A true friend....

...would give you a lot of things.Not just material things,but emotional support and encouragement.Has your friend offered you some milk?. I intended to send invitations to some friends back home (I know,so 80's) and then I found this hilarious writing paper set.The women who sold it was very confused when I laughed. I couldn't explain it to her and just said that it was funny.

There's some low-fat Seoul milk in the refrigerator. 

with silly matching envelopes. 

Happy Birthday Desiree! 

Random pics.

The days are long,hot and humid.Over the weekend it was about 37 degrees celcius/90-something F.My one friend recommended wearing a wet t-shirt.I only have a little fan, but find that wetting the hair and placing a wet hand towel in the freezer and wearing that in the house works too.
Some useless information: I recently went to my usual doctor only to find that the place has been turned into a skin clinic.So, I looked for another doctor and the only thing that disturbed me was that he was wearing a short-sleeved pink,bright but not Barbie bright,Chinese collar shirt.Right, then.

An assortment of parasols, no lady should be without. 

Must have been a group gathering,there's more. 

I walk past this bicycle everyday.It must have been standing there for over 6 months and nobody has claimed it.It's not secured by the chain either.Today I saw it lying at the corner of the pavement(sidewalk).Sad,huh! 

One of many taxi stands.For those of you back in SA, there are no mini-van taxi's that would seat 15 people,no waiting either.Only thing is, that sometimes the driver might pick up another customer while you are sitting in the back.(share the taxi, not the fare.) 

Must be what it's all about..

Last weekend, I went to Gwangju.It's a two hour bus ride,that way. I decided to see my friend Kim before she went on vacation.The Saturday was filled with shopping and talking.We met Kim's friends for dinner at this fabulous Thai restaurant and afterwards we went to a Micro Brewery place.Well, they make their own beer at this bar/restaurant.While I don't have much to say about the people in the pics, some I only met once and some I met on that day...however, the evening was great, lots of laughter,conversation and beer.

No words to describe this one. 

A container..a jug...a huge bottle.I don't know what to call it.The beer inside was excellent. 

From the left: Dave and Jennifer, his girlfriend.They arrived about a week ago in Korea.That's Liam,sleepy or closed his eyes because of the flash.Check out the beer containers. 

The guys,Jonathan,Miles and Jonathan. 

Peter and Rob. 

Allison,Colette(seated) and GoGo(her nickname).I think the ladies were talking about the camera. 

From the left: Kim,Jonathan-looking alert and Miles. 

I know I'll get the names wrong.Min Hyeong/myeong and Peter.(Or was it Pete?) 

Allison brought along her digital camera.It's so big, I thought it was a poloroid camera.Only to be told that this was the first ever digital camera with a floppy disk installed.Interesting,it screams "Project!" 

Waited forever...

..and will have my Harry Potter Book 6 today.This is one of my guilty pleasures.I will not be posting for a day or two. :)
Happy Birthday, long life and happiness to Madiba!

Kumusta!

On Sunday, June 26th I went to the festivities to see what Phillipino day was all about.[I know this is a late entry, but I had to get the information right.] I have many friends from the Phillipines.Brian was so enthusiastic and invited us to be there.Paula and I arrived too early,so we spent some time sitting outside in plastic chairs at a nearby family mart drinking ice mocha's.The event itself was informative and interesting.The SMMP stands for a long name in Tagalog; the main purpose of the group is to keep the Phillipino community in Korea active in everything.The day was filled with awards handed out for achievements in basketball,announcements of future projects and the highlight was the raffle draw.I bought 4 tickets and Julius bought ten,we didn't win the dvd player. :( !!The ambassador was also there.They served us a lunch of Phillipino food.My favorite was the white coconut squares with corn and the spring rolls.
It was infortunately hot but worth it to see and learn about another culture.One day,Boracay or Palawan...ooh.
Salamat po to gwa`po Brian for working so hard.Salamat po to gwa`po Julius for supplying me with the information on the photographs.Apologies for the dark photo's..they had the lights off.Got to work on the camera manual again.

The welcome board. 

My friend Brian,on the right. He is the SMMP secretary.The other man had to be someone important too.I don't know his name, but he was sharing the mc duties.They are wearing a traditional Fillipino shirt.The fabric is a little hard to the touch. Brian is working that shirt! 

The Phillipino flag. 

Basket weave(d) bags. 

The lovely sandals. 

This is Daing (da-ing) another sun-dried fish which is very salty. 

This is Dilis.It is sun-dried anchovy often used in cooking or eaten as a snack. Koreans have something similar which goes well with beer. 

This is Hopia. It is traditional Chinese pastry packed in different colors,on the outside, to classify flavors.It is one of Fillipino's favorite food/snack. 

Sungka is a traditional Fillipino game played by two players. The Sungka board is known over a wide area from Madagascar to Polynesia and also through Southeast Asia, India and mainland Africa. The board has two large wells at each end and two parallel rows of seven smaller wells in between.The object of the game is to collect stones/shells in his/her home base.(i.e. large wells) This is done by continuously distributing shells aound the lesser holes until the player runs out of shells.The player who collects the most shells in his/her home base is the winner.