Exchange Day 67 - Happy Halloween!

Today was an exciting day because my friends and I would be having ice cream at Baskin Robbins before our late evening class! We were going to challenge ourselves to finish the mega huge ice cream monster pail! At Baskin Robbins, there is a promotion for every thirty-first day of the month, where customers will receive a free upsize with every purchase of a family pint, giving you savings of 5,000W and a whole lot more ice cream!

I had breakfast at the dorm as usual, which was a carbohydrate-loaded meal of gravy potatoes and fried fish fillet with rice and spicy tofu-radish soup. I have to say the soup was the best part of the meal, I don't enjoy eating normal potatoes that much and the fried fish today was tasteless if not for the salad cream.

For lunch, I met a friend, whom I got to know two days ago. It was a really random occurrence as I was standing outside the post office after having dropped off a parcel to Chubby. She came up to me and started talking to me in a flurry of Korean. Thinking that she needed directions, I smiled sheepishly and said that I was a foreigner, expecting her to understand that I could be of no help and she had to find another person for help. To my surprise, she kept on talking and we ended up chatting so much that we arranged for a lunch date today.

She was late so she offered to treat me for lunch, which I gladly accepted as it's considered rude in Korean culture to decline such an offer. We ate in the school cafeteria of Seunghak campus, which was new to me as I never had classes there. Like all other cafeterias, we had to buy a meal ticket from the vending machine but there were a whole lot more food choices here as compared to the rest. I'm a little sorry that I didn't take a closer look at the menu before deciding on dumplings as I didn't expect the dumplings to be fried and the fried chicken that I loved was on the menu today! Such a pity.

Lunch ended on a bit of an awkward note as more 'friends' turned up than I had expected and I felt a little pressured by them to take up activities at their cultural centers. My friend had told me about her cultural center that they offer dancing and modeling classes for lower prices and so I had agreed to find out more about the classes from her over lunch today. But I didn't get as much information as I would like to because I had to visit the center to find out more, which was fishy I thought. Coupled with the fact that I felt out of place and uncomfortable with everyone that was present, I thought I better leave. Thankfully they could sense my discomfort and didn't press for me to stay.

The next part of the day was the best as I fled to Baskin Robbins to have ice cream with my friends!!! Being indecisive girls, we took a long time but we finally decided on six ice cream flavours to enjoy! Each monster bucket entitles you to choose up to 6 different flavours and you won't just get a scoop of that flavour but the staff will use this thing that looks like a paint scraper and cut one whole chunk of ice cream for you.

Look at the mountain of ice cream oh my god this cost us 19,500W, which was really a steal. 

It took lots of pain and determination but we managed to finish every single drop of ice cream in the bucket. We have agreed that we will not eat any more Baskin Robbins for the next one month.

Dinner was fried chicken from a roadside stall and rice burger from Bongusu Burger, which was newly opened right outside the side gate of Bumin Campus. As I liked it sweet, the staff suggested a Mayonnaise Ribs Burger, which I accepted.

2,500W for my burger.

The cubes were chicken in bulgogi sauce and there was also tuna mayonnaise in the burger. It was really satisfying and we ate our burgers with a spoon although you can choose to compress it and eat it like a normal burger.

Fried chicken was 2,000W for a medium sized cup, which we shared, and there were also golden brown hashbrowns inside! So delicious!

T'was a fatty but really happy day for my tummy! I shall try to eat healthier for the next few days to mitigate the damage done by the ice cream and cake and fried food. Good night everyone!

P.S. My friend and I saw people in Halloween getup heading towards something that looked like a party so we decided to try our luck. Korea doesn't have a Halloween culture so we got really excited when we saw people in costumes, but it turned out to be a 'sensual' (as quoted from their poster) club event so we bailed.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 64 - I love pistachio

I must be really tired these few days because I keep oversleeping my alarm. Actually today I didn't oversleep the alarm, I woke up and turned it off then went back to sleep.

