Bistopping Review 비스토핑

💥Cafe Gals: Cafe Review💥

Bistopping is a small ice cream shop in between Sinsa and Nonhyeon Station. It's definitely in an area that you need to map out! If you know how to use Naver maps then you'll definitely be in good hands! 
Bistopping has attracted a wide variety of clients. When we went there were lots of Japanese people and a few Koreans. They have definitely amped up their business via instagram. 
The system of ordering is pretty fun because you can choose your cone, type of ice cream, and your toppings! In their case you can choose chocolate stars, mermaid tails, chocolate pearls and other assorted goodies! 
When we went in Cheyenne customized hers but I showed the clerk an instagram picture and said, "This one pleaaaase!" 

They are super nice helpful here! This is absolutely a great place to come!

Now let's get into the details here:

Prices: 
5,000 +
Depending on how fancy you want to get
Menu:
Available in Korean, English, Chinese, & Japnese
Wifi: 
Absolutely! Bottom of your receipt! 
Pet Friendly:
No
Atmosphere: 
Very cute! The inside of ice cream shop is small and adorable!
Seating: 
Inside seats about 30
Outside about 8 
Instagram Worthy:
Of course! You can take a picture with their signature wall or the bubble gum pink walls! 

Thoughts:

Honestly I love coming to Bistopping because it's fresh and delicious! It's perfect on hot summer days or even lazy Sundays! Bistopping is great for casual meeting with friends or a family hang out! You should definitely come and check it out! You'll be glad you came!
🚨Cheyenne and I gave this cafe🚨 
☕☕☕☕☕/5

💕

Address:

Seoul, Seocho-gu, Jamwon-dong, Sinbanpo-ro 47-gil, 68
🌟Sinsa Exit 3 go straight and cross at Kia Motors 

Open
Everyday from 11AM - 10PM

Phone Number
070-7792-0409

 📷Their Instagram📷

Bistopping

Stay caffeinated my friends! 

xoxo

Cafe Gals

Dore Dore Cafe Sinsa // 도레도레신사동

💥Cafe Gals: Cafe Review💥

Dore Dore is a 4 story house in the back streets of Sinsa-dong.
 The first floor you walk into is where all the goodies are! They have a basement and additional floors on top! Each floor is a different color with a different set of decor. Their pastry case looks absolutely inviting with rainbows and gem colored cookies.

 Dore Dore is also a bright pink house with the words Dore on the side.
 You cant miss it! 

Now let's get into the details here:

Prices: 
Drinks: 5,000 - 8,5000 KRW
Cake slice: 8,500 - 15,000 KRW
Menu:
Korean

Wifi: 
Absolutely! 
Pet Friendly:
No 
Atmosphere: 
Barbie's house come to life! Amazing!
Seating: 
Plenty! 4 floors of seating and AC!
Instagram Worthy:
Heck yes! Take that selfie and eat that cake! 🍰

Thoughts:
Dore Dore was an awesome cafe to visit and I'm more than certain it wont be our last time here! I have to admit all of Cheyenne's choices were delicious! Mine wasn't as good as I was hoping. I did take my left over cake to my husband and he LOVED it! So it didn't go to waste 😀 I would highly recommend this cafe to anyone who has a sweet tooth! One the week days it's a nice place to hang out and enjoy the wifi! I cant wait to come back and get the carrot cake! haha 


🚨Cheyenne and I gave this cafe🚨 
☕☕☕/5

💕

Address:

서울특별시 강남구 도산대로15길40

40 Dosan-daero 15-gil

🌟You can access the Cafe from Apgujeong-ro or the main road of Sinsa 

Open
Every day 11AM - 11PM

Phone Number
02-540-4553

📸Instagram📸
Dore Dore

Stay caffeinated my friends! 

xoxo

Cafe Gals

Episode 8 & 9

sorry y'all 

I've been massively lacking these past 2 weeks! I apologizzze

but here is the awkwardness that happened last week

and then here is the follow up for week 9

Thanks for sticking with me you guys!!!

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 :)

Life After Korea

Life after Korea...

I was chatting with one of my girlfriends a couple weeks ago and we were talking about what life will be likes once we begin lives back home. She will be getting married soon to a wonderful Korean fellow and after they have kiddos they will head back to Canada. She brought up a lot of points about frustrations and worries about life back home.

It got me thinking... 

What the hell am I going to do?

