Korean Stationery Giveaway!

It's my birthday month, and to celebrate I want to give away some of my absolute favourite things from South Korea. I want to thank you for all your comments, tweets, likes and love for my little blog and I thought these cute goodies would do the trick.

Here's a little list of what will be inside your pretty package:

A collection of cute socks

A variety of stickers (some in the form of sticker stamps, puppies and other decorative stickers)

2 rolls of beautiful, high quality washi tape in mint green and gold

Avocado Leave-in Hair Fluid -My absolute favourite hair treatment from SkinFood

Mango Seed Lip Butter from The Face Shop

a few surprise extra's

To enter, just use the easy entering system below. If you have any problems with it, first try refreshing your bowser, or pop me an email (citygirlsearching-at-gmail-dot-com). You should be able to enter from your mobile device too!

Good Luck!

*Entries close on July 29th at midnight.

*This giveaway is open worldwide, in other words open to everyone, wherever you may be in the world

Weekly Wishes {5}

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Wishes series where I talk about my goals and wishes for the week ahead. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. These posts are part of a link up by The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new blogs to follow, why don't you join me?

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here and link up your blog post. 

This Weeks Wishes

1. REMOVE MY PHONE FROM THE BEDROOM AT NIGHT! Yes, this is still on my weekly wish list as I constantly need to be reminded to do it. I spend so much time on social media, that I often need to physically force myself back into the real world and just unplug. Do you have this problem too?

2. Publish my giveaway post. As this is my birthday month, I am celebrating by giving all my readers a chance of winning a goodie bag of pretty things from here in South Korea...think beauty products, cute little socks, washi tape, stickers and lots more!

3. Walk at least 10 000 steps a day with my new FitBit that Farmboy gave me for my birthday yesterday (full blog post to come soon). 

That's all I have for this week.Do you have anything you really need to get done this week? Drop me a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

#summersplits2014 Yoga Challenge

After reading this post by Che from Indieberries I was super inspired to try out a yoga challenge and stretch my poor hamstrings which feel like loaded springs every morning. I have no idea why my hamstrings are always so tight, but they are and boy does that make my life difficult whenever I try any form of exercise. I read a rather funny description by someone somewhere that hamstring are like naughty children. Without the proper time, care and love every day, they revert to their bad behaviour every morning, and mine are as stubborn as stubborn gets. The days I stretch the most are the days they feel the tightest, naughty things. Anyway, let me get back on track here. I look nothing like Che (who looks like an elastic band than can stretch in any and all ways) but thats why I felt so inspired. We all have to start somewhere.

I have just finished the 30 day #summersplits2014 yoga challenge with @beachyogagirl and @kinoyoga on Instagram where at the beginning of the month they post a graphic with all the poses for the month. These were the poses for June:

You do the pose (along with as many other poses you want to do) snap a picture (Che recommends some good self timer apps here) and then upload it to Instagram and tag them in the picture as well as use the hashtag #summersplits2014 which was the hashtag for the June challenge. I can't say I can actually do the splits now, but I am so much more flexible than I was a month ago. And it took such a small part of my day, but left me energized and ready to take on  anything. I haven't noticed that much toning or change in my body, as I have been working out before the yoga sessions so I haven't noticed any drastic changes that haven't come from the exercise I was doing before, but my body feels different. My mind feels different, and it's a wonderful feeling. 

I did 25 out of the 30 poses, as I was just unable to do the head/hand stand poses without doing serious damage. The reason behind posting images on Instagram of yourself looking silly is so you can track your progress and connect with a wonderful and supportive community. You don't have to post the pictures, but I do encourage you to take photographs so you can look back and see how much you have improved. And you will improve. Everyday. By uploading my photographs I was put under pressure to keep doing so. And this pressure motivated me to do my poses every morning. Even 10 seconds spent in a pose does wonders for your flexibility, circulation and general health. So don't think that you need to spend 2 hours on the mat to start seeing results. If you are diligent, and at least do the one pose outlined everyday, you will notice all sorts of changes in your body. I now look forward to my time on the mat, and use it as a time to relax and mentally prepare for the day ahead.

Do you enjoy yoga? Have you ever tried a yoga challenge before? I'd love to hear from you!

Blute Flower Cafe, Seoul South Korea

** EDIT** The cafe has moved locations and can now be found a short walk from Sangsu Subway Stationer. These photographs are from when they were based in Hannam**

This delightful flower cafe is tucked away on a small side street in the very fancy Hannam area of Seoul. Just as Cat and Dog Cafes are popular here, flower shop owners have come up with the idea of a flower cafe to bring in more business as the flower trade has seen a decline in sales over the past few years. Cafe owners hope that customers will be enticed to bring back the tradition of giving flowers as gifts, and so have a variety of bouquets on display that you can buy along with your coffee or cake.

This particular cafe also offers flower arranging classes.

The food was incredible, freshly baked panini bread with sun-dried tomatoes and salami for myself, and a medley of freshly roasted vegetables for my friend Dominique. The menu was small, but sufficient, and the cakes on display looked so inviting. However, we had a cupcake cafe lined up for dessert and so stuck to their lunch menu. The prices were average, ranging from w8 000 - w12 000 a meal, with their drinks menu more expensive than other cafes I have been to. But the atmosphere is well worth the extra price of a drink.

Address: 

New address in Hongdae:

12 Wausan-ro 14 gil, Mapo-gu, Seoul 

Weekly Wishes

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Wishes series where I talk about my goals and wishes for the week ahead. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. These posts are part of a link up by The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new blogs to follow, why don't you join me?

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. 

