Tofu and Skin Care

Yesterday I spent couple of hours surfing the internet fulfilling my curiosity about skin care remedies 

moving from one page to another not being convinced enough to try home treatments I thought to myself who is a role model of silky fair skin? 

If you seek google help all you will get is a bunch of lost answers and others depressing and giving it back to something we don't YET have control over "Genetics" 

I'm not a beauty expert but I can tell when something is not good for the skin and so this is what I noticed :

■ The genetics of korean people plays a huge role in making their skin the way it is however, it doesn't mean they have better skin than other people either. if you don't take care about your skin you will have a bad one whether you are a Korean or not

■ Food differs a lot from what we eat here. Most of the time the skin is a mirror what you digest.

I really adore the Korean diet, sometimes without noticing you eat more than 5 different kind of vegetables in one meal! 

Not just vegetables even relying on seafood that provides the skin with fatty acids plays a big deal.

and of course you know how koreans are soooo into

■ relaxing in Jjimjilbang(찜질방) public bathrooms with multiple rooms from heated to ice cold ones all help the skin remove its toxics ! :D

■ and theres also water consumption, most important tip I usually forget about :/

anyways on one meal a beauty secret was revealed from a male colleague - yup shame on me as a girl lol -

Its asia's most famous vegetarian dish

Tofu 두부!

I did know what tofu is before going to Korea but never cared enough to look for it nor try it at home
Tofu is bean curd; all natural from beans to beans
a very rich source of protein that has many health benefits including reducing ageing and giving elasticity to the skin, low calories and fats ! seems interesting huh ?

I remember going to a Korean village and watching the long process of making Tofu and participating a little which made me appreciate this food more! :D

I was determined to eat tofu again and thus I went out looking for one in my small city of Al Ain
and luckily I found three packets only in carrefour from which two were in bad storing conditions :/

hahaha ignoring the rest, here is the tofu from the imported food section !

for people used to rich spices Tofu might be weird and dull so you don't have to eat raw tofu you can simply add it to different recipes or simply season it with spices like the Koreans

so ya thats basically it for now I will be having spoons of tofu daily for a while and see how it goes :D

Have a good day !
Amna

Art Work: The Cherry Blossom

Finally I was able to collect enough inspiration to finish my piece after a long sleep

I'm so ashamed of myself for ditching art and always delaying only an hour of concentration per day

so I got myself a sketch book and here I am done with my first sketch

Nature inspires me here in Korea that I decided to try shifting my drawing subject from exhausting human portraits to Nature and Still life

I guess the trip to Seoul Museum of Art was of a help to push me forward, The museum is a small with couple of exhibition and study halls and there is no admission fee to encourage people to come and get artistically educated, love it !!

Anyways one of the permanent exhibitions was "The Spirit of Chun Kyung Ja" and below few of her inspiring paintings

Chun Kyung Ja famous Korean female artist who wondered the world for the sake of art

This lady traveled to many countries back in the 70s & 80s ( before the development of Korea), she was brave enough to go to far islands and dangerous African countries and came back with rich art collection

later in Korea she donated about 90 paintings to the Museum !

The circus: seems like a dull sketch but the sense of life is absent with a deep look at all members..

Page 22 of My Sad Legend

Back to my sketch I was wondering what to call it since it comes as a package of emotions

so lets keep it simple, allow the artists to analyze the emotions behind it and say 

"The Cherry Blossom"

25th of September remarks a very dear experience that blossomed in my heart like beautiful korean cherry blossom

It was breath taking, soft and sweet that I didn't want time to ruin it..

I'm happy with the result I want to build a collection and open my own art exhibition back in my country one day. It may be hard as I don't study art and don't practice it as a full time job but that goal is not impossible right now that I saw other artists work. The cook will need a bit more practice, patience and ambition. Lets see :)

Peace,

Amna

Pepero Day 빼빼로데이 ~♥

Happy Pepero Day~ !

