deary diary–
well its official…i quit my taekwondo class last night. i probably should have done it from day one since "the master" was always such an ass. but as i got to be friendlier with the others in class it kept me going. now that both "j" and "r" were kicked out and "h" isn't coming back the class just isn't the same. i went on monday after a 3 week asbsence due to my injury. the class itself was all right. its finally getting some structure to it but it's about 6 months too late. on tuesday i went with my boss to meet a new taekwondo instructor. i'm not a 100% sure but i think he's alot younger than me. which should be interesting. oh, and i don't think he speaks any english. if he does its very little. he's a little concerned about me being in a class with all 6th graders and not knowing much korean. my boss told him that i can relate to children and i'm not worried about the language difference. if anything i'm hoping it will help motivate me. i'm a little nervous about starting anew. i keep imagining myself getting my ass kicked by little kids. it should be exciting. i did get a good feeling from the institute and the instructor. the only downfall is that i'll now be going 5 days a week. yikes. i hope i can do it. at least it will make the week go by much faster. so i broke the news my old master on wednesday via phone. i thought i was going to tell him exactly what i thought of him and the class. as i spoke to him though i started to realize he only hears what he wants to so i sort of backed down. i basically told him that i didn't like how the class was operated in the past and that i felt with all the recent changes it was best that i take a break. of course he said he didn't understand and that it wasn't a good reason. i tried to explain it again is simpler terms but still he didn't get it. he told me he felt quilty which he should since he's the reason. and then there's the annoying one who told on "j". i just couldn't stand being there anymore and i really didn't feel motivated anymore. i'm actually quite excited about this new class. hopefully it will respark my interest. and lets hope i don't get too embarassed in front of all the kids. its definitely going to be interesting. wish me luck. my first class starts on monday.
be well…
Wednesday, April 27, 2005
Tuesday, April 26, 2005
sauna how i love the…
dear diary–
last night i finally went to a korean sauna. after 7 months of the sauna's neon lights beaming through my windows i got the nerve to get naked and go in. jenny and her friend sara are staying with me for a couple of days before they head off travelling. after they got settled in jenny wanted to go to the sauna. seeing that i've never been she insisted that i must go. there's a dry part of the sauna where its men and women and clothes must be worn and then the wet sauna where its broken down into different sexes and you're naked. i figured what the hell. at least i could experience part of it with someone else. around 10:45 we headed off to the sauna. the cost was a big whopping 7,000 won [about u.s. $7]. after paying the lady behind the counter gave me an orange towel, tan shorts, a white t-shirt, and a receipt. i was really going to do this. this was actually a big deal for me cuz i hate, and let me stress hate, being naked in front of others. i think its the shyness in me. anyway with clothes in hand i made a plan with jenny and sara to meet in the mixed part of the sauna. before entering i had to remove my shoes and place them in a locker. from there i walked to the counter and gave the man my receipt who in return gave me a key for yet another locker. now that i was wearing my highly fashionable sauna outfit i went looking for the mixed area. one would think it would be fairly easy but with all the signs in korean you really don't know where you're going to end up. walking around the locker room area i found the wet sauna part which i wasn't quite ready to do yet. besides i had to meet the girls. turning around and going back i saw some stairs going down. bingo!! i was now in the co-ed section and a few minutes later jenny and sara emerged. its so strange to see so many people there. some were simply in there sauna outfits watching tv, chatting with one another, or giving each other massages. its amazing how open the korean culture is in some aspects. in america you would never see two straight guys giving each other a massage in a sauna. the korean men are quite different and very affectionate with one other. the women too. our first stop was this igloo shaped oven. and yes when i say oven i mean oven. upon first entering i thought i had entered hell. it was so freakin hot. it took me two seconds before i was completely drenched. at one point it felt like my hair had turned to straw and was on fire. crazy hot i tell you. we stayed a few minutes and then went into a much cooler room. here we laid on burlap sacks and just zoned out. after we were done with this room we decided to see what else was around. this place is huge. it just goes to show how much saunas are a part of there lifestyle. like i said this first section we were in had the oven-hell igloo, the other florida-summer room, and a big open space for people to watch tv and lay around or talk. as we walked down the hall there was a computer station, a childrens playroom, and a gym. yes there is a gym in the sauna. surprisingly enough its stocked pretty well. as you go down another corrider there are all these leather lounge chairs that you put money into and it does something. i don't know what but next time i'll try it. in the last area there was a restaurant, a bunch of cubbies