dear diary–
have you ever had one of those days where you simply feel blue for no apparent reason? maybe its the effects of the lingering cold that won't seem to go away. maybe its the never-ending winter season. the strange thing about it is that you know you are feeling this way but you can't simply shake it off. one of the first cards i got was from misty. on the front was a poem about blu. i saved the card and it now hangs on my wall. i'd like to share it with you:
blu
blue is teh color of a mood.
blue is simply a color
blue rhymes with true. blew. and you.
blue is an idea.
blue wonders about red.
blue feels the feeling of sad.
blue can be measured in nanometers
blue is an adjective (a blue mood)
blue is a state of being.
blue is the space between things
(like the sky)
blue is a sound.
blue is a shape.
blue takes you high.
blue takes you low.
blue is a depth.
blue is me.
without you.
o, blue.
be well…
Thursday, March 10, 2005
Tuesday, March 08, 2005
what would brie vandercamp do?
dear diary–
last month horace invited the gang from school over to his house for dinner. it seems that they are quite interested in seeing our apartments and how we live. he made them a pasta dinner. it was on a friday so i missed out on the dinner since i had taekwondo and went afterwards for some beers. now its my turn. i told them i'd invite them over this month. my problem is that i have no idea what to make. obviously pasta is out. seeing that my kitchen consists of two burners, a frying pan, and a small pot my options are limited. if only i had a oven. my first thought was to make hamburgers but i really don't feel like frying them in a pan. then i thought about a mexican fest but that means trying to find refried beans and shells. which lead me to think about tiny sandwiches with the crust cut off. i feel like i'm at a loss. trying to plan an american meal in korea is tough. this leads me the the question what would brie vandercamp do? she'd have no problem coming up with a great dinner party theme with limited resources. since i can't really ask brie i thought i'd pose this same question to those of you reading my diary. if any of you have any great and simple ideas i'd love to hear them. the date i have in mind is march 24. that gives me two weeks to figure it out. speaking of cooking. there's this sweet potato noodle dish that they serve here which is very tastey. i was asking some of the teachers how to make it. they all looked at me like i was crazy saying "its too hard". being the stubborn person that i am i told them that it can't be too hard and now i found myself with the burdon of actually having to make this dish. and worse of all is that they all want to try it. its even gone as far as jane's friend, who's a home economics teacher, actually buying me the noodles since i kept telling them i couldn't find them. how to i get myself into these messes. after two months of them asking me when i'm going to make it, i think i'm going to give it a try this weekend. wish me luck. all right…time for some tea and tv. be well and please send your advice on the dinner party ideas. i'm counting on you all.
last month horace invited the gang from school over to his house for dinner. it seems that they are quite interested in seeing our apartments and how we live. he made them a pasta dinner. it was on a friday so i missed out on the dinner since i had taekwondo and went afterwards for some beers. now its my turn. i told them i'd invite them over this month. my problem is that i have no idea what to make. obviously pasta is out. seeing that my kitchen consists of two burners, a frying pan, and a small pot my options are limited. if only i had a oven. my first thought was to make hamburgers but i really don't feel like frying them in a pan. then i thought about a mexican fest but that means trying to find refried beans and shells. which lead me to think about tiny sandwiches with the crust cut off. i feel like i'm at a loss. trying to plan an american meal in korea is tough. this leads me the the question what would brie vandercamp do? she'd have no problem coming up with a great dinner party theme with limited resources. since i can't really ask brie i thought i'd pose this same question to those of you reading my diary. if any of you have any great and simple ideas i'd love to hear them. the date i have in mind is march 24. that gives me two weeks to figure it out. speaking of cooking. there's this sweet potato noodle dish that they serve here which is very tastey. i was asking some of the teachers how to make it. they all looked at me like i was crazy saying "its too hard". being the stubborn person that i am i told them that it can't be too hard and now i found myself with the burdon of actually having to make this dish. and worse of all is that they all want to try it. its even gone as far as jane's friend, who's a home economics teacher, actually buying me the noodles since i kept telling them i couldn't find them. how to i get myself into these messes. after two months of them asking me when i'm going to make it, i think i'm going to give it a try this weekend. wish me luck. all right…time for some tea and tv. be well and please send your advice on the dinner party ideas. i'm counting on you all.
Monday, March 07, 2005
purple
dear diary–
tonight i became a purple belt. i wasn't really expecting to take a test so i was caught off guard. the worse part was that "h" wasn't in class so it meant that i had to do it by myself with everyone watching. eeks. luckily i passed although "the master" told me i need to syncronize my feet and hand movements. it's something to work on but i'm starting to feel more motivated about class now. i think it was good for me to have to take the test solo. usually when there are others with me i tend to rely on them. so i said goodbye to my blue belt which i've become quite fond of and am embaracing the purple one. whenever i think of the color purple, no i'm not talking about the movie although it is a great movie, i'm reminded of my aunt nan and her bedroom. my aunt loved her purple. from her clothes to her bedspread and wall paper. everything was purple. and if memory served correctly she even had purple eye shadow. when i was younger we went to new jersey every summer to visit my relatives. my aunt nan and her husband lived with my mommom [grandmother] and my other aunt. aunt nan worked at a police dispatcher so during the day she was sleeping. her husband uncle clint would sit either on the porch or in the living room working on word searches. my cousin and i would sometimes run to the corner store to get me smokes and he'd give us some extra movie ofr candy. summer's in jersey were pretty humid and these old houses didn't have air conditioning. but aunt nan's room did. we'd always run in there during the hours she was up. it was always freezing cold. it was like a purple paradise. the purple velvet curtains would be drawn shut to make even darker inside. dolls were littered along the bureau and she had lots of old movie star pictures on the wall. her side of the bed caved in slightly from her weight. we jump onto the bed with aunt nan and uncle clint, enjoying the coldness, and watched tv with them until we were called out to go to bed. that room was always like a mystery to us. i remember getting so excited when we were able to get inside if only for a brief moment of time. my two aunts, uncle clint, and mommom have a passed. the little purple room within the big house is no longer standing but i'll always have the great memories.
be well…
tonight i became a purple belt. i wasn't really expecting to take a test so i was caught off guard. the worse part was that "h" wasn't in class so it meant that i had to do it by myself with everyone watching. eeks. luckily i passed although "the master" told me i need to syncronize my feet and hand movements. it's something to work on but i'm starting to feel more motivated about class now. i think it was good for me to have to take the test solo. usually when there are others with me i tend to rely on them. so i said goodbye to my blue belt which i've become quite fond of and am embaracing the purple one. whenever i think of the color purple, no i'm not talking about the movie although it is a great movie, i'm reminded of my aunt nan and her bedroom. my aunt loved her purple. from her clothes to her bedspread and wall paper. everything was purple. and if memory served correctly she even had purple eye shadow. when i was younger we went to new jersey every summer to visit my relatives. my aunt nan and her husband lived with my mommom [grandmother] and my other aunt. aunt nan worked at a police dispatcher so during the day she was sleeping. her husband uncle clint would sit either on the porch or in the living room working on word searches. my cousin and i would sometimes run to the corner store to get me smokes and he'd give us some extra movie ofr candy. summer's in jersey were pretty humid and these old houses didn't have air conditioning. but aunt nan's room did. we'd always run in there during the hours she was up. it was always freezing cold. it was like a purple paradise. the purple velvet curtains would be drawn shut to make even darker inside. dolls were littered along the bureau and she had lots of old movie star pictures on the wall. her side of the bed caved in slightly from her weight. we jump onto the bed with aunt nan and uncle clint, enjoying the coldness, and watched tv with them until we were called out to go to bed. that room was always like a mystery to us. i remember getting so excited when we were able to get inside if only for a brief moment of time. my two aunts, uncle clint, and mommom have a passed. the little purple room within the big house is no longer standing but i'll always have the great memories.
be well…
Sunday, March 06, 2005
neopolitan
dear diary–
it's sunday night. 9:30pm korea time. i'm sitting here at my tiny computer desk eating neopolitan ice cream out of the tub. why can't i stop? the fat cells are mocking me. "eat more fatty!" "one more scoop!" i blame you misty! they came to korea bought ice cream and left it in my freezer. i guess if i finish it now, i wouldn't be standing in my kitchen at 4am eating it. news flash: it official the chocolate section is now gone. hello vanilla and strawberry. here comes papa!
it's sunday night. 9:30pm korea time. i'm sitting here at my tiny computer desk eating neopolitan ice cream out of the tub. why can't i stop? the fat cells are mocking me. "eat more fatty!" "one more scoop!" i blame you misty! they came to korea bought ice cream and left it in my freezer. i guess if i finish it now, i wouldn't be standing in my kitchen at 4am eating it. news flash: it official the chocolate section is now gone. hello vanilla and strawberry. here comes papa!
photo booth
dear diary–
misty finally got a scan of the infamous photo both pictures. even to this day, every time i look at these i have to laugh. the whole experience was so surreal. an entire store devoted to photo booths. in walks 4 americans with no clue and here are our results. we got to love it! korea rocks!!
