from the mess to the masses

END OF WEEK FOUR:

All I can say is this: I cannot believe I only have two and a half weeks left. oh em geeeee. *heart drops*






1. The first three Rhees in homeland 2. Heidi.. from Busan! 3. At the train station going from Daegu to Seoul (again and again) 4. That would be a 'cheese burger omurice'... dot dot dot. yes heart stroke material 5. Inside Paris Baguette aka the bakery on (literally) every street here in Korea 6. HANK THE TANK is in TOWN - 아빠 and his younger brother (seeing each other after 20 years!) 7. Second date at Twosome Place after eating a hugeass meat dinner to fill up a party of 20 people, no lies. 8. Self-explanatory. *wink*

GIRLS NIGHT OUT:




The day started off with some too-good-for-your-own-good 닭갈비 (chicken ribs - not the actual ribs, but that part of the chicken meat. look at the oozing cheese, yes?); proceeded with some good ol' girlifying; pre-gaming at "One More Shot" (한잔더 - a bar we seem to be regulars at now); ending off with a whole lot of (damn fun, but way packed and way hot) sweat-concocting dancing. Good, good times. And beats. And vibes.
[The last three photos are a sample of me & Jen's random and spazzztic fobtastic photo shoot]


+++++++

MY F-A-V PLACE:
So as some of you may know, I love going to new places.
What this also implies, is a love for airports.
I do. I really love airports!
Which forces an immediate mental replay of Love Actually's first scene. (Good movie).
Airports are a place where you find excitement and love! Don't you concur?
This week I've been to the airport a lot, it seems and I am reminded of my love for it;

Either you are going away somewhere new, somewhere you've never been before.
Or you're revisiting a place you have been before.
Regardless, you are going somewhere away from home.
Or you could be departing a now-not-so-new place. Boo.
However, you have all these new experiences and memories of a different culture/city under your belt. Awesome.
Or on the flip side, you are expecting, awaiting someone. A loved one - someone who has just been experiencing a new place.

As I waited to see my expected loved ones at the airport this week, I sat and waited. But watched.
Watched all these people greet their long-missed loved ones.
I swear this is one of the best feelings ever: watching the smiles of joy from people seeing their special people after traveling.
At the airport.

baby, lets cruise... away from here

I've always been sort of fond of this actress.
Perhaps so, because of her starring in Shakespeare in Love (i like those old-English-times kinda films).
Or perhaps because she always attempts to steer clear of the public eye.
Or perhaps when she does, she doesn't seem like shes fame-hungry; she carries poise.
OR perhaps it is because she is the wife of the leading man of my all time favourite band.

That last one very well could be it.

Nonetheless, i just spent the last little long while reading GOOP;
Gwenyth Paltrow's lifestyle website, more like blog. me likey blogs.

I don't mean to post meaninglessly about nonsensical things (such as celebs and gossip), however I really enjoyed her very versatile postings despite supposed criticism that the site faces.

Which is why I encourage all my lady (and well, men, if you wish) readers to chchcheck it out.

For me, it encompasses everything a girl needs: traveling (and where to go when doing so), shopping & fashion, spiritual insights, pointers for the body & mind, general recommendations/musings (of all topics), and of course: good food!

When i'm older, married to a british rock star, have kids, and am (hopefully somewhat) successful, my goal is to ensure that this blog keeps all you readers informed of such diverse and fun topics!

if somebody's got soul, you gotta make the move... make the move

END OF WEEK THREE:

So this may be a bit of a lengthy one, chingoos. Bare with me.
Also, the impossible seems to be happening. I seem to be forgetting to be a crazy paparazzi photographer as of late. Not to worry - I shall recover asap!



