Introducing......me

My good friend Keke, who I met on the plane coming to Korea (insert sobbing face here) introduced me to an amazing, award winning and rather addictive blog, indieBerries.  It has contended with other sites in my heart (and shortcuts) and now is sitting firmly in my top 3 favourite websites alongside fellow companion FaceBook and Pinterest. In her blog, the beautiful Che challenges you to write a list of 50 things people should know about you.  In the words of Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother), Challenge Accepted.

50 things you didn't know about me

1. I like my second name more than my first but have been unable to convince people to switch over.
2. I have 2 personalities, 1 before my morning coffee and 1 after.
3. I hate bad spelling.
4. I spell and speak South African English, never American! I refuse, I'm not American.
5. I don't know how to play chess and would love to learn.
6. I went to boarding school - and loved it!
7. I was escorted off the ice-rink by the marshals at my first attempt at ice-skating at the risk of injuring myself (how embarrassing), I haven't put skates on since then.
8. I purchased my first laptop this year after using the SAME desktop computer for 8 years with no upgrading.
9. One of the first questions I will ask when I get to heaven is, why can't I sing?
10. At my age I still can't ride a bicycle - what does that make me, a late bloomer?
11. I haven't lived in the same city as my parents since I was 14 years old (Pietermaritzburg for boarding school, Cape Town for university and my first job, and now Daegu, South Korea)
12. I don't believe in star signs.
13. One of my biggest worries when I considered moving to Asia was where I was going to do my hair.
14. And hence this is the longest time I have gone without visiting a hairdresser - 8 months and counting!
15. This is also the longest time I have gone without seeing my mom!
16. I like reading magazines back to front- there is some great stuff at the back, you are usually too tired to notice by the time you get there.
17. I don't understand the point of Twitter - really I tried.
18. I hate flying- I believe if we were meant to fly, we would have been created with wings.
19. I owned a Wii for 2 weeks before returning it because it did not have the option to set it to English
20. My first trip overseas was only 3 years ago - in total I have checked in to 8 countries outside SA, I think the travel bug has bit me.
21. Salted Popcorn is my favourite snack.
22. Chocolate is overrated, whilst sleeping in on Saturday morning is underrated.
23. I have completed a half marathon (21.1 km)- don't be impressed, I walked most of it.
24. I'm in a long distance relationship :( city to city we are 12 575 km apart but growing closer everyday.
25. I don't like my handwriting - is it too late to fix that?
26. I love going to movies - always better on the big screen!
27. I'm the only black girl I know who has never worn a weave.
28. I don't like weaves.
29. There is a 10 year gap between me and my next (& youngest) sibling.
30. I wrote my learners 3 times.
31. I did my drivers test 3 times.
32. Snorkeling - only done it once, but absolutely loved it.
33. Studied a Bachelors Degree in Information Systems@ U.C.T - I can't remember what I studied.
34. I have convinced myself that if I buy an amazon kindle I will read more....
35. I love a beautiful sunset.
36. Sometimes I like to reward myself before the job is done.
37. I have a bucket list
38. The bucket list keeps changing.
39. You are never too old to go on a roller coaster.
40. Purple is my colour.
41. I love chick-flicks.
42. On average I do laundry twice a week but my basket is never empty.
43. I hate second hand smoke. 
44. I'll pay for a good laugh -attending comedy shows is an obsession.
45. My family and I celebrate my birthday over 3 days, 5th, 6th and 7th May -no one seems 100% sure of the facts, but my passport says the 7th, so after 27 years, I have finally decided to go with that.
46. On my first day of school, I was 5 years old.
47. The saddest scene in movie history is in the Lion King when Mufasa dies - tears I tell you!
48. Most of the time, I skip the book and wait for the movie to come out.
49. The only time I have been hospitalized was for surgery to remove my tonsils at age 6.
50. I love making lists.

Final thoughts

Adventure must start with running away from home - William Bolitho

These are some of my favourite things!

I just want to first of all state, for an absolute fact, that despite the gems here and there in Korea and getting to enjoy 4 distinct seasons! South Africa trumps South Korea in beauty by miles (in my opinion anyway).

Having said that, you just have to admire the Asians for their efficiency. They just know how to make things work. When the people need schools, they make education, up to grade 9, free.  When traffic on the roads get bad, they build a subway. I'm not even going to go into the level of service we get at shops and restaurants, especially as foreigners, they really go the extra mile.

This is my top ten list of things, in no particular order, that I love and will absolutely miss when I finally say goodbye to the R.O.K. They may not be significant to you, but they sure do make my life easier here.