Breakfast, or rather lunch, was the long loaf of white bread I bought yesterday from PB! I saw a friend eat it that day and it looked really delicious for a loaf of plain bread so I bought it to try. We should never have expectations for anything because it really disappoints you when things turn out otherwise. Okay maybe just for food. I know there's really nothing more I can expect from plain white bread and I really love all kinds of bread, but today's the first time I actually got sick of eating white bread.

I stayed indoors and loafed around (pun intended) until I absolutely had to leave for class. In that time, I managed to finish three blog posts, which is quite an accomplishment considering how I can spend half a day doing nothing on the Internet everyday.

Dinner was 정식 (yes again) from the school cafeteria and I didn't finish it either. All the food I've been eating these few days have been disappointing so I got an ice cream cone from the supermart across the street to redeem myself.

I had been wanting to try this pistachio-flavoured cone for some time now and there was no class the past few days so I couldn't visit the mart, but today I finally did! And the cone was awesome :') I have decided that my favourite ice cream flavour is now pistachio, regardless of the brand or colour or shape it comes in.

Back home, my sister and I like to play the "What is my favourite.." game where we quiz each other about our favourite brand of ice cream, sock colour, place in the house and stuff like that. For us when the question is food-related, it becomes a really serious affair as we have to be specific if not we won't get an answer. I used to say that my favourite ice cream is Baileys from Gelato di Bruno, but now it doesn't matter anymore, as long as it's pistachio I'll take it.

I feel like getting ice cream again tomorrow.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 53

I woke extra early for breakfast today as we were having my favourite dishes! I really like beansprouts, even though my mom always says it's a cheap vegetable, but the mung beansprouts here aren't the same as the ones back home. As mung beansprouts are larger, the bean part is harder than normal beansprouts but beggars can't be choosers. The cocktail sausages are flavourful bites that explode into juicy goodness when you sink your teeth in, sending you to meat heaven. And of course, they look adorable.

(top row) Mung beansprouts and cocktail sausages with onions and carrots. (bottom row) White rice and radish-tofu-miso soup.

Since today's the first day after I collected my new charger head, of course I have to spend every single minute of my life with Mac after our week-long hiatus. I brought him to school and we went for a lunch date at my favourite spot in PB after class where I showed him my favourite breads. Good times, good times.

He complains that I dress him up as a girl and I always put food on him.

My favourite breads are starting to become not so favourite anymore. I think I should stop eating them. The toast tastes like a giant sugar cube and the roll is very satisfying but boring.

I had dinner at the school cafeteria before the next class and I chose 정식 like always. I need a little variation in my life sometimes, I need to go out and eat more often! Cafeteria food is not doing my stomach justice, although my wallet seems to like it.

Dinner was so-so. The cuttlefish was so rich in umami I had to stuff mouthfuls of rice in between bites and the kimchi is too salty. I hate to say this but I'm starting to get sick of kimchi. My mom says she used to eat it when she was young to diet, but I think my kidneys would probably die faster than my fats if I do that here. Too much salt. The nuggets were pretty tasty even though the sauce was a little too sweet. The best part of the entire meal was the hot and spicy soup, which is comforting in the cold weather and whetted my appetite (enough to finish the rest of the food).

Blogging about food at night really makes me hungry. But, no.

xoxo, ❀

Exchange Day 46 - I survived 6 crazy hours without food

After yesterday's wild goose chase, I took extra care to ensure that history does not repeat itself when I head down during my long break today to get my charger examined. My heart cannot take such excitement twice in a row.

Breakfast was my favourite blueberry bagel from Dalloyou, which I happily munched on the way to the subway station. The free shuttle bus to the Bumin campus, where all my classes are at, does not operate between 7:00 and 10:00 so for people who have classes in between, they'll have to take public transport. Supposedly if we use our matriculation cards (they act as a t-money card too) to pay for the subway, we could claim the money back through a series of unclear and complicated procedures. I have yet to try it out but for the sake of my sallowing wallet, I will.

Class was boring as usual. The professor always speaks extra slowly because he thinks that doing so makes it easier for the Korean students to comprehend his American accent and that once they understand him, they will answer his questions during class. I don't really think the reason they're keeping mum is because they don't understand him. They understand him fine, even if he were to speak faster, it's just an Asian thing to be modest about speaking up in public.

