Freezing at the Palace!

On our first day here, Jac met us at our hotel and took us to a coffee shop for breakfast. Coffee is huge here! With our yummy morning bevgs we also had little waffles with toppings on the. (blueberry for mom, banana caramel for me)... They were delicious! After brekkie, we jumped on the subway to head to downtown to visit the Gyeonbokgung palace.

The subway is Korea is crazy! More lines than the tube i think! But it is very efficient: smooth rides, polite passengers, reload able fare card (the Korea version of the oyster). The ttc needs to take note!

We got to Geyongbolgung and had lunch in a cafe. I know I'm reiterating a lot about what we ate here (wait til I talk about our food tour!) but I'm trying so many new things with names i can't pronounce! Mon had a dumpling soup and Jac and I had some sort of sweet potatoe bake covered in cheese.

We entered the palace just as the changing of the guard was occurring. It was elaborate but we had no idea what was going on! After that we ended up on an English tour with an Aussie couple.



The palace was beautiful and probably even more so in the summer with the flowers in bloom. There are mountains surrounding each side of the palace which according to fend shui it makes it the ideal location. Unfortunately during the Japanese occupations, much of the original buildings had been destroyed to prevent nostalgic uprisings. They had only started rebuilding it in the late 80s.



Unfortunately, after about 20 minutes we all started zoning out on what the guide was saying because we were FREEZING! It was -7 feeling like -20! And the tour was an hour and a half!! We shuffled along, saw the rest of the palace grounds and then booked it to the warm subway as soon as it was over!

We had a late dinner of Korean BBQ with spicey chicken that was a little too spicey for my white pallet. Finally due to jet lag and cold exhaustion we called it a night.

Destination: Asia!

Authors Note: Even though I am no longer living abroad in London, UK, I have decided to continue this blog with any future travels I will be taking part in.This travel bug will not leave my system apparently... And without further ado....

Destination: Asia. Traveling with my Mom. First class. 2 weeks in Seoul visiting Jaclyn....

We arrived at the airport at 10am and said our goodbyes to Dad. I was feeling a bit nervous so I didn't have any breakfast (saving my Fruit Explosion muffin for tomorrow perhaps?). We got on our plane, Air Canada Flight...1?? Haha, they always seem to have huge numbers but we are fight number one!



My mom and I got first class tickets from her boss and love it!!! We each have out own "pod" which can be adjusted a million different ways including being laid down as a bed! We were offered champagne and juice upon arrival and even have our own little kit bag. Inside it is a sleep mask, extra socks, lip balm, moisturizer, toothbrush/paste, ear plugs and a cleansing face wipe for the end of the flight. Then we got menus to choose our lunch meals. It came with smoked salmon appetizer (bleh), a main (mom got beef, I got chicken stuffed with butternut squash with mushroom sauce, rice and grilled peppers), cheese plate (didn't eat mine, I was too full), and a dessert (berry crumble). It was great. Plus you can order snacks for free the rest of the trip. So far, I've had a cheese plate and mom had dumplings.

After lunch, the majority of the plane including ourselves took a little nap, I slept for about 3 hours. Then I watched a documentary about children in Hollywood and an episode of Boardwalk Empire. Mom said she watched most of Captain America. We are hour 8 of 13 so not too much longer to go!

(the next bit was written as a retrospective AFTER we arrived in Korea)

I ended up watching The Debt (a little. Cheesy and historically inaccurate but enjoyable spy-thriller) and a few episodes of big bang theory and modern family, while mom told me she watched "cowboys and aliens" (review: "well I liked it"). We pulled into Tokyo airport and were beginning to feel the exhaustion.

We got to go to the Ana Lounge because we were first class. It was kinda like the Porter Lounge in Toronto but much nicer... Tons of food (miso soup, sushi, mini sandwiches, desserts), whatever you wanted to drink and comfy chairs with free wifi. You could even have a shower if you wanted (we decided to stay smelly). We walked around the airport a bit and after 3 hrs, got on the Asiana airplane to Seoul.

The stewardesses were super nice (nicer than AC) and respectful on the flight. Mom and I were situated beside each other and could talk - not that we needed to, we fell asleep right after food service. Food was teriyaki chicken, salad and rice with a orange mouse dessert. We were KO-ed the rest of the way.