to the batcave
dear diary–
well…it's official. i've sold my soul to devil and have become a noraebang fan. who would have thought. after all these years of "i hate kara-oke" i now find myself staying out until the wee hours of early morning singing my guts out. and the best thing is that i absolutely suck. more on this later. let's back of to how the beginning of the evening started. to do so we must go to taekwondo class. why does the root of all evil start there? upon my arrival at class i noticed that there was a new student there. apparently he was there on wednesday too. i however wasn't since i wasn't feeling up to it. "j" wasn't in class either on wednesday which lead to some interesting comments of us being both absent. HELLO PEOPLE!! CAN YOU SAY JUST FRIENDS! not sure have many times you have to tell these people. perhaps next time i'll just bash a board over their heads while telling them. of course we have to play mini-soccer. this has become the norm lately. after that we did self stretching since "the master" had to entertain the new kid. he asked him several times to join us but he kept making excuses or comments like "i don't want to discourage the others by showing how flexible i am". we just got rid of "scrappy-doo" and now enters "dawn". when it was time to work on forms, "dawn" decided to sit this out too. i was having an off night. i could barely remember form 1 let alone 2-4. tonight was suppose to be test night too. i was a bit concerned about that. after we went through the forms, "h" and i went to one side to practice while "the master" helped "j" and "r" with their forms. it's coming into crunch time for them since they are taking their black belt test in april. "h" and i are practicing and as i'm trying to concentrate "the master" is sitting on the couch with "dawn" chatting away and making jokes. at one point "j" asks "the master" for some help and instead of showing "j" and "r" what to do he's explaining it to "dawn". i could tell that they were getting annoyed. finally "the master" came over to "h" and i and told us to do forms 1 -4. i messed up a bit here and there but overall i felt i did fairly well. he told us good job and walked away. when "j" asked if we were going to do testing tonight he looked over at "h" and i and said that i wasn't ready yet. this prompted "j" to ask "the master" if he was helping me or was he too busy joking with "dawn". this is when the gates of hell opened up and "j" and "r" went into "the master". it was getting so ridiculous that i went into the other room with "h" while they all hashed it out. when we came back into the room "the master" was still going off about how we're not motivated, miss class, etc. funny though he never mentioned anything about showing up drunk to class. he was on this speel about "how when i was in america…". he kept making this comment about how he had a quest here "dawn" and was his responsibilty to keep him entertained. what he didn't realize is that he had 4 paying students there who wanted to learn. if "dawn" didn't feel like participating that wasn't our fault. when horace and i tried out the class we participated in the class. we didn't sit on the sideline picking our ass. to the best of their ability "j" and "r" tried to get their point across. hopefully, "the master" heard them but its unlikely. in his eyes he does no wrong. it basically came down to the "the master" telling us to leave. it's a shame because i really do think he knows he stuff but i have no respect for the man. he just won't listen.
of course we decided to go for a drink so that "j" and "r" could unwind from their 30 minute argument. i felt bad because "h" was ready to take her test and i wasn't. and the fact that "h" and i didn't say anything and still "the master" acted like ass. as i relive this now in my head i'm getting angry. we headed to jungang station to meet "h"'s boyfriend "c". from there we heading into old ansan/jungang area for some beers. instead of going to the wa bar where we normally go "c" and "r" wanted to try this bar that was underground. there was fake rock around the entrance to the stairwell going down and even in the stairwell. when we entered the bar it was like being in a cave. and not just any old cave but the batcave. how happy was i. i've now found my new favorite spot to drink. we got 600cc of beer which came out in a mini-barrel. sausages were order which are basically hotdogs and later dried squid. i've tried dried squid twice now but i just can't do it. it tastes like ass-feet. did you know that squids have a claw? well they do. its on the uppper part of their body. at one point during the evening we started to play spin the claw. whoever the claw pointed out had to drink. oh, the fun korean games people play. around 12:30am "j" made her exit. the rest of us stayed to finish the beer. at one point going to a noraebang [singing room] was brought up but "h" said she didn't want to. the next thing i realize is that we're in 7-11 buying bottles of beer for the noraebang. so much for "h" saying no. the place we went to was a duluxe noraebang. it was a little more pricey than normal ones but well worth it. we had room that overlooked the street. which meant that you could stand in the window and sing. how cool is that. it hard hardwood floors that were heated, two couches low to the floor, and a flat screen tv. its the nicest noraebang room i've been to so far. it kind of felt like being in my apartment. i'm not even sure how many songs were song. before long it was 5am. on our way home we stopped for toasted egg sandwiches. the best thing ever at 5am. then we parted ways. they headed off in a cab and i headed off on foot.
my noraebang set list
at least what i can remember
love hurts [nazareth]
500 miles [peter, paul, and mary]
superstar [the carpentars]
celebrity skin [hole]
zombie [the cranberries]
white room [cream]
paint it black [the rolling stones]
sweet dreams [the eurthymics]
we got the beat [the go-go's]
pretty fly for a white guy [offspring]
well…it's official. i've sold my soul to devil and have become a noraebang fan. who would have thought. after all these years of "i hate kara-oke" i now find myself staying out until the wee hours of early morning singing my guts out. and the best thing is that i absolutely suck. more on this later. let's back of to how the beginning of the evening started. to do so we must go to taekwondo class. why does the root of all evil start there? upon my arrival at class i noticed that there was a new student there. apparently he was there on wednesday too. i however wasn't since i wasn't feeling up to it. "j" wasn't in class either on wednesday which lead to some interesting comments of us being both absent. HELLO PEOPLE!! CAN YOU SAY JUST FRIENDS! not sure have many times you have to tell these people. perhaps next time i'll just bash a board over their heads while telling them. of course we have to play mini-soccer. this has become the norm lately. after that we did self stretching since "the master" had to entertain the new kid. he asked him several times to join us but he kept making excuses or comments like "i don't want to discourage the others by showing how flexible i am". we just got rid of "scrappy-doo" and now enters "dawn". when it was time to work on forms, "dawn" decided to sit this out too. i was having an off night. i could barely remember form 1 let alone 2-4. tonight was suppose to be test night too. i was a bit concerned about that. after we went through the forms, "h" and i went to one side to practice while "the master" helped "j" and "r" with their forms. it's coming into crunch time for them since they are taking their black belt test in april. "h" and i are practicing and as i'm trying to concentrate "the master" is sitting on the couch with "dawn" chatting away and making jokes. at one point "j" asks "the master" for some help and instead of showing "j" and "r" what to do he's explaining it to "dawn". i could tell that they were getting annoyed. finally "the master" came over to "h" and i and told us to do forms 1 -4. i messed up a bit here and there but overall i felt i did fairly well. he told us good job and walked away. when "j" asked if we were going to do testing tonight he looked over at "h" and i and said that i wasn't ready yet. this prompted "j" to ask "the master" if he was helping me or was he too busy joking with "dawn". this is when the gates of hell opened up and "j" and "r" went into "the master". it was getting so ridiculous that i went into the other room with "h" while they all hashed it out. when we came back into the room "the master" was still going off about how we're not motivated, miss class, etc. funny though he never mentioned anything about showing up drunk to class. he was on this speel about "how when i was in america…". he kept making this comment about how he had a quest here "dawn" and was his responsibilty to keep him entertained. what he didn't realize is that he had 4 paying students there who wanted to learn. if "dawn" didn't feel like participating that wasn't our fault. when horace and i tried out the class we participated in the class. we didn't sit on the sideline picking our ass. to the best of their ability "j" and "r" tried to get their point across. hopefully, "the master" heard them but its unlikely. in his eyes he does no wrong. it basically came down to the "the master" telling us to leave. it's a shame because i really do think he knows he stuff but i have no respect for the man. he just won't listen.
of course we decided to go for a drink so that "j" and "r" could unwind from their 30 minute argument. i felt bad because "h" was ready to take her test and i wasn't. and the fact that "h" and i didn't say anything and still "the master" acted like ass. as i relive this now in my head i'm getting angry. we headed to jungang station to meet "h"'s boyfriend "c". from there we heading into old ansan/jungang area for some beers. instead of going to the wa bar where we normally go "c" and "r" wanted to try this bar that was underground. there was fake rock around the entrance to the stairwell going down and even in the stairwell. when we entered the bar it was like being in a cave. and not just any old cave but the batcave. how happy was i. i've now found my new favorite spot to drink. we got 600cc of beer which came out in a mini-barrel. sausages were order which are basically hotdogs and later dried squid. i've tried dried squid twice now but i just can't do it. it tastes like ass-feet. did you know that squids have a claw? well they do. its on the uppper part of their body. at one point during the evening we started to play spin the claw. whoever the claw pointed out had to drink. oh, the fun korean games people play. around 12:30am "j" made her exit. the rest of us stayed to finish the beer. at one point going to a noraebang [singing room] was brought up but "h" said she didn't want to. the next thing i realize is that we're in 7-11 buying bottles of beer for the noraebang. so much for "h" saying no. the place we went to was a duluxe noraebang. it was a little more pricey than normal ones but well worth it. we had room that overlooked the street. which meant that you could stand in the window and sing. how cool is that. it hard hardwood floors that were heated, two couches low to the floor, and a flat screen tv. its the nicest noraebang room i've been to so far. it kind of felt like being in my apartment. i'm not even sure how many songs were song. before long it was 5am. on our way home we stopped for toasted egg sandwiches. the best thing ever at 5am. then we parted ways. they headed off in a cab and i headed off on foot.
