Mid-Term Test (Long Version)

(This is a long, rambling version of the test experience. A shorter one is in my kimchilandiaries)

Done with the test and I'm fairly confident that I will fail. hahaha...

I didn't really study well, and there were a lot of excuses. It will be a miracle if I do pass. But wait, passing mark is 60. Do I have hope? LOL

My hubs was quite kind enough to give me a ride, and save me the trouble of going via public transportation. We left for Daejeon at around 10:15, 15 minutes later from what we planned. We got to the area without a problem at 

around 11:30. 

I checked my name on the list and ate our packed food in spacious parking lot. My usual driving-out food are boiled eggs and bread. Hopefully, I'll be able to pick up the habit of adding some fruits next time. I used to add some peeled and chopped apples before but it wasn't that popular. It's just a bit tricky with fruits like apple coz it can easily be oxidized. If it's something else, I'll have to bring a knife to peel it or if it's something else that doesn't need peeling, I will still need to peel for myself. hahaha.. Picky-eater me. My best fruit of choice will be bananas! 

Well, today was a bit special coz I managed to bake pandesal earlier this morning. (It's getting better.) I also packed a few banana muffins that I baked yesterday. The pandesal, muffins, and egg was our lunch, along with the misutkaro drink and iced water from the thermal bottle. It was pretty filling, enough to last me until the test ended. 

I went up to the testing room a few minutes after 12 only to find the the room is very small for the 53 test-takers. And it was also pretty noisy. I'm not very used to this kind of noise anymore. Flashback to my high school days. 

12:30 The test proctors showed up and started to quiet the folks down. I know it's a test so I got my old copy of Reader's Digest to read while waiting silently. I don't understand why other people just can't quiet down and contain themselves. It's a test after all. 

Luckily, I was not seated far in the back so I can hear the proctors better amidst the noise. It would be totally dismal if I wasn't coz I'd have to hear them well to be able to better guess what they're saying. 

The proctors gave the general information on the test, as well as the instructions on writing the name and other details on the answer sheet. We were also told put our bags at the back of the room, turn off the mobiles and put a sticker on them before they were collected and put on small plastic trays. We were told that we'll get them back after the speaking test. 

1:00 Signal to start. I skipped most on the first page which was sad coz it was the vocabulary page. It should have been easy. 

1:30 I hurriedly went back to the skipped numbers with the remaining ten minutes on the clock. With still a minute or two, I finished off the last item that I only guessed the answer. It wasn't such a bad test if only I understood everything. hahaha..

One question that stuck me funny went like this:

Which one is wrong? An guy who is called sabunim by a younger lady or a 30-year-old single lady who is called ajumma. Seriously? Now, as I ask my son, he says the latter is correct. Why? His reasoning goes like this, "so will I call a 70-year old unmarried lady agassi?" 

1:40 Part 1 done. A round of excited chatter erupted again while the proctor wrote the test question for the written part on the board after handing out the answer sheets. 

The answer sheet has around 5 lines of boxes for the characters, small text boxes below those, which from what I can guess, are the guidelines in writing and checking the answer. If only I can understand any of it. 

All done in five minutes. I managed to write 2.5 lines. Wasted precious miutes writing over my penciled answer. It seems that pencils are not a regular for test-taking in Korea. They provided a permanent small-tipped marker for the machine-checked part but I had to use a smaller-tipped one for the writing part. 

Papers were collected and another round of chatter and "be quiet please." Someone asked if they can go to the rest room and was given ten minutes. I also stepped out because of the noise at first but decided to check out the rest room in the end. 

Then, we were told to stay put in the room, and behave so we can all start and finish the remaining part of the test. That, I can only totally agree. We were given another set of papers, I'm guessing for the speaking test. I say "guessing" coz by then, I had read enough Korean for the day and my head just can't manage to try to make heads or tails on what's written there. 

2:00 We started in batches of four. As luck would have it, I was on the second batch. Yes! I get to go home early. Thank you. I just have to be able to muster out a few more spoken Korean and I'm done.

Four people were called out, each pair is sent to a room where two proctors wait. One was the same guy from our room. My speaking test buddy was a Cambodian lady who looks younger and darker than me. I actually thought she was a "kabayan" at first. We sat and waited just outside of the testing room. I managed to chat a bit and practice my limited spoken Korean. All within the 5-minute-limit of my ability. We'll maybe 7-minutes now? :)

The minute I sat and saw the pictures on the paper, I knew I was doomed! There were two photos: pork and shrimp. Both of which I do not eat, knows practically nothing much about and you expect me to talk about it? Incomprehensible. I managed to say that anyway, I think. 

The rest, I can only hazard a guess if I made sense with my answers. I can imagine what points they have to write on the speaking rubrics paper that I handed them. 

The whole actual speaking test lasted at least about five minutes, I think. I had no concrete watch on hand coz our phones were handed back to us after that. 

I turned it on and hurriedly went out to look for my hubs so we can go home and eat with our son. It won't be that soon coz the drive home still took almost two hours. 

2:30 We set to home.

4:25 We got home. 

Novice Home Baker Series: A Little Girl's Dream -- My First Apple Pie

Oven + apples = apple pie.

When I was a bit younger I dreamed about having an oven coz we didn't have any in our house growing up. I'd save interesting recipes that need some baking in hopes that I'll be able to do it someday. 

Macaroons, bread, and pies, especially apple pie, were on my list. When I finally had an oven, I was able to try buko (young coconut) and mango pie. But not an apple pie because it was a tad expensive plus I wasn't sure if it was fresh and good enough for one.

Last year, we got a lot of apples but didn't have an oven yet. I only ended up making an apple bread. 

This year is the chance since I finally got an oven and the apple season is starting. We picked up a bag of green apples more than a week ago and it's about time.