After we went through customs an got our luggage, we realized that unfortunately the last bus to Nowon (Jaclyn's neighborhood) left at 10:15 and it was 10:25! Time for some improv! A nice man told us he last bus had left and that he could taxi us to Nowon. He took our luggage and we followed him until we heard someone shouting "illegal cab! No no!". We turned and saw two tourist information men running to us and then who proceeded to tell off our "taxi driver". The info men were so helpful even though they didn't speak much English. They let us call Jaclyn and put us in a proper cab. It was so hard to keep our eyes awake in the cab but after less than 45 minutes and a little drop-off direction difficulty, we finally met Jaclyn!

It was so great to see her - I haven't seen her since march!!! Unfortunately I probably wasnt as enthusiasti in person because I was so exhausted. She took us to our hotel, about a 5 minute walk from the Nowon station and her apartment.
We chatted a bit and finally around 12:30, went to sleep.

I had started my iPod timer from the moment our plane started moving in Toronto and when I stopped it when we went to bed the time was: 21:46:14....

June Shenanigans

I really dropped the ball on keeping up to date with this blog. So saying that, I am going to try and re-cap all the fun things I did in June before I left to fly back to the motherland!

Shakespeare's Globe

Jade, Melissa, Myself and one of Jade's friends went to Shakespeare's Globe! We saw "Much Ado About Nothing" and stood in the "peasants area". This area was the part right by the stage where you stood for the entire play. The actors were brilliant and we even saw Jeffery from the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air play the role of the King! The actors were so close, it was a totally different theatre experience than anything I've ever seen before.



Visiting Craig in Manchester - June 11th / 12th

I spent a night up in Manchester visiting my buddy Craig from back home in Toronto. Craig is a friend from the high school era who had been working in Manchester for the past year. It was great seeing him and meeting his buddies. We toured around Manchester and went on the Manchester Eye (not as cool as the London Eye, sorry norther neighbors). We also came across a Malibu makeup tent promotion and I got a free makeover! Craig was a good sport and stood around awkwardly as I got dolled up. In the evening, a lot of his friends were at a music festival close by so we met up with them afterwords. Had some drinks and some dancing and some laughs! Good times! The hungover 5 hour bus ride back to London was not much fun the following day though...

Cocktail Mixing Class - June 16th



As part of Melissa's birthday gift and Jade's goodbye, the ladies of Felday went to a cocktail mixing class in Greenwich! They fed us cupcakes, showed us the tools to use and provided the alcohol to make 5 different summer drinks. We made: Passion Fruit Bellini, Caipirinha, Apple Moonshine, White Wine Sangria and a Pineapple Pina Colada. It was a lot of fun and a very welcome girly night out!

Royal Ascot - June 18th

We went to the Royal Ascot horse races again this year! It was a true Felday outing: Mon, Chris, Melissa, Fletcher, Jade and myself. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty unpredictable - alternating between gorgeous sunshine to 10 minute rain showers. I was prepared though. Even with my nice classy dress on - I wore my wellies! I looked like a complete tool at the station but as soon as we got there and it started raining - look who was laughing now! :P In pure classy Ascot style, we drank wine and bet on horses mostly because of their names. I even won about 10 pounds on a horse named "Waffles" with that strategy! It was a lovely day full of fun, betting, and wine. Let's just not mention me sleeping on the ground of the train carriage on the way back home.... :)




Mom and Dad Howse visit! - June 19 - 24th

My parents came to London for a week to celebrate their 30th wedding anniversary. They spent a week living in Whitechapel and then a week home on the St. Mary Cruise ship across the Atlantic to get back to North America! I toured them around Harrod's, The Imperial War Museum (for father's day!), saw the musical Betty Blue Eyes (very recommended!! It was hilarious!), and visited Windsor Castle (I can't believe I hadn't been there yet! It was gorgeous!!). It was wonderful showing off my city to them. They arrived at a time when I was really homesick so I appreciated them visiting even more. :)

Britain's Got Talent - June 23rd

We had become addicted to this show while in England. It was always on! So when a groupon came up that offered 15 pound tickets to see the top 10 acts, we went for it. It was at the 02, so that was an experience in itself - such a big stadium! Michael Jackson was supposed to play there - single tear. The performances were fun, but I think this little boy blew them all away. Ronan Park. He was bloody brilliant, but came in second place.

