{서올} the start of a love story

as promised, part two::

flying on asiana airlines is quite comfortable ^^ it felt like i was already in korea since announcements and conversations were done in both korean and english throughout the flight. anywho, what i really want to talk about is the food they served.. honestly, i've skipped on flight meals before even if that meant i have to starve myself just cos i get nauseous just looking at it. however on this flight,  i was actually looking forward to it with. they offered korean and western meal options and guess which one i went for? (+1 if you guessed korean! and bibimbap was what they were serving)

yes, i am one of those ppl who takes pictures of airplane food! but i love it!

i was quite excited and impressed and could not wait to dig in - it was pretty tasty! :) i loved how good their service was. the air hostesses came by serving drinks to all the passengers ever so often that i didn't have to ring for a glass of water/orange juice.

14 hours of flight, three in-flight movies, two pretty tasty meals on top of a snack and an interesting book read later... i was finally in south korea! a country i've wanted to visit for the longest time - definitely a dream come true... (i'm semi-sad that i did not use my phone to take my first picture in korea at the airport to commemorate the moment!) in case you're wondering what i picked up to read at the airport ::

so i had to figure out how to get to the hotel myself since apparently it's really easy and accesible via airport limousine bus and it only costs 10,000 won. (if you're there for the first time, there is a bus ticket kiosk just outside one of the airport entrances. once you've figured out where you need to go, you could either buy the tickets at the kiosk or you could just pay the bus driver) and the great part was, it dropped me right in front of the hotel!

i have to admit that i was a tad nervous trying to figure out what to do in korea with my very limited knowledge of korean language but it was a lot easier than i thought. if you're afraid you don't know where to stop once you get on the bus, don't worry :: the stops are translated into multiple languages (korean, english & japanese), chances are you'd understand one of them.

here are some photos of seoul i captured on my phone while on the bus since i was lazy to find for my camera. not the prettiest but i like it :)

it took me another two hours before i got to sejong hotel (including immigration & travel) - i was exhausted, jetlagged and feeling a lil icky from the long travel. i just wanted to take a shower, relax with the TV and go to bed which was exactly what i did although i did consider adding dinner to the list but was too tired to even go out to get a quick meal..

did i mention my hotel was just adjacent to myeongdong {명동} area which is a very popular shopping spot?! definitely the best location to be :) eek! more on that very soon! ^^

i woke up at 4am >.< (all thanks to jetlag) and was lying on the bed, watching tv although i should've probably forced myself to go back to sleep. i was just waiting for the hotel restaurant to open so i could feast on my complimentary breakfast since i was really hungry (although, really my appetite is all messed up and confused from the time difference)

breakfast buffet (continental, korean and japanese selections)
photos taken by melika^^

okay let's be honest here. i don't really like eating alone if i was out at a restaurant (infact, i actually get my meals to go if i have to eat on my own) but since i didn't know where the other winners were, i had to eat breakfast alone rather awkwardly.



when i was almost done with breakfast, i met melika (the winner from germany) - it was inexplicable but we somehow just knew who each other was (well, she's seen my picture and i guessed it was her lol). oh, i also somehow managed to recognize peyxen, the winner from malaysia (i am just that awesome ;) haha) honestly, i supposed it helped that i've seen her picture on fb and she was with her mom, which she had mentioned to me before that her mom was coming along to korea.

i love this photo! me grabbing a second round of french toasts (thanks melika!)

melika and i planned for a quick myeongdong shopping session together before we met the other winners for quick rehearsal for event.

the winners finally meet  except for one - nhung (the vietnamese winner) because she was only getting in later that evening. i loved that everyone was so friendly and we just effortlessly clicked! the only thing was... i felt so old when we were discussing age >.< man..i kinda miss being 21. sigh....

our next destination was the korea house which was walking distance from our hotel. that also happens to be the location of the event the next day. actually, it was the building across from it.

rehearsal mainly consisted of us practicing our dish while getting useful pointers from a korean chef  which was totally awesome! that and also having the representatives from kff to try out our food before the event - i guess it's to reaffirm their choices of winners? it's a good sign when they came back for seconds! or not i'd thought they were just being polite when they said it was delicious.. lol

i learned a few new cooking techniques and loveeee the 선생님 [teacher]. she's so motherly and friendly :) she even hand-fed some of us while we were cooking with the kimbap i made so they could try out my food. (so sweet, right?) although she was speaking in korean the whole time while i was nodding with a confused look on my face, i knew she was trying to gesture what she meant. (oddly, i understood some of what she was saying to me) if the kff staff were standing at my station, i'd look so lost that they'd translated what she said - thank goodness! i'd share the picture we took with our teacher but i don't too good in the picture.. so it's a no go!  >.<

we had the most pleasant surprise when the teacher asked us if we wanted to wear a 한복 [hanbok], the traditional korean dress to take pictures in... to which we immediately agreed! omg loveeeeee! i was planning to wear one while i was in korea cos it's absolutely adorable! the teacher said that the younger ladies usually wear bright, vibrant colors and have their hair up to show off the design around the collar. and eeeeek they dressed me up in my favorite color, RED (!) and blue. AND it's in the perfect shade of red too <3 

melika, yuiko (winner from japan), me, peyxen and her mom :)



think i can pass as a korean? :p



a few of them mentioned that i look korean-ish :) now if i learn the language, they won't be able to tell the difference and i could fit in perfectly in seoul! haha. ^^

i loveee the hanbok - even though it was too long for me (i know..i know...i am so short >.<) that i was stepping on the bottom of chima (the skirt). hanbok are typically worn for formal events (i.e. weddings, new years day, etc).. now i want one of these for myself...aren't they the prettiest outfits?! <3 but oh so expensive! bummer! :'(

after some final discussion about the event for next day including which super junior members who were attending the event... i held my breathe when they said only five of them were attending and i was keeping my fingers crossed that 동해 would be on the list!

i could not stop smiling when they said the five were leeteuk, ryeowook, sungmin, eunhyuk and most importantly.. donghae! <3

then we were finally shown to the actual venue of the award ceremony held the next day... yup nerves started to kick it and omg we're gonna be demonstrating our cooking skills!

want more? guess you'd have to wait for part 3 ^^ ㅋㅋㅋ