Oh My Janey

Archives for June 2012

Last Day of Being 21

Though June 2 is a day that’s incredibly important in my life (heh), I can barely remember the days before that, or after. But this year, I made sure to remember the my pre-birthday. It’s a sad day, because come on, who’s truly happy getting a year older? Not me.

So on June 1 of this year, I took a leave from work and promised to celebrate being 21. Because I really didn’t want to grow old and I didn’t want to waste my youth stuck at work. Haha! But other than that, I just really needed a break from all the stress of writing about the same topic everyday. /sigh So what did I do, you ask? I dated myself!

I started my day by not setting my phone on alarm! Ha! The first thing I did was watch King 2 Hearts because what do you really expect me to do on a vacation besides watch a Kdrama. Hehe. But of course I didn’t spend the entire day just doing that. After watching the last episode (I was broken-hearted! HUHU), I had to get ready since I had the entire day planned out.

I decided to pamper myself and had a pedicure! I also wanted to have a manicure but I was also sadly running on a budget. Heh. I also planned to finish reading Mere Christianity but that didn’t happen. I actually only finished last saturday. What is a slow reader. (Me.)

After the quick pedi, I was already so hungry! I wanted to eat somewhere I’ve never tried before so I was thinking either Sbarro (ang loser ko lang!) or Banapple. But I don’t know where Sbarro is in Glorietta and I also got to lazy to have a stop-over at Ayala Triangle for Banapple.

When I reached Glorietta, I couldn’t find a good place to eat! I was too lazy to go to Greenbelt. Ha! So I ended up eating at Greenwich because I’m a bit in love with their lasagna and I hadn’t had some for so long. It was a sad lunch and I was still hungry so I ended up buying a sour cream pretzel from Auntie Anne’s. What is hungry. (Me.) And oh, a chocolate frosty from Wendy’s. I had a lot of stop overs.

I had to eat quickly since I had a movie to see! And yes, I finally watched a movie by myself for the first time! I saw Snow White and the Huntsman and the place was packed! I was actually shocked since it was a friday, not a holiday, and only 2:30PM. But the cinema was almost full. I ended up sitting next to this old couple who kept calling the evil queen salbahe. Haha. It was cute, really. [Read more…]

Day Four in Seoul (Part 1)

Day 4 of our Korea trip may or may not be the most memorable one. It was still raining but we could no longer think (or research!) of a place where we could stay indoors the whole day. So we had no choice to brave the drizzle and the harsh, cold wind. I made sure to wrap up extremely well because the night before left my bones chilling. It’s a really good memory. No, that’s not sarcastic.

So, what do we have in store for day 4? The 1st Shop of Coffee Prince! We rode the subway to get there. I can no longer remember if we made a subway line transfer or if we rode directly from Hyehwa station to Hongdae (Honggik University) station.

At that point, I was getting used to riding the subway and even enjoying it. I don’t think I’d feel the same way for our beloved MRT and LRT lines. Huhuhu.

From a specific station exit (I cannot remember which! How’s that for a frustrated travel blogger. Huhu), we walked to the coffee shop! It was so cold and there’s barely anyone out and it was already 10:30 AM! The business establishments in Seoul certainly open later than I’m used to. Heh. Anyway, we were getting nervous since what if the shop was closed? We traveled so far! Well, not really that far but far enough. And that would totally ruin our itinerary.

We kept walking and walking and we thought we were lost. But when we saw the shop, there was no mistaking the tree in the front yard and the little platform outside. That’s where they held the little concert! Also, there were some tourists outside. And yes, it was closed!

But we saw someone, a staff, sweeping outside so how could it be close? We had trouble accepting the fact that we braved the difficult weather but we couldn’t even enter. So we took photos outside, so ready to cry. Then the guy sweeping outside started signaling something to us and we couldn’t understand. We thought he was saying it was closed. Then another staff, someone inside, started signaling, too, and it was so hard to understand. HAHA. Then after a few more minutes of hand signals, we finally understood that they’re about to open in 15-30 minutes.

We then kissed and hugged the Hallyu fairy.

Since we couldn’t just stand outside (it was cold, remember?), we looked for a place we could stay. I suggested that we go to to Hongdae (the school) since it’s a famous tourist spot, too. But they didn’t want to do that so we went to the nearest 7-Eleven instead.

