Gangnam Style, Fabulous Fashion and Hedgehogs

Hello everyone!!!

The first week back at school has been good! Everyone enjoyed their holiday and everyone came back safe and sound. We had the hottest day of the year last week. 36 degrees. I thanked many a deity that I was inside with aircon.

Here is a shot of my usual school lunch.  I get a soup, usually one type of meat (maybe a second if there was leftovers from yesterday) and a couple types of kimchi. We also get rice but I'm avoiding it for the time being in hopes of shifting a few kilos. It's all help yourself which is awesome.

Clockwise from soup. Warm something brother with potato and cucumber in it, leftover mildly spicy pork from yesterday, fish cake balls (amazing), regular kimchi and some other kimchi that I'm not entirely sure what it was made of...

Below is a picture of a puppy I drew for one of my students. I have discovered that getting in on their drawing time is a real positive way of connecting with them individually and it's heaps of fun.

Saturday was awful weather...

Shot from the bus going into Seoul in the middle of a thunderstorm. 

But we powered through (I left my umbrella at home so had to buy another one and this means i have accumulated three of them so far) and made it to COEX where we went to the 2nd Annual Korea Style Week!!!

Even got official looking passes 

Korea Style Week was kind of like an expo with events on the runway - including styling classes etc however we didn't stay long enough for that stuff and it was all in Korean anyway :(

There were everything from independent jewellery designers to big companies and a range of styles from minimalist to crazy hiphop including a very cool "Fucken Pumpkin" brand. I a couple things myself, a ring that is being made for me in my size and this awesome thick felt tote bag.

I love this bag for the monochromatic feel and the structured style. It makes it perfect for carrying my books to my Korean lessons and goes with just about anything :) I can't wait for my ring to arrive!

We left the Style Week Expo and went back into the main mall and had lunch. This was my first average choice when making up my mind about what to have and having no idea what everything was.

Seaweed soup. Good but not quite the filling lunch I was after. 

There was also some sort of shell fish I had not eaten before in the bottom, they looked like little green boogers. Tasted OK though.

What I should have got, Spicy Pork Bimibap

Galbi Bimimbap

We wandered around COEX for a while and then headed off to Gangnam for some fancy people spotting.

First stop in Gangnam - KRISPY KREME STORE!!!

This is the doughnut machine. First time I saw it going and when it's going it means that the original glaze doughnuts are fresh off the line so they are warm, soft and sticky. 

Heaven in a snack.

I limited myself to one because EVERYTIME I go to Gangnam I will buy one and I do not need a Krispy Kreme sized bum.

Once I was done with my fattie moment, we wandered the streets checking out the street vendors. I found a sweet pair of oversized Karen Walker rip off sunglasses for 10000 won and nabbed myself a bargain. I had to tear myself away from the animal hoodies. Will save that look for winter snugglies I think.

Here I am sporting my fake KW sunglasses with my best model face.

We also spotted another Irish pub and decided it was time for a break. I desperately needed a cider and I think Marie and Fiona needed a drink too. 

Spotted from the window of the pub, advertising for plastic surgery. This shit is EVERYWHERE. It's scary.

Dinner at the pub. These were enormous and really tasty. Especially with the spicy sauce.

That ended up being the end of our day really. We were all knackered and it was time to head home for the day.

Sunday was super lazy and I met Fiona at the Emart to have dinner. We also wandered around Emart checking out if we could find any craft supplies that I was after. Didn't find anything useful there however, we did find the pet section....

Hedgehogs

Hamsters

Birds

I want a hedgehog so badly....I almost wish they would die within a year so that I could get one!!

Had dinner at Phomein in the Emart complex. I have spicy friend chicken and it was amazeballs. accidentally ate a chili though and that definitely wasn't amazeballs. Food was amazing but the cup size left a little to be desired.

Iced green tea for ants?!

Following that we wandered around Gawangju for a while and when for a stroll through Daiso and found some interesting things.

Decorate your UGLY spray bottles and make them fit into your home decor with this beautiful poodle cover! 

Yet another household item for ants. I should have added my hand to this picture so you could see how really very small it was. It fits in my hand.

While looking for the cupcake place, we stumbled across a frozen yogurt place. 

The yogurt needed a little sauce but other than that was pretty good.

School has been pretty much the same. My lessons in Bundang are going really well and the new people I'm meeting are super cool! I'm hoping to manage to meet up with a few outside of the lessons and English conversations when I work up the courage to ask for some phone numbers.

As a side, I started watching a new TV series called Wilfred with Elijah Wood. It's about a guy who sees his next door neighbours dog as a big Australian guy in a dog suit. Hilarious and very weird. Totally worth it. I started watching this after I ran out of episode of Orange is the New Black to watch. Another excellent series about an upper-middle class woman convict of drug smuggling and sent to prison. Right up my ally really.

Anyhoo, I'll leave it there this week. On Thursday is independence day and I'm hoping to go to Dongdaemun this weekend as well so hopefully I'll have fresh stories next week.

Much love!

Ally