Y&M in Korea

If you are pregnant, and you stay at Korea... (1)

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 08 Nov 2010 14:54:00 +0000

I am now in my 37th week pregnancy, and anytime we will meet our baby.

Before that, I always want to write down the benefits pregnant ladies can get here.

To make it easy, let's start with the benefits we can get from the public health center 보건소:

if you know you're pregnant through the tester,
you can choose to go to the nearest private Obstetrics and Gynecology clinic to have the ultra-sound checking;
but you have to pay for it.

(1)

If you can wait until 9th week of your pregnancy,

you can get the free checking and also the first blood and urine test at the public health center.

Check the phone number and location of the public health center of your living area,
call them up and ask for more details.
They also provide booklet ( 생애주기별 보건 복지지원 서비스 Health and Support Service Booklet) to provide the information of different services they offered in their center. (Get good use of it)

(2)

If you are confirmed of your pregnancy,
at about 9th week,
your obs & gyn doctor will give you a form that confirms your pregnancy and
you can apply for the go-un-mum card 고운맘카드
- the subsidy provided by the government
for all pregnant ladies
since 1st Apr 2010,

the amount is 300,000 won.

- this support can be used for all check up in the clinic, pregnancy and labor fee.
- but only can use 40,000 won per day.

- it can be used from the day you get the card, until 60-day after labor

- for more information, call 국민건강보험공단 1577-1000

- to make the card, (for foreigners)

pls go to the KB bank with the form, passport and ID, if possibleask your husband to accompany with you.

The staff of the bank is very friendly, anyway.

(3)

Though we could not get free folic acid from the public health center,

we can get the free iron pills 철분제 at the 16th week.

The iron pills are only provided to you until the end of your pregnancy

(I get about 5 times, and the last time I get it is in my 36th week pregnancy)

(4)

You also can get free triple test and blood test

which is required to do at the 16th week (to 20th week) of pregnancy.
If you can do it in the public health center,
then you do not need to do it at the obs & gyn clinic and save an amount of money.

Just get the result from the public health center about 1-2 week later,

then bring it to your obs & gyn clinic.

To get this test, you have to book it in advance,

so call them first.

Then you have to fast the night before,

drink the glucose 50g tolerance drink which they will give you when you arrive.

After that, wait for 1 hour.

Then test will be taken out.

(5)

Labor prepration class 출산준비교실

In our area, the public health center offer this class

for 26th to 32th week pregnant ladies.

(Gwangjin-gu area 광진구)

Every Wednesday 1.30-3.30pm

Every 2nd and 4th Saturday 10am-12pm for working ladies

I attend it in my 36th week, quite late to know about it. Anyway, it is an useful class.

If your hospital also offer this class, you can choose just to go either one of them.

(6)
If your name are recorded in the public health center,
if they have some class offered for pregnant ladies,
they will call you up and invite you to join.
Even if they do not call you up,
you can check up in the website and register on-site.

For my case,
I got to join one time of prenatal training class
on 6th Oct 2010.
D-line ladies -

Lecture and video for introducing prenatal training,

booklet provided,
drawing session - a paper of 2 circles is given, and all mums are free to create anything on it.
Some drew food, some drew snowman, and I drew park with kids as the photo below... all mums are really creative and lovely!
I'm giving the dream of future that my kid and other kids can still enjoy the green nature as before and now.
After the class,
they also gave presents:
- key chain writing: Pregnant ladies first! (hoho - it is very useful in public transportation)
- a pair of mini spoon and knife

End of the first part...

Hope it can give some basic information to you...

If I left out something, pls write to me.

Thank you.

Cooking class

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:36:00 +0000

We used 3 weeks to learn cooking Korean food
- Bibim noodle
- Cucumber kimchi
- Kimbab
- Nalchi-ar-bibimbap

Most of the time we had too many students and not all of us had the chance to cook, but in kimbab class 5 of us attended only and all of us made as many as 3 kimbabs! :P

Kind teacher with hard-learning students

Well-served bibim-noodle (quite hot for the Philippine ladies)

Look delicious - yet really yummy - kimbab!

