My 1st Korean Restaurant BiWon

Hi everyone, I feel like I've been very distracted from the blog lately....I just don't wanna bring all my saddness and worries over here...so Sorry for my random blogging.

Anyway... Last week I realized I never wrote about my 1st experience in a Korean Restaurant, the very 1st time I tried Korean food was with the people I love the MOST -My mom and
my sister-  they were always very supportive with me when my Korean-Crush started and I still feel they continue doing it, only my mom is now doing it in a whole different level...

It brings me happiness (and some tears) to think about that 1st time at the Korean Restaurant... it was sunday and I honestly don't remember how we chose that one but it was definitely
the right choice, the place is quite big, clean and one of the "prettiest" Korean restaurants I've visited in Mexico, plus they have very decent prices, I mean being able to eat a whole
meal for $100 Pesos ($10,000KRW-$10USD) is a pretty good deal when talking about "international" food in Mexico.

The 1st time we went there each one ordered a Dish but if I may say...the thing I was most excited to try was the Kimchi...I have read about Kimchi before, I have a book with different
kinds of Kimchi and well... it's Kimchi one of the 1st things you learn about Korea is Kimchi, right?

My mom ordered a Haemul Pajeon (Korean Seafood Pancake), my sister had the Bibimbap and I had Yukaejang (Spicy beef soup).

The Kimchi... I knew I had to be cautious because of the strong taste... but my mom adventured to try it in a second (aww!!), it was garlicky and spicy...I can handle Spicy but Garlic is
something I wasn't very used to...my sister? well she didn't want to try it really but at the end she did...a small bite but she did it and 3 years later she still can't eat it (lol), after
that 1st Kimchi I just fell inlove with it n_n

Okokokok,,,so back to the Food

The Haemul Pajeon was way to big for me mom so my sister and I had to help her (lol)...I had tried something like that in Veracruz sort of like a Spanish Tortilla but with seafood and less eggs...
I guess she liked it because she had that same dish on a different restaurant and everytime we visited the "Cultures Fair" (each May) she would have that at the Korean Pavilion :)
~Oh mom... how I miss you and your "I'm up for it!!" spirit~

My sister's Bibimbap came with the egg fried of course... she really liked and ate the whole thing (Weird thing is...she almost never finishes her food...) and now that I thinkg about it..it's
weird she never said anything about the Gochujang paste tasting "weird" or something... I'm very proud of you sis :D haha

As for my Yukaejang... I LOVED IT... it is actually the reason why we keep going back to BiWon, specially now that has been raining, it's the perfect stew to have on a cold/rainy day....I don't care
that everytime I have it I leave a new stain on my clothes lol (I'm not very good eating soups).

My top 3 fav dishes here are Yukaeyang, Samgyeopsal (Fresh! not frozen and very yummy for about $15USD) and Bibimbap :)







Besides the great food, the affordable prices and the general atmosphere of the place, I really enjoy going there because it reminds me of my mom :) and I'm glad everytime I go there I go with people
I love (or at least people who really do enjoy Korean Food).

For those reasons... BiWon is one of my fave places to eat Korean Food.

Oh!! I forgot... the Banchan is nothing out of this world but they have one of the spiciest Kimchi's I've tried in Mexico <3

-Gisela V. 

Ps. Here's the address: FLORENCIA 20  DELEG.CUAUHTEMOC.MEXICO.D.F

Mexico

Korean Food in Mexico 6

Restaurant: Chang Won
Location: Florencia 19 Col. Juarez, Cuauhtémoc, D.F
Price Range: 150-300MXP (Per Person)

2 Weeks ago I went for some Korean Food with a friend, it was a Restaurant I've tried before a couple of years ago, to be honest the 1st time I didn't like it very much but on a rainy Sunday afternoon not many places were open so we (I) gave it another chance...

The place is right across the street of BiWon (The 1st Korean Restaurant I visited EVER).
                                      
When we got there the place was almost empty, only 1 table was occupied with 3 Koreans, and so we had the place all for ourself and decided on a table by the window, just when we got seated the waiter handed us the Menu.... Everytime I go for Korean food with someone who dosn't know much about it I recommend Bibimbap because the flavor is not so strong yet is one of Korea's most recognized dish, but my friend wanted something different....something very Korean and so we ordered 김치찌개 (Kimchi Stew), 된장 찌개 (Soybean Paste stew) and 삼겹살 (Thick slices of pork belly).

