Autumn in Seoul (Part 1)

Actually, it's almost winter when my friends and I went to Seoul last week. Almost half of the foliage have already fallen off from the trees, and our fingers could be mistaken for popsicles. But nothing could spoil the fun. We still had a grand time in South Korea.

For weeks prior to the trip, I busied myself with our itinerary. We were all traveling to South Korea for the first time, and although majority (4 out of 5) of us worked for Koreans for at least a couple of years, our knowledge of Korea was limited to "annyeong haseyo" and "yeye" expressions. Koreans are really not very keen on teaching their language to other people. It must be their difficulty in English that makes them hesitant. They get really frustrated when they couldn't express themselves.

But I digress...

So, for a few weeks prior to our trip, nobody was excited but myself. They wouldn't help me with anything. I had to use all the resources I had. I was very lucky a lot of people wanted to help me with the planning.

Long story short, I came up with a pretty good itinerary. Tada!

Day 1 (of lakwatsa) (FRIDAY)
Seoul city bus tour
Dinner with Mr. Choi JH
Bar in the Hongdae area

Day 2 (SATURDAY)
Nami Island
Han River cruise

Day 3 (SUNDAY)
DMZ

Day 4
Samseong (to meet former bosses for lunch)
COEX mall


A day before we left Manila, Mr. Ham (my former boss' staff's staff) called me to inform me that Mr. Lee (my former boss) wanted to have dinner with us on Day 1. I probably sounded panicky because he assured me that Mr. Choi JH agreed to swap appointments. Apparently, they were talking to each other and making arrangements. Cool.

When we arrived at the Incheon airport, we were greeted by the (surprisingly young and dashing!) Mr. Ham. He was holding a sheet of paper with my name on it, and that was when the excitement of my girl friends "officially" started. We all forgot to rent a cellphone because everybody wanted to rush to his side. Haha. We exchanged some pesos to won, and off we went to Lee & No Guesthouse on Yeonnam-dong, Mapo-Gu in Seoul. I was thrilled even more upon seeing our vehicle -- a Limousine van!

This is Mr. Ham with the gurls...

Upon reaching the gate of the guesthouse, we were greeted not by a person, but by this note taped to the wall:


After unloading our luggages, Mr. Ham set off to bring Kim (a girl I met online the previous night) to her hotel. We did exactly what we were told to do through the note, got inside the guesthouse, and met a Japanese guy named Tadashi. It was so nice of him to welcome us and show us to our room (Mr. Lee of the guesthouse didn't arrive until after 15 minutes). A little later, we remembered that we haven't had dinner yet so Tadashi gave us directions to a kimbap place. He probably sensed the fear in our eyes, as he offered to take us there. He said that it serves the best kimbap, not to mention that it was probably the only place open at the time.

Our first adventure started at the restaurant. It was literally a turo-turo because there wasn't ANY English on their menu. Even the lady server didn't speak English at all. We pointed to her a noodle dish, which turned out to be udon (pronounced as udong). We were lucky because it was piping hot and tasted really good, exactly what we needed!


After a good night's sleep and a light breakfast, we went out to see downtown Seoul. We were supposed to take the City Bus Tour, but Mr. Lee (of the guesthouse) suggested we take a tour of the city on foot. He made it sound easy so we took his advice. Unfortunately, we got lost. But we were lucky to have found Gyeongbok Palace...



and the National Folk Museum of Korea (but we didn't go inside)...



Along the way, we got distracted with a few interesting things like Goo Jun Pyo posters...

...the Bioman-inspired Pieta...





... and these lettuce flowers...




And those were just a few of the distractions. There were the dried squid vendor who was selling dried pusit for W20,000 (around Php800!) per pack, the maple leaves, the policemen, and others. Getting lost wasn't all that bad. However, by 4pm, we should be back at the guesthouse to get ready for dinner. Dinner that night was probably the highlight meal of the entire trip, as it was hosted by my former boss (now president & CEO of a bigger subsidiary). So we had to rush back home. But how were lost people supposed to hurry?

At 6:00pm or so, we were again picked up by Mr. Ham at Exit 7 of the Samseong station. He was as ravishing as the previous night and I felt everybody's excitement at the sight of him. On the way to the restaurant, we were getting impatient with the heavy traffic. Yes, it doesn't only happen here in Manila. The big difference though is that very few people use their car horns in Seoul.

As we entered Sam Won Garden, we were greeted by Mr. Kim. But he doesn't deserve that intro. He was g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s! I've known him since 2003 (he was actually the one who hired me), but I've never seen him that gorgeous before. He was sporting a handsome trench coat that highlighted his broad shoulders, and a smile that could melt the icebergs in the North Pole. Oh-my-god. He was divine! Of course, there has to be proof:

Extreme left.

Before calling it a day, we insisted that Mr. Ham take us to the Namsan Tower, where we had a great view of Seoul.

SoKor trip (Prologue)

Next week, my friends and I are going to Seoul for a 4-day vacation. Thanks to PGMA for taking back the holiday, I would have to file for a 2-day leave from work. But then, I am too excited for this trip (which we have booked four months ago!)so I won't allow anything to ruin it.

From Monday, I haven't really been working. It's not something I'm proud of and I'm sure the guilt would haunt me, but did I say I am too excited about this trip? We are all first-timers and I don't know why they gave me the task of prepping the itinerary. I must say it's deeefficult considering that my knowledge of Korea very minimal, if at all. I know a few food items like kimchi, bulgogi, galbi, japchae, bibimbap and rice cakes, but that's it.

