Mommyo's Grand Tour of Chicago

I don't know how it always happens, but mommyo always ends up visiting us just when we've moved to a new place. When we moved the South Korea, she was there two months after we arrived. This time she came three weeks later with my older brother Chris. I left my car in Florida and my brother kindly drove it up to Chicago. My mom needed to go to the Philippine Consulate, so in the end it all worked out quite well. It was quite lovely having them so soon after we moved. There's nothing like having a bit of family in a new place.

The first morning she was here, Markus and I took her to the Philippine Consulate so that she could be sworn in as a citizen again. About the same time Markus and I moved to Korea, she retired in the Philippines. When we were at the consulate, everyone was speaking in Tagalog and I had no idea what they were saying. I kept asking Markus to translate and that surprised a lot of people. Tita' are always telling me that it's a shame I don't understand the mother tongue. Trust me, I regret it too. If I had my way, I would be fluent in French, Spanish, Tagalog, Chinese and Korean. Sadly, I don't have a knack for languages, which totally stinks. 

After she was finally sworn in, we spent the rest of the afternoon in the city. We visited a few sites and ate way too much food. The highlight of the day was when we went to Magnolia Bakery and had red velvet cupcakes. I live for those cupcakes. I still remember when we went to NYC in 2008 and ate them for the first time. Of course my mother defied convention and ordered a cheesecake. She always does what she wants, which makes sense because I do too. I'm glad that I was able to have this one day with her in Chicago. I missed the times when it was just me and her, so it was nice being able to explore a new place with her!

Goodbye Korea Series | Gloria and Seulhee Unnie

One of the things I miss the most about Korea are our friends. We met some amazing and wonderful people while we lived in Busan. I never thought that I would meet people that would become life long friends. Two people I miss the most are my unnies (Korean for older sister), Seulhee and Gloria. I met them through Markus, when they all worked on the Magic English Bus together. I really think they were the best thing to come out of that experience. When I met them, we instantly clicked and I knew I found my true unnies.

We would meet once a month, usually on Wednesdays, for dinner and drinks. I was always excited, because we would stay out really late eating delicious food, drinking too much soju and talking about life. They were more than just friends, they became like family. They knew everything about us and we knew all about them. We never ran out of things to talk about and they always had great advice. Sometimes, I wish that we could go back to our Wednesday night dinners. I truly cherished the time that we had with them and I'm anxiously waiting for the day that we can meet again!

Oh Korea Quote #3

Despite the fact that I don't live in Korea anymore, I still have heaps of material for my "Oh Korea" series. I took a little break, but now they're back!

I really miss hearing all the random things that Korean people said. It was definitely a highlight of my life in Busan. For the third installment of "Oh Korea", I chose a really strange one. I've had loads of weird conversations, but this one was really out there. I was talking with a male coworker and I we were talking about health and sickness. Basically the conversation went like this:

Me: I get sick really easily.
Him: Oh really? You didn't drink mother's milk?
Me: ..... I'm pretty sure I did.
Him: Until when?
Me: I don't know, until I was 1?
Him: I drank mother's milk till I was 13. Plus I really like... * he put his hands in front of his chest.*
Me: Oh.....

At first I thought he was joking, but after a few more minutes of conversation I realized he wasn't. He was dead serious. I don't even think it's possible for someone to drink breast milk until that age, but I could be dead wrong. I asked a few of my Korean friends if this could happen. They said that because he grew up in the countryside, anything was possible. Apparently things are really different in the country. Either way, I'll always remember when a grown man told me he drank mother's milk until he was a teenager. Oh Korea, how much I miss you. 

Koh Rong, Cambodia | 1 of 3

After Markus and I trekked through the ruins of Angkor Wat, we traveled south and went to the island of Koh Rong. It's a nice little isolated island and definitley gives off a Robinson Crusoe vibe. As many of you know, I'm not a huge fan of the beach, but even I can't pass off an opportunity to sunbathe on a nearly isolated beach. Not very many people travel to Koh Rong, so we were guaranteed a nice relaxing five days. When we go on vacations, we tend to fit in everything we can and rush from place to place. Sometimes we forget to relax and we planned for our time on Koh Rong to be a nice holiday from our holiday!

Eats with Jeff #11: Grand Finale

It's been a long time coming, but I finally edited the photos from our final "Eats with Jeff". I can't believe that this was six months ago and that we've been in America for six months. Anyway, on this last eats we finally met Jeff's beautiful girlfriend Allison. I was bummed that we didn't get to hang out sooner. It would've been nice to have her along for all our eating adventures. She's really sweet and a perfect match for Jeff.

For our final meal, we decided to go to a crab restaurant. In the two years that we lived in Korea, we never ate crab and it's one of my favorite foods. We spied this fancy crab restaurant in Seomyeon during one of our other outings. Jeff researched the place a bit to make sure it was good and fitting for our final eats. I have to admit that I don't remember much about the food, but I do remember that I liked it. I mean we ate everything on the table, so it had to be good right?! Unfortunately, Jeff told me recently that the restaurant closed. It's the sad fact that in Korea the restaurant business is a competitive business. Restaurants are always opening and closing regardless if they're good or not.

After dinner, we went to our favorite coffee shop, Tokyoloose. It was great seeing Jeff and Allison interact. She's really funny and full of aegyo or cuteness, which I love. In the short time that we were spent together, I could tell she was bringing the best out in Jeff.