Last week's wishes were pretty much accomplished (although I STILL haven't been very good about removing my phone from the bedroom at night). I am going to keep on putting this wish down until I finally get my act together and make this change. I also decided not to join another yoga challenge (as I found I was far less focused on the actual yoga poses and more focused on getting the right photograph to post on Instagram, truth be told). So I am going to be telling you a little bit more about another fitness/pilates/yoga guru I have been following and working out with. I booked our cooking course for Bali (my mom is meeting us in Bali for our summer holidays...I am so excited to see her, it has been over a year since we have seen any family!). I also got stuck in with my camp planning and have been doing lots of research into practical ways of helping to end the way against Human Trafficking, by following along closely with the amazing work that goes on at The Exodus Road. 

This Weeks Wishes

1. Continue my research into human trafficking, with the objective of finding practical ways that we can make an actual difference in the lives of those affected by it. 

2. Finalise a new giveaway for the blog (this one is going to be a goodie, you don't want to miss out!).

3. Photograph the new stock I have in my Stationery Store, including putting together a few new smaller sized packages of pretty washi tapes and notebooks.

4. Finish at least 5 out of the 7 workouts scheduled for this week in the Blogilates July Workout Calendar. I have been following Jillian Michaels 3 day shred workouts for the past 9 months, and by now I can officially say I am bored out of my mind. So I downloaded the Blogilates app which is free, and then paid the $1.99 fee for the July calendar and have been loving the workouts! Each day there is a list of video workouts, ranging from 5 - 17 minutes, that are only unlocked on the day you start the challenge. It's still early in the month, and not too late for you to sign up, even if you aren't getting the full 31 days out of your $1.99. It's so worth it! Casey is a spunky and inspiring young lady (but she does talk the WHOLE way through her videos and some of you might find her constant sprouting of rainbows and pixie dust a little annoying. I don't, and I find the more she talks the less I actually concentrate on just how HARD the workouts are). There is no risk of getting bored as each of the workout videos (there are usually 4 - 7 per day) are different and focus on different parts of the body. And I cannot even explain to you just how stiff I am every morning. Even after doing Jillian for 9 months. It works!

On the app and on the website Cassey has free monthly workout calendars and eating plans, as well as forums for you to join and get inspired by reading the stories from the community of women who have seen amazing results. I like prefer the app because all the videos are in one place, you simply click on the next one in the list, do the workout, tick the box when you're done and open up the next video, all on the same 'screen/window' on the iPhone. It's super easy to follow and helps me when I really lazy, which is most days. She has workouts for everyday of the week, but one day is a stretch day where she combines pilates moves with elements of yoga to give your body a well deserved break, while still working on our flexibility and posture.

Let me know if you try Blogilates, I'd love to know your thoughts!

5. REMOVE MY PHONE FROM THE BEDROOM AT NIGHT!

Do you have anything you really need to get done this week? Drop me a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

The Face Shop Velvet Skin Primer {review}

I found this little gem via fellow beauty blogger Kate (who is also teaching English here in Korea) who blogs on over at Kate Loves Pretty (for lots more beauty reviews head on over to her pretty blog). Kate has a similar skin type to me (more on the oily side) and even thought we have left winter far behind I have a few dry patches that most foundations, especially BB creams, cling to those little unsightly flakes of skin around the nose. That's where a primer comes in.

This particular primer is oil free and scent free, while blending effortlessly into the skin. Once applied it creates a smooth canvas for you to apply your makeup, keeping everything neatly in place. It is packaged with a hygienic pump dispenser, just one pump provides the right amount of product for your face.

Wondering where a primer fits into your skin care routine? It goes under your makeup, but over your other skin care products. So, in order: moisturizer, sun cream, PRIMER, then foundation/BB cream. I find that the matte like texture of this primer works just as well with a light dusting of powder for a very effortless and natural look (when my skin is behaving itself). 

The texture is light and velvety, leaving my skin feeling soft, supple and moisturized. I don't use it everyday, but when I do I am reminded of why I love it so much. If you have oily or combination skin, and want something to stop your foundation or BB cream from settling into creases and fine lines, that keeps your foundation staying put and feels wonderful on your skin, then thisis the primer for you!

I bought mine here in Korea on Gmarket for w1200 a few months ago. 

Do you like reading beauty reviews? Are there any product reviews that you prefer (skincare, makeup, nail polish?). I'd love to hear from you!

Gochang Fortress

This time last year Farmboy and I went off to explore the Gochangeupseong Fortress (고창읍성) in Gochang (Jeonbuk Province). It was a mere 40 minute bus ride from our town of Buan and cost W4600 each one way. We even had blue sky (the first blue skies we had seen since arriving in Korea 2 weeks before) which added to the natural beauty of the fortress.

The fortress was built during the early Joseon Dynasty. It is sometimes called Moyangseong, possibly because the Gochang area was called Moryangburi during the Baekje period.

It is surrounded by Bandeungsan, a guardian mountain to the east, and has three gates to the east, west and north, two floodgates, and a covering tower.

A stroll along the fortress walls brings you to a beautiful bamboo forest. Standing in front of it you feel dwarfed by the sheer size of the natural shoots towering over you. It was eerily quiet around the bamboo forest, giving the area a mystical ambiance.

The entrance fee for the fortress is W1000.

For more info here is a link for more information.

From Gochang Bus Terminal, walk towards Gochang County Office for about 500m.
Cross the Gochanggyo Bridge. Gochangeupseong Fortress is 150m ahead.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Cookies {recipe}

This  yummy cookie recipe is simple to prepare and all the ingredients can be found here in South Korea. I ordered my cranberries off Gmarket (click here) and the white chocolate was given to me by a friend (she also got it here in South Korea, I think at one of the foreign food markets in Itaewon) you could use any chocolate, but it's baking chocolate that gives these cookies their creamy chocolatey taste.

