Thursday, April 27, 2006

russian bride?

deery-lou.
so i got this email the other day. i love this shit. apparently this russian woman is looking for a husband and i make a good candidate? is she for real? if only she knew...

Hello!!!

How are you doing? My name is XXXXXXX. I am 25 years old. Live in Russia, city Bugulma. I am cheerful woman, and like to do many things as sport, camping, go to the cinema, theatre etc. In a word I like to do all what like all people. I work in marketing structure on sale of cosmetics. My dream this travel abroad. I know the english language well enough.I began to study english language approximately one year ago.I wish tell to you history which have pushed me write toyou. 7 months ago I have got acquainted with the man from other country by name XXXXX. During this time we had good relations. We have understood that our relations become serious and we have decided to meet in his country.I wrote the application for reception the visa. I waited reception of the visa approximately half of year. All time I kept in touch with XXXX through the internet and often called to each other. I and XXXXXXX waited reception of the visa to our meeting. I have received the invitation from the ambassador for reception of the visa.My director has given me long-term holiday from work and I have gone to Moscow to receive the visa. I informed good news to XXXXXX, but he has answered, that does not want our meeting.He played with me. He has informed that has the wife with two children and at all has no plans to meet me. I was not ready to such turn of events. I could not think what even after one year of acquaintance he can so unscrupulously act with me. Now I am in Moscow trip to Moscow and reception of visa. I do not want that all was gone for nothing and will be glad if my visa will be useful to our meeting.I could arrive already through 4-5 days, but a problem in that that now I have no man which would like my arrival. Probable it will silly sound but if you will be interested in a meeting with the good woman I shall like to meet you sometime soon! As XXXXX was dishonest with me I have decided to find the man which is interested to meet the woman from Russia. I do not know your ideas about my letter, but it would be fine if we could meet and have some weeks or months together. On my trip I want to receive rest from my work and a life in Russia. Also the basic purpose for the future it is search good men for serious attitudes which go to a marriage. I have no children, but I want to have children in the future.I am the mature woman and ready to creation of family with good man. I do not know what you really search in the future but if we could meet I shall be happy to discuss with you more about our meeting. What are you
going to do this time? It would be fine if we could meet, do friendship or more than simply friendship. I shall be happy if you also have a free time and we could meet soon. I do not know your interests,but anyhow write to me back and I shall tell to you more about myself. Write to me all that you want. Maybe we have similar plans and it will be interesting to us together.You can write all that you want. Ask any questions which interest you.Write to me back and I shall tell more about myself and send more my photos.

Have a good day,

XXXXXXXX

i hope you enjoy it as much as i did. i guess if my love life never pans out i could always contact her. at least i know i have options now.

be well…

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

…and the song remains the same


deery-lou.
i know i've probably said this a millions times but, my friends rock. i truly appreciate all the comments and e-mails i got in response to my last blog. i definitely needed the encouraging words. plus it helped to know you were there even though i'm on the side of the universe for now. with that said, when i woke up on monday all seemed to be back to normal. my gloomy, i hate everything attitude seemed to disappear like the ice cream in my freezer. my life was back to normal. smiling as i walked down the street, craving korean food, and simply enjoying the spring weather. i think it helped to be able to write it all down. my own therapy. well that and hours and hours of johnny cash. it seems that i can't get enough of the man in black these days. my father use to listen to johnny cash a lot when i was a youngster. but it was only until recently that i actually listened to his music. i think seeing the film helped. and perhaps i never really paid much attention to his music before becasue i associated it with my father. don't get me wrong, i have a good relationship with my father. i most likely assumed that i wouldn't like it. well, i was wrong. thats what i love about life. the ability to discover to new old things. so now that all is fine in my universe its time for me to get working on my photos for the exhibit. i haven't done anything yet.

be fresh, be well…

p.s. thanks adawg. told you i was gonna borrow it. smooches.

