My Korean hospital experience

That was definitely something that I didn't want to experience... but there was no other way.

A week ago Saturday my boyfriend and I were at home eating crepes with chocolate cream and bananas for dinner. We were planning to go see LED lights at night on a hill not far away, but I suddenly got a stomachache. I thought it was something I ate and I just figured it would get better after a while, but it only got worse. My boyfriend told me immediately to go see a doctor, but I really was sure I'd be fine. At some point it got so painful that I didn't know what to do anymore. I called my mom and she too told me to go to the hospital. So finally I did.

It was past 10pm so we had to go to the emergency room. The doctor there was luckily a specialist for this kind of problems. So after checking my stomach it seemed he knew right away what was wrong with me. He was talking to my boyfriend and I couldn't really pay full attention, but I suddenly heard them talk about some surgery and I freaked out.

I suddenly remembered all the Facebook posts and different blogs from foreigners in Korea, complaining about Korean doctors. Everyone was looking for English speaking doctors who were used to foreigners, complaining that most Korean doctors would only talk to the husband and almost ignore the wife. Suddenly I thought that's what was happening to me: the doctor's talking to my boyfriend about surgery and I have no idea what's going on. >.<

But luckily that wasn't the case. The doctor wasn't ignoring me or anything like that, I just really was in no condition to be talked to. I was in way too much pain.

They sent me to get an x-ray and CT scan. And CT scan was the most awful thing ever. You just have to lie there still for about 10 to 15 minutes. But I really wasn't able to do that with such a pain in my stomach. My whole body was shaking like crazy....

After the doctor confirmed I had what he thought I had, he pushed a tube through my nose into my stomach. I told him I was going to throw up, thinking that he or someone else would bring me something to throw up into, but he was just "yes, throw up, that's good!", so I threw up all over myself and my doctor's and my boyfriend's hands.

After that I finally felt a bit better and the doctor explained everything to me. I had an intestine blockage called ILEUS. Apparently this sometimes happens to people who previously had surgeries in their abdomen area. By inserting a tube through my nose they were able to remove all the gases out, but they told me I'd have to stay in the hospital for a couple of days and that I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything.

They moved me upstairs to the fourth floor in a room with 6 beds. My boyfriend said he'd stay with me and I was so happy to hear that. That of course wouldn't be possible in my country where family and friends are only allowed to visit during visiting hours. But here, they can stay with you for as long as they want. Under each bed there is a small sleeping surface you can pull out and someone can sleep on. But the bed next to mine was unoccupied so my boyfriend just slept there. It is terrible enough to be in a hospital, but to be in a hospital in another country so far away from home is even worse. That's why I was so happy to have my boyfriend with me the whole time. But at the same time I remembered MERS and I understood how that can be a problem. In Korea it is a custom that when someone is in the hospital all the relatives and friends come visit you. But that can also be really dangerous in cases like mers. And it can also be just a bit uncomfortable.

My boyfriend's parents came to see me on Sunday morning. My boyfriend got scared when he heard about the possibility of surgery so he called his mom and told her. I was really in a terrible shape in the morning when they arrived and even though I was happy to see that they were worried about me, it was at the same time a bit uncomfortable. I looked awful and I felt awful... My boyfriend's aunt and uncle were also worried and wanted to come see me, but my boyfriend told them not to come. He was worried that I might be too uncomfortable. I guess that's also why he didn't tell his friends until I got out of the hospital.

I thew up a couple times on Sunday and had a terrible diarrhea, but in the evening I started feeling a tiny bit better. The doctor came to see me like he promised he would. He was really nice I must say. On Monday I had some more x-rays and I was told the surgery wasn't necessary. I was so happy to hear that. Finally on Monday I was allowed to drink water and it tasted so good! ^^ For lunch I was told to try eat a little bit of juk, which is Korean rice porridge and is usually eaten when someone has been ill or had digestions problems.