Anyway, since it is free to learn, why not join the center that is the nearest to you?

Living Tips - 2

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:10:00 +0000

In the program I joined in the multicultural family support center of Gwangjin-gu since April, for the immigrant ladies, I only knew that there are a lot of us living in this area - from Philippines, Vietname, China and Japan. The program offered us:

orientation
know about yourself
learn Korean songs & visit the karaoke
learn to cook Korean food
learn about rights and laws to live in Korea

In this August we are having summer vacation as the weather is too hot.

There are some telephone numbers that they ask us to jot down:

For the Foreigners who got married at Korea - the organizations who help in the law assistance: (free charge)

대한법률구조공단 132
한국가정법률상담소 02-780-568, 780-5689 http://www.lawhome.or.kr/
대한변호사협회 02-3476-6515
서울지방변호사회 02-3476-6000
Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women 1577-1366
한국이주여성인권센터 02-3672-7559

Korean Immigration Service 1345 -
Counseling service in 18 different languages
9am-6pm
1345 + numbers-for-language + *
(Korean 1, Chinese 2, English 3, Vietnamese 4, Thai 5, Japanese 6, Mongol 7, Indonesian 8, French 9, 뱅골어 10, Pakistan 11, Russian 12, Nepal 13, Combodian 14, Myanmar 15, German 16, Spain 17, Philippine 18)

On 20th Jul,the Counseling Team leader, 권미경, of Emergency Support Center for Immigrant Women gave a talk for us. She encouraged us to know about our human rights and especally the rights for women.

On 27th Jul, a lawyer gave a talk on the law on the divorce and the ways to search help in emergency situations. She reminded us:

if the husband disappeared for more than 3 years, the wife can apply for divorce.
if the husband passed away suddenly (in tragedy), the division of property - (Case without children) Parents (1) and wife (1.5) share and (case with children) children (1) and wife (1.5) share. --- she mentioned about this because a lot of married ladies do not know about this right
In the court case of divorse, there was once a case that the husband wanted a divorce and the wife did not want to, but the husband hire a translator who sided the husband. Though the answer of the wife was no - when she was questioned of whether wanted a divorce - the translator said yes. Thus, the wife should find a trustable translator if she doesn't know about the Korean language well.

Living in Korea (for ladies who got married with Korean men) - 1

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 13:45:00 +0000

After these few months I joined program in the multicultural family support center of Gwangjin-gu (the area where I live), I found the information they provide is very useful for us, the immigrant ladies. Also, I hope this information will help those who are coming over here to stay.

The case of the Vietnamese girl, (naver search 베트남신부살해사건 to get more information) who was only 20 years old, was killed by the husband who is almost double of her age, in only less than 10 days she entered the country. The husband is diagnosed with mental problem. What a sad news... so the awareness of the government and the married ladies are both important. This type of case is not the first time, so we ladies should know our rights and get the useful living tips to live happily in this foreign country.

This booklet was given by the multicultural family support center. It is provided in different languages, while I got the English version. My Vietnamese friends got the Vietnamese version, Chinese got Chinese version and others.

Publisher: Korean Government
Planning: The Cenral Office for Multicultural Family Support Centers
This book was publised under the sponsorship of Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs 보건복지가족부, Ministry of Public Administration and Security 행정안전부 and Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism문화체육관광부.
However, the contents of thi book are also available through the multicultural famil support portal site (http://www.liveinkorea.go.kr/)

Contents:

Introduction to the Republic of Korea
Foreign Resident Support Services
Residence and Naturalization
Korean Culture and Life
Pregnancy and Childcare
Education of Children
Health and Healthcare
Social Security System
Employment and Labor
Enjoy Korea!
Reference

Get one copy for yourself is not a bad idea - as you can get a lot of information to ask in daily life (with useful website references and telephone numbers provided)

This mini booklet was also given by the center for married couples (printed by Seoul Family Support Center http://family.seoul.go.kr/ ). It was printed in Dec 2009, so there are lots of latest useful information (we're expecting our first baby in this coming Nov), especially there is the support from the government from pregnancy to the children education, health and others.
There is also a table listed out the congratulation-rewards for those who give birth of babies - from 1 baby to more than 5 babies. (Seoul governmnt encourages the residents to have babies)

More to come...