Anyways, I had lunch in the school's cafeteria with my classmate since school food is cheap, so that I wouldn't have to spend any unnecessary money at the mall. The school's cafeteria is slightly different from the cafeteria in the dormitory, as its offers a selection of food instead of dictating your meals. I took 칠리닭갈비 (chilli dalkkalbi) for 2,500W, which was served with potatoes, coleslaw, fishcake soup and kimchi. 닭갈비 means 'chicken ribs' and although I rarely eat spicy food, I like this dish as it tastes a lot like the canned curry chicken my siblings and I always eat. 

So spicy but so homely!

After lunch, I whizzed to TUVA. I have a 6-hour break in between class every Thursday but I still ended up being half an hour late for class. Thankfully the professor wasn't mad and could still joke with the class that I was late because I was at the BIFF. It wasn't that I took a long time to get there, or I waited for eternity for my turn. It was just that the lethal combination of a language barrier and my inability to be assertive about what I want cost me three queue numbers.

In my first consultation, I was sure that my charger had broken down so I wanted to enquire if a repair was possible and how much would it cost. Mac users should know that our chargers comprise of two parts - the battery and the plug. In Singapore, we use the squarish three-pin plug but over here, they use a round two-pin plug. So the guy replaced my three-pin plug with his own to test the charger and to my utter embarrassment (and relief), it worked perfectly well. He stared at me like I was wasting his life and I had to make a quick exit from the awkward situation.

I sat at their lounge for ages thinking about what just happened and I was so sure that something was wrong with my charger. I couldn't be that stupid to go to all that trouble without properly ensuring that something was truly wrong right? (this is when the audience should chorus a loud yes despite the number of times I have been a muddlehead)

Then it dawned on me that the three-pin plug could be the one that was faulty! I quickly took another number and patiently waited for my turn. The guy, on his way out for his break, saw that his pesky customer was still here so out of kind obligation he asked me if something was wrong again. I told him that I would like to purchase a two-pin plug and wanted to know where I could get one. He stared at me with a you-are-such-an-absurd-girl expression and replied that there are no instocks in Busan and I would have to go to Sincheon (which was in Seoul) to get it.

Thankfully, I decided to bank on my foreigner right to be shameless and I asked another guy if I could purchase a two-pin plug. He, who was so much more helpful, told me that it's possible for their resident engineer to make an order but it would take four days and asked if I was alright with that. Of course I was alright, you're such a funny man. Surely the plug would cost much less than buying a brand new charger, why would I not be alright? In fact, I'm not just alright, I'm over-the-moon-whizzing-about-in-space-like-an-atom-high-on-sugar alright.

I forgot to take a photo of my third number in my elation, I enthusiastically threw it into the bin.

Their resident engineer turned out to be Guy A who went out for his break, so I had to wait another hour for him to be back before I could place my order. I think the reason why he was so hostile was because he didn't knew that I was a foreigner. (secretly happy about being mistaken as a local) So in the end I paid 12,000W for the plug, a tenth of what a new charger would cost. Budget Daphy is very happy.

All this hoohaa took a ridiculous four hours and I was running really late for my class. I contemplated to skip class but I can't let my precious three chances of cutting class go to waste just like that so I had the brilliant idea of using Naver's directory to check for the shortest route back to school. What happened next affirms my suspicions that I am a hidden genius and to cut a long story short, with the help of Lady Luck, a kind imo and my broken Korean, I manage to make it back to school before class ended. I think I exhausted my one year's worth of luck.

The originally grumpy and worrisome day ended on a great note when I had pizza for dinner with my friend. Good food always makes things better.

The huge pizza that was more than enough for two hungry girls only cost us 9,900W, inclusive of the soda! We ordered garlic chicken which was great but I think I still prefer the thicker crust of the pizzas back home.

Exam welfare from the dormitory! Coffee, chocolate milk, spicy cup noodles, peanut butter bun and green bean bun.

xoxo, ❀