I was a bit worried that the grandma's in our room might feel uncomfortable because of my boyfriend in a room. But one morning when we woke up there was a huge wasp or a hornet in our room and we all freaked out. Then my boyfriend threw a blanket over it and took it outside, even though I'm sure he was scared too :) At that point all the grandma's were saying how lucky they were to have a guy a in a room. :)

On Tuesday I was allowed to go home. ^^ I stayed on soft food for another couple of days just to be sure. Now I'm trying to change my eating styles a bit. I should eat a little bit many times a day, instead of a lot at once. I'm also learning how to chew ;) It's hard when you're used to eating really really fast, but I'll learn.

Even though my experience in a hospital was quite painful and I wouldn't want to go through it ever again... the doctors and nurses were all really nice to me. I've seen many doctors before for a cold or bladder infection or something, but I'd never stayed at a Korean hospital before. I always go to a regular hospital where people speak Korean, rather than search for English speaking doctors which are usually more expensive. And the doctors are always really nice to me and explain everything to me. But I'm pretty fluent in Korean, so maybe that's why I have no complaints. But in any case, I hope I don't have to go back to the hospital ever again or at least any time soon.

Summer highlights

Korean summers are way too hot and humid to do anything... even to write a blog :P Well, almost ;) I can't believe I haven't posted anything in three months or so... But I've actually been a bit busy. Here are some of the best things that happened this summer:

FAMILY VACATION IN KOREA

The best thing thing that happened this summer was my mom and my sister visiting me in Korea! :) So I spent a lot of time preparing things for their vacation: finding accommodations, making a schedule of things to do and things to see etc.

They were here for about 2 weeks and we really got to see a lot: Seoul, Jeonju, Busan, Daegu, Yeosu, Gunsan, Boryeong... But I'll write more about our vacation in the next couple of posts, so check back again soon ;)

With my mom and my sister at Namsan Tower, Seoul

MY BROTHER'S WEDDING

My brother got married! :D Well, actually I just realized that maybe this should be the best thing that happened this summer. It's just that unfortunately I was unable to go to Slovenia for the wedding :( But at least I got to see some of the wedding through skype - thanks to technology ;) Of course it's not the same as being there, but it's better than nothing.

It was actually kind of funny. My brother set a computer there for us to see the wedding through skype. We didn't see the ceremony well, but at least we heard it clearly. :)  I really liked their whole wedding style. It was so simple and yet so beautiful. Nothing too over the top. Completely different from typical Korean weddings. I'd also like something similar for when I get married. :)
After the ceremony we didn't see much. They were busy having a proper wedding celebration with food, music etc. :) But we stayed tuned a bit longer just to look at people. It was quite funny and we even noticed a guy with a hole in his vest :D

My brother and his bride also hired a professional photographer and the wedding photos looked amazing! I'll ask him if it's ok to post one or two on my blog as soon as he wakes up - time difference ;)

The guy with a hole in his vest

SUMMER ON THE BEACH

There is no real summer without a day on the beach :) We went twice this year. Once together with my mom and my sister in Boryeong, and once to Busan, just the two of us.

Busan is quite far away, but we wanted to go there, because that's where we went for our second date about a year and a half ago. We wanted to try the burgers that we remember as the best burgers ever. We wanted to try them again and see if they're really that amazing or if it was just because we were so happy getting to know each other and falling in love. :) Well the burgers really are good. But the restaurant has changed a bit since our last time there and I think we ate something different back then.

Anyway, both times at the beach were fun. My boyfriend bought an extra beach tent and mat for my mom and sister :) The water was amazing in Boryeong, but really dirty in Busan. I was so disappointed. The beaches there look amazing, but the water was just full of trash. :( But we had lots of fun anyway. We just have to remember to use more sunscreen next time. My boyfriend and I were all red and some of our skin peeled off - yuck. But we're all better now. :)

Thursday Party's burger

View from our beach tent

MY NEW BIKE

My boyfriend bought me a bicycle - yay! :D I don't have a car and I can't drive anyway. So I take public transportation, but there's no bus to get to the post office or super market, so I have to walk. And it takes about 15-20mins to the supermarket and about half an hour to the post office. So I thought it would be great to have a bicycle. I talked about this with my boyfriend a year ago already, but he thought it would be too dangerous. Well, Koreans really drive like crazy, so I can understand that he's worried. But this year he bought me one anyway! Of course I had to promise to drive slowly and carefully ^^ And it's such a pretty one too. It's teal and has a basket, and even seven gears - it's perfect. ^^