But I digress... So going back, prepping the itinerary is not an easy task. It's mabusisi because it entails a looooot of research. I'm guessing it would take less time if somebody else did it, I really get distracted easily most of the time. Like when I am at a website and I see a hyperlink, I am always lured into clicking it, and you could guess what happens next.

But then, no choice.

All for Juan

(Photo from Philippine Daily Inquirer)

When Ondoy struck the metro, I was at the office, working. I left home very early on that fateful Saturday, as I was required to report at 7:30AM. It was already raining nonstop since the night before, but little did I (or anybody for that matter) know that it could almost sweep the entire Metro Manila off the Philippine map.

I got differing text messages from friends/relatives of whether to go home or not. At 10AM, I decided I would leave the office as soon as the rain stopped. But it didn't. Instead of slowing down, Ondoy even gained strength which my other trapped co-workers and I witnessed when we went out to have lunch.

Long story short, I spent the entire weekend away from home. If it's any consolation, I spent Saturday night at the office with 4 other girls. Thank God, the Jollibee and Chowking stores across the street were open so we didn't have to worry about food.

We woke up to a rather good weather on Sunday morning, dreading to hear the news of what Ondoy left of the metro. We all went to watch the news on TV and online. We all felt weak. I, double the weakness. All roads to home were submerged in water, from waist-deep to neck-deep. So, that morning, while the 3 other girls decided to brave the knee-deep floods going to their homes, my friend Jane stayed with me. We then went to SM Makati to buy some fresh clothes to wear to work the following day. Her aunt took us in for the night.

Although I'm sure I smelled like a damp dog that Monday, I was thankful for a lot of things. First, my family back home and I were safe. Second, our home was not affected by the floods. Third, it's the nature of my job to implement donations. I didn't care if I stunk or looked like a zombie that day. I knew we had to help, and we had to do it quick.

I went out to buy groceries for donation: water, canned goods and medicines. With some volunteers from work, we went to Sagip Kapamilya to drop the items. We really wanted to help in repacking, but the warehouse guys said they had enough volunteers for the day.

I don't have a lot of photos at the warehouse because one, taking pictures wasn't my priority at the time; and two, the place was really packed and it was still drizzling (which might damage my camera). But anyway, in this photo is Tom Mott (the guy in blue) of Pinoy Big Brother Double Up, before he even went inside Kuya's house.

Not satisfied that we did enough to help, the volunteers decided to go to evacuation centers in the weekend to help hands-on.

The greatest challenge as of the time though was the approaching typhoon, Pepeng. But we were decided we had to do it. Of course there was Plan B, where we would postpone (not cancel) it for another day if Pepeng insisted he would make a landfall on NCR.

The Friday of that week, work was called off at noon because of news reports that Pepeng is gaining strength. I was already out, buying groceries again for our mission. So while the rest of the office (except for some volunteers) were already on their way home, we were "hoarding" SM Hypermarket's inventory. Another consolation: my SM Advantage Card was loaded with points! It wasn't much, but better than nothing. ;)

After the hoarding, we stayed for a few more hours to pack the goods. I had to leave earlier (10:30PM hehe) because I was too scared of being trapped for the second consecutive weekend.

The next day, Pepeng was very unpredictable. He would have rain-wind fits one moment, then drizzle-no wind the next. The group decided to go anyway.

Braving Pepeng and the floods left by Ondoy, we went to three evacuation centers in Pateros (a municipality that claimed it was "forgotten"). I know it's not proper to feel good when others are suffering, but seeing the plight of the evacuees made me feel really lucky. Whenever I felt tired during the mission, I think of how blessed I am not being in their position. What's one day of community service out of the 365 days anyway? What's two minutes of walking in calf-deep floods if it meant food for the hungry?

The first evacuation center we went to was an elementary school which housed about 9 families in a room. The place smelled of dirt, sickness, and frustration. Besides the groceries, we brought them ready-to-eat Chickenjoy. And seeing the kids eyes widening made us numb for hunger. At least for me. I am such a crybaby, I wanted to cry then. But I didn't, for fear of being mistaken as a kagawad wannabe.

The second and third evacuation centers were no different than the first. Well, except for the flood. But the rooms were also cramped and still had the same smell as the first's.
It was quite a day for the 13 volunteers. We were really really tired but seeing these kids were enough to take away the pagod.

Side note: The money we used to buy the goods was from the company we work for. But the volunteers were indeed volunteers, who worked pro bono.

Good times without Mo

A few friends have been talking about the radio show Good Times with Mo, and for the longest time, I've been trying to get a hold of it. But after years of listening to Chico and Delamar, I think I've outgrown radio talkies already. Until today. As I pop my iPod earphones to my ears this morning on the way to work, the battery drained, which left me with no other choice but to go FM on my cellphone. So I decided to listen to this Good Times with Mo show. It's quite ironic though because Mo's on birthday leave today.

Well, I don't know how the show is when Mo's around, but having only Grace Lee and Mojo Jojo in the show seems quite enough. Mojo can really be a bitch sometimes (which I love btw haha), but I think they have the perfect timpla. They're not too talkative as Chico and Del, they play good music, and they're makulit. I love how they okray each other.

How do I rate the show? I called them the first time I listened to them! Was able to talk off air to Mojo first. If I didn't know he's gay, I would probably have a crush on him. He has a very handsome voice. Heck, he's a dj, Angel. Stufid. So anyway, I enjoyed talking to them. I would probably listen to them again tomorrow. I just wish iPods come with FM radio!