its like a monsoon v3.0

vitamin m

deery-lou.
seeing that both misty and bc beat me to the blog post and had the same title, i thought it best to keep it going. it was a very wet weekend filled with food, drinks, and lots of fun…

friday, july 14 [misty's arrival]
i met up misty at hotel seokyo around 11pm. we screamed. we jumped up and down. we stared at each other in awe as we realized "yes, this is REALLY happening". the two of played catch up sitting on the white beds of the seokyo hotel. around midnight we headed off to club funky funky [club ff]. it just so happened that the mustangs were playing that night. i was so excited that misty would get the opportunity to see them perform. the guy at the door recognized me from the weekend before as the guy with the smiths shirt. the w20,000 entrance fee was paid and we made our way down the darkened stairs where free cocktails were waiting for us. free cocktails all night is quite dangerous. misty and i claimed a section of the bar toward the back and started pounding the cocktails. well, at least i started pounding the cocktails. the mustang guys were roaming about the bar. misty got a great photo of mls napping on the stools near the woman's bathroom.


Mustangs singer naps before the show
Originally uploaded by mistylwhite.

four or maybe five cocktails later the first band finally finished. they weren't quite my thing hence the fast drinking. we moved closer to the front of the stage to get a better view of the mustangs. mls was sporting a new shorter hairstyle but still looked hot as hell. made me want to sing "he's so fine". mbs [mustang bass player] or nip as i was calling him that night had a ripped tee that exposed his right nipple ever so slightly. sigh… as always their set was amazing. at one point mls was rolling on the ground getting dirty while playing his guitar. shortly afterwards he was shirtless. once again misty was there with her camera to capture it.


Mustangs Lead Singer
Originally uploaded by mistylwhite.

during their set misty got approached by random k-girl who complimented her on her fancy new blythe watch. after they finished playing the same girl asked misty "what did you think of them. come on you can tell me." we decided not to stick around for dancing. on the way back to the hotel we stopped off for some street-side corndogs. yummy! misty didn't like the ketchup. back in the hotel room we chatted for a bit more until realizing we should probably get some sleep. i was out as soon as my head hit the pillow. throughout the night i had a dozen or so vignette-like dreams. the two that standout were: (1). me walking out into the hallway of seokyo hotel to see a group of my friends from the states standing there. they had all come to see my exhibition (2). mls and i were playing gin rummy. he laid down three cards [a five of hearts, a card with the letter t, and another 5], i told him he needed three 5s. he pointed to the "t" card and said "this card can be anything you want. thats how we play in korea".

saturday, july 15 [the exhibition]
misty and i awoke at 1:40 pm. i haven't slept in that late for ages. outside it was raining. the monsoon had begun. we motivated ourselves and went in search of food. the place i wanted to take misty to was closed so we ended up at oink. oink will probably become the good old standby in hongdae. before heading back to the hotel to change for the night a stop at tomodachi, my favorite character shop, was in order. yeah, i know. surprise, surprise. misty and i in a character shop = needless spending. there was a figure from the robot series i wanted. his name haneurino shownen. he's got black hair. he's shirtless but has black suspenders, black pants, 3/4 quarter black gloves, and black sunglasses. in his pants pocket he's got a knife. he's carrying a wooden cross and is smoking a cig. how could i resist!of course he's one of those figures that comes in the mystery box. there were only 4 boxes left. so i had a one and four chance, right. i was comparing each box by weight to determine if i could figure out which one was his. then misty decided she would buy two of them. that meant that i would just go ahead and buy the other two. it was hong kong all over again. we stood there laughing at how ridiculous we were. i'm sure the guy who worked there thought we were crazy. but at least my odds increased. at the hotel we wasted no time ripping into the boxes. my first attempt was unsuccessful. i got the non-color girl with motorcycle. boring! then misty just looked at me and i knew. it was like she had found the golden ticket in the wonka bar. the mission was a success. YEAH! it was time to get ready.

haneurino shownen

for the opening party i decided to wear my black zip pants with suspenders, a white button shirt with a pink/grey/white tie, and then a sleeveless undershirt over that. i have a thing for white things days. plus my photo frames were all white so there you go. i'm a dork. i know. whatever. [sidenote: my pal prattlepants sent me a song "my united states of whatever" sooo good. its my new theme song.] we got to galerie gaia around 6ish. we immediately went up to the third floor where my photos were hung. i had to get the anxiety over with. as i stood there staring at my pictures it felt so surreal. i've never had a show before so i didn't know what to expect. i knew one thing for sure. i was very glad to have misty there with me. it gave me the extra support and comfort i needed. i was quite please with how they looked on the wall.

my photo wall

misty and i at galerie

my photos and i

i'm proud of myself for having done it. it was such a great experience to be a part of something like especially with all these other talented artists. the whole exhibition looked really great. the turnout was amazing. chen did an awesome job organizing the whole thing. kudos to you miss chen. we spent the next 3 hours hanging either inside the galerie or out front. the rain had stopped for now. talked to a bunch of different peeps. met some of the other artist. got some good feedback from my work. saw some people carrying my postcard. saw one guy write down my name. drank lots of sangria. managed to wear some as well. so much for wearing white. misty and i had our photo taken with two random korean children. hi, what! then it was time to go back to the hotel so i could get out of my stained shirt and then head to seom for the after party.

