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 

Friends

Friends.

As simple as the title may seem this word comes with a lot of complicated feelings and situations.

I am not stranger to home sickness even on the brightest of days. Being millions of miles away from your friends and family can take a huge toll on your heart. 

Last Sunday I went into full out fetal position because I was on facebook seeing all my beautiful friends getting married, buying houses, and having beautiful children. 

The thought that echoed through my mind was:

What if they forget about me... I'm so far away and they only see me once a year, it just seems like I will slip away from their new adult life. 

I went immediately into panic mode and just started bawling. 

Sometimes being here makes me feel lonely and lost in translation. When I see my friends doing well, I am absolutely over the moon for them, but secretly jealous and questioning my own life choices. 

I know before I came to Korea I had some critics saying, 

"What are you running from?"

"You can't live there forever."

"You should be an adult and start your life here"

Without a doubt it hurt hearing those things, but ultimately I got here and I'm actually pretty proud of myself and the life I have chosen. sometimes.

Let me get to the point:

The point is I've been personally struggling with friendships here (in Korea) and my friendships at home (in America). 

The way I see it is, in Korea there are different categories of friends; work friends, party friends, and actual friends. 

Sure the same applies no matter where you are from in the world BUT making friends in a foreign country isn't as easy and some people may think. 

It's absolutely true when people say,"Foreigners judge other foreigners." Hell I'm guilty of it. But here to find genuine relationships that will last forever is difficult. Different circles of friends, gossip, and constant 1-ups on people becomes childish and dull. 

Lately the pressure of putting a smile on and being tight lipped has really gotten me down. 

The point of having friends is to enjoy their company and to foreign together. 

Lately I've been keeping to myself and hanging out with my boyfriend and just trying to work on myself. 

I have to admit going home in July in always bitter sweet. Last year it felt great to see everyone and I realized I wasn't missing much... but this year I may feel different. 

Life abroad isn't always rainbows and butterflies and there are some personal hardships that come with it. 

I just the moral of the story is to stay true to yourself and have fun. Find people who uplift you, instead of tear you down. 

To all my friends I love you and miss you. I don't tell y'all enough but you guys mean to world to me. At some point I will come home for good....

For now I'm not done exploring. 

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

100 day photo challenge summary

My 100 day photo challenge summary:

100 days ago I challenged myself to post 1 photo each day on instagram about what made me happy.
I will be completely honest some days I had to dig deep.

As I review my photos I noticed I posted a lot about friends, family, food, work, tattoos and medicine. This all seems pretty shallow at first glance but for real these are things I can appreciate.

Friends & Familia

My friends and family mean so much to me that its unreal. I can even put it into words. I love my coworkers that have become family and my friends that are pretty much my backbones. I miss my friends in America beyond belief. During my 100 days I went home and had an absolute blast. I want you too to know how much i love and value your friendships. I feel incredibly blessed to be surrounded by such strong and amazing individuals. 

My kiddos ! 

As I am quickly approaching my 1 year mark I can safely say I have made it this far because of the kids. When I first got here I thought, what did I get myself into? Times have been a complete struggle. The hours are long and giving 100% of yourself on a daily basis is unbelievably draining, but I can say I wouldn't trade it in for anything in the world. When my first class of kinder babies graduated this past February I cried my eyes out and I know when my pre kinders graduate in February and I head back to America for some R&R it will be bitter sweet. These kids absolutely mean the sun and moon to me. 

Food !

This is all very self explanatory hahaha I LOVE FOOD. I miss my steak and potato meals back in the good ole US of A, but I have found food that has soothed my soul. My partner in food crime Karla and I seem to demolish everything in sight. Korea is a melting pot of deliciousness. From sweet treats at Hello Kitty Cafe to my all time favorite Coco Curry. Since I've been here I'd like to think I have expanded my horizons as cultural eater. And lets just talk about the chocolate pancakes with cookies and cream ice cream on the bottom picture. If your ever in Gangnam and want to drown your sorrows in delicious chocolate go to Butterfingers and they will hook it up! 

Traveling 

It's a blessing to be living my life overseas immersed in a completely different culture. In my 100 day journey I have gone to Nami Island (top left) which is north of Seoul, Ulsan (top right), Gapyeong country side, The Palace in Gwahamun, Ulsan (bottom right), and my neighborhood (bottom left). Traveling within Korea has been so much fun. I actually never realized about beautiful Korea was until I #GetOutandLive (thanks for the tag Jackie). No matter where you are in the world travel and explore! It's important to take little week end trips to escape life sometimes! 

But first... Let me take a selfie

So in Korea... rather world it's the "selfie generation." I am totally guilty of taking seflies anywhere and everywhere. I also like to get my friends and family to participate or photo bomb haha We are all guilty of it. Mirror pics, duck faces, selfie with the front cam, we have all become masters of working the angles and filters. During my 100 days I took some cute selfies and there's one that I didn't actually put in the collage of a selfie when I was just down right tired. Life is happy and I try to show that through funny selfies or selfies with my friends or animals. You gotta love the way you look! :)

My boyfriend 

(mushy alert)

I actually try not to spam instagram with our lovey dovey gayness. haha but it can be hard to hold back. I'm lucky that I found someone who is just as crazy as I am. I'm so happy to have found a boyfriend who feels like my best friend. On day 25 we had our first day and on October 18th we will be celebrating our first 100 days together! So in short I'm over the moon and just super blessed to have met someone I click with!

So to wrap up my 100 day summary a lot has and can happen in such a short time. I honestly didn't think I was going to keep up with this challenge but I made it!! 

I want to say thank you to my friends, family, students, boyfriend and everyone who do things out of the kindness of their own hearts. Sometimes it's the littlest things that can make someone's day. I believe that making others smile with your kindness is a huge gift that not just anyone can do. 

Have you made someone smile today? :)

xoxo

100 days happier 

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.