Ingredients

1 cup butter softened to room temperature

1/2 cup coconut oil (used in place of shortening)

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons corn starch (also called corn powder in Korea)

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate (chips or a bar chopped up)

1 teaspoon salt

{These ingredients made a lot of dough. Enough for me to make about 25 cookies, fill a large dish for a cheesecake base and still have enough dough frozen for about another 15 cookies. The great thing is you can freeze any left over dough for up to 3 months.}

Method

1. Mix butter, coconut oil and sugars until light and fluffy.

2. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined.

3. Combine flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt and mix together.

4. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well.

5. Dough should not be sticky (mine was because of the coconut oil and the humidity here in Korea) so I added a little more flour. If your dough is crumbly add in 1 teaspoon of water until it just holds together.

6. Add in chocolate until evenly distributed.

7. Roll into a log ( I had to to put my into the fridge to harden slightly as my dough was very sticky, simply place it into the fridge for 30 mins to make it easier to handle). Wrap in cling wrap, place in the freezer for 2 hours (it can be kept for up to 3 months).

8. When ready to bake, heat up your oven to 180C and slice your dough log into small round disks and place onto wax paper. Bake for 15 minutes.

Allow to cool and serve.

*please excuse this blurry photo

I also used this dough as a base for the cheescake I made for Farmboys birthday. It worked like a charm! I will be posting the recipe for it soon, but here is what the dough looked like when rolled out and placed in a dish, baked in the oven for 15 minutes and waiting for it its cheesecake layer:

Happy baking!

Weekly Wishes

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Wishes where I talk about my goals and wishes for the week ahead. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. These posts are part of a link up by The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new blogs to follow, why don't you join me?

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. 

For the most part, I was able to fulfil my wishes from last week. I made a most delicious cheesecake (recipe to follow soon...and no oven is needed if you use store bought cookies for the base, I made my own cookies to use as the base). I completed my English Camp plan for the summer vacation and I am about to finish the 30 day yoga challenge, yipee! I haven't been so good about keeping my phone in the other room while I sleep, mainly (here comes all the excuses!) I have the charger next to my bed and so plug it in as soon as I go to bed. I'm going to move that charger when I get home today. I also did manage to make a donation to Precious Women Ministry in Cambodia for the work they do in helping women who are and have been involved in human trafficking. Putting this last wish here on the blog really did help me get this done, as I felt accountable putting it in writing. 

This Week's Wishes

1. Raise awareness for The Exodus Road, an organisation that is fighting to end child slavery. You might be wondering why all of a sudden I have been posting more about human trafficking, click here to read why. One of the things the Exodus Road does is to do fund search and rescue as well as investigative operations in the heart of the red light districts in cities all around South East Asia. It costs $35 a night to fund an investigation team (this money goes towards paying the girls for their 'time' literally, in the form of a drink while the team is able to ask questions and get valuable information needed to help these girls). If you would like to donate, click here to read more about the teams and what they do. You can donate via paypal or credit card. You may not be able to physically go and rescue children trapped in brothels, but you can send investigators to break down doors on your behalf. You can hire a mercenary of hope to look for victims of sexual slavery, to gather tips for police partners, and to begin collecting key evidence for rescue. As a thank you for your donation you will get a welcome packet in the mail from The Exodus Road with information about your team, a bumper sticker with “Rescue is Coming,” and some other small gifts and information. You’ll also receive regular updates from your field team about their efforts and will be given specific ways to connect with them via letters or special projects. The Exodus Road

2. Start my lesson planning for the Photography English Camp I am teaching in July

3. Book a cooking course for our trip to Bali in August (my mom is coming out from South Africa to join us in Bali! I can't wait to see her!).

4. Remove my phone from the bedroom, charger and all.

5. Join another yoga challenge for July.

Do you have anything you really need to get done this week? Drop me a comment below, I'd love to hear from you.

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

#DIYDaysInKorea {first meet-up}

A few weekends ago I organised a little get together for some of us crafty ladies here in South Korea. We even have a Pinterest board for us to share ideas and inspire one another, we're cool like that. 

It was such a nice opportunity for us to spend time together, without spending a whole lot of money, and while still having fun.  There was good food, lots of spray paint fumes, laughs and a whole lot of DIYing (not too much from my end, thank goodness I had hubby nearby to help me cut some animals in half with a saw, for the most part I was too busy taking photographs).

If you're here in Korea and you'd like to join in the next time we get together, join our Facebook group (click here), we'd love to have you!

Sex Trafficking

This blog of mine is for the most part, a place for me to share beauty, to inspire and give people a break from the not so nice things out there that we are constantly bombarded with. I never wanted it to be a live journal, where I pour out my deepest woes and you feel sorry for me and write me comments of encouragement (although, that's always nice!). I want my blog to be a happy place where you can come to see pretty things, learn a recipe or two; a place to visit and feel good.

Then I went to a screening of the documentary Nefarious Merchant of Souls and I realized that the pretty-ness that my blog has to offer can do nothing for the millions of women and children caught in the horror of human trafficking.

My world has been rocked, my heart has been shaken and my eyes have seen things that my mind will never be able to forget. And I don't want to forget. We are so unaware of the evil that is happening in this world, we don't see it on our drive to work, we don't really hear it on the news and most of us simply don't know anyone who has been affected by it. But that doesn't mean it isn't happening.

Infographic from Compassion.org

Right now I feel so passionate about the injustice of it all, and I feel so helpless at the same time. What can one privileged girl do in South Korea that could possibly make any difference? Right now I'm not sure. I am Christian, so I will be praying, but often I feel that "well, you should pray" is just not cutting it for me right now. I want to get my perfectly manicured hands dirty, I want to physically go out there and do something that might pale in comparison to what missionaries are doing in Thailand, but at least I will be doing something. I've been reading Eddie Byun's book Justice Awakening - How you and your church can help end Human Trafficking and this is something that called out to me: "Time and time again, the biggest frustration I would see in others was not knowing what they could do to enter this fight for freedom and justice around the world. Beyond just giving money to other organizations - as good as that was - the questions that kept coming up was, 'What could an individual or a church do to end human trafficking in our day?'...Whatever your gifting is, use it to send a message to your sphere of influence. Whatever your passion is, use it to spread this message of justice for all. So write, paint, draw, speak, publish, compose, act, campaign and do anything else to the glory of God and for the freedom of all people".

