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TAEJONGDAE TEMPLE’S HYDRANGEA FESTIVAL

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I’m currently sitting on my unmade bed with a Nature Republic Aqua sheet mask on my face and listening to blink-182’s new tune California. It must be Sunday.

Last weekend was eventful! My friend Dev and I were on our way to Taejongdae Temple for the Hydrangea Festival and ran into some drama on a bus. We were conversing with each other when suddenly, an older lady turned to me and put her finger over her mouth and went, “shhhh.” We were shocked since we weren’t even talking loudly!

Dev and I slowly made our way to the back of the bus and started conversing again. I felt another tap on my shoulder. A younger Korean lady asked if I could, “please be quiet.” Dev’s New York City roots immediately surfaced and confronted the lady asking why we need to shush on a public bus. The lady responded by turning away from him. We didn’t want to cause a commotion so Dev and I were silent for the rest of the 45 minute bus ride giving evil glares to the screaming kids, people talking on their phones, and others chatting around us.

Our guess is that they told us to be quiet because we were speaking in English, or because us western folk naturally speak louder. Ether way, it’s a public bus and next time I’m going to continuing talking because uhh, I’m allowed to! *eye roll*

On a lighter note, let’s talk about hydrangea’s shall we?

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The Hydrangea Festival on Yeongdo Island was stunning! There were over 5,000 hydrangea shrubs that varied in colours from deep burgundy, periwinkle, lilac, and soft peach shades (my fav!). We went late morning and it was fairly busy. I suggest going as early as possible to avoid crowds and appreciate the blooms in all their glory, without worrying about walking into someone’s selfie.

Dev and I walked around the island, and fell in love with the beach that was only a 15-20 minute walk from the festival.

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The beach was paradise, and one of the highlights of our day.IMG_8103

We decided to head to Songdo Beach for lunch and ordered mackerel and octopus. However, it’s Korea so every dish comes with a plethora of (yummy & mysterious) side dishes.

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On July 1st, I had a Canada Day lesson planned for my students and they loved it! I showed videos of my family wishing them a HAPPY CANADA DAY, a Canadian themed quiz (they were educated on words such as loonie, double double and toque), and I showed a video of Korea Town in Toronto. They were AMAZED! My students couldn’t believe a Korea Town existed in another country!

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It’s time for the daily vlog! Watch Dev and I explore Yeongdo, Songdo, and Gwangalli (I may or may not set off a firework). Plus, at the end of the vlog, my students have a message for all my family and friends back home in Canada. Enjoy!

PAINTING ON THE BEACH

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Hello friends!

A couple weeks ago I saw one of my students drawing a picture during class.  She was moving a pencil around her paper so quickly and effortlessly, it was mesmerizing to watch her draw this portrait that would take me a decade to learn how to do. I am constantly amazed at my students and learn more about their quirks and talents every single day. They make losing my voice at the end of the day ALMOST worth it. Haha! But seriously, teenage girls never stop chatting. I am constantly talking over them but, that does not stop me from continually being their biggest fan.

Anyway, the student I saw drawing inspired me to be artistic myself. On the weekend, I went to the art store down the street from my house and bought water colours, a notebook and a few brushes. It was a sunny day so I went to Songdo Beach, sat on a swing bench, and painted. I felt at peace to be on my own. To get lost in what I was doing and my mind off missing home or thinking about whatIwanttodowiththerestofmylife (both thoughts laid heavily on my mind last week).

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With the stress/anxiety/loneliness I’ve been feeling as of late, I took a zumba class (which was a blast!) and treated myself to a couple face masks from TONYMOLY. They were ₩500 each (so cheap!) and I am obsessed with them. My favourite was the Rice Mask for clear skin. It left my skin plump and glowing, even the next day! TIP: Put them in the fridge and place on your face when you’re feeling hot and sweaty from being outside in the summer sun.

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FYI I’m not vlogging this week. I feel like I need to focus on myself because, like any human who lives abroad, I’m going through the motions of missing home and I need a moment to feel things out.

