What is Love

In Korea as a woman who is on the bigger side and happens to be a foreigner we face a lot of issues. 

Mainly about size. 

Today I was actually feeling abnormally perky and wanted to look cute for work. 

So I did my make up nicely and put on my favorite smock dress. 

It's definitely teacher vibes

Needless to say I was feeling myselfffff

But of course working with children they tend to knock you down from your high horse. 

I had one lil ass hat repeat over and over how ugly I looked today and if I got my dress at the "fat store." Now usually smug little ass holes like that I can deal with. I just threatened to tell his home room teacher and Korean teacher and he shaped up.

Then I have one of the bosses kids who likes to come in and chat with me while I'm finishing up my grading and all the other teachers have left. 

He said to me 

"Teacher why are you so fat?"

*** he's actually a big boy himself mind you***

I said (because I actually like this kid), "Because my mom died and because I was sad all the time I felt like eating helped me." 

He then said, "Oh, that's not good."

Then he causally pointed to my new wedding hanbok that got delivered which I'm super jazzed about and asked, "Teacher, what's this?"

I replied, "Oh it's my wedding hanbok."

He then said, "Teacher, is your husband fat too?"

I told him, "No, actually he's much thinner than I am."

((Shows him this picture)) 

"Teacher, he's really skinny."

Me,"I know he is."

I then felt compelled to tell him that it doesn't really matter what you look like or who you are because you can fall in love with someone for who they are. 

Now Kyu is obviously biased and thinks I'm gooooorrrrrgeous hahaha 

and

 I think he's super duper handsome ^^

But I guess the point here is that love is love no matter which way you cut it. Sure I'm not necessarily happy with how big I am but I'm doing things to keep myself healthy and active and I know making changes takes time and effort. 

But that's between me and my scale ^^

I also needed to vent about being called fat so many times today too.

 I'm not used to this. hahaha

 I usually wear tights and a tshirt to work and for once I dress up and get called an ogre. 

Never the less

How was everyone's week? 

Tell me something AMAZING that happened to you <3

I'll go first:

Tomorrow is Friday. What a blessing 

xoxo

Julie 

Julie's Final 52 | Episode 1

Julie's Final 52 | Episode 1

Hey y'all! 

I am now trying once again to start a video journal. All of my other videos I did one and then determined I sounded like a total douche lord and just gave up.

butttt

I'm not giving up this time! I still sound and look like a giant weirdo but I want to try and vocalize my thoughts and feelings about living in Korea the past 3 years.

So here we go:

Julie's Final 52:

Episode 1

Julie's Final 52

Pardon the awkwardness...

I'm still getting used to seeing myself talk. hahaha

xoxo

Julie

T-52 weeks :)

New city New start

Hey y'all

It's me ! I have been away from here for a long time. My previous job was pretty demanding and it was really hard to have some personal blogging time. All I wanted to do was eat, sleep, and sleep some more. haha Now that I've moved to a new city and a new school I will have more time for hobbies and doing things I like to do. 

I have just moved to Dongtan which is outside of Suwon. I am working at a brand new school with some pretty amazing people. Overall I am super happy!!

I am going to start blogging about different restaurants and activities I do around here! I live in a pretty central location so I am stoked I don't really have to travel far for anything. 

So stay tuned and I will try to update as much as possible!!

Love y'all!

xoxo

Julie

Beginning of a new adventure

Hello everyone!

So I will be starting a new segment on my blog about my new adventure.... hahah As of 12-13-14 my boyfriend moved in with me! 

I have never lived with a boyfriend and he's never lived with anyone other than his parents... so this should definitely make for some interesting times. Check out our introduction video! ^^

This video is just an introduction and he wanted to say hi to everyone ~ ^^

We are going to try out best to blog together and separately to let everyone know how this is going. 

Stay tuned for more fun and awkwardness!

Hooray!

xoxo

Julie & Kyu

Korean Dating Rituals

Hello all, 

I haven't posted in a while and a lot has happened! I went to America for 10 days for my summer vacation and I have a new boyfriend! I know before I posted a pretty grim and unpleasing post about dating in Korea, but I am here to tell you that there is indeed hope for foreigners! 

Korean dating is like a bad episode of legends of the hidden temple, you just cant all the get all the pieces together at the right time. They are either really hot with 0 personality or mildly good looking with perverted intentions.

I actually met my boyfriend at Ultra Music Festival Korea in the front row. I honestly didn't think anything of it as he asked to see my princess wand. After taking pictures and dancing around we traded kakao id's and I figured that was it. Weeks later we met up to do some local shopping in Hongdae and a lunch date turned into an all day affair. Now we've been together for a bit and things have been going really well. hehe

There are some things to get used to when dating a Korean man. 