my noraebang set list
at least what i can remember
love hurts [nazareth]
500 miles [peter, paul, and mary]
superstar [the carpentars]
celebrity skin [hole]
zombie [the cranberries]
white room [cream]
paint it black [the rolling stones]
sweet dreams [the eurthymics]
we got the beat [the go-go's]
pretty fly for a white guy [offspring]
Thursday, March 03, 2005
delicious, delightful space
i like dalki
dear diary–
after four months of talking about the infamous "i like dalki" space i finally made it there. i'm so happy. since tuesday, march 1 was a holiday we decided that would be a good time to go. i had asked young teacher a couple of weeks earlier how to get there and when she expressed an interest to go i invited her along. four of us ended up going. horace, young, jenny [from taekwondo], and myself. horace, jenny and i met young at yeongdeunpo station which is on line 1 9purple0. while waiting for young in the station we watched some drunk korean guy chase a lady around the station. she looked absolutely mortified. i felt so sorry for her but i also couldn't help thinking "i'm so glad that wasn't me". usually i have a way of attracted the crazies. i also saw the cutest thing ever. a young guy perhaps maybe earlier 20s shopping with his grandmother. he was carrying her bag as the strolled through all the merchants in the station. how sweet is that. we met up with young and jumped onto a bus that would take us to another station where we were going to catch a shuttle bus. we ended up in ilsan which like ansan is another new city. this city, however, seemed to have a lot more going on. i'm definitely going to go back to check this out. it at the very lasted subway stop on line 3 [orange]. around noon the shuttle bus picked us up and off we went. "i like dalki" space is out in paju city which is where we went for the dmz tour. so very close to the border. apparently "i like dalki" is part of a whole art community that they are building there. it's called heyri art town and besides "i like dalki" there a few other museums, bookstores, and cafes open. this is definitely going to be a very cool area once finished. there's even a guesthouse one can stay at if you want to spend a weekend there. when we got to "i like dalki" my eyes lite up. i was so excited. i was hoping there would be rides but it was more like a museum. a fantasic giant kids museum. i was still happy even without the rides. when we bought our tickets we got dalki badges to wear. that's right, now i'm an official member of the dalki press club. it was being in a big playhouse. the way they had things set up reminded me of being in the ikea storeroom looking at the displays. they had this fake grass for flooring which i so want now. this is my new mission. the next apartment i have is going to be covered in it. there was a mirror room that had random costumes that you could put on. it was like halloween. the only other major room was the dongchimee dung tunnel. how great is that. a dung tunnel. you got to love that. after the dung tunnel there was a gift shop and children's playroom. it was all pretty interesting. the architecture was amazing. unfortuniately we're still in winter so the grass was all brown. i'm sure its stunning in the spring when everything is in bloom. i spent a few hours in the gift shop, made some purchases than wandered down to the cafe. after we were done exploring "i like dalki" we walked around the complex. we stopped into a few other museums, saw were they were building the movie + anime museum [can't wait], strolled through a bookstore and then went off searching for food. we ate at a tofu restaurant and left it up to young to order since the menu was in korean. we all aggreed on the seafood tofu. little did i know that when they brought it out there would be a live octopus in the pot. yes, i kid you not. it was alive. i watched as it slowly cooked like a lobster in a pot. when it was time to eat the waitress pick up the octopus with some tongs and cut the legs off. it was actually quite tastey. not as good as the octopus soup i had a few weeks ago though. around 6pm we caught the shuttle bus back to the the subway station and from there made our long journey home. it was a pretty awesome day.
strangest thing i saw besides the live octopus
• little boy squatting outside of the bathroom with pants down about to go to bathroom on sidewalk
another odd thing
• mommy laid an egg, a children's book that was quite graphic with swimming sperms and sexual positions. we saw this in the cafe at "i like dalki". definitely am going to try to locate this book
here are snaps from my visit to "i like dalki". i really do! hope you do too!
Links
dear diary–
after four months of talking about the infamous "i like dalki" space i finally made it there. i'm so happy. since tuesday, march 1 was a holiday we decided that would be a good time to go. i had asked young teacher a couple of weeks earlier how to get there and when she expressed an interest to go i invited her along. four of us ended up going. horace, young, jenny [from taekwondo], and myself. horace, jenny and i met young at yeongdeunpo station which is on line 1 9purple0. while waiting for young in the station we watched some drunk korean guy chase a lady around the station. she looked absolutely mortified. i felt so sorry for her but i also couldn't help thinking "i'm so glad that wasn't me". usually i have a way of attracted the crazies. i also saw the cutest thing ever. a young guy perhaps maybe earlier 20s shopping with his grandmother. he was carrying her bag as the strolled through all the merchants in the station. how sweet is that. we met up with young and jumped onto a bus that would take us to another station where we were going to catch a shuttle bus. we ended up in ilsan which like ansan is another new city. this city, however, seemed to have a lot more going on. i'm definitely going to go back to check this out. it at the very lasted subway stop on line 3 [orange]. around noon the shuttle bus picked us up and off we went. "i like dalki" space is out in paju city which is where we went for the dmz tour. so very close to the border. apparently "i like dalki" is part of a whole art community that they are building there. it's called heyri art town and besides "i like dalki" there a few other museums, bookstores, and cafes open. this is definitely going to be a very cool area once finished. there's even a guesthouse one can stay at if you want to spend a weekend there. when we got to "i like dalki" my eyes lite up. i was so excited. i was hoping there would be rides but it was more like a museum. a fantasic giant kids museum. i was still happy even without the rides. when we bought our tickets we got dalki badges to wear. that's right, now i'm an official member of the dalki press club. it was being in a big playhouse. the way they had things set up reminded me of being in the ikea storeroom looking at the displays. they had this fake grass for flooring which i so want now. this is my new mission. the next apartment i have is going to be covered in it. there was a mirror room that had random costumes that you could put on. it was like halloween. the only other major room was the dongchimee dung tunnel. how great is that. a dung tunnel. you got to love that. after the dung tunnel there was a gift shop and children's playroom. it was all pretty interesting. the architecture was amazing. unfortuniately we're still in winter so the grass was all brown. i'm sure its stunning in the spring when everything is in bloom. i spent a few hours in the gift shop, made some purchases than wandered down to the cafe. after we were done exploring "i like dalki" we walked around the complex. we stopped into a few other museums, saw were they were building the movie + anime museum [can't wait], strolled through a bookstore and then went off searching for food. we ate at a tofu restaurant and left it up to young to order since the menu was in korean. we all aggreed on the seafood tofu. little did i know that when they brought it out there would be a live octopus in the pot. yes, i kid you not. it was alive. i watched as it slowly cooked like a lobster in a pot. when it was time to eat the waitress pick up the octopus with some tongs and cut the legs off. it was actually quite tastey. not as good as the octopus soup i had a few weeks ago though. around 6pm we caught the shuttle bus back to the the subway station and from there made our long journey home. it was a pretty awesome day.
strangest thing i saw besides the live octopus
• little boy squatting outside of the bathroom with pants down about to go to bathroom on sidewalk
another odd thing
• mommy laid an egg, a children's book that was quite graphic with swimming sperms and sexual positions. we saw this in the cafe at "i like dalki". definitely am going to try to locate this book
here are snaps from my visit to "i like dalki". i really do! hope you do too!
Wednesday, March 02, 2005
doll parts
dear diary—
i'm not sure how but i managed to get up around 10am. with just moments to spare i grabbed the remote to the TV and turned on Love's Pinwheel, my favorite korean drama. can't miss that! still feeling exhausted from the previous night i forced myself out of bed and into the shower. last night i mentioned something to fumi about going to see this "2005 erotica" exhibit. from the postcard advertising the show [see above photo] it looked like the exhibit was with dolls. it sounded kind of cool and seeing that today [sunday, february 27] was the last day i didn't want to miss it. i gave fumi a ring and she was still interested in going so we decided to meet around 1pm and make our when to hondae where the exhibit was. a couple of weeks earlier i had gotten young [a teacher at ils] to tell me how to get there. although i didn't know streets names i had a general idea of which way to go. plus there was a map on the back of the postcard. all i really needed to know was the subway stop and exit #. while enroute to the gallery fumi told me that it was faster to transfer to line 1 than the way i usually go. the things you learn. now i've saved myself 20 minutes. i love learning new things. we had sort of a twilight zone moment while switching to line 2. the first time we got on the train we were heading in the wrong direction. we got off at the next time switched back and ended up where we started still heading in the whole directions. that damn line 2. i always get thrown for a loop there. once we made it to our destination finding the gallery via the map was quite easy. the gallery was called davinci gallery. we opened the door and climbed down the stairs. above the stairs was a naked doll legs spread and fully detailed. it actually looked like a doll made from a pillow. this is wehn i thought "oh, no! it's going to be bad doll art". we made our way through the black curtain and int the actual gallery space. the lights were on very low and there were candles by all the pieces. there was gothy-eerie music playing in the background. we were immediately greet and after paying we were offered some tea. the space itself was fairly small but it had a great feel to it. it was perfect for this exhibit. as i said there were several different pieces that had these hand made dolls by chong yang hee. the show was amazing. the detail that went into these dolls and the different scenarios from the placements of their hands to the way the fabric drapes over them was unbelievable. it's been a long time since art has inspired me. there were four pieces that i was drawn to:
• a bride
a woman spended from the ceiling completely naked except for some tulle that covered her thighs and was draped over a wire hoop skirt. her head hung low with her long, crimped blonde hair hanging down and her arms were out to the side. she almost looked like a fairy
• sorrow
a woman laying on a table with a red gown. her eyes half closed and her right hand hung slighlty off the table. her gown was draped around her ever so carefully. her red hair was off to the side and their were candles all around her.