I’m totally fine btw, just need to take time to breathe and relax. The perfect place I did just that was at Busan Citizens Park. I went this weekend and was amazed at the giant fountain, beautiful blooms, beach sand to chill on and the tall trees that provided endless amounts of shade. I loved it here and will definitely be back again.

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After I left the park I decided to go to the movies.. by myself (LOL). I had a couple hours to waste until the movie started so I was walking around Seomyeon until I ran into a couple foreign teachers I knew. They invited me for lunch at a vegan/vegetarian place where the food was AMAZING! It’s probably the only vegetarian place in Busan (I had marinated bean chicken if you were wondering, mmm). Afterwards, they invited me to their friends birthday party at Gwangalli, which is where I took the below rooftop photo.

I didn’t get to see my movie but that’s alright with me. It felt good to be invited out when I was feeling a little blue. Everything happens for a reason it seems. 🙂 Sometimes you don’t have control over your emotions and the only thing you can do is just feeeeeeeeel your way through.

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I decided to add a little throwback photo to when my brother visited. We shot the below photo for my 3 SUMMER OUTFIT IDEAS for my Get Up & Go Girl channel. GO WATCH IF YOU HAVEN’T!

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See what else I was up to last week including painting on the beach, eating street food with ajummas and getting WAY too excited when I found nacho chips and salsa at a grocery store. It’s the little things. I hope you like it. 🙂

APPS EVERY EPIK TEACHER SHOULD DOWNLOAD

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When living abroad, your phone is your safety blanket. It’s how you stay connected, keep organized, and it can help you look busy in awkward social situations you don’t want to be a part of (just me?). There are thousands of apps to help with your transition to South Korea (a translating app for starters) and as an EPIK teacher myself, I’ve narrowed down my favourite (FREE!) apps I use religiously and hopefully they will help make life easier for you too.

1. Kakao Talk

When I first arrived to Korea I thought, “I don’t need Kakao, I have WhatsApp and it’s basically the same thing.” I was wrong, so wrong. EVERYONE IN KOREA USES KAKAO! When you meet someone they won’t say, “what’s your phone number?” They’ll say, “What’s your Kakao?” Kakao is an app where you can make free calls and texts as long as you have data or wifi. I personally love the animated Kakao emoticons and use them in my teaching materials because my students get a kick out of it and anything that makes me cool in their eyes works for me.

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2. Google Translate, KORLINK, & Hangeul 101

Some people have a knack for learning new languages, I do not. Thus, I rely heavily on my language apps when communicating in Korea. I couldn’t pick one so I have three of my recommendations:

Google Translate

DUH!! Translate Korean to English or English to Korean by typing a word/phrase or, my personal favourite, take a picture of a street sign or a menu at a restaurant and the app will magically translate it for you in English (I can hear my mom gasping in amazement from here!).

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KORLINK

If you want step-by-step lessons of conversational Korean starting from SUPER beginner, I recommend KORLINK. It’s podcast style and the two hosts will teach English speakers conversational Korean starting with “hello” and “thank you” all the way to advanced sentence building.

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Hangeul 101

Hangul (Korean alphabet) is a lot easier to learn than you think. To give you a little history lesson, Hangul was created in 1443 by King Sejong and his intention was to make it easy for everyone learn. Hangeul 101 has helped me improve my reading of vowels and consonants, plus the app is simple to use. You can go through and learn the entire alphabet and take quizzes to see your progression, which I do when I’m bored on the subway.

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3. Google Maps

WARNING: If you’re looking for a specific place (i.e. a restaurant) there’s a 50/50 chance it’s not actually there anymore, even though it’s still on Google Maps. South Korea opens and closes new businesses everyday it seems, which can make Google Maps a little frustrating at times. However, the app has helped me find core locations such as subway stations and informs me what buses and trains to take/what time I should take them if I want to be somewhere for a specific time.

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4. TuneIn Radio

This is for anyone who misses radio stations from back home (ME!). Every single morning, starting from as early as when I learned how to turn on a radio, I would wake up with my favourite morning DJ’s to get my news, music and gossip fix. This app streams my go-to radio stations from back home in Toronto and it’s comforting to listen to familiar voices and stay informed of what’s going on back in my hometown.