Bournemouth Day Trip - June 26th

I was getting itchy feet from my lack of traveling and the limited time I had left to travel, so I convinced Jen (and her friend Joe) to come with me for a day trip to Bournemouth, a seaside town with a SANDY beach! it was about two hours away from London, but the commute wasnt' that bad. When we first got there, it was cloudy and foggy but we were determined to make the best of it. Then, a few hours later, it was sunny and wonderful! I swam in the Atlantic!!! We dozed on the beach, got burned, ate ice-cream and walked along the pier. It was a lovely lovely summer day. :)



Mumford & Sons / Arcade Fire / The Vaccines - Hyde Park June 30th



I FINALLY SAW MUMFORD AND SONS!!!! There have been four opportunities and four misses to see them in concert, but I finally did and they were wonderful! Oh and the other bands were great too! :) It was fun going to a concert at Hyde Park. Huge venue, cheap beers, good vibes. The Vaccines sang most of their album, catchy fun indie rock. Then Beruit preformed (i wasn't too fussed about that band). Then Mumford came on and I lost my mind. I squirmed my way to a better view and lost everyone else until they went off stage. They were wonderful and I am a total fan girl when it comes to Marcus Mumford. lol. Arcade Fire were great too, but I only know a few of their songs. Canadian content what! :)

Canada Day @ Trafalgar Square - July 1st



A tradition as of last year, we went down to Trafalgar Square to celebrate Canada Day with all the other ex-pats. They sold poutine, curly fries, Molson and Sleeman's. They had street hockey tournaments. We all wore red and white and tons of temporary tattoos. I convinced my Aussie friend Andrew to come join us and he was an honourary Canadian. Mike Myers made a surprise appearance and waved to the crowd. Cabbie on the Street and that Asian chick from E Talk hosted the event. Blue Rodeo headlined the concert. We met a bunch of new awesome people, including a cool South African model/photographer named Zeke (who came to my goodbye party the next day!). Great day full of Canadian pride!

Goodbye Party - July 2nd

We had a "Bye Bye Susan" party at Felday on the Saturday. Complete with flipcup, beer pong, disco balls and a dancing frenzy. It was so nice to see everyone one last time!



Billy Elliot - July 5th

As my last night in London, I went with the girls to see Billy Elliot. It was good, but not as amazing as everyone had hyped it up to be. I still think that Wicked was the best theatre show I saw in London. But either way I loved how we went out for my last night!

Phew! There you go! Recap of June!!!

Edinburgh: It's a Hell of a Town!

Day 1 - Exploring Edinburgh
We woke up super early to catch our flight. Like, woke up at 3am early. Stupid Stanstead (rants about airports and ryanair are a common occurrence in every household in England - especially the ex-pat ones). We got to our hostel however, by about 10:00 in the morning so we were able to make it to the walking tour in the morning!

We went on our free walking tour (I think I have done the New Europe tours in about 10 different cities now!) and saw all of downtown Edinburgh. Old churches, execution spots, Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, haunted graveyards, the whole shebang! We also experienced four different seasons in this tour! Spring - rain, Summer - sunshine, Autumn - wind, and Winter - hail. It was insane. This country can't decide what season it wants it to be!!

My favourite story that our tour guide told us was about "Greyfriar's Bobby". This was a story about a very faithful dog. When his master - the groundskeeper of the Greyfriar's Graveyard - died, Bobby sat by his grave waiting for his master to return. The townspeople fed him and sheltered him when it was cold, but he never left his master's side. He lived for like 15 years like that. When Bobby died, they built a grave for him and a statue of him outside the graveyard. People leave sticks and little dog treats / toys for him on his grave to this day.



The rest of the day was spent exploring Edinburgh on our own, even coming across a group of older Scottish men and women who were practicing traditional Scottish dancing in the park!

Day 2 - "Hogwarts" Castle
The second day was our day at the castle. We woke up and headed over to the castle after eating our deliciously simply hostel breakfast. All Dan had wanted to do in Europe was visit a castle, so obviously, the giant Edinburgh castle was a point of interest on our trip. We saw cannons and armour, prisoner cells and palace halls, fortifications and the oldest building in Edinburgh (the small church within the castle grounds). We even saw the Scottish crown jewels (a sceptre, sword, crown and stone of destiny). I don't' want to really get into the whole story of the Stone of Destiny, but I think it was pretty interesting, so here's the ever so informative wikipedia link. Dan was in his glory this whole day and I was so happy to have shared in seeing this great castle with him. :)


After the castle, we met up with my traveling friend Lucy! James and I met Lucy in Krakow / Prague when we did our Eurotrip in 2009 and she is currently living and working in Scotland! It was great to see her two years later and what had happened since those crazy nights in Poland! Lucy took us to lunch and then to the cafe where J.K. Rowling penned the first two harry potter books! It was awesome! You could see a perfect view of the castle that I am introducing Dan to Harry Potter, so he wasn't as excited as I was, but he still feigned support. :P In the evening, we went out to a jazz/live music bar and had a few drinks and good times.