My precious :)

Anyway, this summer was great! And now I can't wait for the weather to get a bit cooler. It's the middle of September already and it's still almost 30°C outside. But at least it cools down at night, so I can finally sleep again. :) 

A trip to Yeosu

Last weekend my boyfriend and I were celebrating our 1 year anniversary and therefore decided to take a trip to Yeosu. We went there together last summer and decided to visit it again. There's a train going from Jeonju to Yeosu, so my boyfriend didn't have to drive. We wanted to take the KTX, which is the fastest train in Korea. But there was no KTX going to Yeosu at that time, so we had to take Saemaul train instead.

In Korea, there are three main types of trains. The fastest (and the most expensive) is KTX. Next is Saemaul, a bit cheaper and slower than KTX. Third, the slowest and cheapest is Mugunghwa. We took the Saemaul and I think my boyfriend even paid a bit more so we would get more comfortable seats, but we ended up getting the worst seats ever. I have never had a more uncomfortable seat, even on Mugunghwa. It was one of those seats with a table, so we had to face another couple the whole time. And the seats were so weird, so hard and uncomfortable... I can't even explain, the back of the chair had a 90 degree angle, so you couldn't possible sit like that for two hours.

After a couple of stops a lot of people got off, so we moved to a 'normal' seat. The seats on Saemaul are nothing special, but compared to what we had before, they felt amazing. After about an hour and 45minutes we arrived to Yeosu. Yeosu is a city located in Southern Coast of Korea and is famous for hosting Worl Expo in 2012.

Last time we took a two day trip there, so we had time to visit downtown area as well, but this time we decided to stay at the Expo area and see the things we skipped last time. There is a huge aquarium in the Expo area, but it is rather expensive (as most aquariums are) and we went there last time, so we didn't go there again.

Instead, there was this Shark exhibition and we decided to check it out. There were many people at the ticket office, but apparently most of them confused the exhibition for the Aquarium, so the woman stepped out from the ticket booth and yelled out loud that this was not Aquarium and that there were not life fish inside. The exhibition hall was almost empty, but that was even better for us. And we didn't expect much, but we were positively surprised. There were displays of different types of sharks and other sea animals and I thought it was really well made.

There were also different activities for the kids - of course we had to try them all out too. :) For example, they had stamps with sea animals on them, basketball with sea creatures written on the balls. You probably had to check what sea creature it was and then throw the ball in the right basket, but we didn't go in such details. :P There was also origami and as you can see from the photo, my boyfriend made a nice fish. I on the other hand didn't do so well and just gave up... 

There were also this 'slippery' fish that you had to try and catch with your hands. There was one kid that was pretty good at it. My boyfriend and I were too afraid to even touch them. Well I had to touch one because I lost at the rock-scissor-paper game to my boyfriend. And there were those 'doctor fish' that eat the skin. I find it rather scary, but I eventually managed to keep my hand in there for a while.

After the Shark exhibition we saw a man dressed as a teddy bear and went to see what was going on. It was a teddy bear museum and since the price was 50% off that day, we went to look inside. It was quite cool. Hundreds of teddy bears in different themes. There was a dinosaur theme, American theme etc. It was nice.

Then we went to another hall to see another exhibition. I don't even remember the title, it was different stuff about pollution and oceans. It really wasn't all that interesting. There was also a 4D movie, but you had to wait for more than an hour to see it, so we skipped that.

The whole Expo Area is quite big and if you're a smoker, then you should know that the whole place is non-smoking. So you have to actually leave the area, go outside the gates near the road if you want to smoke. My boyfriend was a bit annoyed about that. :)

After that I wanted to visit the Odongdo Island again. It is this beautiful island with more than 70 different species of wildflowers and with a small lighthouse on top. We visited it last time and I loved it so much. I really recommend you to visit it, if you're ever in Yeosu.

