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Welcome to my travel blog! This page will be including all things travel related, which will involve documenting all of my mad adventures on this blog, when I can. Conquering the world, one continent at a time!!!

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The double edged sword...

16:19 Unknown 0 Comments

Well my darlings, another weekend has been and gone, its Sunday night, I'm lying in bed as I write this, scoffing on Korean Melon cake and sipping on a proper cup of PG Tips. I'm not feeling 100%, so much so I actually have done no cleaning whatsoever today and I've only managed to load and unload the washing machine a few times. I've had to drag my sorry ass out of the house to buy some food at the local Y-mart just so I could eat dinner. I am feeling very sorry for myself because I'm lacking major TLC during this time of sickness. I'm making the most of the last day of the weekend before the 30 day challenge starts by scoffing cake to ease the self loathing. (more information on my fitness journey other blog here.)

So, lets begin in true Cherry travel blog fashion and talk about my week, now this week was only 4 days due to Buddhas birthday last weekend (I was broke so didn't do anything particularly out of the ordinary, hence no blog last weekend), which made the week go by rather fast and it got to Friday, the best day of all or so I thought with having no classes until 2.40pm. I went through the day happy as Larry munching on free home made Kim bob for lunch and was chilling on the internet until my first class.

Moving on, the weekend progressively got better, Gaturday came around in its usual flamboyant fashion and I had received my training money as an advance so I had some well needed retail therapy with my Gaturi sister, all things I needed mind you, I didn't hit town with intentions of splurging I had an exact idea of what I needed in my head: A watch, an umbrella, new nail polish, face cream, Korean phone number, shoes, clothes detergent, lunch, dessert and food shopping. The watch cost the most and I had a price in my head, but then it was love at first sight and it cost double what I wanted to spend but I know I was paying for quality and I had after service plus (Chloe Mimi aka Gaturi Sister was so kind to give me her 10% discount voucher.)

May I just add, all the stuff I have purchased or consumed or visited/participated in on a Gaturday has always been because Mimi had suggested it with her vast knowledge of labels, activities and the best places to eat and shop. For that I am extremely grateful, this girl has gone out of her way to help me in every way possible since I have arrived here, with no intention of getting anything in return. The stuff I purchased and consumed as usual was all her doing and so far my experience of Korea and specifically Gwangju has been so enlightening, fun and positive because of her. The cream I just purchased I adore and I really think I have found my holy grail face cream for summer/spring. Plus its so cute, affordable, non greasy, fast absorbing, moisturising and a little goes far!! Its my new miracle cream!

After all the shopping in downtown shops were finished, Mimi and I had some delicious lunch she took me to a place that served steamed foods including a steamed soy sauce and chicken dish with noodles, potatoes, rice cakes and rice it actually tastes exactly like a dish my mum makes at home but just differs in some of the ingredients. It was one of those taste sensation moments when you realise you miss your mums cooking :( but it's so good to know I had a taste of home 10 minutes up the road from my house.

We of course always follow with dessert and again we went to get our favourite dessert "Pat bing soo" but we went even more traditional and got the original red bean version which was less sweeter and had chunks of red beans amongst the paste (i'm a red bean fiend, give me anything red bean over chocolate any day).





After we were done window shopping and getting everything I needed, we headed for NC Wave department store, which so far is my favourite place in the whole world, affordable but excellent quality stuff all under one roof but also designer stuff (I was eyeing up the Michael Kors handbags and designer sunglasses). The reason we headed for there was because I needed an umbrella and two, I had planned on purchasing some shoes that were essentially Toms at a cheaper price and a different label (they were pretty much identical except they had a different tag on them). I realised the splurge on that watch had an immediate effect on my bank balance and it became just window shopping and saying goodbye to the Tom's prettier and more affordable cousin. I also happened to fall in love with some purple leopard print open toe jelly pumps too,  it took a lot of willpower but I manned the fuck up like a grown up should and left with my head held high and my bank account unscathed. So it was bye bye shoes hello boring shopping for real essentials...

I headed home with 90% of my mental shopping list in my hands, not long did I get through the door the old Jestmeister and I had got into a convo because of the great excitement that I finally was no longer non existent in S.Korea I had a phone number! In all the excitement kakao Id's & numbers were exchanged and before I knew it my empty Saturday night became dinner, booze and films at my pad. It was good end to a day of shopping and exactly what i needed, plus it felt like forever since I last saw him which If i recall was the Korean BBQ restaurant??? Catchups were in order over beer and soju concoctions (a very common alcoholic beverage mix here, lethal and a delight to drink).