on the way to seom it started to rain. misty, bc, and i decided to brave it without umbrellas. actually i had no choice since mine had gotten stolen at the galerie. we basically got around the corner of the hotel when the monsoon came back in full-force. drenced we jumped into the first corner store we saw and bought some very pricey mini-umbrellas. the journey to seom through flooded streets, slippery stairs, and umbrella madness seemed endless. we were soaked. we chilled at seom for quite a bit. i found comfort in a giant pink pig that i was using as an arm rest. it started to get too chilled so we decided to move on. outside it sounded like the rain had stopped. WRONG! before we even got to the door the mother of all monsoons was back on. we braved it anyway.

chen and i at seom

we stopped in at club aura for a cocktail. bc warned us that the guy with the sax was about to play but i said how bad could it be. VERY!! it was japanese experimental jazz band. it sounded like i was in a room full of cats in heat. cocktails were downed in record time. we debated going to club ff. once there the doorguy told us to check out club kys. they were having their opening party. we walked by but instead opted for club nabi. arie was working so i got to say hi. that's where i got to see thing 1 and thing 2 as i like to call them. they work there. they're the cutest boys ever. they have matching glasses. they were so animated as they bopped back and forth through the bar doing various things. thing 1 got all upset when a customer stepped into the reflecting pond and then placed his wet foot on the cushion. koreans have such an innocence about them which is great.

bc, misty, and i

when we got back to the hotel room misty noticed that the room was leaking. she didn't the front dest to tell them. instead she placed two glasses on the floor to collect the water. as i sat onthe bed talking to bc and misty i felt some drops hit my foot. we convinced misty to call the front desk. after she hung up with them she said watch them bring us two bottles of waters. we all laughed. then the power went out. there was a knock on our door. i opened it to the the front dest guy holding two bottle of water. i showed him the leaks then told him the power was out. apparently it was just our room. he said something then ran off. he returned in a few minutes with a key to a new room. this room was leak free and had power. a double plus.

sunday, july 16 [misty's last day]
not sure how i managed to be by 10:30 am after going to bed at 6 am but i was. outside the rain was still coming down. i noticed that the window from our room looked directly into the bathroom of the building across from us. the bathroom has giant windows too. which meant evertime i guy went in there to pee i could see him and vice versa. the urinals were facing the window. scary! before checking out misty and had a smoke mask fashion shoot.

from another planet

after lunch misty and i went to ordinary cafe for coffee. we also had a mini photo shoot with our pez there. he he. we hit a couple more stores then it was back to the hotel so misty could catch her bus. the bus appeared so suddenly that we barely had time to say bye! i watched the bus take off down the street. i then made my long wet journey home. on the subway i saw these two boys who were so cute together. couldn't really tell if they were a couple or just friends. sometimes its tough. they were very touchy-feely, smilely, and laughing the whole time. it was storybook cute. as i stood there i couldn't help but think that i want that some day…

monday, july 17 [holiday, no school]
and the rain is still coming. spent the day with bc and kitkat. what swell girls. we lunched. had coffee. chatted. walked around. and then before setting off for home bc and i had tea/rice drink in this cool cafe.

rice drink at cafe

an all around a nice chill day. i'm glad i had the motivation to get out. earlier in the day the weather was actually nice. felt like fall. that is until the rain came again. was approached by two random boys in the subway. i pretended i didn't know english and spoke spanish to them. at least the little bit that i know. as they were leaving they both told me that my hair was bravo. realized today that i need new glasses. the prescription is way to strong. so thats my next missing. korean glasses. oh the joy. saw a young couple napping on the train. they were all cuddled up. cute.

t-shirt of the day:
ditch the bunny get with the honey

poster of the day:

anti-smoking poster

whew! that took forever. i'll be posting some more pictures tomorrow. its 2am and i'm beat.

be well…

SHOT! article

deery-lou.
SHOT! had its opening wednesday night. according to miss chen things went smoothly. this saturday is the opening party. can't wait! much thanks to her for hanging my artwork. i only wish i could have been there to help. thats the problem with living out in the sticks. also on wednesday there was an article in the korea times. yours truly was mentioned. hehe!

be well…

nunchaku

deery-lou.
yesterday in taekwondo we practiced nunchaku. at the beginning of class my sahbumnim gave me the option of either kicking or nunchaku. ummm, hi...nunchaku, thanks. nunchaku is cool. its the one martial art weapon i so want to learn. after the student handed me a pair i started playing around with them. i felt all bruce lee like even though i didn't know what i was doing.


we spent the whole class practicing nunchaku. it was a blast. although i'm beginning to realize that i'm definitely lacking in cordination. note to self: must work on this. i did manage to get down the first half of what sahbumnim showed us. there are a few moves that i still haven't quite mastered. of course when we are doing it slow i have no problem. its when we have to do it fast that i start to feel like a spaz. although while looking around the class, i noticed i'm not the only one. there were lots of times when i got hit with the nunchaku. either on my back, hands, head, etc. it was something like this…



however, i'm determined to master this fine art. it gets me excited. i'm going to ask sahbumnim or kwanjangnim where i can buy some so i can practice at home. yesterday's class was exactly what i needed to inspire me once more. i just hope we get to do it more often. one of these days i'm going to look like this...

click here to see action

or perhaps become a ninja...




or even have my very own poster...


until then a boy can dream can't he...

be well...

this just in...

deery-lou.
not sure how i was lucky enough to make it onto this email list. i'm gonna have to be more careful. at least its going to an account i don't use too often. although it makes me wonder: is this for real? shoot me. shoot me now.