Straight road with zig-zag line

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 12:57:00 +0000

When I go to teach at a study center every Thursday, I walk by this road
and... I found out it's an unique road.
What does it mean actually?

Baseball game

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 14:38:00 +0000

View from Jamsil Baseball Sports Complex to Sports Complex

Korea is famous of its baseball team, especially in the Olympic Games 2008. They won the gold medal. However, they were crazy for the sports, even before that. In Malaysia, we do not play this sports, thus actually I don't have much idea how to play the sports.

We have a friend who works at LG company and his company provided some free tickets when LG play in the tournament. On 25th May, we got the chance to watch the game LG vs KIA. It's very lucky for us that LG won that game. The result was 5:4. But actually LG lose in the early stage, but because of homerun, and later they worked hard and they won the game.

Oh ya! I finally got the chance to see Home Run! But the ball didn't come to our side.

My ticket!

I don't know about the guy in the ticket but my friend told me he is a good player (though that night he was not the star).

The game started 6.30pm and the sun still brightly shining. I like summer.

There were already thousand over people there in the sports complex. We missed the chance to see the celebrity who started the game with either throwing or hitting a ball. We were looking for the ticket booth because we got free tickets and so we were late to enter the stadium. :(

This picture just to show you that... we sit far away from the field.

The players are so tiny, right? See from TV is clearer.

Another one is, the seats opposite of us is KIA supporters.

Our side is LG supporters.

When any of the team hit the ball, the cheerleader led the supporters to sing, to shout and the cheerleading team danced. Wow! I like the Korean supporters!

But... since I'm pregnant, I felt so exhausted easily and left earlier.

This photo was taken at 7:52pm

Round 6 (if I'm not mistaken)

It's getting dark but ... the cheering sound didn't stop.

They used these balloons to make sound.

Let's see some videos, not very clear, but hope you can enjoy the live performance as we were.

There were also free stuff to give away in the middle of the show, like kissing couple, lucky number, etc. The big screen showed the audience in the supporter zone randomly then they can get free gifts. It is such a good marketing way.

Dallae's Story

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 13:55:00 +0000

Doll Performance

I got the free tickets from Korea4expats.com to have a chance to watch the doll performance - Dallae's Story. My friend and I watched it on 19th May, Wednesday.
Because of the remembrance of war, for the education purpose, this performace was held in the National Theatre of Korea from 14th May to 22th May 2010.

I like it very much because the dolls are really well made, it is sweet though the storyline is quite sad. The story was started with a happy family, performing in 4 seasons, but later on war came and everything changed. The dad died and left the mum and the child toy.

It is a non-verbal performance, and thus with the music background and puppets, toys, and the light effect, it became an amazing show. It can even help the children to know the actions of dolls - just like the animation on TV, it was originally moved by human action by action. It's not easy to move the doll by hand.

I think my baby inside of me enjoyed the show too. :)

I found a website which have the short movie of the performance. Click here.

After we watched the show, we found this mini house was shown outside the hall.

Beautiful flowers

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:21:00 +0000

Flowers are all around you this summer, stop for a while if you see some! You will certainly can't resist its prettiness. Especially try to smell the wild roses.

Share with you some taken by my hp.

Sun is bright...

The redness of rose is shining

This pink flower is shining under the sun too...

White is also as shining as other colors...

Do you also find the color of flowers you like this season?

Summer is here!

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 14:12:00 +0000

I didn't write anything in my blog since I am concentrating on... my pregnancy. I didn't take much photos like last time, but still thanks to the good handphone which I have now that I can take down some memorable photos.