When we got there I was wondering why the tables were covered, for those of you who have never been to a Korean Restaurant, most of them have a table with an Electric grill... but this time it was covered.... My friend was kind enough (lol) to ask the waiter WHY it was covered and he just said "Because the owner got this portable grill" O_O..... hmmm and WHY oh why did the owner got Portable grills???...that was something we didn't dare to ask because on the inside we were laughing at his first answer... I think it's just waisting money but who knows....

 So... the Food...

The 삼겹살 was frozen so it wasn't that good :( plus we were so into our conversation that we forgot about it and it got cold ...and let me tell you... re-heating it is NOT a good idea (hahah)... I sort of thaught him "how" to eat the 삼겹살 (I'm no expert ok!!) ...for this Dish I would give them 2 out of 5 stars.


You can't go wrong with 김치찌개... it's hot, spicy and an excellent dish for a rainy day :D...By the way I just asked him how the 김치찌개 was and he said "It was good" so I will say 4 out of 5 stars (???)

김치찌개

As for my 된장 찌개 .... it was OK...a bit greasy (don't know why....) and it had clams and I don't like'em very much.... so I didn't eat them so this one will get 3 out of 5 stars

된장 찌개

What I did notice was that portions were smaller thant other places I've been... and I don't complain just because it was smaller but because it was a bit more expensive than...let's say BiWon (By the way... I realized I never actually wrote about this place so I'll do it SOON!) and BiWon is considered one of the "best-nicest" Korean Restaurants of the area. 


As for the 반찬 it was good...everything except for 1 that I never knew what it was... it looked like Kimchi-something but it had the consistency of worms O_O ... we received a great variety plus a very yummy rice... I think it was too much food for the 2 of us but we were there like 2 hours so we had plenty of time to finish almost 
everything :) 

반찬

To be honest... I don't think I'll be going back to that place... I have it 2 chances and non of them amazed me... neither the Food, the Service, the price or the atmosphere ... so Chang Won will only receive 2 1/2 stars out of 5. 

Next time I'll write the review of BiWon (one of my fave places in Korea Town).... I guess I'll have to go back!! Anyone wants to join me?? :D 

-Gisela V. 

2 Months

Tomorrow is my day OFF....
I will be OFF of everything.
Tomorrow is a day to remember my mom (even thou I do it every day)
Tomorrow is a day to do what she liked the most.
Tomorrow is the day I get to listen to my recordings of her singing (If I listen to them any other day I would cry my heart out all the time)
Tomorrow is a day I can only spend with the people I love (Hola Perritow!) and the only one who can fully understand what I'm going through.

Tomorrow will also be the worst day because it will remind me I don't have you next to me anymore :(

The good thing about all this is... Tomorrow is the day we celebrate you ate now in a better place where nothing will hurt you.

Love you Ma!

-Tu Chapis :)

Aegyo - 애교

Aegyo is a Korean word that derives from the Chinese characters "Love (ae)" and "Beautiful (gyo)" and it Means "Cute" in Korean.


Aegyo girls (or boys) act childlike, sweet, cute and inocent infront of others, they can blush at dirty jokes 
and is commonly used to charm that special someone you like.

Boys Aegyo gone wrong.... they creep me out a tiny bit O_o

If you are familiar with Korean culture you know what does Aegyo means, those cute looking girls acting innocent and making sad puppy faces just to get what they want...but this isnt something that only happens in Dramas, it also happens in Real life... 

For what I've read Aegyo is not always something guys are into and sometimes it depends on the girl being aegyo... There are plenty of FAKE aegyo girls just winning at everything trying to be aegyo while there are also very natural aegyo Girls or boys -->









This will be easier to explain with some Videos or pictures... right?

This video is from the popular Girl group SNSD ~ Girls Generation being Aegyo

While I was in Korea I was witness of some Aegyo, most of the time in Coffee Shops or Shopping Districs... I would constantly hear that squirrel-like voice (sort of like mine...but mine is natural lol) saying "Oppa!!!!" the rest I couldn't understand (haha) but after the "Oppaaaaa!!" you can see the guy going to get someting so that would mean the Aegyo worked and the girl got what she wanted haha.

