Fame

My star is on the rise!

For the second time in as many weeks my ego has been inflated by attention form the online community - keep it coming I say.

YouTube

  As some of you are aware, I have a YouTube channel (if you didn't know, feel free to check it out here) which is slowly getting more hits. I don't post videos as often as I should, but I intend on changing this in the next few weeks. I have some ideas coming up that I think people may like.

  

  Anyway the other week I received an email from some committee about how there is a big cosmetics convention happening in South Korea, and that they came across the vlog I did regarding Cosmetics in Korea and how much I love freebies (I was actually at Innisfree last night buying make-up wipes and got a heap of free samples from them too... So much love). They emailed me and asked if it was ok if they showed my video at their conference. I was like YES OF COURSE YOU CAN. I mean, it was nice that they asked, but the video is public so they could have taken it without me even knowing. Who knows if they are legit or not but whatever. The info for the upcoming event is here, and its called the Cosmetics & Beauty Expo Osong Korea 2013. So have a look and tell me if you think its legit or not. Either way, it's another step closer to fame.

  Now, at this point I only have 7 subscribers (I wish there were more but this is my fault), but my videos have been viewed 830 times and have no dislikes. Always a good sign... And some of my videos have been added to people's favorites lists (also a good sign). Interestingly enough my most watched videos are my self introduction, which I prepared for job interviews in Korea, and my room tour. So from that I am deducing that Korvia is sharing my video (which I totally don't mind, they actually asked last year if that was ok) and that there are a fair few people out there who are curious as to what their accommodation will be like once they get to Korea. I did the same thing before I came out here - I went YouTube trolling to try and find out what the area was like and how i'd be living. So it makes me happy that perhaps I have helped people out. I am becoming an unofficial expert on all things ESL Korea. And on that note...

Cover Girl

  That's right folks, yours truly is on the cover of the 2013 GEPIK Orientation book. If you recall, back in September I blogged about my time at the GEPIK conference (see it here if you have forgotten) which I attended as an introduction to teaching in South Korea. At the time, there were organizers who wandered around taking photos and videos for future promo events of whatever. I was snapped in a few of them, and I remember being distinctly disappointed that I was not in many of the pics they showed on the final day. Being as photogenic and amazing as I am, I thought I would have featured more... Little did I know that my true rise to stardom had not yet materialized. Citizens, may I present to you the 2013 GEPIK Orientation booklet:

  That's me, on the cover, with my equally beautiful friend Shanda. New (and some old) teachers from all over Korea who are part of the GEPIK program are looking at me thinking "wow, not only is she beautiful but she must know heaps about Korea because she is on the cover". And they would be right. Kinda... 

  Because lets be honest, do any of us really know what is going on in Korea? Even my Korean friends don't know what is going on... The country has this air of not knowing about it, which I love. But that's for another day. Today we are focusing on me. Wuahahahahahaha

  Now all I need is to get my Drama going and I will totally be famous. And hopefully have a bit more motivation to stop chowing down on carbs.

In other news...

  Yes, Jess got married. It was beautiful and cheesy at the same time. I could go on and on about it but I won't, it really needs an entire thread about it. There were highs and lows, the main low being that she is now on her honeymoon in Bali having an amazing time and I am freezing at school with no boyfriend, let alone a husband. Meh. 

  There were also minor dramas in the sense that all us foreign guests wanted to go drinking for a bit after the wedding, so we bundled ourselves into a few taxi's and headed to the bar area. Now, here is a classic reason why we all need to speak a bit more Korea. People got lost. It was no ones fault, but what we have to all keep in mind is that out Korean friends are our FRIENDS, not our translator service. And while I am sure they love to help us out and are happy to do so, lets all be appreciative and thankful when they do, not crapped off if WE, the foreigners, get something wrong. And lets all go to Korean class and try and learn a bit more so we don't need to burden our friends. And anyway, I would love to be able to have an awesome conversation in Korean with my friends, rather than relying on their awesome English abilities. The communication thing should work both ways. And, we are all capable of looking up bus timetables and train schedules so lets do it. Minor rant over.

  Regarding rants, I had some feedback from my last blog, where I got up on my high horse about pictures of animal cruelty. Please, keep protesting against the abuse of animals. I encourage all people to be aware of these issues, as I am an activist myself. I can and do get preachy at times about certain issues and the treatment of animals at the slaughter point is one that really needs to be promoted. I am simply frustrated and at times offended at the way that people go about the education of these facts. If you want to include the pics then do so - in the form of a link. Then people can choose to click or not click. And yes, this does negate the shock factor a bit, but at least we can choose. How many times have we left our browsers open? Millions? What about if you had a kid who was looking on your fb and they saw pics of puppies being thrown into boiling water? Not nice. But I agree that people need to be made aware, I am in no way discouraging people from protesting or campaigning. But please do it tactfully. 