Jest and I had planned to hike Mudeung mountain early this morning with our Korean friend, but I was not in the best state physically and this morning feeling terribly weak and tired and in pain it was a good idea I had to cancel. (Mother nature why do you hate me so??)
A rain check is in order, despite being terrified of heights, never hiking in my life and many other worries, I would like to say I have climbed a mountain and not just any mountain, an iconic mountain which happens to be situated pretty close to my house!!! So instead of climbing a huge rock that is thousands of feet tall, I spent most of my day being sick and harassed by Korean men mostly on an app that is meant to be used for language exchanging (I.e. I help you learn English you help me learn Korean), and once the messages started coming in, oh boy, did they start coming in, I spent my day managing my inbox and trying not to crash my phone and flipping back and fourth through maybe 60 different peoples conversations, I weeded out a few people because they were just creeps but the majority were really interested in helping me learn Korean and me teaching them English.

So back to reality, its now the 1st June woohoo!!!!! Next month is my 24th birthday or 26th if you are talking Korean age. It also is payday for me tomorrow and this is where it becomes the double edged sword, It's payday tomorrow but it is also Monday and that alone is enough to make my sick self just want to shut myself off from the world. But this also means I can finish off the remainder of the house hold shopping for things such as french presses and a decent water bottle for hiking, plus get those shoes and order my bicycle! Yipee!


Heres a closing thought for you... Is there any truth behind Mercury Retrograde? I've only recently become accustomed to this term and I've never believed it before but today has made me second guess that now...







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Gaturday adventures on the cheap...

15:17 Unknown 0 Comments

As I write this, the smell of strawberry nail polish remover lingers on my hands, don't ask why I thought that was necessary to tell you about but I feel strawberry smelling liquid solvents is a good metaphor for the cool and crazy things that exist and occur in South Korea.

But before I go onto the wacky adventures of Miss Von Dee, here's an update on my week; my last class I have everyday is one class I really do not look forward to, my students are extremely bright but this also means they don't want to learn, they talk too much when I'm talking (in Korean may I add) and generally lack respect for the "new english" teacher. They are the only class I find very difficult which is ironic as they are the most advanced class I teach and when they do listen they pick it up very quickly and thats my lesson done within 10 minutes with nothing left to do then to sit and ponder ways to spice up the lesson and keep them engaged for the next 30 (which seems impossible at the moment). There was a day last week when I'm pretty sure I pissed off my boss (which may I add is not actually my fault), the school needs to have system in place in order to be more organised, the constant change in the kindergarten timetable and combination of lack of training (plopping me in several teachers classes for like a week is not training). This puts me in difficult situations which affects my performance and of course reflects on what sort of teacher I am, which at the moment looks like a shitty, unprepared teacher with no time keeping skills.

My week could have gone a lot worse if it wasn't for my friend Katie who sent me a package full of home comforts and treats, she was more than willing to help me and post me out stuff I needed, she didn't even mind picking up a bar of cadburys chocolate for my Ggaturi sister! Katie if you are reading this I want to say thank you again, I cant say enough just how much I appreciate the generosity and kindness of this girl. She did amazing with getting everything I needed so speedily, this girl just knows me too well I swear (I guess in the whole 6 years she's known me she has being paying attention to me) she really is a super mum!
Stuff thats too expensive to buy in Korea or hard to get hold of, as well as cute pirate themed gift from Katies son.
The Ggaturi Sis enjoying her Dairy Milk sent from London, courtesy of my good friend Katie.
The trials and tribulations of Cherry but it continued to improve!
Friday the 15th May was National Teachers Day in Korea, which usually involves students giving gifts and flowers to teachers. I was invited by the principal along with the other teachers to go out for the meal on Thursday evening, most of the time I was just sitting there as I have yet to understand Korean, but I did get a few conversations thrown my way. We enjoyed some delicious food and some Korean beer which was nice, all courtesy of the school.



Handmade Rose pen, a gift from one of my students and Korean Rice Cakes from my boss.
I finally received my alien registration card after being in the country almost a month! Any expat will know if you work and live Korea this card is the magic key that enables you to open a bank account and get a phone number in Korea, as well as other stuff like renting bikes at subway stations, which leads onto today...

The Gaturday adventures (finally!) which I'm sure most of you came here to read, the day always starts by meeting my Korean sister Chloe, she suggested we rented bikes from the subway station as it was free and they were a lot nicer! We hopped onto our bikes and drove around Samgu like we just escaped a local asylum. We managed to cycle all the way to downtown, which if you know is like 10 minutes from my apartment, to put some perspective on the distance we rode, I live 1 hour and half away from Samgu by bus, so the distance we cycled was pretty far, but I guess time passes by so much quicker when you're taking in views, concentrating on ways to stop your ass hurting from the worst bike seat I have ever sat on and listening to Oasis, Bruno Mars and Korean artists resonate from Chloe's phone, all of course whilst we were howling at the top of our lungs because it was our jam! 