I know that a lot of people get a bit iffy with the God word, but I want to point out that Eddie Byun doesn't say that only if you are Christian, and if you can draw, paint, write etc should you be allowed to do your part in this fight. Human trafficking is a worldwide problem, it isn't a Christian problem, or a Jewish or a Buddhist problem, it is a human issue, and we are all able to do something, in our own way.

And so I want to use my gifting; this blog and my camera, to help in some way. I am not sure how yet, but I do hope you will join me in this journey.

I hope I haven't made you feel uncomfortable, actually, in a way I do hope I have. Because it's not when we are in our comfort zones that we can make a difference. It's when we are pushed beyond our bubble, to the point where we are so angry and hurt and frustrated that we can evoke the power within ourselves to make a difference.

And after all of that, I have to also say something else. The fight to end human trafficking may not be your battle to fight. Everyone is wired differently, and different causes may appeal to you more than others. I really don't want to be here on a soap box trying to covert people to join this fight. I just want to raise awareness for something that has made me feel so angry, as a woman, and more so as a human being. I will be posting more information here on the blog, with what I hope will be useful posts about what is happening locally here in South Korea, and more globally. If you're interested that is. If you're not, I will still be posting recipes and pretty pictures for you enjoy.

I want to leave you with these:

Life After the Dress {Episode 13} Andrea Barras

In this series I interview married women of all ages and from all walks of life and ask them real questions about their lives now, after all the glitter and sparkle of their wedding day is over. If you'd like to read more about the series and meet the other ladies I have interviewed, click here.

Today is the 13th feature of my Life After the Dress series, and I am thrilled to have had so many wonderful ladies sharing their stories. The response to this series has been amazing, and these are some of the posts I most look forward to sharing with you. Today's interview is with Andrea from Clever Bird Banter. Andrea is the wonder woman behind both her own blog (Clever Bird Banter), a graphic design business, and recently, the unique kids accessory store; Baby Bird Basics. This multi talented mom (to 2 little cuties), wife, blogger and small business owner sure has a lot on her plate, and with having just moved house I so appreciate her taking the time to be a part of this series.

Go grab yourself a cup a tea and get ready to be inspired.

x

Q1: Please introduce yourself (age, of both yourself and your husband, where do you live, what do you do & how long have you been married for?)

Hello! I'm Andrea (30), wife to Murray (31) and proud mom to Addison (2) and Julia (8 months). I'm also a graphic designer, blogger and craft/DIY enthusiast! Murray and I have been married for nearly 5 years and we've just (last Saturday!) moved into our dream house in Howick, in the beautiful KZN Midlands.

Q2: Which Disney character do you feel sums you up to a ‘T’?

I’m definitely Ariel, The Little Mermaid - minus the voice of course - my husband would attest to that despite my efforts at singing! I would describe myself as determined, quirky, curious – I wear my heart on my sleeve and I’m certainly not afraid to break the rules. I have a romantic outlook on life and have a tendency to be a bit stubborn. Like Ariel, I love to re-purpose everyday finds into useful things (I wouldn't go as far as brushing my hair with a fork though!)

Q3: How did you and your hubby meet?

Murray and I met through mutual friends while we were both living in London, although I remember his name from school days and we are pretty certain we both attended some of the same events and parties! We’d been introduced on the top deck balcony of The Boathouse in Putney, overlooking the river Thames, where we spent ages talking until I decided to leave (I wasn't feeling well!) We connected on Facebook shortly after and the rest, as they say, is history ;)

Q4: Was your wedding everything you hoped it would be? Would you go back and change anything? Do you have any advice for brides-to-be?

Wow! Let me begin by telling you that a) Murray and I were married before we’d even been together for a year, and that b) we went from engaged to married within 7 weeks - just to clarify (what most people at the time were thinking): I wasn't pregnant! I knew within the first three months of dating that Murray was The One.  After a couple of months, the issue of his visa running out (we were still in the UK at this stage) started casting a huge shadow over our relationship. I was fully prepared to move back to SA with him but we were both happy in London and wanted to get British Passports. After speaking to immigration lawyers, we decided that getting hitched was the best way forward! Our families were on board and amazingly we managed to plan a beautiful full-on wedding here in SA in a very short time frame! It was a wonderful day and there are very few things I would change. Sadly, Murray’s mom passed away shortly after our wedding so, visa reasons aside, I do believe in my heart that it was meant to happen when it did so that she could be there to share the special day with us.

My advice for brides-to-be is simple: don’t forget what a wedding is truly about, it’s not about the big party and impressing everyone, it is about your marriage – remember to spend time with each other on the day! I know this sounds obvious but there are so many guests around that bride and groom are often apart while making the rounds to thank and greet everyone – steal a few moments for each other <3

Q5: Has ‘life after the dress’ been as you imagined it would be?

To be honest, life has carried on much as I expected it to. We obviously party/socialize less but I think that has more to do with age, settling down and children!

Q6: What do you think makes marriage work?

Communication, communication, communication! You can be the most well-suited couple on earth but if you aren't able to communicate with each other, life will be very difficult.

Q7: What have you learnt about yourself since being married?

I’ve had to practice much patience and compromise – especially during our first year of marriage because we hadn't really lived together properly before that and were still learning things about each other. I like things my way and so does hubby so we can butt heads a lot, haha!

Q8: If you could describe your marriage in 3 words, what would they be?

