The Book of Awesome!

Hello 2011!

I have to admit that I didn't make any official New Years Resolutions this year. It just seems kind of silly and I don't know anyone who has ever kept a resolution throughout the entire year.

But, I do understand the concept. A turn of the calendar page to the new year offers a fresh start for many people...a reason to take that extra step to get out for that morning run. I just had my fresh start a little earlier in the year. Instead of using New Years, I actually made my resolutions back in August when Mike and I moved to Seoul. With this type of move and the big change for us, it brought so many opportunities for me to experience all of that stuff I was too busy for at home. I decided and resolved to take this time I had to experience life! I think I have acheived some steps towards that so far, but know there is so much more...

With all of that cheesiness aside, today I found a book that really resonated with me and my resolutions for this year and I wanted to share it with you. It is called The Book of Awesome. I have not read the entire book and cannot claim that it is earth shattering information, but gosh...it makes sense. And for me, it leaves me with this urge to go out and DO SOMETHING! I feel energized, empowered and happy.

The Book of Awesome is written by a normal guy (although from Canada) that had crap happen in his life and he needed an excuse to wake up every morning, so he started a blog called 1000 Awesome Things...it became hugely popular and years later...here it is as a Top Selling Book. The part that I like...he reminded me of all of the awesome things I experience here everyday in this new world in Seoul. Some things leave me feeling like a 3 year old again while other things bring me to tears in laughter. I have this unbelievable experience of living in a whole new country across the world and having the time to experience it all. I want to soak it all in...and hopefully share a bit with all of you out there too!

So, no better time to start than now. Totally and completely stealing the Book of Awesome Idea, I thought I would share some Awesome things about Korea with you. It won't be every post, but as they come to mind. I hope you enjoy! And if you feel like sharing some awesome things back...I would love it!

I thought I would start with one of the first Awesome things I experienced here in Seoul:

Awesome Things about Korea #1: Paris Croissant!

Yes. I said Paris Croissant in Seoul. I have no idea if this is a phenomenae across Korea or just in Seoul, but the city is flooded with French Pastry Shops with names like Paris Baguette and Paris Croissant. It is my downfall. I have been to Paris and the pastries don't get much better...that is, if you like food.

Everyday, you can see the pastry chefs making fresh pastries that morning. This is no removing frozen pre-prepared goods from wrappers and defrosting or microwaving them. (I won't say who I am talking about Starbucks!!) These are fresh baked butter croissants where every buttery layer flakes off in your hand and melts in your mouth. They have cinnamon buns that would put Cinnabon in your local mall out of business. They have muffins and cookies, apple pies and blueberry whachamacalllits. It is delightful!

It is a wonderful day to stop in...get a great cup of cofee, a butter croissant and sitting on their plush couches with fluffy pillows and read all of the world news on my iphone via their free wifi. What a great world!

Thank you Korea for introducing me to French Pastries!

The cakes are amazing and so intricately decorated.

Rows and rows of pastries.  There are some red bean and
sweet potatoe pastries I am sure did not come from France.



Butter croissants, chocolate croissants, baby croissants,
almond croissants...need I say more.



Just in case you were wondering...I don't even feel guilty eating one of these. Paris Croissant is part of why I keep running here in Korea :-)

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year from the Onofrays!

Since we didn't send Christmas cards this year...here it is!

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!

We miss you dearly and hope that you have a wonderful holiday spending it with those you love.

P.S. This is our last post before we hit the beaches of Thailand. Cooking class in Chiang Mai for my birthday tomorrow :-)))

What happened to cheddar cheese flavor?

Frito Lay has successfully developed products to meet the pallet preferences of Koreans. One of yoru thier most famous products, Cheetos, comes in a wonderful BBQ Steak flavor.

Yum? well, not the cheddar cheese flavor that stains your fingers fluorescent orange, but good enough. It is growing on me.

Next time you are in Seoul, check out the snack aisle and you will also see Shrimp flavored snacks!

Siberian Winds....Ahhh!

Yes, Siberia is not that far from Korea, in terms of air masses. Check your world map again. I had been warned that the Siberian Winds from the northwest will create very cold, windy days here in Seoul in the winter.

Until last week, I thought "so far, so good!" 30-40F is completely bare-able and actually enjoyable. But, Tuesday and Wednesday last week brought 18F with Siberian Winds that made it feel like 4F.

Now, for those Michiganders who love the cold weather and think I am a wuss right now, please take this time to reconsider your judgement. In Michigan, 4F is only felt as you dash between buildings, cars, retaurants and food stores. In Seoul, no car for me means I walk everywhere and there is no way to escape the winds, especially with the tall buildings that block the sun. I am not complaining, just validating.

