Anyeong Haseyo

Sometimes, I get depressed here at work having just transferred to a new department. What with all the new people I have to deal with, all the new things I have to learn, sometimes I feel stupid that I don't know anything. But I guess I have to give myself some time to learn the ropes, as they say. One of the things that make me smile when I'm here at my desk is when I hear the Korean national in front of me speaking on the phone. He usually uses the speakerphone so I hear the person on the other line, who is almost all the time a female which I'm guessing is his wife. It's as if I'm watching a Koreanovela and I imagine that when I look up from my computer and look at his room, I will see subtitles right in front of me ahahahah.

Which reminds me, I need to finish my Seoul posts.

Rent

The hubby and I are thinking of moving into a bigger place. We are currently living in a one bedroom unit (loft type), just enough space for the two of us. But what if we have a baby, can we still fit into that space? We're thinking of renting the unit out and find ourselves a bigger apartment or a house. But we really can't decide yet. Are there companies who offer Real Property Management here in Manila? When do we do it? Do we wait until I get pregnant or should we rent it out first and then try to get pregnant? So many things to think about. I hate decision making! This is one of the grown-up things that I hate. Argh!

Our First Christmas Tree

Yay! We finally have our first Christmas tree. We bought it at the Divisoria last Sunday, but we're only able to put it up by Monday night. So so happy with it!


We bought all the decors at Divisoria too except for the Christmas balls, which were given by my mother-in-law (used them on our stairs last year).


Also bought Christmas lights to go with our tree.


Nice? Yes, yes!

Tria Villasis-Ramolete of Dream Bride

Recently, I've touchbased with my wedding gown designer, Tria. I've referred her to a cousin who's about to wed next year. I'm so so happy that he and his fiancé decided to get Tria. I was sure that she will take care of them, that she'll present them with her beautiful designs and be able to compromise with them on their budget. And I was right! Tria was so sweet, she even called me up to let me know and we got into talking about personal stuff. How I wish my soon to be cousin-in-law will have her next appointment with Tria so that I can tag along and get to chat with her ahahaha! So anyways, while exchanging text messages with Tria, this is after I told her that my cousin has an appointment with her, she shared with me the good news that she's in the pages of Metro Weddings magazine, a special edition with Valerie Bariou on the cover. Tria's ranked with the likes of Rajo Laurel, Inno Sotto and other big name designers!

Here's Tria's page.


I've always been telling Tria to set up her own website because I get a lot of hits in this blog searching for her name. And I think she will do it soon, just watch out for that (especially to those who got here looking for information about her).

When I was telling the hubby about it he said that I can one day say that my wedding gown designer is famous hehehe. To think that we didn't really splurge much on the gown, I was being practical about it. I opted for what my budget can offer me, and fortunately, Tria gave me an elegant gown, simple yes but timeless. She will definitely give you a design that's right up your ally but will not look cheap at all. And even if I didn't spend so much, unlike most of her clientele I would presume, she still made me feel special and every bit of a bride. Okay I must admit there were some glitches, like there were some misunderstanding with my veil (I almost panicked while dressing up but everything was resolved) and the back of my gown keeps popping open ehehe (can't wait for the honeymoon eh?) but it didn't really matter to me, the customer service more than made up for it, our supplier+client relationship more than made up for it. It's like when a friend does something you don't really like but you just shrug it off and accept it as is because you are friends and you know that there's so much more to your friendship than just that little quirk. Plus I guess those little glitches will give your wedding its character. But of course not every bride can take it oh-so-calmly so here's a tip, no matter what old folks say, it's better if you try on your wedding gown atleast a day before and try walking around the house wearing it hehe. It will give you a feel of the day itself plus you'll know if there are some things that need to be done.

With that said, here are some photos of my wedding gown.

With my veil, see everything worked out well :)


The look of the gown at the side

The back

Here's a tighter shot of the back

See, I didn't have a hard time dancing with this gown

Thanks, Tria for making me a beautiful gown and for making me a beautiful bride!

I can't wait to attend my cousin's wedding and see the wedding gown Tria designed. Here's the address of Tria's shop, Dream Bride: 108 Congressional Ave., Quezon City. Her email address is tvillasis@yahoo.com.