Ooh, I really battled with this question – it’s so hard to pick only 3 because there are so many words that I’d need to use to describe the full spectrum of amazingness that is our marriage! I know it’s probably a bit of a cop-out but I’m going to go with “living, loving, learning”

Q9: Do you have any pearls of wisdom you would like to share with my readers about being married? Perhaps something some wise person once told you, or something you've learnt the hard way?

Being married doesn't automatically turn you into some different person, one half of a whole - you still get to be you and you still need to focus on living your own dreams and making your own happiness. Obviously these ambitions need to consider your spouse, and children in our case, but I think it’s important to keep following your own passions as well as creating new dreams and having new hobbies etc with your partner. Marriage also takes energy and effort – you have to put in the time to make it work and to build a rock-solid foundation.

• Blog: cleverbirdbanter.com
• Website: andreabarras.com
• Twitter: @andreaCbarras
• Facebook: CleverBirdBanter
• Instagram: cleverbirdbanter
• Pinterest: cleverbird

I hope you have been enjoying this series as much as I have enjoyed putting it together.

If you would like to be featured here on the blog, you can drop me an email using the contact form above or leave me a comment below. I look forward to hearing from you!

Weekly Wishes

Hello and welcome to my Weekly Wishes where I talk about my goals and wishes for the week ahead. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. These posts are part of a link up by The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another. It's also a great way to make new friends and find new blogs to follow, why don't you join me?

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. 

Last week I didn't do very well with putting my phone in the lounge when I went to bed, but I am going to FORCE myself to do this from today. I need to get into a routine with it, and having it outside the bedroom forces me to get up when my alarm goes off or risk going crazy at the annoying buzz that I currently have set. I have upped my water intake (I keep a 1 liter water bottle on my desk and force myself to fill it up 3 times a day). I did get to bed earlier 3 nights of last week, so that's a small start. I will see if it helps me stay awake during this week. I am still on track with my yoga challenge too. I have yet to finish my English camp planning and will get my basic plan done this week as it has to be handed in by Friday. Hmmm...not too bad for my first week of goals.

This week's wishes

1. Make the most epic cheesecake for hubby's birthday on Tuesday (and not let it be a complete disaster like the last attempt).

2. Remove phone from the bedroom EVERYNIGHT.

3. Finish English Camp plan

4. Continue with the 30 Day #summersplits2014 yoga challenge (and make sure to have had a cardio workout of either a hard 1 hour power walk or a session of Jillian Michaels before the yoga).

5. Make a donation to the Precious Women Ministry  which is fighting to end the war against human trafficking and exploitation in Cambodia (this might seem an odd thing to include here but I have procrastinating with this donation because of the difficulties in sending money to Cambodia from South Korea. I am writing it down here to remind myself to get my A into G and get to the bank to sort it out before it gets put to the bottom of the pile of things to do). 

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

Vietnam Travel Guide

Farmboy and I visited Vietnam in January this year (2014). We had a wonderful time, and it was one of our favourite holidays we have been on so far. You may be thinking of heading there soon (or sometime in the future) so to help you plan your trip, I have put together a rough budget, as well as some tips from our stay. Please keep in mind that my husband and I may travel very differently to you, and have different likes and preferences for things. I prefer the more luxurious path, while Farmboy would stay in a hammock for the entire trip if it was up to him. So we plan accordingly, and of course, try to stick to the budget.

For this trip we made the terrible mistake of missing our flights home, having to fork out another $1000 for the trip (not included in the budget set out below). Apart from this unfortunate accident, Vietnam was a relatively cheap holiday, the biggest expense was the taxi rides to and from airports as the airports in Vietnam are situated really far from the tourist areas. We budgeted in US$ and were able to pay for the majority of things with dollars, with my Korean credit card or by withdrawing at local banks into Vietnamese Dollars.

This was our first trip planning all our accommodation ahead of time (unlike the Philippines, Cambodia and Malaysia) and we learnt a lot from this experience. There are pros and cons to booking ahead of time (often the photographs online are very misleading, and sometimes you have such a good time in one place that you wish you could prolong your stay). I suggest booking your first and last nights before your trip, and then winging the middle days as you go.

We were away for 13 days, exploring Hanoi, Hoi Ann, Sapa and Halong Bay. 

Hanoi 3 nights (first 2 nights and last night)

Halong Bay 3 nights

Sapa 3 nights (2 of which were spent on the over night train)

Hoi Ann (3 nights)

Sapa (Northern Vietnam)

We went during the winter season (I hadn't actually checked the weather before booking our flights...silly me) and so this effected our planning quite a bit. Vietnam is very different in the summer time (especially the Northern parts) and can get rather cold. But the summer is a different story. Instead of rolling green hills and rice field terraces we had heard about in Sapa, we were met with dry, barren landscapes, which were beautiful in their own ways, just not what we were expecting.

We both enjoy making the most of our holidays, and so spend very little time in one place, opting to instead see as much as we can in the time that we have. This isn't for everyone, and the holidays tend to be more fast paced than lounging about and relaxing. This works for us. Most travel forums advised against only spending one actual night in Sapa, as the train journey is quite tiring but we found that 2 full days were just fine (the overnight rains arrives at 5am in Sapa and departs around 7pm leaving 2 full days of travel if you only book 1 night in the actual town).

As you can see from the pictures below, the over train was clean and comfortable. We paid $40 pp each way for the 4 bed room. We had room mates on both trips which wasn't ideal, but everyone kept to themselves and our belongings were very safe under the bed and in front of my top bunk above the door.

We booked a tour guide for $70 and really felt like we had been ripped off. Rather make your own way with a map. I think you would see much more if you trekked around by yourself. Our 4 hour trek took us into our tour guides' home (more so she could feed her baby than for us to see her authentic home) and then through the fields. It would have perhaps been better in summer if the rice paddies were luscious and green, but it was hot (even though it was winter) and rather boring, even though we were able to get some great photographs.

