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Welcome to my travel blog! This page will be including all things travel related, which will involve documenting all of my mad adventures on this blog, when I can. Conquering the world, one continent at a time!!!

Countries Travelled

STEER WELL CLEAR!! Nagwon Feinschule Hagwon in Bonseon-dong in Nam-gu, Gwangju




I worked at Nagwon Feinschule Hagwon in Bonseon-dong in Nam-gu, Gwangju for 1 year 3 months and I will touch on the problems that caused with my visa later on. 

I had issues from the get-go. First, off the apartment I was given, I had to share with the principal (FYI The principal is also the owner of the Feinschule franschise). Despite saying the apartment is mine, the other room was full of her stuff and she came and went into my apartment as she pleased and even stayed over despite my protests she couldn’t and me constantly changing the door code. This was extremely stressful and even when I went on vacation and a good friend volunteered to pet sit for the duration of 2 weeks at my apartment, I was told the principal would be staying there and she couldn’t so I had to find another way for someone to pet sit my cat. Which of course was very stressful and infuriating. Not to mention this apartment meant taking 2 buses to get home from work. The principal also used to gossip with the teachers about the cleanliness of my apartment and any male friends who came to see me. The next day all the teachers would know about it.


My time working there was horrendous, they overworked me, changed timetable so often, I got confused about times of classes finishing. I had no support or co-teachers to assist me in my classes and I felt alone and a complete outsider. They had high expectations but hardly any materials to supplement my classes as the principal was very greedy with money and it was clear to see she didn’t want to put money into the Hagwon at all. 
The contract means nothing when working for this company, they always made me stay behind after work with no notice, unpaid and they refused to let me go home even If I declined. They also were very forceful in working on weekends and Friday nights mostly. Even when the contract stated 5 unpaid Saturdays, I am certain it was more than that. I was never compensated for any extra work at all. One occasion the teachers ganged up on me and physically blocked the door so I could not leave because I had to stay behind after work which they told me only 3 hours before it took place.  Time off work in the contract does not mean anything either. I was meant to be at work at 10am. I was told I had to help on the school bus from 9am and yes that wasn’t paid for overtime. Not to mention they changed the finishing time to 30 minutes later than my contract which I again, did not agree to and was not compensated for either.

There was one teacher there that was just as bad as the principal, she was always in a bad mood and took her anger and stress out on me for no reason, sometimes she would be nice but most of the time she was in a foul mood. One time I was humiliated because I had an emergency personal appointment at a woman’s clinic and I was told I had to be at work at a certain time, I, of course, didn’t make it, despite them being aware I wouldn’t be back in time. I have never been subjected to such emotional and verbal abuse until I worked there. I was worn down so far, I was depressed, no self-confidence and low self-esteem.

My 1-year contract finished and I decided I would stick it for 3 months so I can join the next intake for the public school system. I was shocked when they gave me a 1-year contract, I knew this wasn’t right and when I addressed this with them, they told me it was solely for me leaving the country for vacation for immigration so I can get back in and they would provide me with a new different contract. They never did. I bought what they said and signed and this caused further problems later.
It was time for my departure from the school, they told me I had to provide a 1-year lesson plan for Kindergarten and a 6 month for Elementary. When I submitted it they were still not satisfied. I think this was solely done out of spite, as I cannot fathom to see how that would be necessary. 

Before leaving, three teachers knew I was changing to public school, these people made me believe they were my friends, but it was clear to see they were also just as snide and sly as the other teachers. The principal doesn't speak English at all may I add, so these 2 teachers usually had to speak to her on my behalf. This teacher straight up told me she didn’t tell the Principal I was leaving but I was going back to England to study because she won’t release me from the contract otherwise (the 1-year contract signing for a 3-month extension was another way they could blackmail and control me).  They later denied this and the teachers believed them over me and said I was a liar. 

