What exactly is "Gangnam Style"

OK so if you aren't sick of hearing about "Gangnam Style", this, my friends is for you! :)

We all know the song, "Ehhhhhhhh, sexy lady. Op op op op oppan Gangnam Style", right? Well, if not, click below, this song's for you. For those of you who feel the way I do, keep scrolling!

Well, whats so great about Gangnam, to want to have style like it? Good question!

Let's find out!

 

Gangnam literally means, "South of the (Han) River".

...hmmm, well that doesn't sound that cool. Let's try to dig in a little more, shall we?!

 

Gangnam is know for its wealth and high standard of living. Its kinda like the Beverly Hills of South Korea. Fancy over the top houses and some of the" best" shopping districts, (...I'll be the judge of that!!!).  Gangnam is also home to key offices to some businesses such at Google, IBM, and Toyota.

Local attractions include:

• The Coex Mall (Keep an eye out for this post, coming soon)
• The Coex Aquarium
• The Kimchi Field Museum
• The Simone Handbag Museum
• Kukkiwon (also known as The World Taekwondo Headquarters)
• ...and some other stuff!!    LOL

There are also several festivals that are held in the area:

• International Peace Marathon Festival
• Gangnam Fashion Festival
• Sports Festival for residents in Gangnam Distinct
• Daemosan Festival

 

Following the anti-American protest in Seoul in the early 2000s, the Gangnam District organized various cultural and sporting events, such as the International Peace Marathon, jointly with the United States Forces Korea.

 

 

~Random facts...

*Several subway stations and surrounding areas in Gangnam were used in The Bourne Legacy film

*Oppan (as in “Oppan Gangnam style”) is an affectionate term used by girls to refer to an older brother or other male acquaintance.

*Psy’s, (the guy who sings the song), signature horse riding dance move was developed after testing out possible dance moves involving other animals, including a kangaroo.

 *Psy is married and has twin daughters.

* "Gangnam Style" is comparable to the English slang terms “swag” or “yolo”.

 

 

*Whoa, so pretty much, Gangnam style has nothing to do with weird guys in a onesie on elevators thrusting over your head nor does it have anything to do with having a dance off with a guy in a yellow suit? 

Awww man!!!

;)

 

 

 

What the "Buck Buck"

OK, so if "like" my Facebook page, you've already seen this picture.

As crazy and wrong as this looks, this is actually a picture of children playing a game called "Buck Buck" otherwise known as "Johnny On A Pony".  Made popular by Bill Cosby's 1967 album Revenge.

Its found in a shopping district right here in good ol' Uijeongbu!

I don't know y'all, you couldn't catch me playing that game. Lol. How about you?!?

Bulgogi Beef

Since being here in Korea, I have been extremely hesitant on trying the food here. Unlike my husband, I just can't dive into the many unknown plates of whatever, that's placed on the tables at many Korean restaurants.

I have managed to find a few dishes that I can honestly say are pretty good. Today I introduce you to Bulgogi Beef.

Bulgogi Beef is thin slices sirloin marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper, garlic, onions, ginger, and sugar. Typically grilled, Bulgogi beef can also be panned fried.
Many Koreans pair this with a side of Kimchi. Me, I'll take mine on a leaf (keep an eye out for my "Beef and Leave" post) and a side of white rice. Yummmmmm

Sound good? Judge for yourself! I found an awesome recipe from TriFood.com.

Recipe Ingredients

1 lb thinly sliced beef (sirloin or rib eye) 5 tbsp sugar ½ cup soy sauce 2 buds finely chopped garlic (can be crushed but remove buds before serving) ¼ tsp salt 5 tbsp Mirin (sweet sake, optional) 2 tbsp sesame oil 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 1 cup split green onions 2 cups thinly sliced carrots (optional)

Cooking Directions

Mix all ingredients except carrots. Marinate in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Cook over medium high heat until meat is just short of desired completion. Add carrots and cook for an additional 3 minutes. Serve with rice.  Enjoy!!!! Oh, I almost forgot, Burger King and Mc Donald's also have their own version of bulgogi. Both restaurants have a bolgogi burger. I tried both and McD wins hands down!!! :)

Leaving On A Jet Plane Pt. 3

From emotions, to packing and now to the actual trip.

We began our journey in St. Louis MO. Our first plane, headed to Denver, was tiny but lucky for me this was the shortest flight. Besides me freaking out during take off (thinking of my dear Pastor telling me, the most dangerous part of the flight is take off and landing), the flight was pretty uneventful. The kids slept the whole flight and I sat up keeping my eyes on the exits. Despite a couple of bumps and uncomfortable turns, we landed perfectly fine in beautiful and cold Colorado.