• aries [the title was in korean and this is what it translates to
this piece consisted of a cage suspended in the air. inside was a naked man with gray hair pulled back in a pony tail. his hands were tied in front. around his neck was a noose, the end of the rope was in a coil on the floor. their were candles around him too.
• alice
two girls sat on a victorian settee at either end. the girl on the left had her dressed pulled up and was exposing herself. the girl on the right was much younger and completely naked. under her arm was a bunny.
the other piece were just as good but those were the ones that stuck with me. we lingered around the gallery for about an hour or so. sometimes we were talking about our own creativity and dreams and other times we both just stood in silence admiring the work of arts. we left the gallery we some free postcards, a poster, and i bought a book of the artist's work called pandora's box. if any of you are interested check out this link http://pandora.hompy.com/
after leaving the gallery we head toward hongik university to walk around and shop. i saw a different part of the area then when i was there with misty, kate, and d. there was a whole strip we missed. i also got to see where all the clubs are that participate in club night. thats the second friday of the month where its 10,000 won to see 5 bands, or something like that. i forget. thats something that i want to check out one of these days. of course i did mangae to find a few things to purchase. wouldn't be a shopping day without buying. we ate at pietra, a pasta and pizza place. i had pasta with cabbage, crab, and toasted garlic. it was actually quite good. after dinner we walked around a little more and then decided to head home. on the way home while on the subway fumi got her ass grabbed by a little old woman. these koreans…
be well…
cutest thing i saw
punk rock korean girl with pink hair
music
blonde redhead
melody of certain damaged lemons
melody of certain three
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
club nana
dear diary…
this past week was my friend vickie's birthday. on friday morning i got an email invite about a gathering she was planning for saturday night in itaewon. nothing like last minute planning. but hey, thats why i love her. saturday was a complete lazy day for me. i left the house once in the morning to fix my mcdonalds craving. i had drank some beers with horace friday night and my body was in need of some greasy food. the rest of the day was spent doing nothing. i called vickie at one point to get the details of that evening but wasn't sure if i was going to go or not. itaewon seemed so far and the thought of trying to get home made me a bit nervous. i have yet to be out at night in seoul. usually my nights are spent in old ansan. the thought of trying to get a cab home from there didn't appeal to me. finally around 8 pm i decided to jump in the shower and just go. afterall it was vickies birthday. i figured if people were meeting at 9:30pm i could show up then, have a few drinks and then leave by midnight to catch the subway home. or worse case i find a sauna or go to a "love" motel to spend the night. what was the big deal. taking a cab by myself was still not an option because (1). it would be very expensive to get back to ansan and (2) the communication problem. the shower was definitely a good idea. i felt much more alive and was ready to go conqueor a night in itaewon. it took almost an hour and half to finally get to itaewon. when i called vickie to ask where they her she told me that they were running late. she gave me directions to the bar and told me they'd be there in 40 minutes. seeing that i'd never been to itaewon at night i decided to walk around and check things out. before i realized it 40 minutes had passed so i made my way to find club nana. finding the bar was quite easy. i walked down the steps and entered. the bar which was small was quite crowded. i looked around and saw no one. i managed to make my way to the bar. i figured i might as well start drinking. before i could order a drink a strange girl approached me and asked if i was ethan. i said "yes" and she told me that she was vickie's friend jessie. jessie was a fellow curly hair and she's a director from south africa. we grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered some drinks. it was great that i didn't have to wait alone and had a chance to talk with her one on one. she's really cool and has a great personality. later on two other people showed up fumi and ralph. fumi is half korean and half black from hawaii and ralph was a bostonian. when fumi found out i was an american she gave me a big hug and kiss. love her. we seem to be far and few inbetween here in korea. as we sat around talking a table opened up so we grabbed it. fumi ordered some shots and by this time it was 11:30pm. so much for plan one. during our conversation i mentioned how i hadn't been out in seoul before and told them my reason why. in response they were all like "don't worry about it, we'll see to it that you make it home". that was really great to hear, especially coming from people i had jsut met. i instanstly clicked with these guys. it funny how one becomes so much more outgoing when they live aboard. it was actually great talking to other people. i actually felt like i was back in san francisco. at the club they had a dj who was playing decent music. you'd be surprised at some of the crap played here. as we were gabbing away a bigger spot opened up so we decided to take that since more people were coming. vickie finally arrived around midnight or so. they rest of the evening was spent drinking and getting to know all these people. fumi and i definitely clicked. you know how you meet someone and its almost like you've known them forever. that's how it was with her. and how could i not like her. after all she said i had "fabulous hair". the one thing about korea is that there is no last call. bars stay open until the last person leaves which can be quite dangerous. before i knew it it was 3:30 am. my options were to either go to a sauna, stay out until 5:30 am when the subway starts or cab it. fumi, ralph, and elly were getting ready to leave too so they said i should ride with them to sanbon and leave take a cab to ansan. problem solved. at sanbon i switched to a different cab since our original driver didn't want to go to ansan. fumi walked over with me and everything was sent to go. i said goodbye and jumped in. we didn't even get to the end of the block when the driver pulled over and started talking korean to me. i tried to explain that i didn't understand and kept telling him "ansan bus terminal". he continued to talk to me while the cab remained motionless. i pulled out my business card and pointed to where i wanted to go. this little non-conversation went on for awhile. finally he picked up the phone and called the station. as talked with them he mentioned homeplus which is by the bus terminal. i immediately said yes "homeplus". he got off the phone and smiled. i finally arrived at homeplus around 5 am. at one point he drove right pass it and i had to tell him to turn around. taking cabs here is definitely an experience. the walk back to my apartment was cold. all i wanted to do at this point was sleep. next time i going to have to figure out a good landmark closer to my building or at least figure out my building's name. that might be even better. it's always an adventure here. be well…
this past week was my friend vickie's birthday. on friday morning i got an email invite about a gathering she was planning for saturday night in itaewon. nothing like last minute planning. but hey, thats why i love her. saturday was a complete lazy day for me. i left the house once in the morning to fix my mcdonalds craving. i had drank some beers with horace friday night and my body was in need of some greasy food. the rest of the day was spent doing nothing. i called vickie at one point to get the details of that evening but wasn't sure if i was going to go or not. itaewon seemed so far and the thought of trying to get home made me a bit nervous. i have yet to be out at night in seoul. usually my nights are spent in old ansan. the thought of trying to get a cab home from there didn't appeal to me. finally around 8 pm i decided to jump in the shower and just go. afterall it was vickies birthday. i figured if people were meeting at 9:30pm i could show up then, have a few drinks and then leave by midnight to catch the subway home. or worse case i find a sauna or go to a "love" motel to spend the night. what was the big deal. taking a cab by myself was still not an option because (1). it would be very expensive to get back to ansan and (2) the communication problem. the shower was definitely a good idea. i felt much more alive and was ready to go conqueor a night in itaewon. it took almost an hour and half to finally get to itaewon. when i called vickie to ask where they her she told me that they were running late. she gave me directions to the bar and told me they'd be there in 40 minutes. seeing that i'd never been to itaewon at night i decided to walk around and check things out. before i realized it 40 minutes had passed so i made my way to find club nana. finding the bar was quite easy. i walked down the steps and entered. the bar which was small was quite crowded. i looked around and saw no one. i managed to make my way to the bar. i figured i might as well start drinking. before i could order a drink a strange girl approached me and asked if i was ethan. i said "yes" and she told me that she was vickie's friend jessie. jessie was a fellow curly hair and she's a director from south africa. we grabbed a seat at the bar and ordered some drinks. it was great that i didn't have to wait alone and had a chance to talk with her one on one. she's really cool and has a great personality. later on two other people showed up fumi and ralph. fumi is half korean and half black from hawaii and ralph was a bostonian. when fumi found out i was an american she gave me a big hug and kiss. love her. we seem to be far and few inbetween here in korea. as we sat around talking a table opened up so we grabbed it. fumi ordered some shots and by this time it was 11:30pm. so much for plan one. during our conversation i mentioned how i hadn't been out in seoul before and told them my reason why. in response they were all like "don't worry about it, we'll see to it that you make it home". that was really great to hear, especially coming from people i had jsut met. i instanstly clicked with these guys. it funny how one becomes so much more outgoing when they live aboard. it was actually great talking to other people. i actually felt like i was back in san francisco. at the club they had a dj who was playing decent music. you'd be surprised at some of the crap played here. as we were gabbing away a bigger spot opened up so we decided to take that since more people were coming. vickie finally arrived around midnight or so. they rest of the evening was spent drinking and getting to know all these people. fumi and i definitely clicked. you know how you meet someone and its almost like you've known them forever. that's how it was with her. and how could i not like her. after all she said i had "fabulous hair". the one thing about korea is that there is no last call. bars stay open until the last person leaves which can be quite dangerous. before i knew it it was 3:30 am. my options were to either go to a sauna, stay out until 5:30 am when the subway starts or cab it. fumi, ralph, and elly were getting ready to leave too so they said i should ride with them to sanbon and leave take a cab to ansan. problem solved. at sanbon i switched to a different cab since our original driver didn't want to go to ansan. fumi walked over with me and everything was sent to go. i said goodbye and jumped in. we didn't even get to the end of the block when the driver pulled over and started talking korean to me. i tried to explain that i didn't understand and kept telling him "ansan bus terminal". he continued to talk to me while the cab remained motionless. i pulled out my business card and pointed to where i wanted to go. this little non-conversation went on for awhile. finally he picked up the phone and called the station. as talked with them he mentioned homeplus which is by the bus terminal. i immediately said yes "homeplus". he got off the phone and smiled. i finally arrived at homeplus around 5 am. at one point he drove right pass it and i had to tell him to turn around. taking cabs here is definitely an experience. the walk back to my apartment was cold. all i wanted to do at this point was sleep. next time i going to have to figure out a good landmark closer to my building or at least figure out my building's name. that might be even better. it's always an adventure here. be well…
Sunday, February 27, 2005
hidden treasures
so the other day i was mentioning how i am constanstly waking up in the middle of the night and eating sweets. well, this prompted my friend kate, who was just here visiting me, to send me an email letting me know there was a piece of chocolate hidden behind my contact solution. what? more chocolate. yummy! it appears kate is also the one responsible for leaving a chocolate under my pillow. how sweet is that. now i'm looking for choccolate everywhere. are there more hidden treasures? if so, will i find them? i have no idea but the thought that there might be a random chocolate that shows up in a few months is very exciting. its like an easter egg hunt that lasts forever. and who didn't love easter egg hunts. we made my parents hide eggs up until we were in high school. of course by than a lot of the eggs were filled with money. that was always my favorite part of easter…the egg hunt. anyway, ever since kate told me of this last surprise i've been looking in every nook and cranny. omg. i can't believe i just wrote nook and cranny. am i a grandma now! mommom, my grandmother, use to hid chocolates in her shoes. once we found out about that we use to tear through her closet and shoes in search of the tastey morsels. those were the days. to be young and carefree. kind of like what my life is like now minus the young part. its amazing how laidback and stress free my life has been here. now if only i can find a decent toy store i'd be set. be well all…
Thursday, February 24, 2005
oh how i miss the wb…
oh how i miss the days of sitting on my couch with misty watching the wb. i don't even have a couch here. tuesday's was the night for "oth", or as we liked to call it "one tear hill". i forgot how good this show was. last night i had a mini-marathon of "oth, season 2". it's like my new drug. i couldn't stop watching. the only thing that made me was that my computer battery died. damn computer. as i laid there in bed it reminded me of the day i was home in sf and i was going to watch one episode of "my so called life". well, like pringles when it comes to teenage dramas you can't watch just one. that day i think i watched the entire season and watched my entire saturday vanish. now here i am watching back to back episodes of "oth". life can't get much better. it would completely rule if the 7-11's here had fountain drinks but that is a blog for another day. i forgot how much i missed this show and the characters. i must say i truely love brooke. she's the bad girl next door with the tender heart. she's someone you just HAVE to hang out with. i wish i knew a brooke when i was in high school. i have a feeling this weekend will include watching more episodes. this is exciting to me because i can't wait to see what happens. i could probably go on and on but who really wants to hear my rants about a teen soap…misty probably. thats why i love her so much.