The ( fat ) white chicks party____________________________________________________________________

Sponsored by captain ahab

The details:

Where: World Cup Stadium

When: July 16-17th (during the mud festival)

All you can eat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

______________________________________________________________________

Buffet Table (and more) : Porter House for 3, lobster rack, Salad Bar, Ribeye, Potatoes + more, "Desserts you design"]

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Buffet Opens at 8am and closes the next day at midnight.

Free cover charge for "drunk, skank type with anger management disorder and a 'boohoo' attitude, (less than 100lbs)."

Otherwise , you pay a 500won entrance fee (no exception)!

_____________________________________________________________________

Thanks,

Itaewonk Playground Management Staff


be well...

hong-ing it!

deery-lou.
koreans kill me! this weekend was spent witnessing first hand why i love it hear so much. meet up with bonnie conquest in hongdae after i dropped off my artwork at chen's pad. she was there with kit [not her real name but for some reason bc and i keep calling her that] who bc had just meet in person for the first time a few minutes before my arrival. shortly after that kit's friend arie, who works at nabi joined us. we had grub then went to flower[something] for drinks. according to the menu "its the groovy place for groovy people" or something like that. it was actually quite cute. the food looked quite tasty. the even post the calories on the menu for those of us who care. i don't but i'm sure some do. a couple of table had cocktail shakers filled with color liquids: green, red, pink. not really sure what they were drinking but must find out next time. we quickly downed our drinks and headed to club ff. there was a band playing that arie wanted to see. i'm not really sure i was actually in the flower place it went by soo fast. during the first band i thought i was going to pull my eyelashes out. however, i refrained and decided to pound down the drinks instead to get me through it. its was a k-band and they kind of sounded like a cross between tracy chapman and hootie and the blowfish. every song, except for the k-ballads they did, sounded like fast car and the theme song to friends. HI, shot me please! of course being a k-band night the crowd was mostly k which meant they were all sitting down. there was a big open space that noone dared stand in. once all the seats were taken along the side, in the back, and at the bar the new people coming in stood in the doorway on the stairs next to the men's room. let me just tell you that the men's room is probably in the top 5 most foul smelling bathrooms ever! HI, big open space being wasted. the best part though was when the lead singer stopped singing during his set to answer and talk on his cell phone. i looked at bc in complete disbelief. it also happened to be his birthday, so perhaps he was chatting with his granny. during one of their many k-ballads i lend over to bc and told her how everyone in the crowd looked like zombies. motionless and somewhat dead. we each picked out our favorite zombie. mine looked like he was about to drool at any second. later we discovered that mfz [my favorite zombie] was the drummer for the second band nunco cobain. which just so happened to be the band we were there to see. i would also discover on sunday when i purchased nunco cobain's cd that it was the same band i had seen at the warhol party. let me just say these guys are awesome! it was great to see mfz come to life during their set. the keyboard player for nunco cobain was so cute. she was was wearing a superman tee. hi, new best friend! during nunco's set people started getting wise and moved into the big open space. but of course they didn't stand. one couple even had little blow-up seat cushions. i thought they brought them their selves but discovered that the bar actually supplied them with it. i think i've actually seen it all now. it took kit and arie to start dancing in the center for people to realize "hey, i'm at a concert its ok to stand and dance."

the third band turned out to be another typical k-band with no unique sound to them. the lead singer was actually wearing flip-flops. kit, bc, and i decided to bolt. arie remained behind with her friends. kit went home to study while bc and i went to bricxx with chen for yet another cocktail. bc left after her cocktail. chen and i remained and were soon joined by "tool" and his k-girlfriend. "tool" completely rubbed me the wrong way. he kind of has this "i'm too cool for school" mentality. and when he talks to you he sounds very condescending. its a pretty safe bet we won't be buddy-buddy. we left bricxx and soon found ourselves at another bar. "tools" k-gf knew the owner or something. "tool" was complaining really loudly that it was taking soo long for our drinks to come. his gf looked completely bored with him. i engaged in conversation with these two k-guys that were sitting next to me. one was a performer bassist for a k-punk band. he told me he wanted to be a "rockstar". the other one had "live free or die" tattooed on his arm and above the image from motley crue's dr. feelgood. both of them were on a quest to pick of babes. obviously since they were in a bar with us at 3:30 am it was unsuccessful. before heading up to chen's apartment we stopped in at buy the way to stock up on late night/early morning snacks: hard boiled eggs, sandwiches, a burger, kimbop, danishes, and ice coffee for the morning. food was consumed then sleep took over...

sunday, july 9
met up with bc around 11:15. we spent the day shopping shopping in hongdae. i tried on a few button-down shirt but of course they didn't fit. bc got in trouble for trying on a t-shirt. its forbidden in korea. bc and i stumbled onto a movie set. our quest for food in the heat seemed endless with every place being closed or for fear of them not having a picture/english menu. finally found oink where we had kalbi, ice cold beer, and rice with fish eggs. who knew that fish eggs and rice would be so yummy. i bought a new watch. its white and has a scrolling message that reads "[heart] forever in love" check it out here! went to ordinary cafe for a blueberry frappe. sat in the window seat picking out cks. bc's not a good picker. noticed quite a few peeps wearing stocking caps and one guy actually in a turtle neck sweater. umm, last time i checked it was freakin summer. two girls waved to us while sitting at oc. they weren't twins but were dressed like it. all in all a pretty awesome day, especially seeing that i only had 5 hours of sleep.

