Magic Hair

I have never been a high-maintenance kind of person. I love make up but hate doing my hair. My hair is naturally very thick and pretty frizzy so I usually just put it in a bun or pony tail. Back home I got in the habit of leaving it in a bun overnight and taking it down the next day (less frizz, more curl). But I never felt like it looked that good.

After a few weeks in Korea I got my first hair cut here. It was the best haircut I've ever gotten. She layered it just right, thinned it out so it was easier to manage, not to mention how ridiculously cheap it was! Shampoo, conditioner, cut, blow-dry, and style was only 10,000 won (that's less than $10 USD!).

About 10 months later I started researching the "Magic straight" which is very popular in Korea. It is a way to permanently straighten your hair. All you have to do is walk in to a salon and say, "Magic Pahm-uh" (Magic Perm). It takes a while, so make sure you have a few hours on your hands. So about four months ago, I decided to get it done. I really like it! If I had to do it over I would get the "Volume Magic Perm" because I feel like my hair lacks some body it used to have.

Pros:

• Saves time! I can just shower and leave the house, no need to blow dry or straighten every morning).
• No more frizz! Besides for a few fly-aways, my hair is straight as can be.
  
• Consistency. It's more rare these days to have a "bad hair day."

Cons:

• Sometimes I miss my thick, wavy hair.
• Damages your hair. My hair doesn't feel as healthy as it used to (but actually not that bad).
• Can be expensive. I paid 120,000 won for my Magic Perm (about $100 USD). But I thought about how much a permanent would be in the States and it was a no-brainer.

Here are some pictures of my old hair:

I was looking for a good picture of my new hair but couldn't find much... Incidentally, my camera was stolen recently after I got the Magic Straight. Here's one:

MMMmmm... food....

It's economical, it's fast, it's delicious... it's Korean delivery! There are several reasons why delivery in Korea is pretty much incredible:

• There is no delivery charge
• The food arrives quickly
• No dishes or trash to deal with
• No need to tip (It's not customary in Korea)
  

The most popular kinds of food delivery in Korea are Pizza, Chicken, Chinese, and other Korean (Pig's feet, and stir-fried chicken). My first time ordering was from a Korean restaurant recommended to me by my school. My experience: The delivery man knocked on our door and gave us a huge plastic container with all our food in it. All the food was on real dishes that were tightly wrapped with plastic wrap. It even came with an array of side dishes for free! When we were finished eating, we put all the dishes and trash back into the container. We put the container outside our door, and the delivery guy picked it up later. That's it!

So, in this post I will explain how to order food and get it delivered to your home in Korea. First things first, you need to either know how to read Hangul or have someone write everything down phonetically for you.

You need to know:
1) Your address
2) The name of the food you want to order
3) How many you want
4) The phone number of the restaurant (and your area code)

Ok, let's say you have one of these:
You're going to need to know your area code if you want to call this number. I googled Korean area codes and found "31" for Pyeongtaek and it worked. So I would dial 31-667-4510. Someone will answer and I would say, "배달주세요" (pay-dal-joo-say-yo) which basically means, "Delivery, please." Now, I'm not sure if this is what a Korean person would say (actually, I'm sure it's not) but it always gets my point across. Then I usually hear a "네" (yes). Then I say my address.

Without getting overly technical about addresses in Korea, I will just show an example:
459-813
경기도 평택시 송탄동
200-3 시뉴빌라 108동 403호

Ok, I just made up this address based off the format of my own.
Here it is in English:
459-813
Gyeonggi-do Pyeongtaek-si Songtan-dong
200-3 Shinyoo Villa 108dong 403ho

So you really only need the last line of that. 200-3 is your 반지 (sounds like Pun-jee, it's like your street number). So you would say, "ee-baek dashee sam pun-jee, Shinyoo Billa, Baek-pal-dong, sa-baek-sam-ho" Ok, that might not make any sense to anyone...

Then you can ask for what you want to order! With the menu above I could say, "생선까스 하나, 하고 새우까스 하나 주세요" (Sang-sun ka-suh hana, hago say-oo kah-suh hana joo-say-yo). Which means, "One fried fish order, and one fried shrimp order, please." Then you can just say Thank you! You should see your food within the next 3o minutes!

Another cool thing is that they save your phone number and address. So if you ever call again you shouldn't have to say your address all over again.

Good luck!

Plain Yogurt in Korea

Sometimes it seems sugar is in EVERYTHING in Korea. Things you would never imagine putting sugar in. The spaghetti sauce here is sweet, even garlic bread from Paris Baguette. The first time I saw black beans as a side dish for my school lunch I almost literally jumped for joy expecting the savory Mexican spiced beans I'm used to from California. I took a bite and --what the?? Sugary, sweet black beans. Sigh. It happened the first time I bought yogurt here, too. I bought some yogurt labeled "plain" only to bring it home and find something that tasted like the yogurt from the Fruit 'n Yogurt Parfait at McDonald's. So, I had to take my chances until I finally found a couple brands that are actually plain. So plain in fact I could use them as a sour cream substitute in burritos (because we all know how hard it is to find sour cream in Korea). So, without further ado, here they are:

Be careful with the Activia one... They have a "plain" and a "Non sweet Plain." Look on the side to make sure which one it is!