The town itself is fully geared for tourists, with the main roads looking like you've stepped into a Swiss resort. All the restaurants and massage parlours are geared towards tourists and are very pricey (a meal ranging from $12 - $20 and a good massage deal from $15 - $30). We found a little corner cafe away from the main road and ordered delicious bowls of Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup) for a much more reasonable $3 a pop.

We did buy knock off North Face jackets for a steal at $22 each, and they look JUST like the real thing. You can get your hands on a whole range of North Face/Jack Wolfskin items, make sure to budget accordingly! They had everything from hiking boots to sports shoes, ski jackets to fleeces.

Halong Bay

We made yet another mistake by not heading right for an island off Halong Bay. The bay itself is very touristy with hundreds of different tour companies offering you 1 - 4 night boat trips. We weren't really interested in being cooped up on a boat for 3 days and so booked a hotel in Halong Bay City. This was a mistake as the taxi ride from the city to the port (where you catch the boats to the islands) was a $25 fare EACH way! We wanted to go climbing with Asia Outdoors who are situated on Cat Ba Island. The ferry schedule was very limiting so we actually ended up not staying in our fancy hotel for one night so we could have longer on Cat Ba. We booked a super cheap $10 room on Cat Ba Island, and looking back I would have not booked any nights at the Halong Bay DC Hotel (but the two nights we stayed there were in super comfy rooms which included breakfast and we are able to order room service and get our clothes laundered - which sounded like a great idea and one that we presumed would be cheap...it wasn't, $37 for our clothes was an absolute waste of money, but one can only learn).

On Cat Ba Island we went on a fantastic climbing trip the first day, and the second day we hired a scooter to explore Cat Ba National Park. The hike up the peak of Cat Ba National Park was one of the highlights of our trip. 

Hanoi

Our first full day was spent on an amazing cooking course in the Old Quarter of Hanoi.  We had a great time and learnt so much about Vietnamese food and culture from our wonderfully experienced chef. Doing a cooking course at the start of your holiday is the perfect way to get to know the local cuisine, so when you walk past street vendors you know whats what. Often street food is delicious and much cheaper than eating in restaurants. We did our course through Hanoi Cooking Centre which included an early morning market walk to buy all our ingredients.

Our last day in Hanoi was spent visiting the local markets around the Old Quarter and drinking Vietnamese coffee while stuffing our faces with as much Pho as our bodies could handle. Pho is very cheap, a bowl going for $2 - $4 a pop and is one of the most delicious meals I have ever had.

Hoi Ann

We booked cheap internal flights through JetStar Airlines from Hanoi Noi Bai Airport to Danang Airport, and they also offer a bus service (click here) that runs from the Old Quarter to the airport. It was very cheap to use this bus, and it saved us a lot of stress too once we found the bus terminal (thank goodness for the GPS function on our iPhones). From Danang Aiport it was a good 40 minute drive to Hoi Ann (this is what caught us out the most with our budget, all the taxi rides to and from the airports).

Hoi Ann was our favourite place in Vietnam, and perhaps, in the whole of South East Asia. It reminded us a lot of Siem Riep in Cambodia (lantern lit streets to stroll down at night, great food, fabulous cocktails....it's a wonderful, 'vibey' town filled with something for everyone). The beach was only 20 minute cycle away (most hotels have free bicycle rental) and we were able to swim even in the middle of their winter time. Hoi Ann is most famous for its tailors, so make sure to budget accordingly! We hadn't planned to have anything made, but once we saw the quality of the suits we ended up having two made for Farmboy. Be prepared to bargain. You can everything from swim suits to lace skirts, to silk shirts and suits, as well as every leather item imaginable. In particular the leather boots and luggage looked beautiful. It wasn't incedidly cheap, but the quality is amazing, and compared to back Korea or South Africa, the prices were reasonable. 

We spent 2 nights at Thanh Van 2 Hotel which was great, and then spent our last night at the incredible Hoi An Ancient House Village Resort. We like to spend our last night or two in luxury, especially if we have been staying in backpackers or really cheap hotels for the rest of the time. We felt like we were on honeymoon again, and the suite was a very reasonable $90 for the both of us including breakfast.

We also did an early morning tour to Masan Temple to see the ruins. There are quite a few tours you can do that leave from Hoi Ann, and your hotel will be able to help you with booking.

A few tips

• Download the Orbitz and Hotels.com apps on your phone. We booked most of our accommodation through the app and always got at least a 15% discount on each booking for using the app. We were also able to book at the last minute and never had a problem with our bookings. 
• Book accommodation that includes breakfast. You will save yourself money, and save yourself the stress of trying to find something to eat that doesn't taste too strange, especially early in the morning (or do what we do and pack small ziplock bags of oats, almonds and cranberries to have for emergency breakfasts on the run).
• When booking flights be sure of what is included in your flight booking, especially with Air Asia. We booked flights for Malaysia for really cheap, and then only after booking did we realise that we could only take carry on luggage (which was restricted to 7kg's a person, and they were super strict at the airport, weighing all our bags including my big camera bag).
• If you're short on time, look to see if you can find cheap local flights on sites like AirAsia (this has saved us so much time and we have been able to book flights for reasonable prices). Download the AirAisa app, it's super easy to use. For Vietnam we booked our internal flights on Jetstar for $160 for two people return from Hanoi to Hoi Ann.
• Take your smart phone with you. We didn't have data, although we were told that sim cards were readily available and pretty cheap. But we were able to jump on a lot of free wifi in all the hotels we stayed at and a lot of the cafes. The GPS function on our iPhones was an absolute life saver, as it functions in helping you navigate, even when not connected to wifi.
• Jot down your expenses, this helps you stay on track. We took only cash for our 2 week trip and writing what we spent where helped us to stay within the budget (well, apart from the missed flight and tailored clothes that had to go on the credit card).
• Visa Requirements: For South Africans we had to 'book' our visa on arrival online, pay by credit card and then print out the emailed copy to take with us to when we arrived in Vietnam. It was painless to organise. I used Visa Vietnam and the price was $26 for two people (not included in the budget below)
• Pack a sense of humour. You will get lost. You will fight with your husband/boy friend/friends. You will get sick at least once and you will have an amazing holiday all the same. 

