In the end... (I found as close to western style food as it gets in Korea!)

The last couple of weeks went by so fast... ! Time is really speeding up now, at the beginning of the year, every week seemed to drag by, but Jinmo did say by the time spring comes, the days will go by faster. It seemed like it was never going to happen... but now, the wedding is only 6 months away and every weekend has been jam-packed! I'm desperately trying to enjoy this short spell of 'normal' weather... in Korea, after the winter hibernation ends, you get a few weeks of sunny days and that lovely not-too-hot-but-not-too-cold weather, and then... it's summer. Hell. On. Earth. It's actually harder to leave the house in the Korean summer heat than in the freezing winter cold.

Actually, we were also lying low because we're on the 'saving for our wedding' budget, but after days and days (and days) of eating nothing but rice, spam, cucumber and carrots and drinking nothing but camomile tea and water, it was finally... PAYDAY! We went a little bit crazy... after I'd sent some cash home and put a decent amount into the savings, it was time to eat some western food and, well, buy stuff. 

On Friday, we met Heather after work and went to Sam Ryans in Suwon. It's an Irish bar... we had some beers, some steak sandwiches and some fantastic banter! Sadly, my battery was low on my phone camera so I could take a photo of this epic dinner.

Then, on Saturday, it was an early start. We went to get our health checks for our married couple health insurance. In Korea, they're really big on their health checks. It's a good deal you get though... for 35,000 won (about £20) you get a dental check, a short eye test, a hearing test, a chest x-ray, a urine test, a blood test and a blood pressure check. So even if you don't need one for a new job, or an insurance policy, you can always just go and get yourself checked out to make sure you're still normal, heh.

After a power nap in the afternoon, it was off to Itaewon to meet this lovely pair...

Maria and Kieran

We went to a new British bar called 'The Rose and Crown'...

 There were alot of Koreans there, and their eating habits just made me feel... so guilty. A group of 3 or 4 friends were sharing one meal together! Madness! The 4 of us all had a plate each and we cleared the lot!

 Fish and chips

 Cottage pie

Always a great time and good banter with those two! ^^ After we left Itaewon, Maria and Kieran headed back to Pyeongchon and we headed back to Osan, but not without doing a bit of shopping first...

A gift for meeee ♥

On Sunday, I woke up to the sound of Jinmo cooking a h-u-g-e brunch of... well... everything!

the 'everything' meal

Fat noodles, thin noodles, eggs, tapoki, mandoo... doesn't get any better than this! Well, until the next day when we had...

부대 찌개 ('army soup')... another 'everything' meal ^^

I actually have no idea how I've managed to lose weight in Korea, I feel like I can sniff out the delicious food everywhere I go and it almost always looks too good to pass up! Also, in Korea, food seems to be really important... instead of asking "how are you?" or "how is your day going?", their style of asking the same thing is "did you eat lunch?" or "what did you eat for dinner?" or "did you eat alot at lunch time?" (Jinmo: "many eating today??"). This is their way of checking that you're in good health that day, and since their diet here is so damn healthy, on a Korean diet, it's impossible not be in good condition from day to day.

Except... when you find... the candy floss vendor man in a random park...

This week has been another fast one. I'm loving the packed schedule at work, the days are flying by! On Wednesday, we got up really early and headed to the UK embassy in Seoul. When we arrived, there was one other couple there. She was Korean, and he was Scottish (I clocked the accent straight away). Turns out, he was from my home town! What are the chances?! The consular woman we saw this time was horrible... she was so rude and clearly couldn't be bothered to help us out by explaining the complicated official stuff to Jinmo in Korean (she was Korean). His English is good, but when it comes to really important paperwork, it's helpful to have it explained to you in your own language too... but this b**** was having none of it. I put her in her place the next day though, she gave me a call about something else and as soon as I heard that voice on the other end, I just couldn't resist telling her what I thought of her. I think Jinmo will need to deal with the UK embassy alone from now on, oops...

Had to share a bench with this guy on the way home from Seoul...

Now that we're married on paper, it's just a case of preparing for the day and, of course, the dreaded visa paperwork. But all that aside (not that preparing for the wedding day isn't fun! ^^) we're just enjoying spending alot more time together in our wee bubble :)

And I can't forget the other member of this little family...

This is the eating time pout. The sad face works on Jinmo every time... but I teach kindergarten every day, so I've got a harder shell when it comes to that cutesy shite.

Anyway, until next time!