One of the exciting events around Korea is Pepero Day on 11th of November xD

Pepero is the most famous chocolate covered biscuit sticks snack in Korea since 1983 made by Lotte

The day became an annual celebration for lovers and friends to exchange Pepero snacks (Just like valentines day)

I'm not sure who invented that day but the day 11/11 looks like Pepero sticks and thus that day from every year was allocated to celebrate Pepero

The joy is not only shared among love birds but definitely extends to the marketing team of Pepero company

YOU CAN'T IMAGINE 

the huge amounts prepared a week ago and the giant sizes that are specially made for this event !

Huge Stand At Lotte Mart~

Another Small Stand ~

I've never seen Pepero sticks this huge~

HUGE PEPERO ~

Some bakeries too serve their own homemade huge Peperos  which are more delicious than market ones and got me all excited to prepare them when I get back home

My Korean friend's friend made this at home ! so perfect so yummy ~

I got myself ready for that day but not buying Pepero from 7eleven convenient store for a week! < - - too confident that someone will give her pepero

and yesssss I got pepero~ 

hehe~ *blush*

ok so I got a lot of Pepero to eat and a laundry to catch

again 

Happy Pepero day everyone !

>‿‿◕

Amna

Fun and Dogs Cafe - Ansan, Korea !

So it was Friday !

or as my Korean friend calls it "FIRE Friday"

we skipped work for today and thought its time to take a break from all the stress

I'm really in love with dogs ever since my childhood and in Korea dogs are more seen than cats in the streets

I don't know why but you can notice that unlike western people; korean people rather get a small cute dog instead of big sized ones

 and I was like "awwwwww you cute sweet lil huggy puppy ..*ciphered text* "

so my lab partner introduced me to a new sort of cafes in Korea called dog cafes ( there also exist cat cafes however dogs are more active and much interesting than cats he says )

so I asked him to take me there and although I thought it must be only in Seoul; Ansan had few around too !

it was raining that day and we had to hold the map and walk around few blocks till we found the place. You know how in Korea one building has multiple shops so you have to search carefully and look up for a sign or so


anyways when we went through the door I totally got a fright as I've never seen such number of dogs in one place and they started barking at once !! xD I literally almost jumped on my friend hehe ~!

but then the owner calmed them down by a plastic hammer lol and they were sniffing us from everywhere and I let them do it cuz it the dogs way to get to know a new person 

Pic of the place

when we got to the table I said to my friend "you know I don't feel like having anything .." *dogs were jumping on our laps and sofa from all directions xD*

they dogs were so friendly and happy to see people !

my bad luck got me to play with a small naughty puppy, he was uncontrollable and bit my hand lightly then got to tease his mother xD

Trust me taking this picture was so hard and he's not as innocent as he seems xD !

The menu was quiet interesting you get a page with the family tree of the dogs in the cafe. it also included their name, gender, age, favorite games and the words they understand !

앉아 ~! ( sit down ) xD

another page for services you can give to dog like giving bath, haircut or coloring but it was a bit expensive ! around 50,000\ = 45 USD = 165 AED

Family tree

The place also allow dog owners to bring their own dogs and let them enjoy the company of other dogs while enjoying a cup of coffee 

One Korean girl's cute puppy ~! ♥

My Bodyguard, 4 years male doggy who barks when other dogs get close hehe~

and here a video of how the lady owner communicate with them, they were so excited cuz she had snacks hehe~

I never had so much fun like this before in a long time, it was the childish kind of fun and the too much excitement got us dead tired later in the movies lol

I, now really believe that Pets bring joy to their owners

but it is really difficult for me to get a pet as it needs too much care and responsibility all the day :(

wish we can have such cafes in my country. maybe cat cafes will get most approval as our culture is not that welcoming to raising dogs indoors

Peace,
Amna

Make it home !