So I left with my pay but no severance, (they said they would pay that within 2 weeks, it never came) and I went to orientation for 2 weeks with my new job, when it came to going to immigration for my new job it started to become a huge problem. They called the Hagwon, the principal lied and said I had run away. (Which makes no sense as they provided me with a reference letter for that very job). This became an issue, so as one final way to control and spite me the Principal invented up a false scenario. Apparently, the apartment I had stayed at was completely wrecked and cost more than my severance. So, they blackmailed me into getting a release letter if I accept the severance can pay for “damages”. I took them to the labour board and I didn't win either, despite the law stating the school are not to withhold my severance, as that's my money I paid into every month from my pay.

I would highly suggest If you want to stay sane and not be taken advantage of to stay away from this place. I can genuinely say they have affected my mental health severely. So much so when I worked at my next job at a great Public School, I was always on edge I was going to annoy someone or get shouted at because I made a simple mistake, this of course never happened because they treated me like a human being, not like property. I would not wish this place on my worse enemy. Prison labour isn’t this degrading and mentally debilitating.

Considering Korean culture is all about saving face, I was shocked I experienced such humiliation and degrading behaviour, not to mention that Korean’s are private people so it was weird that the Principal wanted to share an apartment with me. 

STAY WELL CLEAR OF THIS PLACE!!!! The principal is so drunk with power and greed she will do anything to control you and find ways of avoiding to paying you. I know past teachers and a teacher after me also experienced similar difficulties in pay and their experience of working there.
abuse

When You Fall In Love Abroad, By Accident.

So I think this post is way overdue now and I haven't updated this blog in a while. I've had my fair share of ups and downs in my life with my love life, the one that clearly screams out is my past relationship that was of 6 years but I won't go into that, you can read up on our toxic relationship on my other blog 'CherrysLittleSecret', if you even care.

But, no, I came here to talk about finding love abroad or in my case it finding me. This isn't the first instance this has happened to me, back in 2014 when I lived in Thailand, I met a guy from my part of London, we spent 2 days together never saw each other again, but it didn't end there, he pursued me for months via messages and phone calls, we got close, I fell in love, (well I thought I did), he was extremely fond of me, we made plans to move away together etc. but things changed we drifted he did try to rekindle us, but frankly I was fed up, (also who falls in love with someone they have literally only spent 48 hours with and shared a couple of kisses and held hands.) He was my pipe dream of what I wanted, but it wasn't realistic, I'm a realist and I knew from the beginning what I was getting myself into, it was him who was deluded, despite all this, I felt strong feelings, I told him I loved him (what I thought was love) but he never said it back and that's when I knew, I had to remove him from my life so that was what I did. For a long time I just couldn't be close to anyone anymore, he destroyed my perceptions of what love was along with every guy I had encountered until I met this one special person.

So I moved to South Korea back in April 2015, 23rd April to be precise and what I didn't know was in a few months time I would meet the love of my life, my soul mate as you will. It didn't start that way I tell you we met for the first time in August of 2015, I was at a bar this guy approached me we spoke and danced for a bit then that was it.

Well until a few weeks later we met again at work funnily enough, our school visited his school for a school trip. Lol I am not sure I have ever told him this but when I walked into that room and he was just stood there, I was so drawn to him, he was so attractive and there was something about him I don't know like an air of mystery (lol it sounds cliché but it's true), I genuinely didn't want to stop looking at him, without looking like a stalker weirdo freak. Lol even the thought crossed my mind, theoretically what would it be like if we ever dated, but I dismissed the thought at the time I thought was absurd.

Now, if you know me well I won't approach dude's I am attracted to unless I have acquired that special type of confidence when drinking. I was so nervous to say hi, but somehow I really don't know how but, I said hi and we spoke a lot, I even found myself flirting with him like a school girl.  Which also had the Korean teachers from my school asking me questions of how I know him and stuff, I guess it was obvious.

The following week we saw each other again because we had to split the kids in 2 groups to visit the place. He said he would add me on fb, but I decided to add him (with a lot of apprehension) because yes I was still really nervous, but I eventually told myself I'm overthinking it and just bit the bullet.

