Obsession # 2

Brown and gold Two different looks cause I was bored Brown and gold look Gold and turquoise Leopard print eyes Green I didn't take a picture of It was meant to be a smokey green but it turned into blue two different eyes two different eyes green smokey arab eye green smokey arab eye green smokey arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye peacock arab eye gold and brown gold and brown gold and turquoise leopard print blueish but mean to be green

My other obsession is make-up. My mother can tell you that I am not one to wear alot of make-up. It was a fight to get me to wear powder and chap stick. But living in Korea that has changed. Sure I only do make up every once in awhile for going out and such. In Korea alot of people (men and women) are very vain. There are mirrors everywhere and if not mirrors they use whatever shiny surface they can see themselves in. Most women walk around in mini skirts and stilettos. No matter how short your skirt if your wearing tights it's acceptable. Another thing is skin color. Apparently the sun gives you a "bad" complexion so many people walk around with umbrellas. One silly women even opened her umbrella within a bus. With that said there is alot of make-up but not always good for my complexion. But I've found a bunch of make-up tutorials on youtube that are useful. Now my make-up....

Obsession # 1

Scroll to the bottom and read before viewing the pics or just look at the pictures whatever.

Nail polish colors

My nail box

Nail box all decorated

Brow and gold done with stamp

Brown and gold done with stamp

Gold and navy blue/black done with stamp ( creativity me)

French Manicure (stamp)

French Manicure (stamp)

French Manicure with polka dots ( free hand)

French Manicure with polka dots (free hand)

Zebra print ( freestyle me)

Zebra print (freestyle me)

I have a confession to make... I am obsessed with doing my nails. When I was hone in the U.S. I did my own nails in Florida because it was alot cheaper to do my nails at home then go to a salon. Plus I've still got a scar on my foot from 2005, where a so called manicurist was doing my foot and cut it with the razor scrap thingy. It's safer and cheaper for me to do it at home. In Korea I thought I would get a mani and pedi every weekend. Not the case. There aren't as many nail places here as in America. So I've taken to the do it yourself method. Sure at first it was a nail polish here and there because it's cheap one dollar or two. But as many of you know I love colors. All kinds of color and I love having choices. One small box expanded into a small box and a medium box. Then I discovered nail art stamps. You paint your nails and put a fast drying polish on this mold, scrape away the excess, transfer the design with a rubber thingy. It's cool for people who can't draw tiny intricate figures or have airbrushing at home. A little before my discovery of this I was at Tina's boyfriends bar CLUB PSYCHO a great place to relax and have a cheap drink (gotta help out with promotion) I met a girl named Inae who is going to school to be a manicurist. She's a really sweet girl and she even did Tina's nails there at the bar. Her and I chatted about nail things and a couple weeks later we met at CLUB PSYCHO again. She gave me some crazy long tips and a nail file for them to play around with. She had learned how to do tips in class and had an abundance of tips. Yay for me. Sooo Inae has this box for her nail supplies. I thought I should get one also to be organized. I tried to order one but the order didn't go through. So this time I ordered an art box and would design in myself. Needless to say I got the box put my stuff in annnd I have one big box and a smaller box for the cotton squares and nail polish remover and some other items. Without further ado my obsession ladies and gents.

Moving

Other front closet I thought I got the inside but I didn't

One front closet

From the entrance

The shower

The bathroom

The fridge

The kitchen area

The living area and my window

Clothes closet

Another view from the entrance

Moving was pretty much easy. I was almost all packed up by the day of the move. I had a few stray items out but the moving guys brought extra crates and boxes so that was good. The day I moved there were 4 other people moving out so the elevators were busy but I would say I was moved out of my place in about 40 minutes. The broke down the bed and took down the curtains and such. Ji-Hye and I took care of all the administration stuff and we're just waiting on the moving men to pack the truck and get going. But there was a small problem. They gave the school office one account number but it should have been deposited in another, add to that the chief of administrations phone battery dying and we were waiting for 40 minutes. Finally everything was all ready for me to move. We arrive at the new place rent the moving elevator and I'm unloaded quicker than I was loaded. Yay!!! After I was all finished and everything was taken care of I treated Ji-Hye to lunch for helping me out with everything. Annnd now pics of my apartment.

