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

Betty Boop changed my life.

April 28, 2016April 28, 2016Leave a comment

When I was 12 years old, one of the girls on my netball team had a costume themed birthday party. It was my first costume party ever. My Mom had the bright idea of dressing me in one of her emerald green mini dresses and adding 2 huge balloons in my dress to make me look like Betty Boop.

At the party all the girls chased me with needles and pins to try and burst my “boobs” considering I was really flat chested and shy at the time. I remember my mother saying that everyone liked me at the party and that gave me the confidence boost I needed at the time. I became good friends with all of the girls.

I think that is where my love for costume parties started because you can be someone else without fear of being judged because people will never know if that was the “real” you or the “make believe” you. In memory of that experience I’ve decided to post some very cute Betty Boop accessories I found on the net this week

Vogue Black Betty Boop Keychain

Red Betty Boop Keychain

Betty Boop Salt and Pepper shakers

Betty Boop feathered hat figurine

Betty Boop Pillow

Betty Boop Black Travel mug

Black and Red wallet and handbang

Pink and Black wallet and handbag

Cream studded wallet and handbag

Pink and white handbag

Weekly finds

April 27, 2016September 6, 2016Leave a comment

I love “window shopping” and I thought I’d share some beautiful living room spaces I found on the net this week. I love the beach and beach homes and I always think that having blue and white in a living room will make you feel like you own a beach home.

Beautiful white couch with blue and white pillows.

Beautiful Vases

This room looks lovely with the dark pillows contrasted with the white. The glass vases with the candles makes it extra romantic.

All of the images where found on Pinterest

Stying fit in a Foreign country

April 26, 2016April 27, 2016Leave a comment

Staying fit is pretty hard. You have work, family and other daily occurrences that makes it hard to stay fit. When moving to a new country you have other factors at work like not knowing where any gyms are and not being able to communicate with the locals to find the right price for gym membership among many others.

When we first arrived in Korea we were like Hansel and Gretel at the gingerbread house. We ate everything we could find. We were in food heaven, but as it turns out it wasn’t really heaven. :p

To get my mind in the game again took me a very long time, I must confess. Luckily because we don’t have a need for a car in Korea, we walk everywhere. We can walk for hours on end. We tried joining a few gyms but our first gym ($45 per month) was very uninspiring so we didn’t go everyday and then later we joined a “fancy” gym ($80 per month)It went well for a few months but we started going less and less until we skipped weeks on end. We eventually cancelled our membership but decided that we still have to keep going, so we started going to gym at the park and now that it’s warmer its becoming easier to go everyday. We do a variety of things. Sometimes we jump rope and sometimes we do pull-ups on the bar equipment.

In addition we generally do bodyweight type exercises. My husband goes to the Gym once or twice a week (we pay $2.50 per day) to exercise the muscles he can’t exercise at the park. We also ride our bikes ever so often.

On the days that we don’t go to the park or ride our bikes we try and walk for 20-30 minutes so as to keep moving. I’ll keep you updated on our quest for health and fitness.

Fun Beaches in Korea

April 21, 2016April 21, 20167 Comments

In the Summer Korea has a very popular festival that gathers thousands of people on the beach, its the Boryeong Mud Festival. The mud is said to ex-foliate your skin and those who ought to know say that your skin feels really soft after you wash all the mud off your body. My husband and I decided to go to Boryeong a few weeks in advance to look at the sites before the actual festival and this is what we found.

We took the local city bus to Boryeon and got off at what looked like a summer wonderland. It turns out it is a water park with all various fun activities like slides, pools and one of the only flow-riders in Korea.

We also discovered a very cute park to take pictures and where some boys were riding bikes and skate boards

Boryeong isn’t just for those who want to visit the mud festival, it has a variety of activities like zip lining and paint balling along with many eateries and hotels for those who want to stay for the weekend. There is also a camping site and a lovely spa that sells mud beauty products at affordable prices.

To get to Boryeong from Seoul you can take a bus from Seoul Central City Bus Terminal, to Boryeong (보령). From Boryeong Bus Terminal, take a bus bound for Daecheon Beach. There is a bus every 10 minutes. alternatively you can take a train from Yongsan Station or Yeongdeungpo Station, to Daecheon Station. From Daecheon Station, take a local bus bound for Daecheon Beach.

From our humble city Seosan you can take a bus (40 minutes) to Boryeong bus terminal and then from there a bus to Deacheon Beach. Getting back to Seosan takes some planning though because there is only a bus every 2 hours and the last bus leaves at 7 pm

The 2016 mud-festival this year will take place during the weekend of 15 July.

Living in a Shoe box (Korean Apartments)

April 19, 2016July 19, 20163 Comments

Korea has a population of around 50 million people and a land mass of around 100,000 square meters. therefore Koreans are the king and queens of stacking stuff. They stack their houses, their dishes, everything. Everywhere in Korea you’ll see tall apartment buildings. Even in smaller cities, 4 story apartment buildings are very common. In addition these apartments are around 25 square meters. Huge upmarket apartments are more in the range of 60-80 square meters. So how do we survive living in an apartment the size of a “shoe box”

Most Koreans don’t spend a lot of time in their apartments. They don’t invite people to their homes either. Korea has an amazing night culture and whenever you walk around you will see families, couples or friends in coffee shops and restaurants. There are always people on the streets during warmer months. Social gatherings happen outside the home, therefore you do not need a huge apartment or house to entertain your friends like you do in western countries.

In conclusion living in a shoe box is not as bad as I thought, at first I thought I might get annoyed with my husband because its just the two of us in this small apartment but I enjoyed the closeness we shared. In the Winter months we stayed in bed together and watched movies until late. When it became warmer, we started playing PC games against each other. When Spring came along we spent increasingly more time outside. Walking around our city and exploring areas we didn’t know. By the time winter came along again it was fun spending time with my husband indoors.