to sleep in [yes you can spend the next if you want], and a handful of other sauna rooms. we decided to hit one more room before going our separate ways. of course they picked the 76C room which felt just as hot as the hell room and had a woody smell to it. we stayed for a bit then it was time to hit the wet sauna. we decided to meet out front at 12:30 which gave us an hour. jenny was afraid i was going to hate it. as i made my way up the stairs i wasn't sure if i'd be able to do this. before entering the wet sauna i was sitting on a bench placing the key around my foot. thats when i heard "hello". i turned around and a korean man was approaching me. he sat down besided me [yes he was naked, i was still clothed] and asked if i was american. then came the am i single question. followed by the how long will i be in korea. and lets not forget the what do you think of korea. and then the bombshell question "am i religious". to which i answered no. at this point he patted me on the shoulder and told me that jesus christ loves me. and then we said our goodbyes. now it was time to shed my clothes and head through the glass doors into the wet sauna area. inside there were 4 different jacuzzis, 4 more sauna room [one had a mister and another was a salt room], two cold milky green baths, numerous showers, and a man who would scrub you down for a fee. oh, there were also these marble slabs under red lights that you could lay under. needless to say i tried everything except the scrub. he came by and asked if i wanted one but i didn't have any money so i said no. there weren't that many people in the wet sauna part. i think the most in the room at one time were five. it was like i had the place to my self. jumping from hot jacuzzui to cold bath. running into the hot saunas then getting under the cold shower. jumping back into the jacuzzi and then laying under the red lights. it was so relaxing. i could have stayed on that marble slab forever. when i looked at the clock i noticed it was time to go. i showered off and made my way back to the lockers. can i just say that they have everything on needs. shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, wash clothe, gel, combs, hairdryers, q-tips, etc. all this and no time limit for 7,000 won. never would you find that in america. i can't believe it took me this long to finally go to one. i must thank jenny for taking me. and now i feel it will become a part of my regular routine. i felt so relaxed afterwards and had the best sleep ever. even now i still feel calm and relaxed. love the sauna. gonna get the scrub next time.
be well…
last night i finally went to a korean sauna. after 7 months of the sauna's neon lights beaming through my windows i got the nerve to get naked and go in. jenny and her friend sara are staying with me for a couple of days before they head off travelling. after they got settled in jenny wanted to go to the sauna. seeing that i've never been she insisted that i must go. there's a dry part of the sauna where its men and women and clothes must be worn and then the wet sauna where its broken down into different sexes and you're naked. i figured what the hell. at least i could experience part of it with someone else. around 10:45 we headed off to the sauna. the cost was a big whopping 7,000 won [about u.s. $7]. after paying the lady behind the counter gave me an orange towel, tan shorts, a white t-shirt, and a receipt. i was really going to do this. this was actually a big deal for me cuz i hate, and let me stress hate, being naked in front of others. i think its the shyness in me. anyway with clothes in hand i made a plan with jenny and sara to meet in the mixed part of the sauna. before entering i had to remove my shoes and place them in a locker. from there i walked to the counter and gave the man my receipt who in return gave me a key for yet another locker. now that i was wearing my highly fashionable sauna outfit i went looking for the mixed area. one would think it would be fairly easy but with all the signs in korean you really don't know where you're going to end up. walking around the locker room area i found the wet sauna part which i wasn't quite ready to do yet. besides i had to meet the girls. turning around and going back i saw some stairs going down. bingo!! i was now in the co-ed section and a few minutes later jenny and sara emerged. its so strange to see so many people there. some were simply in there sauna outfits watching tv, chatting with one another, or giving each other massages. its amazing how open the korean culture is in some aspects. in america you would never see two straight guys giving each other a massage in a sauna. the korean men are quite different and very affectionate with one other. the women too. our first stop was this igloo shaped oven. and yes when i say oven i mean oven. upon first entering i thought i had entered hell. it was so freakin hot. it took me two seconds before i was completely drenched. at one point it felt like my hair had turned to straw and was on fire. crazy hot i tell you. we stayed a few minutes and then went into a much cooler room. here we laid on burlap sacks and just zoned out. after we were done with this room we decided to see what else was around. this place is huge. it just goes to show how much saunas are a part of there lifestyle. like i said this first section we were in had the oven-hell igloo, the other florida-summer room, and a big open space for people to watch tv and lay around or talk. as we walked down the hall there was a computer station, a childrens playroom, and a gym. yes there is a gym in the sauna. surprisingly enough its stocked