1.  Anniversaries by the 100's. Every 100 days Korean couples celebrate! 100, 200, 300... and so on. It's a bit different but honestly I think it's kind of cute. Also friends will give you cheonwon or a 100 won coin as a way to say congrats.

2. Couple rings. My boyfriend and I are approaching our 100 day anniversary so he asked me about couple rings. I know this is an ultra Korean thing, but I like it. They are small reminders and tokens of cuteness. So friends and family I am not engaged we are just celebrating our relationship with rings! ^^

3. Getting stared at. People practically breaking their necks to get a good stare at the foreigner and her Korean man. I would be lying if I told you it doesn't bother me. I know I am not anywhere near Korean sized but the stares my boyfriend and I get are a little out of control. I'm not sure if other foreigner/korean couples have experienced this but IT'S RUDE! 

4. THE PARENTS (dun dun dunnnnnn)
part 1.
Sunday's at mom's house and you aint invited. 
My boyfriend's family live in Incheon and he's currently going to Hongik University. So he will leave my place early Sunday morning go and hang out with his family then go back go his dorms at night. But I have found that Korean parents keep a strong hold of their children. Like today, we were supposed to go to an exhibit today but his mother called and demanded he come home for lunch. He said okay sure so he left reluctantly. Just be prepared for the demands of a Korean family.

part 2.
You will not be meeting parents anytime soon.
I am not all about meeting parents but most of my exes have met and had a functioning relationship with my parents. My boyfriend has met my father via skype and my whole  family knows of him. His sister knows me as his friend from America and that's the extent. He lies to his parents about where he goes and who's he's with. I told him as long as he doesn't lie to me we're good. haha Korean's will not tell their parents about their significant other until it's time for marriage.

5. With the quickness. Korean's tend to jump in whole heartedly when it comes to relationships. No matter who your dating it takes off fast. I'll be honest I was scared and had to consult with my Korean love guru Karla. I'm glad I let my guard down and just let it happen. I'm the happiest I've been in a REALLY long time. 

All in all your girl never gives up and I'm glad I didn't. I've met a guy that I'm completely comfortable around. We watch adventure time, eat rice and kimchi, and occasionally burp in the name of love.

The moral of the story is never give up on love. It may find you in the strangest places....

xoxo

Bitten by the love bug

Dating in Korea

I have honestly did a lot of research before I left the states about dating and some of the positives and negatives that come with it. 

Well now that I have 5~6 months here under my belt and some "experiences" I believe I semi qualified to write about it. 

Through hours of tedious observations and personal experience with friends and their experiences, it seems that Korea handles foreign men much better than women. But let me explain my reasoning behind this.

Now this is just MY opinion and what I have observed so please take this as you may. 

A few friends know but I recently started dating a korean guy. Nice guy, english was pretty poor but he was nice on the eyes. We were going strong 1 month in then he started getting distant. Now I knew what was coming I just figured lets see what the reason is.... After I let him blame it on the Korean worth ethic of men I simply rolled my eyes and we kept talking. Then the talking stopped. I used my handy dandy Esther Unnie at school to help me see what his deal was and this is what I got back...

"Things will never work out for us because you are from America"

"We are culturally too different to understand one another"

This one really stung...

"I cannot marry you because you are a foreigner...."

Needless to say my feelings were hurt and but unfortunately there is truth to his reasoning. Sure it hurt and best believe I was pissed but now I kind of understand why. I am American sure thats obvious but the fact that there are so many foreigners especially women coming in and out of this country it's hard to maintain long lasting relationships. 

Now I'm not saying this means you wont find a good Korean man to take home to your parents, but I'm just saying it's a little more difficult considering our jobs, at a hogwon or a public school only last so long. Home sickness, life, and other opportunities pull you in different directions so you never know where you may end up. 

I have also observed that it seems culturally acceptable to have a "white guy" or foreigner boyfriend here. As I walked through Hongdae today (near Hongik University) They were out in numbers. White guys with Korean girls and I barely saw any Korean men with white girls. Actually I only saw 1 couple. Which to me, the odds seem a bit off. I have also heard from my other foreign friends that they do not like Korean men so that could also be the reason too but who knows. 

In closing, this has just been personal experience and observations and merely just my opinion. If you have any insight I'd love to hear it! I have not given up hope on my dream of one day having Mexican/Korean babies lulz. The dream is alive but I'm just more aware of what my come in the future. 

Much love to everyone 

xoxo

Greene.