lately i've been sleeping very irratically. i find myself watching up in the middle of the night and going to the kitchen to eat sweets. last night i ate cheesecake pudding. the night before i finished off the hersey minatures. i'm not really sure what this is all about. perhaps the aliens have found me in korea and are continuing thier probing. who knows. i've also discovered two more korea shows that have been taking over my life: "breathless", a drama about two brothers, and "guys and girls", a comedy about college life. you would have thought korean shows would be so good.I'M LOVIN IT! be well…
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
saneng-il ch'uk'a haeyo!
saneng-il ch'uk'a haeyo, appa!
or as they say in english HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
i hope you have a great day. i wanted to let you know that i'm thinking about you and sending birthday wishes your way.
yesterday i was taking the train to gangnam to meet a friend for a drink. as i sat there looking around at all the people heading home from work i realized, "i'm in korea!" now, i know i've been here for 5 months already but some days it just really hits you. as i sat there with headphones on i watched several people have phone conversations. with my music blasting i imagined these folks talking in english and made up my own conversation in my head. this is what i do as i ride the train. the world i create for them is by far probably a lot more interesting that what they are actually saying. unlike being on muni where you can easedrop on others one really can't here. sometimes its an odd feeling being so out of the loop. the one cool thing i realized by meeting people in other areas is that it expands what i know about korea. before gangnam was just another stop on the subway. i would have never gone there but now after seeing it, its like a whole other world. there were tons of young people flooding the streets. it almost felt as if i was in downtown san francisco. minus all the english speakers. we went to this european pub which again was another experience. here in ansan, especially new ansan town, the bars/pubs are seldom packed. this place was completely the opposite. there were people everywhere. it was being at a happy hour back home. as i observed the people around me i imagined they had all just gotten off work and were there bitching about their day. the pub itself was quite charming. it was modeled after a pub in prague and if you took away all the koreans one would actually think they were in prague. it had that dark eastern european feel to it. the ceiling had these wagon wheel-esque candle holders, their were puppets like on would see in prague, and the tables were dark wood. there were big copper breweries so i assumed they brewed the beer there. we sat and had a glass of dark beer and some cheese sticks. they were the best cheese sticks i ever had. i thought i'd died and gone to deep fried heaven. i can't wait to go back. which i'm sure i will because i want to check out some of the shops in the area. it seemed very hip.
last night was also the full moon. there is a custom here in korean for people to eat walnuts and peanuts. the cracking of the shells and the eating of the nuts is to prevent misfortune in the future year. this is definitely one custom i'll be bringing back with me. be prepared for ethan's full moon nut fest when i return. i know you all are very excited about that.
be well…
p.s. can i say that i can't wait for winter to be over. will it ever end!
or as they say in english HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DAD!
i hope you have a great day. i wanted to let you know that i'm thinking about you and sending birthday wishes your way.
yesterday i was taking the train to gangnam to meet a friend for a drink. as i sat there looking around at all the people heading home from work i realized, "i'm in korea!" now, i know i've been here for 5 months already but some days it just really hits you. as i sat there with headphones on i watched several people have phone conversations. with my music blasting i imagined these folks talking in english and made up my own conversation in my head. this is what i do as i ride the train. the world i create for them is by far probably a lot more interesting that what they are actually saying. unlike being on muni where you can easedrop on others one really can't here. sometimes its an odd feeling being so out of the loop. the one cool thing i realized by meeting people in other areas is that it expands what i know about korea. before gangnam was just another stop on the subway. i would have never gone there but now after seeing it, its like a whole other world. there were tons of young people flooding the streets. it almost felt as if i was in downtown san francisco. minus all the english speakers. we went to this european pub which again was another experience. here in ansan, especially new ansan town, the bars/pubs are seldom packed. this place was completely the opposite. there were people everywhere. it was being at a happy hour back home. as i observed the people around me i imagined they had all just gotten off work and were there bitching about their day. the pub itself was quite charming. it was modeled after a pub in prague and if you took away all the koreans one would actually think they were in prague. it had that dark eastern european feel to it. the ceiling had these wagon wheel-esque candle holders, their were puppets like on would see in prague, and the tables were dark wood. there were big copper breweries so i assumed they brewed the beer there. we sat and had a glass of dark beer and some cheese sticks. they were the best cheese sticks i ever had. i thought i'd died and gone to deep fried heaven. i can't wait to go back. which i'm sure i will because i want to check out some of the shops in the area. it seemed very hip.
last night was also the full moon. there is a custom here in korean for people to eat walnuts and peanuts. the cracking of the shells and the eating of the nuts is to prevent misfortune in the future year. this is definitely one custom i'll be bringing back with me. be prepared for ethan's full moon nut fest when i return. i know you all are very excited about that.
be well…
p.s. can i say that i can't wait for winter to be over. will it ever end!
Monday, February 21, 2005
misty, kate, and derek…oh my!
now playing on e-tunes:
the smiths
hand that rocks the cradle
the smiths
welcome to the year of the cock, or as some call it the year of the rooster. i've decided that since i'm now asian i'm only going to celebrate the chinese new year. they have animals. and animals are cool. as many of you know by now misty, kate, and derek came to korea to surprise me. it actually worked out great because i only had to work one of the days they were here. i couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my first chinese new year's aboard then by having great friends here with me. the last couple of months have almost been like living in a bubble where i bascially just plodded ahead with my day to day activities: school, taekwondo, school, carrefour, etc. having them come to visit gave me the chance to show my friends my new "temporary world" and now when i talk about things at least three of them will know what i'm talking about. i also realized how much i miss my friends and how much they mean to me. its great though because with the three of them it was almost like no time had pasted. i love these guys. our week was basically jammed packed with activities. we went to insadong, meyongdong, hongik university area, dongdaemun market, namdaemum market, and even the infamous carrefour. we took a dmz tour, did the inwangsan shamanist hillside walk, hung out in a noraebang, and drank giant pitchers of beer. we ate kimchi, bbq, corn/puddidng treats, dried squid, and tofu soup. we drank soju, rose wine, and hot coffee drinks in a can. they got to see old and new ansan town, ansan park, my apartment, and even my school. and best of all we spent probably 20 hours plus on the subway. some of my best times were spent hanging out in my apartment being are goofy selves.
here are the highlights from dmk tour 2005:
1. me seeing derek at the ansan bus terminal and saying "what are you doing here?"