But if you do go there, DON'T take the red train to take you there. There's this small red train that takes you from the main entrance of Expo Area to the Odongo Island. We probably waited for about 30 minutes for that train and so did about 30 other people. But when it finally arrived, it was FULL and only about 5 or 6 people got off the train. Meaning that the other 25 people there just wasted their time waiting for it, including my boyfriend and I. The whole things was a total BS. My boyfriend even called the person on the train to ask where we could get on, and the guy told him it was only possible at the main entrance. If that was true, then why wouldn't people get off the train. It made no sense at all.

We were fairy upset with the whole thing. It is much better to walk. It is really not that far anyway and it's less than a 30 minute walk to the island, but there was no way we could have known. We'd already lost so much time, it was hot and my boyfriend complain that his legs hurt, so we didn't go to the island after all. Instead we found ourselves a nice bench next to the sea, where there were almost no people around. We took a short nap, enjoyed the view and just relaxed. ^^ I wanted to walk more, but my boyfriend hasn't completely recovered from the cold yet and I know his legs hurt lately because of work. And resting on that bench near the sea was actually really nice too. ^^

 

In the evening we wanted to get some dinner first before getting on the train, but my boyfriend ran out of cigarettes. Since the whole are is non-smoking, the convenience stores also don't sell cigarettes. So we had to walk to the train station to buy some. And since we were at the station already, we went to buy the tickets in advance. And we were so lucky to do that, because we got the last two tickets available. There were only two trains left, A KTX at 9:10pm and a Mugunghwa at 11:40pm. It was only 7:30pm when we arrived at the station and we got the last two tickets for the KTX. I guess sometimes it's not so bad that my boyfriend is a smoker. ;)

The restaurants also started closing around 8pm, but we still managed to get what we wanted. Well, we wanted tuna, but got chicken instead. It was still quite good though. Then we sat down on a bench and watched the sea-life display while listening to music.

The ride back was much more comfortable with KTX. Since we got the last tickets we didn't get to sit together. I was in the first car and my boyfriend in the fourth, but a girl who got a seat next to my boyfriend was kind enough to switch places with me. ^^ KTX can go as fast as 300km/h, so it should be almost as fast as Japanese Shinkansen. But the thing is, there are a few stops between Yeosu and Jeonju so it can't go really fast for a long time. We used the gps to check the speed and we went about 200km/h. We arrived home around 11pm. Not everything went as we'd planned, but we had a really nice day anyway. ^^

Everland

My boyfriend didn't have to work last Saturday, so we decided to visit one of the biggest amusement parks in Korea - Everland.

This was our second time in Everland. We were there last summer and even though we arrived early in the afternoon the place was really crowded and we had to wait a lot for each ride. That's why we decided to leave a bit earlier this time. Unfortunately, things didn't go quite as we had planned.

We woke up early enough to go to the car wash first. It takes about 2~3hours to get from Jeonju to Everland so we wanted to be as comfortable as possible. It was a self-service kind of a car-wash and we finished fast. Then we got home, took a shower and were ready to leave by 12 o'clock. But then one of the fuses (or something) died in the car and it took a while to get it changed without the right tools. After my boyfriend finally got that fixed, the car's computer program showed many errors and had to be reprogrammed (or something, I really have no clue about cars). Anyway, you can't do this without special equipment so we had to drive to my boyfriend's father's workshop first. Then it turned out that my boyfriend didn't have the right key with him and we had to wait for the security guard to come and unlock the place for us and then... after all the programming and test drives... it was already almost 3pm. Oh and for some reason, on top of everything, the door to our building got stuck and wouldn't open, so we were kind of locked out for a while... :) And yes, there was a lot of traffic that day too.

Well, what can you do. It's a long drive and who'd want to have some problems on the way. It's better to be safe than sorry, so... we had no choice. We left around 3pm and there was sooo much traffic that we didn't arrive to Everland before 6pm. It wasn't the way we'd planned it, but since it couldn't have been helped, I tried not to get annoyed and decided to have a great time anyway. ^^

We bought the night ticket (after 5pm) which is a bit cheaper, but still expensive. With a little bit of a discount it was still 36.000krw per person. But all amusement parks in Korea are rather expensive and this is one of the biggest ones.