Daddy brought this glorious instant garlic soup. It was the first time I tried garlic soup and I never thought I’d love it so much. Then we also bought some bread that has the best texture ever. I do not know what it’s called and we tried looking for it in other places but we couldn’t find it. /sobs

After brunching, we went back to the coffee shop and to our surprise, there were already a handful of people inside, mostly tourists. If you’re also planning to go to this coffee shop, then you must be prepared to shell out at least W6,000. Everyone who enters the coffee shop has to order you see. You even have to order first before looking for a seat. So if there are four of you, everyone has to order something. If you don’t want coffee or tea, they offer cakes, too! The price is definitely not cheap (not even for Korean coffee shop standards!) but you know they set the price that high since people are willing to pay. Anyway, it was quite pricey but we didn’t really have any choice since we’re there already.

[Read more…]

The Pico de Loro Misadventure

When my officemates asked me to join their Pico de Loro climb, I immediately agreed. I didn’t even think of my physical unfitness (???) and my inexperience in climbing mountains. I think my mountain climbing adventures back in high school do not count. I was so excited to join the Pico de Loro climb. What I didn’t know was that it would be the scariest thing I’d ever do in my life. I’m still not sure whether I want to do it again. I don’t know. Maybe once every ten years.

We did a lot of preparation for our climb. Des was the leader of the group since she has been to Pico de Loro a couple of times (and she calls it her backyard!) and she’s the most experienced. Do not ask who’s the least experienced. Anyway, we held a couple of meetings and planned everything! But the planning still didn’t prepare me from the hardship I would go through.

The day of the PIco climb (May 26!) came, and I arrived late at our meeting place. Hehehe. But I was only 15 minutes late, okay! We agreed to meet at the 7-Eleven near the bus terminal for Tanza, Cavite. The bus ride took about an hour or so. But it wasn’t boring since we talked a lot and I was talking on the phone. I actually planned to sleep since I barely got any the previous night.

We didn’t go straight to Ternatte (where Pico is), though. We had to go first to Des’s house in Cavite to eat lunch. Heh. (For some reason, it’s so hard for me to narrate everything that happened that day! This will take forever…) Once we arrived, I was forever awestruck at Ate Des’s mansion. It was BIG! It has a basketball court! It has three kitchens! Hehehe. Before eating, Des told the people who hadn’t pitched a tent before to practice. So that’s me, Jinky and Eunise. I didn’t know pitching a tent isn’t that difficult? Well, we practiced on a marble floor so maybe it was easy that time!

After eating lunch, Ate Karen and I went to the nearest Puregold to buy some more things for the climb. We waited for the rest of the gang over there since the bus to Tanza would also pass that way. We went on another bus ride that took about 45 minutes. From the bus terminal, we had to ride a tricycle to get to the DENR for registration. Apparently, it’s mandatory to register first when planning to go up a mountain.

Before starting our hike, we had some warm-up first. Hehehehe.

How to Embarrass Yourself 101

We were told that there were so many people hiking and camping that day. I panicked a little because I didn’t really want so many people to see me struggling. We hadn’t even started but I was also feeling the burden of my heave baggage.

And so one of the hardest challenges I’ll ever face began. Ate Karen, Jinky, Eunise and I were virgin climbers, and Kimpee climbed once already. We put a lot of faith and trust on our team leader, Des, and she didn’t fail us. It’s thanks to her that I’m still alive now. Haha!

[Read more…]

Day Three in Seoul (Part 2): BTOB Surprise Event in Lotte World

Watching a live performance by a Korean group was on my to-do list but I realized that I couldn’t possibly do that on my first trip. Heh. So when I saw on the program brochure that there’s a KPOP act that day on Lotte World, I almost flipped. For all I know, it could be just a group of high school students dancing to some KPOP songs. But OMG!

After our tiring trip to the museum, we went back to the amusement park to catch the KPOP show. We were so hungry but we sucked it up just to catch the show. I was so, so excited okay. That time, CNBLUE was still promoting their Hey You single and I was hoping that it’s them. I was a bit delusional, you see.

But it wasn’t CNBLUE and it turned out that it wasn’t anyone I knew. Well, I know them now. Heh. Guess who it is!

BTOB!

I don’t understand Korean and the host was speaking in Korean so yeah, we couldn’t understand a thing. But we did understand MNET! So it was for MNET? I don’t know, I’m just guessing here.

I wanted to cry because it was the first time I saw KPOP boyband perform live. I wanted to cry even though I didn’t know the group. Hehehe. I enjoyed their performance, though. I enjoyed their dancing but I can’t say the same for their singing. Also, I’m still hoping EXO wins best new boy group this year. Yeah, I’m a bad blogger. [Read more…]

The Grouch’s Birthday

I’m not that big on birthdays and I’ve said that a lot. I’m usually not a pessimist, but on my birthday, I somehow always expect for the worst. I guess I just hate growing old so much that I’m such a grouch when June 2’s just around the corner.

Surprisingly, though, no matter how crappy I feel or how bad my day started, my birthday always ends on a good note.

[Read more…]

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