1. My mother, my grandmother, and all my aunts (on my mom's side) 2. A family shindig - with a whole lotta food & drink 3. Yummy desserts that can be found at Red Mango or any cute cafe here, for that matter 4. At the arcade (which is a common thing to do, it seems!) 5. Clubbing - yep, that is right folks. an extremely packed ocean of people. 6. Leo, Dave (Peru), and Duncan - Schulichers taking over Seoul. If you look closely, the two who DO NOT normally wear glasses are wearing glasses (without the actual prescribed lenses)


7. Toronto (& Houston) peeps - the night of drinking games =/


8. Ew. Period. EW. 9. My cousin @ the batting cages (I hit like one ball...)

10. Family (and no, that yellow purse is not his! hehe) 11. Leo and I with our cousins (my father's younger brother's daughters)


+++++++

The Downlow:
Still not missing Toronto... just quite yet!
However I do find myself wishing certain things/objects were here in Korea to make the trip even BETTER than it is.
At the same time, trying to absorb the differences in culture, people, and general experience here in the motherland. I don't want to blink and then be back in Toronto.
I kind of feel that it is going to happen anyway.
The worst feeling! I want to travel forever!
(언니, if you are reading this - the following is to prepare you for your arrival next week... read and prepare. read and prepare =P)

Things I Have Noticed About the Motherland:

- many (old ladies, the eldery, guys, ESPECIALLY store workers...) are.. uh, AGGRESSIVE (to my slight surprise)
- couples are extremely into the PDA. excessive. super excessive. (again, to my surprise - i don't know why, but i always thought the opposite)! is it just me? or... molla molla molla.
- subway ends (way too) early, which kind of sucks for going-out purposes. HOWEVER....
- taxis are RIDICULOUSLY cheap. to our advantage : )
- actually everything seems to be pretty darn cheap, period. subway/bus fares, clothes, accessories, FOOD? FOOD FOOD FOOD.
- which brings me to my next point: FOOD. is fantastic here. and... cheap. fantastic and cheap. yes yes, ya'll.
- i don't know what has happened but i think my tolerance has gone down? (i know what you guys are saying - i'm in Korea, it should be building up, blah blah blah blah). yeah.... dot dot dot... i don't quite know either! dear soju, i hate you....... seriously, i do. however the drinking culture here is so... what is the word: HUGE! very normalized. also, there are a lot of respect-factors involved.
- no tipping.... yes. makes life 100x easier. and convenient. oh, and paying up front. aka sit down, order, and pay. a tad bit smart, in my opinion!
- from what i've experienced... clubbing here, is identical to clubbing back home. except for the fact that the ratio of guys to girls here is about 6:1. everything else seems to be right on par (guys eagle-hawking, over allowance of people, etc). oh btw... music is FANTASTIC. (i gotta test out the waters another time to confirm that statement). if you know me, good music is absolutely key for me to have a good time.
- cell phone technology is extremely advanced here. i miss my Blackberry, sure. however, mildly wish i had a cool ass phone here (in place of my crappy phone i currently am using here). you can watch live television anywhere on your phone and it is actually like HDTV quality. too crazy. and lest we forget - reception IS found underground aka on the subway. honestly? Toronto, you need to get with the times here!


Things I Miss/Wish Could Be Found in the Motherland:
- not to sound all girly and princessy, but... perhaps... my bed?
- clean laundry... smelling like, well, clean laundry =/ electric dryer and fabric softener, how i miss thee! (read my first post below... this one is kind of huge for me)
- North American food. or any-other-culture-food for that matter. don't get me wrong - Korean food is freakin' 24k gold. however, i find myself mildly missing food back at home (sometimes. like... a good ol' street dog or something.)
- living out of a real closet and not a suitcase -___-
- showering in a shower with a shower curtain (that was kind of a tongue twister, wasnt it!)... shower curtains do not exist here as there are underground drains/pipes to suck up all the shower-water. i guess it IS kind of cool?
- my dad and sister... however that is all about to change. for those of you who do not know yet, YES. MY DAD IS COMING. good ol' Hank the Tank is joining us. (we tried convincing him to come with us - my mother, my brother, my unnie, and i - from the beginning. however, he refused. but we were all surprised with a plane ticket confirmation email with his name on it last week)! so literally the whole RHEE lot will be here in a few days. extra gt's!
- i guess... jeez, i GUESS.. having some of you Torontonians here with us in the motherland would be.... kiiiiinda cool. just a tad bit cool though ; )




& it IS possible that I could potentially see myself living here one day........... not forever, but perhaps to work... for a bit?! hmm we shall see.