pretty well. as you go down another corrider there are all these leather lounge chairs that you put money into and it does something. i don't know what but next time i'll try it. in the last area there was a restaurant, a bunch of cubbies to sleep in [yes you can spend the next if you want], and a handful of other sauna rooms. we decided to hit one more room before going our separate ways. of course they picked the 76C room which felt just as hot as the hell room and had a woody smell to it. we stayed for a bit then it was time to hit the wet sauna. we decided to meet out front at 12:30 which gave us an hour. jenny was afraid i was going to hate it. as i made my way up the stairs i wasn't sure if i'd be able to do this. before entering the wet sauna i was sitting on a bench placing the key around my foot. thats when i heard "hello". i turned around and a korean man was approaching me. he sat down besided me [yes he was naked, i was still clothed] and asked if i was american. then came the am i single question. followed by the how long will i be in korea. and lets not forget the what do you think of korea. and then the bombshell question "am i religious". to which i answered no. at this point he patted me on the shoulder and told me that jesus christ loves me. and then we said our goodbyes. now it was time to shed my clothes and head through the glass doors into the wet sauna area. inside there were 4 different jacuzzis, 4 more sauna room [one had a mister and another was a salt room], two cold milky green baths, numerous showers, and a man who would scrub you down for a fee. oh, there were also these marble slabs under red lights that you could lay under. needless to say i tried everything except the scrub. he came by and asked if i wanted one but i didn't have any money so i said no. there weren't that many people in the wet sauna part. i think the most in the room at one time were five. it was like i had the place to my self. jumping from hot jacuzzui to cold bath. running into the hot saunas then getting under the cold shower. jumping back into the jacuzzi and then laying under the red lights. it was so relaxing. i could have stayed on that marble slab forever. when i looked at the clock i noticed it was time to go. i showered off and made my way back to the lockers. can i just say that they have everything on needs. shampoo, toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, wash clothe, gel, combs, hairdryers, q-tips, etc. all this and no time limit for 7,000 won. never would you find that in america. i can't believe it took me this long to finally go to one. i must thank jenny for taking me. and now i feel it will become a part of my regular routine. i felt so relaxed afterwards and had the best sleep ever. even now i still feel calm and relaxed. love the sauna. gonna get the scrub next time.
be well…
Monday, April 25, 2005
student art
art by vicky + paris
Originally uploaded by nightwing.
dear diary–
last friday since one of my students was missing from my 2:45 class i decided to have a free day with the girls paris and vicky. the two girls were in rare form. they kept pointing to my belly asking if i was pregnant. of course i told them yes i was. the whole class period was filled with them giggling, running around, and drawing pictures of me. at one point they even made "ethan" art on my whiteboard [see picture above]. these are the kind of days that make being here so great.
be well…
what's this?
manhole
Originally uploaded by nightwing.
dear diary–
last week while walking around another part of my neighborhood [about 20 minutes] from my place i stumbled upon this bar manhole. since it was early afternoon the bar was closed so i wasn't able to check it out. the sign itself was kind of cool with its black and gray camo feel and the red type against it. it looks like i'll just have to check it out one of these nights. the adventures continue.
be well…
window gazing
fire in the garden
Originally uploaded by nightwing.
dear diary–
for the past couple of weeks as i'm listening to the students read the same stories over and over again i constanstly find myself staring out the window. with the coming of spring the field/garden that stands outside of my window has been getting tended to. the other day a man was burning off some debris to start anew. its kind of cool to watch them plant their new crops. i'm not really sure how they acquire space in the public garden but i look forward to it starting to grow in. so far there are a few yellow flowers here and there. yesterday i watched a woman and child rake and plow their plot. soon it will be filled with corn, cabbage, and various other edibles. until then i'll continue to watch its progress.
be well…
Thursday, April 21, 2005
just another day…
pig heads, a tastey snack
Originally uploaded by nightwing.
deary diary–
something wicked this way comes…with the approaching warm weather that is finally hitting lovely ansan the temperature in our school is qetting quite frosty. i'm not really sure what is going on nor do i think i want to but something is definitely is brewing. the tension over the last couple of weeks has been mounting. jane who for the most part has been quite friendly become the ice queen. i think some words have been said between her and the korean teachers about losing students and who is to blame. what this means for our school i have no idea. i can only hope that they aren't planning on shutting down or getting rid of me. but if they do then i'll have to figure something out. can't be that hard. i was told today that we have to go to e-mart next saturday to pimp ourselves out. should be good times.