random quotes and other things from the weekend"
1. rock on muther fuckers — bc, during the k-chapman/hootie set
2. what bands? — me in response to "tool" asking if i knew of his bands even though i did
3. what are you doing here? — motley crue tat guy from saturday night when he saw me and bc sitting on a stoop in hongdae on sunday
4. you're a dj? — the ex-bassist when i told him i was a teacher
5. girl holding up a mirror for her boyfriend in the coffee bean and tea leaf so he could put in his contacts
6. watching a young couple hit each other with giant stuffed flowers on the subway
7. seeing the leader singer of band number 3 in a phone booth on sunday in the same clothes
8. guy at ff coming up to me to ask if he can take the stool next to me then with stool in hand runs back to his friends giggling. obvioulsy he got the short end of the stick and had to talk to the foreigner
9. goth store that plays k-pop
10. charlie's "asian" angels

be well…

ode to the "s" key

deery-lou.
my little ibook is only 2 years old yet its already showing signs of age. about a month ago i realized that the "s" on the s-key is completely gone and the "d" is quickly following. with the "c" coming in third. i've tried writing an "s" in permanent marker but it only wears off in a matter of seconds. so much for being permanent. its a good thing i took typing back in sixth grade with mrs. barnes. i can still hear her saying "s-space, a-space, sa-space, etc." at least i will remember where the s-key is suppose to be. which leads me to ponder, what contributed to the s-keys demise? could it be all those late night chats while i'm sitting around in my boxers talking to strange boys and saying things like "suck it, baby, come on suck it". or is it simply due to the fact that the letter "s" is quite frequently used. whatever the case the "s" has vanished. now i'm doing my best to hold onto "d" and "c". i guess i'll have to stop typing "dick" and "cock" so much. what's a boy to do...

now for something completely different. today while looking at my profile on myspace, which i seldom do, i noticed that someone had changed my books. yes, notice i said someone cuz it sure as hell wasn't me. gone were the books i listed. in their place was one linked book the gospel of the flying spaghetti monster. i'm not even sure why i'm bothering to plug it here. it just seems so strange that someone would edit MY profile to add that stupid shit. what the fuck! does this mean they have access to my password and stuff. if so, how did that happen. i've since chanced my books back but i'll definitely be keeping a close eye on my account. has this happened to anyone else? perhaps its time to delete the profile. i'll have to think about that. until then here's another mystery for nancy and hardy boys to solve.

be well…

countdown to sf: 21 days

milkshake!

deery-lou.
hi, new favorite.
yummy…


i just kicked my student's ass
in cards. he owes me a milkshake now.
teaching is so great!

be well…

casper!

deery-lou.
for those of you who have spent many sleepless nights wondering what ever happened to casper the friendly ghost fear not. the friendly ghost we all knew and loved [and even hated] as a child has found new fame in korea. although not as glamorous as being a cartoon superstar, the ghost with the high pitched voice is now the mascot for ghost pizza.


if only his friends could see him now. and what's up with the hat? poor, poor casper. i was never really much of a fan myself. although i did dress up as casper one halloween. i insisted on my mom buying the plastic casper costume. she was angry. it was during her "i want to make all your halloween costumes phase". she let me wear the mask. as for the rest of my costume she made it herself. my sister was a gingerbreadman that year. my mom actually sewed real candy onto her costume. i can still see the gumdrops. needless to say my sister won a prize. no one appreciated the casper costume. go figure. well now we know where fallen cartoon heroes go—korea. i only hope i come across josie and pussycats one of these days.

watch toons. be well...

countdown to sf: 23 days

friday night live...

deery-lou.
taekwondo class consisted of jumping, jumping, and tumbling. me no like the tumbling. especially when having to do it backwards. i always feel somewhat dizzy. its funny to watch the kids though. they roll all over the place and seem to have a blast while doing so. from tumbling we went on to jumping. we practiced jumping hurdles then the long jumping. it was pretty fun. i crashed into the hurdles once. the hurdles were these foamy block things. they were quite soft so no injuries. the rest of the class was spent practicing kicking. kicking will be the death of me.

after class i headed to jungang-dong to meet up with a new peep, bonnie conquest, that i met via blogspot. i think she's been stalking me for some time. blogging has become the new way to meet people. i love it. we went to wa bar for some drinks. it was pretty packed when we got there so we had to sit at one of the drink bars. i call them drink bars cuz in the center is all sorts of bottled beer/drinks on ice. you simply just grab what you want. we opted for giant drafts. we tried to order a pitcher but for some reason got the old arm cross sign meaning "NO!" through the course of the evening we met a lovely "in love" korean couple. the girl so wanted to chat us up and vice versa but seeing that our korean was awful and her english not so good it never really took off. it sure was fun trying though.

here's what i learned friday night…
1. three giant beers on an empty stomach not so good
2. i sweat like a pig
3. some public bathrooms reek so bad its hard to pee
4. people really do eat kangeroo
5. everyone has a story to tell
6. don cas [breaded pork cutlet] with gravy rocks my world
7. "service" is the best thing ever [hi free peaches]
8. sometimes i think i talk too much
9. meeting strangers can be fun

on the way home it was raining. half way home i realized i actually HAD an umbrella in my bag. unfortunately it wasn't quite big enough to cover two. the rain died down to a drizzle and we decided to forget the umbrella all together. as we passed by the now closed restaurants there was an ajumma outside of one. she pointed to my umbrella, started talking to us, and motioned about the fallilng rain. i could tell she was wondering why we weren't using it. i smiled back shrugging my shoulders. she laughed. i'm sure she thought what fools we were. and perhaps we were but sometimes cold rain feels so good.

be well…

SHOT!

