Sunday, July 21, 2013

Busan & the Dramas...

My dear Drama ladies.... First I'd like to thank you for your support and for reading me. : ) Even if I don't reply right away to your emails, I'd like you to know I always read them and I appreciate every single one. Thank you for sending the pictures too... so cute! : )

Dramas & Busan... 

When I saw my first one, I found it randomly while flipping channels on WIPR-channel 6 back home in PR. This was like, I'm not sure, maybe 4-5 years ago. It was a period drama, I can't tell you the name cause I really don't remember. It was dubbed in Spanish and I stayed fixated on it, I couldn't believe it...
_ What in the world? Is this a Korean Drama, in Spanish and in channel 6???.... 


From that day on, I went to channel 6 at 5:00pm everyday. This drama ended and a new one started right away. It was Coffee Prince.  I loooved it....


Since then I've watched countless dramas. I feel like they've helped me with my Korean. I've loved most and hated some. There's one I saw not long ago, "High kick trough the Roof"... This drama, was so funny, I was loving it until the very last episode. That last episode made the whole Drama be the worst in history of K-Dramas. I HATED IT! I mean.... what were the writers thinking!

After that one, my heart was seriously damaged and I took a break... no joke. Once it healed... > _ < Kkkkk...  I started Reply 1997 and I wasn't disappointed this time, this drama was super funny, cute & it had a good ending. But what I enjoyed most about this Drama, was the Busan accent! 

Just like we do with Spanish and English, Koreans have different accents or dialects, depending on their region.... who would've thought!


The other day I went to Gwangjang Market 
to buy thread and fabric (made some bedding for Livs' big girl room... cuteness!)↓ 


While sitting down having some kimbap and tteokbokki, I heard two girls talking and I just had to turn my head...

*Feeling like a local moment #002 : )
In my head...
_ Where are these girls from???... They're definitely from the South! Wait a minute, did I really just notice someones accent?!?!  

I knew there was an accent difference, but I didn't know it was big enough for me to notice. My husband's Korean is pretty good and to me it doesn't sound much different than other people I hear around. But, when he talks, for some reason people always ask him where's he from. All this time I thought maybe he had a Busan type of tone. He doesn't, Sean just has an (or had) Americanized Korean (somewhat like an American speaking Spanish).  

I secretly wish we lived in Busan, so if I do become fluent one day, I spoke like that.. I think the singing on it is really cute. I also happen to find Busan to be pretty cool too. Our trip there would have been one of those posts that got lost on these lazy months of no posting.
We went last winter, on New Years Eve to be exact. It was one of those trips that you don't plan but it ends up becoming one of the best. We gathered some truly amazing memories there. I would like to go back maybe before the weather gets too cold... the winds down there were crazy! 

I know my Drama ladies love it when I write and post pictures about Korea, so here's some pictures of our trip there. I think I put up some on my FB page a while ago, but I'm trying to catch up. : ) 



Beautiful rocky beach called 태종대, Taejongdae in Busan. 


I think on how hot & humid it is right now and I kinda miss the cold....  : ) 




Fresh sashimi by the water... 









Then we stopped by  해운대 해수욕장 Haeundae Beach... 



These 3.... <3



We tried a self-timer... didn't work. Marky didn't even make it into the pic. : ) 


We drove from Seoul to Busan. I think it took about 8-9 hours. Since we don't own a car here, when we rent one, the kids love it & they behave like angels. Going to Busan was an improvised kinda in the moment trip, so we just stayed a day and didn't really get to do much. We had spent two days on another town called  경주 Gyeongju . Which was beautiful too, but that's a whole other post. : )

I'm actually glad I did this belated post on Busan, because I got to see the pictures again and go back to a special place. Not only of this trip, but of back home. I don't know if it's the line of Buildings next to the Ocean, but looking at these pictures I suddenly feel homesick. It reminds me a bit of Condado and Ocean Park. Maybe this is why I liked Busan so much... it felt a bit like home. 


Xx
T.  : ) 


PS... Any new Dramas you would like to recommend???...  ; ) 






Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Another 4 months...

WARNING...  This is a very long post! : ) 

On my last post I hoping It wouldn't take me 4 months to write a new one.  Here I am, 4 moths later...