The weather now is so hot... but the sky is blue and the trees are green. I like it very much.

Share with you some photos

and hope you enjoy the weather change too...

Let's go out to enjoy the sunshine (not sun burnt instead).

27th Apr 2010

Look up to the sky and I saw this wonderful tree!

27th May 2010

The clearest sky we had in May after cloudy days

1st June 2010

Hot summer arrives on the first day of June

Summer = sun!

sun = shadow!

Look down on the floor also brings amazing view!

The shadows of the trees and leaves

I even found one love-shaped shadow when I walked from my house to welfare center.

Last but not the least, green is the main color of summer!

I like green!

Cherry Flower blossom

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Sat, 17 Apr 2010 14:10:00 +0000

This year it comes late, but still as beautiful as before. I planned to go other places to have different scenery but the weather stopped me. So, I just go to the place where I always go - and the one I like the most - Children Grand Park.

Guui entrance
on Wednesday

twinkle twinkle little star

close up

soon to blossom

too beautiful to shine

Did you get to see some around you? The cherry flowers bloom out earlier in our housing area, but the park later, and even Walker Hill area does not yet bloom out yet! Weather is strange and the flowers come out late too.

Enjoy the spring!

GPS Navigation

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:42:00 +0000

Almost all Koreans' drivers have GPS navigation system in their cars. It is very useful when the roads in Korea keep updating and changing. However, I believe it is popular in Korea as the map of Korea is always keep updating for the users on the websites.

It is available in different sizes depend on the brand and the size of the car. Our car is mini Tico and this mini MyDean Navigation system is just nice. With a hook, and the direct battery charge cable is just hooked in the car and can be used usefully.

Not only it is useful to travel around the country with this navigation system, it is also used as a mobile tv, mp3 and other functions.

Homemade noodle

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:51:00 +0000

After my hubby read about the book about the disadvantage of eating snack and instant food, he decided to stop eating ramen. For me, I don't like instant noodle at all since my father always brain-wash me. Only during camping time or group eating time, then we will eat together.

So in order to keep the loving of noodle, the only choice is to make noodle soup myself. It's very easy.
From the photo above, the meat ball is brought from Malaysia one! (My father bought me one big pack and hand made by his friend).

With scallop brought from Malaysia too (My mother brought from China and also Kar Lai from HK brought me some whenever she visits me) - just put a few into boiling water.

If not, when we cook chicken soup, with some left, we will use it to cook the noodle too.

Put in any vegetable ingredients available, mostly I have onion and carrot, and mostly I will add in the green vegetable to make it look more attractive. It is more nutritious too when the green vegetable is cooked in the soup.

Korean style then sometimes my hubby will just add in the kimchi. :)

Why not you also try some homemade noodle instead of instant noodle?

Food from Taiwan

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:42:00 +0000

One of our small group members went to Taiwan during the Lunar New Year holiday. It was not a good trip because it rained for the whole trip. She could not take good photos and visit all the places she planned to. However, she brought back gift for us - pineapple pie from Taiwan.

Yes, I think I am the only person feel so excited to see this.

Since it is a packaging one, sure not as chewy as it is sold at the bakery itself. Yet the pineapple sauce is tasty, hard to find in Korea.
A lot of my friends visit Taiwan since last year, most of them went for the food there. If I have the chance to go there, I think I want to visit the countryside places - which are shown in the Taiwan MTV mostly. They are so beautiful and calm. :)

kuksuri kuksu (noodle)

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 13:24:00 +0000

This noodle restaurant is near to our school and in school time, we went to the shop quite often. The shop is soy bean paste and it's very tasty.

It makes us warm too when the weather is cold. It is pan-mee type: either made by hand (piece by piece) or by machine (long noodle type).

Another tasty food in the shop is the dumpling - 만두.

a little bit spicy with kim chi inside but very tasty when it's hot.

