Travel stories in translation: Hello from Mongolia

In which I translate my first solo travel stories from Dutch to English. I hope you enjoy!

Monday, June 30^th 2008

Hello everyone,

I am finally in Mongolia, 2 days already. It is Monday about 3 o’clock and in a little bit I will climb some sort of holy mountain.

I usually hang out with the youngest girl of the family and the cousin because they both speak English. Yesterday I explored Ulanbaatar with the both of them, and saw an absolutely stunning Buddhist temple. I also got a painting from Bayarchimeg, the cousin.

I also tried snuff for the first time. (snuff Tabaco, I am not exactly sure what it is called). It made me sneeze terribly! They also give me so much food, they keep on saying that I am not eating enough. I am also meeting the entire extended family, where I always drink milk tea, and they give me huge amounts of candy to bring home. Ugh, there is so much to tell for so little time.

Besides that, in contrary to what everyone was saying, UB is incredibly beautiful. But you have do sometimes have to look around the ugly, but beauty there is.

Beauty you see in the boys that shine their cars, waiting to pick up their girlfriends. Beauty in the young children, selling wet wipes and candy on the street, staring at you with their unwashed faces.

Well, I’ve got to go.

Talk to you later.

Love, Wietske

Let's do this, a fresh new start!

It is Wednesday 7 P.M. I am sitting in one of the coffee shops in my neighbourhood overlooking the Korea University campus. I should be studying but I can't help staring at the screen. Hands itching to write something.

It has been a while since I wrote a proper post, but the time feels right. I moved platforms from wordpress to blogger. But besides that I will be the same me, writing about my life as a student in Korea and about things that interest me.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to leave me a comment or send me an ask on tumblr. I will always be here for you.

Love, Wietske

Life: Smile like you mean it.

 

If you follow me on instargram you know that I am a fan of selca’s and pulling out my sexy half smirk whenever it’s needed however it’s time to put this overused smile in the bin and time to genuinly start smiling!

I don’t like my smiling face much, I hate my teeth, I hate the lines that form around my eyes, I hate that I cannot control the way my hair falls, I hate double chins and just “not being in control”. However, I noticed that the memories going with pictures like the one above are usually better then when I sit in the bathroom for an hour taking pictures of myself.
So here is a challenge for myself and for everyone really! Take pictures and share them when you laugh, have fun, show your imperfections, your double chin but laugh about it, because in the end it doesn’t really matter!

If you post those pictures on instagram use the hashtag with #smilelikeyoumeanit and @lifelovekorea so I can find them!

It’s time to have fun guys! And it’s time to show it!

Love, Wietske

Tasty Tuesday: the Kings Soup

Today was a very special day. Now Queen Beatrix abdicated the throne to  Prince Willem-Alexander. He is the first King since 1890 and in order to celebrate I bring you this very special Orange soup. To celebrate the change of power in the House of Orange.

Ingredients: 500g carrots, 1 orange bell pepper, 1 orange, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 cubes of chicken stock, 1 sprig of rosemary, one spoonful of curry powder, 1 liter of water



Preparation:

• Cut up all of your vegetables into small pieces.
• Sauté your vegetables, the curry powder and rosemary in a hot pan with a little oil for about 5 minutes.
• Add 1 liter of water, you chicken stock and the juice of one orange (about 200 ml) and bring it up to a boil
• Let it boil for about 15 minutes.
• Take a stick blender and puree your soup. Please be careful when doing this you don’t want to get boiling hot liquid all over you.

And that’s it, you made orange soup! I have to warn you though, the curry flavor might be a little overwhelming. If you want something more refreshing take out some of the curry add a little bit more orange juice and perhaps even some orange zest.

Enjoy, Wietske

Life: 6 tips for friendship

Inspired by this particular post I want to write about friendship.

For me friendship is probably more important than my family bonds, however it is way more fragile and not as everlasting. Here are some tips on how to get most out of your friendships.

Pay the bill: Don’t go Dutch on your friends. I don’t ever split the bill with my friends, unless we are with a large crowd. Take turns in paying the bills, it always leaves me with a special feeling. Either I treat a friend or my friends treats me to something nice while we had a good time together AND most importantly we don’t have to fight about how to split the bill to the last penny or get out our calculators because one of us had one more drink.

Give: I love giving gifts and receiving them. I love to see the excitement on my friends face and it leaves me feeling wonderful if I found or made something that brings a smile to my friends face.

Support: I try to support my friends in every decision they make, even if it might seem like a bad one. Sure I try to talk them out of really bad decisions but I don’t push. I am not their mum nor dad and there are probably enough people who told them they are wrong. Support them, and if thinks don’t go as planned at least they have learned their own lesson.

Listen: Let them whine, complain, and ramble on if they want too. Sometimes people just need to want to get things of their chest without any interruption. Let them talk, but listen! Give them advise or encouraging words when needed. Don’t just stare into space unless you want the same treatment.

Make memories: Do things, take pictures of it, and keep remembering it for the rest of your life. People you forget are often the people who you don’t share any crazy memories with. Even just a quick message that mentions a certain event can instantly refresh a slightly worn down friendship. However if you don’t have any memories in common  friendships die a slow and painful death.

Let it go: The most important tip however is although energy is needed to let a friendship exist sometimes when things just cost too much energy and you are not gaining anything positive just let it go. It is not worth it, find someone better because even though your friends are important. Your own feelings are more important. And who knows maybe the sudden stop of attention makes your friend realize what they are missing out on!

what are the things you do to keep your friendship going? Do you talk every day? have weekly meetups? tell me, I am curious since I still have a lot to learn.

Love, Wietske

Tasty Tuesday: Pie of fail

I had an utterly amazing idea for this weeks Tasty Teusday. However, once again I’ve proven that I am not good at baking – at all.  I wanted to make a choco pie. But in cake form. For those who don’t know what a choco pie is, it is a popular Korean snack of a cake with marshmallows in the centre and covered in chocolate and it’s just perfect.

Unfortunately they don’t sell them in the Netherlands, so I thought to myself, why not make a choco pie cake! Basically one ginourmous chocopie. Well, my dream didn’t come true.



For he actually cake I wanted to make a vanilla chiffon cake since the light texture and light vanilla flavor wouldn’t overpower the chocolate and marshmallow flavors. First of all my cake was one deflated mess. In order to try to save it I cut it into squares so I could stack it. Then I tried to make the marshmallow filling by trying to melt marshmallows using a double boiler but it was just too sticky to work with so I tried melting the marshmallows in the microwave but it just didn’t work.

And that’s where I gave up. So no tasty looking cake. Just a big mess I had to clean up and food I had to throw out.

No more baking for me, at least for a while.
 
Can you bake? If so, what is your favorite thing to make?

Love, Wietske

Gwangjang Market - there is always more to see.

This week in Seoul Saturday I want to share another awesome and free activity for you while you are in Seoul. This market is a great place to grab a bit, and don’t worry you don’t have to like pig feet, heads, or intestine to find something delicious over here! They serve kimbab, sundae and the markets famous bindaetteok. Besides the food, meat and fruits and vegetables stands there is also a good place to buy high quality but cheap fabric.



There are many hanbok stores around and stores that sell a bit more of a modern version of the hanbok. Besides that Gwangjang market is also a great place to find cheap souvenir! And within walking distance of Dongdaemun where you can do more shopping!

How to get there:  Take the subway to Jongno-5-ga and take exit number 8. You will basically walk into the market once you exit.

Click here for the official website of Gwangjang market.