Author: Simonette

A year and a half ago my husband and I moved to Korea. I wanted to write about my life and experiences in Korea along with my current interests. Initially we came to Korea to use it as a stepping stone to immigrate to another country. But now since we’re here we are thinking of making it our new home even if it is just for the next few year as no one knows what the future holds. If you told me ten years ago I will be living in Korea now I would have called you out for bullshitting me. My brother always quotes Robbie Williams by saying “I sit and talk to God and he just laughs at my plans”. This is absolutely true. We have made so many plans with our lives but in the end its not up to us, no matter how much you try to take it into your own hands. So… here we are in Korea, living it up

Our 30 day Blogging Babes challenge is coming to an END

July 15, 2016July 14, 20161 Comment

A month ago I started a 30 day Blogging Babes challenge with my friend Bianca Luka from POLKADOTS&POPCORN. We started this challenge to see if we could blog for 30 days straight. We are both still kind of new to blogging and wanted to challenge ourselves. We weren’t sure if we would find the time to blog everyday but it seems we made the time.

At the start of this challenge I had some ideas about what I wanted to do with my blog but I wasn’t quite sure what my readers would like. During the challenge I had the chance to play around with all kinds of topics, from music, to love and friendship. I was able to see what people enjoyed reading.

Some days were really tough. Once or twice I had to leave the post writing up to about 10 minutes before the deadline before writing as I didn’t know how to start. Some topics were really personal and I didn’t really want to share those on the internet. It turns out however that the more honest my posts were the more you enjoyed reading it. I would like to thank all of you for reading my post during these 30 days.

My goals with this blog has changed and expanded and I am better aware of what readers are after. I have a few ideas for the future of my blog and I hope you guys like what follows.

Last but certainly not least, thank you to my beautiful friend Bianca Luka who did the blog challenge with me. She often proof read my posts and helped me make it more readable. I can’t wait for the next challenge!!!

MTV Cribs

July 14, 2016October 24, 20162 Comments

Ding dong its MTV Cribs and today I’m going to show off my Crib. So here is my Korean Apartment

Kitchen

Front Door

Kitchen

Living Room

Living room

Living room

Gaming Station

Bedroom

Thank you for visiting my home.

Advice to my younger self.

July 13, 2016September 6, 2016Leave a comment

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Dear Younger Self.

Now that I’m 31, I have some things to say to you

First go study. Don’t wait until your late 20’s. You are much smarter than you think. You have the potential. Just because you didn’t do so well in school doesn’t mean that your dumb. You’ll be able to pass both your degrees with distinction just go for it.

Stop telling yourself you are fat and ugly. Wait until your 26 then you’ll know what is fat. Stop complaining and do something about it. Get in the gym now so that I don’t have to work so hard later. You are still young and beautiful enjoy that and stop being so negative, I’m still trying to clean up after your mess.

Stop buying on credit. By the time you’ve paid off that little blue dress you won’t even be wearing it anymore. That dress isn’t really worth it in any case, so don’t even buy it. If you start saving now, you’ll be able to afford the things you really want later and you won’t worry about your old age so much.

Love your husband more, he really is a keeper. And spend more time with your family. Soon some of them won’t be there anymore. Also visit Julian more, one of these days he’s going to Korea and then you won’t see him for 4 years.

I would hope that you will follow my advice but as we both know, it’s already too late

Sincerely yours

Your future self.

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Looking back

July 12, 2016July 12, 20162 Comments

January 2015

On the 2nd of January 2015 we arrived in Korea. The weeks leading up to that was very stressful. We were coming to a country where we didn’t speak the language. We didn’t know what to expect. We didn’t know if the school would like us or whether they would send us back home. When we arrived someone from the agency was supposed to bring us to Seosan ( a little rural city in Korea) but instead he met us at the airport and threw us on a bus. The bus driver didn’t speak any English so we couldn’t even ask him where we were supposed to get off. Luckily he told us once we arrived in Seosan.

Then our director was supposed to pick us up from the bus terminal but no one was waiting for us. Our phone didn’t want to make any calls and we couldn’t find a pay phone either. After about an hour a young girl came to help us and phoned our director to come and get us.

On the way to Korea

The first few months were quite terrible. It was cold. We couldn’t communicate. We got lost a LOT. And we missed home.

In addition during the first few months we got sick all the time. I had terrible breakouts on my skin and I was loosing hair. We were also living in a crappy apartment in the ‘red light district’ and people were screaming and shouting until 4 o’clock in the morning.

The first time we went to Seoul we had to research for days how to get around and where to go. We visited each area on a different visit so as to not confuse ourselves too much.

6 months later.

Six months later we have negotiated with our boss to move into a better area. My husband’s parents were coming to visit us soon and we have started collecting some things for our new home. We have also been visiting with my brother who is also living in Korea.

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Now

18 Months later I am glad to say that we are better able to navigate cities. We have even travelled to the other side of Korea with no help whatsoever. We are healthier and we can communicate with people even if we don’t speak Korean and they don’t speak English. We’ve been here for a little over 18 months and we’re planning to stay even longer. When we first left South Africa it was to create a better life for ourselves. The original plan didn’t work out as we hoped but we believe that we are here for a reason and that our path is already planned out for us.

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My extraordinary last meal

July 11, 2016July 9, 2016Leave a comment

When I was really young I remember watching a movie where they asked the criminal what his last meal would be. It makes one think… if you had one last meal to wish for what would it be. I suppose it will change from day to day, depending on what you really crave.

In my current state of mind, if I had one last meal to choose I would choose the following.

For an entree I would like garlic snails, it is something my dad use to make at home and we could buy it in any restaurant in South Africa. They use to drench the snails in cheddar cheese. Nowadays you only get garlic snails with cheese sauce, which is definitely not the same thing. This picture is from Spur restaurant in South Africa.

For my main meal I would like a medium to rare steak in red wine sauce with caramelised sweet potato, green beans in cream and some baked potatoes.

Then for a desert I would like Malva pudding. It is my absolute favourite dessert. It is a traditional South African pudding in a creamy buttery sweet sauce.