deery-lou.
annyong! not much to report. my week has been pretty mundane. the weather is getting hotter and hotter. its time to find me a swimming pool or something. there's now a site for SHOT!, the exhibition i'm going to be a part of in july. if you have some time take a gander. i'm pretty much set for it. finished all my frames last week. now all i have to do is attach the photo hangers that miss kate sent. thanks, hun. that really saves me from having to use double-sided tape. hehe! hope everyone out in the cyber world is doing good.

stay cool and be well…

jethan's mini adventure...

deery-lou.
friday night we had a company dinner. we went to this fairly new restaurant in our building. their specialty: chicken. the chicken was served whole. it kind of looked as if it had been split open then topped with rice gravy that had jujubes, a potato, and ginseng root in it all roasted together. they also served up a huge pot of sticky rice gravy soup. two words: unbelievably delicious. the chicken was like butter. although i did have to add tons of salt to the srs to give it some flavor. jk had brought some alcohol from china. not sure where it got it from. i guess its china's version of soju. i had a very small amount. which turned out to be a good thing cuz it tasted like i was sucking down rubber alcohol. freakin nasty. the worst part was that i couldn't rid myself of the awful after taste. me thinks i can still taste it now. blaahh! dinner ended quite abruptly and the next thing i knew we were at the faux-german bar that has barrel booths you can sit at. there more beer and soju were order as well as two sidedishes of fruit. fruit seems to be the ultimate drinking snack. nothing like muching on some bananas and chasing it down with a gulp of beer. yummy. the ks were drinking machines. downing one drink after another. most likely due to the fact that the world cup game between korea and switzerland was going to be on at 4am. i was hoping they didn't plan on all of us staying up to watch us. some of us need lots of pretty sleep. with the drinking comes the problems. it never fails that once two of my co-teachers get wasted they start up with the flirting and crap. one keeps calling me "honey" while the other says how much she thinks of me. its fine for a few minutes but as it continues throughout the night it starts to make me feel uncomfortable. kind of like if i'm even remotelly nice back to them they'll think i'm interested. i'm not sure how many times i've already told them i'm not interested. obviously they're not catching on. i haven't actuallly played the g-card, but come on they've got to know. unless they are just kidding around but its so hard to tell. needless to say i decided to leave around 1am before things got too out of control. that was staying out much later than i had anticipated especially since i had an appointment at 9:30am on saturday.

after my early-ass saturday morning appointment i went back home and vegged out until 5:30pm. i was so tired. i went to bed at 2am and then was woken up at 4 something by cheering red-devil fans. [footnote: korea lost 2:0]. don't they know its 4 am. after my much needed rest and laziness i set off for seoul to meet up with jen and astrid. we spent the evening at mr. october's [i think thats the name], a hof bar, in the insadong area. on the menu: beer, fries, and chicken. life couldn't get much better. come to think of it, it was my third night in a row to have chicken and beer. on thursday i met up with young after taekwondo for spicy fried chicken and ice cold beers. anyway but to jen and astrid. it was great to just chill with the two of them. we've been talking about hanging out forever now and it finally happened. usually when i see them its in a big group so you don't get enough one on one time. those girls are rad so it was good to have some qt with them. we left around 11pm. i was hoping to catch the last train back to ansan. the first train to come was one for sanbon. i decided to jump on it just incase there wasn't a train to ansan. at least that way if it was the last, i would be somewhat closer to home. what a smart move on my part. when we got to sanbon i was told by the attendant that there were no more trains for the night. i figured the best thing to do would be take a cab. of course i've never taken a cab before by myself and my korean is god awful. it was a good thing i had my trusty map with me. now i could just point to the station and have them take me there. as i was coming the stairs a man starting talking to me. it sounded like he was saying ansan. i pulled out my map and pointed to handaeop station. he said mahnwon [$10] and motioned me to the cab. the next thing i knew i was in a cab with 3 koreans heading off for what i hoped to be handaeop station. as the cab speed down the highway i kept an eye out for road signs that said ansan. i wanted to make sure i was heading in the right direction. it funny cuz i thought i would have been more concerned about what was going on but i really wasn't. perhaps all the beer had kept me calm. once we dropped the girl off at songnoksu, the stop right before mine, i knew all was ok. as we were approaching handaeop the man next to me decided to chat me up in korean. i had to tell him "i don't know" and they all laughed. when the driver pulled over and said handaeop i looked around and nothing looked familiar. then i realized on was on the other side of the station. i paid then made my way home happily knowing i successful got myself there.

this morning i went into homemart, our corner store, to get some coffee in a plastic cup with a straw. i also wanted an onion but didn't want to buy a bunch so i asked him if i could buy one. he smiled and yes. then he said service, service. which meant he gave me the onion for free. how nice. before i left he told me my hair was beautiful. i laughed especially since i had literally just got out of bed and told him that my hair was all crazy. i tried to explain bedhead but i think it was lost on him. it feels like its going to be a hot one today. not sure what i'm going to do…

hello again. its midnight on sunday night. wanted to fill you in on how i spent my day. after a lazy start to my sunday i finally ventured out of the house around 5pm. decided to head into jungangdong to get some things and shop a bit. i hadn't been there in awhile. young and ben met me there. i did manage to find a watch store that sells the watch i want. didn't have a chance to try it on because they were closed. ahhh! at least now i know i don't have to trek all over seoul to find it. its right here in my backyard. oh the joy. all right bedtime.

be well...

countdown to sf: 1 month, 2 days

happy tuesday

deery-lou.
happy tuesday. i love tuesdays and thursdays. they are basically my easy days at school. right now i'm on yet another 40 min break. although all i can think about it food. not really sure why i'm so hungry. i did eat early. i've been snacking on giant jelly beans from misty and oreos that christine just gave me. however its not enough. i want to eat, eat, eat...