The Dreamerie

Bought another dress from another vintage online shop – The Dreamerie. This is actually by Riz, whose blog I've started reading. Got this nice dress.



When I got the package it had this little sweet sticker.



After this purchase, I started thinking how I could do this too - set up an online shop. I just have to really think about what to sell. I can buy and sell clothes too. But I'm thinking if I can do something I did with my own hands. I wish I'd enrolled in that polymer clay workshop they offered in the office. I'm also thinking of enrolling in basic pattern making and basic sewing, but that's really just so I could sew my own clothes ahahaha!

Five Hundred Twenty Five Thousand Six Hundred Minutes

The hubby and I quietly celebrated our first year anniversary last weekend. Sometimes I still can't believe it's over a year now since our wedding (and I'm not yet done documenting our wedding in this blog *teehee*). So what better way to celebrate it than just be together, just us. The initial plan was to go to Baguio but because of the recent typhoon we opted not to push through with this and we both agreed not to travel far to celebrate. So I started scouting for hotels in the metro. First choice was Hotel Celeste in Makati but the price was a little bit steep so I wasn't totally convinced. We agreed that we don't have to spend that much on the hotel so I tried booking a room at Astoria – this is for sentimental reasons since we were checked in at this hotel on our wedding. But their one-bedroom suites were fully booked on our anniversary weekend. Joema suggested Sofitel because he loved our previous stay there – he enjoyed the breakfast buffet so much!

So last Saturday, after going to his check-up we got our bags and trooped on to Sofitel.

The view from our room


Very inviting bed

The idea was just to relax and enjoy the weekend. So after checking in we took our afternoon nap (we're like babies ahahaha) and then around 6pm , we headed down to the pool. Unfortunately, the water was too cold! We didn't stay too long.


When we got back to our room and after showering, we ordered room service.

My Hainan chicken rice and his nasi goreng. Didn't enjoy my food really. I was disappointed.

But the breakfast buffet the following day made up for our dinner.

And just because we're celebrating, we had champagne with breakfast but only a glass each.


After eating we lounged around the pool before heading back to our room.





Funny thing that happened on our anniversary. I told my husband that I will give my present to him on Sunday at home after we returned from the hotel (because I didn't want to bring the gift and let him know about it already - it wasn't gift wrapped but just bagged with the stores paper bag but I didn't tell him that). And I guess he thought to himself that he'll do that, too. While packing on Saturday morning he was looking for his Speedo but couldn't find it. Since we're running a bit late for his check-up, I told him he should take his bath. After he left our room I started looking at his drawers again to look for the Speedo, too bad I saw his gift for me ahahaha! It was covered with a face towel to conceal it, but I've put back the face towel and decided to just tell him about it after he gave me his gift, officially. No, I didn't open the gift, but like me his gift was "wrapped" in the store's paper bag so I kind of had an idea what the gift was. When we got to our hotel room and were lying in bed, he asked me if I saw his gift for him. I couldn't lie to him so I said yes and started laughing. I asked him how he knew, he said it's because the towel wasn't in its proper place when he looked back at his drawer ahahaha!

Hay, time really does seem to fly by if you're having fun. Here's to more years of us being together, more laughter, more travels, more adventures!

Neno's Award

I've got a lot of lined up blog posts but I want to do this first because I'm really thrilled to get this award. Got this award from Anna, and here's the criteria of the award:

1. As a dedication for those who love blogging and love to encourage friendships through blogging.
2. To seek the reasons why we all love blogging.
3. Put the award in one post as soon as you receive it.
4. Don't forget to mention the person who gives you the award.
5. Answer the award's question by writing the reason why you love blogging.
6. Tag and distribute the award to as many people as you like.
7. Don't forget to notify the award receivers and put their links in your post.