When I first started this blog I was a stay at home Mom of two (still am FYI).  I was new in a very big foreign City. I had no friends. My oldest kid was home and the second was a newborn. I had spent a couple of months by myself (basically) I hadn't spoken a word in English to a single soul with the exception of my husband and my then 2 year old child. I had a lot of time, but not a lot of people to talk to.
I was having the craziest experiences with people that didn't understand me, nor I them. I was facing challenges on a daily basis, even with simple things, like going to the Supermarket. I flooded my FB page with pictures but I still wanted to tell the story behind the pictures, but I didn't want to bother my FB friends so much. I started this blog and I had so much fun and so much to tell... 

A lot has changed since then. My older kid goes to School & my youngest is a very active toddler (she's a handful alright). We do play dates, birthday parties and Soccer (yes I'm officially a Soccer Mom, minus the minivan). I can communicate with the locals and am a pro on public transportation and yes I now use buses... it only took two years to master the bus system. I now have friends and don't feel like a stranger anymore.
Quite frankly I've only felt that alien feeling whenever I'm on FB. Like, I seriously don't know anything that's going on back in the US, but at the same time I know so much.
 I know how much people hate Lebron James or who's the best dressed at the Oscars or whenever The Voice or The Game of Thrones is on.
 I feel more like a stranger on my FB these days, than whenever I go to Emart and ask the produce lady if the avocados are sold by weight or as individuals, (all in Korean btw). I would love to record one of these sessions, so you make fun of my hilarious Korean. The other day the ajumma from whom I get thread from told me, "Wow good job with the Korean"... (AND I understood her saying this). Not a prouder moment!  : ) 

At the end of the day, this is my home & I like it here. Truth is I'm so used to living here, that I don't feel as if my life was any more adventurous or different than anyone else. Maybe this Is why I haven't felt like writing any posts. I mean I've had quite a fun couple of months, but I still get to do my regular chores as anyone else does... laundry, cook, clean, change pooped diapers & read daily bedtime stories. I clean up the house and start all over again the next day. 

Sean and I have this thing that we say, "you know you're old when...". Well, we've been saying this quite often these days. "You know you're old when your eyelids won't respond after 9:00pm. anymore." I mean, seriously, who's gonna stay up to wait for the kids when they go out when they're teenagers"... at this rate, we're in big, deep trouble, to put it kindly
How about..."You know you're old when you have the best date with your husband at the chiropractor". All I can say is, my neck and back cracked like 20 times each, on places I didn't even know existed. I'd do a date there again anytime! 

Anyways... the point is, with this and that and spasmed shoulders, heavy eyelids, dirty laundry and everyday life, there's very little free time to sit down and write a decent post.  
I haven't even stopped by to check here since April, yet it's only the first day in July and I have like 1000 visits. I don't know if this qualifies as a lot in blogging world, but to me it is. Thank you!

I guess I'll have to tell you all about my avocados, chiropractors and how much I hate doing laundry kind of stories. hehehe... 

But before the boring, I'll tell you about the fun. 
Sean started a couple of months in a new job here, but before he started we took a short Holiday to Japan. I looooooved it! We had so, so, so much fun there. If you follow me on Instagram you are very up to date on my pictures and know this was like two months ago. If you don't, then you should : ) I'm there all the time (at all times) "@koyorrican". I mean, it's easy, fun and you kinda in some weird way, get to know people from all over the world. I get so inspired and amazed at how many talented and incredibly creative people are out there. I love Instagram! Now, if you don't want to see a gazillion pictures of my littles, then don't bother. It's all I do, I'm a mamarazzi... I mean like everyday... trust me, I've even had real life friends unfollow me. I guess I'm the annoying proud Mom. Well actually, no, I don't guess, I AM the proudest of Moms! 

 A bit of our trip to Japan...




At the Osaka Castle...


In Kyoto...⬇



Livs on a walk around the Geisha District in Kyoto...


Dotonbori...


At the Osaka Aquarium...


Free the Dolphins! 
A week after we returned, I saw this video about how cruel they are to Dolphins in parts of Japan...
Too sad...



We all had THE best time there. The people were super helpful and friendly, the food was incredible & the shops where super funky, just like I like them. I came back with some awesome Japanese cotton fabric...Yeayy... and I found a vintage panda print I wanted....double yeayyy..

I came back so inspired, I wanted to try making homemade tonkotsu ramen... and I kinda' got it right. But it's tons of work, too many hours of cooking and it's very fatty, so the ramen craze quickly wore off. lol... lemonade cleansing! > <

*All these pictures are the ones I had on my phone. I took some with my camera, but I seem to have misplaced the usb cable, so I haven't been able to upload them. : ( 

Xx
Tania : )