Day 3 - Monster Hunting
The third day in Edinburgh wasn't actually spent in Edinburgh! We went on a day trip to Loch Ness to search for Nessie! I obviously slept the entire way there, but we saw some great views of the highlands - even though the weather was typically Scottish and rainy.



When we got to Loch Ness, we went on a boat tour and they explained all about the theories of Nessie and the sightings. And guess what? We saw her floating along the boat! Here's our proof! :P




Day 4 - Loose Ends
On our last day there, we tied up all our loose ends and did all the things we had left to do. One of them was to located an angel playing bagpipes in a church. It is the only church in the world that has a wooden carving of an angel playing the bagpipes. Pretty kitschy and cute! We also tried to tour the Royal Palace of Edinburgh (located at the other end of the Royal Mile with Edinburgh Castle on the top and the Palace on the bottom). However, it was closed as there were currently royalty visiting! We maintain it must have been Will and Kate. :P Finally, we HAD to try some traditional Scottish foods. I tried Haggis! Look at me, being all cultured now and trying crazy food! It was actually very tasty. Just like ground up sausage mixed with oats and spices. I just tried not to think about where it was cooked. We also tried the even more delicious delicacy of DEEP FRIED MARS BARS. mmmmmmmmm... Heavenly! I don't care how bad it is for you. it was amazing!

All in all, our trip was lovely. A perfect place to spend four days and really explore it all. I hope Dan had as much fun as I had! :

A Visit from Dan!

I got to play tour guide over the past two weeks and share my love of London and smartypants trivia that I've gathered over the accumulated 10 months I've been here!

It's sometimes confusing for my friends when I say that "Dan" is visiting because I have both a best friend Dan (Dan Grant) and a boy that I was seeing in Toronto before I left (Dan M. or "Dr. Dan" as he is finishing up school to be a chiropractor this year). Also, Dan Grant is moving to Edinburgh to do teacher's college in the fall and Dan M and and I went to Edinburgh this past week. Confused? Anyways, for clarity in the next few posts: Dan = Dr. Dan, not Dan Grant! :P

I was so excited for Dan to be coming. We've stayed in touch over the past few months and are very close now, albeit still in different countries. He came to visit for almost 2 weeks in between the end of his clinic rotations and his final exams. Things we did in London included:

- Watching the Champions Final between Man U and Barcelona at home with Fletch, Jade, Melissa, & Martin. Incidentally, I had picked Dan up from Gatwick that morning and there were tons of Barc fans singing songs and getting into the footie spirit!
- Sightsaw the whole Trafalgar/Parliament/Big Ben/Westminster/Buckingham area as well as a wonderful walk through Hyde Park and the Serpentine.
- Met up with Sophie and Kyle (who was in town for the week with work... He lived in England last year but now works for Barclay's NYC!) at the Shakespeare for Dan's introduction to the wonderful summer delight that is Pimm's!
- Went to Borough Market to have a delicious lunch. I had paella, he had a burger, and we shared a banoffee pie.
- Toured along the Southbank: Golden Hinde, Shakespeare's Globe, St. Paul's, Tower Bridge.
- Went in the Tate Modern and were amazed by the power and beauty of some of the pieces, as well as baffled by what some consider art
- Walked through Greenwich Park to see the Deer
- Took a Thames Clipper ride from Greenwich to Embankment
- Went to the London Science Museum and learned about "Energy", old medical tools and the creation of Plastic?? Random museum!
- Spent a night out in London (Went to Gordon's Wine Bar with Emma and Andrew and then off to the Porterhouse in Covent for some live music)
- Went on the London Eye. The first time I've ever been on it. It was fun, but a little boring. Great pics of London though!!
- Took Dan to Pub Quiz at the Fox. "Team Canaussie" came in last as usual.
- Had a fancy night out by dinner and a musical. We saw Chicago. It was great, minimalist set but excellent singing and dancing by all the cast members! Due to time restraints, we ended up eating at the "Golden Arches" (our posh name for a not so posh, well known fastfood joint, lol)

It was a wonderful time in London. It was the first time that Dan had ever been overseas and he said that he was falling in love with London just like I have! :) That's a pretty big statement from the boy from Chester, Nova Scotia. ;) We didn't just stay in London though, we also did a four day trip to Edinburgh in Scotland! But that, my friends, is another post.

