Can you express-post me a burger please? Send me a frozen pizza somehow? Or my mom's home made lasagna in a gigantic tupperware???? Use magic to make pasta appear???????????
When you realise you're in for a year of sketchy cafeteria food, you have no choice but to rock a positive attitude. It is the only way to make it! And I was a really good sport guys. I was. I tried to eat all the things, and I champed it.
But the thing is, now that I'm a month away from coming home, my ability to endure those glass noodles and bony chicken scraps is wearing real thin. Maybe it's because I ate so many glorious things in Vietnam, or maybe it's because I can almost taste all the things I will soon be able to eat. Whatever it is, it is not great.
I dont want to seem ungrateful (as I explained the last time I wrote about the food). But the struggle is so real! My resolve is crumbling!!!!!!!!!!
I read the lunch menu like
Here are some recent examples.
Octopus penne????????????????
Egg penne??????
Bones with noodles???????????
Every now and again there is a curry-esk dish, which Blake really goes for.
Those tofu slabs used to be such a no-go, but now I am so hungry that I devour it all in an instant.
The rare appearance of olives is pretty much the height of mealtime.
I owe Cheng my life for sending me another candy care package.
The Coburg Dream Team consists of three individuals that I adore very much. These three people (Rory my love, Sara my Xaralove, and Cheng my friendsoulmate) all became room mates to create a fantastic dynamic that rivals all others. Since South Korea is really far away, we miss each other a lot and therefore FaceTime each other a lot. I usually wake up and hop online (pjs and all) to chat with my people before I start my day. Here are some gems from our Facetiming these past 8ish months.
Sometimes we just hang out
Sometimes Rory practices nursing
Sometimes he takes me along while he waters my beloved plants
Sometimes Cheng becomes a cartoon
Sometimes a colander is a hat
Sometimes there is a crew over
Sometimes I am moral support for baking
Sometimes we're both very sleepy bunnies
Sometimes we try and figure out what pitches we speak with
Sometimes I really just need a heart to heart with my pup
Sometimes it's really really late and I've had some drinks and call Rory because I miss him and need a snack
Koreans love sauna culture. There are all kinds of saunas all over the place, and people go with their friends and families, and it's relaxing and awesome. I have previously written about Spaland, a heavenly spa in Busan, but there was one stone that remained unturned. Until last week.
Kat and I got our first Korean scrub down. It kind of felt like a rite of passage. And let me just say that after that scrub down, I was LITERALLY the most clean I have been in my entire 25 years of being alive. It was quite the experience.
Basically, for $20, you can become a completely new human being. Here is the process:
1. You are naked
2. You soak in the tubs for a while
3. When it's time, your Korean spa woman comes and finds you and lays you down on a waterproof (and very slippery) bed
4. The scrubbing begins. And I truly mean scrubbing. This is not a light exfoliation. The women wear these plastic glove thingies, which I would say were distinctly reminiscent of those plastic dish scrubbers. You know the ones:
5. They GO AT IT so it's borderline painful, but they move all over your body so it doesn't get too sore in one spot
6. You are put in a variety of positions which remove any sense of dignity that you may have ever had in your life
7. They scrub EVERY. SINGLE. INCH. Seriously. The woman who had the misfortune of doing my scrub down knows me better than pretty much everyone in the world
8. After 20ish minutes of that, they soap you down, dump water on you, and you go to shower off pretty much your entire epidermis
I was a-okay with being naked and getting scrubbed by a random woman. But I was NOT prepared to feel like the world's filthiest animal. For Koreans, the scrubbing is a normal/consistent part of life so there isn't a ton of work to be done. But apparently westerners have absolutely no concept of how to wash properly. So I was essentially 25 years late on getting rid of my grime.
Me seeing what was getting scrubbed off:
Me when making eye contact with the woman scrubbing me:
If I could have spoken Korean I would have been like "I SHOWER EVERY DAY I SWEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Instead, the woman and I shared many awkward laughs and I sported an apologetic face the entire way through. I was glad to have Kat laying on the slab right next to me so we could share in being the foreigner spectacles that we are, and also confirm that yes, they were scrubbing EVERYWHERE.
And I gotta say, I feel HELLA clean. So clean that my tattoos even feel new! And my skin has never been softer!
