We are leaving Korea in less than five months but we already boxed the things we don’t use so we could send them home, I have already mailed one box few days ago through EMS and I still have three boxes need to be mail.

The first box is souvenirs and travel magazines, second one are my clothes and the third box is mixed of everything from books, shampoo, lotions and etc.,

The other day I decided to call the hotline (1661-5899) of newly open LBC Korea, I have ordered two large boxes. I have decided to use their service rather than EMS, the last three boxes I have sent through EMS except the box I sent few days ago (which is still on delivery) were opened and some items are missing so I have thought to try a new courier and I am going to blog about my experience in LBC once I received the box I have ordered, my items were already shipped to the Philippines and my family received them completely.

Sending items through LBC (Korea Balikbayan Box) is a lot cheaper than sending through EMS where it is measured per kilo. Unlike in LBC it is per box and location, one large box (jumbo) will cost ₩120,000 for Manila and Luzon and ₩140,000 for Visayas and Mindanao no matter how heavy your box is.

LBC Korea branch is located at: 1F, 102-1 Hyehwa-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul Korea.

As everyone else might know last week was a long holiday here in Korea, because of Chuseok (Thanksgiving day), it started from Wednesday up to Friday and then the weekends.  Unlike those previous holidays we just stayed home this year, we didn’t go to Philippines like last year because my husband still cannot get over with the slow process in our immigration and we also didn’t go to other big cities in Korea to do sightseeing.  We spend the holiday at home watching movies, reading and tinkering our genealogy program. Unlike those normal days, it was so quiet around no kids running and shouting in the street, most of the stores and establishments are closed too.

Anyway we celebrated Chuseok on Friday by grilling some meat that I bought before the long holiday and buying a chocolate cake from Paris Baguette which disgust my husband because he already informed me to buy different cake.

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.

One of the food I bought in the Filipino supermarket in Hyehwa is  Bopis it  is a spicy Filipino dish of pork or beef lungs and heart sautéed in tomatoes, chilies and onions, but the bopis I bought was not that good nor spicy.  It was quite different from the bopis I have eaten already, this one is more oily and buttery and the taste is not intense or strong.

I have kept the bopis in the freezer as I have no desired of wasting it. I have decided to saute it with onions and garlic and add string beans and ladies finger which are quite old already.

I have finally taken a photo of the newly painted Shinha-ri Elementary School,  the painting of the school was started a month ago but I am always in bad time whenever I tried to take a photo, if not humid or mist on my lenses I forgot to bring my camera with me, I can’t use my phone because  I don’t know if I can zoom it.

Last month my husband informed me that the air conditioning unit on his class was not working, not because it was broken but because the school control the power and it was always off.  It was very uncomfortable to teach when it is hot so my husband requested for a stand fan, we both thought that the school implement the policy of no air con, and I even told my husband maybe they are losing funding because they just repainted the school but it turns out the order came from the authorities requesting workers in government offices to turn off the air-conditioning and avoid using elevators to prevent shortages of energy/power because of the heat wave.

I went to downtown today to buy frozen chicken breast, my husband ate boiled chicken breast as part of his work-out meal. I have to go to downtown because they’re not available at the supermarket around us, while waiting for the bus going home I decided to walk inside the World Food (Asian Store) beside the bus stop. I have thought I would just buy Filipino foods for my weekly supplies rather than buying the same food all over again in NongHyup Supermarket.

I have enjoyed looking around and I didn’t notice that I already have a lot of food in my basket but still I went to the vegetable freezer to check if they have Filipino vegetables and I was happy to see that they have string beans, water spinach and bitter melon. It means I don’t need to go to Seoul just to buy these vegetables.

When I pay in the counter the owner handed me free pork noodles which I am thankful with.

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.

For the first time I went to Hyehwa to attend a mass and shop at the informal Filipino Market. I have been asking my husband to drop by in Hyehwa every time we have something to do in Seoul but he always says that if I want I can go there alone. So last week when my friend told me that she went to Hyehwa to met someone I asked her if I can tag along with her the next time she go to the place,  and right then she asked me if I want to attend the mass the next Sunday.

We attended the mass for about one hour and right after we went to the nearby Filipino market to shop together with her old friends that we met outside the church. I bought vegetables and other Filipino foods I want to eat, it was been a long time since I had these foods.

Other stuff I bought aside from the vegetables are rice cakes (kakanin), spring rolls (lumpia), barbecue and bopis. The rice cake is ₩3,000 each but you can get it for ₩5,000 if you buy two pieces while lumpia and barbecue is ₩1,000 per piece/stick, the bopis is ₩5,000 per order. I bought all the vegetables for ₩10,000 it consists of 2 (tali) spring beans, 2 pieces ampalaya, 1 (tali) okra and with free kangkong.

Aside from native foods, vegetable and cooked food some sellers are selling beauty products, chips and other local items that a Filipino cannot find in a local Korean supermarket.

I was so hungry the other day but too lazy to cook so I went down to Homeway to buy instant noodles. I was a little bit hesitant on what noodles should buy because I can’t read Hangul and I don’t want to buy spicy food. To make the story short I just get two noodles which I think not too spicy to eat, after paying the owner told me to wait and he handed two liquid yoghurt for free.

Not sure what’s the freebie for maybe the owner feel pity on me (haha). Yeah right I went down without combing my hair nor changing my home clothes which are faded and a little big for me. Hehe

After my friend and I paid a short visit at Bukchon Hanok Village last weekend we ate in a Korean restaurant in Itaewon. It was been my long wish to eat Korean food aside from the food I have eaten that could easy purchased in convenient store. The soup tasted good and little spicy, it was served with rice and side dish.

According to Wiki Gamjatang or pork bone soup is a spicy korean soup made with pork spine or ribs, vegetables, green onion, hot peppers and ground wild sesame seeds. it is a matter of contention whether the name of the soup comes from the word for potato (감자; gamja) or not, because the soup is frequently served without potatoes.