had a pretty decent tkd class last night. i think i'm finally beginning to figure out goya poomse. kwanjangnim gave me homework which entails me practicing my side kick. he told christine that he likes working one on one with me. i wonder if this means there's more of it to come. all last week sahbumnim was awol. i don't think he's coming back. where do all the sahbumnims disappear too? i've been there a year and have had 4 of them. a new one is starting this week. well, he's actually not new cuz he was the first sahbumnim i had at this school. he's returning. i think he was scared of me. or at least scared to speak english to me. hopefully it'll all go well. from what i remember he had that chic-geek look about him. hmmm.....

moving on to things of the past. saturday night was spent being out til 5am. not sure how i'm doing it but i am. we went to a cd release party for the waking party at club ff. they had a bunch of bands playing including the mustangs. my problem was that i just wasn't into it that night. not even for the mustangs who i absolutely love. i spent most of the evening outside chatting with olivia and betsy. however, after all the bands had finished and the dance tunes came on i perked up a bit. maybe all the drinks i had had something to do with my perkiness. who knows? so the rest of the evening was spent dancing til dawn.

sunday was spent on chen's rooftop chillin. i finally made my way home around 8pm. but before i did i stopped off at my favorite anime shop to get me a "debt free" present. he he! it must have been my lucky day cuz i bought two toys. the kind that you're not sure which one you are getting cuz the box is sealed and it could be one of six characters. anyway it just so happened that i got both of the ones i wanted. imagine that! me so happy. i also found the mustangs cd this weekend. another score for me. a majority of the songs on the cd are all new. at first listen i was a little bummed since there are two songs i was hoping would be on the cd. i got over it though cuz the cd rocks! must stop eating oreos and jelly beans…

be well...

celebration time!!

deery-lou.
a quick post before i make my way for what will probably be another saturday all-nighter. will be heading into seoul around 5pm to catch up with some peeps to see the mustangs. yes, i know. but when you like something you go out and support. right. however, this isn't my reason for blogging right now. todays post is indeed one to celebrate. just a few minutes ago i made my final payment on my credit cards. YEAH!!!! [picture me jumping up and down smiling]. i am now officially credit card debt free. who would have ever thought this day would come. i know i certainly didn't. its such a great feeling to have rid myself of that monkey on my back. this further supports that my coming here was the best thing i could have ever done. now lets just hope i don't fall back into that cc trap when i return home. and i don't think i will. i've learned alot while being here and one of these is that i can live without having to charge everything. sure i will use my cc for purchasing airline tickets, etc. but i won't let it get out of control like i did before. so tonight i will celebrate. celebrate being free.

be free. be real…

limbo

deery-lou.
hard training. hard training. hard training. those were the words of wisdom spoken by my kwanjangnim tuesday night. deja-vu anyone!! he keeps talking about me going for my second dan [second black belt]. the problem is i don't feel motivated to get a second black belt. i achieved my initial goal of getting a black belt and can't quite see beyond that. perhaps my attitude would change if i felt like i was improving but i feel like i haven't. my dolryo-chogi [round house kick] is still a major thorn in my side. my mind knows what its suppose to do but my body doesn't seem to catch on. especially when i have to do it naturally or fast. being a naturally tensed person i find it quite hard to relax. a big part of taekwondo is relaxing then given all your power at the end. i want to put all my power into it from the beginning. so i frustrated. i'm trying to find some to respark my interest. no luck. all i do know is that i really don't want to quit. or maybe i do and i'm just fooling myself. during my conversation [if you can really call it that] with kwanjangnim he mentioned that he felt i had become somewhat uninterested. saying i was doing very hard training before getting my black belt and now not so much. thats where the hard training, hard training, hard training came back to haunt me. he's concerned that i won't be ready to go to kukkiwon for my second dan especially when it comes to sparring. he made a jesture of me gettting kicked in the face then pointed to himself and hung his head low. translation: if i go and look like i haven't improved he'll be ashamed. must say i don't really blame him. afterall being at kukkiwon with all your peers you don't want to look like you can't teach. i had to agree with him. i'm by no means reading to get my second dan. i'm just hoping that the interest comes backs. on a second note kwanjangnim asked me about weight training. awhile ago i had told sahbumnim that i wanted to work on getting inshape especially my stomach. kwanjangnim said he had a friend who was a weight training master. not sure where thats going to go but hoping i'll be able to start a new kind of program soon. until then i'm going to stick it out no matter how much i'd rather be doing nothing.

be well…

countdown to sf: 1 month, 12 days

korea 2, togo 1

deery-lou.
well my evening didn't really turn out like i thought it would. instead of sitting in a bar drinking beer, eating chicken, and smoking cigs i was home eating sweet potato noodles wrapped in sausage casings reading the game via live updates. poor me. i think its time to find some ansan friends. maybe the next time korea plays i can find someone to watch with me. young did asked me to go to seoul but i had taekwondo and really didn't feel like going there. the other teachers were watching from their home in suwon. i thought about going to lake ansan but after taekwondo i was tired and i had my computer with me and didn't feel like lugging it all the way there. on my way home every single shop i passed had their tvs on. i did stop in the city center of where i live and watched a little. there were tons of people on the sidewalk. most of the restaurants in the area pulled out their tvs and plastic chairs for people to gather. while getting my food i made friends with two young girls who told me my korean was good. little did they know those were the only two words i knew. from my apartment i could here all my neighbors cheering, blowing whistles, etc. every time korea scored or did something that made them happy. the two players that scored goals ahn jung-hwan and lee chun-soo both happened to be in my top 4 list [see tuesdays blog]. can i pick them or what. its too bad i didn't get to see it for myself. at least the live feed had uptodate photos. so it was kind of like seeing it live. lee chun-soo is definitely is hot. he currently plays in the k-league for ulsan hyundai. guess what i'll be doing? trying to get myself to one of those games. hehe. all the noise from my neighbors has since deceased. one would think they'd be out celebrating in the streets. perhaps they are doing just that in seoul. i'm sure tomorrow at school everyone will be uber excited. go reds!!!!