So, you may wonder how I plan to survive...bundle up like Randy's little borther in A Christmas Story...what is his name? Does anyone every remember his name?

Here is my checklist:

• warm wool hat
• large wool scarf that you can wrap around your face twice
• wool mittens that thansform into gloves to allow you to have access to your fingers without taking off your gloves (necessary for getting your subway pass out or picking up Maddy's droppings!
• Long down coat...could use a longer one than I have now to help cover more of my butt :-)
• Thermal underwear (not shown), but for 5,000 KRW (~$4), you can get these wonderful long underweat with fleece on the inside. Let me know if you want some and I will stock up and bring back to the states. They would be great skiing attire.
• UGG, warm fuzzy lined boots with smartwool socks underneath
• iphone with headphones (not shown), but necessarry for entertainment. A lesson I learned by almost getting hit by a car...walk the streets of Seoul with only one headphone in your ear, because if you don't, a car, scooter, bike or ajima will surprise you. No "pedestrians first" law here.

Maddy gets bundled as well. She is not happy about this.



I know we both look like fools, but I am convinced that this is a better strategy for sustaining health than mini-skirts and high heels, which are so preferred by Korean women. More power to them!

You will also be happy to know that this weather only lasted 2 days and now we are back to 40F, sunny days here in Seoul. Until next time...

Express Bus Terminal...take me away!

So, Express Bus Terminal is the marvelous place of endless possibilities here in Seoul...

• you can get one of hundreds of buses to take you around the city
• you can get one of three different subway lines
• you can go to Shinsagae Department Store (Nordstrom equivalent here) and better yet, Shinsagae Food on the bottom floor with the most marvelous selection of all kinds of food, desserts, wines, teas, western food, and a cafeteria to get it all fresh
• you can reach Central City which has every American Chain available here in Seoul, including Krispy Kreme, TGIFridays, Dunkin, etc
• a book store that sells exhorbitantly high-priced western books...of which I have spent way to much money on Lonely Planet travel books :-(
• and...leaving the best for last...miles of underground shopping where you can buy anything from deodarant to bedroom furniture! Seriously...ANYTHING!

So, after picking up a pair of black pumps for $10 there, I journeyed down to the other end of the Express Bus Terminal to select som plants for our apartment. Mike has been requesting that we spruce the place up a bit and plants are good for your chi, (Gi for Koreans) right?

So, here are our new additions. Great thing about Korean customer service. Picked them out about 4PM yesterday and they were delivered at 8:05PM last night...now that is service. Seriously, US companies would never survive here!

Maddy loves the heated floors...

For those of you who have been reading our blog from the beginning, you'll know that our apartment is heated from the floors. Just over the past few weeks, we have had to turn on the heat and are learning that heated floors get some "hot spots."

Maddy, our "sun dog" who loves basking in the sun, has managed to find the hot spots...and one is right under the desk. I have to be careful not to roll over her. Nice to have some company in the office though.

Winter Hiking at Dobongsan

Mike, me, and two guys from GM North American, Scott and Mark all decided that Saturday morning in 27 degree weather was a good time to go back to Dobongsan and hike up the mountain.

Mike and I had hiked Dobongsan before in the summer, but it seems that we never take the same trail. With the mixture of Korean and English, I think an English map that is wrong and lots of un-marked forks in the trail, we managed to end up on what I will refer to as the "expert trail" or the "this is F---ing crazy" trail.

Here in Korea, switch-backs don't exist in the vocabulary, so everything is straight up! This was just the beginning of the elevation.

And here come the beginning of the treacherous parts....hang onto that tree Mike because one wrong step and you are tumbling down that mountain...oh, and watch for the patches of ICE!

Yes, those are chains and we had to almost hoist ourselves up along the side of the mountain...Scott was making his way up.

This is where I stopped. Probably only 20 minutes from the peak, after 3 1/2 hours of hiking, but this section looked scary.  Here are Mike and Scott hanging onto cables, scaling the cliffs...

GM folks reach the top...

Jen waits just below... not so bad of views from where I was.

Mark even found some time to meditate while on the mountain.

If you are visting Seoul, you can reach Dobongsan easily using the subway (line #1 or line #7). Mike has a great map to get you there. It is an hour ride from downtown Seoul and really is a beautiful place.  Leave plenty of time though, as our trek started about 9AM and ended about 3PM...slightly longer than expected. We did get some great news at the end...oh, we found the steps!! There are steps you can take instead of scaling rocks...trick...you need to find the steps.

I am looking forward to the gradual switchbacks of the States...