so with the change of seasons we've also be struck with yellow dust. it seems that every year around this time dust and pollution from the gobi desert [thats china] blows into korea. apparently its not so good to breathe in hence the sars masks. the also have alerts letting us know how bad it is. its so crazy. lately too the news has been nothing but japan, japan, japan. this whole textbook and dokdo island thing is all anyone can talk about. it'll definitely be interesting to see how it all plays out. especially since japan is not only pissing off the koreans but the chinese too. christine, my co-worker, is getting us "dokdo is ours" t-shirts. yeah!!! i can't wait. they are now allowing people to go tour the island too. i've never seen a whole country rally behind one cause before. they sure are passionate about it though.
today i saw my first scooter accident. well, i didn't see it happen but i saw the aftermath of it. i'm actually surprised i haven't seen more especially with how bad the scooter drivers are. it looked as if some woman in her car hit the scooter. the scooter driver was in the ambulance. and kid you not five minutes later as i'm crossing the street was almost hits me…a freakin scooter.
all around town the flowers are starting to blossom. from my school window i can numberous cherry blossoms. they are so pretty to look at. i'm so looking forward to spring and the flowers. they've also been practicing soccer over at the high school which i can see from my window too. every once in awhile i find myself staring out there watching them play. daydreaming. wondering what it would be like to be in high school here. my acupuncture/acupressure has come to an end this week. i'm starting to feel a little better which is good. its not as painful as it once was. it onlly hurts when i sneeze. the muscle relaxants are still working though. i had to go to a different pharamcy since i didn't want my student's parents to think i'd become a junky on the stuff.
here's something cute you should all check out iloveegg it made me laugh.
be well…
Sunday, April 17, 2005
bbq bye bye
dear diary–
i spent most of my mornings last week getting acupuncture. i'm hoping this will help with the pain. it's been a week and so far i feel a little better. not a whole lot but at least it something…right. it looks as if i'll be taking another week off of taekwondo. my doctor doesn't want me to go back yet. which is actually fine with me because i'm really not sure what i want to do about that. during my treatments this week i got to experience something new. they have these ceramic cups [a little smaller than the tea cup with no handles at chinese restaurants] which they dip into a bunsen burner type thing which cause a blueish flame to appear around the edge of the cup and then they sucked it to your chest. so i get like 8 or 9 of these put onto my chest and then they cover it with a towel and put a heating lamp on them for about 5 minutes. when i first the cup coming towards my exposes flesh and was like "this is going to burn alot" but actually it doesn't. i was quite surprise. it's actaully a cool feeling. i'm not really sure what it actually is suppose to do since my doctor and nurse speak very little english. it does seem to cause some blood spots to appear through my pores. and the best part is that it leaves a circular hickey. yes my right side of my chest is filled with hickeys. they've also been hooking me up to this ice massage type of machine which is now my favorite. i actually just got back from my appointment a little while ago. no ice massage today. sadness. i have to return again on wednesday.