Well, the good thing about arriving so late was that there were really not that many people. Last time we were there we had to park really far away form the actual amusement park and had to take the park bus to the entrance. Which is kind of annoying, 'cause the bus is always crowded and you have to wait for it on the way back too. This time we parked right in front of the entrance. :)

The park is really big and beautiful, so even if you don't like the rides, you can still have a nice time. Actually, my boyfriend and I aren't really big fans of roller coasters and other scary rides. We always joke that we're like grandma and grandpa when it comes to amusement parks. We look at the ride and check if there are any old people riding it. If we see a grandma or grandpa on it, then it's okay for us. :)

The first ride we took was this small roller coaster. Not one of the scary ones that turns you up-side-down. A much smaller one, located in the "kids" part of the park. It still looked really scary to us. So as we were waiting in line, I noticed this grandma riding it and just as I said to my boyfriend: "look, that grandma's riding it and she looks... emm... never mind" I was going to say "just fine", but the truth was, she didn't look fine at all. Her face was really pale and she looked terrified. :) But we were too embarrassed to step out of the line filled with kids, so we took the ride anyway. I think we were the loudest... it was so fast... but luckily it was done in like a minute or something. :)

Then we headed toward the Peter Pan, which we both love. :) But on the way, we saw another ride with almost no people in line, so we decided to check it out. We had no idea what it was, but there were many kids and old people so it couldn't have been anything scary. And it wasn't. It was kind of boring actually. :) It was called a global village and you're basically just watching this Chucky-looking dolls representing different countries of the world. :) I think we'll skip this ride next time. ^^

Then there was Peter Pan. The lines were not too long, so we never had to wait for more then 20minutes. But for some reason, on almost all the rides that day, there were never enough seats for the two of us. Every time people started to get on the ride and we thought it was our turn too, the person working there said: "till here" just as it was supposed to be our turn, so we had to wait one more round. We were really not lucky that day.

Then it was time for our favorite ride in the park. A bit scary, but still not too much for us: the magic swing. However my boyfriend wanted to find the smoking area first, which was really far away and it took a while to find it. So before taking a ride, we went to get some burgers. And good thing that we did, because almost all the restaurants closed right after we ordered. I think we were among the last couple of people who still got to order. And while people were still eating, they suddenly turned off the lights, so we were basically eating in the dark. :) It was so weird.

As we left the burger place, it started to rain. We wanted to get an umbrella, but they were way to expansive, so we didn't buy one. It wasn't raining that much anyway, so we were still able to get on the magic swing and bumper cars. :) And after that we spent a lot of time in the gift shops. We didn't really buy anything, but it was fun just looking around.

Well, we only got on five rides this time and it was raining a bit... but despite everything we still had lots of fun. ^^ It was a really nice day. Then after a long ride home we arrived around 2:15am and went straight to bed. We were exhausted.

We said that next time we'll try to leave really early in the morning and stay in the park all day. We'll see if we have more luck next time. ;)

Registering my new address

Since I recently moved I had to go and register my new address at the immigration office. I really don't like dealing with this type of things, but now it's all taken care of. When you change your address in Korea, you have to report it at the immigration office within 14 days or you might end up paying a really high fine. Actually, the date on our contract is about 3 weeks old, so I was worried that they might try to charge me something. But really, people don't usually move on the exact date they sign the contract for the new place, do they? And actually, neither did we. Luckily there were no problems at the office.