My new apartment

I know I haven't posted in awhile but I was busy with school stuff. Also I've been reading alot and I haven't wanted to be on the computer. Anyway for those of you who don't know, when I renewed my contract for another year, I negotiated a new and bigger place. YAY because my old place was sort of a closet and I felt like I was in a dungeon because it was facing another building so I had no sunlight. My school hired a real estate agent and one day we went looking. That day I saw many apartments in the building where almost all my friends live. Though the apartments are nice and it would be nice to live in the same building as my friends, I know this building. Their building has many different business in them including a bar, norebongs (singing rooms), live bar (where a band plays live music and you or the band sings and they charge a ridiculous amount of money), and a fried chicken place. As tempting and fun a place as it seems to be to live, not always. There are drunk business mean milling around always and there's noise at all hours of the night. I've known enough hearing my friends complain. If I hadn't known we might have stopped there. But we went one train station away to Pyongchon. Right across the street from where the train stop is and a store called E-mart (like a wal-mart) is my apartment building. There is a door man so I can order all the packages I want. There are 3 elevators in the lobby. I was impressed already. But the best part of course was seeing my apartment. It;s much bigger than my old one and it's bigger than some of my friends. Ha Ha!! That's not all. My apartment has an almost real kitchen it has plenty of cabinets (I think 9), a fancy fridge, a breakfast bar, annnnnnd a window Woohoooo!!!!. The bathroom has a sink and a shower separately unlike the combination sink/ shower I used to have and the cabinet space is bigger. My apartment over looks the city and an office building. The clothes closet is smaller than my old one but the front closets are a plus. Also I have loads of storage space above my bed and in form of cabinets in front of my window. I was so excited that my co-teacher and the chief of administration we're like she'll take it. Day one and I found a new place.

Some pictures I've decided to upload

This is my new net book. I found it online and it was used. My current laptop is acting funky so I bought this one as a back up. It's like a baby laptop and I love it so far. I paid less than I would in the states for it and def. less than Korea. For some reason electronics are super expensive in Korea. But the best part about the laptop is it's an English version of the computer from America. Sweeeet!!!

These are this weeks nails. Don't ask me to do your nails cause for some reason I am terrible at doing other peoples nails I can only do my own.

Another thing I've picked up while in Korea(the other thing will have a post all it's own) is painting my nails and decorating them. I did these a couple weeks ago.

Our friend Justin with her hat and fan.

Tina with her hat and fan

I have some fun interesting friends in Korea Tina whom you see in alot of my pictures is part Thai and she like me has her own fashion sense. Some of which involves some hats. A couple weekends ago she came to visit with Justin and we all modeled her hat and fan that the boys brought her from China.

Last weekend

Last weekend was very interesting. It started with me heading to Ansan to say goodbye to a friend who was going back home. While on the train a Korean guy touched me inappropriately a few times. Normally a person like this would walk away without a hand... but I didn't realize what was happening till he was getting off the train. The train was very crowded and he had a bag in his hand. He was holding onto on of the straps as was I. I felt his hand brush up against my leg but i thought he was maybe adjusting his grip on his bag. But alas no. As more people got on I felt it again. So I moved away from him. But then more people got on and we were pushed closer together. Finally there were less people on the train and I felt it again. This time I thought it was my headphones because the chord was long. But no. When I felt it higher up and towards my inner thigh I knew it was no mistake. I yelled "Excuse me !" at him and thankfully it was his stop he ran off the train never to be seen from again. I was shocked and livid never have I had an experience like this. Ughhh. I met my friends and we went for Indian food which was really good and spicy in Ansan. Then I met another friend to go dancing in Itaewon. Itaewon is known for having a certain type of people I am not fond of. And they would not leave me alone. My friend Dani is used to it. She gives the shut-down before they even approach. But I guess I was fresh meat, having never hung out in Itaewon at night before. At first I was nice but then I did start getting rude. At one point I was hanging out with a guy friend and a man came up to me and asked me to dance while I was talking. I hugged my friend and said "Oh. No I'm with my boyfriend sorry." That still did not deter him. Another man even after getting the brush off continued to talk to me in between trying to pursue another woman!. But the most annoying was outside. We were eating street food and talking to other foreigners when this man got out of a car and came up to me saying his friend in the car liked me and wanted to talk to me. I told him I was not interested and he should move on. He said "He's been waiting a long time to speak to you." to which i replied "And he'll keep waiting because I'm not going to speak to him sorry." With that he got back into the car. Finally when we were about to go home we went to flag down a cab he gets out of the car. As soon as he started walking to me I held out my hand and said "You need to go." "My friend will take you home." "I'm not getting in your car." (The car was black with dark tinted windows) Then his friend rolls down the window as I am getting into the cab and says "I just want to talk to you." "I'm sorry but I don't want to talk to you and trying to scare me into talk to you is not going to work either." While my friend was getting into the cab, 1st guy comes and is trying to close the door so we can't get in the cab. "Oh we will take you don't worry." My friend says. "There are plenty of other girls in that club right there go get one of them." 1st guy looks at her like she's crazy and says. "What makes you think I want another girl?" Fed up I threatened to call the police just for him to leave me alone. Ugh that was Friday. Saturday was a BBQ it was fun but I got there late cause Dani couldn't decide what to wear. It was great to see everyone and talk about my new sewing endeavor and baking, then I discovered I just sat down in tar. Alllll on the back half of my butt. Great. The only thing to make that better was Krispy Kremes. The solution to all life's problems (unless your diabetic). So I went to anyang with Tina to visit her bf at the bar. While there we met this really nice Korean girl. She's studying to be a manicurist. So she did Tina's nails and she gave me an amazing hand massage. We exchanged numbers and told her is she ever needs someone to practice giving manicures to I was all for it. Yay for free manicures. After that I danced a little then went home. Ohhhhh I forgot ok so while I was getting dressed for the bbq. Right out the shower the real estate agent came by. He knocked once and started unlocking the door despite my protest. i flew into the bathroom and locked the door just in time.

