What if Wednesday

So, Korea is experiencing a little "flooding".  Actually, rather a LOT of flooding.
it is not good for shoes, or hair or pneumonia in general.

Sponge anyone?

this blows my mind.

I teach english in South Korea. it's a blast... but learning english as your second language is tough. Luckily these Japs have figured out the most effective teaching method! AND! bonus! it's a workout too!
side note: THIS. IS. REAL. i have nothing more to say.







also reminder about the Instant camera giveaway - enter here :)

Epic Birthday Adventure.

Here is the story of my Epic Birthday Adventure. This may also be alternatively titled "unashamed BOAST POST" of the most wonderful friends that I have :)

For a few days leading up to my birthday (which was on the 20th), I started receiving some cryptic notes at my front door. Like this:

After scrounging/substituting together some "necessary items" into my adventure bag, I was then finally instructed to meet at a Starbucks in Seoul at 1pm on the 19th July.
Waiting at the Starbucks was one of my friends Nicole, who then took me to a convenience store and bought three large cups of ice. (strange i know). Then the adventure began....

We met up with another lovely friend Dom and headed off to Ewha Women's University where they had packed a delicious picnic including some ice-chilled wine which we devoured on the most beautiful campus :)

Yes, that is wine in that fancy cup. Because all great days begin with a boozy lunch.
(Also this is me showing the girls the contents of my "adventure bag" and how i had collected/substituted all the items I needed for Adventure Day)

After lunch, I was assigned my first birthday adventure task:


It went down like this:



im good at stealth.
i win.
Next challenge.


Challenge Success.

The Time trial.

This challenge came with an envelope with a limited amount of money and I had to use to buy/bargain all these items including korean kimbap, earrings and an Ajuma Visor. You don't know what an Ajuma Visor is?
Do. not. panic. I'm about to show you:

yeah. that thing. that huge gigantic plastic pseudo-umbrella thing that you wear... on your FACE.

LOOK. AT. THIS. PICTURE.

You don't get much better than that.

we LOVE Ajuma Visor.

NEXT CHALLENGE: Find a Store Mannequin. Impersonate the Mannequin.
Lucky for me. Korea is so "inventive" with their store mannequins.

Don't worry, I also impersonated the lion and the clown-head for good measure.
Che = 3 points.

NEXT
The STARING CHALLENGE:

oh i love a good mental trickery. But alas, convincing people to stare up when they don't actually speak the same language as you... is more tricksy than it appears...


(Also, please note and appreciate the music in this video - im not too skilled with the iMovie and by mistake i imported my ENTIRE itunes library onto this movie and then I had to remove every song individually because i have no idea how else to do it. Result:

yeah. i probably should have googled that.)

Another Challenge:

So... THAT'S what my adventure bag was for! (good thing I substituted the safety pins with a peg which makes things infinitely more difficult.)
Et VOILA!

i changed in an "abandoned" stairwell, FYI.

Other challenges included -

getting a photograph with a random Korean, Taking a pic with the cutest stuffed animal I could find, smashing a brownie in my face, creating a comic scene using my friends as props and buying something fancy...

When all the challenges were finished the final one was -

We went to the MAC store and I had a mini make-up make-over and Nicole bought me some of the make-up to give to me for my birthday (MASSIVE HEARTS), then with my face all MAC-ed up, we went out to On the Border and met everyone for Mexican dinner and delicious Mojitos.

it was an absolutely incredible day! Thank you to my lovely friends!

(Oh... and let me also mention that after we got home well after midnight... Nicole stayed up to bake me Carrot cake muffins so that she could wake me up with them on my actual birthday - which is a whole new blog post. what. a. friend.)

I had such a fabulous birthday adventure mission day!

* * * * * * * SIDE NOTE WARNING: LEAVE THIS BLOG NOW IF YOU ARE NOT INTO SOPPY THINGS * * * * * * *

Dear Colie and Dom

Thank you, thank you from the bottom of my heart for making my birthday so special. I know how much time and effort went into organising such an amazing day of secret adventure missions! All the way from creeping into my apartment to drop off secret notes and making beautiful mission cards to stashing envelopes with money so that I could do crazy missions scaring off half of Korea-ville and taking a whole day off to spend laughing with at me. You know me so well and knew that it would be something that I would get a great kick out of and enjoy to the max. I really really did and I can't thank you enough for all the effort and detail that went into planning this epic day. You are truly friends in a million and I am so blessed to have had an opportunity to know you and call you my friends.

Thank you for your friendship and everything that you mean to me.
~ sarang-heyo x

* * * * * * * * * *

PS. 6 days left to enter Instant Camera Giveaway! :)

Pic credit for awesome Darth Vader on a Swing came from this blog - and you can also get the full scoop on what exactly an "Ajuma" is. haha :)

7 things

1. Birthdays are wonderfully fun (even if they are your own and you feel awkward about it)
2. Napping in the rain is GLORIOUS
3. The amount of stuff on the brain is directly proportional to the ease of the run.
4. There are always things that you can do to better yourself.
5. Good Friends always know exactly what to do to make things perfect :)
6. It's up to you to make time for the things that you know you need to do. sigh.
7. Birthdays are key to fast-track-fatness :) kekeke. (we love cake)

Don't forget to enter the Instant Camera Giveaway - Giveaway ends 31st Aug

Slave labour...

So I have always wanted to make a living from my cartoons. As you can tell, this need started way... waaaay... back. I found this little note when I was back home, I had made it as a door sign for my little brother when I was about 9. Once I had stuck it on the Brother's door, it was official (according to Law of Che) and then I could hire him as my own personal slave. Done.

(ahem... Blake... I'd like a glass of water....stat.)

k POP.

Two more reasons why we love Korea.


ahem, a few extracts and a loose translation:

I am the best
I am the best
I am the best
I am the best
Whoever looks at me can see I’m kind of a killer
alright
This body is second to no one
alright
Whoever looks at me can see I’m kind of fabulous
alright
Even if you were me, you’d be envious of this body
alright
I refuse to be compared
I’m telling you the truth
If we’re talking about my value, 
I’m a Billion dollar baby.

Message from my bank

BIRTHDAY MESSAGE FROM MY BANK (via google translate):

Your KERSHAWCHELAUREN Hello!

July 20 Today,

Came close to us who love and joy to KERSHAWCHELAUREN birthday.

Significant and special day

With people close to the beautiful, joyful Please take me.

C the who approached us as KERSHAWCHELAUREN

Foreign banks also remain your precious bond

Accompanying financial partner for life and hope to have.

Take care of luck always be with more luck.

Korea Exchange Bank staffs Dream

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Korea. FREAKING HEARTS. i love you.