White Day in Korea: Cafe Slobbie + Snow Queen, Hongdae, Seoul, 14 March 2013

I've always heard about White Day that's celebrated in Japan and Korea. Basically, Valentine's Day (14 Feb) is where the girls give boys sweet stuff and on White Day, the boys give girls sweet stuff in return. Javin and I managed to catch White Day in Seoul in our first few weeks there and it really is quite a big deal here. You see couples EVERYWHERE and girls are all holding flowers/candy/chocolate/others (please state). Koreans are really into these couple things and the idea of love. Like the really romantic and sweet fairytale type of love. You can tell from their dramas.

We went to Hongdae and had dinner at Slobbie, a restaurant that promotes healthy local slow food. Please google "slow food" because I'm not an expert on it. They serve vegan/vegetarian options in meat-is-everywhere Seoul, so it was great for us. The deco is nice and the food was not bad. Not spectacular or outstanding, but simple and homely, if you get what I mean.

After dinner we took a walk around Hongdae. Hongdae slowly became my favourite place to hang out with Javin after school or on weekends during our short stint in Seoul. In the pictures you'll see my favourite street snack (don't know how many times I've said this already) literally called 'egg bread', overpriced egg tarts (kaya toast is seriously overpriced here too), the famous playground from the drama 'Mary Stayed Out All Night' which was a bad drama that I never finished after a few episodes and this classy restaurant/bar that had pretty lights on bald trees (it was winter).

Dessert at Snow Queen to end the day.

Exchange Student Life in Seoul: Korea University Welcoming Party, March 2013

I've just started my internship at an advertising and marketing firm and it has been lovely so far. I have no time to update this space during the weekdays because I'm working and after work I meet my friends or spend time with my family or Javin (who is so not used to not having me text him random things during the day while he is working). I use the weekends to relax and I decided to take some time every week to fill up this little place of mine. On a day-to-day basis I post short spouts of my thoughts on Dayre, but I still think this space is better for collecting my own reflections and photos.

I am so terrible at uploading things onto this space, but I insist on posting everything up even though photos and experiences are backdated. At least I have locked in some details (those that still remain that is) of one of the best periods of my life; it is pretty therapeutic to revisit these memories as I write and wish that I could do it all over again / made better use of my time / visit more places and try more things - but that is the beauty of missing a place or someone; the longing to experience again. I hope such a feeling means that at that point in time, one was truly immersed in the moment and that's what life should be about, isn't it?

I kind of regret not posting in "real-time" during my exchange, but I would choose getting caught up in the moments there over trying to capture them all the time. I guess this is related to the whole phenomenon of not being able to truly immerse in life's moments as a result of trying to capture these very moments in pictures or on our social media platforms.

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Today I want to write about the start of one of the best things that happened to me as an exchange student in Seoul, and that is none other than my school's exchange students community. KUBA, short for Korea University Buddy Assistants, was one of the main reasons that made my experience so enjoyable. It's basically a group of local Korean students who are in charge of taking care of the exchange students (like me). This group of students are further split into smaller groups and each group is in charge of 70 to 80 exchange students. It's kind of like during orientation in Singapore. They organise things like orientation, sometimes outings if your group is enthusiatic like mine (but I didn't attend all the time because sometimes I had my own plans with Javin) and the annual KU Welcoming Party, which I am going to talk about. I think I'll summarise my whole experience with KUBA in a separate post.

So last year, KUBA organised a welcoming party for the exchange students to mingle and have a taste of KU's culture. I was really impressed by how much effort they put into the event. The venue was actually the school cafeteria and it was in the day, but they covered the entire place's walls with some black material and revamped it into a club/bar, which was really cool. I think the universities in Seoul are really so full of life compared to the typical university life here in Singapore.

It was a black-and-white themed party (obviously the Koreans were much faster at going into the monochrome trend). I went with my heeled lace-up boots and the balls of my feet hurt after the entire event. I can never find heels that stay comfy after hours. I wore grey coloured contacts to stay in the theme (black + white = grey hahaha) for the first and unfortunately last time because they look weird on me. I think coloured contacts are pretty but so far them and I just don't go...

There were games, performances, drinks, food and good music. Oh and one funny thing that I suddenly recall. Javin and I had a minor argument because some Korean guy put his arm around my shoulders, started telling me that he likes me (I suspect alcohol + lack of vocabulary) and asked for my Kakao (it's the Koreans' Whatsapp) ID - most of which I just responded by smiling. Not that I was happy about it, but I was still quite new to Korea, so I wasn't sure if he was just being friendly and if the way he acted was showing friendliness towards a foreigner/exchange student.

Other than that, Javin really enjoyed himself. He is a secret K-pop fanatic. I think this was the point when he started wishing that he was in my school too haha

Happy April!

It's April!! I'm not sure whether this has got to do with my birthday, but April is one of my two favourite months (the other being December) because I love the idea of spring - flowers, flowers and more flowers, all in bloom.