Teaching in Korea

http://www.koreaherald.co.kr/NEWKHSITE/data/html_dir/2009/09/08/200909080009.asp I read this article and thought how awful it would be to be in that position. I'm glad that things worked out for me but for those applying be careful. I guess nothing is really set in stone. I didn't have much problem with my recruiting company or the board of education. When I applied I was told one school but then was switched to another. I'm happy for that switch. I love my school and my students and wouldn't trade it for the world. My advice would just be to be cautious and try and speak to as many people as you can before coming or applying for a job here.

Apartment

Yay I got the apartment I wanted. Now if I could just get the stove I want I'll be one happy black girl. The stove I want has a real oven. oh that would make me so happy. To be able to cook normally in the oven. Broil things like steak. It would be awesome. It will be in a nicer part of town. I am across the street from E-mart a division of Walmart. It has a 24 hour door man (I think) but there is a doorman. I have keyless entry. I also have a video peep hole. I will post pictures when I move. Yay for new places.

updates

I haven't forgotten about my blog. I have one more day in China with pictures to post. I am back in school now and I am going to be moving in a few weeks, to a bigger apartment. Hopefully it's the nice one I saw a couple of days back. Also I will begin sewing. I have been in Korea for almost a year now and haven't done anything really productive. Sure I inform new foreigners about places to be and bring love, sunlight, and happiness to everyone I meet (which is a hard job) but I want to do more (what can I say I'm a giving person). So I will be posting my projects on here so you can see my progress. Also comment so it'll give me a kick in the pants to write more frequently.

Day 3 in Shang-hai pictures

I thought I had a video of the sheer amount of koi in the water but I didn't so I just put these 2

Night out with our friends from Korea

Night out

Random red building

There were a lot of bikes in China

And there he is again

Another rickshaw we didn't ride in one =(

It's a rickshaw and some dude that followed me. Different one from before.

Obama is in China

The entrance to the gardens

So many koi

Now the bird and I are the main attraction

The bird was the main attraction

Awww me trying to take pictures on the bridge

Person that keeps the water clean of debris

More people looking at us

Garden tea house

Around the garden tea house

At the food court sounds yummy

Thought it was cool it's a store that sells tea pots and tea

More temple

How cute is this ? It's a hand

Charlie and I

More water for our tea

Our tea pots

At the tea house

Praying

At the temple

Oh look they're point at me

Closer to the gardens

Outside in the bazaar

More pretty paintings

Beautiful painting wish i could take it home

The bazaar

Guard dog outside yuyuan

Year of the bull

Friday's outfit

Video 1 i think is the bazaar Video 2 is in the temple Video 3 is the poor baby with his bottom out. I was mistaken babies in China have slits because it make it easier to go potty and no clean up. But they are trying to change that Video 4 is the teapot Video 4 is by the Yuyuan tea house and in the end a man is trying to sell us things. Video 5 is by the tea garden also. This lady came up to Charlie and asked if her hair was fake and was trying to touch it. Then she was trying to move onto me. There were people looking as you can see. This was on the bridge more people looking I wish I had videoed when they were taking out pictures.