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5. netTALK CONNECT 

This app is what I use to call my parents back in Toronto. There are a plethora of options to call home (Skype, Google Hangout, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, etc) but this is the app I use most. Like the others, it features free app-to-app calling and you can talk for hours as long as you have data or wifi.

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What are additional apps you recommend for EPIK teachers? Let me know in the comments below!

This post was created for EPIK e-Press.

 

MY THOUGHTS (ORLANDO)

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I rarely make posts like this. I don’t ever want to get used to writing posts like this.

It’s been a few days since the tragedy that struck Orlando and I want to publicly post my thoughts because I know there are people (perhaps yourself) who want to be reminded they’re not alone if you feel confused or upset.

For the past few days I’ve been deeply saddened. On the weekend I heard about musician/YouTuber Christina Grimmie, whom I watched for years, be killed while signing autographs for fans. This news struck a cord. When you watch someone on YouTube you get to know them, their favourite foods, their family, what they do on a day to day basis, etc.. they become your friend that you check in with daily or weekly. When I read on Twitter that Christina has been tragically shot, I honestly didn’t know what “shot” meant. My mind could not process a beautiful, 22-year-old girl who was living her dreams have her life taken away for no reason.

All we’re looking for is love and a little light.

Not long after, I read about the Orlando nightclub shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in the United States. Again, I didn’t know what all of it meant. I looked at a picture of the shooter and didn’t understand why this man would want to take away innocent lives from a place where people were there to promote love and equality.

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Purchasing a firearm is as easy as going on the internet, putting it in your cart and (in most cases) you don’t even need to provide a background check. I read today that nearly half the killers in shootings between 1982 – 2012 bought their firearms legally under U.S. gun laws. I believe it. When I went to Nashville last year, they promoted guns on giant billboards along the highway and called it the best accessory. It makes me feel sick to my stomach.

We’re 166 days into 2016 and the U.S. has had 133 mass shootings.

You know what’s harder to get than a gun? A driver’s license, an abortion, even a full-time job with the amount of background checks and interviews you go through.

There’s been supportive hashtags on Instagram and Twitter, especially after Lin-Manuel Miranda made his speech at the Tony awards reminding us that LOVE IS LOVE.

Love is a word that we don’t use very often. We should use it every chance we get. Love is a word people fear because it means they can get hurt or attached. Strike away all the heavy stigma that comes with love that you see in romance movies or read in novels because everyone needs to know they’re loved. People need to be reminded that they matter.

Love means acceptance. Love means we are in this together. Regardless of race, religion, sexuality.. LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE IS LOVE.

You’re not the only one still saddened by what has happened this week (it’s perfectly normal to feel this way even if you don’t have a personal connection to the victims). You’re not alone. My prayers go out to Christina’s loved ones and to those who lost a loved one in the nightclub shooting and to everyone around the world who are mourning.

Every day spread love, but especially today. The world needs it more than ever right now.

HAEUNDAE SAND FESTIVAL

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Hello friends!

I went to the Haeundae Sand Festival last weekend, a magical place where you can go tobogganing down a giant sand hill, get lost in a sand maze and awe at the countless number of sand sculptures. You get the point.

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See all the sandy festivities and witness non-sand related moments, such as when I get locked out of my house and where I had the BEST chicken soup, in the vlog below!

3 SUMMER OUTFIT IDEAS

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My brother and I created a fashion lookbook together on my Get Up & Go Girl channel titled: 3 SUMMER OUTFIT IDEAS! He edited the video and added original music (what a talented guy right..). I absolutely loved how it turned out. Let me know what you think. 🙂

Product descriptions below!

 

Outfit #1:

Top: Uniqlo
Shorts: Gap
Shoes: Nike
Sunglasses: Street vendor in Seoul
Bracelet: Chinese jade bracelet, a gift from my aunt

Outfit #2

Shirt: Thrift
Skirt: Thrift
Shoes: Gap
Hair tie: Sephora
Necklace: A gift from my cousin
Earrings: Red Eye
Pretzel heart ring: Street vendor in Austria
Diamond ring: Swarovski

Outfit #3

Shirt: Thrift
Jeans: Zara
Belt: Ann Taylor
Sandals: Francesca’s

KOREAN THEATRE IS PRETTY RAD

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Hello friends!