The immigration office is located on the opposite part of the city form when I live, so it took me more than an hour to get there by bus, or actually by buses, since I had to transfer too. It's been a while since I took a city bus in Jeonju and I almost forgot how much I hated buses. Not only in Korea, I think it's pretty much the same back in my country. Luckily the only uncomfortable thing this time was when a woman sitting next to me didn't get up or at least move her legs to let me get pass her and exit the bus. I basically had to climb over her which was quite uncomfortable for me since I was wearing a skirt and probably uncomfortable for her as well since my butt was right in her face, but that was really not my fault - better move next time, woman! :P

Anyway, after an hour long bus ride I finally got to the Immigration office. I've been to Jeonju immigration office twice now and I never had to wait for too long. As opposed to the one in Daegu where no matter what time you arrive, there are always at least 20 people ahead of you. I was the first one in line and I would have finished it all in 5 minutes if... I had some cash with me. :( I left home in a hurry and forgot to get some cash. So I had to leave the office, walk 5 minutes (in the rain) to the nearest bank and get some cash. When I got back to the office, there was already a queue of 5 people so I had to wait for a while. My fault. But finally it was my turn.

For a registration of a new address you need the following documents:
-an application form (which you can print out from the internet or get at the immigration office)
-your passport
-your alien registration card
-copy of the new contract
-letter of guarantee from the person who singed the contract if the contract isn't signed under your name

There was no problem with my documents, except that there was no more space for a new address on my alien registration card. So I had to pay to get a new one made. It isn't that cheap. It costs 30.000krw and I had to pay for the delivery cost. It should arrive by mail within 2 or 3 weeks. While getting a new one made I should have asked them to change the photo for me, but I didn't think of it, I just wanted to get back home asap. I really look like a ghost on my alien registration card. >.<

So I'm done and I don't need to worry about this anymore. Our new home is starting to look really nice! Almost all is done now, except for the small room. We need to get a desk and a chair to put in there, some storage boxes for the extra blankets... and I think that's it. ^^ Well, that's it for now, I've got some vacuum cleaning to do. :)

Spring and cherry blossom ^^

Finally spring is really here~ it's already the middle of April and it's usually quite warm at this time. But this year it seems to be a bit colder. We also have a lot of rain. Back in my country, April is known as the 'wet month' because of the amount of rain. But here in Korea, April shouldn't be particularly wet. It's June/July when it should rain the most, because of the rainy season. But maybe Slovenian spring followed me to Korea. :)

Still, last weekend it was really sunny and warm and it would have been a shame not to go out and enjoy the nature a bit. Everything is in bloom and it's also the time for the famous cherry blossom. Cherry blossom usually doesn't last more than two weeks and they started more than a week ago already. However, it's been raining a lot and there's just no fun watching the cherry blossom in the rain. There were a couple of nice warm days last week, but my boyfriend works till late, so we didn't have time till the weekend. I was afraid a lot of it would be gone because of the rain, but luckily it still looked beautiful. ^^

There are so many places to see cherry blossom in Korea and a lot of university campuses have them too, so we decided to visit a university in Iksan. Iksan is a small city only about twenty or thirty minutes away from Jeonju and the university we visited is called WonKwang. There were a lot of couples and families with children walking around, sitting on benches and watching cherry blossom.

I really like how this university has so many benches everywhere. We also walked around a bit, took some photos and then found a nice place to sit beneath the cherry trees. It was so warm, more than 20°C and there was almost no wind either. Every now and then when the wind blew a bit, the white cherry leaves would fly around like snow. It was so nice that we didn't even want to move. I could have fallen asleep right there on that bench. :)

 
Later we decided to have some dinner near the university. Usually next to every university there is this one street that has lots of good restaurants, cafes, norebang (karaoke), dvd rooms etc., where the students hang out. So we were going to eat there. But parking is usually the problem in such areas. After driving around for a while we kind of gave up. It didn't look like we'd be able to park there, so we decided to go back to Jeonju and eat some curry.

It was such a nice Saturday. I was really glad that I was able to see cherry blossom this year after all. I know it's Japan that's most famous for cherry blossom. I mean, who hasn't heard of the word sakura? Hanami is another Japanese word associated with cherry blossom, literally meaning 'flower watching' and means having a picnic under the blooming cherry trees. But in truth, cherry blossom is just as popular in Korea, even though the Korean word for it (bbeotkott) might be much harder to pronounce. There is also a word like hanami, which is bbeotkkotnori, but here it doesn't literally mean 'watching the cherry blossoms' but having fun or playing beneath the cherry blossom. -nori means a game, amusement etc. and it is found in many other words such as bulkkeotnori (fire+flower+amusement = fireworks).