We messaged a few times back at the early stages it wasn't much we hung out and see each other around sometimes. We were not even close friends yet at this point, for me the turning point of all this really came when it was Chuseok (Korean Thanksgiving). I went out to a bar and we ran into each other, we spoke a lot and decided to spend the next few days not sleeping and just drinking. We also shared our first kiss at this time, but I didn't take it seriously because we were drunk and sleep deprived so I brushed it off. Still the most memorable time I've had in South Korea. As time went on we spent longer and longer together he spent more time round my apartment, he started to stay over longer and longer and we were really close friends. I'd ask him advice about stuff and we would hang out watch football together, I'd cook us food, a days turned into like a week, it was awesome. I guess maybe around this time or not long after we were getting feelings for each other.

I've never told him this, but I developed feelings pretty early on, (the whole school trip when we met must've been when it was the beginning of something, maybe not love but something.) I guess I didn't want to recognise them, people always asked us too if we were a couple and I would always say no we were just friends which I felt really awkward about. Lol you could say I was in denial for a long time because I was scared, I loved his company and I thought no chance in hell will this incredible guy even see past me as a friend. I guess I was wrong, even when we grew closer and I sensed maybe there could be something more to our friendship again, but then I would quickly dismiss my silly thoughts, even my friends would pointed it out but I refused to believe it lol.

The time it became a realisation was when I was getting close to other guys because we were both still single and I never wanted to make him feel as though he had to stay loyal to me we weren't dating. I remember this clear as day, he was drunk after work and he told me he didn't like it when I was dancing with a guy, I just thought it was drunk talk and didn't take notice. I did however stop, because yes we weren't a couple but I'm not a monster. We had a few awkward mishaps because I clearly wasn't on the same page, I still refused to believe he wanted more than friendship.

A few months following that which at the time was July (the month of my birthday) he asked me to be his girlfriend and then it fell into place, it took us a while, well me, because I'm an awkward S.O.B, when I say a while, I mean a whiiiiiiiiile, to be comfortable and more myself and be more girlfriend-y.  He even gave me this extravagant birthday gift of roses and this cute bunny (we named him Gary the Anal Bunny) like I dunno how much more romantic and boyfriend-y you could get but I was still taking time to open up. It was still great but It took me a while to accept this dude wasn't gonna hurt me. All was great for a while, but me being me something else had to make me all weird and awkward and questioning...

So of course when you date someone, how do you know when is the right time to tell someone you love them? I fucked it up with the last guy and I vowed I would never tell a guy first again, If a guy wants to tell me then I know it's the right time. I felt it for so long but I was so afraid he wouldn't say anything (I seem to have a track record for guys doing that) or worse be like "I think it's too early to decide that yet." This ate away at me for months, to the point it literally was plaguing my thoughts and turning me insane. There was this opportunity I could have said it, but last minute I chickened out because I couldn't get these words to escape my mouth.

Now this isn't ideal but after a few hours of writing a message and hesitating to press send, I closed my eyes and sent it. I worried but I eventually got a response and all was right with the world. He waited to tell me in person the following week, so technically he still said it first and even then I was an awkward mess, but one filled with love, happiness and relief.

So yeah it's possible for holiday romances and yes even possible for long distance relationships, the last guy we were a thing for about 2 years before we called it quits, but that was it, it was a thing, not a relationship not anything. I'm glad things didn't work out with the last guy because I found my best friend and my soul mate, I love him and I have no regrets coming to Korea, to think I was going to leave after one year for a guy I spent 48 hours with, but instead I changed my mind and stayed because of him, yes he was the reason I decided to extend 3 months and then join a public school. I couldn't leave him behind not after the bond we built.

That's the end of my story and we lived happily ever after, blah blah blah. THE END.

Cherry x
holiday

The Land of the Rising Sun.

Every July I am blessed to be a year older and this year I turned the ripe old age of 25 (I finally feel I've hit adulthood), it's also around the same time I have summer vacation, yay! It's been a while since I have been abroad, (if we don't count the fact I live and work in South Korea.) So I made it an opportunity to fly over to Kyoto, Japan.