A really bad picture of me, but this is us on our bikes near downtown!
But this is where the madness only started to begin, you know how people say bad things always happen in three's.. well replace 'bad' with 'down right fucked up'. These events all occurred within a space of about 10 minutes apart from each other. So we are cycling on this cycle path that runs along a river, which I was told actually connects to everywhere in South Korea, not just Gwangju, these bike paths are all interlinked to each other. If I had the stamina and not a seat that was like a brick on my arse I may have quite possibly considered cycling to Yosu (maybe a 6 hour cycle?) but I really lack that stamina and I would be dead because I would have probably ran myself into traffic just to end the torment that this particular bicycle seat was causing me, (I cant help but feel violated, even as we speak, my butt feels like i sat on top of a traffic cone.) As I was saying... 

...event number 1: You get two lanes just like on a road, some reason today there were shit loads of pigeons just co-existing on this bike path for miles, I have no idea why, they weren't there last Gaturday, we were zooming along and I spot two pigeons in my lane which I was quickly approaching and they weren't moving, I swerved and stopped thinking one pigeon was injured, neither were, I shit you not one was lying there all comfy and this other pigeon was standing on top of its back walking on it like some crazy pigeon masseuse. I later found out from Chloe they were engaging in sexual activities and I had miss the part where they were grinding up on each other. Why they chose to do it on the bike path is beyond me but it makes you wonder what sort of fucked up pigeon sex these pigeons were engaging in :/. 

Event 2: So after recovering from almost running over two horny pigeons we were cycling along side these statues and lanterns in the river and gazing at their beauty, now if you know me well and know anything about Asian culture in general, you will know tattoos are viewed very differently here and not very common. So it was no surprise I stuck out like a sore thumb when cycling around, it is also pretty clear to see I am a foreigner which also makes me stand out along with my tattoos and my height. I was cycling as you do and I cycled past this tall hut full of old Korean men and they were shouting stuff in English, like "OK" "BEAUTIFUL!" It was so funny and rather sweet but totally bizarre, I guess no matter where I go men are men and they like to shout at women. What can I say I draw attention to myself I have to live with it, but times like this you can't help but laugh.

Event number 3: We were getting closer to down town and along this bike path that stretched on for miles there are many bridges, (very low may I add,) I had to do some weird crouching under these bridges (What are these bridges for ants??) I hear strange Korean hip hop-esque music echoing louder and louder and I saw a group of Koreans, but not just any group of Koreans, these were Korean OAP's dressed in funky coloured hiking gear all congregated together doing some weird OAP style hip hop dancing, It was the most bizarre and the most hilarious thing I had ever seen, words can not describe the amusement that was bestowed on me, I just wish I had filmed it. 

After these strange occurrences we decided to head back for some more mouth watering and refreshing Korean dessert that I have come to adore and I probably would never have discovered it without Chloe. It literally is like a party in your mouth and today she recommended we try a new variety which was not any less delicious than the last. I highly recommend trying these desserts when you can get a chance, I feel my life has taken a new turn since I found these saliva inducing treats and it always tastes better when you share it with someone.

Nom nom nom! Probably my favourite Korean Dessert.
That was Gaturday for another week, I'm looking forward to another adventure, this stuff is great because money is low, I am very grateful to have met such a kind and generous friend, who I find to always have such a good time with and many adventures are still to come and can only get better when I actually have regular income!

I bid you farewell for this week thank you if you read all of this!!!

I shall leave you with this thought... After all the crazy occurrences today, I was left wondering one thing... Is it still called dogging if it's pigeons instead of people? 











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Happy "Ggaturday!" ^^

12:41 Unknown 0 Comments

Ggaturi, ggaturi, ggaturi, ggaturiiiiii!!!!!

Ahem.. so "Ggaturday" is a word I coined up from a private joke that my Korean Sister Chloe and I laugh at and say a shit load like total loonatics. I would explain the story but its too long to explain why it's so funny and it's a 'you had to be there' sort of joke to even find it remotely humorous. But in short its a play on the day Saturday (Ggaturi+Saturday=Ggaturday). The word Ggaturi itself is Korean for a 'Ring Necked Pheasant'.

Being Ggaturday, like usual its mine and Chloe's day to meet up and its great she's born and bred in Gwangju, she speaks amazing English and we have similar tastes, interests and personalities. So today was no exception we met up and she showed me parts of Gwangju I have yet to discover and she also introduces me to new Korean foods, teaches me Korean stuff and just be a couple of mad women on the weekend.

I just want to start by talking about my week it went by very quickly (I think that day off on Tuesday helped) but Thursday was a pretty rough day for me, I feel there were a few conflicts at work, that are not an issue no longer I don't think, but at the time was not great, I also got some sad news of a family friend who passed away from his battle with cancer and just other personal issues in my life. This weekend is well earned and well called for...