The budget below is the expenses for both myself and my husband, including our flights from South Korea.

If you have any questions, please leave me a comment below and I'll get back to you as soon as I can.

Happy travels!

Tuna & Broccoli Quinoa Burgers {recipe}

I don't do very much cooking at home, I much prefer baking. But on the odd occasion when I do whip out the frying pan, I'm not scared to try new recipes. Especially at 10 o'clock at night. This meal was one of them and this time I got it right. So right in fact that Farmboy ate 9 of the 12 patties.

I adapted the original recipe from here to my kitchen and ingredients here in South Korea. The two pictures I have of them don't do them any justice so you'll have to take my word for it when I say these little patties are tasty beyond measure and so easy to make.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa
• 1 cup diced broccoli
• 1/2 cup minced onion
• 1 cup drained & flaked tuna or salmon (I used a big tin of tuna)
• 1/2 cup rolled oats, mixed in a blender to create a fine powder (the original recipe calls for almond flower or gluten free bread crumbs)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• Sea salt & fresh ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• 1-3 tablespoons coconut oil for frying

Method

1. Cook your quinoa (I boiled it as per this great recipe) and leave to cool.

2. In a medium sized skillet, sauté the broccoli and onions in 1-2 teaspoons of coconut oil over medium heat until they are begin to turn soft, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

3. In a large mixing bowl, combine the quinoa, broccoli and onions, tuna, oats and garlic. Season with lots of sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

4. Stir in the eggs.

5. Warm a tablespoon of coconut oil in a skillet.

6. Measure out a 1/4 cup of the mixture and press into a patty shape. Gently ease onto the skillet. 

7. Reduce temperature to medium low, and fry the patties for 3-5 minutes on each side, or until they are golden brown. Keep adding more coconut oil to the pan as needed. Serve warm or at room temperature with slices of lemon and sweet chile sauce.

Weekly Wishes

I have seen these kind of posts on a few of the international blogs that I follow. In a nutshell, they are all about your goals and wishes for the week ahead. What you want to achieve, and what you hope to get out of your week. Popping them here on the blog will hopefully help me to stay on track with the things I want to do or get done. I get rather distracted (if you could just have a quick peep into the drafts section on my website...half written posts hiding away, left forgotten, or simply discarded after I got bored or changed my mind with the topic). Nadia does a wonderful 'Meet Free Monday' post on her blog every Monday...perhaps I can convince her to join in this community with her posts.

Today I am linking up with The Nectar Collective where Melissa has a wonderful community of women who link up their weekly wishes and are there to support and encourage one another.

It's Monday, and the perfect day to share my wishes for the upcoming week. If you'd like to join in simply click here (and then click on the comments section of the top post) and link up your blog post. Melissa has some guidelines for you to follow, and to give you more of an idea of what's what with these posts.

Have a wonderful week everyone <3

Weekly Wishes 

1. Go to sleep earlier (I have been so tired over the last few weeks, and before I take the vitamin/blood test route I am going to give the 'more sleep' way a try first). I wake up naturally beore my alarm every morning at 05h15 so I can get some exercise in for the day. Then my day begins at 08h00 and I am home by 16h45. Three evenings a week Farmboy and I have night classes at 18h00and we only get home after 20h00. We still have to eat supper and then I have to do all the little things around the house I usually do when I'm free in the afternoons. So I have been going to bed later and later, and this is probably the culprit for my mid morning slumps. It's usually around 11am that I start nodding off at my desk, and only gets worse after lunch. Hoping that a few extra zzzz's will do the trick.

2. Remove my iPhone from my bedroom. I have a terribly habit of checking my phone ALL the time. It's the first thing I do when I wake up. I have read some studies that say the blu LED light from cell phones can cause disruptions in your sleep cycle, so I hope that by keeping my phone in another room while I sleep will help me sleep better, and help me get the balance right between social media and just enjoying real life.

3. Finish my 30 day yoga challenge (if you want to join in simply search for the #summersplits2014) and pop on over to my feed and say hello (@roxyhutton)

4. Drink more water

5. Finish my English Camp planning (I'm hoping to do a photography based English camp for my middle school girl this summer...they can already take the perfect selfie, so let's see if they can so the same with different subjects and themes).

What are some of the things you're hoping to get done this week?

How to make 'no-cook' play dough in Korea

And it's edible too for little hands that like to eat everything!

I used this activity to teach my students shapes and colours in a more hands on and fun way. It was during an English camp and so we had a whole afternoon for the activity (it takes at least 1 hour for them to actually make the dough and play with it a little so keep that in mind when planning your lesson).

You can buy all sorts of fancy clay in the stores here...but it's nowhere near as fun as actually making it yourself. This recipe is easy, and the kids all did it themselves (no need for boiling water or any fancy ingredients). A lot of edible dough recipes call for Kool-Aid to make your dough smell and taste good, but this is pretty much impossible to get hold of here in Korea. To colour the dough I had ordered a set of food colouring on Gmarket  but they didn't arrive in time, so we used the next best thing, water based paint (although eating the dough with the paint would not be a very good idea so keep an eye on your kids).

This dough will keep for 2 - 3 weeks when kept in a sealed container/ziplock bag. If it starts hardening, simply add more oil and knead until soft.