 Thursday 28th July: 
Despite my flight being at 4pm, I had to travel to Busan Airport, a 3 hour bus journey away! (the downfall of living in Gwangju). I left 8.30 that morning, I got to the airport midday and I arrived in Osaka Kansai Airport, around 5.30pm. Unfortunately the beginning of my trip didn't start off great, I ended up in the immigration line for over an hour. (Not cool man, not cool!) By the time I got to Kyoto, it was 9pm. I met Céilí at Kyoto central station, at this point I was starving, we found a nice joint that sold Japanese ramen and it was the most replenishing and delicious thing I had eaten in a long while. We then headed back to the hostel and we got me checked in. We planned for the next days activities and we started our Pokemon Go adventure, catching as many Pokemon as possible. We were staying in a mixed dorm, despite the fact we were in a dorm with 6 guys, sleeping on the top bunks (i hate top bunks) and one of them suffering from sleep apnea was snoring like a jet engine the whole night, however,  I managed to sleep surprisingly well.

Friday 29th July:
The famous tunnel at the Fushimi Shrine.
The next day we rose early, rented bicycles for the day and grabbed breakfast from a family mart. Kyoto is great for riding bicycles as its mostly flat and theres loads of places to park your bicycles with no charge. We had to sign an agreement and one of the points stated was, it is in fact illegal to ride a bicycle if you have consumed alcohol in Japan, madness!
Outside Fushimi Temple.

Hiking up the mountain with Céilí.
The first place we visited was the Kyoto Fushimi Shrine which is super famous and also happens to be in the movie, The Memoirs of a Geisha. It was a beautiful place, we cleansed ourselves with by the fountain before entering, we spent a while following the trail because we actually climbed Inari Mountain all the way to the peak, sadly there was no view except a load more shrines. It was an enlightening experience and one I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the mad heat and many people!

Lunch
After all the hiking in the sweltering heat we went to eat at another Japanese place. We ordered chicken and egg fried rice which came with a side of seaweed and radish accompanied with some chilled herbal tea. Rather yummy, slightly sweet and not at all how I expected.
The view from mountain Inari on the way up.

The next place we cycled to was Tofukiji Temple I didn't take any photos but Céilí took a ton so I will place one in once she's processed them. We didn't stay too long as it was closing and sweltering hot. But it was peaceful, huge, larger than anticipated and of course architecturally Japanese.

We also visited a rock garden, which was stunning but we weren't actually allowed to take photos we sat down and looked at the zen gardens and reflected peacefully, it was lovely.

Kiyomizu-Dera
We then hopped back on our bicycles and went to the next temple Kiyomizu-Dera this one was one of my favorites, we had a nice view and the architecture was super pretty!

After all the cycling, hiking and walking in the blistering heat, we visited downtown Kyoto looking for dinner, Geisha's and to do some shopping (I forgot to pack a hairbrush and I really needed one!), we finally agreed on a Chinese place because we were so drained and hungry at this point we just needed to rest our achey legs. I ate a garlic and pork fried rice dish and Cėilí ate some more ramen, which was delicious but Japanese ramen is still the best!

Kiyomizu-Dera
We visited an arcade and instantly a claw machine with Star Wars figures caught my eye, I hadn't yet bought my boyfriend a present and I wasn't sure if we would have the time to visit the Pokémon Center, so without hesitation, I tried, I instantly realised I knew how I could get it, so I gave it another go and miraculously I won it! I was so chuffed, it suddenly got me rather cocky and I tried to also win Céilí some Gudetama stuff, but it failed! :(

"Come out now and bring yer Hurley!!!"
Céilí spotted a funky Japanese photo booth called Hey Cherry! (haha I know, it was like it was meant to be!) we stepped in, it had a green screen and beauty lighting and we stood there crouching down to the camera level (we are giants in Japan!) making stupid poses for the camera. We edited and added stuff but the options are endless, makeup, emojis, writing and all that girly stuff. We opted for a space theme because it had edited our eyes to alien like proportions. This is what we ended up with!

Yasaka Temple
After that we called it a night and went back to the hostel to conk the hell out! Thankfully two females had moved into our dorm that evening, and thankfully sleep apnea man had left. Just when we were about to pass out, we found that there was a Dratini Pokemon nearby, somehow we found energy to wonder around for about 30 minuted trying to catch this rare Pokemon before we gave up and hit the hay. We did not succeed but day 1 was a success!