Last weekend the sun was shining and I attended my first Farmer’s Dance, or Nongak as it’s officially called. It’s one of the oldest dance forms in Korea and traditionally performed during harvesting time so farmers can have a beat to work to. It was believed the dance will also purify the villages from thieves and fires. As someone who lives in the area, I appreciate this very much. 😉

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My friend and I went to a dog cafe in Nampo! I immediately fell in love with a puppy named Dookie because his ears and feet were too big for his body and he awkwardly flopped as he walked. He had no interest in me but I got my puppy cuddle fix and, it was fantastic.

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Speaking of animals, there is an abundance or stray cats in my area. I named this one Lucy. She likes to climb walls, judge you as you walk past and eats garbage. #spiritanimal

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My co-teacher gave me tickets to see The Queen’s Banquet in Haeundae Grand Hotel and it was quite lovely! It wasn’t in Englsh but the costumes were amazing, and the traditional music made my toes tap. See a preview (and much more!) in my vlog below.

TUCK EVERLASTING – NATALIE BABBITT

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Last week I had two hours to spare as I was waiting for my friend to finish work. I stumbled upon a bookstore in Seomyeon and figured I’d read a book to pass the time. English sections are hard to find in Korea so I knew I had to walk up and down each row, graze hundreds of books in hopes to find an English title, ANY English title (even an instructions manual would do the trick).

It wasn’t until I got to the back corner of the store. English books were crammed together, as if they were only allowed to share that one section of the shelf. They were mostly children and youth books but it was no matter, I picked up Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit, sat on a staggered steps in the bookstore and read.

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Two hours passed quickly as I finished the book and looked up for the first time since opening the cover. I sat there on the steps feeling melancholy, drifting from Winnie’s world into my own. I couldn’t think of a better way to spend two hours.

This post isn’t a review of the book, I simply wanted to share how lovely it was to wander around a bookstore, pick up a novel (a classic one at that!) and read it cover to cover with no interruptions. Everyone needs to do this at least once in their life. It’s good for the soul.

My favourite quotes from Tuck Everlasting:

“It’s a wheel, Winnie. Everything’s a wheel, turning and turning, never stopping. The frogs is part of it, and the bugs, and the fish, and the wood thrush, too. And people. But never the same ones. Always coming in new, always growing and changing, and always moving on. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the way it is.”

“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever, you just have to live.”

KOREAN FOOD COMA

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It’s getting pretty toasty in Busan (summer is coming!) so consuming ice cream as much as I breathe is getting to be pretty common.

My go-tos are the honeydew melon popsicle and vanilla milkshake (you can get both at any convenience store in Busan and cost ₩1,000). Or if I’m feelin’ fancy, I get a green tea chocolate almond ice cream from Natuur Pop. This double scoop cone was around ₩4,500. I advise if you go, get the HUGE container that you can share with 4-5 people and fill up with ice cream for ₩10,000. I found that out a little too late..

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I discovered one of my favourite places in Busan! If you ever visit this beautiful city, you need to head toward the Oryukdo Skywalk (the skywalk is a glass floor that looks over the sea). Beside the skywalk there is a coastal hiking trail that goes on for 3.5 kilometers. The views are breathtaking (see photo below.. it basically looks like this for the entire hike).

Next time I’m going to bring a backpack full of food because you’re able to walk down where the waves hit the rocks and set up a picnic. BTW, picnics are extremely popular here, I’m always tempted to sit down with a family and join them.

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I hit up a lemonade place near my house, and the view was spectacular! Nothing better than chilling on a patio with a cold bevvy in hand. Also, I bought that pink skirt from a thrift shop in Nampo for only ₩10,000. 😉

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Caffeine fix never looked so good. My brother and I have an argument over the picture below. You’ll see why in my vlog. #TeamJessica

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NEW VLOG! My brother Justin and ate our way through the city. Prepare to droooool.