this weekend i kind of just took it easy. i did some running around in my neighbor to get a few stuff. i met this really cool shopowner. her english was quite good and i think i spoke with her for a good 20 mins. i felt like i had to buy something and i almost bought a stuffed smurf but changed my mind. at last someone else came in and when she turned her attention to her i made my great escape. i'm so bad. the store actually had a lot of cool stuff. i'm sure i'll be back. on sunday my friend jenny had a rooftop bbq, or should i say her bbq bye, bye. she lives about 10 minutes away via subway. she's leaving in a couple of weeks which makes me sad. we've been hanging out quite a bit and i'm really going to miss that. thats the one thing about being here. you meet people, make a connection, and then they leave and you have to start again. at least i got a few more weeks. the weather was actually quite nice yesterday. i wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt which was so nice to do. there were about 8 of us total there. she had blankets and mats out for us to sit on. there was a portable cd player for us to listen to music. plus we had loads of food and beer. i got there around 2:30 and didn't get home til midnight. it was really great to just sit outside, drink, eat, talk, and chill with friends. it was kind of like being in dolres park. i actually felt like i was in new jersey. a lot of the buildings had these mutli-colored bricks that reminded me of my aunt rose's house. its so funny how little things like that can spark a memory. at one point jenny busted out this frog bubble gun that had glowing eyes. i'm still not sure why she didn't get me one. she said she got it at chinatown. hello. there's a chinatown in korea. i have to see this. i'm definitely going to make her take me before she leaves. it was a great day. i'm just paying for it a little this morning. but thats life. all right be well…
new favorite cocktail
soju + grape juice
i spent most of my mornings last week getting acupuncture. i'm hoping this will help with the pain. it's been a week and so far i feel a little better. not a whole lot but at least it something…right. it looks as if i'll be taking another week off of taekwondo. my doctor doesn't want me to go back yet. which is actually fine with me because i'm really not sure what i want to do about that. during my treatments this week i got to experience something new. they have these ceramic cups [a little smaller than the tea cup with no handles at chinese restaurants] which they dip into a bunsen burner type thing which cause a blueish flame to appear around the edge of the cup and then they sucked it to your chest. so i get like 8 or 9 of these put onto my chest and then they cover it with a towel and put a heating lamp on them for about 5 minutes. when i first the cup coming towards my exposes flesh and was like "this is going to burn alot" but actually it doesn't. i was quite surprise. it's actaully a cool feeling. i'm not really sure what it actually is suppose to do since my doctor and nurse speak very little english. it does seem to cause some blood spots to appear through my pores. and the best part is that it leaves a circular hickey. yes my right side of my chest is filled with hickeys. they've also been hooking me up to this ice massage type of machine which is now my favorite. i actually just got back from my appointment a little while ago. no ice massage today. sadness. i have to return again on wednesday.
this weekend i kind of just took it easy. i did some running around in my neighbor to get a few stuff. i met this really cool shopowner. her english was quite good and i think i spoke with her for a good 20 mins. i felt like i had to buy something and i almost bought a stuffed smurf but changed my mind. at last someone else came in and when she turned her attention to her i made my great escape. i'm so bad. the store actually had a lot of cool stuff. i'm sure i'll be back. on sunday my friend jenny had a rooftop bbq, or should i say her bbq bye, bye. she lives about 10 minutes away via subway. she's leaving in a couple of weeks which makes me sad. we've been hanging out quite a bit and i'm really going to miss that. thats the one thing about being here. you meet people, make a connection, and then they leave and you have to start again. at least i got a few more weeks. the weather was actually quite nice yesterday. i wore shorts and a short sleeve shirt which was so nice to do. there were about 8 of us total there. she had blankets and mats out for us to sit on. there was a portable cd player for us to listen to music. plus we had loads of food and beer. i got there around 2:30 and didn't get home til midnight. it was really great to just sit outside, drink, eat, talk, and chill with friends. it was kind of like being in dolres park. i actually felt like i was in new jersey. a lot of the buildings had these mutli-colored bricks that reminded me of my aunt rose's house. its so funny how little things like that can spark a memory. at one point jenny busted out this frog bubble gun that had glowing eyes. i'm still not sure why she didn't get me one. she said she got it at chinatown. hello. there's a chinatown in korea. i have to see this. i'm definitely going to make her take me before she leaves. it was a great day. i'm just paying for it a little this morning. but thats life. all right be well…
new favorite cocktail
soju + grape juice
Thursday, April 14, 2005
to hell and back…
dear diary–
i awoke to gray skies on saturday [april 9] morning. surprisingly enough no hangover although i was very sleepy. my first thoughts were "how am i going to be able to go out again tonight?" all i really wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep. if only i didn't make advance plans. i was actually looking forward to tonight. i've been wanting to check out skunk hell for some time now. i heard it was the spot to hear korean punk bands. hell yeah!! i couldn't even tell you the last time i was at a punk show. high school? college? its been awhile and the inner youth that haunts my soul was excited. it rained off and on all day. figures. one friend canceled due to the rain. around 5:30pm horace and i met damion at jungang station. he came up from asan. he's been here for almost two months, maybe more, and this was the first time we saw each other. i was excited to see an old friend from sf. how odd that two people from the same city who hung out with the same crowd [for the most part] would end up in south korea. crazy!! we caught up on the subway ride. once at our destination we waited for jenny and ryan to show. once they got here we went into hell. skunk hell was a tiny space. all black and smokey. there were perhaps 30 people there tops. a majority of them members of one band or another. there were also quite a few weguks, three of which drove me crazy. i've got a very short fuse when it comes to other weguks here. not really sure why. enough of about them. the strange thing i've noticed about korean shows is that a lot of people sit during the show. along the back wall of hell the kids sat. there were a couple of folks standing up front and we stood in the middle. basically we were up front since this place was so tiny. i can't tell you how happy it made me to see korean punks. colored mohawks, studded jackets, combat boots, striped socks, etc. it really didn't matter what the bands sounded like. i could have just stood here all night taking it in. luckily enough the bands were quite good. not really sure who was who but i liked what i heard. at one point one the singer from the first band asked me if i knew how to say "last song" in korean. of course i had to answer no. there was even an all girl punk band. i soon dubbed them the korean go-go's. the show started early around 7pm and was over by 10pm. not that long but we did get to see 4 bands for $7. you can't really beat that. they have shows there every saturday so i'm sure i'll check it out again. i mean, why not. towards the end of the gig vicky and neeve arrived. at least they got to enjoy some of it.