One of my little dreams came into reality today. I got home and started it. Everything seemed okay until it's done coz I saw that it was runny. Later, I found out that I should have used some tapioca and wait for it to set at least more than an hour before eating.

Impossible! We were all excited to taste it. I'll have to hunt for tapioca flour next time before the apple season rolls in. 

Novice Home Baker Series: Pandesal, Potato in the Oven

P birthday's done. It's a bit chilly and makes me want to bake some more.

I want to bake an apple pie, and hubs suggested for me to have another crack at pandesal. And so I did. It's my third time and I used the recipe from casa this time. I got lost in measuring the water content at some point but just got on with it. I probably used less than the 1 C required water. Nonetheless, I used up the 3 C of flour and produced a decent bread. Roughly 75% of the original one perhaps.(?)

We had some of it for dinner, along with some roasted potatoes. I used spaghetti sauce to dip and fill the bread too. While googling for the kinds of flours available in Korean marts, I found another pandesal recipe from buhayinkorea.com blogger. It's closer to what's available here so I may try that next time.

Now, I just have to look for a decent apple pie recipe. No such luck for that yet coz the one that I was eyeing last time from fb group is a bit tricky. Anyway, I'll try to check it out again. 

Recipe Dig

I'm so happy that I have dug up some blog entries today. Why? I happen to find an old recipe that I used a lot of times which was from a library book. It was such a good find. I may have to stock up on some more flour the next time we go to the grocery.  Marking it now but heading to sleep now. My body is giving up to sleep.

Blog Entry Look Back

My son got started with his own blog today, a few days before his 11th birthday. We had to check out my first entry here and this got me to have a look back on my entries through the years.

2008. My first blogger entry. On and off entries for the first two years, dwindled down to three entries for the next two years and a totally big hiatus for another two years. I think those were the years when I had lost interest in my day to day life. I remember two years of miserable existence. Well, that may be an overstatement. But those were the years that I got restless again. THAT is an understatement.Then came our 2014 move and a new adventure begun. So with my two-year run so far, I hope I'll make it for this remaining year at least to complete the two years.

That's just about it so far. Almost seven years. Longer than the previous ones. Just have to wait and see.

Novice Home Baker Series: Pandesal Day!

Another one off the list! I got my running list of stuff to bake and I finally got this one off to a success! I can finally eat something akin to pandesal whenever I want. 

It's pretty simple as I've guessed but it does take time to rise. Proofing is really needed with it that's why the bakers really had to wake up early in order to produce their freshly-baked pandesal every morning. They are usually available starting around 5 AM even. 

This is usually one of the few things that my KH, my son and me unanimously like for breakfast when we live in Ph. Other times would be Ima's bread, pancakes, cereals, or sweet potato. I'm usually the only one who go for oats. 

My son have memories of going out in the morning to buy this. He clearly remembers the dogs that he has to brave whenever he pass by the neighbor just to get the pandesal for the day. We would usually buy 30 peso worth or sometimes, even 50! Roughly a dollar and we get 25 pieces. 

Now, I have to, and I can, make one even if we are not in Ph. In little batches, that is, coz of my tiny oven. 

You life's music every decade.

Can you think up of a song for every decade he has lived?

Step by Step by NKotB came out of the blue after dinner while we were chatting about my son's recent 5-day camp. It stuck me that there are songs that can bring back memories of some phases in my life.

Madonna, Michael Jackson and Air Supply were pretty big back in the 80's during my early years. I can totally remember "Papa Don't Preach," "Like a Virgin," "All Out of Love," "Beat It," "Thriller" among others because I hear them everywhere. They were catchy but I never really understood what the lyrics meant as a kid. I even thought that the world "lakwatsa" was a dance step at one time. Boy! Was I deluded when I realized it years later when I was in my teens doing it somehow.

I asked my husband if he can name or hum a tune for each decade he has lived and he can't. He says he really can't hum at all. Off-hand, I think I can. 80's - "Like a Virgin" (I still can't believe this is what I remember being in single-digit age at that time.) 90's - "How Gee" 00's - "Lady Marmalade" (Another catchy tune, disregarding some meaning of the lyrics. And yes, I prefer Aguilera over Spears), 10's - 1D's "That's What Makes You Beautiful."

There were songs that would remind me of places and people. Bread Essentials album always reminds me of someone and a family trip. Notting Hill OST and On My Own from Les Mis both reminds me of two different people.

This reminds me of a break up playlist which includes Goodbye Girl and One Last Cry. Just can't get enough of those at some point. It's just funny how songs play a part in our lives. Some bring good memories, some don't.

5-Day Camp Success

The 5-day camp was a success. On what? Well, P claimed that he washed every night. Downside was he claimed he didn't see his oral care set so that means...

No. I wouldn't want to go into details. But we did pick him cleaner than from his previous camps. Unfortunately, he didn't seem to find the camp that interesting  that he said he got bored and missed home.

That 5-day camp was longest he's been far from home. I do think that he got some good experience from there other than the uninteresting Chinese camp. He told us about having to room with another 5th grader and two 4th graders. He's growing up, slowly.

Early August Baking

P was in a 5-day camp this week and it made me want to bake some for him when he gets home. On my baking list are: 

1. Brownies
2. Oatmeal Cookie
3. Bagel
4. Empanada
5. Pandesal 
6. Baguette

Aug. 5 (Mon) Had a sudden urge to eat empanada coz I had to use up the tomatoes in the freezer. I was planning on making beef and potato filling with cilantro but ended up with the meatless one. It turned out to be dry. And out of the 9 pieces, three looked like an oyster Empanada. The shell did taste good and it was a fun thing to make and knead it starting from grating the frozen shortening. 

The filling: cilantro-laden taste. Love it. 

Oyster Empanada :D

Aug. 5 (Fri) Tried out Brownies and Banapple Cookies today. 