Compared to the restaurants next to it, the price do not increase for the last 3 years. It is still 5000 won. Price is reasonable and a lot of travellers visit this place. It is located besides the road of Yangpyeong. People go to Gangwon-do and go back to Seoul, mostly will pass by Yangpyeong, and this shop is just besides the road.

국수리 국수집
Tel: 772-2433
everything here is 5000won.
kimchi is self-service and very tasty too.

Free Korean Language class at Gwangjin area

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 15:09:00 +0000

I just moved to Gwangjin area and I found out that Gwangjang Social Welfare Center offers free Korean language class for immigrant women. So I called up and they informed me that there will be class starts in Mac/April.

I went to the orientation on last Friday, and there were only 4 ladies attended there. Anyway, from the photos in the center catalog, I think there are some other members who already studied here before. We may meet in the class opening ceremony on 31st March.
They also introduced us about the functions of the welfare center and the multicultural family support center.

The class is offered:
in 1-1 style 1 teacher and 1 student,
the time you choose to suit your own time,
also you can ask any questions in other resources you are using in the moment.

If you live in this area, please call them up and join the class.
website of 광장종합사회복지관 Gwangjang Social welfare center
tel: 02-2201-1333

There is another department in the same building also offers free Korean languge class, but only in beginner stage. 광진구 다문화가족지원센터 Gwangjin-gu Multicultural Family Support center.
Tel: 02-458-0665
They also offer other helps like counseling and programs for multi-cultural family.

In this March, there are 2 programs offered:

To know about the happy marriage life

경혼과 가족의 이해 '행복한 결혼생황 알아가기
20 people
30th March
1 - 4 pm
free
광장종합사회지관 2층 강당 Gwangjang welfare center 2nf floor, seminar room
register before 26th March 6pm
tel: 02-458-0666
Computer class

Computer class

10 seats
only for immigrants of Gwangjin residents
computer room of Gwangjin office 광진구청 컴푸터실
period: 23th March - 13th May (Tues, Thurs 10-12am)
free
register before 19th March 6pm
tel: 02-458-0666

The food I had in early March

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 14:31:00 +0000

With the photos in the camera, only I realized that I had some fantastic food in this early mid March. I would like to share with you and hope you can try it too.

We got this set of rice cookies from a missionary, whom she herself can't eat food made with flour. It is like the "mooncake" of Chinese style, but this is made in Korea style.

All 12 round cookies are in different flavor (we haven't finished eating it, but until now the fillings inside the cookies we ate were all different.

Roll cake - the one we like it so much - soft and the cream is made with a different flavor from other bakery.

This was bought by one of our church family while we had the lunch gathering at our house this Sunday. The bakery is 가또마들렌 Gateau Madeleine.

The bakery which I like to visit, Aroo Bakery, didn't make any bread recently but only cakes. I'm not sure what happened but I think may be I should pay a visit and ask them about it.

Ok... this is the white day chocolate bought by hubby.
Happy it is a dark chocolate, but ... it is high calory oh! :P

It is packed individually.

It is made in Korea. erm... not really as good as cadbury anyway. :)

And last but not the least, the food I had for my lunch! All made by me...
tofu - boiled in water, instead of fried.
sauce of tofu (home-made)
raw green vege - 돈나무 Japanese Pittosporum
samjjang sauce made by pastor's wife
soybean paste stew (tofu, radish)
sliced radish kimchi (home-made)
and rice...

a totally full lunch.

What do you have in this March - though it should be spring, it snowed and the weather is still cold. Hachoo! I just kept myself in water and vitamin C most of the time. Take care of your body well too!

Long time no see... long time no eat

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 13:47:00 +0000

I haven't updated my blog lately, busy of house moving after I returned back from Malaysia, and finally almost settled everything, and now I have the time to blog again. There is also another reason that we have only 1 notebook that 2 of us share, and hubby is going to buy me a new laptop soon... yet, must save hard after buying that.

Anyway, the topic today is that: we ordered chicken today... long time no eat, though we're learning to be vegetarian lately.