after experiencing hell we decided it was time for drinks. while we were in hell we had to run to the 7-11 to get beer. they didn't sell it there. i love the fact that 7-11 have paper cups for when you buy a pitcher of beer. love it. the only bar i knew of in this area was cocks where we went with misty, kate, and d. after traveling in the rain to get there we found out it was closed. instead we went to shooters which is the upstairs part of cocks. go figure. cocks and shooters. tonight shooters was giving its customers a free guiness. can't be that. except that the guiness was gross. there's something wrong with guiness in a bottle. anyway we ordered a pitcher and some food and hung out for a bit. after a horace, vickie, and neeve all left to catch the last subway. it was now down to the four of us. the staff at shooters were super nice. since they were so late in bringing out our food we got it for free plus a free fruit plate too. goodtimes. goodtimes. from shooters we moved onto yet another bar. jenny knew about this place and it had super cheap drinks. i completely forgot the name of it too. i'll have to ask jenny on sunday. anyway we had to wait to go in because there were no seats. thats the thing about korea. if there are no seats available in the bar you can't go in. they don't allow standing like they do in american bars. its odd but also nice. the bars never get super packed this way. here we have more beer, more food, and vodka drinks. the night was on. our final destination for the night was ska bar to do some dancing. i wasn't quite sure what to expect but i figured why not. the ska bar was quite small too. it was upstairs on the 3 floor. inside it had wooden floors and the walls looked redish. with our admission we got a free drink coupon. for some odd reason i wasn't able to get a corona with my coupon so i opted for the cranberry vodka. the music was all over the board: 80s one minute, disco the next, some 60s tunes thrown in here and there, a little hip-hop, and some greenday. what more could you ask for. it was a total trip dancing about being the only 4 westerns there. i almost forgot. for a snack they had cherry tomatoes. korea is all about the healthy snacks while drinking. finally around 3ish we decided to call it a night. after 10 minutes of talking to the cab driver he agreed to take us home. the trip home was pretty uneventful. i was thankful we made home. sometimes you just never know. be well…
snaps from hell night…
Links
i awoke to gray skies on saturday [april 9] morning. surprisingly enough no hangover although i was very sleepy. my first thoughts were "how am i going to be able to go out again tonight?" all i really wanted to do was stay in bed and sleep. if only i didn't make advance plans. i was actually looking forward to tonight. i've been wanting to check out skunk hell for some time now. i heard it was the spot to hear korean punk bands. hell yeah!! i couldn't even tell you the last time i was at a punk show. high school? college? its been awhile and the inner youth that haunts my soul was excited. it rained off and on all day. figures. one friend canceled due to the rain. around 5:30pm horace and i met damion at jungang station. he came up from asan. he's been here for almost two months, maybe more, and this was the first time we saw each other. i was excited to see an old friend from sf. how odd that two people from the same city who hung out with the same crowd [for the most part] would end up in south korea. crazy!! we caught up on the subway ride. once at our destination we waited for jenny and ryan to show. once they got here we went into hell. skunk hell was a tiny space. all black and smokey. there were perhaps 30 people there tops. a majority of them members of one band or another. there were also quite a few weguks, three of which drove me crazy. i've got a very short fuse when it comes to other weguks here. not really sure why. enough of about them. the strange thing i've noticed about korean shows is that a lot of people sit during the show. along the back wall of hell the kids sat. there were a couple of folks standing up front and we stood in the middle. basically we were up front since this place was so tiny. i can't tell you how happy it made me to see korean punks. colored mohawks, studded jackets, combat boots, striped socks, etc. it really didn't matter what the bands sounded like. i could have just stood here all night taking it in. luckily enough the bands were quite good. not really sure who was who but i liked what i heard. at one point one the singer from the first band asked me if i knew how to say "last song" in korean. of course i had to answer no. there was even an all girl punk band. i soon dubbed them the korean go-go's. the show started early around 7pm and was over by 10pm. not that long but we did get to see 4 bands for $7. you can't really beat that. they have shows there every saturday so i'm sure i'll check it out again. i mean, why not. towards the end of the gig vicky and neeve arrived. at least they got to enjoy some of it.