Saturday 30th July:
Nijo-jo castle
Ginkaku-ji Temple
Kinkaku-ji Temple
I woke up to find I had very tight calves and the heels of my feet were not great either. Nevertheless I didn't let that stop me. We ate breakfast at the hostel this time, an all you can eat buffet consisting of rather peculiar breakfast options, the bog standard jam, bread/toast, orange juice, coffee, tea, cornflakes, yogurt and eggs were available, what was peculiar was the lettuce, chow mein, and hot dogs. I opted for hot dogs, chow mein, eggs and corn flakes, we ate whilst making plans for the day, as this was the last full day to see as much of Kyoto as we could. We decided we would walk or subway everywhere rather than cycle due to sheer amount of distance we were travelling that day, we planned on visiting the golden temple called Kinkaku-ji, followed by the silver temple, Ginkaku-ji, then Nijo Castle and finally the Monkey Park to feed monkeys!



One of many bowls Japanese
Ramen consumed on our trip.
We managed to visit the first three but due to Japanese closing hours being so early there was no time to feed monkeys! *cry*.  Whilst visiting the Gold temple we saw an old lady on a small stall selling beautiful handmade Japanese decorative hairpins, that are traditionally worn with the Kimono or Yukata. We fell in love so we each bought one. She even packaged it beautifully. We also managed to find Japanese green tea kit kats and creepy looking Hello Kitty masks at a local shop. 
Green Tea Kit-Kats
After more temple/shrine/castle, sightseeing we ate more Japanese ramen and we headed to our last temple, Yasaka Temple, which was near another downtown area in Kyoto, we arrived for the sunset, relaxed and explored, which was followed by some shopping for souvenirs in downtown.

I found a Hello Kitty store that immediately caught my eye, which mostly was very expensive, but I managed to find something practical and not too overpriced, a hello kitty coin purse. They packaged it beautifully just like everything you buy in Japan.

Hello Kitty Stuff
We also visited the much anticipated Pokèmon store that I weren't sure we would have time to visit. I was not disappointed and ended up buying stuff mostly for my boyfriend and a little Pikachu pen for myself.
Pokemon Store gifts

We also shopped around and found a lovely traditional Japanese store selling Yukatas and Kimonos at reasonable prices. So we both bought one as a souvenir, it was worth every penny!

We ended that night with Japanese Kobe beef meal together, the beef was so tender, it literally melted in our mouths and was so flavourful, sadly my phone had died at this point so I didn't get any snaps, Céilí managed to and I will upload it when possible. I savoured my pieces of steak whilst Céilí ate it all in blink of an eye, needless to say it was delicious and was worth the high price tag just to experience the best A5 steak known to man! We headed back to the hostel packed and went to sleep ready for our last morning in Kyoto and the trip back to Korea.


Sunday 31st July:
Traditional Yukata minus the Obi (belt)
We visited downtown Kyoto one last time to pick up some last minute trinkets/presents after some breakfast. We rushed as we realised we were limited on time. We missed our train and had to run for the next one back to Osaka, otherwise we would have missed our plane back to Korea. After running through crowds of people and waiting forever to buy a ticket we relaxed on the train back to Osaka Kansai airport where I conked out and Céilí caught more Pokemon. We caught our plane back to Busan and waited an hour for a bus back to Gwangju. Despite some minor issues we maximised time and saw a lot, it was sad leaving, but I will be back Japan! The next place, Tokyo!
Busan on arrival to Korea.
castle

Just like Animals, Animals, like Animals

Well hey my delightful followers, as you can tell I am in a hella better mood than the last blog post. With good reason too, life is amazing and October is a fabulous month to be in a great mood we had Hangul day last Friday which meant a 3 day weekend!!!! I also have a wedding to attend in 7 days plus halloween is just around the corner! (honestly, where is the time going?)

I took the meaning of loving my food literally. 
So far so good, I went out with my girls Emily and Elly for some super delicious Lobster. It was amazing! Never had lobster in a while and definitely not in a restaurant it was a mini feast and I will definitely be making a trip there again despite being a little pricey.