*Whew, one flight down, two to go!

 

After running like crazy folks through the airport, we arrive at our gate. Denver to San Francisco. To my relief the airplane was bigger and I was able to sit next to both of my kids. Plus an in flight movie and a "light lunch", WOW. Talk about fancy living.

...and by "fancy" I mean, a boring National Geographic under the sea documentary and a cup of juice. Niiiiiiice!!!! But thanks to my awesome packing skill I was able to keep the kids entertained with crayons, gum and sweet crackers. As for me, I was able to sit back and enjoy a couple of pages in my book and admire my lovely view of the exit sign! :)

Like the previous flight, it was pretty uneventful. No kid meltdowns, no diaper blow outs. Nothing. Some may call it luck but I know its nothing short of a blessing.

 

 

*Flight two. Hook, Line, Sinker DONE!!!!

 

 

San Francisco!!! We made it to San Fran!!! We're almost there, twelve hours, one flight. All that stands between Kevin and I is an ocean.





A beautiful

                  simple

                             huge

                                     watery grave!!!!!

 

(Yes, that was my thought process), but before we even got to that point we had to navigate our way from the domestic terminals to the international ones (yellow to green) with four carry on bags, three kids, two adults (to include myself), and a partridge in a pear tree!!! *wink wink

 

 

We had about 30 minutes to get over to our gate. With that in mind I strapped the kids into their stroller, threw our carry ons onto the handles and told Sydney we had to MOVE!!! After a mad dash to the gate, we made it  with just enough time to catch our breath. About 10 minutes later we were boarding our final plane.

To Seoul or BUST!!!

This plane was HUGE. There was an upstairs and down stairs and three rows of seats. Once we got ourselves situated in the middle row it was finally time to sit back and relax. =) Sydney, the kids and I were all able to t in the same row this time and with blankets and pillows in hand, a big screen tv right in front of us and realizing we could recline our seats, we were ready to go!!!!

 

We flew over Alaska and yes, that watery grave I mentioned earlier, that we tend to call the Pacific Ocean. Over Russia and well you get the point. After several potty trips, naps, a couple of meals (actual meals!!!), wine for me, and a few games of musical chairs with the kids we found ourselves over Korea!!!!

With less than hour to go, our captain comes over the speaker,

                                                     *Wait, this CAN'T be good... (waiting for oxygen masks to drop),* he tells us, that because of conditions on the ground we weren't cleared to land and we had to stay in the air for another 15 minutes. As 15 minutes turned into an half hour, the captain said there was still no difference in our status, bad news we might have to land at another airport, good news is we have enough fuel to stay in the air for a while longer. HAR-DE-HAR-HAR, Captain.



30 minutes later the captain comes on again to tell us we were good to go!! Finally!!!

 

Ahhh, Korea, We've waited so long to get here! First things first, to customs we go. In the process, we get lost. Yup, only one way to go and we get lost! Lucky for me, God sent an English speaking angel our way and got us to were we need to go. After customs we go to baggage claim and it happened.

I had a break down. In the middle of the airport.

Kevin had promised me he would be there to help us with our over sized luggage but he was nowhere to be found and I had no way of getting on touch with him. So I packed our stuff on a cart and head to the mall outside of the airport, when I get stopped.

"Uggggggh, will this day ever end?!?!?"

In customs I told them I brought a bottle of perfume with me, so what do ask me to do as we are walking out of the airport? To show them the perfume. So right in front of the airport exit, I'm digging through my bags trying desperately to find a bottle of perfume. After what seemed like forever the lady told me to just go. *Whew, you don't have to tell me twice!!! I gathered our stuff and got the heck out of there!!!

 

Moments later, through tear soaked eyes I saw one of there best sights ever, Kevin was standing right in front of me. Thank God! We made it!!

 

And so starts our journey in South Korea!

I'll say a little prayer for you

Although I'm not finished with my "Leaving On A Jet Plane" series,  I had to make this post.

Last night Kevin (my husband) and I were just outside our apartment building, going to McDonald's, when we saw a young man get hit by a van. By the time we got to him, the guy's arm was pinned under the car. (Through the language barrier), Kevin was able to get the lady to back off of his arm and I tried to keep him calm and still, (not knowing if he was seriously injured). The lady driving the van got out in a panic, screaming and bending down to hug the boy. She then turn to us and said, "My son". 

The boy was obviously in pain, the lady was overwhelmed by emotions and Kevin, in his best attempt, was trying to look the guy over for anything obvious and convince the lady to call an ambulance. I ran down to get the gate guard, and by the time we got back to the scene of the accident, the mom had put her son in the car, refused to talk to the guard and drove away.