I checked online that which fried chicken branches at our new area, Guui-3-dong, and the list is long in Naver search website. The rates given by the customers was my consideration since it was hard to choose. And I found this new brand - Home Chicken - baked chicken shop.

The difference from other shop is:
the chicken is not fried,
pickles and radish provided do not add in chemical ingredients.

The price is also reasonable too.
We ordered sweet lemon chicken this time - 15,800 won for 1 bucket.

It came with lemon sauce and black spicy sauce.
Also, it came with a mini box of vegetables! Special! I love it!

not the normal salad with dressing, it's just nice - raw vege!

We had this with rice and it made us so full!
It is different from the chicken style of lemon chicken.

This shop promotes home chicken campaign. The price range is as follows:
Baked wings:
Black spicy wings, Hawaiian Teriyaki Wings, Original Garlic Wings, Sweet Lemon Wings, Barbecue 17 Wings, Chinese Chili Baked Wings.
   1/2 basket: 8,200 won
   1 basket: 16,400 won
Plain Baked Wings
   1/2 basket: 7,900 won
   1 basket: 15,800 won

Baked Chicken  (original garlic chicken, spicy garlic chicken, plain chicken)
  15,800 won

new menu:
herb garden chicken 15,000 won per basket
wings & chops 15,800 won per basket

side menu:
baked chops, spicy chops 7,800 won
meat sauce potatoes 5,200 won
baked wedge potato 3,200 won
baked tortila 1000 won
french biscuit 1,900 won
mexican side 1000 won
soft drinks 1000 won

Coupons are given too for the next order.

Website is here.
Tel: 1588-5111

Graduation season!

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 14:53:00 +0000

Entering the new semester, also the time to say goodbye to the graduated! Congratulations to all who have graduated for the year 2009!

Koreans give flowers as a encouragement to the graduated persons. Seeing the fresh flowers in the cold winter make people feel so warmth.

Parents and friends attend the ceremony - not because of the ceremony, but because of the special time to take photos for you, looking at you on the gown - though just for 1 hour.

Winter is long...

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:50:00 +0000

Snow arrived since Christmas - a thick one...
then it continued with the new year...

roads were covered by snow, and still the snow are gathered around the poles or corner;
cars were covered by snow, and still some people do not clean the snow on their car;
windows were frozen with ice, and is getting thicket and thicker;
temperature is always below zero, and is always "tomorrow will be colder -15 or more" are heard;
Han river is frozen too, and the park around the river become white.

See this news:
Ways to overcome the severe cold spell
Electricity fee is a big amount in winter.

Do you have yourself protected from this winter?
2 gloves I have,
more than 3 scarfs I have (thick one),
good shoes (not easy to wet) I have,
long underwear I have to keep myself warm,
jackets I have - as thick as possible,
hats too,
mask too,
a lovely husband who does not want me to go out when the temperature hit -10... if not all my winter will be only sickness,
yes, I still pack myself like a bear...

Just this year, I did not hibernate like a bear. :)
This winter I am better than the last 4 years, I think I have made myself stronger since spring with lots of sports and exercise.

(First 3 photos were taken by hp and the last by Samsung camera)

Dumulmori in Autumn (Nov 09) - 2

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:26:00 +0000

In this part 2, I just want to add in more photos - only the view walking along the riverside.
The above photo is the new corner that I just discovered - and it was nice!

I would like to keep the below as my bookmark.

The bridge from the tunnel (Namyangju to Yangpyeong) just crossover this place.

I wanted to make these all in one photo... but I'm lazy to find the software.

After cross the bridge , another big garden is there.

And more to more - near to the center of Yangsuri and there are restaurants!

Hope you like this place too.

Dumulmori in Autumn (Nov 09) - 1

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 12:12:00 +0000

We went to this place in Aug (post is here).
In autumn it has another face of views - a lot of people like to have a walk here - a calm and quiet place (though the bridge is just cross over the river. So I asked my hubby to bring me there again in November. The weather was nice indeed.

