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

Spring has arrived

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As I walked home from work tonight I couldn’t help but stop and admire the Cherry blossoms at night.

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End of month dilemma

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Its one week before pay day. I don’t want to spend any more money this month, so food wise I have to  make do with what I’ve got.

  • 2 Kg baby potatoes
  • 3 kg chicken breasts and a small packet of salmon.
  • 1 packet of mushrooms
  • 1 yellow pepper
  • 1 Onion
  • 1 packet of penne pasta
  • Baby tomatoes.
  • Wheat flour, chicken stock, eggs and various spices, oils and butter .

Meal 1

Chicken pie (serves 2)20160405_132820

I cooked the 2 chicken breasts and 5 small potatoes. Sautéed the mushrooms and onion in some garlic. Added half a block of chicken stock and mixed it into the mushroom mix

I then Peeled the potatoes, cut up the chicken and potatoes into smaller pieces and added everything together. I added some thyme and black pepper

I then made the crust with flour, butter, salt, eggs and water. I poured it on top of the Chicken mixture and baked it in the oven until the crust was golden brown.

Meal 2

I was a little lazy, I was planning on making potato quiche but I ate the eggs for breakfast

I made baked potato, fried mushrooms (sautéed with garlic) and salmon.

Meal 3

Pasta (serves 2)20160407_124925

I made half a packet of pasta the usual way but added some chicken stock to the water. I then fried half an onion and the yellow pepper. I made a white sauce and added everything together. I then topped it off with some fresh tomatoes because it looked kind of dull.

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Geeky Fridays

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I am a real geek at heart. I love reading books, playing computer games, reading comics and watching movies. In winter months in Korea the only thing you can do is stay indoors. Therefore I have rekindled my love for computer games.

SO… this is what I’ve been spending my free time on. This Video contains 2 minutes of game play.

The game is very realistic. If you get shot once in the head, you die. If you get 2 body shots, depending on the amount of armour you have, you die. There is no health-bars for any player so you cant see whether you’ve hit someone or not. If you see them going down, they might have decided to lie down or they might have died. You just have to take your chances.

Furthermore it is slow paced as you have to play strategically. Running in shooting and screaming will only get you killed.If you were a fan of Counter Strike, you will love Insurgency. But beware, it is slightly different

  1. You cannot upgrade your guns. Everyone starts out with the same stock guns.
  2. You don’t always know if you’ve killed the other player. They don’t have health bars
  3. You don’t know how much health you have. You too, don’t have a health bar.
  4. The game is objective based. You have to get capture or defend the objective.
  5. You can choose to play “modern warfare” (Insurgent forces vs Terrorists) or “Day if Infamy”, where you can be either a Nazi soldier or American soldier.
  6. You can play PVP or against the bots. Either way you play with on-line players on your team.

You can buy it on Steam for around $16.

5 Rules for Hiking in Korea.

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We recently went for a hike up one of our mountains and this is what I’ve learned from the experience.

  1. Do NOT, I repeat Do NOT follow the elderly up the mountain. They are much fitter than you can ever imagine.Don’t think just because they are old that they will take the easiest route, they won’t. They take the longest and most demanding route up the mountain.20160402_121417(0)
  2. Follow the families with the kids. They take the easiest route and come back down.20160402_131202
  3. Do not follow the road less travelled by. It is less travelled for a reason. The reason being that you WILL get lost and end up hiking for 2 hours instead of you intended 1.20160402_122012 - Copy (3)
  4. Don’t follow the easiest route. Do not think that if a path looks easy that it is. A path may look like its going down hill but more often than not it will go back uphill20160402_131115
  5. Don’t be afraid to turn back. When you get lost, don’t be scared to turn back, even if the hill is really steep. If you get lost try to get back up the mountain. Most of Korea’s hiking trails are more like a big hill than a mountain. You’ll get out of there eventually.20160402_122503 - Copy (3)

Now that you know the rules. Let me tell you about our mountain in Seosan. Once you get to the top there is a picnic area where you can sit and relax with your hiking buddies you can also go up the watch tower and have a view of the whole of Seosan. There is also an old Korean style building and statues that you can look at while you hike. 100_3814 - Copy (1)Once you go down the mountain there is a coffee shop and a Pizzeria where you can end you expedition.

Your job doesn’t define you

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When I was younger, the last thing I ever wanted to be was a teacher. Although my mother was a teacher. I somehow thought that being a teacher meant that you are unsuccessful.

I have done many types of work during the years. At first I was a florist and I thought that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to own my own little shop. I thought I was a creative person, although my mother reassured me that I was only about 30% creative, she was right by the way.268

Then things changed and I went back to school to get my bachelors degree, I developed a profound love for psychology but went to work for a Law firm. I liked wearing business suits because I looked and felt successful even though I only earned $800 a month. Our plan was to immigrate to Australia, but we had to be on their skills list, so I studied a post graduate certificate in Education. To my dismay, the skills lists changed and they no longer needed middle school teachers in Australia. We needed to leave South Africa because the crime and public protest has become too violent and too frequent. I had sleepless nights because I feared that someone would come into our home and kill us, which is what was happening all over the country.100_3832 - Copy (1)

We then came to Korea, where most foreigners work as either ESL teachers or Engineers. I’m obviously no engineer so teaching it is then. In my time here I have come to the conclusion that although your career sets the tone for your behaviour, example no nudie pics on the internet, you don’t have to label yourself as a specific type of person. You are who you are inside. Your life is what you make it. Just because you have a desk job where you sit in a cubicle all day, it doesn’t have to define you as boring or typical. You can run your own “fight club” during the weekend for all we know. Be true to yourself, read and study things that interest you. Build your knowledge with your interests. The only way a person can be happy is if they accept responsibility for their mistakes and realise that no one is to blame. Its in the past. Get over it and focus on what’s in your life now. No one knows what the future will bring. We certainly didn’t expect our lives to turn out the way it has.