Despite being only a 4 day week after Chuseok the week dragged due to the fact Elly and I had a trip to Seoul planned. We left Thursday night and arrived in Seoul 1am we stayed in Gangnam at a fantastic guesthouse. We got back got ready and hit the bars, clubs at almost 3am in Itaewon. It was quiet being a Thursday so we got home about 6.30am. The next day we woke up at 10.30am which was pretty early considering we didn't actually goto bed until 7am. We hit the coffee shop for some overpriced green tea latte and went shopping in Gangnam. We bought some bits and pieces, had some fantastic lunch looked around some more then headed back to our guesthouse to doll ourselves up for a Friday night out in Itaewon. Despite Seoul being so hyped up I have no real love for the place, it was nice to visit but nothing that I haven't experienced before. It's a large place like London and full of many foreigners but the population being so high is stressful and overwhelming and puts me in a constant bad mood.

Harry Potter Beer
Bulldogs food
We met up with Kasper, a friend from Gwangju who recently moved to Seoul to study, we had dinner at an English restaurant called Bulldogs, we drank Harry Potter Butter beers and ate hot dogs which was just a british banger in a bun but with a twist it had mashed potato on top with gravy lol. We drank alcohol and partied until 5am, before heading home for some well needed rest before heading back to Gwangju. Our bus back to Gwangju was at 14.15 and I we got back in good time, but there's no rest for us animals so after I had done some well needed shopping in E-mart and Elly had finished her tutoring we headed back out in Gwangju for an awesome night with all the amazing people in Gwangju we see every weekend and partied yet again until about 5am. I ended up not actually going to bed until 7am, I genuinely don't know how my body hasn't just shut down on me yet due to the amount of partying and minimal rest i have in between. Fun times Gwangju, honestly despite having a great time in Seoul with Elly, Gwangju will never be beaten, I always know whenever I'm out on the weekends here I will see tons of people I know and I am guaranteed an awesome night out!

It's all just a fond memory and nostalgia to me now, back to work tomorrow *cries*. It was amazing, laughing and loving life. Let's kick this week in the ass so I can have yet another awesome weekend :)


I'll leave you with this random video, one of many random videos we filmed whilst in Seoul. 
clubbing

From strength to strength

So I haven't written on this blasted thing in a while and I feel it's long overdue. My life has been a whirlwind since I wrote a blog post, I went through a lot of up and downs.

Let's get the negative out the way so I can end on a positive note.

Since I last wrote I was in a difficult place and had been for a long time I was ridiculously heartbroken and I felt so alone. You can probably remember me mentioning it in a past post but literally up until last week I was carrying this great weight inside. I hid it well I think with just drinking a shit load and going out more and meeting new people. That's the good news and I'll touch on that in the next part. I find myself everyday fighting with my thoughts trying any way to distract myself it really truly affected me, I don't know why I wasn't prepared for it because falling in love with someone does that to you.

But I'm not writing to discuss him, it's what happened during this time that I ultimately regret, I made a decision which at the time seemed like a great way to move forward and heal. Now this decision started a chain of problems of which I have only just nipped in the bud last week, I went through stresses of fighting with this guy who I called my friend, he came between me and one of my girl friends and he manipulated me at a time I wasn't at my strongest and I had let my guard down.  He was a serial liar and probably one of the best actors I have ever come across. He thought I didn't know but I knew what his real intentions were, never underestimate a girl whose been hurt a billion times, I'm already 1 step ahead of you. So me being smart I retaliated in the best way I know how, mind fuckery, I killed him with kindness but at the same time never let him win at his pathetic game playing he thought he called the shots and every time I would just shoot him down. In the end I got tired and bored of fucking with his mind so I ended our friendship. If you could ever call it that in the first place. I win asshole!!! 

Elly, Brian and Kasper and I at Tequilaz
Now every tunnel has a light even if that tunnel is like 5 months long lol so here's the light, the night the cracks in that so called friendship started to show, was also in contrast the time the day my life would change for the better. I started to make friends, I met Elly and Brian aka Hansol and Suyoung and that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. From then on my friendship circle grew dramatically, literally weekend after weekend I was networking and meeting foreigners and Koreans. This was the all mighty sweet cherry hehe on top of my mountainous cake of self-loathing, since then my life has dramatically turned around I've done some amazing stuff with amazing people in the short time I've known these new friends. I can't go anywhere in Gwangju now without spotting people I am acquainted with.