By the time I head back to the States I will hopefully be at the tender age of 29. In my head it seems old in terms of getting my act together. Going home and technically starting over seems overwhelming and complicated. 

Life in Korea is easy. (relatively) 

Our housing is paid for, we work (a lot), explore far and near, and we don't have much to worry about. 

I love teaching in Korea but it's not like teaching in America. 

I also know I don't want to teach when I go back to America because I'm actually not qualified to be a teacher. I major in psychology. 

My friend said something that really struck a cord with me. 

"We need to have marketable skills that will enable us to have jobs in other fields and still be successful." 

I got to thinking. 

A. What are my skills?

B. What am I passionate about?

My first passion is make up and skin care and I have been doing that for sometime but have really slowed down since work takes up much of my time and honestly I am not going to contour my face and wear bright lip stick to teach. 

Lately I've been researching a lot about nail art. So after spending the week end at SETEC I am happy to announce my journey learning how to do nail art. 

Of course with anything I will need to practice and make sure I can do a mean manicure and gett fancy with colors and variations. Sure there's a lot to learn but that's what makes it so fun and exciting for me. 

To anyone that is abroad and wondering what life will be like after you return it's okay to be confused and a little worried. I think we all have to take it with stride. Plans aren't perfect but I'm going to work hard and try my best. 

To any of the expat who have gone home and started a new life outside of teaching, what did you do? And how did you get there? Was it difficult? 

I give you all massive kudos. 

So to all of my friends living and working abroad what do you think? What will you do? 

Best luck to everyone 

"When you do what you love you never work a day in your life"

xoxo

J. Greene

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

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 

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.

Seoul Cycle

Well folks its that time of year here in Korea... The school year is quickly ending and that means one thing.

PEOPLE ARE LEAVING

I have only been here for 4 months but have grown quite fond of the people I work with. Coming into the school year towards the end was rough for me, but with the support of my co-workers I was able to power through some difficult times in and out of work.

People who come to Korea to work never really know how long or short their stay will be or exactly when they will leave.

This will be my first "Seoul Cycle." SEVEN foreign teachers and 4 Korean teachers are parting ways.

I found out today that my gay partner in crime/ co-worker is leaving next Friday and I could feel the tears welling up. He has was the first one to take me out and get me drunk, he introduced me to the gay community of Seoul, and he has taken care of me through my stent with the Seoul crud. Needless to say this man has done so much for me and my heart will be broken when he flies back to Seattle.

He told me,"your a big girl, you'll be fine without me."

I know it will take time to get adjusted with new co-workers and new kids and I know I will be fine...

The sting of fast change will burn but it will soon vanish.

I am blessed that I have met such passionate and inspiring people.  I am forever grateful for everything they have done for me.

Now it is my time to help usher in the fresh batch of American and/or Canadian newbies and lend a helping hand just like the people who have done the same for me.

The cycle never stops nor will it ever change.

We just have to put on our big girl panties and deal with it.

xoxo
sad @ work

Hongdae Foodie

So Saturday was pretty busy for me! But that doesn't mean I stayed in! Karla, Sarah and I definitely had a foodie/drinky kinda evening. 

Heading out of station 9 in Hongdae to start our night!

((San Antonio REPPIN'))

Gusto Tacos - Hongdae 

This was pretty delicious!

 Sure it's not exactly Tex-Mex but it still satisfied the tortilla craving. The handmade corn tortillas were delicious! This is carne asada and it was awesome having a good ole Dos XX. 

After this Sarah and I took down another tortilla each haha it was just too good to pass up! 

After that we walked up and down the strip because Sarah wanted to take us to this one place that has amazing pizza and subzero ice cream. 

I took a picture of this building just because it was visually interesting. Im not sure what it is but it's cool looking haha So after getting a little lost we finally found the pizza place!

Coyote Saloon - Hongdae

This is my white russian drink and we tore up some 4 cheese pizza. It was a little on the pricey side but there were 3 of us so we split it evenly so it didn't make it too bad. The restaurant was pretty cute it was up on the 2nd floor and made for some good people watching. 

After this it was time for my first Hongdae club experience.

Not going to lie I was a little nervous because I haven't been out out since I was in college so I figured this was going to be an experience haha 

We went to Papa Gorilla's near Cocoon and it was pretty fun. It's funny to see the girls dancing here because they dance with their hands its pretty cute.

The night was a lot of fun it was good to get out and blow off some steam from the week! 

Hope everyone had a great week end and I hope you enjoy your Sunday!

xoxo

Greene