They say it helps...

Apparently being grateful, and thinking about what you're grateful for, is a mood-booster. Seeing as I just left my family and returned to the cold, lonely wilds of Korea, I'm in need of a wee pick-me-up. So, five things I am grateful for today:

1) Washing machines. They get my clothes nice and clean and I barely have to do a thing. Can you imagine having to wash all your clothes by hand? I'd probably be one dirty (or naked?) person!

2) The gym. I went and lifted some heavyish things this morning, and I'm glad I did. It took my mind off things for a little while and I know it was good for me.

3) Dreams for the future. They say that 'catastrophizing about the future' is a normal part of a break-up, so at least I feel like my fears of being alone forever with only a million cats for company is a fear that will hopefully pass. In the meantime, I have an online bakery and craft store to set up.

4) The internet. Without it, how would I know stuff? :D I love that I can talk to my family, research things, and distract myself with fun stuff online. Thank God, otherwise I might have to engage in the "real world" :p

5) Mornings. Each day I wake up is a chance for something great, and a chance for me to be better than yesterday. In the morning, the day is full of possibilities.

Saturday's 5 Things

What am I grateful for right now?
1) Heating

2) Fresh shitake mushrooms

3) Savings

4) My warm pink sweater

5) The colour blue

The money I got from publishing?

I spent it on clothes!! There was a huge sale at modcloth.com, so I got 3 dresses, a skirt, a belt, and a pair of shoes. Here're the dresses and skirt:

It's actually navy, not black like this picture makes it look.

This is what I'm wearing to Amy's Christmas party

And the back

Also, I was given three new sweaters (no, mum, I don't wear them with leggings in public, just inside the house :D):

That is all :)

Finally Published Friday

Just a quick one - I'm sure I'll get back to blogging properly when I have a desk (Amy moves next weekend!). But, I just had to share - the magazine I got published in arrived :D

Here's my article - a whole 4 pages!

Just a quick one Monday

So, another weekend, done and dusted. Where does the time go? Here's a brief summary of what I did this weekend. I should have taken some photos - I promise to do better next weekend, I'm going on a temple trip to dig up sweet potatoes. Yeah, weird I know :)

Friday-Saturday: Saw Jay. Watched the movie 'Seeking a friend for the end of the world', cried pretty hard all over him. Hopefully didn't freak him out. He seemed ok. Note to self: don't watch movies about the end of the world, even if they do say they're comedies.

Saturday night: watched an excellent episode of 'Bones' while eating kumara oven fries.

Sunday: Went to Myeongdong with Amy. Ended up travelling all over Seoul and getting totally exhausted. Had some pretty nice Korean BBQ.

Monday: Had my follow up visit with the gyno. Amy came so we could go to the spa afterwards. We were talking quietly on the bus and the lady in front of us turned around and told us we basically weren't allowed to talk on the bus. She was really rude, and used quite an insulting Korean speech style (they have different levels of speech here), so I told her 'no' we won't stop talking. She got angry and kept saying 'shut up' in Korean, and I told her 'no' about 5 times. Eventually she turned around in a huff and we continued out conversation. THEN her phone rings and she answers it and proceeds to talk really loudly! We happily bitched about her for the rest of the journey. 

Then, at the doctors clinic, I had to go wait in the hallway for my doctor and this young American couple had just found out they were unexpectedly pregnant. They were happy about it, and called the girl's sister (on speaker phone, in the hallway - WTF?). Lol, the sister was WAY less than impressed with this news and really upset the newly pregnant girl. It was horribly embarrassing to listen to. Man, if I ever tell anyone I'm pregnant, they better react with nothing but total joy (unless I start the sentence with 'I've got some bad news...').

Anyway, then lunch, then spa, then home. Now am very clean and sleepy. Also suffering from unexplained relationship anxiety. Don't like it.

Today's 5 things:

1) My doctor's visit was only $12.

2) Fluffy socks.

3) earplugs

4) Autumn sunshine

5) I got 10 stickers on my Gong-cha card, which means I got a free drink :)

Quick post on Thursday

Amy arrives tonight! I'm going to get her from the airport. But first, I have to give a two hour exam this morning, pick up something for her to sleep on from Bekah's house, and clean! Mid-term exams were yesterday, and we had a staff party afterwards, which was fun. I made a pumpkin cheesecake, and it was a huge success. Everyone loved it, at the whole thing in about 15 minutes, and asked for the recipe. So, feeling good about that :) It was a very nice cake.

This past weekend was a good one too. On Saturday I had a big picnic date with Jay, which was lovely. We had sushi in the park, followed by some traditional Korean tea and rice cakes in this cute little basement tea-house.

Tea, rice cakes, and Jay's hand.

On Sunday I stayed in my pyjamas all day and played the Sims 3. Seriously, all day. It was great!

This coming weekend? Possible date with Jay Friday night, hanging out with Amy, and just relaxing :) 

And here's a photo wall in my apartment:

Itaewon Food hunt on the Weekend

So, I went on a food hunt game thing this past weekend. I got put in a random team of 6 people and we had three hours to try foods from as many different nationalities as we could in the Itaewon area of Seoul (the 'foreign' area). I ended up with 4 others girls my age and my friend Harry, which was ok, but I totally find guys or older women easier to talk to. So, while I didn't make any new life-long friends, I did have a great day. And we won! There was no prize, but we managed to try 14 different nationalities of food, plus bonus points for different beer, making a total of 27 points. The next closes team only had 17! One team only got 4. So, here's some pictures of the day:

My team.

Austrian Apple Pancakes

Fried plantains at the African restaurant

Korean Mandu

American onion rings

English beer

Greek spinach pie

Russian salad

Relaxing with the whole group at the end :)