We had a three day weekend and went to Busan! Busan is the second largest city? I think? We traveled there via the “slow” train. It took about three hours but the view was nice.
Sun and Rain in Busan
New Daejeon-er!
I’m in my city! I’m also in my apartment but there’s no wifi because I don’t have my alien registration card yet, or a bank account, or a cell phone plan. It’s been a difficult week and it will be another difficult week. But hey, there’s always Starbucks and overpriced drinks!
I went to Expo Bridge because that’s one of the most iconic images when you google Daejeon. I went with a friend, we actually trained together in Seoul and we’ve been doing practically everything together ever since. I figured out how to take the bus and that was an experience. It’s true what they say about the drivers and their driving and how crazy it is. We missed our stopped but enjoyed the walk to get to the bridge so it was all good.
the risk it took to blossom
I can’t even begin to talk about how overwhelming it is to move to another country and I haven’t even moved into my apartment yet. My knowledge of the Korean language is only Hello and Thank you. However, I do know how to read Hangul so that’s been a big help even if I can’t understand what I’m reading most of the time.
In order for me to compartmentalize the many emotions I’m feeling I’ve made a list (yes another one!) of things that I want to accomplish in terms of me growing as a person. The one fear I have is completely shutting down and not interacting with anyone at all…followed by only interacting with foreigners, while that is a nice safety net, I want to interact and make friends with the people who actually live here.
Wanderlist
In three days, I will be flying to Seoul where I will be spending a week training. Then if all goes well, and all will go well, I will be on a bus to Daejeon! This post will eventually become another page here on the blog–which will be updated periodically once I get my hands on a travel guide. I will add even more once I start planning on going to other countries. But for now, here’s a list of things for me to do and see in Daejeon. I won’t put a list of things to eat because I want to eat everything.
Wikipedia says Daejeon is the fifth largest city in Korea with a population of over 1.5 million. It’s about an hour south of Seoul via the KTX (Korea Train Express, high speed train). Comparing it to San Diego, it’s half the size with about the same amount of people. Yep. It’s also a tech hub and is basically the Silicon Valley of Korea. With that said, here’s my list!
- Mt. Expo Park
- Museums (Museum of Art, National Science Museum, Currency Museum)
- Observatory
- Yuseong Hot Springs
- O-World
- Hiking! (Mt. Bomunsan, Mt. Gubongsan, Mt. Jangtaesan, Mt. Gyejoksan, Mt. Sikjangsan, Gyeryongsan National Park, Uam Historical Park)
Of course I’ll be walking everywhere and eating a bunch of food and shopping, but I will pace myself and I will be posting about my adventures here so stay tuned!
How to Get Around
If you put your mind to it, it’s really easy to get around in the Philippines. You don’t need a car (but sometimes it would be nice to have one). There are plenty of ways to get around (mainly four to five here in Zambales, but it is similar all over Luzon).
The smallest vehicle, the tricycle, is mainly used for shorter distances within the villages and the towns. Not particularly fast but virtually no stops. The tricycle is a motorcycle (or now scooters) with an attached, modified side car. Depending on which part of Luzon you to go, the shapes of these vary and it’s actually quite interesting. The ones in Manila are larger and more boxy and I wish that the ones here in Zambales would catch on.
a day in the life
I’ve been here for ten weeks. Ten whole weeks of figuring out how to get a stronger, more stable internet connection. Ten whole weeks of living off of and rationing 700 megabytes per day. Now that I have it, my days still haven’t really changed probably because the data is prepaid for a certain amount (10GB for 10 days) and I don’t really want to spend a lot of money on buying more. I wasn’t aware of how much data I consumed until now. But that’s boring, let me get to the slightly less boring stuff.
Here’s a day in the life! (Sidenote: all of our meals are cooked and eaten outside.)
Hello from the Philippines
Hi! I live on a farm and we’ve been slow to get broadband/wifi and uploading pictures is a pain. I did have posts planned for 10-12 weeks but uh, yeah. I’ll edit my planned posts and I’ll try to take more pictures so that I actually have content but it’s been a month and I’m just chilling like I said I would.
I’m currently in Manila getting my visa processed! Oh! So, I got hired yay! Though my hiring is contingent upon passing the one week training period and I will pass. I will pass as an outgoing, bright, loud, engaging person. Fake it till you make it!
Here’s an orchid. 
Time for Tea
I love tea. I didn’t always like tea but the more I have, the more I like it. Coffee is okay. (Gasp!).
There is this cute little tea place in Escondido (in North County San Diego) called The Grand Tea Room. The only reason why I know about this place is because I was invited to a bridal shower that was held here.
That was over a year ago and I left with a Passion Fruit Oolong Tea. I haven’t gone back since. I only went back because I ran out of that tea and my sister loved it so we went again for my mom’s birthday and I was able to take some pictures.
The Grand Tea Room is a traditional English tea time experience. You get tea, there’s soups and salads, an array of sandwiches, and pastries. The tea is served hot with a side of milk and sugar cubes. There are a few different options on their menu and we chose to do an Afternoon Tea–The Grand Tea to be exact and it includes everything pictured below any tea you like. There is a two hour limit but that’s plenty of time! Food can be served a la cart as well.
I definitely recommend trying this place out at least once if you’re ever in North County. The tea selection is amazing and the prices are very reasonable for loose leaf teas.
Vienna
The train ride was 3ish hours long. I was running a little late and had to power walk to the train station at 5:30 in the morning and I was a little scared. Good news, I made it. Deciding to go to Vienna for a day was sort of last minute. I bought my ticket online a few days before, while I was already in Budapest. The train was nice, no one sat next to me and once we crossed the Austrian border there was free wifi.
I did a total of three things. A palace, a museum, and the Christmas Market. Navigating the metro in Vienna was also easy! Honestly, there’s no way you can’t figure it out. I bought a 24 hour unlimited rides ticket thing.
I didn’t take as many pictures as I wanted to….something I will change once I start traveling more because this feeling of regret is sooo heavy. I actually wasn’t allowed to take pictures in the museum (where most of Gustav Klimt’s works are). BUT THEY WERE GORGEOUS OMG I LOVED IT.
Miles in Budapest
Story time! I went to Budapest, Hungary for 10 days. Well, eight days because the first and last days were dedicated to traveling. First, why did I randomly decide to go to Budapest in November of 2015?? As I mentioned in my last post, my relationship with my ex was stagnant and I was stupid dependent on him and after he ended it I was lost. I basically had to figure out who I was as an individual and just grow from there and oh boy did I grow! But my first step to reclaiming my identity was a solo trip to Europe to prove to myself that I can do whatever the hell I want.
So, I booked my ticket, informed my boss (much to her horror, but she did allow it), trained my coworker to do my duties, and off I went. This trip was an eye opener for me and it was like testing the waters to see how independent I was. It was also to see if I have what it takes to travel the world, alone essentially. I believe I do, I mean I am preparing to move to South Korea (more on this later, I’m finishing up some things then I’ll start interviewing!).
