Even though I know logically there are lots of food that are hard to get in Korea, especially if you live in the countryside, my brain seems to love dreaming about them. And for some reason I’m reveling in an avocado and sour cream shower… strange because I don’t always eat those foods together.

I’ve heard people say that their avocado experiences in Korea have always been disappointing so it’s one of the reasons why I don’t really try. In Australia I’d eat them almost every day, so I think chasing that past life may just make me homesick while trying to come to terms with a bad quality avocado.

However, sour cream is obtainable in Seoul so I may try to bring some of that back to the countryside.

But it seems that the longer I go without some of my favourite foods, the more ridiculous the dreams get. What ridiculous food dreams have you had?

Today is Memorial Day in South Korea. It is for commemorating and honouring those who have given their lives for their country.

Read more here.

It’s also time remember that the Korean War never officially ended. We aren’t just commemorating fallen soldiers from long ago wars, but also remembering those who have died recently while protecting their country. Soldiers are still killed in skirmishes with North Korea and in military service accidents.

Thank you Micheli!

(Selca is Konglish for taking a self portrait).

This happened the other night when we were at a Korean restaurant. There was a couple sitting next to us and the guy seemed to be putting on a show about his masculinity, but as soon as the girl left to go to the toilet he pulled out his phone and was taking cutesy selcas! Tough guy image destroyed. She never saw it though because he was back to his masculine self when she came back.

Okay new video!

We’ve been meaning to show some videos of the meet up in Seoul for a while but never had time to edit anything together.

Hello to everyone we met!

Always the optimist. He doesn’t play an instrument or anything… he just has a decent voice. Though… he could probably write better English lyrics than SM Entertainment…

Mr Gwon does have a grumpy, bossy side, and it does come out occasionally.

I get annoyed at the same plot line used in a lot of Korean dramas where they guy is really rude and bossy to the girl until he eventually realises he loves her. It is used way too much. I really don’t like it when the girl is really submissive as well and responds to his dumb requests like “Meet me here!”, “Bring me coffee!” etc etc. I usually don’t put up with it and just laugh when some of those behaviours occasionally come out in my husband. He always denies that he was acting like a Korean drama guy later, but he knows it!

Okay so why would someone ask something like this? Because it actually happens a lot here. A lot of fake marriages for visas happen. Of course my husband was offended that his co-worker assumed that his marriage was fake, because there are lots of love matches too where people end up with residency as well.

When we were putting our visa together we had to have soooo much evidence, it was very invasive and time consuming. And while we were doing it I was constantly reminded that we had to show so much evidence because of the people who have fake marriages.

So why do people do it? Some people just desperately want to live in Australia and some people just will do anything for money. A friend of mine knew a guy who was in his 20’s but paid a 40 year old Australian woman to marry him. We know  of lots of other incidents as well. It makes me angry and frustrated that those people who do it just make it harder for everyone that is in a genuine and committed relationship.

Because immigration has the huge job of sorting through partner visa applications, trying to decide which is real and which is fake, it takes longer for everyone and basically those with genuine relationships have their lives are on hold while they wait.

I honestly don’t know how people manage it. You get reviewed after 2 years and have to prove you are in a committed and ongoing relationship, but somehow people manage to fake it.

In conclusion, it’s not nice when people assume that because I’m an Australian woman that my husband must have paid to marry me and our marriage is a sham.

I hope anyone who has seen our blog can see our relationship is very real

Oops. Okay now I know. So the word for pumpkin in Korean (호박) can mean ugly… so don’t use it as a pet name!

Besides from ‘baby’ sometimes, we don’t usually use English terms of endearment. We usually use the Korean ‘jagiyah’.

What about you? Do you have a pet name for your partner? Anyone have any weird ones?