Day 3 in Shang-hai

On Friday day 3 Yay more sightseeing. But not without our free delicious breakfast. They use some kind of spices in China I have yet to find but I will. That makes any dish taste amazing. I was eating snap peas and cauliflower like it was going out of style. Today we decided to do some more shopping for souvenirs. We were going to a place a lady had suggested. It turned out to be a mall and it turned out to be a mall ! Where you couldn't bargain! We promptly walked out. Not knowing where we were going we just followed the crowd of Chinese people. We were led out to a residential area. We saw real Shang-hai which was kind of cool. Little kids running around. While walking around I heard this loud constant noise. Cicadas. I haven't heard them in forever. My goodness they are so loud. We walked around to look for a bank because we wanted to buy more things. Unfortunately our cards didn't work. So we went to Yuyuan Gardens. As soon as we got there people were looking at us. Like stopping and staring. It was very strange. We walked around the outside which is the bazaar. There were lots of little stores, selling a great variety of souvenirs. While heading for the garden Charlie stopped to get film for her camera. I was taking pictures and videos. While taking pictures I saw a man walking around me. I held my bag tighter because apparently in large crowds in China there are pickpockets. The man came up to me and said "Wow. Beautiful. I love you" I replied, "Thank you." and walked away from him. I walked over to Charlie who was oblivious. But he had followed me over apparently. Charlie said he fluffed up my ponytail, but I didn't feel it. He came around saying I love you again and started touching my arm. He asked me where I was from, and I told him I was from Korea. He looked at me like I was crazy and he said "Africa ?" Finally realizing what he meant I told him I was from America. I think he said something about liking Obama. Then after a few more I love yous he left me alone. Since some places con tourists the people in the Bazaar did not take 100's and make change. So we had to go make change. There was a Starbucks near by so we went to get change. I had an amazing passion fruit lemon tea. Soooo good thank you Starbucks. Charlie choose seats in front of a big picture window. While Charlie went to buy the film I noticed people outside were staring at me. Then came the cameras. By this time Charlie had come back. People were taking pictures of us sitting there in the window. I kept my head down, but Charlie got very upset and yelled not to take pictures. We were inside so I think the picture was pretty funny of her waving her arms around. While in Starbucks Charlie saw smoke and said there was a temple and we should visit. While in the temple we discovered a tea house and we had had tea together in China. After that I discovered that my monthly visitor was here. =( I had cramps. We sped through the Yuyan gardens tea house. But we didn't go to the gardens. We were trying to save money cause I wanted to get souvenirs. All the while we were getting our pictures taken. Only one group of girls asked us. Everyone else just positioned themselves around us so we would be in the picture. One time after I figured out what they were doing I turned my back. They kept moving around me trying to get my face in the picture and I just kept turning my back. I felt like I was being followed by the paparazzi. Finally Charlie started snapping pictures of the people taking our picture. They didn't like that too much. One picture that unfortunately did not come out was a man who was taking a picture of himself but was trying to get me in the picture and Charlie is taking a picture of him. We walked around got deals on souvenirs and headed home. I was happy to be going because the cramps were kicking in hardcore. Plus we were gonna get Peking duck yay finally Chinese food. But by the time we got home, found out where there was duck, and started getting ready. Our friends from Korea who were in China wanted to go out for drinks. So it was either that or duck. *Sigh* No Chinese food =(. We went early to see if we could find some food. We found street food mmm lamb on a stick. The seasoning was amazing Charlie and I were licking the skewers. Our friends showed up and we went for drinks and wandered around. After all the wondering we went back to Zapatas and had a great time. Trying to get a taxi ride home. Outside the club were cabs. We got into a cab and handed the driver the hotel card. He started talking to himself. Then he tried to make a u-turn in the middle of this tiny street. Other cabs were blocking him in. The security at the club were yelling at him. So we got out the cab and promptly got into another cab. Charlie warned other people that were about to get into his cab about him and being a bit off. Yay for night 3 in China

Day 2 in Shang-Hai

Yummy

Mangosteen

The market oh boy !

A world expo building

Cool building

T.V. tower

Hotel I think it was the riverside hotel

It's good to be the boss.