I really miss these outings with Jeff. It's been a bit hard being back home. We're starting over in a new city and it's easy to reminisce about the good times in Korea. I wish that we could've spent more time together. Jeff is a great friend and I'm thankful for the short time we had together. I'm looking forward to the next time we meet and we can have another "Eats with Jeff"!

Sherlocked | Valentine's Day Card 2014

Every year, Markus illustrates cards for me for every occasion and holiday. He always incorporates things that I love into the cards and this year was no different. If you know me, I'm a huge anglophile and I'm obsessed with Sherlock. We even visited 221b Baker Street when we were in London two years ago. I was so excited to recieve this card and love the little inside jokes. My favorite is "siblings". People always think that Markus and I are brother and sister. Super weird, but really amusing. Either way, this card is perfect and I love it!

Happy Valentine's day dear readers! I hope you have a lovely and wonderful day! 

You're My Favorite Destination | Valentine's Day 2014

Last year, I made Markus a super geeky Valentine's day card about time travel. For this year's card, I wracked my brain for something awesome. I started a few and they were awful. I was about to give up when a burst of inspiration hit me. As you know, Markus and I love to travel and have been to so many amazing places. I have to warn you, I'm about to get a bit mushy and cheesy. So if you cannot handle that sort of thing, just skip on ahead or admire my handiwork.

Markus and I have lived in South Korea. We explored the ruins of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. We walked the streets of Kyoto as a geisha and samurai. We've ridden emaciated horses to the top of Taal, an extinct volcano in the Philippines. We've walked the halls of Pemberley in England. We've traveled to so many places and experienced so many wonderful things together, but when it comes down to it, my favorite place in all the world is wherever Markus is. I know you're all cringing now, but it's the truth. We could be in the crappiest place, which has happened, but it's still worthwhile because Markus is with me. My life is so much better because of him and I can't wait to spend the rest of our years going on adventures and traveling to faraway lands.

Japan Cheap Eats #1 | Nagasaki

This is part of a series about eating on a budget and I've titled the series, "Japan Cheap Eats". Many people think Japan is expensive, but I'm here to prove them wrong! We found many budget options and I wanted to share them with you!

Earlier, I posted about cheap eats in Japan and promise that I would post more. Markus and I knew that Japan was gonna be the last international trip that we would make for a year or two, so we wanted to make the most of our trip there. We had one problem, we couldn't spend as much as we liked. We saved quite a bit of cash while working as ESL teachers in South Korea, but we didn't want to go overboard. In a country like Japan, it's SO easy to spend all your money. Markus and I knew that we would probably never have a chance to fly to Japan for free, so we took full advantage of the opportunity.

It's a pretty well known fact that Japan is expensive, but if you know the tricks, it's surprisingly affordable. When Markus and I travel, we try to be smart. We don't do everything on the cheap, but we try to spend our money wisely. One of the ways that we made the trip affordable was eating cheap. Thankfully, Japan has many economical options and many of these options are really yummy.

Our main go to place for budget eats were the marts or convenient stores. In America, most people in their right mind would not eat a meal at a convenient store. In Japan and even Korea, it's a popular place to get cheap and yummy eats. In Japan, there are so many options and on our first night we really pondered our selection. One of my favorite snacks in Korea was samgak kimbap. It's also known as onigiri in Japan. Basically, it's a triangle of rice that is mixed with a vegetable or protein and then wrapped in seaweed. We ate every version available in Korea and in Japan, there were even more offerings. The best thing about samgak kimbap? They're so cheap. The cost varies between $1-$2. For our first cheap eat, we got two kimbaps, a fried chicken patty, a huge U.F.O. ramen and a Suntory beer.

As for the taste of everything? I would say average and quite good. It was filling and it didn't taste bad at all. The kimbap were okay. We got one with a weird root vegetable and one with fish eggs. I loved the fish egg one, but I love fish eggs. The root vegetable wasn't my favorite and it tasted like salty rice. The ramen was pretty yummy and had a nice flavor. The fried chicken patty wasn't anything special and tasted like you expect. I've always wanted to drink something by Suntory, ever since I watched Lost in Translation. One of my favorite scenes is when Bill Murray is shooting a commercial for Suntory. It's great and I made it a life goal to have a Suntory drink in Japan.  The beer itself tasted like a pale ale. Nothing really special.

Overall, I enjoyed our first cheap eat in Japan. Although, between the ramen and the fried chicken, I was feeling a bit heavy. I love ramen, but the sodium content is really too much and this meal completely lacked veggies. By the end of our trip, we were mart experts and had it down to a science. I can't wait to share more Japan cheap eats with you!

Cost Breakdown:
Samgak Kimbap: 240 yen
U.F.O. Ramen: 300 yen
Fried Chicken Patty: 350 yen
Suntory Beer: free with chicken purchase
TOTAL: 890 yen or $8.71 

Historic Marathon Village | Nashville, Tennessee

As I've said before, I love Nashville. It's a great city. One of my favorite parts of the city that we found by accident was the historic Marathon Village. It was the location of Marathon Motor Factory and they manufactured cars in from 1914 to 1918. Unfortunately, Marathon Motors did not take off and they closed their doors soon after. Thankfully, the space has been fully restored and is now used for local businesses like Antique Archaeology.  I love when cities take old warehouses and buildings and turn them into lofts or commercial spaces. I think that we tend to lose a lot of charm when we demolish old buildings. They add a lot of charm and character to a city. I'm glad we were able to explore this great space and see the charming side of Nashville.