Hello all !

first thing first, this post is my flag that indicates a start of my new life in Korea and an honor to the efforts I paid so far to settle down as an exchange student 

three days ago I arrived to the Hanyang University dormitory all exhausted and had one hour to spend till my orientation 

the dorm was a bit of a shock as I was used to different environment n standards and well.. I never were a dorm student since my university is in my hometown 

and the rain was really heavy from the airport to the end of the day I felt like I wanted to take a taxi back n book a ticket back to UAE even if it meant to spend a night in the airport 

being the only Arab is this university's history made it a lot worse

 (while the korean supervisors were rlly happy to have me - how sweet - ) cuz everyone else came with a friend or a group he/she belongs to and so I couldn't left myself up

I kept praying that things would get right for me and made a huge mistake by calling my mother at that miserable state !

if there's a lesson I learned from this harsh start is to always be patient, stop crying and see where it goes !

and few more minutes is what I needed in order to meet some awesome guys from Singapore & Japan who helped me feel so much better on my first day :)

Around campus looking for dinner and translating menus in streets !

and just when I thought life can't get any better, second day I met the Pakistani society in the university !

they were so nice to cook me dinner and tell me not to worry about halal food as it is available everywhere

Pakistani dinner: Chicken curry and roti  :D

I was surrounded by good people but there was another issue, once I'm separated from them I feel lonely and sad again in my room I thought it was time that I needed but ..

 

 One of my closest people said .."Make it home!" and that's what I had to do I gave up on crying, unpacked my bag, cleaned the room and asked for internet connection, organized the books I brought along and suddenly it felt like my own private heaven = ) 

Yes my lil place feels like home now :)

so right now I'm really blessed and I keep praying and thanking allah for all the little things I never appreciated back home ..

I'm thankful to have a good health, good feet to carry me everywhere, good budget, good people, good technologies and of course good friends and family who didn't forget about me = )

its already 2am and I think I should go to sleep now, tomorrow I'm hitting ansan city market and I need my energy to walk ! ^^

Peace,

Amna

Hello Korea Event - 한국 안녕

 한국 안녕 ~!


Sunday 13th of May 2012, UAE University Korean club "Arrirang" celebrated a day for korean culture named " Hello Korea"

As being a student of the basic korean class our task was to attend and do the following assignments :
1- Test your language and talk to Korean people
2- Try Korean food and write a paragraph about it
3- Take pictures !

Cultural customs and accessories:

 loved the light red shoes !

cute dolls

Korean calligraphy section by my Korean teacher



hehehe~!

YES I tried wearing the Hanbok!! - traditional Korean dress -
 so elegant although it wasn't on my size ( so short n tight lol ) 
the prices for one Hanbok differs according to the material used and the number of layers folded in the skirt, it can be a light Hanbok like the one we tried or more formal and expensive one to be worn in weddings and important events

As for the price it is approximately between 500-1000 DHS for the light Hanbok  :)

 = = = = = =

The food was the most exciting experience! we finally got to try what we saw in Dramas n learned about in books and I'm glad to know that I found most of the food edible and filling which is a good sign for losing weight and surviving for going to Korea :p

The beautifully arranged Korean dishes

the sushi-like rolls in the back is "Kimbap", it was kinda tasteless but the weed is much better than the japanese sushi !!! the stuffing was okay as well ( cucumber, egg, carrot, radish ..etc)

in worst case scenario, I can live on the delicious egg rolls in Korea :P
I want to learn how to make neat rolls like theirs !

The red pickled vegetables is the most famous side dish of Korea, " Kimchi " ! it has a strong garlic smell with vinegar. The kimchi we tried is much lighter than the real one but my advice, don't eat it as a main dish ! its better to have it with rice or meat x__x

can't wait to try the real thing in Korea ! 

Japchae is like Chinese noodles in sesame oil, didn't like its oily taste but it was fine

Yubuchobap is bread stuffed with rice, sweet almost like desert.

  

Dukbokki is rice cake cooked red hot pepper sauce, it is supposed to be so hot but the cook reduced the spices for students to handle it. I love spicy food so it wasn't spicy for me at all xD

The day was 대박 (awesome) !!
Although I couldn't express my true feelings about it in Korean I'm sure our teacher felt the joy in our faces :)

I still find it unbelievable that I'll be traveling to Korea alone in less than two months and for 10 days, I'll have to study harder to make this opportunity unforgettable :)

but as for now Amna needs to sleep people

안녕히 주무십시요 Have a Good Night

 :3