A Korean speaker practices everyday English while sharing her 2026 life update: renewed fitness goals including pull-ups, a Vietnam trip where she discovered salt coffee, a new puzzle obsession, food poisoning that landed her in the hospital, and plans to vlog Coachella with headliners Justin Bieber and Big Bang.
It's gonna be a blast. I wanna build muscle. This one nailed it. I feel very paranoid. Maranun, Yonggeul, Irgi! Can you believe it's already March? That means the first quarter of 2026 is basically already done. Time is seriously flying by. So today I thought it would be a good time to do a little life update and talk about how 2026 has been going so far. Lately I've been really focused on my New Year's resolutions, especially when it comes to my health and fitness. Health is something that's very important to me, but last year I wasn't as consistent as I wanted to be, so this year I decided to take it a little more seriously. Recently, I started counting calories and tracking my macros for the first time ever in my life. It's not to diet or restrict myself, but to make sure I'm eating balanced meals and getting enough protein. It's actually been really interesting because It makes me more aware of what I'm eating and how it affects my energy. I've also been going to the gym regularly and have become a bit of a gym rat. I want to build muscle, so I've been focusing more on strength training. One of my resolutions this year is to be able to do a pull-up. Just one. I'm definitely not there yet, but I'm working on it. One step I took to help me reach that goal was buying a pull-up bar for my house so that I can practice more regularly. I'm also taking yoga and Pilates classes, which I've been really enjoying. It just It feels good to move my body more and prioritize my health. Another one of my resolutions this year was to do more meetups with you guys. I don't know if this technically counts, but I did a book talk at Kyobo, which was a really special experience. When I meet you guys in person and hear your stories, it really inspires me and motivates me to keep going and to always try my best. I also miss teaching offline sometimes, so getting to meet you face to face felt really meaningful. So a big thank you to everyone who came to the event. I really appreciate it, and I hope to see you again soon. Another great memory so far this year was traveling to Vietnam. It was my first international trip of 2026, and it was a great one. First, I visited Hanoi to see an old friend, and then I time in Phu Quoc with my family. The two places had completely different vibes. Hanoi felt very fast-paced and energetic while Phu Quoc felt slower and much more relaxing. It was so nice catching up with my friend in Hanoi and I loved getting to spend spend some good quality time with my family in Phu Quoc. We made so many great memories together, and now we have a lot of inside jokes from the trip, so it was really great bonding time. I love Vietnamese coffee, and I tried so many different kinds when I was there. I tried egg coffee, coconut coffee, and even yogurt coffee. But my all-time favorite was salt coffee. I miss it so much. One random thing that I've become completely obsessed with lately is puzzles. I've been doing a lot of Sudoku, and I also recently bought a book called Myrtle, which is pretty popular in the US. It's basically a murder mystery puzzle where you have to figure out who committed the crime, where they did it, and what weapon they used. It actually reminds me a lot of the board game Clue. It's so much fun. By far one of the worst parts of 2026 so far was getting food poisoning. I'm not exactly sure what caused it, but I think it might have been from salmon, which is a big bummer because I actually really like salmon, but now I feel very paranoid eating it. I threw up so much and felt so sick that I even had to get an IV at the hospital. On the bright side, while I was recovering from that, I watched a lot of great movies. One that I really want to recommend is called The People We Meet on Vacation. It's on Netflix. I'm not usually a huge rom-com person, and I feel like it's been years since a good one has come out. But this one nailed it. I will say the main character is a little bit of a pick-me sometimes, but the story was really sweet, wholesome, and fun to watch. I laughed, I cried, I applauded. Something I'm really looking forward to is going to Coachella soon. Coachella is a music festival in the desert in California, and it's one of the biggest and most popular music festivals in the US. I'll be a first-timer, so I don't really know what to expect, but I feel like I have a lot of planning that I need to do. The festival is 3 days long and a lot of people actually camp right on the festival grounds, but I'll be staying at a hotel nearby. Justin Bieber is one of the headliners and I'm so excited to see him perform live. Tickets completely sold out this year and a lot of people are saying it's the Bieber effect. And calling it Bieberchella. There are also a lot of other incredible artists performing too. Actually, Big Bang will be there too, so I can't wait to see them as well. I know it's gonna be a blast, so I'll make sure to vlog while I'm there and make lots of videos so we can experience it together. I hope your 2026 has been amazing so far. The weather is finally starting to warm up a little bit, and it feels like a fresh start with the change of seasons. Stay happy, stay healthy, and I'll see you next time. Bye!