Chuseok was probably the most memorable so far, I did things I wouldn't even dream of doing i.e. 40 hour benders and drinking 5 days straight. This is just the beginning too this week I am going to Seoul and the following weekend I am going to a wedding and you can't forget halloween!
Another gleaming beacon of happiness that entered my life was on the 13th September, I brought home this 3 month old ginger kitten who I've named Jackson or Jax for short after the notoriously sexy and bad ass Jackson Teller from Sons of Anarchy.

He's so sexy when he's angry ;)

Now normally I am a dog person, I still think I am at heart. But realistically cats are lower maintenance and can be left at home pretty well too, but I love my cat all the same, despite being a pain in the ass at times.
Jax loves naps

I love Gwangju here's some pics from the past few months of some of the awesome people I have met. I love here so much I am staying for a second year! Muchos Love x
Tequilaz!

More Tequilaz!

Watching ant man in 3D

bar

Wet, wild and freaky nakedness!

my babies (students) and me at the water park
Well another week has passed, the first week back to work mind, but it was the easiest week of work ever!!!!! I came back to work (on Tuesday) when the kindy were off for summer, but the school failed to mention this so you can imagine my frustration the first day I was up early after 3 hours sleep waiting for a school bus that never arrived and then arriving at school at 9.30am to be told I didn't need to be there until 12.30pm. The foreigner is always the last to know!!! Well after establishing this the whole week except for Friday was a 12.30 start woo!!! Friday was the exception as it was the day of the elementary school trip at the waterpark, which was so damn fun!!!
just before i started having a water fight with my students
Now we all know how possessive and slightly crazy my boss is, well this day was no exception, why you so obsessed with me??? She was insisting I join her in the spa, now if you don't know traditional Korean spa's consists of removing EVERYTHING!!!!!! So you can imagine how uncomfortable I felt when she insisted me, Scarlett and our manager joined her. I voiced my concerns to my manager who is very kind and understanding and she managed to get us out of it. To be honest no amount of money or her insisting would have seen me remove even one piece of clothing or sit in that tub with her!!! I downright refused, there was no way this woman was gonna catch a glimpse of my bare flesh not in a million years!!! The sense of relief flooded me thinking yes this is a victory I do not have to see my boss naked and I can die happy with that thought, little did I know what was to come later! So once the trip came to the end of course the kids had to take a shower and get washed, now all the kids stripped down completely in the buff which didn't bother me these are children, but I was surprised how open they are about their nudity here, the changing rooms all the women walk about completely naked. It was time to help the girls shower and I was soon warned by Scarlett our boss was completely naked in the showers with the girls helping them wash. Never in a million years would this ever be allowed in a western school! In fact me and Scarlett were the only clothed people in that whole shower room! Straight away the principal came to us completely naked and asked us if we showered straight away we were like "YES!" because we really didn't want to get naked.


strawberry and red bean bing soo.
We got back for 4pm and i finished at 4.30 2 hours early wooo!!! The awesomeness didn't end there, after work me and my gal from work Scarlett went out for some Korean dessert at Cafe Bené, it was stupidly hot so it was well needed. I met her sister Yun So, for the first time and bless she is the sweetest girl I have ever met, after Korean dessert we went to a place called 'Chicken in the Kitchen' we ordered Korean chicken, half of which were spicy and half were original, with a side of dips and some wedges, we were given a complimentary pizza and Korean frozen dessert. We drank lots of Soju probably the best part of the evening, we started with shots of peach soju, then pomegranate, then blueberry then we moved onto 'Somac' which consisted of 3 the big bottles of Cass beer and a bottle of Soju.

beer and soju
Scarlett's sister stopped drinking after the first bottle of Soju so Scarlett and I were drinking like no tomorrow! It took me a while to realise I was drunk because it was going down so easy and this was all assisted with Korean drinking games which was so much fun. I learnt some new Korean words and phrases. The main and most important being "cheers" in Korean, which is "Jan" :D it was nice, we spoke about life, our plans on travelling, the ups and downs of work and just how awesome we thought of each other, it was super nice. Scarlett and I have very similar personalities, mindsets and tastes which is amazing. It wasn't until the next morning, did I realise I could not remember anything after getting to my apartment, I don't remember falling asleep, its a complete mystery to me! I spent my Saturday sleeping and watching Netflix and today I went to downtown to pick up a few things, did shopping, manicured and pampered. I still haven't got round to doing a clean and tidy, it will have to wait until tomorrow! My bed calls!