The banapple cookies were supposed to be just banana and oatmeal but I found out that my frozen bananas were not enough and I have a bag of green apples instead. I hurriedly tried to make some sort of apple sauce to make a good ratio between 1 C of oats and barely 1 C of bananas. I chopped to small apples which was almost 2 C. After boiling it with 1 C water, sugar and cinnamon powder, the final output was barely a cup. I baked it at the same time with the brownies in a small disposable aluminum pan.

First 10 minutes: 220 C

10-15 minutes: 150 C, then I took it out  of the oven and let it cool.

The brownies stayed inside for another 5 minutes or so until the timer rang off. Since it doesn't seem to be totally done, I just left it there until it cooled a bit even after I already did the insert test. 

It  turned out to be a bit gooey, not very cake-like and not very dry either. I would have preferred the drier one at another time but I went for this one this time. It was alright, just a bit sweet. I decided to go for this recipe since it is pretty simple. I did some tweaking but it turned out okay fortunately. 

3/4 cup unbleached flour

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

3 egg whites, well beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or try mint!)

1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional. Keep in mind that adding nuts will not keep this low in fat!)

1. Combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, and salt, if desired, and stir to mix well. Stir in the applesauce, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Fold in the nuts, if desired.
2. Coat an 8-inch square pan with nonstick cooking spray. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 23-25 minutes, or just until the edges are firm and the center is almost set.
3. Cool, cut into squares, and serve!

* I used less cocoa powder, canola oil instead of the applesauce, 2 whole eggs, cashew nuts and no vanilla. Now that I write this down, I realized that I made a lot of changes it seems. 

Cashew-topped Brownies

The gooey cookies were inspired from this website, theburlapbag.com which has a two-ingredient cookie (banana and oats) and these other remedies on the fly to add apples: apple pie oatmeal cookies from amyshealthybaking.com and bananaapple from whitelaceinn.com.

Apple Sauce (from food.com)

4 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

4 Red Delicious apples, peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup water

1⁄2 cup brown sugar

1⁄4 teaspoon ground allspice

1⁄2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

DIRECTIONS

Put water and apples in pot.

Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat to low. Simmer approx 25 minutes, or until soft -- stirring occasinally.

Slightly mash apples. Add sugar, cinnamon and all spice.

Mix well, and let simmer about 5 more minutes.

If you want a smoother texture sauce, pour into a blender, and Puree until desired texture.

I still got enough apples for my next project: apple pie 

Inspired from a local fb group post which I'd like to try one of these days. 

Rustic Apple Tart (FB group)

Saved Bread

Salvage day on a very hot summer day.

My first attempt on baguette failed last time. I am now stuck with the undercooked but hard bread which I had already tried to break again into pieces and make into a bread pudding. I made it late last week, and I had been brainstorming how to reuse it so the 5-6 C of flour that I used will not totally go to waste. There were other sites that inspired me like this one for saving stale bread challenge, and this for the general leftover ideas. Eureka moment when I found this site today.  

At first, I thought about making it into a soup but there was a lot of just for that. Then I thought maybe I can experiment with a bread pudding. The thing is my bread has already some herbs and I didn't feel like eating a sweet bread at the moment. I'd have to go for the non-sweet one like garlic or vegie filled bread.

Taking a little gamble on my very limited kitchen skills, I imagined soaking the hard bread in milk and adding some frozen vegies and more herbs and spices. And here is how it all turned out. Edible. 

It would have been better if I had added some tomatoes which we happen to have. I also forgot to add garlic and more vegies. Or maybe I just didn't want to take a bigger risk or using up a lot of my vegies for something that I might actually have to throw if all things didn't turn out well.

As usual, I'll try to write down what I did for my future reference. 

• 2 C of underbaked and hardened bread
• 1 C milk

Other things I just added roughly.

• 2 T margarine, melted
• 2 T bell pepper, diced
• 2 T onion, diced
• 1/2-1 t pasta sprinkle
• dash of salt, black pepper, red pepper flakes

And here's how.

1. Tore the bread into small pieces.
2. Soaked the bread in milk for at least 30 minutes. 
3. Mixed in the rest. 
4. Baked at 250 degrees C for the first 10 minutes. (I didn't pre-heat the oven.)
5. The lowered it to 150 for the remaining 30 minutes. 

When I finally got to taste it, I tried to put some ketchup and even hot sauce on it and it did improve the taste. I'm just relieved that my almost-ready-to-be-thrown out bread is still useful. 

Until my next baking adventure. 

Delivered!

The oven was delivered today.

I made cookies, roasted the cashews and dried/baked the slices of ginger. I have just discovered my ginger crispers as spoil-free-and-handy thing to chew for my motion sickness.

I still have to get to know the temperature setting of this thing, since it's a bit small so I think it can cook pretty fast. I almost burned most of my stuff today with a the highest 250 C setting of only 10-20 mins. I should just set it to lower temp next time.

An Oven at Last!

It's been more than a year that I had been dreaming of getting myself an oven. One year and five months to be exact. I finally risked my 100K to get a 26L Wishwell oven yesterday. 

I had been eyeing that brand for a few months but I wasn't sure how it will fare until another member from the facebook group Expat Cooking in Korea recommended it. She had been posting food photos which she usually makes using her oven from bread to meals. I just had to finally ask her what oven she was using only to find out that it was the same brand that I had been eyeing. And she also mentioned that another group member was also using an exact brand and model. The thing is, theirs were pretty big. My baking/cooking with oven skills is only good for a smaller-sized one. 

Now, I am thinking what kind of stuff can I make with very limited baking utensils on hand coz I really didn't bring my old ones from my hometown. I now have a chance to start anew with the basic things that I might need. I am still contemplating on whether to get the non-stick ones, or silicon material. I am a bit wary of the latter coz it's pretty new for me. 