It's been nothing but crazy busy for the past week and for the next few weeks as well, but I managed to find time to visit Style Nanda for some visual therapy. I've become even more interested in and much more informed about local Korean fashion since I went there for exchange and my absolute favourite colours for this spring are white, bubblegum pink, powder blue and lighter shades of grey. Enjoy~

Vegetarian in Seoul: Garobee, well-being buffet

Garobee (가로비), located in Gangnam, used to be Javin's and my haven for vegan food and was one of the places we absolutely had to eat at during the last few days in Seoul. I remember promising that we would return to this place again for a good meal when we returned to Seoul in the next few years. Unfortunately, much to our dismay, the place has closed down as of 11 March 2014. I guess I really should have posted this post (overdue for a year goodness) earlier so maybe you guys who headed to Seoul and are interested in trying a vegan meal could have visited this place.

I'm trying my best to upload as much as possible about my exchange and experience in Seoul because I know this information will be very useful for many, evident from comments as well as emails I have received. Please email or comment if there is anything in particular that you would like to know about (e.g. budget-eating in Seoul, useful apps, how to find good places to eat) and I will address it asap. Just for you ;)

Although you guys can no longer visit the best vegan buffet I have ever had, here are some photos just for the sake of sharing my experience. I really miss this place! My favourites are the bean cutlet (supposed to be a replacement for pork cutlet) and bean bulgogi (replacing beef bulgogi). Divine.

Ending off this post with a photo of Javin looking all 'Garobee spokesperson'.

By the way, I just finished watching You Who Came From The Stars and it is officially my favourite Korean rom-com drama. Facing drama withdrawal symptoms now :'(

March 2013 in Seoul: Edae / Sunnies / The Cup

Edae, pronounced "e-hwa" not "ew-ha", is short for Ewha Women's University and is the dream school of guys who want to be surrounded by Korean girls everyday. Or just girls in general. I've heard of friends' male friends who went there for university hahaha... Having an all-female university in the area, it goes without saying that there is a lot of shopping for clothes and cosmetics here. It is also the place to look for more affordable hair services. After my first perm, I coloured my hair and had my second perm in Edae, because I spent quite a bit of money after all that traveling. If not I would have returned to Lee Chul Hairkerker.

However, what intrigued me most was the beautiful campus. My friends and I took a walk around while some of our female friends did their hair. I wish my campus was this pretty. I actually loved going to school (Korea University) back then because school was beautiful and filled with beautiful people. I loved that every faculty is within reasonable walking distance and I don't have to wait for buses that are crowded and sometimes take forever to come. Weather was amazing too, which made walking from one building to another very bearable, with my sunnies of course.

It was perfectly normal to be walking in campus with sunglasses on in Korea; it's actually a good habit that they practise to protect their eyes. Besides that, I found that in Seoul it was okay to wear them anywhere, even if there is no sun. When I first came back I wore sunglasses often due to habit, but realised I was getting strange stares so I tried not to wear them in "strange" places or people were going to ask me where the sun was, as if it's important. On days when I have a good comeback for such absurd questions, I leave them on. Yes, in the train. I highly recommend that people start investing in good sunglasses (by that I mean those with proper sufficient UV protection) and actually wear them out.

The last few photos are taken in The Cup, a place in Edae that we took refuge in after the girls had their hair done. The lady there (not sure if she was the owner or not) was really nice because it seemed like she was getting ready to close the shop but she happily opened up the kitchen just for us. They serve carb-heavy meals in paper cups such as rice, noodles and pasta. If you're on those no-carb diets that I don't understand or just looking for something light, you can choose from their salad menu. If you noticed, Javin wore his sunglasses (1) indoors and (2) in the evening. Bam! Point proven.

March 2013 in Seoul: Namdaemun Market

Namdaemun market was the place Javin and I went to for peanut butter, because it was where foreign imports are sold. It is really crowded, especially on weekends and weekday mornings.

There are always long queues for the hotteok, a type of pancake with various fillings, particularly those filled with japchae (sweet potato noodles mixed with vegetables and sesame oil). I don't really fancy the japchae hotteok, because it is deep fried and way too greasy, but I really like the other version, called bubble hotteok. These are filled with brown sugar and cinnamon and baked, so the end result is a light and crispy exterior. It's my second favourite street snack in Seoul. There are lots of other street snacks too in this part of the market, but Namdaemun is apparently known for hotteok.

Namdaemun market is good for people who want to experience the crowdedness of a Korean market, but the sights/food aren't that interesting or mind-blowing enough for me. I don't like deep fried hotteok and I can find my beloved bubble hotteok in other places. I dislike crowds very much and there isn't much to buy if you're looking for clothes. I would recommend Dongdaemun for fashion-related shopping. If you like, you can refer to this Shopping in Seoul post for more information. For souvenirs, I think Insadong has just as many, or more, interesting stuff, along with better-looking tourist attractions and richer culture.

Namdaemun Market
49, Namchang-dong, Jung-gu, Seoul, South Korea
Hoehyeon Station (Line 4), Exit 5
Closed on Sundays