2. kate and misty waving to me in front of homeplus
3. airmattresses in my apartment
4. my sympathy jet lag
5. being giddy like schools girls and not getting any sleep until 5am on that first night
6. me sleeping on the airmattress [what was i thinking]
7. making breakfast for the gang
8. koreans playing on the frozen river especially the kid riding his bike on the ice
9. misty wanting a squishy mat
10. watching dmk in the madness of the grocery store
11. man walking pig down street
12. misty thinking that the choco boston creme would be filled with vanilla creme
13. dmk all saying "annyong haseyo"
14. dmk meeting the infamous bbq lady "madame galbi"
15. toasting with soju
16. misty and i stealing a poster
17. the cocks club
18. the girl in restaurant taking our photo
19. misty's sushi latte
20. the korean fashion shopping
21. finding the giant anime posters
22. eating mcdonalds on my floor
23. coffe at lotte hotel
24. cleaning lady standing in the bathroom while i was using it
25. the texans on our dmz tour
26. kate asking misty and i if the tourguide mentioned "lunch"
27. d's rabbit hat
28. misty asking tourguide where she bought her jeans
29. misty and kate walking down the tunnel
30. the guard at dorasan gettting mad at d
31. getting our passports stamped at dorasan station
32. dmk all buying stuff at the "factories"
33. the tofu soup
34. tea at sarangbang
35. playing dress up at sarangbang
36. kate's steal of a buddha
37. toasting to the new year in my apartment with rose wine
38. madame golbi being open on new year's day
39. d+m discovering hot coffee drinks in a can
40. the doll store
41. "hi. what?" "hi. what?" "hi. what?" [misty playing with blythe]
42. finding out the first blythe was a keychain!!
43. eating bbq with my closest friends
44. the seaweed with seasames
45. ninja-d
46. scaring our waiter in old ansan
47. photo booth madness
48. giant pitcher of beer
49. waking up everyday for a week seeing dmk in my apartment
50. hanging out in my apartment on new years day
51. the inwangsan shaminist hillside walk [seeing people praying all over the mountain]
52. the pizza hut delivery scooter delivering pizza at inwangsan shaminist area
53. finding a table in the trash
54. trying to walk to dongdaemum market and going under a tunnel
55. the craziness of doota department store
56. eating in the food court
57. panhandling and rating korean fashion in doota department store
58. being denied two cabs when trying to get to meyongdong
59. cold sweet potato fries
60. misty buying two more blythe dolls
61. dmk coming to school with me
62. dry-ice beer with flashing multi-colors
63. the 6:30 am noraebang night
64. singing bad metal songs
65. misty wanting a diet coke and doughnut at 6:30 am
66. being a zombie on saturday after noraebang night
67. SWEET EGG TOAST SANDWICHES. yummy!!!
68. d playing video game
69. kate craving salt, "everything has sugar!"
70. alleyway dinning experience at namdaemum market
71. lady exchanging money from a cardboard box
72. eating pizza hut on my floor
73. dmk experiencing carrefour
74. hanging out in starbucks in myeongdong
75. my blythe purchase
76. kate succuming to the pressure and buying a blythe too
77. buying a toy samurai
78. the good luck rice strainer i bought
79. m + d's head turning every time the music played on the train
80. wonderwoman blythe lighter
81. misty tampering with my hairdryer
82. misty diffusing my hair [can you say shirley temple hair]
83. misty and kates bunny slippers [now we all have bunny slippers!]
84. the drawing of dmk on my board at school
85. zander, one of my students, pointing to the picture and saying "no, teacher, no!"
86. the many talks we had
87. the floral gum experience
88. kate taking pictures on the bus to airport
89. dmk needing an extra bag for all the stuff they bought
90. coasters, a teapot, a rabbit keychain, and wonder woman stuff from dmk [how sweet]
91. showing dmk my taekwondo moves
92. the underwear fashion show
93. pumping up the airmattresses every night
94. the blythe doll show i did
95. discovering the crunky bars
96. random meetings with the candian girl in the all the western resturants of ansan
97. the man at bus station who thought he took our picture but didn't
98. playing on the frozen river with dmk
99. all the crazy t-shirt logos
100. HAVING A WHOLE WEEK WITH MISTY, KATE, AND DEREK!
that pretty much sums it up. i'm sure i might have missed many other things so if i think of more i'll post them. have a great day and be well…
the smiths
hand that rocks the cradle
the smiths
welcome to the year of the cock, or as some call it the year of the rooster. i've decided that since i'm now asian i'm only going to celebrate the chinese new year. they have animals. and animals are cool. as many of you know by now misty, kate, and derek came to korea to surprise me. it actually worked out great because i only had to work one of the days they were here. i couldn't have asked for a better way to spend my first chinese new year's aboard then by having great friends here with me. the last couple of months have almost been like living in a bubble where i bascially just plodded ahead with my day to day activities: school, taekwondo, school, carrefour, etc. having them come to visit gave me the chance to show my friends my new "temporary world" and now when i talk about things at least three of them will know what i'm talking about. i also realized how much i miss my friends and how much they mean to me. its great though because with the three of them it was almost like no time had pasted. i love these guys. our week was basically jammed packed with activities. we went to insadong, meyongdong, hongik university area, dongdaemun market, namdaemum market, and even the infamous carrefour. we took a dmz tour, did the inwangsan shamanist hillside walk, hung out in a noraebang, and drank giant pitchers of beer. we ate kimchi, bbq, corn/puddidng treats, dried squid, and tofu soup. we drank soju, rose wine, and hot coffee drinks in a can. they got to see old and new ansan town, ansan park, my apartment, and even my school. and best of all we spent probably 20 hours plus on the subway. some of my best times were spent hanging out in my apartment being are goofy selves.
here are the highlights from dmk tour 2005:
1. me seeing derek at the ansan bus terminal and saying "what are you doing here?"
2. kate and misty waving to me in front of homeplus
3. airmattresses in my apartment
4. my sympathy jet lag
5. being giddy like schools girls and not getting any sleep until 5am on that first night
6. me sleeping on the airmattress [what was i thinking]
7. making breakfast for the gang
8. koreans playing on the frozen river especially the kid riding his bike on the ice
9. misty wanting a squishy mat
10. watching dmk in the madness of the grocery store
11. man walking pig down street
12. misty thinking that the choco boston creme would be filled with vanilla creme
13. dmk all saying "annyong haseyo"
14. dmk meeting the infamous bbq lady "madame galbi"
15. toasting with soju
16. misty and i stealing a poster
17. the cocks club
18. the girl in restaurant taking our photo
19. misty's sushi latte
20. the korean fashion shopping
21. finding the giant anime posters
22. eating mcdonalds on my floor
23. coffe at lotte hotel
24. cleaning lady standing in the bathroom while i was using it
25. the texans on our dmz tour
26. kate asking misty and i if the tourguide mentioned "lunch"
27. d's rabbit hat
28. misty asking tourguide where she bought her jeans
29. misty and kate walking down the tunnel
30. the guard at dorasan gettting mad at d
31. getting our passports stamped at dorasan station
32. dmk all buying stuff at the "factories"
33. the tofu soup
34. tea at sarangbang
35. playing dress up at sarangbang
36. kate's steal of a buddha
37. toasting to the new year in my apartment with rose wine
38. madame golbi being open on new year's day
39. d+m discovering hot coffee drinks in a can
40. the doll store
41. "hi. what?" "hi. what?" "hi. what?" [misty playing with blythe]
42. finding out the first blythe was a keychain!!
43. eating bbq with my closest friends
44. the seaweed with seasames
45. ninja-d
46. scaring our waiter in old ansan
47. photo booth madness
48. giant pitcher of beer
49. waking up everyday for a week seeing dmk in my apartment
50. hanging out in my apartment on new years day
51. the inwangsan shaminist hillside walk [seeing people praying all over the mountain]
52. the pizza hut delivery scooter delivering pizza at inwangsan shaminist area
53. finding a table in the trash
54. trying to walk to dongdaemum market and going under a tunnel
55. the craziness of doota department store
56. eating in the food court
57. panhandling and rating korean fashion in doota department store
58. being denied two cabs when trying to get to meyongdong
59. cold sweet potato fries
60. misty buying two more blythe dolls
61. dmk coming to school with me
62. dry-ice beer with flashing multi-colors
63. the 6:30 am noraebang night
64. singing bad metal songs
65. misty wanting a diet coke and doughnut at 6:30 am
66. being a zombie on saturday after noraebang night
67. SWEET EGG TOAST SANDWICHES. yummy!!!
68. d playing video game
69. kate craving salt, "everything has sugar!"
70. alleyway dinning experience at namdaemum market
71. lady exchanging money from a cardboard box
72. eating pizza hut on my floor
73. dmk experiencing carrefour
74. hanging out in starbucks in myeongdong
75. my blythe purchase
76. kate succuming to the pressure and buying a blythe too
77. buying a toy samurai
78. the good luck rice strainer i bought
79. m + d's head turning every time the music played on the train
80. wonderwoman blythe lighter
81. misty tampering with my hairdryer
82. misty diffusing my hair [can you say shirley temple hair]
83. misty and kates bunny slippers [now we all have bunny slippers!]
84. the drawing of dmk on my board at school
85. zander, one of my students, pointing to the picture and saying "no, teacher, no!"