So what will I try to make to try out the oven when it gets here? Or better question should what can I make with only an oven pan and paper foil that I can use? The best option would be cookies, or simple morning bread that doesn't require any mold. I've got baking powder, baking soda, and yeast anyway. Simple yeast bread won't be bad. Oh, dear! I suddenly missed my photocopied bread-making book. I have to do the trial and error thing from recipes online or maybe ask around from the expat group again. I think I've seen a simple recipe for bread over there recently. 

That's it! A cookie and simple bread. Cookie for Pilip as snack and bread for breakfast. Would it be a lofty idea if I will try baguettes again and not end up with a stone bread this time? I still got a dough in the freezer which was originally for a pita bread on the stove top. I can probably make one now oin the oven soon. Hurray!

Good luck to my budget for cooking/baking equipment: a microwavable and oven-safe glassware or ceramic pot, a muffin pan/cups/ bread pan/mold, pizza pan (?) and maybe a mixer.  

Googling time for the first recipe so I can find the ingredients in my cupboard tomorrow. The challenge is to use whatever is available in my pantry. I'm pretty sure I can make something to try out the new oven. 

The next question is when will it be delivered? Payment and packing was cleared today. Hopefully, it will arrive by tomorrow but I'm afraid that it not be until Wednesday. And Wednesday is also a bit busy day for me. Oh boy! Think positive. If not, I will have to make do with Thursday. 

Well, gotta grab some sleep now. I still have preps to do tomorrow.

Home Cooking on a Cloudy Day

We have a couple of corns in the freezer since we ordered them this week. I longed to cooked some fresh corn, not the corn in can, so I finally got around to it on this cloudy day.

This past few days had been pretty hot and sunny so I welcome this cloudy afternoon to be able to cook some porridge. I wasn't sure exactly how to go about it at first so I googled for some recipe to get an idea. I found a couple here, here and here which got me enough courage to take out my ingredients.

I already soaked about half-cup of regular Korean rice a few days ago so I had to use it. I should have used glutinous rice but that was what I had ready plus I think Korean rice is a bit sticky anyway. I have more faith for that. It turned out okay, although not as sticky as it should be if I had used glutinous rice. 

So for future reference, here is what I did today.

2 C coconut powder mixed with 3-4 C of water

1 C soaked rice (should have been 1/2 cup before soaking, I guess)

1.5 C fresh corn kernels

1/2- 3/4 C sugar

a dash of salt

Soaked rice lessened the cooking time for the rice so this was ready in about 30 minutes. 

Next time, I will try to really use glutinous rice, a little less sugar and probably cook the corn along with the rice from the start. Why? If I like my corn really soft, I should do that specially if I'll be using fresh corn and not canned one. But I think it will take a while for me to do this again coz I was the only one who enjoyed this at home coz my boys are not a big fan of coconut. It's just funny that this coconut cream powder got from my Mom in PH is originally from Indonesia. 

Yiruma's Kiss the Rain

Music can definitely transcend any language, any thought, any feeling. This music has something that draws me to it, without any lyrics. It makes me feel something deep inside that I wouldn't really want to express into words for words will just ruin the feeling evoked by this music.

This one has that quality. I just heard it and kept listening to it. It sounded very familiar, yet  I cannot pinpoint where I heard it before. When I looked it up, I found that it was used in a Kdrama "A Millionaire's First Love." This got me confused because I initially thought that Yiruma is Japanese. And I finally searched for more Yiruma music and found out that he is Korean after all. Korean-born but British-educated concert pianist. Interestingly enough, his other music are also good. There's even a Korean lyrics which I might just try to learn one of these days. I had indeed become an official fan.

Thankful: Looking on the Brighter Side

This is how much hair I usually find after I combed my hair in the morning everyday. My husband complains about it and it's also getting to me. BUT, I just have to remember to be thankful that even though I am losing hair like this everyday, I'm still thankful that my hair sill keeps on growing new ones and I am not losing this because of worse reasons like chemotherapy side-effects. Mine seem just regular hair loss. That I am and should be thankful for instead of complaining about how much hair I leave everywhere.

Delightful Old Books by Agatha Christie

I have just finished listening to an audio book of Agatha Christie via youtube called  The Man in the Brown Suit. It is surprisingly a mix of mystery romantic story set in South Africa long time ago. I started listening to it a couple of days ago and thought that it would be a straight forward mystery story but it has unfolded to be more than that. I thoroughly enjoyed the narration and twist of how the story went. It reads like a modern tale except for the undeniably old technology employed. The plot itself could have been easily made into a more modern setting.

There were a lot of interestingly created character. I like the lead adventuress, and even the main villain. It's a light read that doesn't leave a bad taste in the mouth after all the misdeeds that has happened in the book. It wasn't written that way.

There's this part of me wanting to dive into another AC book right away but I'll try to hold it off for a whle. I'm thinking of looking up another old favorite writer from Canada this time, a bit different genre but older setting nonetheless. I'll check now if I can find her audiobooks in youtube now.

AC audio books has just been recently available online, this year actually, and I had been looking for it on youtube for a while. Sure, I can find it somewhere, ready to download, but there is this undeniable ease of simply streaming it through youtube and being able to listen to it on the fly. Power to youtube for this little delights. :D

8 Habits that Makes u Unhappy..

Interesting list from elitereaders.com. I'm pretty sure nos. 1 and 8 are so not me. :) As for the remaining ones, I may have moments like those at some point.

1. Being perfectionist.
2. Comparing your life with others.
3. You're only happy when all of your dreams come true.
4. Living in the past.
5. You worry.
6. You believe that everyone should play by your rules.
7. You are a materialistic person
8. You care too much about what others think.

Summer Thrift Shopping

Just a quick one at this coz it was really a quick purchase that has been over due for almost a month, around the time when the MERS cases broke out. Two of my son's pants had been torn around the knees and he is running out of pants to wear to school with the days getting hotter everyday. He has enough T shirts but quite limited pants and shorts. I totally feel this coz I had to wash his pants ever so often nowadays and I couldn't lay out his week's clothes anymore.