Wonderful Weekend!

Friday was a HORRIBLE day. The Year 2 Class that I've been supplying in twice a week for the past three weeks was off the wall today (so much so that the secretary asked if I "needed a break from them") and made me feel like crying. Also, my wisdom tooth is coming in on the bottom left and that's KILLING as it's pushing through the gums. So I was teething and grumpy all day long. Luckily for me, I came home and everyone was also in a "we need to drink wine and eat kebabs" kind of mood so we had a chilled out evening doing just that (plus a viewing of "It's All Gone, Pete Tong".

Then, Saturday came along and I had an absolutely wonderful time. I went over to Fulham to meet up with my two Australian friends, Emma and Andrew, whom I met last year when I was in Spain. We went to a pub to watch the Man U/Blackburn match as well as the FA Cup Final (Man City vs. Stoke). After the game, we went back to Emma and Andrew's flat, grabbed a football and played in the park. After the park, we cooked dinner, grabbed some wine and settled in for a night of Eurovision finals!

Eurovision is this hilarious singing competition that all the European countries compete in. Imagine American Idol, but where the residents of each country vote (but you can't vote for your own country). The songs are pretty ridiculous / cheesy and the performances are so over the top its a riot to watch! Each of us picked six countries out of a hat and they were "our team". We then made a drinking game out of it whereby:
a). If the commentator makes fun of your country's performance, take a drink.
b). If your country wears a ridiculous outfit / hairstyle, drink.
c). If your country does something ridiculous, drink.
d). If your country does something AWESOME, give out a drink
e). If the commentator says something positive about your performance, give out a drink.

It was so much fun and we got really into it. I also learned the name of two new countries (Moldova and Azerbaijan... which actually won it!). So you can see what it's like, here are the youtubes of my two favourite performances:
Iceland (they reminded me of Mumford & Sons)
Moldova (this was ridiculous!!! I ended up having to drink a lot in this round)

I slept over in Fulham and then came back to my house in Lewisham. I convinced everyone to FINALLY get a TV and we found a sweet deal on Ebay. So the afternoon consisted of us getting the TV and watching Britain's Got Talent as family time. :) THEN, I was able to skype my entire family back home who were at my cousin's house for a birthday party / goodbye Jaclyn party and that was amazing to see my little cousins shout that they miss me on to the camera. I really miss them too!!

Basically, it was a wonderful weekend in London and I was so happy to go out and socialize but not spend loads of money. :)

P.S. I got 4 pre-booked days of work this week!!! Wahooo!! Let`s hope my tooth stops bothering me so that I can actually get loads of pay! :)

Someday my Prince will come!

Now, if you were a smart person living in Britain, you would leave super early in the morning to get a good spot to see the carriage, or Buckingham palace, or the church, or...anything.

If you were a silly person, you would wait until 10am to leave and then wander around the city amongst thousands of other people doing it as well, until finally deciding just to sit and enjoy the atmosphere.

We got to Charing Cross and it was madness! There were SO many people and SO many flags!! Of COURSE we had to buy one and wave it around. :) We trekked it to the edge of High Park, where they had giant video screens broadcasting the wedding, but by the time we got there, the carriage was almost back at Buckingham! So we sat right beside the Wellington Arch, turned on Melissa's cell phone radio and listened to the broadcast while drinking mimosas we brought with us.

We were all dolled up and the atmosphere was SO happy and excited! So many little kids, so many flags, so much pride! We actually ended up picking a good place to settle because the Royal Calvary rode right past us and we had a good view of the airplanes and jets as they flew overhead!

After it was over, we headed to Shoreditch to have dinner and check out the market. We grabbed an Evening Standard that had a picture of the kiss on the front and it was the first time we had seen it!! So beautiful!

I don't know much about the Royal Family, nor about the politics surrounding them, but I do know that with all this crap that has been going on with the world, from Osama to Egypt to Earthquakes to Protests, it was nice to have a day where everyone was just happy. And a Prince got to marry his princess. :)