A few years back I dreamed of getting accepted in a university and relocating in a foreign land, thinking that that will be an adventure of a lifetime I started blogging to document the things happening in my life. As it turned out, that didn't happen. But I still found myself continuing this blog because I find it fun to document my life, even if no one gets to read it but myself. I love to blog because it's been really helpful to blog the details of my trips and more recently the details of our wedding. If a friend asks me to recommend what to do in Bohol, I can easily refer to my blog post about that trip and I can give her a ton of activities to do and places to see. I must say, most of the blogs I first followed where blogs with wedding posts. I was a sucker for weddings even before we got engaged, just about the time when I felt I'm ready to get married ahahaha! I discovered Anna's blog when I was searching for a church, their wedding church is in a village along Katipunan Ave which we went to when we were searching for churches. I first commented on her blog on her post about Avilon zoo because that's where Joema and I had our prenup. Cheryl's blog, I discovered while searching for stores in HK, she was based in HK then and she blogged about Citygate Outlet. I continued reading her blog because she was planning for her wedding at that time, too. Now her blog is filled with colorful layouts from here digiscraps, a real feast to the eyes. I also bumped into Frances' blog because I was searching for photos of Archbishop's Palace. Their brown and pink wedding was the epitome of elegance. Oh how I loved her wedding gown! It is through Deepa that I got my wedding gown designer, Tria. Her attendants' gowns, which Tria designed, are so so adorable. And I'm so pleased with myself that I was able to guess the clue on her husband's birthday gift for her. Even if I had to email her about it because I'm having problems commenting on her page, I really did because I was too excited about it haha. On the other hand, Liz found my blog because we had the same church. She asked me if I can recommend the nearest reception venues for our church. I love that through blogging we are able to share information to others while they can also share their know-how's to us.

I also follow my online friends' blogs. Although Abbie, EJ and Eds don't blog as frequently, I get to get updated on what they're doing through Facebook hehehe. Even before I started blogging, I met these beautiful ladies online because of our delusions on certain men ahahaha!

I may not be a great writer but I love to blog simply because I have an outlet for all my experiences and discoveries.

Now, I'm giving this award to Cheryl, Liz, Abbie, Eds and EJ.

Download This

Do you have a favorite US TV series and you can't wait for it to be shown in our local channels here? My current favorites are The Big Bang Theory, Family Guy and American Dad, all shown on Jack TV. The husband and I have a regular viewing schedule on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tuesdays starting at 8:30pm is That 70's Show followed by The Big Bang Theory. And then on Thursdays we start at 8pm for the Family Guy, then American Dad and The Simpsons. Me, I usually prefer to watch it on DVD because of the added features but some friends of mine prefer downloading the series. My friends tell me that free torrents download are easily available on the internet. The websites offering this are very easy to use for us non-techy people out there. They said, the interface is simple, which is a plus especially for non-techy people like me, and it's very easy to search for your favorite music, film or even games. Maybe I should try this torrents download thingy.

Seoul Enriching

On our first official day in Seoul, we were scheduled for a city tour. Our guide picked us up at 9am and then brought us to the National Museum. I think we spent almost two hours going around there, knowing more about the history of Korea. Did you know that Korea once had three kingdoms and one of the kingdoms is named Goryea but most people can't pronounce it properly thus Korea was born.

Here I am in front of what's supposed to be a tomb way back then in Korea.

Joema and I looking at a map.



This artifact was taken from Korea (forgot if it was China or Japan who took it) but was later on returned to them and was placed here in their museum (I hope I got that right)



From all the bits of history in the museum, I found this water cooler (which isn't really part of their history) really amusing. Well, mostly it's the "paper cup" it uses that I found amusing. Forgive my ignorance if this is common in your part of the world, but it's the first time I saw this. The cup isn't really a cup but more of a small envelope without the closing flap. And you can drink water from it!




Next stop was the Gyeongbok Palace. If you've been watching a lot of Korean shows and movies, I'm sure you've seen a palace like this on TV. I'm not really a fan of Korean pop culture so I don't know much about them which was ironic because I get to visit the country without realizing how fortunate it was for me since there are thousand of Pinoy fans out there who are dreaming of going to Korea just to get a glimpse of their idols or the places in those shows/movies. Anyways, this is outside one of the entrances of the Palace.



We were part of a guided tour. Our tour guide speaks very good English. The Palace grounds is massive. We went to different buildings. This one is the Geunjeongjeon Hall. Remember this photo? At the side, there are markers where the cabinet members stand as the king and queen walks towards the hall. The center is slightly elevated because only the king and queen walks there.