  School is going well this week, I actually feel like I am making more of a contribution to the class. In fact today I took the gr 5 classes myself - Co was not feeling well and left the class to me. I don't think they learnt much but luckily yesterday I met the photocopier and now I think I can make photocopies of worksheets and such for some time wasting. Yay for me. 

  Thats about all I have for now, but stay tuned for other fun things I am planning in the future. The weather is getting better and I am going to put a bit more time and attention into my YouTube. And as always, feel free to email me or comment anything you are thinking or feeling, I love the feedback. 

I can be Tweeted, Tumblred, Facebooked, gmailed, YouTubed or blogged. I am all over this social media shit so hit me up I love to chat.

Bye :)

Another Monday Morning

Here we go again

I have another 2 weeks of desk warming (yay!) and no Co in sight, which is a blessing and a curse. Blessing because I don't have to hang out with him and make awkward conversation, curse because I wanted to talk to him this week about taking the last 2 days of my leave at the end of the month. Oh well, maybe I will see him tomorrow. 

I didn't manage to get out of the area last Thursday or Friday, I ended up just drinking and hanging out with friends here. Although Heather and I did have a non eventful trip to Seoul on Saturday but I got us seriously lost so we didn't make it to Gyeongbukgung Palace like we wanted to. Totally my bad. 

The highlight of my weekend was going with HeeJin to Jessie and Sangwon's wedding photo shoot. Let me explain a little of how weddings take place here in Korea. 

Korean Weddings

My beautiful friend Jess is marrying her Korean boyfriend in March, and they have been together pretty much since she arrived in Korea a few years ago to teach. They are planning on staying here in Korea for the time being, and the whole wedding and getting married thing seemed to happen really quickly - well, to me anyway. They are adorable together and I am so happy for them :)

She went home to visit her family over Christmas and gave them the good news that they were getting married in March. So her family are heading out for the big day, except... They are already married on paper. And... All the photos will be done. Its really just the ceremony and party time to go!

So generally what happens is this: A couple will decide to get married and they will go and do all their paper work first so they are legally married. Then the photos will be done (more about this soon) and then finally they will have the ceremony for friends and family to attend. 

Anyone can go to the wedding, and the guests all give some money to the couple. The amount you give is dependent on your relationship with the couple. Generally people don't give wedding presents. 

Traditionally, the husband will buy the house or apartment and the wife will furnish it. You don't get old furniture from people, your new home should have all new stuff in it. 

You don't need to organise things like flowers, food, tables etc all of that is done by the wedding hall. So once its booked, the bride picks her dress, chooses some decorations and flowers and the wedding hall does the rest. Its a serious no-stress event. I think they even organise the invitations (I will need to check this one).

Some wedding halls might do 5 or so weddings a day. Its like a bride conveyor belt. I am pretty sure the food is all buffet style, hopefully not all Korean food but we shall see!

After the ceremony the couple may have a party for all their friends to gather around and be merry. I guess like a reception??? Then the couple will go on their honeymoon and the day is done.

Jess invited myself and HeeJin to come on Sunday into Cheongju to help her pick dresses for the photos and for some girl fun. Poor Sangwon had to put up with us all day but he was a good sport and looked very handsome all dressed up. 

HeeJin and I caught the bus from Pyeongtaek into Cheongju, which was something like 4200won and took an hour. The bus leaves from the Pyeongtaek bus terminal if anyone is looking to go to Cheongju...

Anyway we arrived and we all headed into the studio where we sat and were able to look at a heap of photos and dresses on the directors I-Pad. From the photos Jess picked out I think 5 different dresses and together her and Sangwon chose a few different 'concepts' for their pics. 

Here are a few amazing pics curtesy of myself - 

And then me and Heejin spent a fair bit of time fooling around too...

We got there around 1pm and left I think around 9. It was a huge day and the couple did so well with their photos. Jess was beautiful (as you can see) and Sangwon very handsome. And the people who worked at the studio were super nice and took some amazing pictures. They were all very professional. The company was called Olivia Wedding and they are located in Cheongju. We ate plenty of crappy food and I got to wander around Cheongju a little bit. It's actually a huge town and has a university and all that so on the night of the actual wedding we all want to go out on the scene. Heejin went to uni there so she has some friends still living in the area and she knows some fun places. 

We will be going out this Saturday night to Suwon for her Hen's Night and I am SUPER excited for it!!! Gonna get dressed up and everything, and have a fun night! 

Anyway I am actually so tired right now, I still haven't fully recovered from the weekend so I might have a nap seeing as there is no one here and no one cares if I am here or not. 

North Korea in the news

Some people have asked me if everything is ok over here, what with all the nuclear talk coming from the North... Everything is business as usual for us, I know plenty of guys in the Army and Airforce who I am sure would tell me if there was an imminent attack or anything like that. So people, please don't worry we are all fine.

Except for Robert who we are yet to hear from... He went to visit North Korea at the end of his contract and I don't know when he was due home :/

Anyway peace out peeps I am sure I will blog again tomorrow with something rubbishy!

xoxox