So last Sunday, I took the chance to drop by and check out my fave source for kids clothes, the thrift shop! Those thin pants that will be retiring soon were purchased online last year. I'm hoping that we can still extend the use till this year. Nonetheless, I had to add a couple more pair of shorts for him. I ended up finding three pairs which all fitted him perfectly. I only spent a total of 9k which I'm hoping will last for two years.

My next possible thrift shopping for kids clothes will be for some winter clothes this coming winter. And don't forget the shoes! That is another thing to be on the lookout for in the shops or online.

My First Iherb Order is Here!

It's a day late but it wasn't a very long wait. It was supposed to arrive between June 26-29 but got here on the 30th.

I've been keeping track of this thru the email link when I got the receipt. It has been pretty slow to move from the international front to the Korean warehouse. The tracking details changed about early in the afternoon yesterday so I expected it to arrive today. Made it to town early this morning and was out for delivery in the afternoon. I was figured it will be delivered at around 4:30 but I only got a call instead. It took another hour before the delivery guy knocked on our door.
  

I've finally got a couple of EOs after years of finding reasonable sources. I got 2 bottles of tea tree oil, a bottle each of rosemary, eucalyptus, cedarwood, and witch hazel. I should have picked up some lavender and a couple of sweet smelling ones but there was a 6 bottle limit that I didn't expect. Maybe I can try on my next order.

And I finally got a liquid shampoo again. Thank you Iherb. Even though I miss my Human Heart Nature products, I'm crossing my fingers that this poo will work for my hair.

I've tried a bar shampoo early this year but it just wasn't working well with my hair. It somehow leaves my hair very oily after washing. I guess that wasn't really for me. Maybe I should keep it for winter when my hair is pretty dry.



The last of my loot were the two bags of oats which I added in my cart out of desperation for not being able to get a decently priced one locally. I found out later that there was a price drop on the item that I was eyeing before but that was after I've placed this Iherb order. Oh, well. I ended up with two brands of oats, Quaker Oats and Bob's Red Mill. That's about 4.5 kg + 2 kg of oats and muesli all together. This should last me until winter, I guess. :D

The next task on my list is making those concoctions using the EO's. The questions is when will I get to that? I still got a few other projects at hand. We'll see until the end month of July.  

Int'l Shipping and Customs Duties

I've been wondering how Ph customs exactly come up with the exorbitant prices whenever we receive items bought outside the country or anything that comes in through mail or courier. We had a very bad experience with having to pay 1600 for an 800 worth of small gadget. There was no explanation except that was from the customs and either u pay or don't get your goods.

Having been here in ROK for a year now with a lot of small gadgets ordered from abroad, I learned that it's easier to figure out their customs tariffs. There's a threshold of 100, 150 or 200 USD and it might be tax free, depending on the goods. I even got my chromebook (worth less than 200 USD) free of tax. We only had to pay about 30USD for shipping through malltail. Hubby says if it goes past the 200 USD, it would be taxed at 10%.

Other than that, we had no worries for any after-shipping cost like tax. We know exactly how much it will cost buying something online from an international site like Amazon.

In the Ph, on the other hand, the rules are not clear. It is a general knowledge that you are in the mercy of the customs officers who happen to handle on your package. Upon reading couriers/forwarding service companies site, I have come across of the 20% tariff that is for customs. I'm like..really? No wonder then.

Here's my list of possible companies that I'll have to research some more.

manilaforwarder, pobox, and JAC.

from manilaforwarder site:

TAXATION FOR FORMAL ENTRY SHIPMENTS.
Items that are subject to tax are those that require AC Power, luxury items, items intended for commerce- have a 20% tax based on commercial invoice for brand new items and 10% for used items. Philippine tariff law applies as we separate formal entry and non formal entry shipments. The fee generally include other fees like arrastre, AMS, and documentations,.

TAX FREE SHIPMENTS.
Personal effects and household goods are tax free. Please see rules.

For tax free shipments, items should not be more than 9 of a kind and for personal use only.

Oats and Deliveries

(10:45 AM)

It's Friday and I am waiting for my oats to be delivered. I ordered one from iherb last week but it seems to be taking a long time (7-9 days) to get here. We didn't buy some cereal since last week so I found this weeks' breakfast to be stressful. I did get to cook and try some new things (like Pita bread) but still missed my own food. I just had to place my order for oats in gmarket specially when I found that the price has gone down a bit (from 36k to 30k) with a bag of Honey Butter Chips to boot.

I've been checking my iherb order but it just got to the Korean warehouse yesterday afternoon. I think it will have to move from that to the local courier warehouse before it gets to be delivered. It will also have to go through custom check today. So hopefully with the quick and efficient delivery system here in Korea, I might get that iherb parcel by tomorrow or Monday at the most. I'm just hoping that those EO bottles won't be broken coz I've heard that some people who order flour/oat had some problems. I'm crossing my fingers mine won't have any or else I'll have to deal with the Korean language again.

My local gmarket order, on the other hand, is out for delivery soon since it has already arrived in my local area. I just placed the payment yesterday and from what I've seen in the tracking link, payment was cleared right away yesterday. The goods were shipped out early evening and has been on the move while I was sleeping overnight. It got into the town at 8 this morning and already in my area just after an hour and a half. So if I really can't wait, I can just drop by at their office a few blocks from my place and pick it up. But of course, I will rather wait and write stuff here. :D I'm just keeping an ear open for a message or a call from the delivery guy or perhaps just the doorbell ring today.

Delivery system here is really cool compared to how it is in my hometown.  It takes a while for payment to be cleared, when they finally ship out, it sleeps in a warehouse for at least a night. It takes hours or sometime a day for a product to move from one part of the metro to the hangar where they will be shipped out to the provincial island. By the time it gets to the island, it may have to stay in the local office for a while before they finally get someone to deliver it coz there is only one office in the downtown to process all the incoming documents and parcels. Quickest time frame can be 3 days but worst case would 5 days or a week.