Here we go

1. Super super fast internet- I'm not tech savvy by any means, so simply put - you can watch you tube videos like you watch TV, Uninterrupted! Streaming and Downloading speeds that are just amazing-Love it!

2.  Unbelievable transport system - in my city in particular, I can get to any part of the city with only 1 connection e.g. 2 bus rides or bus ride then change to subway. The best part of this is that, even if I use 2 modes of transport, this will be considered one trip and therefore one fare. All I do is scan my card when I get onto the bus, then scan again when I get off the bus - it will register a time stamp on it. Then, I hop onto my next mode of transport within 30 minutes (but not a return trip) to my destination- when I scan my card, it reads it as one journey!

3. Pictured above is an example of a digital board which can be found at most major bus stops. You don't have to be able to read Korean. You just need to know the bus number (left column) that you are waiting for, then the green column is the number of minutes you have to wait for its arrival - mystery solved.

4. The safety- when we hear statistics in South Africa, we know its bad but because we grow up in that environment, we grow up always preparing for the worse. We are always on the look out, you do it subconsciously. This becomes apparent to you when you live in an environment where you realise not everyone is out to get you and your stuff. This shouldn't give you permission to be careless but I can't even begin to describe how great it is to be able to take public transport at night with money and camera on hand- ALL BY MYSELF, without having to look over my back. I've heard of countless stories of people losing their phones in other cities, but somehow they are tracked down and the phone is delivered to them. I, myself, have forgotten my camera and returned later to find it waiting for me. Not to say this would never happen at home, but let's just say I haven't been that lucky yet.

5. This is a picture of the lockers that you can find at most subway stations. You can safely store your belongings e.g. shopping while you go on your merry way to dance the night away, without a worry. You insert money, choose a locker, choose your own pin code and voila!

6.  As the name says, its a bill exchange machine, commonly found right next to the lockers (see no. 5) at subway stations. You slot your big notes (see arrow), in SA terms, say R100. Then the slot below will churn out R10 notes. I guess the idea is that if you want to load credits on your transport card but don't have small change, this is the solution. For me however, this is perfect to make lose change for paying people back the right amounts and having enough money when its time to settle the bill at the restaurant - you know how the conversation goes- you need R20 change but end up walking out with R7 because there was no change. You can see how this can be awkward 2 days before pay day!

7. This is an etiquette bell found sporadically in public bathrooms, the times I have encountered them, I am usually at a department store - think Stuttafords. At first glance, I thought if I press this bell, one of the ladies will be notified and they will kindly bring me a toilet roll.  If you thought the same as me, then we are both wrong. I recently found out that this device is used to disguise the embarrassing sounds one might make while using the loo. You press the button and it plays a tune of a toilet flushing for a long enough time for you to, well let's just say, get comfortable. Some have even heard the sounds of waterfalls. Either way, no need to time your cough anymore, wink wink.

8. Now I know a few of you might be creeped out by the idea of a warm toilet seat as this indicates that someone might have been sitting on it toooooo long, but here me out. This invention (with the fancy buttons on the side) is a super idea.  Although I have not experienced the height of winter in Korea yet, I can tell you, thinking of my winter nights in boarding school - this bad boy could have come in handy. Take comfort in the fact that the warm seat is not from someone sitting there too long, but rather electronic heating. Phew!

9. Although homes with central or floor heating can be found in South Africa, it is still exclusively for the rich. However, because the winter temperatures here in Korea are unfathomable for South Africans, a lot of homes have central heating. I, myself, for the first time in my life, live in a place with floor heating, despite the fact that I live in a tiny studio apartment. Now my only problem is that I was using it at extremely high temperatures in what Koreans insisted was "spring".....?

10. Last but not least - Free Gym. Although synonymous with the "grandparents", exercise equipments in the parks are for everyone. Although I have not had the guts to exercise in public, I am quite fond of the idea. It promotes great health and wellness and takes away the excuse that you cant afford it! The life expectancy rate in Korea is 78 years compared to South Africa, 49 years old, and in my heart, I believe these free gyms surely play even a small part towards this.

So there it is! Its the small things really. Its the things that people here probably take for granted but I know and appreciate how they make life a little easier.  It is with that in mind that I announce, I'm sold on Korea and have signed a contract to stay another year. Hopefully that means, I will continue to share my stories with you and you can continue to enjoy them.

So raise your glasses, a toast: "To more adventures" Cheers!

Final thoughts: 

A traveler without observation is a bird with no wings. - Moslih Eddin Saadi