Sunday, April 23, 2006

one is not a lonely word...

deery-lou.
usually thats how i feel about things. often i don't mind being by myself. there's something about it thats actually quite nice. however, this weekend i was hit with a new found depression. not really sure where it came from. on saturday i was out in jungang-dong searching for sheets for my new bed. YES!! i got a new double bed. no more twin for this boy. so i'm out shopping. something i usually quite enjoy here in korea. but this outing was much different. as i walked down the busy streets i felt so alien—so alone. everywhere i looked there were couples. couples holding hands, couples eating together, etc. then i realized everyone was asian. and again i felt very alone. i was hungry but yet i couldn't be bothered to go into a restaurant and deal with all the people and the language barrier. there are some days when i just don't want to be bothered. when i got to 2001 outlet it was packed with people. people bumping me, staring at me, and just annoying me for no apparent reason. i rode the escaltor up what felt like 20 floors until i finally found the bedding section. of course i couldn't find what i wanted. mostly because they don't have sheets and fitted sheets here. they have what you call mattress covers. most of which are padded. and then padded sheets. the whole process was pissing me off. it was taking far too much time. i spent 30 mins with the sales lady trying to converse with her. she kept trying to sell me some padded cover for w30,000. which i would never spend that much in the states for a damn fitted sheet. finally i left with no purchases. i decided to stop in at my two favorite stores in that area in hopes of picking up my spirits. my attempt was fruitless. i usually have so much fun in these stores but it felt like such a chore to be there. i did find a few things for friends. nothing for me though. i decided to walk to homeplus to search for lining there. on my way i was going to stop in this shop that ho mentioned awhile back. its in some big building and they are suppose to have a good stationary store. however when i got to the building i just didn't want to deal with searching for it so i left. at homeplus it took me awhile to find the bedding department. they had completely rearranged the store since the last time i was there. i ran into the same problem there. they just don't have bedding like we do in the states. i finally found a mattress cover that was like a fitted sheet. but no bed sheet. the woman told me they don't have them. which makes sense cuz when i got home i looked at my old bed sheet and it was actually a blanket cover. whatever! on my way out i grabbed a delicious chicken wrap and a mini pizza. although when i was trying to buy my wrap it was all in korean and the lady behind the counter had to call someone else over to help her out. these are the times that i get so mad at myself for not being able to read korean better. i couldn't wait to get home and lock myself in my apartment. everything felt like such a chore. i didn't want to see anyone or talk to anyone. i wanted was bad tv. this is the first time since being here that i've felt this blue. and it seems like its for no apparent reason. as much as i love living here there's a part of me that realizes i'll never really truly fit in. i noticed that the bar scene here is quite different than inthe states. when we go out with friends at a bar we generally talk to other people too. it not the case here. friends stick with friends. i'm sure alot of it too is that they are probably afraid to talk to foreigners but it would be cool to go out and meet locals. i just don't see it happening. and on top of everything else i have this cough that just won't go away. wow. its like bitch, bitch, bitch for me right now. sorry guys. i'm sure in a few days i'll be back to normal. whatever that is. there is some good news. i've recently discovered that i can't get enough of korean food. i've been going out to lunch and dinner with young alot lately. its like my body craves all the various sidedishes that are offered. and all i want to do is eat, eat, eat. even today i ran to the sidedish lady and got some kimchi radishes. on one hand there's a part of me thats glad i can't read korean cuz i'd probably be eating out so much. although eating by yourself is never really that fun. even now i can't stop thinking about side dishes. i think i'm going crazy. then there's the whole sex thing. i can't seem to get sex off my mind. everywhere i look i see a ck. its like i have a one track mind. am i destined for a life in sex. perhaps i should become the carrie bradshaw of the g-world. there is a silver lining though. the band that i saw with jenny last year is playing this saturday. they have a new name "the mustangs". its an indie-k band. so i'm quite excited about this. hopefully with their lineup/name change they haven't changed their sound. that would be sad. i believe my buddy chen is going with me. it'll be good to see her. i haven't seen her in a week and realized that i miss hanging with her. she always puts me in a good mood. perhaps its because we are both on the same wave length. all right my friends…