86. the many talks we had
87. the floral gum experience
88. kate taking pictures on the bus to airport
89. dmk needing an extra bag for all the stuff they bought
90. coasters, a teapot, a rabbit keychain, and wonder woman stuff from dmk [how sweet]
91. showing dmk my taekwondo moves
92. the underwear fashion show
93. pumping up the airmattresses every night
94. the blythe doll show i did
95. discovering the crunky bars
96. random meetings with the candian girl in the all the western resturants of ansan
97. the man at bus station who thought he took our picture but didn't
98. playing on the frozen river with dmk
99. all the crazy t-shirt logos
100. HAVING A WHOLE WEEK WITH MISTY, KATE, AND DEREK!
that pretty much sums it up. i'm sure i might have missed many other things so if i think of more i'll post them. have a great day and be well…
Sunday, February 20, 2005
forever and a day
i'm not sure where to even begin. once again it seems like i haven't been on here in ages. i spent most of this week and all of this weekend doing nothing. the week spent with misty, kate, and derek completely wiped me out. i'm not use to being on the go so much. it almost felt i travel across country. my school week was pretty uneventful. i have three new students and will getting some more on monday. oh the joy. i did go a a mini field trip with one of my students jeff. we were learning how to write directions and i figured the best way to do was to actually go to the place we were writing about. i picked primus which is the movie theater across from our school. so hand in hand we set out so he could learn right/left, etc. it was actually quite fun. we had a race up the bridge which i won. and then another race down the bridge which jeff won. once inside the theater jeff wanted to play a video game so i gave him some money. at first he thought it was for me to ride the bus home and didn't want to take my money but i told him that wasn't the case. on our way back to school we had another race up and down the bridge. i'm not sure why but running down the bridge always seems much harder. one would think since its down hill it would be easier but no. anyway jeff seemed to enjoy the mini-field trip and the video game. it seemed to help him alot when it came time for us to write the directions out since he was able to visualize it. he's such a great little boy. i'm glad i'm teaching him this month. all week in taekwondo we've been playing soccer for the first 20 minutes. not sure why but we have. anyway, playing soccer in barefeet is HARD!! the inner soles of my feet are black and blue. i've never been kicked so much in all my life. i can say this that once tkd is done i'm going to have the toughest legs ever. on friday i learned the rest of form 4. hopefully i'll have it mastered and be able to test for the purple belt. YEAH!! the weekend was spent doing nothing. actually i did manage to clean on saturday and rearrange my furniture some. i felt it was time for a new look. plus i got some sheets and pillow cases from jp. one set has dark red circles and the other is a brownish color with lines. these definitely bring some life to my bedroom. thanks again jp. you rock!! i'm going to spend some time this week adding stuff to my walls. i need to make it a bit more homey. not much else happening. now that i'm fully recovered i'll be posting more regularly. i know you all are excited. hopefully by midweek or sooner i'll have the details of my visit with the gang. until then be well…
Friday, February 18, 2005
more vacation photos with the sf gang
here are the last two photo albums from my week with misty, kate, and derek. SOB!! if it weren't for all these photos i would have thought i dreamed the whole thing. enjoy!
Links
Links
Wednesday, February 16, 2005
3 more photo albums…
here are yet more photos from my week with misty, kate, and derek. enjoy!
Links
Links
Links
Monday, February 14, 2005
i'm an uncle again!!!
on february 2, 2005 at 2:19 pm my sister gave birth to her third child. the new baby girl's name is morgan kathryn. she weighed 7lbs, 3oz, and was 20 1/2 inches long. both baby and mom are doing great.
here are two phots of the new baby.
Links
here are two phots of the new baby.
Sunday, February 13, 2005
winter sonata part 2: the final chapter
hello all. i feel like i haven't been on here in ages. there is so much to write about especially since i had houseguests this past week. however, before i get into what we did i must first finish my taekwondo winter retreat story so here it goes…
people started awaking around 6:30am. they were eager to get snowboarding. there was some misunderstanding throughout the night and most people thought we weren't getting up until 7:30am. needless to say the morning started off very shakey. the tension from the previous day had found its way into the morning. scrappy was already getting on peoples nerves. it seems that many people couldn't sleep with all the snoring that way happening throughout the night. luckily enough for me i slept through it all. "r' wanted to stay behind and sleep a little more but we found out that we all had to be out of the apartment. that didn't sit well with him. once we all rallied we piled into the van to head off to the slopes. we had to make a stop for "j" and i to rent equipment. this didn't sit well the "master" who made some snide comment about us being on our honeymoon and that it was going to take an hour to rent our stuff. "j" immediately snapped at him and it was at that time that i decided i wasn't going to snowboard. i'd been going back and forth and since my back still hurt and due to all the added chaos i felt that i wanted some alone time away from people. the idea to do my own thing was very appealing. plus i didn't want "tkg" to have to help me out. "j" returned 10 minutes later and we were off. at the slopes it was decided that we'd all meet back at 11:30am to head back. i waited around a bit until "j" and "r" where ready to take off for the slopes. once they were gone i set off on my own little adventure.
a little background on yongpyong ski resort. not only did it almost host the winter olympic games but its also the setting for a popular korean drama called winter sonata which is now very big in japan along with the actor bae, yongjoon. hi, how perfect for me. so i decided to set out and explore what it had to offer. here's a little snippet from my winter sonata tour map about the drama and the characters:
winter sonata - about unchanged love and people
even if he has changed his name and became a different person, his nature always remains unchanged. though the world keeps changing rapidly, there are people in unchangeable love. yoojin, joonsang, and sanghyok, the main characters of teh winter sonata, are one of those people. the story tells about these 3 friends' destined love, at teh same time, it makes us yearn for our past memories and old-pals. additionally, it will give a little comfort to someone who is exhausted to living in a bitter life, while bringing out dim recollections of the first love from thecorner of their hearts. thsi is the first starting and also, the last ending point of the drama.
the main characters
kang, joonsang [bae, yongjoon]
the son of a pianist, kang mihee. born as a fatherless child. sensitive, cold-hearted personality makes his look even pale and sorrowful. joonsang meets yoojin and sanghyok by destiny while he transfers to jaeil high school in choonchun to look for his father.
lee, minhyong [bae, yongjoon]
a man who is the exact image of joonsang. he is a supervisor of the skiing resort, white, which belong to the 'sewoon group' but he doesn't like to distinguish himself. he, as a representative of the construction company, comes across yoojin by destiny on his renovation project of the skiing resort.
jung, yoojin [cho, jiwoo]
after 10 years of joonsang death, yoojin is running an interior design company named, "polaris" with her colleague and is engaged to sanghyuk. but as soon as she meets chaerin's boyfriend, minhyong, who exactly looks like joonsang, she falls apart discovering the memory of joonsang that she buried in her heart.
kim, sanghyok [park, yongha]
after 10 years of joonsang's death by a car accident, he is happily engaged to yoojin. but uncexpectedly he meets lee minhyong, the supervisor of white skiing resort, whom yoojin is working for. he gets shocked knowing the fact that there is a man who has the same look at joonsang.
oh, chaerin [park, solmi]
a woman with full of groundless confidence and haughtiness. she has ambition and persistence to have everything that she wants no matter what happens. her on and only wound was from joonsang at high school who rejected her love.
let the tour begin. i was in my own winter soap opera land. how exciting. the funny thing is, is that i haven't even seen this show yet. i'm truly a dork. here are some of the highlights from my winter sonata tour.
1. the first scene: the beginning of love-cafe "cheo-um (the first)"
"you've never been in love before, have you?"
the cafe yoojin was in charge of its renovation, where joonsang played the piano and prepared the first dinner for yoojin.
i didn't have any drinks in the cafe but i did take my picture with the cardboard cutout the first night here. hehe
2. scene 2: the walkway between youngpyong condos
the promenade minhyong and yoojin strolled surrounded by snow.
i, too, was surrounded by snow as i walked through it.
3. scene 3: restaurant 'chalet' 'lobby'
the place where minhyong and yoojin had a cup of hot chocolate.
i got a latte here.
4. scene 4: dragon bar
the place where minhyong and yoojin had a cup of tea in a sweet and smooth atmosphere.
i didn't get anything here, just peeked my head in. i'm so retarded.
5. scene 5: the bench near the slope bottom
the place where yoojin and minhyong were just like a part of a beautiful picture.
i, too, was like a part of a beautiful picture as i sat here and watched the skiiers and snowboarders come down the slope.
6. scene 6: dragon plaza
the place where yoojin refused sanghyok's proposal and accepted minhyong's love
this where i browsed through a souvenir shop but didn't buy anything.