A little trivia about the structure. Can you see those nets on the roof? The guide said they were put there so that birds won't build their nests under the roof.



I think this is the king's living quarters and then behind it is the queen's living quarters.



This was the retirement home of one of the royalties. It's a very relaxing place, very laid back compared to the other buildings in the compound.



This is the building inside the "secret garden". See those two small gates? Again those are for the cabinet members and other dignitaries while the big gate is for the king and queen.



The secret garden is actually more of a min-forest. It's called secret because this is where the king and queen rendezvous hehehe.



This is the oldest tree in the palace. It looks like a big bonsai.



Next stop after the palace is lunch. Our guide took us to this restaurant that served us ginseng chicken soup. When I first read this in our itinerary I was like "just soup for lunch???" Me and my big mouth! It was soup alright with one whole chicken and rice. Kind of like arroz caldo but more watery and not bits of chicken was included but as I've said a whole chicken for each serving! Our guide ate with us and we were so pressured to eat quickly because he ate fast. The soup was piping hot but it's like it didn't even bother him. He was dumping chicken bones in the little pail on our table like there's no tomorrow while we're blowing our spoons before even taking a mouthful.



We then bought a few pasalubong outside the restaurant.



The husband was very happy with our next stop.



He is such a fan, I don't know why he wanted a photo with this clock.



We were there in time for the 6th Asia Song Festival and a group was there rehearsing. If I only knew who they were, I would have teased my friends about it and let them die of envy.



In the museum they have this interactive game where you get to play the goalie. My husband was happy to oblige.



After this was shopping time. First stop was the amethyst store. Bought a little something something for myself hehe. We have no photos there though. And then we were dropped off at Namdaenum market. I think our guide left us there for about an hour and a half. Bought more pasalubong from here. By the time we got to the hotel, the boys were tired. But my mother and I still went out and went to Myeongdong. We rode the subway from our side of the town to Myeongdong. Their subway is as efficient as that of Hong Kong. No worries! The subway cards can be bought from a vending machine, then you can replenish the amount and after you're done you can return it and get your deposit back. Although we only figured out we can replenish it on our last day, on our last subway ride ahaha. So everytime we rode the subway, we immediately return the ticket and get our deposit back. So every ride, we have to get new cards ahahaha!



If in HK you get to see Giordano in every corner, in Seoul you get to see The Face Shop in every corner.



I tell you Koreans are shoppingeras! We were in Myeongdong on a weeknight and that's around 8pm but the Koreans are shopping like there's no tomorrow. We'll go into a store expecting there was a sale ongoing because of the throng of people but we were mightily wrong. We were only able to buy stuff at Uniqlo because that's the only place with the sale items ahahaha!

When we got back to the hotel, the boys have rested and were both hungry. We decided not to experiment this time so we went to a chicken place. Every restaurant in Korea serves kimchi as side dish and they give a lot, they replenish the plates after you've finished it. Aside from kimchi they serve other side dishes. If you want to scrimp you can just order one entrée and then just eat kimchi ehehe.



One setback of tourists in Seoul is that not many people speak English. When we order we only point to the menu and gesture how many we wanted. In this particularly restaurant they have regular rice and sticky rice. We ordered the regular one but they came back saying they don't have it anymore. We asked what's the difference but we shouldn't have asked anyway because they couldn't understand us. So we just ordered the sticky one. Good thing not much of a difference in taste, it's just that the sticky one is well sticky.

Oh one more thing about the restaurants there, they don't get your payment from your table. After they served you the food, they will give you your bill. And then after you've eaten you have to bring your bill at the cashier, which is usually located at the area just before you exit, and make your payment there. We had to observe this system before making the payment on our first night there.

