Everyone else in the room can see it, everyone else but you; You don't know you're beautiful
like nobody else[16 Down/36 To Go!][-] Though I don't want to start this entry negatively, it just makes me sad to have to say goodbye to yet another office mate and team mate and friend who I didn't even get to see on her last day (I was on vacation). Pam was my first team mate, technically, and though we didn't work on the same things, it was always nice to have her around. And this week, I had to say goodbye to her prematurely. And though I'm also very happy for her, I'm going to miss her so much.
[+] In better news, our much-awaited trip to Korea finally happened. I can't believe just last November, we blindly booked tickets (during a seat sale) to Seoul. I didn't think we'd make it past applying for visas, complete with the missile testing and whatnot. I'm still on a cloud of Kpop happiness. I really want to go back already.
[+] And though most of our photos are still stuck in Singapore (my sister has the cameras), I do have some stories to share (though probably not in complete detail). Here's a little snippet of our South Korean sojourn.
The Pamy-weekend comes to an end and because I'm lucky, I get a free ride to work care of Pamy's ride to the airport. Because we barely get to hang out during the weekend, it was nice to get to talk while we're stuck in Monday morning traffic. It's also fun to be chauffeured around the city. This is one luxury I know I won't ever have but will cherish when I experience it.
And despite my general early-ish-ness to the office, the mornings are always usually slow, with things picking up in the afternoon. This sort of pisses me off because no matter how early I get to the office to get things done, I will never get to leave early with all the stuff that gets thrown at you in the late afternoon. You can tell I am not a happy camper.
And though I'm terribly tempted to do things, I promised myself I would be good and abstain and so I will. Let it be known that I'm incredibly tempted though. The desire to do things are definitely strong but I'll be nice and I'll be good and I'll be boring because it'll be better in the long run. And no, it's not what you think.
As silly as it sounds, one of the few perks I enjoy with this promotion is that I get free magazines -- of the current issue! I usually buy back issues, and don't mind but this time around, I get the current ones for free. This makes me incredibly happy but also makes me worry about all the lugging around and clutter it could cause at home. But hey, as long as Mom's got her stash, it should be okay.
Pam's last day is still on Friday but because tomorrow will be a busy day and because I won't be around on her actual last day, Pam decided to treat us to pizza in the pantry today. And sure, I wanted to cause a scene and be all dramatic, I couldn't because I was just honestly exhausted from the day's events. No Peta performances for me.
In day 2 of being a good girl, things have been a little easier to come by. If I could get over Monday without doing anything I shouldn't be doing, then busy Tuesday shouldn't be any more difficult. And true enough, knowing that I just have one more day to behave makes this day all the more easy to get through.
I don't know how I manage to concentrate at all today when all I could think of was my flight to Korea this evening. Surprisingly though, I still manage to get some stuff done, though it's more of making sure I turned over all my pending projects to the proper people and hooking up all those I should have coordinate with in the first place.
I get thrown into an impromptu meeting for one of my old brands and it was fun to listen in again on plans for this. It was like I never really left to. Oh to turn back time. Still, dropping in like this should be better cause then I don't actually have to do the heavy lifting and only come in in desperate times. Not a bad deal.
Finally, it's time to leave for the airport and of course, I fail to print our trip ticket (for the ride home). Technically, I won't actually need this but just to be safe, we head back to the office to print me a copy. Fail#1 and we haven't even left Manila. Still, only good things can go from this point so Paola and I gear up for the next four days. Excitement.
Despite the general failboat of my mobile's roaming -- it's my fault really, I'm not used to doing these things, the flight to Korea went by without a hitch and we land in Incheon and somehow locate my sister despite the fact that we can't contact each other.
On the agenda for today? Climb a freaking mountain. No joke. We climb up the god knows how many steps of Mount Namsan foregoing the usual cable cars (which we ride going down). I don't know why I got possessed to suggest this but we conquer the damn mountain. We can do anything after that.
And because we're there to shop, we end up at the prettiest mall ever, Doota, which has the cutest clothes. No wonder all the Korean girls look so cute. They've got really wonderful clothes to choose from. At dinner, in a market where none of the women in the resto speak English, we spot my first Korean prospect. Though we end up asking him for directions, I'm a total failure in the flirtation department. I literally say nothing. I am such a dweeb.
Day two in Korea and we manage to wake up at a quasi decent hour -- lunch time. So we grab a quick brunch at the cafe right next to our hostel and do the touristy thing by visiting the Great Palaces. And wow, I feel like I'm in an episode of Goong because the palaces are beautiful and sprawling and just breathtaking.
After our royal visits, we head to their very artsy neighborhood of Insandong where we splurge on make-up and street food. All the shops are so lovely and everything's handmade and I just wish I could live there forever. If only our expense accounts were endless, we would have emptied this place out.
After dinner at the smokeless grill near our house (where the grandpa and grandma who own it mistake us for Japanese tourists -- they're not the last), Pamy's never say die attitude has us crossing the street to scout the shops of Myeongdong (even if they're all closed). We are so prepared for tomorrow.
You know what we're not prepared for? The rain. Sure we bought umbrellas the day before but I didn't think we'd actually have to use it. And though we like the cool 9 degree weather, we don't like it when it's paired with wind chill and rain. Lots and lots of rain the entire day. Not fun, I tell you.
But do we care? Of course not. Sure my feet are soaked and as the day passes, I feel like my feet are ice cubes but we venture on. Myeongdong by day empties my wallet out and makes me wonder if my packing skills are this good (I only brought a Jansport backpack). Spoiler, I do get it all in my backpack and at just seven kilos at that.
The highlight of my day would have to be finding Coffee Prince though. South Korean maps are pretty useless and street names don't matter but we do get to THE Coffee Prince and my heart swells. Wet from the rain and totally freezing my feet off, I'm just happy to be there.
We end up having dinner in the nearest smokeless grill just to keep warm and visit the nearby nightlife in Hongdae only to spot more cute waiters -- they are in abundance. Too bad I didn't get a picture of this set. It would have been nice to have one per day.
Finally on our last day in Korea, we somehow wake up earlier than the previous two days but still not early enough to reach the only English mass of the morning. It's all good though cause we reach a Korean mass and somehow understand the flow of things.
It's still raining and we're already up to repeating things we've done so it was back to Myeongdong for last minute shopping for gifts for friends and family and of course, more street food. We can't believe our trip is practically over and we're just trying to soak up the Korean air and not have our feet amputated from the cold.
Pamy treats us to lunch at Gorilla in the Kitchen -- a restaurant owned by her KDrama crush and lo and behold, there are more cute Korean waiters. I don't understand how there can be so many of them. Alas, after lunch, we head back to our hostel to pack up the last minute purchases and say goodbye to our lovely vacation. Our trip home was pretty good too and our parents picked us up, but I still long for South Korea. I shall be back, someday for sure.