Going to get his boss I assume with a table umbrella.

It's raining =(

On the other side of the tunnel

Sightseeing tunnel

Pearl oriental TV tower

Day 2 in Shang-Hai part 2

Not sure how long the rain would stay off we decided to visit the famous Xing-yang market, they are known for their replica merchandise. We asked around to find the subway. Then we bought tickets all by ourselves. We figured out everything because we're city girls if you've been on one subway system you've been on them all. Once we got to the market we had to use the restroom. Being accosted by a person selling watches we told her we wanted to find bags and the restroom. Lucky for her and us she had a friend who's store was near the restroom. We went into the store and they lead us to a back room. Oh boy here we go. Charlie was looking at some bags and watches. I was interested in some bags until they told me the price. Now I have to pause here and say the RMB is very tricky. It's not one to one or two to one like some money systems. I believe 10 RMB=2.50, 100=15.00 and 400=60.00 about I'm rounding up. Ok now I don't know what Charlie was thinking when they were telling her these prices. 2100 for 2 watches and 8100 for her 2 watches 4 purses. She was really ready to buy these bags. I was trying to give her hints that it was too much and we should get out of there, but I guess she was in a shopping zen, she even kicked me and told me to buy a bag because it was a great deal. Finally, as they were about to re size a watch for her, I said can I speak to you outside. We went outside and I told her I only brought a certain amount of money and she said" Oh you can't buy that purse, you don't have enough." to which I replied " Noooo, you don't have enough either. You have enough maybe for one watch." Finalllllly it clicked and she told me to call our friend Ming ( A friend of ours middle name who is of Chinese descent but I'm more Chinese than he is.) also my phone didn't work in China. So I was like oh my goodness what am I gonna do ? So I told her I left my phone in the hotel. Unfortunately she said " No, you have it in your bag". I didn't like being put on the spot, but I turned on the phone and pretended to make a phone call. While on the phone Charlie kept interrupting me, till she asked to speak on the phone. While she was on the phone I started making my way toward the door. The people in the store started getting scared while all of this was happening they resized the watch and had it on Charlie's wrist in record time, they started buzzing around Charlie while she was on the phone. She started sounding shocked and said "Oh no! They are trying to rip us off ?" With that I was out the door and she started making her way out as well. They began to follow us saying "No lady don't go. We give you good price. We give you half of what your friend say. How much you wanna pay ?" Which means they tried to take the tourists for a ride. We were excited and drained we got out of there. (Story sounds much better on the phone so if you wanna hear it callll me. Lol) We did end up getting bags while there using the walkout method. By the time we got back on the train and by our hotel my feet were throbbing. We tried a new fruit (Mangosteen sooooo delicious) and went home. After an hour or so of resting we got ready to go eat dinner. But all restaurants close around 9:30-10:00. So we walked some more looking for food. I threatened to tell my mom on Charlie if she didn't step up her game and find me some food. Finally we stumbled upon a hotel with a bar/ restaurant that was open . We went in and guess what ? They said they only had noodles. (I'm thinking ramen noodles.) But yay !!!! it was pasta. So i got to eat on Thursday.

Day 2 in Shang-Hai part 1

On Thursday I woke up to Charlie knocking on the door of our room. After we had switched rooms she thought the bed was too hard and small. Since she had her key she went back to our old room to sleep and I slept in our new room (I was too tired to go back and forth). We got dressed and went to breakfast. Breakfast was great food rice, noodles, veggies, sausages, eggs, juice. The hotel Carolina in Shang-hai has the best buffet breakfast. We didn't eat or feel hungry again till dinnerish time. After breakfast we went sightseeing. The sky was cloudy but we figured it would be ok. We took a cab to The Peace hotel. From there we went down to the Bund sightseeing tunnel. Ir was an interesting attraction. There are only 2 ways to get to the other side of the city under or over it. We went under it. When we got to the other side to go outside it was raining, lightening, and thundering =( boooo. We went to the restroom and while in there I was approached by a woman selling Rolex's. She went from 150 RMB to 10 RMB lol and all I said was no and walked out. In a break from the rain we ran out to a beautiful store. The things were sooo cheap but bulky so shipping them would have cost way more than buying them. We then went for tea and a very nice hotel. The rain finally let up and we went sight seeing briefly. The things to be done were not very expensive but didn't seem worth the money.