That is for the private courier service. It's totally different case via the post office. It is worse. Which reminds me about a couple of stuff I've sent through them a few months ago and I haven't heard if it already got there. Oh geez. One was a small packet of paper gift for my son's friends and another is a document for my mom. Gotta check that one out. To make it worse, I just sent it as regular mail forgetting how bad Philpost system is. I should've sent it with tracking no. at least, even if it won't be that quick. I don't mind the slower one as long as it gets there within the reasonable time.

As for my current location, I can finally have oats for breakfast/snack on Sunday when I head out to my all-day Korean class when those oats gets here. However, I just remembered that Team A food thing is happening this Sunday so lunch will be covered I think.

Waiting.

(3 PM Update)

And it got here just now! It came in a big box that for a minute I thought it was the international one. International packages I've opened before usually has tons of fillers and bubble wraps. This one got bigger because of the extra chips that came with it.

Inside the original quaker oat box are just two bags of oats, roughly 2 kilos each. I may have to move one of the boxes in my 1 kg containers and mix em up with my usual nut and dried fruits.

Happy as a bee now so I may have to stock up my nuts and fruits next.

I guess they will update the tracking info later when they get back to the office. It would be more fancy if it gets updated the minute they deliver. I've signed some electronic machines before for bank cards and I figured it might automatically update somewhere but not with the regular goods. 

Phising Rant, etc.

I need to go downtown. But because of the voice phishing incident, all my other plans were scrapped. I had planned on completing my lesson planning this morning and head downtown this afternoon but no, it didn't happen. I won't go into the details for now except that we were just robbed of our time and peace of mind and not exactly of what little money we have. That I have to thank God for giving my hubs some common sense after an hour on the phone with that bogus caller.

What do I have to put down in writing now? Ah..

• I need to prep month curri, that should be at least 4 lessons for each month
• figure out my KB payment for my oats 
• finalize my Daiso list
• drop by at the MC center tomorrow
• plus, pick up the furnitures
• and do the Thu Yoga

BUSY! Detailed Voice Phishing story next time. Time to get started! 

The Problem of Apologies

June 25 marks the establishment of the Korea and Japan diplomatic relations which brings up the subject of "comfort women." I've heard this many times before and wondered what exactly did the current Japanese officials were referring to when they say that they've already apologized for that before.

This brought me to  Murayama's statement on this page from the Japanese Foreign Affairs Ministry. I've read a bit more about the establishment of the Asian Women's Fund and its purpose, as well as its accomplishments by the time it was dissolved. It made me wonder some more why other Asian nations still harbor ill-sentiments about it.

My hubby pointed out that it was a matter of how sincere the apology came across and it seems that the Japanese government itself didn't really officially apologized. That 1995 was half-baked, and it was even still followed by other actions that seems to downplay what happened in the case of the comfort women issue.

He then suggested that I look up the Germany case after the World War 2. There were several points that I managed to glean from reading a NYTimes article (2014 April) and another lengthy one from here as well and even from a yahoo answers page.

Generally speaking, the German government, the people apologized. Not once, but a lot of times.  Not just one person but as a whole nation. There is the pronoun factor "we" instead of just the individualized "I." I think, it is, indeed, an important point when dealing in foreign affairs issues between nations. Specially with Korea who have the culture of "we." This I learned last Sunday in my Korean language class. I have heard this pronoun used so often before but never really understood that it stems from their culture. I had this impression before that they just don't use a lot of pronouns but there's actually more to it.

Another point that came up was how the government treated that era of atrocities and how this is portrayed in their school textbooks to educate the younger generations. There's no better way to rewrite a twisted history but to teach that to the future citizens of the country. I have yet to ask a younger Japanese myself and find out what really are in their school textbooks.

There are more issues surrounding this post-war apologies by Japan and Germany and how they differ. Even though my sentiments lie with the aggrieved nations from the start, a curious mind led me to try to learn what the other party is actually referring to. Japanese apology efforts were not enough. Koreans are not exactly the only one that thinks so otherwise. I believe, I understand it a little better now.

Officially an Expat in Korea: iherb.com

I have finally completed my first order from iherb and I am now officially an expat. :D
Why? Almost every expat in Korea that I've come across the net would source their non-Korean supplies from iherb ranging from hard-to-find specialized food to supplements for human and even pets.

Sure, there are imported goods in the leading supermarkets but oftentimes they can be limited and would not include other specialized food items and supplements. Moreover, they can also be a little expensive with having to cover the brick-and-mortar store expenses. Shopping online electronically, on the other hand, can be a bit cheaper and actually more convenient as well. The delivery system is quite established with a flat rate of more or less 4USD or even free depending on the minimum order.

I've actually made an account months ago and made a few attempts early this year for my first order which I've never really completed at all. I bided my time, hoping to find some things locally. But alas, with the MERS thing going, people tend to venture out less nowadays. Plus hubby needed some herb spray for his rashes and I don't think any of us will actually see a doctor for that specially now.

What really drove me to making my first order were the essential oils and oats. I have ran out of my winter supply oats which I bought from gmarket sometime around December. It actually took me about four months to finish the 4.5 kg bulk order. I find it a bit expensive now after seeing more choices from coupang and iherb. I thought about trying out coupang but the language complexity of the site would take a bit more time to decipher for me. I ended up in iherb to try out other brands and score other products as well.

These other products are the essential oils. I am pretty keen on DIY sprays around the house for storing our winter stuffs, treating the pests from my small garden, getting rid of smell from shoes and even socks and many other things. I haven't found a decently-priced source here in this small town.