7. scene 7: boarding of gondola
the place where yoogin and joonsang confessed their love for each other
seeing that i was walking around in a drama-daze i didn't realize i could actually take the gondola to see scenes 8 and 9. now i have something to do the next time i visit. YEAH!!
that was it for my winter sonata tour. i did manage to stumble upon another souvenir shop near the cafe where i purchased a winter sonata t-shirt. can't wait to wear it.
walking around was really cool. i saw lots of interesting things. it was so beautiful seeing everything covered in snow. there were lots of crazy korean snowmen, igloos, and i even saw a film crew filming something. i'm not really sure what they were working on. i tried my best to become an extra but it didn't work. it was pretty cool watching them though. by now it was time to head back to the van. of course when i got their only "the master" and "dr. no" were there. finally people started to show up but since "j" and "r" were on the lift "the master" gave everyone 20 more minutes. i got stuck going for coffee with "the master" and "dr. no" which turned into my own personal nightmare. "the master" kept asking me if there was anything going on between "j" and myself. even though i told him a million times no he kept saying that they won't interfear if there is. as we walked down the mountain he mentioned that it wasn't fair that i paid the same amount and didn't snowboard. and that i probably wouldn't get any money back. i politely told him that life isn't fair and that i'm not asking for any money back. it would have cost me more had i done this trip alone even without snowboarding so i really didn't care. all through coffee i had to hear "the master" complain, bug me further about "j", and defend "scrappy". i felt so sorry for "dr. no" who looked completely bored. for some apparent reason koreans can't understand that a guy and a girl can just be friends. they automatically think it's some kind of relationship and that was the root of the problem. finally i told "the master" to just drop it. on our way back to the van we ran into "r" and "j". i immediately told "j" about the "coffee talk" with "the master" and how it seems to be a problem that we were friends. the road trip back was pretty much the same except that both "scrappy" and "the master" were doing their best to impress the two korean women. it was so sad. it was like watching school boys. i decidced it was best to put the headphones on and tune it all out. and thats what i did. we did get pulled over by the police but managed to get out of the ticket. mostly likely cuz it was a car full of westerns. we did stop once where we were able to grab some food. i went for the egg toast sandwich. otherwise it was nonstop. the koreans really wanted to get home and i don't blame them. back in ansan it was decided that we were all going out to dinner. i politely told "the master" that i was going home. he tried to convince me to stay saying it was going to be free food. free food or not my apartment was one building away and i wanted out so i left. i stopped at the family mart grabbed myself a beer and went home. it was the best beer ever.
at monday's class "j" was a no show and i had to listen to more of "the masters" rants. he took up the first 30 minutes complaining. i'm not going to go into it all cuz i'm sure my now you guys get it. at point i almost left the class because he just wouldn't shut up. will some people ever learn.
that basically sums up the crazy weekend and monday. for a sport that is suppose to bring people together and help us mentally and phsyically this class does everything but that. hopefully now that "scrappy" will be departing things will get better. we can only hope.
people started awaking around 6:30am. they were eager to get snowboarding. there was some misunderstanding throughout the night and most people thought we weren't getting up until 7:30am. needless to say the morning started off very shakey. the tension from the previous day had found its way into the morning. scrappy was already getting on peoples nerves. it seems that many people couldn't sleep with all the snoring that way happening throughout the night. luckily enough for me i slept through it all. "r' wanted to stay behind and sleep a little more but we found out that we all had to be out of the apartment. that didn't sit well with him. once we all rallied we piled into the van to head off to the slopes. we had to make a stop for "j" and i to rent equipment. this didn't sit well the "master" who made some snide comment about us being on our honeymoon and that it was going to take an hour to rent our stuff. "j" immediately snapped at him and it was at that time that i decided i wasn't going to snowboard. i'd been going back and forth and since my back still hurt and due to all the added chaos i felt that i wanted some alone time away from people. the idea to do my own thing was very appealing. plus i didn't want "tkg" to have to help me out. "j" returned 10 minutes later and we were off. at the slopes it was decided that we'd all meet back at 11:30am to head back. i waited around a bit until "j" and "r" where ready to take off for the slopes. once they were gone i set off on my own little adventure.
a little background on yongpyong ski resort. not only did it almost host the winter olympic games but its also the setting for a popular korean drama called winter sonata which is now very big in japan along with the actor bae, yongjoon. hi, how perfect for me. so i decided to set out and explore what it had to offer. here's a little snippet from my winter sonata tour map about the drama and the characters:
winter sonata - about unchanged love and people
even if he has changed his name and became a different person, his nature always remains unchanged. though the world keeps changing rapidly, there are people in unchangeable love. yoojin, joonsang, and sanghyok, the main characters of teh winter sonata, are one of those people. the story tells about these 3 friends' destined love, at teh same time, it makes us yearn for our past memories and old-pals. additionally, it will give a little comfort to someone who is exhausted to living in a bitter life, while bringing out dim recollections of the first love from thecorner of their hearts. thsi is the first starting and also, the last ending point of the drama.
the main characters
kang, joonsang [bae, yongjoon]
the son of a pianist, kang mihee. born as a fatherless child. sensitive, cold-hearted personality makes his look even pale and sorrowful. joonsang meets yoojin and sanghyok by destiny while he transfers to jaeil high school in choonchun to look for his father.
lee, minhyong [bae, yongjoon]
a man who is the exact image of joonsang. he is a supervisor of the skiing resort, white, which belong to the 'sewoon group' but he doesn't like to distinguish himself. he, as a representative of the construction company, comes across yoojin by destiny on his renovation project of the skiing resort.
jung, yoojin [cho, jiwoo]
after 10 years of joonsang death, yoojin is running an interior design company named, "polaris" with her colleague and is engaged to sanghyuk. but as soon as she meets chaerin's boyfriend, minhyong, who exactly looks like joonsang, she falls apart discovering the memory of joonsang that she buried in her heart.
kim, sanghyok [park, yongha]
after 10 years of joonsang's death by a car accident, he is happily engaged to yoojin. but uncexpectedly he meets lee minhyong, the supervisor of white skiing resort, whom yoojin is working for. he gets shocked knowing the fact that there is a man who has the same look at joonsang.
oh, chaerin [park, solmi]
a woman with full of groundless confidence and haughtiness. she has ambition and persistence to have everything that she wants no matter what happens. her on and only wound was from joonsang at high school who rejected her love.
let the tour begin. i was in my own winter soap opera land. how exciting. the funny thing is, is that i haven't even seen this show yet. i'm truly a dork. here are some of the highlights from my winter sonata tour.
1. the first scene: the beginning of love-cafe "cheo-um (the first)"
"you've never been in love before, have you?"
the cafe yoojin was in charge of its renovation, where joonsang played the piano and prepared the first dinner for yoojin.
i didn't have any drinks in the cafe but i did take my picture with the cardboard cutout the first night here. hehe
2. scene 2: the walkway between youngpyong condos
the promenade minhyong and yoojin strolled surrounded by snow.
i, too, was surrounded by snow as i walked through it.
3. scene 3: restaurant 'chalet' 'lobby'
the place where minhyong and yoojin had a cup of hot chocolate.
i got a latte here.
4. scene 4: dragon bar
the place where minhyong and yoojin had a cup of tea in a sweet and smooth atmosphere.
i didn't get anything here, just peeked my head in. i'm so retarded.
5. scene 5: the bench near the slope bottom
the place where yoojin and minhyong were just like a part of a beautiful picture.
i, too, was like a part of a beautiful picture as i sat here and watched the skiiers and snowboarders come down the slope.
6. scene 6: dragon plaza
the place where yoojin refused sanghyok's proposal and accepted minhyong's love
this where i browsed through a souvenir shop but didn't buy anything.
7. scene 7: boarding of gondola
the place where yoogin and joonsang confessed their love for each other
seeing that i was walking around in a drama-daze i didn't realize i could actually take the gondola to see scenes 8 and 9. now i have something to do the next time i visit. YEAH!!
that was it for my winter sonata tour. i did manage to stumble upon another souvenir shop near the cafe where i purchased a winter sonata t-shirt. can't wait to wear it.
walking around was really cool. i saw lots of interesting things. it was so beautiful seeing everything covered in snow. there were lots of crazy korean snowmen, igloos, and i even saw a film crew filming something. i'm not really sure what they were working on. i tried my best to become an extra but it didn't work. it was pretty cool watching them though. by now it was time to head back to the van. of course when i got their only "the master" and "dr. no" were there. finally people started to show up but since "j" and "r" were on the lift "the master" gave everyone 20 more minutes. i got stuck going for coffee with "the master" and "dr. no" which turned into my own personal nightmare. "the master" kept asking me if there was anything going on between "j" and myself. even though i told him a million times no he kept saying that they won't interfear if there is. as we walked down the mountain he mentioned that it wasn't fair that i paid the same amount and didn't snowboard. and that i probably wouldn't get any money back. i politely told him that life isn't fair and that i'm not asking for any money back. it would have cost me more had i done this trip alone even without snowboarding so i really didn't care. all through coffee i had to hear "the master" complain, bug me further about "j", and defend "scrappy". i felt so sorry for "dr. no" who looked completely bored. for some apparent reason koreans can't understand that a guy and a girl can just be friends. they automatically think it's some kind of relationship and that was the root of the problem. finally i told "the master" to just drop it. on our way back to the van we ran into "r" and "j". i immediately told "j" about the "coffee talk" with "the master" and how it seems to be a problem that we were friends. the road trip back was pretty much the same except that both "scrappy" and "the master" were doing their best to impress the two korean women. it was so sad. it was like watching school boys. i decidced it was best to put the headphones on and tune it all out. and thats what i did. we did get pulled over by the police but managed to get out of the ticket. mostly likely cuz it was a car full of westerns. we did stop once where we were able to grab some food. i went for the egg toast sandwich. otherwise it was nonstop. the koreans really wanted to get home and i don't blame them. back in ansan it was decided that we were all going out to dinner. i politely told "the master" that i was going home. he tried to convince me to stay saying it was going to be free food. free food or not my apartment was one building away and i wanted out so i left. i stopped at the family mart grabbed myself a beer and went home. it was the best beer ever.
at monday's class "j" was a no show and i had to listen to more of "the masters" rants. he took up the first 30 minutes complaining. i'm not going to go into it all cuz i'm sure my now you guys get it. at point i almost left the class because he just wouldn't shut up. will some people ever learn.
that basically sums up the crazy weekend and monday. for a sport that is suppose to bring people together and help us mentally and phsyically this class does everything but that. hopefully now that "scrappy" will be departing things will get better. we can only hope.
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