Saturday, a day before our flight we have to wake up early to clean the apartment by throwing all the garbage and washing the bedding. I also threw my old shoes and slippers as I can’t bring them anymore even I like too. My bag is already full, I have two luggage, one backpack, one body bag, one computer bag and camera bag to my husband’s irritation because they are too many to carry and I might be in over baggage.

It took me time to get out of our apartment because of too many bags I have to carry. My husband didn’t help me until we get out our apartment building, my husband repetitively asked me how can I carry my things when we travel as he will not help me if I am expecting a help from him.

Left no choice I tried to contact Edelyn while we are in the bus going to Incheon if they are open during Saturday, unfortunately they are not.  With her help,  I am able to connect with their new employee (ate Marlene) and I think with their boss permission they are able to open their  office. I was relived and thankful to them, although at first I am thinking of leaving the bag to Edelyn or to someone in Korea that wanted it, it is better than leaving the things in the hostel. My husband agreed with my idea as it will save me paying for the box fee.

To cut the story short, after reaching our hostel we immediately went back to the airport where the hostel employee pick us up after we arrived from Icheon.  We took the subway to Hyehwa, my husband carrying the small bag and me a plastic bag with towel, toiletries bag and my personal documents. The trip took so long and it was quite tiring for me to hold the bag so it accidentally slip to my embarrassment because my things was thrown in the floor train. Ha-ha

My husband was already annoyed with me because instead of resting he is traveling with me to Hyehwa, and when we reached Hyehwa he was more agitated because there are lot of people and traffic on the cross street. When we finally reached the LBC office I was happy to see Edelyn and ate Marlene, they are very friendly and helpful. I am little embarrassed for disturbing them on their rest day, and a sign of being grateful I would like to give them chocolates but they declined. I don’t know how to pay their kindness, so I just say my sincere thank you again. Nothing new, because it is already my habit giving token to someone, I originally would like to give them souvenirs but I already sent them home so I was left no choice.  Thanks again sis Edelyn and Ate Marlene!

Well, the box should be shipped on Friday but due to unseen problems it was moved the next week, and today it should be a week already since it was shipped if the shipping was made last week.

LBC Korea branch is located at: 1F, 102-1 Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul Korea.
Jumbo Box size – 73 x 52 x 73
Hotline/Contact #: 1661-5899

Our flight doesn’t leave until the next day so we stayed at Incheon Airport Oceanside Hotel to try another place to stay near the airport, they picked us up in the airport after we asked the information to call them for pickup. We waited for few minutes, and to cut the story short we just dropped our bags after we check-in and took the things I want to send home, they also called a taxi for us back to the airport and from the airport we took the express train to Seoul station and then to Hyehwa to drop my things in the LBC office.

[This is how our hotel room looks like after I just threw my things out of my bag, to get the stuff I have to mail home before our flight]

The hotel is quite nice with a good design and wooden theme, even the elevator is made of wood.  The hotel says they are 8 minutes from the airport but I think it is about 12-15 minutes from the airport. The wifi in the room given to us is not plugged in or ready to use, we have to tinker it so we could use the wifi. On my point of view, hotel staff in the lobby are fine but not that nice like the previous airport hotel we stayed in.

We are both busy surfing the net when one hotel staff knocked in our door to asked if we have a child in the room because one of their guest complain that it was loud in our floor. We said no, because my husband and I was the only occupant in the room and when we check-in the guy was the one who received us in the lobby so we just shook are head of disbelief of him not remembering it, although I am little scared because before the guy knocked in our door the motion sensor light turn on while both my husband and I is in our bed and surfing the net (ghost?).

One of the classic thing in the room is, it has a sink, a sink in the bedroom just beside the sofa seen in the above picture.

Furthermore the hotel is near a convenient store and some barbecue place, if you want a quiet place to relax before your flight booking at Oceanside Hotel is a good idea.

We still have five months left before our visa expired in South Korea but we are already boxed the things we don’t use anymore, they are going home ahead of us. I am boxing the things as much as I can so I can travel light,  we are planning to travel for six months when we left South Korea our main destination is East Africa and Eastern Europe. We have first planned to travel to Central America and East Africa but we have thought there are more things to see in Eastern Europe and there’s no mugging incident unlike in Central America.

My husband told me that I am going to start applying for my visas on December and I am praying that all of my visas will be approved or else I can’t travel with my husband in six months.

On Sunday I went to Hyehwa again not to attend the mass but to meet my friends, Cathlaine and her husband is already moving to the United States and it is going to be the last chance to see them before they left on Wednesday.

We are supposed to meet  in the subway but I didn’t see her and when I tried to call my friend in her mobile I can’t contact her, thinking she blocked me for a reason I just went out the subway and walk to the Filipino Market to look around, while walking I heard someone saying that someone is just walking straight without looking around. To my surprise I have found them in the stall on my right, it was Kuya Rodel who mumbles.

It turns out Cathlaine’s phone number is not working anymore, maybe because they are going to leave soon and their ARC is going to expire at the end of the month as all phone numbers here in Korea is registered according to your alien registration card. Anyway to cut the story short we together with Cathlaine’s friend whom I get to know while eating, went for the second time at SELF BAR , it is a chain of Korean buffet restaurant serving meat for barbecue, galbi, sangyeopsal and etc.,

The meat and food is unlimited for ₩9, 900 per head, if you waste some food or left some meat on your table you have to pay a penalty of ₩5, 000.