Iherb seems to be the answer. I can pay using my regular check/debit card from a local bank as long as it has the VISA logo. There were two options for the delivery company: CJ and the Korea Post. I chose the former this time. That company usually deliver around midday in our area, unlike Korean Post which usually show up late in the afternoon. (Yeah, I usually keep track of couriers' schedule.^^,) Now, I just have to double check if my order will have additional tax/duty when it gets here. I'm crossing my fingers I won't have to shell out extra bucks later on.

My first order was pretty modest with 10 items, 8 of which were EOs and only 2 were bags of oats. I'll be looking at other food items like herbs and condiments next time, along with more EOs. I just have to be careful not to go overboard on my following orders.

It would take 2-7 days before it gets here via CJ Korea Express. I'll expect it around late next week or the week after. And as every first timer in iherb, I now post my Reward Code for anyone who might want to make use to get some discount on their orders. Just in case some happen to stumble on this blog post. Either type this code LWJ371 at the end of shopping or follow this iherb link.

I'll try to forget about this now until the parcel gets here...and maybe I'll be able to post another about it.

Korean Pop

No. I don't mean K Pop here but the Korean population. This is a very interesting topic for me since human makes up a country's population. And a country's population can greatly affect its economy.

I'll just make this short. Nowadays, whenever I see a pregnant immigrant woman, I think of this as this is Korea's future. It seems that this is the only most obvious alternative for the country to hopefully raise their rapidly declining population. For sure there are the other way of attracting other migrants to choose to live in Korea with the country's advanced technology and developed nation but I don't think it will be an easier one to take considering the Korean's traditional culture, plus the language. I won't be surprised why marriage immigration gets more attention nowadays. Koreans still prefer to have blood relations over totally becoming global regardless of such.

It brings me back to this funny notion that if you are an immigrant woman who doesn't have kids yet (by choice or not), you are not a productive immigrant. Literally. In my case, even though I already have a school-grader, I still have that strange feeling sometimes. That notion comes up every now and then whenever I attend some immigrant activities.

This leads me to some questions though. Korea might try to raise the population with imported spouses, but are they sure that these will produce quality future citizens. They need to educate most of these imported spouses not only with the language and culture but in raising their children.

I'll stop here. I need to go back to studying to learn the language now.

By Country 모임 at the MC Center (Multicultural Center)

Naver translates 모임 as a meeting. That's what I thought it would be when I decided to attend. Unfortunately, Naver's definition and my own understanding turns out to be on a different page compared to the Koreans and the other people who showed up.

It turned out to be a very casual one, without much purpose but getting people sign up for the other upcoming activities. I'm not sure if the same thing happens with the other groups but it wasn't that really organized in this one.

First, in my book, a meeting should have an agenda. People should show up not just because of free food. The time, effort and funding to gather people should be maximized that it should be more beneficial not just for the people who attended but for others as well. After attending this one, I may not be that interested to do so next time. What's the point?

When I got there, they were doing some coloring. WT...okay, I think it's a good thing to do while waiting for me. hahaha...Kidding aside, I have no problem with that except that it went on until we finished the paper. In between that, there were a couple of people who dropped in to have us sign up for other upcoming activities. The staff also asked about what other programs we can suggest that we would be interested in. Someone suggested belly-dancing, a possible music class for their kids, and I even heard something about noraebang. The last one, seriously? I couldn't understand everything coz even if most of us were from the same country, I heard three different languages spoken during that meeting, not including myself who is more comfortable in English specially when I need to explain my self quickly.

Along with those topics were small individual chats between ourselves. I never got to know much coz I assume everyone knows each other and no introductions were made. I'm not sure if this the first time the the center arranged a so-called "meeting" but if it wasn't so, I won't be surprised why our group is not very much updated with the center's program. It's not just because there is a Vietnamese in the office, it's because we are not organized. If we become organized, we might have a chance for our voices be heard.

I am basically an idea person, and I don't think I can actually get some stuff going specially when it comes to people. If there's someone who is willing to come forward, I'd be willing to pitch in. The problem with my fellowmen is most of them would either just try to find job, usually as a factory worker in my current area. I only know of a few people who are actually invested on their future here. Factory work will not last long in this fast changing Korea.

I'll have to stop right here coz this topic will only lead me more to declining population, ageing population, national pension and all the other macroeconomic issues beyond my grey cells for now. I'll save these little grey cells from dissipating for the time being. Perhaps on another sunny day.



   

Getting Started Driving in Korea thru the Multicultural Center

This last week of the month had been a busy one with the driving test scheduled right after the long weekend. I had to study for the written test with all the last minute resources that I was able to get my hand on less than a week from the test date.

Let me do a backtrack on how the Driving Program in the Multicultural Center go. The program is a joint effort of the Multicultural Center, the Police Office and (maybe) some Driving School. I wasn't sure about the last one. They basically prepared us for the written test (I'm sure some people can do that alone) but for me who just keeps procrastinating, it gave me the idea how to work the licensing system and actually sit for the test.

1. Sign up for it. From what I've heard, they offer the program twice a year, during spring and fall. I'm not so sure with the latter though coz I've signed up for the spring one which I missed last year. This is pretty popular one so try to start asking about it sometime around end of February. In my case, I was curious how the program will work even though my Korean language skills still suck.
There were almost 20 people when we started on the first session but it dwindled to about a dozen on the test day.

2. Attend the lectures. It was totally in Korean and I felt like a sinking ship most of the time. Nonetheless, I was able to get some resources like books, website links, and some key points through illustrations. The policewoman who was in-charge was cool and really quite helpful. She would have inputs every now and then and they were all very practical and useful. I didn't miss any session specially the last one which was very beneficial for me. Seeing that I could hardly understand the mock test they had in Korean, the policewoman lent me the latest test book reviewer, and taught me how to find other English resources from the Korean website.

They also had has do the paperwork ahead during those lecture sessions: filling up the all-K forms, submitting copies of other documents like passport and ACR, as well as the 3 pcs. 3x4 cm photos.

