Biking around town

Spring has definitely arrived, with some very warm weather while sunny, and some very beautiful blossoms blooming. Here are a few shots from two separate bike rides I took around Bomun Lake. I went alone last weekend, and then today I went with a friend. It's always super gorgeous, albeit incredibly crowded on some parts of the trail. It's a very enjoyable weekend bike ride though, and yet another reason I love living in Gyeongju.

When we stopped at the Starbucks to get a little coffee, a super cute older lady wearing all floral prints came over to chat. She motioned my bike seat (it's very plush looking) and seemed to praise it. So I pointed to my bottom and said "it's nice for my bum." She laughed, gave me a thumbs up, then proceeded to pat my rear end. And, of course, called me pretty. Gotta soak in these compliments while I can!

There's currently some weird trend where people
are supposed to post a picture of their face
and then donate to cancer? I hate these things,
but only a true misanthrope would
chose not to donate to cancer, so I went with it.
Note the cute "shilla smiling face" behind me,
that's one of Gyeongju's symbols!

  

Bomun is always full of amusing swan boats.

I was confused the first time a student
invited me to the "biking" ride at an
amusement park. Turns out it's really not
her fault for mispronouncing it...

Internet tells me this is a Great Crested Grebe

Cute, eh?

Bike shot!

Very pretty divine looking sky.

And when not biking around Bomun, one of my guilty pleasures is eating at Mr. Pizza. Here I am posing with an amusing cutout outside the restaurant.

Holi Festival

Spring is really starting to show itself around here. I no longer have to wear long john's under my pants, and have even started wearing skirts! (With stockings, but still!) This past weekend was an Indian Celebration called Holi. The Indian community in Korea kindly extended the invitation to their beach-side event  in Busan to anyone willing. I basically went for the amazing samosas, but there was also a paint throwing dance party. While my friends and I only danced for about an hour, it was a fun and gorgeous day on the beach after a long winter of hermiting away. And did I mention amazing samosas?

After covering each other in powdered paint and hanging out on the beach for a while, my friend and I found our way to a Korean spa. Korean spas are very common. They involve showers, hot tubs (ranging from freezing to hot enough to cook you), and sauna rooms. They are separated by gender, and are incredibly relaxing. My friend and I went to a nearby hotel that we heard had a spa(garnering quite a few looks as we resembled multicoloured vagabonds). The hotel staff told us that they did have one, but that it was expensive. So they gave us a map and directions to a cheaper spa down the street. Would that ever happen anywhere else?? SO NICE. Anyways the spa we went to was absolutely amazing and just the thing I needed after a weekend in Busan.

Before: paint free

After: multi coloured Anne!

Cool sand sculpture on the beach

New semester, new adorableness

English mailbox is the cutest and greatest achievement of my teaching career.

"Became" should say "Because" I can see she erased the
latter. So don't worry, I've been pretty all along.

In my intro lesson I revealed my favourite
colour, food and animal as purple,
cheese and orca whales respectively. 

Too CUTE. Makes MY HEART FLUTTER.

White Day and some duck

As I've mentioned before, Korea loves all things cute. This has paved the way for a second Valentine's day, because one just isn't cute enough! The tradition here is that on Valentine's day girls give boys chocolates, then one month later, March 17, is White Day (weirdddd name). One White Day (pronounced Hwhite day.. drives me a little ccrazy) boys will give girls candy. I don't know why, but Chupa Chups lollipops seem to be the candy of choice, with giant stands appearing in the grocery store around this time. Luckily for me, all candy exchanging holidays translate to adorable presents to teachers! Here's this year's stash. I still have a bunch from last year.. I think I'll have to have a raffle when I leave!! (Also apparently one more month later, April 17, is black day. A day for sad single people to eat black noodles an contemplate their dreary existence. I can't wait!)

My favourite is of course the adorable
little paper message. Awww.

Unrelated, but here's a picture of some duck stuffed in a squash. Quite tasty.

And again, unrelated, but look! I am on a brunch menu and it's vegetarian! I'm sure this is a waitress who probably works there, but I can always pretend my fame has infiltrated Western restaurants.

School lunch

I have always meant to show a picture of school lunch to you guys, but I never have my phone in with me while eating. So now, quite belated, here is an example of a standard school lunch!

Top row: Tteokbokki (chewy rice 'cakes' in a tomato sauce), beef with quail eggs cooked in soy sauce (I love quail eggs!!), kimchi, spinach with tofu, and strawberries.

Bottom row: Rice (duh), fish and mushroom soup.

This fishy isn't from school, but a street vendor. I always call them fish cakes, but that's confusing because while fish shaped, this is a delightful sweet pastry filled with yummy cream. Also available filled with the less delicious red bean paste.

Namsan II

About a year later, I decided to climb Mt. Namsan again! This is the mountain full of ancient buddhist relics responsible for giving Gyeongju the nickname "museum without walls." I went on a beautiful day, and as you can see the snow has mostly melted. Last time I went up one route, so this time I decided to try another. Oh boy was it tough! We scaled the mountain and descended on the other side - quite a tiring day! I wish I would say the fresh air at the top was worth it, but as you can see in the pics we were inhaling quite a gargantuan amount of smog. Either way it was a totally gorgeous hike and I had lovely company, AND saw a pretty bird! Definitely a great success.

Eurasian Jay

Finally at the peak!

Skies were clear that day. This is alllll pollution! 

This lady was bowing over and over.
As you can see, she was balanced on
a thin sliver of rock. It was
quite impressive and a little
scary to watch!

Curly hair and..

"She has curly hair

 and


a very very very very verryyyy...

small face"


Student describing me to his private hagwan teacher.