Last time someone on facebook posted this article about where cherry blossom really comes from originally. Apparently China and many other Asian countries enjoy cherry blossom too. And now they are arguing whether it's really Japan that's the real home of cherry blossom or whether they actually came from China. I thought the whole thing couldn't be more ridiculous. Why must people always argue about everything, even about something so beautiful as cherry blossom. I don't care where it comes from, I just want to enjoy it during those two weeks, whether I'm in Korea, Japan, China or any other place that has them.

Can you find cherry blossom in your country? If you can't, I'm sure there are plenty of other beautiful flowers blooming right now. Make sure you take some time to get away from all the stress and observe the nature in spring. Maybe do as Koreans do and open a bottle of soju (Korean alcohol) or beer while you're at it, too. :)

Also, you might enjoy this song from Busker Busker called Cherry Blossom Ending. It's nice and it's perfect for spring. ^^ The music video is cute too.

Black Day

April 14th is known as the Black Day in Korea. It's nothing scary. ;) It's actually similar to Valentine's day and White day. Remember how on Valentine's days girlfriends buy chocolate for their boyfriends and how on White day boyfriends buy candy for their girlfriends? So who buys what and to whom on Black day? Well, there are no presents. Black day is not for couples, it's for single people. :)

February 14th - Valentine's day

March 14th - White day

April 14th - Black day

Yes, finally! It's not always all about couples. I know how annoying it can be when you're single on holidays like this. Even Christmas is more or less for couples in Korea. Then there's Valentine's and White day and Rose day and so on... but at least there is one day for singles too :)

On black day singles or people who didn't receive any gifts on Valentine's and White day get together and eat jajangmyeon. Yes, it's jajangmyeon again. :) The reason people eat jajangmyeon on black day is very simple - it's because of its black color. Jajangmyeon (as you probably know by now) is noodles in black soybean sauce. And even though black sauce might sound or look strange, it is very very yummy! I love jajangmyeon.

So on black day friends gather over some jajangmyeon and then complain about their love lives or the lack of it :) Well either that, or they can just celebrate being single. :)

My boyfriend and I also wanted to go and eat some jajangmyeon for dinner tonight. Even though we're a couple we just both really love jajangmyeon. But then we decided not to go. For one thing, that delicious chinese place near our house might be crowded tonight. The other reason is, we usually eat dinner at home during the week and eat out on weekends. So we'll have some jajangmyeon this Saturday instead. Also, we don't want to upset any singles out there like on the picture below hehe ;)

Well Korea actually has a lot of special days on the 14th day of the month. After Valentine's day, White day and Black day there are others too.

May 14th - Rose day

June 14th - Kiss day

December 14th - Hug day

But these days are not really that popular. I guess Rose day, Kiss day and Hug day are. But other, I've never even heard of. There are also Silver day, Green day, Movie day, Music Day, Whine day and Candle day as I've just discovered online. But I've never heard of them and neither has my boyfriend. I think most people don't really celebrate those. But I guess some might, and why not? It's a fun thing to do as a couple. But it can also be too much. I think my boyfriend and I have enough holidays for now. We've got our anniversary coming up soon too. ^^

Anyway, I hope you have a great day whether you're single or not. If you can't get jajangmyeon then treat yourself to some other type of food that you like and have fun. ^^

We moved! ^^ (Renting a place in Korea)

We've been really busy lately trying to find a bigger place for us, so I didn't have much time to update my blog. We've been living together for a while now and our place was really nice but also really small. It is what the Koreans call a one-room. That means that except for the bathroom and a tiny balcony with the washing machine, we only had one room that was living room, bedroom and kitchen all in one. Well luckily the kitchen was kind of separated a bit from the rest of the room, but still. We made it as nice and cozy as possible, but it's really meant for just one person. And now we decided it was time to move to a bit bigger place.

Similar to one-rooms, there are also two-rooms, three-rooms and four-rooms available to rent. We plan to stay in our new place for a while so we decided to look for a three-room. All the house renting in Korea is done through the real estate agencies that are called budongsan. You can search for places on the internet or through various mobile apps. And when you find the one you like you contact the budongsan and they show you the place.