3. Show up for the test. Everyone loaded into the medium sized bus around 8:45 AM, and we headed for a 45-minute ride to the nearest licensing office.

I've done a bit of my homework and knew that the place is a bit far-off from places to eat so I had to pick up some food for my tummy, just in case. I wouldn't want to travel on an empty stomach, much less take a test. I spotted a bag of bread and tetra- packed juice which I guessed was gonna be our lunch. Both were too sweet for my throat so it was good that I was able to pick up some deokk earlier. That was enough to keep hunger at bay.

During the ride, the policewoman collected the 12,500 W from everyone which I think should cover the application fee but I found out later that it is only about 7,500. I guess the remaining one was to cover the tour bus ride and snacks which was not so bad coz I wouldn't be able to figure out how to get there in the first place on my own without a lot of stress. At least, with this one, I got the ride, and someone to guide us inside.

So what was the process like? A chart is available on their website. That should give one an overview of the process. But it is slightly different on-site.

1. We filled up a half-A4 sheet form, along with the ACR card. We also needed to some digital fingerprinting to get a temporary card for the process which sucks because of my sweaty hands.

2. Next is the health check area, which also doubles as photo corner if you need one. Give the lady the temp card and the official application form while lining up. The health check is basically a simple eye check. We were made to read numbers only to my relief upon seeing the Snellen chart without any English letters. ;)

3. We were told to head up to the third floor to watch the hour-long video. Each had to swipe the temp card and do the digital fingerprint before and after the video. Before the video started, the staff asked if we would want foreign subtitle. I asked for an English one but she fumbled with the disc and ended up not being able to get it running and had the all-K one instead. The use of temporary card ends here.

4. After the video, it's time to get to the computer testing room. We waited for our names to be called and that is when I started to feel slightly a bit nervous. My name was called, I handed my application form and ACR card for double checking before I was assigned a seat number. I got 42 which was on the last row. The seats were all well spaced and the seat was not really very comfortable but on with test.

There was a preliminary explanation on how to work the screen using the mouse. But first was to input the test taker number, which is your seat number.  All one had to do was read, choose and click. The testing time is 50 minutes but 20 to 30 minutes should be enough to breeze through it. I finish the last question with plenty of time still on my clock so I chose to go back to some questions I wasn't sure of. One of the proctors came up to me and told me that I'm already done. But I said that I still have time and want to go over some part still (all in my faulty Korean.) She didn't look quite happy but she backed off. I hit END around after 35 minutes I started. I could have stayed on until 50 minutes but I figured I might just actually be tempted to change a lot of answers and end up getting more mistakes. Plus, there were still a few more people in line and I'm getting hungry.

I hit the END and my test score popped up. Not so bad. I passed anyway. Not everyone did.  They stamped "passed" on my application as the lady handed it back to me and off I go. I can now return the reviewer book to the nice policewoman. Everyone wanted to know the result when I got out. Now that I look back to it, I should have pulled a prank at first and pretended to have failed.

Before we got too noisy waiting outside for the rest to finish, we were herded downstairs and given our snacks-cum-lunch. I took my chance to roam the area a bit, checked out the bus stop for my future on-my-own trip.

The next part was the Basic Driving Skills Test. About ten was left behind to take that since most of us are not ready for that. I just tagged along as they line up and pay. I have to know as much as I can as to which window to pay, how much, etc. so I can do it on my own next time if ever.

So what did I learn about this program? This would basically just assist the foreign married immigrant access to learning to get the driver's license. If you are a total newbie like me, with limited Korean language, the lectures itself didn't help much. One has to do his own studying in order to pass the written test. This won't also cover the actual hands-on experience. Either you do it on your own with someone who has been driving legally for at least 2 years or sign up at a private driving schools before you take the test.

It did give me a way to find out what options I have and how I can possibly navigate the Korean system of acquiring a driver's license in case my husband will not be very willing to help me. I have now a better understanding of the next steps I should take when I'm ready. I'll have to find the right academy, learn the hands-on basics and rack up enough hours on the road. In order to prepare for that, I can learn the basic facts and tips online and youtube so I'll be more ready when I actually sit behind the wheel. This time, it's not just studying for the written test anymore. It will need practical know-how and skills.

Driving school seem to be the most obvious way to get the license but I won't guarantee that since I've met some who had already done that but still couldn't get past the written test. I'm taking it one step at time. I will now have to prep for the hands-on part.

Hopefully, I will be able to complete these before my written test result expire by next year. My target is to do this around this fall. Crossing my fingers!

May Reflections: Subway Sandwich, Yoga Recovery Time: Shorter

There's finally a Subway Sandwich branch in this far off town! I don't have to go far to Cheonan to get my sandwiches. It seems they have just opened last week. I grabbed our dinner from there last night and the place is pretty cool to hang out in one of these days. They open from 8am to 11pm and it's very near my favorite bus stop. I have other alternatives now aside from Kimbap Nara, and Bongouse for my quick bites whenever I need some food downtown.

I might just be able to try out all the different sauces soon. I tried the red vinegar along with the sweet onion last and it wasn't bad. I've tried the honey mustard before and it was pretty hot for my taste. It didn't work well with my usual choice of tuna or vegies. Perhaps, I should try that with some chicken next time. I may have to try to find recommendations somewhere. I'm like doing this blindly tasting whatever name that fancies me. I would like to try the barbeque maybe.

Now to make things equal after the food subject, I move on to exercise. Ever since I started going to yoga classes, I've been doing my stretches more often than before. My recovery time after a class is now down to one day compared to the almost three days when I first started early this year.

This month had been a bit irregular for me then coz of other stuff I had to go to. I had no choice but to skip the Wednesday class. Let's see how I fare next week when I'm back to my regular twice-a-week schedule.

That's it for now. I still have some unfinished business to do for tomorrow.