I found a very good video explaining Aegyo and how to achieve it....so Enjoy!

                                             Video credits: http://sweetandtastytv.com/

Korean souvenirs give away!!!! The condition it's pretty simple, Send me your best Aegyo Shot (see contact information here) and the best one will be posted here and will receive a price n_n .... You have until August 1st to submit your picture :)

Hope you guys can get a better Idea on what Aegyo means

-Gisela V.

2nd Korean App Review - Kakao Talk

Hi everyone!, it's time for another Application review (and the last one I believe....), after this I have 2 pending posts, one is about Super Junior and their latest CD (for all of you Kpop fans) and the other one is about "Aegyo" or "being cute" in Korea.
Anyway.... I downloaded KakaoTalk a few months ago, and at first I had no idea how to use it, I thought it was like What'sapp or BB Pin but its actually kinda different because this one you can even use it on an iPad or iPod Touch....good thing if you don't have a smartphone on your hands but still want to be connected!

KakaoTalk is an application for mobile devices that allows its users to send and receive messages including photos, videos, voice messages, URL links, and contact information, both on a one-to-one basis and in groups, all for free (Unlike What'sapp for iphone that is $0.99C), once you download the application you need to sign up for it, you will need a phone number (to receive the confirmation number)  and your email (email address will be used as your ID) You can bring your previous data in case of device or mobile number change.


The good thing about having an ID is that you don't have to give out your number, you can just give your KakaoTalk ID to others and you can block them any time (if needed)

There are a few additions on this app that you might want to try (specially if you like Kpop) like "Plus Friend" this means that you can get the latest news, view videos or pictures from your favorite band or Brand.
(Recently Girl's Generation hit 1 million followerd on KakaoTalk and became the entretainerwith the most number of "friends" on the Application)

Group Chatting with As Many Friends You Want, this is very nice an simple to do, I tried once a group chat on What'sapp and ended up with a weird group that would send me notifications all the time even if I didn't have any new messages :| (luckily this dissapeard when I changed from Blackberry to iPhone)

Another addition to Kakao is your Friend’s Mini Profile, by clicking a friend's mini profile, you can view his photo and status message, put him on your favorites list, chat 1:1, or call him and thanks to my friend Jeffrey I found out about "Kakao Story", basically this is another application, is like a Facebook/Twitter/Pudding.to but in 1 and by using your Kakao Talk ID and miniprofile :| I know it sounds confucing but I still don't understand "Kakao Story" 100%

KakaoStory Profile

There you go, that was my 2nd review and probably my last one since I'm not very good with reviews and I honestly don't have that many applications :P

-Gisela V.
Images taken from www.kakao.com

Korean Smartphone App Review

Hi everyone,

This is one of those rare times when I talk about Technology,  I don't do this very often because well... I'm not so good with technology :( , I do love my computer and my iPhone but it takes me some time to get used to a new gadget... I got it easy (sort of) with my iPhone because I had an iPod Touch for a little while prior to receiving my iPhone and it was thanks to that iPod that I became an APP-addict, there's an App to download Apps? I want IT!!!! haha anyway, let's get to the point of this, today I want to talk about 1 of my favorite apps EVER.

The application is Pudding.to, if you like Instagram, you'll probably like this one, is WAY less hypster than Instagram and most users are Korean, the application is in English and is very user Friendly. Pudding.to was launched in February 2012 and it got very popular in Asia almost instantly, an Average of 47 Thousand Uploads per Day from over 270 Different Cities in the Past 60 Days since its Release.
South America has only 1.6% of the total of users (Yup, we are just a few... :( )

Here's a quick "guide" on how to use this AMAZING app :) (Sorry for the pics, I had to take the screenshots on my own)

Step 1. Open Pudding.to (okokok Step 0.1 is to download the App - Available for iPod/iPhone and Android)

        You'll be shown your Feed with the pictures of your "friends", this is people you know or you can see the Popular feed and start following random people, you can also add people from your twitter and Facebook account.