be the reds…

p.s. during tkd my kwangangnim's cell phone went off and he has it set to play "baby's got back". you gotta luv it.

fighting korea!!!

the team

deery-lou.
everywhere i look its a sea of red. the people on the streets, shopkeepers, banners, etc., red! red!red! yes, korea is in full world cup mode to support their team: the red devils. the build up has been coming for months. at first shops had a few soccer tees here and there. and now its in full bloom. tees, bandanas, stickers, tatoos, devil horns, etc. you name it they got it. no where is safe. i've even seen a soccer ball with the teammates pictures on it. the team is also on every known piece of advertisement from chicken to cell phone. koreans sure do go all out. i'm surprised they don't have wheaties here. confession: i do have a "let's go korea" devil tee. whats next for me face painting? only time will tell. the students are in rare form today. the excitement is everywhere. most of them are sporting tees. the others have their face painting. in the hallway i can hear them sing the "korea fight" song. its all quite cute. tonight is actually the first match for korea. they're playing togo. the country has gone crazy. restaurants are busting out giant tvs, make-shift restaurants are appearing everywhere, in the park by my school they are having singers, dancers, etc. they definitely aren't holding back. its fun to see all the excitment building up. which makes it hard not to become a part of it. i can feel myself being drawn into the excitment like a fly to a web. it has actually given me a whole new outlook on sports, especially soccer. who knew it could be so fun. plus it doesn't hurt that the korean soccer team is full of hotties. the question is will i be watching tonight? there's acutally a slight chance i will. does this mean i've turned into a jock? far from it. but sometimes its fun to pretend.

here are the players i'll be watching [in order of preference]:

lee chun soo

park ji sung

cho won hee

ahn jung hwan

be the reds…

rainy day parades

deery-lou.
what do you know its monday again! due to my saturday all-nighter, sunday was a complete waste. was there even a sunday! all i have of proof is the dirty dishes. i spent the entire day in bed having a lost marathon. yes i was lost in lost. i finished watching season 2. so good. is it me or does the show seem to get better and better. although i must say i wasn't that impressed with the season finale. i love how ddk's hair is getting all wavy. he's so hot. he needs more screen time. this past week has been korea's queer cultural events. yes even though there are no "gay" people in korea they still have a week long event. there were several things happening from speakers to films throughout seoul last week. unfortunately living out in ansan i didn't get to attend any of these. however i did manage to make it to the parade on saturday. even in the pouring rain. i met up with betsy around 3pm and we made our way to jongno park where the parade started. the turnout was somewhat bleak due to the weather but that didn't stop the parade from going on. having lived in sf i've been to my fair share of pride parades and although korea's was probably a fourth of the size and no booths that i saw, it was still a great experience to be a part of. especially when you consider how "in-the-closet" this whole country is. but its these tiny steps that will eventually help this country and its people to understand and accept all people. in the meantime if my friends and i can go out and support such events we will. even if it means getting soaked. most of the korean marchers had their faces covered. i guess there's still that fear of being recognized as gay. the parade went on for 12 city blocks. i followed along on the sidewalk. betsy, jen, and astrid deciding to join the parade and jumped in at the tale end with some of jen's friends. it was interesting to watch the onlookers and shopkeepers as the parade passed by. many probably weren't even aware that it was going to happen today. there were some surprised watches but in all most people seemed to enjoy it. i did a little bit of shopping along the way. i was looking for a watch that i saw on but had no luck. at the parades end i met up with jen, astrid, and betsy. feeling like drowned rats we decided that the time had come for coffee, beer, food, and relaxation. we went to ob pub [the first and closest place we found]. we settled on getting french fries, smoked chicken, and lots of beer. we hung out for a few hours chatting and drinking. outside it was still raining. around 9ish we decided to head over to the twon where some other friends of mine were. on our way to catch a cab we were stopped by two girls katy and gwendolyn who were asking where all the "gay" parties were. we gave them the scoop then decided it was best for them to join us. so they did. our first stop in the twon was bungalow's. bungalow's is quite chill and they have sandy floors. it was quite fun to be rid of my shoes and socks. the cold sand felt good on my feet. we ran into ruth and arleen which was an added bonus. i chatted with them for a bit then joined my party in the back of the bar. most of the evening i spent talking to my new bud katy. she's from england and the two of us hit it very well. it was almost as if we had known each other for a long time. i love meeting people like this. numerous cocktails were consumed and spilt and the time came for us to bid farewell to bungalow and head to the hill. ruth and arleen eventually showed up and i also met up with my friend howie. the rest of the night was spent there drinking and dancing. at 5am i said goodbye to my new bud katy. then howie and i went to eat spicy ramon while we waited for the subway to open at 5:30am. even though i didn't get home until 7am it was a great evening out. here's to pride 2006!!

be well…

countdown to sf: 1 month, 15 days

moon

deery-lou.
last year my student sue wrote a poem about the moon. i had written the poem down in a notebook. i had completely forgotten about it until the other day when i came across it. enjoy