Peace out sweets x.
chicken.

100 days of Cherry...

Well hello my internet minions, it's been a long time since I've updated, a lot has changed since I last written, and for that I apologise, it's been crazy mental here, the run ups to my vacation I was buried in so much paperwork for school, I even spent my birthday doing just work, I'm 24 now, 
I still keep forgetting that, stupid stupid Cherry. 


Scarlett and I
It's now the night before I return to work and to say the least I am not dreading it as much as I thought I would be, but I am hardly jumping for joy either. I've had an adventurous week meeting up with various friends, doing various things as you do, nothing particularly out of the ordinary, drinking and partying, shopping, eating out and chilling with the best people I know in Korea. I got paid early so I went shopping and sent out a few packages which was on my to do list for a long time, mum if you're reading this, prepare for the huge box coming your way this week! That same day I went to Sul bing with Scarlett and we did some shopping in downtown then we went to Lotte Department store which by the way is the best place in the world!!!!! Lotte is the hugest department store in Gwangju according to Scarlett. It was freaking amazing they had a lush there A FREAKIN LUSH!, Benefit, Makeup forever which is near impossible to find in England unless you know where to look ;), Clarisonic!!! Yes I will be purchasing a clarisonic next month!!!! plus all the other typical designer brands everyone knows and love with some other well known high end brands Koreans are more familiar with and also some other high end American brands too! It was down right incredible, I had goosebumps walking around that store because It felt so much like home!!!! Afterwards we visited U square bus terminal and then Shinsegae department store which again was awesome but Lotte definitely had the wow factor!
Mango and Cheesecake Dessert

My birthday cake with candles that say I am 25 (korean age)

 Looking back a bit further I spent the Friday and Saturday just before my birthday with my sister we went out for dinner followed by some drinking and dancing on the Friday and stayed out until about 2.30am maybe??  We played pool, jenga, Russian roulette and I suddenly became appointed as the "DJ" of the bar that night which was a lot of fun I must say. In the usual Cherry fashion I got talking to lots of different people that night just because I am just a very social person. I met some guys from the UK, yes! You read that right from ENGLAND and SCOTLAND, Lincoln and Glasgow to be precise. It's nice to listen to people from back home talk, I kinda have started picking up the Americanised English due to the lack of Britishness!!!! After the nigh
t we headed home to mine we lit the candles, had birthday cake and popped party poppers. The cake was gorgeous it was a beautiful blueberry and yogurt cake from Paris Baguette which got totally devoured after two  days in my fridge.

Then on Saturday I spent it with Jest doing what I do best, drinking and dancing!!!!! We went to German bar then we discovered this new place which was this secret hidden gem of a bar, the bar owners are super kind and welcoming, they have a cute beagle which was wondering around the bar and on the bar itself wanting to be fed with its adorable puppy dog eyes. Jest and I drank an array of concoctions with a side of Korean sweet snacks and frozen blueberries, which mostly the dog ate because I just couldn't resist feeding him. Then we hit the usual club. As always time with Jest is always time I appreciate and enjoy. He is probably one of the nicest, most kindest of my male friends. Everyone loves the Jestmeister!

Oh yeah during this time I also took it upon myself to do the Fire noodle challenge, which I had to film twice thinking I lost the footage the first time around, (video at the end of this post.) I also tried Orange soju and Pomegranate soju which are yummy, I will be trying blueberry soon! Trust me just because it's sweet do not underestimate it's potency!

To conclude it has been a busy but fun time off for summer I just wish I had travelled somewhere :( I can't believe I have been here just over 100 days already!!! Time is flying by!!!!

Thought of the day: Which flavored soju is your favorite?

Heres the video for anyone who wants to see me eating fire noodles!
alcohol
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