Step 2. Click on the Camera to either Take a photo or upload one from your Library

Step 3. Select from 1 to 3 (or 4?? lol) pictures and click on Next

Step 4. Edit your picture, you can rotate the picture, put a frame into it and use the different filters to modify the way your picture looks (My personal fave is "I'm 17" because it dosn't change the picture that much :) then click on Next

Step 5. This is my favorite part, you get to choose the mood of your picture, and then "Add a Story" aka Name your photo, you can use Hashtags, if you use a hashtag and then click on that HT you'll be taken to a feed with pictures with the same HT!
        On this step you can also choose if you want to Add this picture to Twitter and Facebook and add "What you are listening to"... another Awesome feature because if you click the song it will take you to a feed with pictures with the same song!

Then you can see YOUR newly updated picture on your Feed :) and if you click on the right corner you'll see your profile

I love the Hashtag and the music features because that way you can find more people with the same interests as you and Follow more people^^

I have another app I would like to talk about but I don't want this to be a LONG post, so I'll do the other app Next time :D

If you have a smartphone and love taking pictures and sharing them, this is the perfect app to do so ;) , unlike Instagram you'll se a great variety of pictures, because let's be honest... 80% of the pictures I see in Instagram are of people food O_O don't get me wrong I LOVE food and love food pictures but there's people who take pictures of a Bag of Doritos they are eating...just add a few filters a "deep" phrase and BAM! an instan success on Instagram.

Hope you get to try this App, let me know if you liked it and what you think of it

-Gisela V.

Volunteering in Korea

I've been either thinking way too much or way too little... I still can't decide ...

But what's constantly on my mind is... you guessed it... KOREA, I thought 2012 was the year of my comeback to Seoul but apparently it isn't :( and I will have to wait until 2013 to accomplish this... the good thing is I might spend a couple of months there (YAAAAAAAAAAAY!!!), I'm super excited, sometimes is the only thing that helps me finish my day :/ 

If you are a regular reader here, you know I want to do some Volunteer work in Korea, not only to Travel but to help others :), and things seem to be working out in order for me (and my sister) to finally do this, you'll see about a year ago I started thinking about it and my online research started with no luck, all the information out there was for US Citizens or Canadians but that didn't stop me and the idea was still on my mind.

I considered WWOOF - World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms until I resently found out there's a change I might have to milk a cow, so.. NO! I'm not disgusted by the process per se, but I'm afraid of Cows and Horses and for a while I thought I was not going to make it, then I thought I could volunteer with The House of Sharing (read about it here) and so I sent them an email and they said that we could work something out once I arrive to Korea and that's how I "met" Shannon (I actually met her when I visited the House of Sharing in 2010) but I ended up adding her on FB and that's how I also read about KUMFA , this is the Korean Unwed Mother's Families' Association and you can do some Volunteer by Babysitting some of the Kids for a few hours or sometimes you can help when they organize fundraisers,etc., but this was another thing to do once you get there because obviously they don't offer rooms for you to stay there or anything...well just the satisfaction of helping others :)

You'll see, I'm not rich (I wish) so, I can not go for 6 months and just wonder around helping others just like that, so I was looking for something more..."stable". and a few weeks ago a friend of mine posted a link on facebook of an International Volunteers agency in Mexico (perfect timing), I contacted them and they have vacancies in Korea, you can stay a few weeks, 3-6 months or even a year and we are considering taking the 3 months plan and then stay another month to do some sightseeing and perhaps more volunteer work with the Halmonis, Kumfa or Plur! (Plur organizes volunteer work in Korea every weekend)

As you know, I've been saying I want to live in Korea at some point of my life, and I feel like spending 4 months there will help me decide if it's really something I want or if it will make me realize that's just not the place for me. Now that I think about it I'm not sure if those 4 months will be enough to do what I want to do, besides the Volunteer work here and there, I also want to travel to a bunch of places in Korea and visit some of the people I've met since 2010 (Online and Offline) and that includes to pay a visit to my friend Jeff who will be openning a Churreria in Busan :) and visit his Brother's recently-open restaurant.... Oh yea and I would also like to visit the cabin of the TBS show where once a month I have a little space to talk about Mexico :), so I'm not sure if those 4 months will be enough :S but I hope so!!!

If you want more information on Volunteer work in Korea you can go ahead and click on all the links posted all over this post :$.

If you are MEXICAN this is the link you want to check out :)

Readers, if you know of any other way to do Volunteer work in Korea, please let me know :) by leaving a comment, tweeting me (@Gisela_Verdin) or sent me an email.

-Gisela V.