Moon
Dad
The moon follows me.
The moon?
Yes.
It seems she likes you.
No.
It seems she likes dad.
The moon is on daddy's head.

be well...

grease is the word...

deery-lou.
thanks to hez, i too, decided to chart my morale. the only problem is that i keep forgetting to do it and now its becoming a chore. sigh…

my chart

the other day while playing the wonder woman theme song for hanna and chelsea, hanna asked me if i knew grease. i gave her the look, said yes, and started to sing. that's when chelsea said to hannah, "he likes to sing sometimes." hannan tells me that she was in her school play of grease. i asked if she was rizzo or sandy but she wasn't. she was frenchie. i'm gonna like this girl. although i do find it odd for an elementary school to be putting on a play of grease. go figure.

be well…

p.s. i'm on holiday today. i love korea!!

e.rants & other random things…

deery-lou.
today's entry is going to deal with rants & other random things that have happened recently. i will break them down into topics.

conversations with koreans:
so a few weekends ago i was sitting out front of ff with betsy and ym. ym mentioned that he was in a band. seeing that there was alot of silence in the air [which is often the case when hanging out with koreans] i decided to engage him in conversation:
me: what instrument do you play?
ym: bass. [at least i think he said that]
me: what's the name of your band?
ym: [he says something but i don't understand]
me: [i repeat back what i thought he said]
ym: [he says it again but still i can't understand]
b: [betsy steps in thankfully] its half-brother
me: what do you sound like?
ym: punk like pop
me: ah, so it's like punk pop
ym: no, its punk like pop, not punk pop
the silence returns as i sit there pondering this quote "punk like pop, but not punk pop." hmmm…

on korean fashion:
it has finally dawned on me. the fashion here is belinda carlisle during her go-go's phase circa talk show. do you all remember the "head over heels" video. i think that says it all. its the dreaded rounded-cut tees that show off your shoulders in pinks, oranges, blues, and yellow. the konlish on these shirts is something else. and the best part is that these are the guys shirts. most of the tees here seem to be unisex. which makes shopping difficult cuz i often don't know what section i'm in.

the go-go's

another big fashion trend seems to be the two different tank tops as well as the tank top with the rounded-cut shoulder tee on top of it. then there's 80s favorite layered tee look. you know where it looks like two tees but its actually one. but lets not favorite the other latest trend that seems to be sweeping over korea. the black/white and red/white stripes shirts. i counted about 30 of these one day. the thing that kills me is that the korean guys can totally pull off these fashions. if i attempted any of these looks i'd look like a complete fool.

yipes stripes!

on using public transportation:
it never fails that anytime i'm riding the subway i always have to fight my way off. the people are so eager to get on they don't let the passengers get off first. then theres the high school students who all stand in the front section of the bus making it nearly impossible to get to the back where its completely empty. a few of them also let to stand right in front of the back door and don't move when your trying to get off. umm, hello! move please!

on corner stores:
there's been numberous times when i'm standing in line to check out and some random person will come in and butt right in front of me.

on public urination:
i was riding the subway one day and as we were leaving the station i noticed there was a man standing at the end of the platform taking a piss. its not like the station doesn't have bathrooms. then this morning as i was walking there was a little boy standing in the grass with his pants down going to the bathroom while his grandmother watched. granted i'm no saint when it comes to public urination. but i always try to conceal myself the best i can. i don't just whip it our for all to see.

on things that make me happy:
1. yogurt drinks
2. roasted hard-boiled eggs
3. korean soccer players
4. 2 for $5 floor pillows
5. discovering new k-bands
6. my side-dish lady
7. the treasures you find in the stationary stores
8. the parks
9. iced coffee in a can/cup
10. spring time in korea
11. $.50 ice creams

on my class with chelsea:
chelsea is quite a sassy young girl. always has something to say whether its asking me "why i'm not married" or "what's wrong with my head" when i'm wearing a bandana. on friday a new girl joined our class. her name was hanna. the two seemed to get along fabulously. like two old woman. asking me question after question and just chatting away. while we were sitting around chatting hanna whispered something to chelsea. teasing them i asked what they were saying. chelsea chimes in and says that hanna said i was sexy. i thought she said sassy. so i replied by saying yeah i guess i can be sassy. they both giggled and said no sexy like you are going to go on a passion show. i had no clue as to what they were talking about. i still thought they were saying sassy and was trying to figure out what a passion show was. then they got up and walked over to the wall of superheroes and pointed at the aquaman picture on the wall.

sexy aquaman

"sexy like aquaman," they said. finally it hit me. sexy and passion show. i didn't quite know what to say. especially when being called sexy by two 10 year-olds. naturally i changed the subject.

on my parent meeting:
tuesday we had to meet with the moms of one of my classes. the students are about to go from orange level to green level. the moms were concerned. the moms and one dad showed up at 6:30. for most of the meeting anna did all the talking and i just sat there. which was fine with me. then i had to do my little part. as i was telling the moms and one dad how i teach the class they all had blank looks on their faces. they didn't understand a word. thankfully anna was there to translate. i decided instead of telling them what i do i'd open it up to them asking me questions. of course i got the standard "how is my child doing" etc. sue's mom then went on to say how much sue likes me. she's always saying how handsome i am, telling her mom she loves me, etc. how cute is that. i love my students.

well i think that about does for me today. i'll post more e.rants & other things in the future. thanks for tuning in to ketv.

be rantful. be well…

countdown to sf: 1 month, 23 days