damsel in distress

To Women Who Apply,

Sometimes you feel proud of yourself. Perhaps many people have called you a career woman, a new age woman, independent. You make the money, you pay the bills, and you feed yourself.

But then shit happens.

Screw this, I'm going to marry rich, you say to yourself. All you have to do is act pretty, make sandwiches and swipe your hubby's credit card. Might as well make your natural assets work for you!

Sunday Night Chit-Chat

Chatting with Carla and folks again :)

Check out the guy taking a picture of himself with his phone! 

Reading?
Alice in Wonderland. I love nonsense literature, because in a way, it makes sense.

Watching?

Aziz Ansari Skits. It's nice to satirize culture in a non-racial way.

Listening to?
1-2-3-4 Hot your body forever more!

My co-teacher never puts her phone on silence, leaves her phone in the teacher's room, and gets someone to call her 2038409238492034290 times a day. Now it's stuck in my head. >=( !

Cooking/Baking?
Mandu! It's the bestest and healthiest mandu I've made so far! With this recipe, I can return to Canada and never crave Korean mandus!  All thanks to a wonderfully charming woman, Maangchi.

Happy you accomplished this week?

There's a student I tutor at the orphanage that's making tremendous progress. He's usually a little stubborn and shy, but he puts in the effort and works his heart out. Hopefully, he'll be able to catch up with the rest of his class soon. 

Looking forward to next week?
Shopping! With whatever money leftover I have in my budget, I'm going to buy some souvenirs, stock up on some skin care items.  (I'm returning to Canada in 7 weeks!)

Thankful for today?
Vinegar. Thank you for keeping my house clean, and being awesome in my sauces and dressings.

Weekly Summary

This week I had about 125 000 to spend. And I didn't spend it all! YAY!

Meal Planning #4

Hmm, I definitely did'nt consume enough vegetables last week. I feel like crap.
This week, I'm going for some Korean cuisine!

What I have:    Ground Pork Rice Noodles Pancake Mix Tuna Mandu Skin Oatmeal

Grocery list:     Tofu Mushrooms Green Onions Strawberries Carrots Yogurt Bag of onions French Bread ~20 000 won

Meals to make:     Bokumbap Kimbap Mother's Asian Soup Korean Pancake Pan-fried Mandu Mandu soup

To the free wi-fi provider: Thank you

Dear Neighbour (iptime),

I have been in Korea for almost a year now, and I have been leeching off of your internet. I understand that the internet can get costly. It's just that I'm dirt poor, and the internet providers seem to only want me to sign long-term contracts when I am planning on staying here for a bit.

Meal Planning #3

This week, I'm going to take it easy and try to use mostly what I have at home. (I know I keep saying that, but THIS time, I'm doing it for real!) My boss is taking me out for dinner on Tuesday, so that means at the most, six days of cooking.

What I have:    Bacon Rice Tuna Seaweed Sour Cream Curry Powder Ground Pork Eggs

Grocery list:     Bag of Potatoes 2 Cucumbers 1 Carrots ~5000 won

Meals to make:     Wannabe Greek Platter Kimbap Fried Rice Pork Sour Cream Curry Mushroom Congee

Sunday Night Chit-Chat!

I'm joining Carla and her buddies in a little chit chat! (albeit a little late!) 

Visited the biggest lava tube discovered! 

Reading?
I just finished The Hobbit! My school's library only has classics for the students, so I'm making my way around that. Tomorrow, I'm going to sign out Alice in Wonderland.

Watching?
I am going to watch a highly recommended Korean movie tonight. It's pronounced Madoh, which can be interpreted as Konglish for Mother and Murder. My students tell me that Won Bin, one of the actors, is the ideal Korean man - so I finally get to see what he's made out of!

Why replace something you can fix?

I'm trying to fix things before I replace them. It's the single handedly smartest thing to do - but I never did it because I was lazy. And I admit, I was a snob. People who fixed things are poor, I thought condescendingly, I'm not going to fix things. 

Lo and behold, I'm poor and fixing things. But my attitude towards fixing things has flipped. Hence this post bragging about all the money I saved fixing things!

Chinese Parents.

When my parents proudly told me this story, I shook my head and thought, this is how the Chinese get their cheap reputation.  But now I look back, and I smile and wish I inherited a fraction of their thriftiness.

Weekly Summary

Groceries costed a great deal because, well, I went to Costco!

For my dining expenses, I met my friend for coffee last Sunday, and had a hot dog at Costco. I thought I was doing great with this month's challenge until my boss asked me to have lunch with her! I couldn't refuse her. She had been paying the last several meals, so I decided to step up and cover her's that day.

Bills, Bills, Bills.

I love graphs!

This graph shows my awesome effort at bringing down bills from January to Feb. It looks like this month I should be cutting back even more on all four categories!

To The Boyfriend

My Prince Charming,

I know the reason why you haven't taken a job for over five years is because you make more money playing poker.

I know people look at you and talk to you condescendingly. They've seen your losing days, your bad choice in clothing, dirty shoes and reach silly conclusions. I've seen your one losing month in the three years we've dated, I know your not a brand whore, and I know you love your pair of kicks to pieces.

Weekly Summary Update

March is when a new semester begins. Old Native English Teachers return to their motherlands while new ones begin their expat escapades in a new and mysterious land.

I said good bye to the last of my friends on Wednesday. Their last meal request in Korea before they hop onto the plane? Indian. The couple is from a small town in the States, where Indian restaurants are still non-existent.

Meal Plan #2

A sequel to my first meal plan! The more I spend time at home, get creative with food, and save - the more I wouldn't mind being a house wife slash full-time volunteer. A big change from last year when I sought out to be a career woman. Whoops! Went off topic.

Sitting in the Dark. Literally.

I'm on my bed, hiding under my blanket with the lights off. It's part of my new initiative to save on the electricity and heating bill.

March Challenge

I'm making my own challenges this month! It won't be that different from last month since it's worked so well for me. Here it is...

"my first meal plan" outcome

I'm surprised that in 7 days I only spent 15 dollars on extra food! Meal planning is fun!