I'm pretty sure I am missing some things. there are certain things left out as i thought it could be inappropriate, HA. However, I thought this was a bit appropriate to share. No? Maybe not. Just take this as my observations and responses to the so-called "culture shock" that was expected to be felt (I put that in quotes because I don't think I was THAT culture-shocked coming here). So maybe not 'culture shock'.. lets call it my observations and responses to the 'culture differences'. Yes. Done. and Done.

(next week two weeks is SURE to be filled with lots of photos - paparazzi photographer minjee in full tact. why? the whole rhee clan reunites!)

our bodies get bigger but our hearts get torn up

END OF WEEK TWO:

It seems as though a lot of traveling had been done this past week...
Went from here to there to there to there.. and now back in Seoul!
At last, a little room to relax (but only a little) ; )


1. Leo and I with our 큰고모 (our father's oldest sister). 2. In between 대구 & 서울 - the scenery on the highway is only that of mountains! so good.


3. In 광주: with 목사님 (our church's old paster) and the fam! Yes thats right, peeps. 한별이 (Angela) is all grown up! 4. Tea cups that i thought were neat; the tea (in this case, dandelions) is placed in the middle! uh huh.


5. Yup! He got it done (Karen I hope you're seeing this). I have video footage of squealing. (just kidding!) 6. Some of us cousins, on my mom's side.


7. One night (where it rained intensely up to my calves), me, Caroline and Leo got lost. Ended up at this station. 8. But this was where we ended up: 닭갈비 (chicken with ricecake, sweet potato, cheese)! It was good.


9. Ildo's last night. at round 1. Where we had Crown J wannabes as servers. 10. Obviously, me. At round 2. =/ We met Chinese guys our age who spoke better Korean than all of us put together -_-


11. JOCELYN! Pseudo sister in full swing. 12. At nrb (karaoke) - Esther Ohsy, that song displayed was for you!

Right.
So this next week in Seoul, we meet the rest of our family.
(Yes, that is right. We still haven't met everyone).
Its been rainy, which makes it cooler. But when it rains, it raiiiiins.
However, when it doesn't, that sticky-nasty-unbearable hot weather creeps on out.

Apparently its gonna get 10x worse in the next few weeks to come. Fun times.
I finally tried the late-night/early-morning shopping. 4AM kind of shopping.
I'm gonna go ahead and say that its... preeeetty amazing.
Nightlife here doesn't end until 6 am. uh huh.
Korea is all about the night time, and hey, well what can i say... we all know i am too!

However, I think this place takes it to another level. One that I need to train myself to meet!

flow sweetly, hang heavy.....

hysteric!

Right. So, its been officially one week since we have arrived in the big K-town.
However, the past week felt more like a whole month (in a good way).
Here is a little snap-attack summary of whats been up:




1. My little nephew 지훈 (he has the HUGEST, cutest cheeks ever) 2. Me and my brother in our 큰엄마's peach orchard 3. Our names in the official family tree book (yes, but my sister's name isn't spelled right!) 4. Newly discovered fav thing - bowling and pool TOGETHER, IN ONE (tell me, do we have this in Toronto? Need to find it) 5. (Some of) our younger cousins 6. (Some of) our older cousins




7. Leo at the airport 8. At 대구's central park aka Silver City (absolutely filled with the elderly!) 9. One of the MANY cute cafe's here 10. Mmhmm street food 11. One of the nights out with the cousins 11. 할머니 & 할아버지 :) 13. Some sick ass 냉면 14. My cute nephew 주훈 15. Shisha or as-they-say-here.. 물담배

So that shows more or less what we've been up to...
I feel like photos can't really do justice to all the experiences.
There are too many photos to choose from!
Each photo really should have its own post, but.. yeah, you know ; )
.... and we haven't even met ALL the family yet. Jeez.
My sister comes to join us in three weeks... thats when the real fun begins!
p.s a big hugeass porcupine-style good-luck and i -wish-i-were-there-with-you to oanc's girls softball team!!