle of downtown Seoul so it was a great place to sightsee while skating.

After that Patrick and I explored the city, got smoothies, visited a palace and went shopping at this huge market area. There were tons of clothes, accessories, and anything else you may need to buy it. I got a bright yellow jacket haha, I am sure I will be wearing it a lot around Seoul and get mistaken for a native. Then we made Crepes and went to eat Shabu Shabu.

Patrick is little Crepe chef…. Don’t ask how mine turned out haha

I love having fat kid days like this, but I know my pants won’t like it tomorrow when I try to squeeze into them. Oh well at least I didn’t drink this weekend :)