So, today was pretty cool, me and the Ggaturi sister both love fitness and health stuff and I am trying to survive on little money at the moment due to not getting paid until next month. So she showed me a park in Sangmu you rent a bike for a mere £1.50 for an hour plus the guy gave us a free hour. We went to the park that actually dedicated to cycling is awesome, it has proper cycle paths that go on for ages!!! All this is located next to a river its beautiful!!!! We cycled for a good two hours in the hot sun (I was dehydrated so much!) but basking in the suns rays cycling up and down seeing a few foreigners around and just laughing made it such a good day. Its always about the company, not how much money is spent, I've always appreciated nature and nature here is so pretty and so clean!!  I really loved the streams and the fact you can actually walk across them on this rock path they have on it, It reminded me of those times as a child you would step on rocks pretending the shallow water of the stream was hot lava.



After cycling around like the loonatics that we are, with Chloe having a few close calls with bushes attacking her whilst cycling and getting lost, our two hours were up, so we took the bikes back and we headed for a Korean dessert restaurant for some red bean paste milk dessert. This is no exaggeration when I say that it has to be the best thing that I have ever had in my mouth, hell its even better than chocolate! I would pick it over a bar of chocolate any day. It consists of a "snow" made from milk, dried crushed beans and topped with a paste made from red beans, rice cake things similar to "mochi" and some slithers of dried dates, It was huge and I reckon some people could probably finish one to themselves if they are greedy, but me personally as orgasmic as it tasted, it would have been way too big for me, plus sharing is caring and way more enjoyable when you share it with a friend.  Korean cuisine is probably the best thing I've ever discovered, after just one week, I've lost 3kg! I love Korea!! I have definitely been contemplating settling here for good once I have finished travelling.





I also finally rode my first Subway train today to my house which is way quicker and costs the same as a bus, which is pretty damn cool, no doubt Korean subway trains put the London Underground to shame! 

Another successful Ggaturday with my Korean Sister, looking forward to next weekend. 


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Korean life so far..

12:10 Unknown 0 Comments


So if you follow me on social media, you will be quite aware things have been mostly positive with a slight hint of negative (nothing major and life isn't perfect right?) I've settled well into my apartment and you would know this if you watched the apartment tour video on my page...

Where to begin? I left off saying about teacher training, training has been great I met more people, made more friends, I have started teaching at my school (kinda) and its going great, I participated in a meet up with fellow foreigners and Korean's alike, again made some great friends, over alcohol and food.


I've visited my first Korean BBQ place (exquisite), drank my first shots of Soju (it tastes like vodka) with my friend I met at the meet up. Thats a part of the city I haven't visited before and I do like, a lot!



Moving onto semantics, the day had to finally come when I had to go to my mandatory medical check at the local hospital, it's needed as one of my requirements for my teaching visa. I had to go through a height and weight check, eye test, blood pressure, hearing test, medical questionnaire, heart test (that was fun.) I had to pull my top off and had what can only be described as wires, suckers and clips attached to my naked torso and bare arms and legs (I felt violated lol), chest x-ray, blood test (the nurse spent a good 5 mins looking for my vein in my arm, which she never did find, so was taken from the back of my hand), and a urine test. After being prodded and poked from doctors, I was then thrown into my first day of teaching, but it really wasn't that bad.

Some of the kids I teach :)

Whats worse was...

I also managed to injure of my foot quite badly the night before, to the point I actually thought I broke it. How did I do it, you ask?  I was sleep walking and my legs some reason didn't work at that specific time so my legs collapsed under me and in the process I must of somehow landed funny on ONE specific toe. I'm not 100% better yet but it has healed incredibly fast.

School has been good, I taught a cooking class yesterday on how to make canapés and a salad etc. That was fun the kids ate and I took home what was left.

Jumping forward to the present it was children's day today, which meant no school!! *dances*. I met up with my good friend Chloe, who has become like family to me since I have been here, I would even go as far as saying she's my Korean sister. We went back to the part of the city near the university where my friend Jestril took me for that Korean BBQ. Chloe and I visited a Japanese restaurant and shared delicious food, my favourite food actually!

Japanese Chicken Katsu Curry, Raw Salmon on a bed of raw onions and rice topped with wasabi and  omelette. Side dishes were kimchi, a vegetable, miso soup, soy sauce and a cup of barley 

Afterwards,  Chloe took me to a delcious waffle place we went halves on one waffle (because one can enjoy naughty things without being excessive)..
banana, nutella and whipped cream in a waffle.
 ...and afterwards we went to downtown, had taro milk tea from one of the best tea places in Korea :)  and I did some shopping for some essentials, sat in the park and walked around Gwangju in general being crazy people like we are always are and in the process getting some pictures :)

Bubble tea!!! <3


 

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