We've seen several different three-rooms and apartments and while some actually look better than on the photos, some look A LOT worse. We really wanted a clean, rather new place. Sometimes the real estates agents can show you some other rooms they think you might like if you don't like the first one. The good ones are gone within a day, so you have to be lucky too. It's really been stressful running around, looking for something that we'd like... you see something so nice online and then when you see it in person it's all so dirty and old... and you feel so disappointed. But we got lucky. Last week a new three-room add just appeared online and we called in the morning already. We sat up an appointment with the budongsan and went to check it out. This one actually looked better than on the photos and it was quite big compared to most three-rooms. It was perfect for us. It had a big kitchen, which was the most important thing for me, and two bathrooms, one of them quite spacious, which was the most important for my boyfriend. :) So we decided to take it.

There are several ways to pay for the room. You can buy it, but seriously, who can afford to buy an apartment these days? Then you have joensae. This means you pay a large amount of money (probably less than a third of what the place is worth) and then you get that amount back once your contract is done. This is really good if you can afford it. Altogether you pay less than the monthly payments would cost and you get it back in the end. However, this can also be dangerous, because in case that for some reason the owner of the place doesn't give you the money back, the insurance company won't cover all the costs but only a certain amount. I don't really have much experience with it, but this is what my boyfriend told me. And then, there is wolsae, which is a monthly rent. Together with the monthly rents, there is always a key deposit which can also be quite expensive. Usually if you pay more for the key deposit the monthly rent is cheaper, and if the key deposit is cheap, then monthly payments are higher.

For example, an average one-room in Jeonju (prices here are a lot cheaper than in Seoul for example) would costs between 200.000won to 300.000won monthly with a key deposit between one and three million won. There are a lot more expensive one-rooms too, depending on how new/clean it is, the location etc. Jeonsae would be somewhere around 20 million. Some one-rooms are completely empty, others come with air-conditioning, laundry machine, closets etc. So the price also depends on that. Oh, and let's not forget, you have to pay the real-estate agent some money too. The more expensive the place, the more you have to pay.

Some of the one-rooms currently available in Joenju

You might wonder what the difference is between a four-room and an apartment, at least I did. And the truth is, I am not a hundred percent sure, but as far as I know, apartments are usually in large apartment buildings with 10 floors or more. Three and four-rooms on the other hand are located in so called villas that are much smaller and usually don't have more than 4 floors.

So we found our new three-room home in a new villa and we moved in more than a week ago. Our friends were really nice to come and help us move our stuff. I've been packing everything in boxes for about two days and I couldn't believe how much stuff we actually had in that small one-room. :) We called a truck to help us transport our bed, closets and book cases and it cost only 50.000won, since our new place is not far from our old one.

We managed to do everything in just one day. We moved all our stuff to a new place and of course we were dead tired and starving at the end, so we ordered some jajangmyeon for us and our friends who helped us. I've written about jajangmyeon before, so if you don't remember you can check my post on Chinese food in Korea. Koreans almost always order jajangmyeon after they finish moving to a new place. I don't know why, I asked my boyfriend and he also doesn't know. I even googled it in Korean and apparently a lot of Koreans don't know the real reason :) But probably it's because the food usually arrives fast and because after you're done eating, someone from the Chinese place comes back to your home and takes all the dishes and leftovers away, so you don't need to do anything. :) Jajangmyeon is usually quite cheap too.

So after finishing our jajangmyeon, the friends stayed over for a bit to watch our new smart TV :) And I took a short nap, 'cause I was exhausted. Then after the friends left, we went back to the old place and cleaned everything. You're supposed to clean it when you leave, especially if you want to get your key deposit money back. So we did. We could have done it the next day, but we wanted to finish it all on Saturday, so we'd have Sunday to rest.

It wasn't easy and I had no idea moving could be so stressful. But I am so so so happy with our new place. We're slowly buying all the furniture that we need and it looks nicer every day. ^^ I might post some photos later when we're done decorating. ^^