Last week was spring break and I somehow managed to convince my good friend Corey to travel all the way from Halifax, Canada, to meet me in Vietnam. We got to spend ten days traveling around the country.
Hey Corey, thanks for coming! You were the best to travel with!
Vietnam is amazing because:
- There are gorgeous plants and flowers growing out of pretty much everything. SO MUCH GREEN!
- Everything looks absolutely stunning, like stop-in-your-tracks beautiful.
- The food is fabulous. Street food, traditional food, foreigner food, ALL the food was good.
- The people are so chill and kind and awesome.
- The sightseeing is a 10.
We hit up three spots (which I ever-so-fancily circled in case you needed a geography refresher of Vietnam):
WE HAD A BALL!
HANOI
We started by spending a few nights in Hanoi. Everyone told me that Hanoi was cool to see, but that it was pretty chaotic overall. Surprisingly, I adored Hanoi and would have happily spent extra time there. I was weirdly into the chaos of it all. I LOOOOOVED it!
Yes, the pace was crazy, but the vibe was almost serene. It was busy, but CHILL busy. No one was in a rush, or cranky, or aggressive. Things were moving at all times, but everyone was just calmly doing their thing. Here is a clip I took while overlooking an intersection.
All the stories about crossing the street in Vietnam are true. It was quite a thing to get used to. Traffic never stops, so you literally just step into the street and slowly, consistently walk forward. It's only when you stop that you are in danger, since the scooters are 100% used to just driving around you. It's your hesitation that throws the drivers off. One guide made a joke that the best way to cross the street is to close your eyes and walk straight ahead, which honestly would have probably worked out fine. It felt like those trust fall exercises except with racing motorcycles and cars almost running you over at all times. We definitely got the hang of it though!
We went to see water puppets, this super cool traditional art form where people stand behind a curtain and use rods to control these puppets in waist-deep water. SO COOL!
There was also an AMAZING trend of altars worshiping Choco Pies. ALL HAIL THE CHOCO PIES!
Asian power lines I tell you.
There are gorgeous lakes in Hanoi which are perfect for leisurely strolls.
We also found a bunch of temples and great sights in general.
HA LONG BAY
We then spent two nights on a boat cruise in Ha Long Bay. There are no words for how great that was. SO MAJESTIC! The only downfall was my uncontrollable and incessant singing of I'm On A Boat (which was funny for all of two seconds). Corey, thank you for not throwing me overboard during that difficult time.
We got to do so many cool things. We went through limestone caves!
We went through caves on bamboo boats!
We chilled out on deck!
We biked to a little village on Cat Ba Island!
We went kayaking!
We saw some wild langur monkeys!
We enjoyed the views from our room!
And lastly, we visited a floating house!
It was all so, so great. We were sad to leave the boat, but happy to be back on solid ground. We took the four hour shuttle back to Hanoi and spent another night in that fantastic city.
HOI AN
Then, we hopped on a plane and flew to Hoi An, this gorgeous little town most known for its traditional yellow paint and the clothing tailors found on every corner. A daisy-patterened suit, anyone?
Although Hoi An was pretty packed with tourists, the visual elements were out of control. The greenery, lanterns, and view of the river were totally gorgeous. We biked/walked everywhere and checked out a bunch of historical spots.
The beach was on the busy side for a Nova Scotian such as myself, but I am a mermaid so I was pumped to swim.
SEW ZEN RITE NOW.
Vietnam also has INSANELY good coffee and I happily fuelled my raging caffeine addiction with two cups a day.
We loved banh mi, a traditional dish of DELICIOUSLY spicy meat/veggies on a crunchy bun.
We were evidently very sad that our travels were coming to an end. We flew back to Hanoi for our last night in Vietnam. It was the best vacation I've had in so, so long.
Corey and I said our goodbyes and I hopped on a plane to Seoul. Poor Corey had a 30ish hour trek back to Halifax, so he won many gold stars for making the journey.
I spent a night in Seoul with my pal Maria, and we had a fun night celebrating my last night of spring break. Thanks for hosting Maria! We had Sunday brunch and then it was time for me to head back to Jeju.
I am back to work but with only two months remaining on my contract. It feels great to see my girls again. TIME IS FLYING!
I hope to find myself in Hanoi again because that place is magic.