Our Little Night Out

I'm so sleepy. Stayed most of last night at the ER of Makati Med. The hubby had LBM and was vomiting for two staright days. Although it only happens right after he eats so he wasn't that dehydrated when we got to the hospital. But it got me scared right after he vomited last night. I thought he was supposed to be feeling well when I got home...but it wasn't the case. So off we went to the hospital around 9pm. There were so many people when we arrived. We were admitted around 9:15pm. In Makati Med the drill is there's a door just for the patients so they do the triage there, then get the patient's BP, get their info. Then we proceeded to the information desk, where they asked another bunch of questions. Since Joema was so weak at that time, I answered the questions for him. He was then asked to proceed to primary care while I answered the basic questions. He was handed a paper which was the form filled up right after we entered which he then gave to the nurse in primary care. And then I was handed a paper too by the lady in the information desk. Stupid me I wasn't able to hand it immediately to the nurse in the primary care area. We were waiting there for God knows how long before I realized I should give "my" paper to the nurse. Gah! I though Joema's paper was the only thing they needed. Yikes! After almost an hour of waiting, he was called by the doctor, asked him how he's feeling, poked around his tummy and then we were asked to go back to the waiting area. Medicine was administered to him then stool sample was collected and then we waited again. It was past 1am when we left the hospital. I'm okay with the waiting but all the while we waited, Joema was sitted on a chair, he wasn't even asked to lie down! I don' want to argue with the nurses, Joema might get stressed out with that. And they have a big sign there that says something about how the doctors won't treat the patients on a first come, first serve basis but rather on the severity of the illness which was ended with the sentence..Please be patient. So yeah how's that for pun. Joema wasn't complaining about the situation so who am I to complain. I just wished he was lying down so he could have taken a nap while we were waiting. Haaay! Thank God, everything was okay. No bacteria found in the fecalisis and that it was just stomach flu. He was given hydrite tablets and some other tablet for his tummy ache.

Photo of the primary care area. This was around 12:30am. Only a handful of people were waiting but when we arrived more plastic chairs were there for the patients.

Seoul Late

It's been over a month since we've been to the land of kimchi but it's only now that I get to blog about it. Sorry about that, the photos were with my brother and I can't bug him about it what with the typhoon and all. Nevertheless, here's the first part of my Seoul posts. I can't possibly do it in one sitting.

This family trip was booked as early as April this year, well the plane tickets atleast, thanks to Cebu Pacific's sale. But due to unforeseen circumstances, my father wasn't able to come with us. We met up with my brother and mother at the airport on the day of our departure. They've already checked in at the counter when we arrived. Joema had work so I had to wait for him before going to the airport. But all was well after we've checked in. We ate first before proceeding to the gate. Here's the hubby getting some zzzz's because he came straight from work.

Our flight was supposed to leave at 3:55pm but it was delayed for over an hour. Tsk Cebu Pac! When it was finally time to board, we lined up with the other passengers and walked towards the plane only to be told to turn back and wait again. Ugh! But we only waited for a few minutes after that and we were already boarding the plane. We were supposed to arrive at 8:45pm Korea time (they are one hour ahead of us) but because of the delays I think we arrived there after 10pm. Good thing there was someone who picked us up although he was complaining a little bit about how long he was waiting for us there haha. The ride from Incheon to Seoul was more than an hour so we arrived at the hotel before midnight. But look how busy the streets of Seoul are even at that time of the night.

We stayed at Young Dong Hotel which is located in the district of Gangnam-gu. The nearest subway station is about a block from our hotel and the station is called Sinsa. It was a fairly good neighborhood because there were a lot of restaurants within the area. But on our first night because we were starving, we just went to the first Korean restaurant we saw - Korean Restaurant Sinseon Seolnongtang is the name of the place (based on their posters). No we didn't oreder those in the picture below.

We ordered the Korean Sausage. It looked good on the menu but it wasn't good in real life. Blech! It's like ground beef or something..like gluten and then made into a sausage. It's rubbery and slides inside your mouth. My husband only ate the vegetables, my brother was happy with the kimchi. In every restaurant we ate in in Seoul, they always serve kimchi as side dish, you don't even have to order it. Although we were all not satisfied with what we ate. Okay, I looked happy there because I haven't tasted our food yet hahaha.


Cute cup we took at the restaurant.
After eating we went to a nearby 7-11. Look at all those Korean products ahehehe. We are definitely in Korea because we can't understand a thing!

We bought soju which we drank when we got back to our hotel. That drink is something else! Lakas tama! No wonder the Koreans we saw at the street that night were lying there without a bit of care in the world because they were sooo drunk! We didn't even finish the whole bottle (it was me, Joema and Jay drinking). It lasted for the three nights we were in Korea.