However, we could not see any lotus flowers. It is not the season.

Walk until the end and you will see this very old tree, strong standing in the land.

Not only couples like to date here, but also it is a place for family, and friends. I love the business of parents taking photo for their children but they are too active.

Anyway, I was satisfied with the good weather and beautiful scenery.

If only I can have a better camera, I think you can feel more realistic about the place.

This time, we discovered a gallery which we didn't enter before. A painter was having her painting exhibition in the small house near to the river.

Just enter the gallery when you see the signboard below. 수밀원(Su-mil-won)

Because it is the season of pumpkin, they arrange some big pumpkins outside the little house.

With some wood too...
Korea doesn't have much big trees.

Inside the gallery,

The paintings are hung all over the house, slowly walk around as it is really 'small'! However, they are nice!

There are mini cafe inside too.

We met the painter herself - she was busy painting.

Erm... do not forget to look for the beautiful autumn leaves on the floor! It's very nice!!!

And also do not forget to take a photo with the pumpkin! (I like it)

Car broke down? Tyre puncture?

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:43:00 +0000

When your car broke down, or tyre had a puncture, or had a flat tire, what do you do?

In Malaysia, we will only think of fixing ourselves, or call my father or the related workshop to fix it for us.

However, the car insurance service in Korea is really amazing!
We called the hotline number, givng our basic information according to our insurance by using cell phone.
Then they will track us through the cell phone,
reach us within 10-15 minutes!

When we called, we already informed them we had tyre punctured.
They came with a big truck with everything available in the truck.
Just within 15-20 minutes, the helpful service man helped us to fix the tyre back!

Wow!!! Fast service - efficiency of Koreans.
How about your place?

mini snails

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 13:29:00 +0000

All the characters in the previous mini story are mini snails collection from a children soda drink.

These are the latest versions, but I still remember there was another designs.
I saw these cute snail characters in my students' house so I took photos.

He is the most basic - brown snail.

He is the Elvis Presley hairsyle and black snail.

He is the one who wears spectacles.

They are the moustacje ajussi!

Here come the sexy smoky eye lady.

And the last the pink lady with hat.

All total 7 of them!

Also show you my handphone with case - with my own wallpaper.
:)

Actually I just wanted to share with you the amazing drawing of my student - Da En who is only 7 years old drew such beautiful airplanes - after just viewed the airplanes from the TV for once!

Another one is in the previous blog.

mini photo story

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:08:00 +0000

Introducing you to two good friends who have known each other for a long time. They like to explore new things in their life. They like to search for those things people throw away and they recycle and reform them for their daily use.

One day, they want to go travel outside of their village (erm... they need a long time to go to a new village though).

Thus, they know their limitations and they just walk as much as they can. They do not overlook their goals but they do their best.

And Peter found someone special here - the cartoon character his sister likes the most - Helly Kitty! He wanted to take it home with him as a gift for his sister.

And he walked and walked, he found a thing that can make his dream come true! A pilot and her aeroplane!!! He knows she can bring them to go out of the village they stay and explore another world!

Then he found out that there were some new friends there too. Everybody seemed to have the same excitement as he was!

Wow!!! Beautiful and sexy ladies are there too!

James got shocked by the beauty of the pink lady and he forgot about Peter for a second (erm... may be a minute).

Thus, he asked the pink lady for a date.
(Peter: " ㅠㅠ Where is he going?")

..... The End.

Did Peter and James accomplish their travel plan?
Did James manage to have a new girlfriend?

You may tell me which ending you like.

Beautiful views in the snow

noreply@blogger.com (meimeijoyful) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 15:24:00 +0000

Though it was a heavy snow... it was nice to see.

roadside

View from the plants covered by snow

playground covered by snow

how thick? see the photo above!

didn't it look like cotton? or marshmallow?

green leaves stay strong in the snow

Natural Christmas tree with the kid

This is the one I like the most - Da In found her own way to play in the snow.