be well…

Sunday, April 16, 2006

happy easter

deery-lou.
its easter sunday here. well…actually for only 30 more minutes. although one really wouldn't know it. shops are vacant of easter decorations and candy. there was no chocolate bunny waiting for me. no easter eggs to find. and no fresh jesus to prepare for. i'm most saddened by no fresh jesus. fresh jesus is held at pevils house. its became somewhat of a tradition amongst our misfit group of friends. the day is spent hanging out, drinking, chowing down on good food, sometimes playing games, and on occasions a visit to the eagle afterwards. one year i convinced pevil to glaze the ham in cherry coke. not really sure why. it was so delicious though. this will be the second fresh jesus i've missed. for some strange reason i'm more homesick this year than last. i'm missing the little everyday things about being in san francisco. the things you sometimes take advantage of. i'm heading to the states this summer for a family reunion. i decided to split the time between atlanta [where the reunion is being held] and san francisco. i'm really looking forward to being in sf if only for a short period of time. so to all my friends who are reading this i will be in town july 31 to aug 6. clear your calendars. and now back to our regularly scheduled program. yeah so its easter and i spent the day in bed eating chocolate turkish delights and fighting off a cold. yes once again i've seem to caught a cold that knocked me on my ass. i'm not sure if its the kids, the constant weather changing, the yellow dust or a combo of all three. but i'm stuffed up, coughing, and my body aches. i actually feel a little better today. i'm just really tired. so what does a boy do about it? watch movies. i watched two music documentaries: the nomi song and dig!. both were really good. i didn't really know much about klaus nomi. i do remember watching urgh! a music war back in the 80s. they had a segment with the nomi band but that was a far as i ever got. never really listened to his music or knew much about him. thats what made watching the documentary so interesting. now i'm completely fascinated by him and his music. hearing him sing is mezmorizing. its like a bizarre dream. in a good way. dig! is a documentary following the brian jonestown massacre and the dandy warhols over a period of 7 years. i've always liked the dandy warhols since seeing them live when i lived in baltimore. it was great to see footage about them. as far as the brian jonestown massacre i never listened to them. i remember hearing their name but never bothered to give them a try. my mistake. i really liked what i heard. they have a new album out which i need to check out. anyway… i started out this blog claiming i didn't get a chocolate bunny etc. however, when i managed to venture to the corner store for some supplies the shop keeper gave me the following easter creature with egg:

my korean easter creature

egg detail

googlely eyes

so i did get an easter basket of sorts. how sweet was that! she babbled to me in korean before handing it to me. i nodded and pretended i knew what she was saying. i like how on the egg all the people are reading the bible. this is going to be one blessed egg i eat. yum-yum.
saturday night was my friend jen's birthday. i managed to get out of bed and make a trek into seoul to help her celebrate. we had dinner at a mediterrian restaurant then headed to brick's bar in the twan. chen thought it would be a good idea to get jen the birthday cake bar special. which was five flaming shots. plus they brought her 3 extra ones on the side. i'm glad for my birthday i had a cake. not sure i could have handled 8 shots. on their shot menu they have a tag line that said something like this: "these are strong. don't punch the bartender". some of the names of the shots were pretty funny, too. the only one i can remember is "stretch your ass and DIE!" i meant to steal the menu but forgot. next time. since i wasn't feeling all that great i only stayed out til 11pm. on the subway home the man standing next to me was picking his nose the whole time. come on!!! do people think they are invisible on the subway. it is not ok to pick you nose. let me tell you, too, he was digging into it like noones business. i finally had to move away cuz it was making me ill.

happy fresh jesus every one!
be well…

p.s. thanks again to chen's mum for the chocolate turkish delights. although at the rate i keep stuffing them into my mouth i'm going to get fat fast.

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

goodbye to 35…

deery-lou.
i spent the weekend leading up to my birthday eating, drinking, and sleeping. on friday night we had a work dinner for all the april birthday's. there were three of us. we went to a kalbi restaurant where the meat is boiled instead of bbq. it actually tastes like a pot roast but much sweeter. it was extremely delicious. i could have kept eating it all night. i managed to keep the drinking to a minimum that night. although i had to do the soju shot in beer to appease the natives. to korean standards it was a early evening. i actually got home by 11 something and immediately went to sleep. i slept so good. it must have been the soju. on saturday i ventured into seoul. i had some errands to run before meeting up with friends. outside it was grossy-gross. the dust from china was thick. almost to the point where i could taste grit in my mouth. i should have bought a mask but i didn't. i went to the art store to pick up a few things then wondered around the underground mall from hell. that place to pure mayhem. i'm not sure why i even went there. it was packed with people and hotter than hell itself. i stayed 15 minutes. i met up with chen shortly after that in the twan. we hung out at a cafe until it was time to head out for dinner. i had a small dinner gathering at my favorite indian restaurant namaste. chen got me a cake. how sweet was that. and then came the embarrassing turn the lights out in the restaurant and sing. it was good times. the cake was like eating a slice of heaven. a chocolate mousse heaven. after dinner it was back to the twan and off to the hill. we hung out there chatting and enjoying ourselves. close to 1am jen and astrid heading off for home while becky, chen, and i went to ff club. i got a membership so i best put it to use. we spent the rest of the night drinking and dancing. by 5:40 am i found myself on the subway heading back to ansan. i got back to my apartment by 7:30 am and crashed until 1 pm. i had absolutely zero energy all day. my eyelids felt like they weighed a ton. i managed to get to the corner store for a 1.5 liter of pepsi. its only 900 won [$.90]. i love korea. spent the rest of the day in bed watching tv.
on monday most of my students wished me a happy birthday. how sweet was that. i even got presents from some of them. of course most of them will not be leaving korea with me. as i was opening them i thought back to all my grade school teachers and how their desks were covered with gifts that looked like they came from the 99 cent store. thats how my desk looks now. especially with the teddy bear in a dress holding a heart-shaped frame and my new love dog snow globe. aside from the dollar store gifts, i did manage to score some cool stuff:

1. fuzzy dalki angel frame [anyting fuzzy rocks]
2. palace story sharp [a sharp is what kids call mechanical pencils. who knows!]
3. a gold elephant [might be to hold jewerly or a very chic ash tray]
4. drinking panda journal [he's drinking alcohol]
5. epik high cd [have no idea what they sound like but liked the cover]
6. pencil chopstick [i really thought they were pencils at first. can u say dumb.]
7. a phone charm with the letters of my name. each letter has fake diamonds. [k-bling]
8. banana fish vol.8, 9, & 10
9. superhero action figures [only later i found out they were for my students. oops. thanks sis]
10. lots of emails + ecards from friends and family [thanks guys]
11. phone calls from the states [misty, mom, and kate. love ya]
12. a pencil case filled with lots of goodies. [i love lots of goodies]
13. a new outfit for amber
14. notes from my students
15. an anime toy i get to put together [it shoots marbles]

my birthday was also filled with one of the hardest workouts in my taekwondo history. kwanjangnim taught the class that night. i thought we'd never stop doing situps. he mentioned that we are going to have harder practices from here on out. can't wait. i finished off the evening meeting young and anna for spicy chicken. it was most delicious. and that wraps it up.

be well…

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

my friend

deery-lou.
it seems like the topic of friendship is on everyone's mind. at least in their journals. here is what jordan had to say on the subject. [i will copy it exactly as it's written].

my friend
today my firend ja-min was cover and sick and today i have no firend. Ja-min is jentle very much. Jamin belt is red black belt. Jamin is my best firend. Jamin is Littele beat fat and He don't like Ta-Konw-Do. He like compewter game and I love [heart]~Jamin.

to all my friends out there i miss you guys.

be well...

the korean wave

deery-lou.
the "korean wave" is at full force. and no i'm not talking about the popularity of korean dramas or musicians that are sweeping their way across the nation. instead i'm referring to the vast majority of korean men/boys who are getting perms or more percisely wavy perms. from my students to my sahbanim everyone is jumping aboard. what is this fascination for hair with texture? i don't know. i'm finding it quite amusing though. this is perhas why i'm asked on a daily basis if i have a perm. curly hair is just not the normal. but thats not stopping them. perhaps this "korean wave" is a way for them to stand out. to set them apart. or simply just wanting something they don't have. as a curly haired person i alway wanted straight hair. i even went as far as getting a "magic straight" last year. needless to say it was a disaster. one of my students, jordan, wrote about his experience with his perm. i believe he's 9 years old. i can never keep track of all their ages. anyway i leave you now with jordan's words:

I Don't like permanent because permanent is for long time.
But permanent is finished I and beautiful.
I like my hair designer.
[typed exactly as written]

be well…

Sunday, April 02, 2006

a weekend of nothingness

deery-lou.
it rained all day saturday which prompted me to not go into seoul and to stay home. i napped, watched tv, and did some more napping. hehe! my life has become one giant routine. does this mean the mysteriousness of a new country has worn off? i hope not. i like to think of it as the last affects of a lingering winter. i have plenty of things to keep me busy these days. hopefully with the coming of spring my motivation will return as well. anyway…to continue with my oh so boring weekend. today i actually managed to finish scrapebook #2. please people hold the applause and the cheers. hehe. this is what happens when one spends the weekend inside. you start having conversations with people that aren't there. so now its on to scrapebook #3 since i still have loads of pictures and crap to put somewhere. its amazing all the little crap one saves but i'm sure in a few years i'll look at these books and be happy that i have them. thats my story for today and i'm sticking to it.

be well…