Oh My Janey

Gelato Date

For some people, eating gelato is something they do on a regular basis. For some people, eating gelato is no big deal. But for people like me, eating gelato is something out of the ordinary that I just have to document it.

My officemates happen to be cheapskates like me. Eating gelato is not something we do on a whim. It’s something that one has to suggest, something that we could only do after payday. Would I normally eat gelato? NO. But it’s something that you have to try at least once, right? Steve asked us to eat gelato with him about a month ago and my first reaction was: “ANG MAHAAAAAL.” But I  soon realized that I should probably stop being a cheapskate, once a month. And he showed us the website and told us other things to just go along with the plan. Hahaha.

So come payday, 8 of us trooped to Greenbelt 5 to try the gelato at Gelatissimo.

Ate Karen and I. In-edit out ko pimples namin. Haha!

(L-R) Eunise, Ayessa, Ate Marco, Ate Joycy! 🙂

When I found out the price of one scoop, I wanted to back out. 110PHP for  one scoop! WHAT IS THIS FUCKERY. But I looked at all the flavors and ordered 2 scoops (165PHP I think). Haha. Hey, my appetite functions more than my brain, okay. I just couldn’t pick one flavor! So I chose Coffee (of course) and American Chocolate. Both taste amazing, okay. But next time, I’d choose two flavors in different colors so I won’t be confused which is which. My taste buds are all messed up, y’know. [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.

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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…]

Day One in Seoul (Part 2)

Hello! This is the second part of the first day of my 5-day trip. Try saying that five times really, really fast.

I’ll start with where I leave off in my story-telling. After our short and quite tiring trip to Changgyeonggung Palace, we went back near our hostel and scouted for a good place to eat. Surprisingly, our walk back Sungkyungkwan area seemed shorter. We’re either really hungry that we decided to walk fast or we’re just a bit more familiar with the place.

My mother said she couldn’t eat too much and bought donuts from Dunkin’ Donuts. There are tons, LIKE TONS, of Dunkin Donuts in Seoul and the one near our place is three stories high. I guess it’s really popular in Korea? But nothing can beat Starbucks where the line extend to the streets! There sure are a lot of coffee shops in Korea. There’s one in almost every corner.

For our first meal, we chose this one dining place where we can grill beef and pork. Yep, our first meal’s samgyeopsal, and we were surprised that we spent more in the Philippines when we ate samgyeopsal. Maybe because we’re in Korea, or maybe because we’re really hungry, that’s why I enjoyed our samgyeopsal meal in Seoul by greater lengths. It was so good! We also ordered rice and were surprised that the rice looked different.

When you come to Korea, make sure to try their rice! I don’t know what rice it is but it’s so good! And for some reason, their service water was amazingly good, too. (Yes, you can go ahead and count the number of times I’ve said ‘good.’) Even before we ordered, they were already delivering side dishes! So when you eat in Korea and you don’t eat that much, make sure not to order too much because they’ll give you heaps of side dishes anyway.

After lunch, mommy and ate went back to the dorm while my father I looked for international calling cards. Roaming isn’t available in Korea (Hindi rin uso ang SIM card!), and my parents need to check on their business everyday. We passed so many convenience stores before we came across one Family Mart that sells the precious cards. We walked quite far but it’s okay! I got some time to explore the stores near Hyewa Station! [Read more…]

That One Time I Pretended I Was Japanese

(This is way overdue but yeah. When am I ever not late?)

Here in the Philippines, Valentine’s Day is often celebrated by boy givings chocolates, flowers or whatnot to the girls they like. When I was still in school, my father used to send me flowers while I was in class. (One time, I got the flowers while I was in a contest, writing an essay haha) I appreciated it very much. It also proved to me that my father is the sweetest man in the world, no questions asked. I really don’t think I’d meet a sweeter man.

But in Japan, we all know that it’s the opposite. It’s the girls who give gifts to the people she likes. Though Valentine’s Day is commercialized, I still think it’s a pretty nice day. I don’t get flowers from anyone but my father. When I was younger, that would cause me to be all angsty on V-day. I’d get all gloomy when I see girls carrying flowers and teddy bears. And my foolish high school self would dream about getting flowers from my crush. Delusional high school student right thur. Dammit. But I grew up (a little) and realized that V-day is not just for lovers. When I was in high school, I’d give little chocolates to my friends. But never to my crush because I’m like Sawako who’s to shy to give chocolates to Kazehaya. Whut.

This year, though, I decided to try something else. I decided to bake cookies! Alex and I don’t really celebrate V-Day. I mean, we meet on that day but we don’t really do anything special. Last year, we didn’t even see each other that day. We also usually don’t give gifts because we’re not that kind of couple. Heh. But different is good (sometimes) so I decided to bake him some cookies last V-day. I wanted to bake him a cake, actually, but I’m no baker.

Also, I do not have an oven and I do not know how to bake. Lulz.

Good thing, I have a friend who likes to bake and was willing to help me with my plans. Thank you May for being such a good baking teacher! She just gave me a list of ingredients and I did the grocery shopping myself! I decided to go all out and to bake cookies for my family and officemates, too. Am I bored or what. Anyway, we didn’t have an oven but May agreed that I could bake at their place. Yay yay yay.

I made Peanut Butter with Choco Chips Drop Cookies, and I must say that it was pretty good. I’m not saying that just because I made them, too.  Wehe

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