MY FAVOURITE THINGS TO DO IN BUSAN, SOUTH KOREA

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Ever wondered what Busan is like? What is there to do? What is worth seeing? Where should I go? I remember being in that spot. Googling and searching on YouTube this foreign city that wasn’t Seoul. While Seoul is incredible, Busan certainly has so much for you to see, eat, and experience.

In my video below I tell you some of my favourite places to explore in Busan including where to go for breathtaking hikes, non-touristy beach recommendations, temples to trek to, the insanity that is watching live soccer and baseball games, where to shop, my favourite spot in the city to see the skyline (nope, it’s not from the Busan tower), and a dog cafe because well, why not!

Be sure to follow me on Instagram to keep up with my adventures: CLICK HERE 

This post was created for EPIK e-Press.

I SURVIVED SPORTS DAY

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Busan has a handful of beautiful beaches. There are the two main ones, Haeundae (where all the tourists go) and Gwangalli (where all the foreigners who live in Busan go). Both are great options but if you were to ask me, the best beach in Busan is Dadaepo.

Dadaepo may not have a bar scene or food options galore, but if you’re looking to escape the city, soak in the sun, go on a mini hike, rent a surf board or a jet-ski.. Dadaepo is for you. I went last weekend and fell in love. The beach is MASSIVE, and it’s a lot less busy than the others since it’s on the outskirts of the city. It is also home to one of the BIGGEST in-ground fountains in the world (it’s pretty epic).

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The other day I attended a Busan Lotte Giant’s baseball game, which feels like an obnoxious party, with a bit of baseball on the side. Korean baseball games are not like baseball games back home in Toronto, for five solid reasons:

  1. Busan: Tickets are generally ₩10,000-₩30,000 ($10-$30).
    Toronto: Tickets are generally  $25-$120.
  2. Busan: Three hours of constant cheering and dancing.
    Toronto: People clap when someone hits a ball.
  3. Busan: You can bring your own food in the stadium.
    Toronto: Don’t even think about it.
  4. Busan: You wear an orange plastic bag on your head for team spirit.
    Toronto: I saw a foam finger once.
  5. Busan: Beer is ₩2,500.
    Toronto: Beer is $9.

It’s a pretty damn good time.

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Last week my school had Sports Day, an entire day where students competed against each other in various games of tug-of-war, jump rope and relay races. Typically my students wear uniforms and are not allowed to style their hair, put on makeup nor nail polish so it was awesome to see a different side to them as they were allowed to do anything they wanted with their look and dress in stylish jerseys.

My girls are honestly so rad.

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Watch in the vlog below as I tell you where I’m going on vacation in August (I’M SO EXCITED!!), my brother came to visit and we hang out, do fun things and listen to screaming middle school girls as they play all the sports. ENJOY!

YES PLEASE – AMY PORHLER

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I picked up Yes Please by Amy Poehler while in the airport back in February. I thought a light, funny read would boast well with my 14 hour non-stop flight to South Korea.

I’m a huge Poehler fan! Loved her on SNL, Parks & Recreation, and am a fan of her side-project, “Smart Girls.” Poehler is a natural writer. I could hear her own voice as I read her quirky stories, opinions on the general happenstance of life, and the trials and tribulations of working her butt off to get to where she is today.

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Here are some of my favourite quotes from her book:

“I like hard work and I don’t like pretending things are perfect.”

“Saying ‘yes’ doesn’t mean I don’t know how to say no and saying ‘please’ doesn’t mean I am waiting for permission.”

“Stop whining about getting old. It’s a privilege. A lot of people who are dead wish they were still alive.”

Talking about what she has learned from her mother:
– Make sure he’s grateful to be with you.
– Always tell people they do a good job. 

“Your career and your passion don’t always match up. Plenty of talented people don’t have the careers they want. Plenty of untalented people make millions and make movies. There is a difference between determination and talent.

“If your career is a bad boyfriend, it is healthy to remember you can always leave and go sleep with someone else.”