On my over four years of existence in Korea, this is the first time that I attended a mass and go to Hyehwa-dong in Seoul. My friend and I met last Sunday in Hyehwa we attended the afternoon mass in Tagalog (1:30PM) where I am able to see and meet many Filipinos. It was like little community of Filipinos.

After the mass we went to the informal Filipino Market nearby, I am not able to look around when we passed by because we decided to attend the mass first before buying stuff I want.  I bought few native foods and vegetables like string beans (sitaw), bitter melon (amplaya), ladies finger (okra) and kangkong.

The Hyehwa Filipino Market is only around every Sunday from morning ’until night. To get there get off the Hyehwa station (line 4) and go out at exit 4 and just walk straight.

I seldom went out, I spend most of the day in front of my laptop. Lately I have thought that I should see everything around Korea before we left, yeah right my husband decided not to renew his contract anymore next year.  He said six years is enough, he need new surroundings and he is getting tired of Korea.

Anyway the other day my friend and I met in Seoul, we went to Buckhon Hanok Village for a walk, ate Gamjatang in Itaewon and dropped by  at I’Park Mall in Yongsan to buy a phone, her husband followed in Yongsan and we wander around the mall for few minutes before heading home in separate way.

They invited me to eat Korean buffet in Itaewon but I was not able to go because I have a lot of stuff to do online, updating blogs, list and designing a new headers.

It was been a long time since no update here ah? We are on vacation from July 20th to Aug. 4th, this is our last day in Russia and tonight we are flying back to Korea.

The Red Square, Moscow

We had flown from St. Petersburg to Moscow yesterday instead of riding a train to give us more time to relax and see other places we didn’t see when we first arrived in Moscow.

It was quite tiring these past two days,  I went to Philippine embassy last Thursday to claim my new passport. I renewed my old passport two months ago eh. I just went in and went out, but of course I have to travel by bus going home which makes it tiring not included the train ride and transfer on the subway.

The next day I wake very early so I can go to Suwon immigration so I can report my new passport, ride a taxi,  went in and went out. In short I have been traveling these past few days with lack of proper sleep and food.  Well if I forgot to mention I traveled without eating anything because if I do eat before leaving our apartment it will take me longer.

Anyway I survived riding  a taxi by having printed out in Hangul where I want to go (immigration) and writing in a piece of paper the word Suwon bus station terminal (수원 버스 터미널)  so I can return home. The driver’s would like to talk to me sadly all I can say is “Hangul Mulayo”  luckily they speak a little English so we still had short conversation like where you from and etc.,

The old man (taxi driver going to immigration) asked me how long I have been in Korea, which I replied four years and he was kind of astonished why I can’t still speak Korean, he even told me to learn Korean and when we arrived in the immigration he thought me how the pronounce the place (immigration) in Korean. I said thank you and show him my English-Korean dictionary, I want to learn Korean but there’s no way I can because I don’t know any school that offers teaching Korean language, I am hermit that’s why I don’t know anything. I spend the whole day in front of my computer surfing, blogging, reading and playing online.

Anyway inside the immigration while waiting for my electronic number to be called I looked around and was wondering why I can’t find the pink application form from everyone,  the immigrants are holding a different form. So I went to the table and there I found out the immigration has new form, I filled it up again just to make sure I  belong. Haha, I already have the old (pink) form because I took one when we visited the immigration last March to extend the period of our sojourn because I know I am going to return after I renewed my passport.

I am quite busy these past few days that I am not able to update my blogs, kind of procrastinated eh.  Anyway last Thursday I went to Seoul to meet my one and only friend in Korea, as we agreed I went to their apartment so we could eat lunch first before wandering around the flower festival. She cooked “pansit” for me but that’s not all we ate, we had brownies, rice cake, tuyo and more.

After eating our sumptuous  lunch we took the Subway to National Assembly Station where the Spring Flower Festival was held every year. We both wander and enjoyed the beautiful cherry blossoms on the street, there are lot of people as expected.  As we want a picture together I place my camera in a tree but a kind Korean woman help us, she took the shot for us which are thankful.

When we think it is getting late we decided to find the nearest subway so we can go to another place we, I want  to visit. I have planned to visit four place that day but time was not enough.  So we ended visiting two places only, I am going to blog the second one on my next post.

It was been a year ago when some of my online friends asked postcards from me but it was just this week I am able to send postcards to them. Quite late huh? Probably in many countries you can easily find postcards on bookstores near you but I think in Korea you can’t. You can just find them where there is western community or place where foreigners go. I have bought mine in Insadong, but I believed there are also postcards in Itaewon.

Sending a package abroad is quite expensive so I was not able to send the postcards right away after my allowance was cut since I return to Korea. I also want to add key chains and souvenir and not just the post cards, the other day when I went to the post office, the woman gave me a brown envelope and I was surprised that it is cheaper to use it rather than a box. So I am planning to send more to friends and bloggers who want a postcards from Korea, like a postcard swap.