By this point I was in tears. There was nothing more we could do to help either one of them out.

(Here in Korea, a driver can get in A LOT of trouble for hitting a pedestrian.) With that being said, I pray that the mother took him to the hospital to get checked out instead of worrying about her consequences.

After finishing what we originally went out for, I came home and hugged my kids. There is so much going on out there. Sometimes we get so caught up in our own lives that we forget to look at the blessings we have right in front of us.

Be careful out there and be sure to tell somebody you care about that you love them.

Leaving On A Jet Plane Pt. 2

Ok, so before I get to the details of the plane ride, here are some tips for flying with young children, that I learned from friends, family and Pinterest.

Before you go, I highly suggest you figure out what the weather will be at your destination. Knowing it was going to be snowy and cold as snowballs here in Korea, I planned ahead and bought snowsuits for my little ones. (Pretty obvious, right?) Well when you're crazy busy trying to pack and maintain the house and your sanity, simple things like that get over looked.
While I was at Babies R Us buying those, I also invested in a somewhat cheaper double umbrella stroller. It isn't the prettiest or most high tech, but it was lightweight, easy to fold and got us from point A to point B.

Could you imagine, being on multiple planes for 20(+) hours total, with a 4 month old, 2, and 4 year old? Yeah... I must be CrAzY, right? Well, I am. But the real question is, how do I keep a toddler and a preschooler that love to always be on the move or doing something, anything, calm for the whole trip? Well, with me being the wiz kid I am and by the grace of God, I found a way!!!
I can't explain the wonders of God, but I can tell you what I did.

I made sure our carry on bags were ready for it all. I had a total of three carry-ons. Mikey's (4 years old), Izzy's (2 years old0, and my own (age not included), which had more stuff for them in it that for myself.
 In the kid's carry on I packed:

• 1 Magnadoodle per child
• 1 coloring book per child, Mickey and Minnie (familiar faces are nice when things are chaotic)
• 1 dry erase activity book (Crayola)
• 2 packs of dry erase crayons (Crayola as well, in  Primary colors and Bright colors) *I put the crayons in a travel baby wipe container so I didn't have to deal with the boxes or trying to find a place to them to go.
• Stickers and a book for them to put them in
• Sparkly Pipe cleaners (to keep those little hands busy)
• head phones for both kids, for flight movies or music
• pillows
• snack bag

The snack bag consisted of:

• Grahm crackers (or as my kids call them sweet crackers)
• The packets of apple sauce and bananas (such as these)
• Cheddar and cheese crackers
• gum
• suckers

It doesn't sound like much but it made a world of difference! In my bag I had:

• travel sized Clorox wipes
• hand sanitizer (individually wrapped)
• baby wipes
• lots and lots of diapers (Mikey is potty trained but for the plane and only the plane he wore pull ups. So we didn't have to deal with the stress of accidents)
• tray liners (like these, I cleaned the trays off first then put these bad boys on. They stuck on perfectly and helped keep messes to a minimum. Parents and flight attendants were very impressed by what I thought was no big deal.)
• A book for me
• Nintendo DS with a Sudoku game
• A journal
• ear buds
• Colgate Wisp
• a change of clothes for the kids and I
• cash
• and all of our passports

As for Noah (the 4 month old), Sydney took care of that. Once she gets her blog up and going I will post a link so you can see what she packed.
I don't know much about what to pack for an infant but I do know, you need to pack lots of diapers and baby wipes. Bottles with water. Buy extra bottles of water once you get past security, and pack formula. I would suggest breastfeeding most of all, but if your baby takes formula, look into buying the individually wrapper formula packets, for ease.

I might of over packed, but in hind sight, I am more than happy I packed each and everything I had. I hope this post will help somebody out on their future travels.
Feel free to comment below add something that helped you out or ask questions.
Bon Voage!!!

Leaving On A Jet Plane Pt.1

Ok, so this is my first attempt at a blog so lets just act like I know what I'm doing. ;○) Deal?!?
I decided to do my first entry as a 3 or 4 part segment because there is just so much to talk about. There was so much that went on before we even landed in Korea!
With that being said... Here We Go!!!!
Yup that's us. December 4th 2012 at 5 something in the morning. Korea bound!!! =)
What lead up to this moment you ask?
Months of planning, days of dreaming and many many sleepless night!
Packing, then unpacking, re packing, *panicking* (must... not... exceed... weight limit!!!!) unpacking again, and finally packing, for the last time.
Lots and lots of praying and my fair share of crying. Mood swings and second guessing our decision to move.
A horrible river of emotions, but the girl in that picture (the one with no makeup), wasn't going to let anything or anybody stop her from getting on that plane!! ♡