Here is a photograph of most of the ingredients with their Korean branding (except salt which my teachers found in the Science calssroom).

Ingredients

cold water (1/4 cup per batch/child)

flour (1 cup per batch/child)

oil (1 tablespoon per batch/child)

salt (1 tablespoon per batch/child...use ground salt instead of course salt. The salt is used to help preserve the dough)

a few drops of colour (food colouring or a water based paint)

*make sure to have big enough bowls for each student too!

Method

1. Combine flour and salt.

2. Add water & oil. Mix until combined (knead well, you might need to help little hands as they will get tired quickly).

3. Add food colouring/paint and knead well until combined.

If mixture is too wet, add more flour. If mixture is too dry, add more oil

I then called out a shape and the students had to 'create' it with their dough. You will be suprised at just how creative the can be. 

Happy playing!

x

Late afternoon beach picnic Styled Photoshoot

This is the third styled shoot that my friend Storm and I have worked together on so. We seem to feed off one another creative energies and have loved the planning processes that have gone into each of our shoots.

For this shoot, Storm suggested a picnic, and I have been wanting to photograph one of the secret beaches nearby, so we combined our ideas and I am so happy with how the pictures came out. My friend Hillian contacted me, wanting to be involved in some way, and  so we had our model...isn't she just lovely?

The weather changed constantly during the few hours of daylight we had to work with, and the local creatures (one of which I managed to capture, balancing on a tea cup) descended upon as as soon as were began. We had to be quick as every flying insect took an immense liking to any exposed areas of skin, and we left covered in bites and scratches. Thank you Storm and Hillian, for a great afternoon filled with lots of giggles and stuffing of faces with grapes and delicious sandwiches. 

Camping in Korea - Gangwon Province

We recently bought a little car here in Korea and it has been an absolute game changer. As we live out in the countryside, there is so much to explore, but very few ways of getting there. Having a car has also meant that we can just go off for the day to a new town, to parks, to mountains, lakes and rivers with a picnic, a hammock and of course our little gas stove for tea. We also found a tent and have dipped our toes into camping in Korea.

Camping here is very different to camping back home in South Africa. Koreans like to camp in parking lots, close together, no wait, scratch that, on top of each other. They don't mind not having a view and they certainly don't mind listening to whatever their neighbour has blasting out of their portable sound systems. That is completely not our scene, and so our recent camping trip up north to Gangwon province had us driving around for hours in search of peace and quiet (and a little shade). We finally settled on an old abandoned road (it was the smoothest surface we could find that had space for the tent and that was close to a stream) and it turned out to be the perfect spot. The road was closed off (little Cherry, being light weight and the size of a sandwich, was able to squeeze through the barriers - probably very illegal) and we found ourselves alone, with privacy and a flowing stream for my avid fisherman hubby.

Numerous cups of tea, plenty of relaxing and cooling off in the stream led to a wonderful camping trip. 

Our iphones and their navigation system were life savers, especially as we were only able to leave work at 6pm and only got to Gangwon province at 11pm. They showed us each camping site in the area (most of which were abandoned with no toilet facilities) as well as showing us small, farming roads which we were able to navigate around to find the ideal place to set up tent. We spent our first night just outside the town of Jecheon and then settled on the abandoned road somewhere along the river, north of Pyeongchang.

Driving here in Korea has been remarkably easy to adjust to. The roads are pretty well sign posted (although a lot of the time only in Korean) and the toll charges for our little Matiz are extremely low. 

Photography Styling Challenge {Personal}

First a little apology, I nearly a week late in posting my photographs for this challenge. This months theme, Personal, is the last instalment in the monthly photography styling challenge created by Redesigned by M. Life just got away with me (doesn't it always) and I am only posting my photographs for this challenge now.

The photographs cannot be edited, and only a maximum of five images may be posted (always difficult for me, as I can never choose which ones I want to display!). My first submission was for Morning {click here} followed by Bedroom {click here}, Order {click here}, Patterns {click here}, Fashion {click here}, Light {click here} and Living Room {click here}. Each theme or concept is open to interpretation by the photographer, and it has been really interesting seeing how each of us have handled the themes in our different ways. 

I wanted to share with you a little more of what I have been doing in my spare time for this personal theme. I met a wonderful new friend (Storm) who shares my passion for photography and beautiful images and we have been meeting up to create styled photography scenes (using our friends as models). We have done two so far (click here to see more of the photographs) and we just finished up a third one last week. This time a late afternoon, beach picnic shoot a short drive from my little town here in South Korea.

I used the following settings on my Nikon d300s & 35mm 1.8 lens:

-ISO 400

-Aperture of 9

-Shutter-speed 1/250

-I had my white balance on shady

The weather was changing constantly while we were shooting, and I wasn't quick enough with my white balance (well actually, I was too distracted with getting my angles and composure just right that I started neglecting my settings). I try not to focus so much on getting my settings 100% correct (some of my photographer friends out there are probably cringing right now!) as I feel touch ups can be done later in an editing program (I use Adobe Lightroom), but creating the actual picture cannot be done at a later stage. Anyway, I plan on editing the images in a slightly different way that is my usual style, this time trying some film textures and edits. So I had this in mind the whole time while shooting, and so I am not that happy with these photographs as they are, raw and unedited. But, it was a lot of fun frolicking in the waves and eating the sandwiches once we had finished shooting.

As always I would love to know your thoughts, please do leave me a comment below.

Enjoy

x

Make sure to check out the other particiapnts in this challenge:

At The Corner Of Happy And Harried, My Food Tapestry, Inge Kathleen Photography, The Delicious World Of Chefette Spicy, A Tree Grows in the Bayou, I Live Under A Rock, Hooked On Homes, Samta Photography, Miss Wang Photography, SimplyVegetarian 777, Coconut Craze, Redesigned by M