Semi permanent eyelashes!

Koreans love any and ALL beauty enhancing treatments and most are pretty cheap!  I've talked before about how having their eyes made larger through plastic surgery ($1000) is a common gift for high school graduates!  So, it's no surprise that having semi-permanent eyelashes ($35) glued onto their new larger eyes is no big deal around here! 

My friend Gill told me about a nail salon / semi-permanent eye lash place that was on the first floor of her apartment building, we decided we needed to check it out!  So, yesterday I arrived at 12pm for my own personal semi-permanent eyelash appointment!  As a side note, I've only ever worn fake eyelashes on my wedding day... So this was very new to me!

I took the subway to Kyungsung and came out exit #2, made a left and walked up the hill to the entrance of Marronnier Town.

Then walked in the lobby and found Coco on the left!  So easy and convenient!  I was met by the owner, a super sweet girl in her 30's, who spoke just enough English for our interaction to run smoothly!  :)  She knew I was coming so she had pre-prepared an hour long playlist of ALL English songs for me to listen to during the procedure!  Sweet huh?!

I say procedure, because it sure felt like one!  I layed down on a bed in the back of the salon and was told to close my eyes.  (BTW: I had NO idea what to expect) She turned on a BRIGHT white light over my face and placed tape between my top eyelid and bottom (OUCH!).  That was the MOST painful part, thank goodness. The rest was easy peasy as she hand glue one eyelash on at a time! 

Here's a little before and after photo of my eyes.  My eyelashes are naturally blonde at the tips, so when I use mascara they appear much longer than in this picture (left), but now I don't need any mascara AT ALL!  I'm not sure yet if I'll trim them - they are a bit long... Regardless, these semi-permanent eyelashes will last about a month and a half - maybe longer because she put A LOT on!  

*** She has a lot of different options too for length, curl, fullness. Whatever you want, she can do.

If you live in Busan and are interested in trying these, here's her info!  Her prices are better than most places I've heard of too. 

1 time = 50,000 won

3 times = 100,000 won

Who wants to go with me for my next appointment?

Movie and Eel for dinner!

Today was our school's "Culture Day" for 5th grade, 6th grade, and English teachers!  This basically means that we're allowed to leave work 2 hours early to go do something "culturally Korean!"  Good news is, we never actually HAVE to do something Koreanish, we just have to say and write that we are!  YAY!  So, all of us left school at 2:30pm and headed to Nampodong to see a movie!  Most of the teachers saw a Korean movie, but Loola, Hyun Jung and I went to see TAKEN 2.  There was A LOT of violence, so poor Loola had her hand over her face almost the whole movie!  

Okk, Loola, Me, Hana, and Hyun Jung outside the theater in Nampodong.

Next stop was Amnam Park, where we all met for a group photo (typical Korean style)!

*** These are all of the 5th grade, 6th grade, and English teachers.

... as we were perusing through the park, Loola asked if she could try using my camera to take a picture of Hyun Jung and I on the steps.  She took this picture, looked at it and immediately squeeled, "I want one with Chelsey too!" Awe! 

hence... the same photo, with Loola!  :)

We all headed down to a seaside seafood BBQ tent!  How awesome is this place?  There are plastic windows in the back of the tent, that were zipped down tonight so that we could enjoy the gorgeous view of Yeongdo Island across the water and the giant bridge connecting Songdo to Yeongdo!  It was one of the coolest eating atmospheres that I've experienced in almost 4 years of living here!

There are perks to eating at little whole in the wall beach side tents, like having a cozy and charming place to eat... but then there are negatives to it, too.  Like when you find a worm in your edamame!   I'm guessing there aren't a whole lot of food regulations around these parts!

After waiting about 20 minutes, the lady brought out thie GIANT tray of shellfish!  Clams with chopped veggies, octopus in a red sauce, more clams in red sauce, covered in cheese, and a giant bowl of hot pepper clam soup!

These were something I would never have touched in America!  Now they're one of my favorite foods!

When the lady brought this basket of freshly slaughtered eel, I almost threw up.  Turns out though, once eel is cooked up, dipped in a little oil and salt mixture, it's fantastic! :)

I had another first tonight!  I ate the creatures growing inside of these seashells.

Here it is, up close!  

Slimy? - You bet'cha! 

Rubbery? - Oh yes!  

A little sandy? - Yep!  

Yummy? - Surprisingly so!

The 9 of us all stayed huddled around these two round BBQ tables, cooking, eating, talking, laughing, and drinking (our table just had cider - but still!) until the sun went down and the lights of the island lit up the ocean water! 

I'd venture to say that this was my all time favorite teacher dinner in 3 1/2 years! :)

Cheers to that!

Jess and Mayo's photo shoot!

Last weekend, between eating delicious food, playing cards, drinking craft brewed beer, chatting about life and love, hiking, walking, picnicking on the rooftop, and shopping with Jess and Mayo in Seoul, we were able to sneak in a photo shoot near the Han River!  Between the two of our cameras, Aaron and I had well over 100 photos that we absolutely loved!  How could we not, with such a stunning couple who ooz so much love, passion, and adoration for one another?! 

Click below to see

Jess and Mayo

... and if you look really carefully, Jess's growing baby bump! 

Love you two!

Sunday at Beomeosa

Aaron and I spent the morning, in bed, watching college football... but with only a few more weeks of perfect California style weather, we knew we couldn't spend all afternoon in our PJ's!  So, we both threw out some places to go and explore, but agreed 100% on ONE - The lovely, charming, mystical 1334 year old Buddhist Temple, Beomeosa (pronounced: Bo-mo-sa).  You just can't find stuff like this in America, people!  Period. 

We took the subway there, line one, and got off at none other than Beomeosa Station. (Easy!) Went up exit 7, made a quick U-turn, and took the first street up the hill.  There was a small bus stop about 100 meters up, where we were able to jump on a bus (#90), which took us up the 2.5 km road leading to the temple, atop the mountain!  I can't say it enough - I LOVE living  in a city with excellent public transportation!

As soon as we arrived, we walked this lantern strung pathway...

and then did a little off-roading (or, well, we got off the main path at least), and found our way down to this awesome little stream running along side the temple!  

I'm getting pretty good at finding these heart rocks now! :)

There's a tradition in Korea that when you make a wish, you stack a stone, one on top of another. If your rock falls from the top, your wish won't come true, BUT if it stays, your wish is sure to come true! Such a cute idea, right?

We spent about an hour here, playing on the rocks, watching the fish swim by, walking through the bamboo forest, snapping photos, and enjoying the natural beauty in literally every direction! We loved this place so much that we relocated next weekends photo shoot with Chris and Stella to this exact area!  We're so excited to see what we can come up with the two of them there! :) 

Then, we headed up the path to the temple’s main gate, aka the One Pillar Gate, built in 1614.


Beomeosa is one of my favorite temples in Korea because it spreads over so much space.  I’m not sure how many buildings there are, but it seems as if the temple grounds are like a giant maze, with gorgeous temple structure popping up around every corner!  

See why it's one of my favorite temples in Busan?!

Red Lentil Lunch!

Jess sent us home with a tin can full of dried red lentils for us to use in Busan, since we can't find them here and we're trying to eat less (or no) meat when we cook at home!  Beans and lentils are our new substitute! Aaron whipped out the lentils today and mixed them with carrots, red bell pepper, onions, garlic, chili powder, crushed chili peppers, curry powder and a tiny bit of water (since we can't find broth here) and made us a delicious stew for lunch!

It's nice to have a husband who's friends with the kitchen!