after experiencing hell we decided it was time for drinks. while we were in hell we had to run to the 7-11 to get beer. they didn't sell it there. i love the fact that 7-11 have paper cups for when you buy a pitcher of beer. love it. the only bar i knew of in this area was cocks where we went with misty, kate, and d. after traveling in the rain to get there we found out it was closed. instead we went to shooters which is the upstairs part of cocks. go figure. cocks and shooters. tonight shooters was giving its customers a free guiness. can't be that. except that the guiness was gross. there's something wrong with guiness in a bottle. anyway we ordered a pitcher and some food and hung out for a bit. after a horace, vickie, and neeve all left to catch the last subway. it was now down to the four of us. the staff at shooters were super nice. since they were so late in bringing out our food we got it for free plus a free fruit plate too. goodtimes. goodtimes. from shooters we moved onto yet another bar. jenny knew about this place and it had super cheap drinks. i completely forgot the name of it too. i'll have to ask jenny on sunday. anyway we had to wait to go in because there were no seats. thats the thing about korea. if there are no seats available in the bar you can't go in. they don't allow standing like they do in american bars. its odd but also nice. the bars never get super packed this way. here we have more beer, more food, and vodka drinks. the night was on. our final destination for the night was ska bar to do some dancing. i wasn't quite sure what to expect but i figured why not. the ska bar was quite small too. it was upstairs on the 3 floor. inside it had wooden floors and the walls looked redish. with our admission we got a free drink coupon. for some odd reason i wasn't able to get a corona with my coupon so i opted for the cranberry vodka. the music was all over the board: 80s one minute, disco the next, some 60s tunes thrown in here and there, a little hip-hop, and some greenday. what more could you ask for. it was a total trip dancing about being the only 4 westerns there. i almost forgot. for a snack they had cherry tomatoes. korea is all about the healthy snacks while drinking. finally around 3ish we decided to call it a night. after 10 minutes of talking to the cab driver he agreed to take us home. the trip home was pretty uneventful. i was thankful we made home. sometimes you just never know. be well…
snaps from hell night…
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
to the batcave…
dear diary–
last friday [april 8] my work took me out for some eats and drinks to celebrate my birthday. at first we were going to hit the wa bar until i remembered my new fav bar in jungang-dong: the batcave. that's what i call it anyway. i'm pretty sure i mentioned this place before. needless to say there was lots of drinking to be had. at one pont anna teacher tried to convince me that i had to chug a beer for each person. there were five of us and there was no way i was about to chug 5 beers. what am i in high school all of a sudden. i told her i'd do two at the most. what i didn't know was that i had to chug a beer with a shot of soju in it. let the party begin… they brought out a cake and everyone sang while holding sparklers. yes there were sparklers inside. i've always had a fear of being burned by sparklers and tonight was no different. my eyes followed the sparklers until i knew that each one was safely burnt out. during the singing i got to wear a monkey birthday hat which i ended of losing at some point in the evening. sadness. however there is a picture of the monkey hat on the barrel of beer. we ate cake. jk refused at first but i told him that in america its bad luck if you don't eat any. so he did. hee-hee. there's nothing better then sugar and beer on an empty stomach. soon afterwards our table was filled with fried chicken and snails. yummy!!! i truly got caught up in the birthday moment cuz the beers were doing down like water. i'm not sure what happened. we stayed there for a bit drinking, drinking, and drinking. i think 3 of my beers were spiked with the evil soju. from there we moved on to the luxury noraebang. we weren't able to get the room that overlooked the street. instead ours had a winter wonderland scene in the floor. F.U.N! little santa village. of course more beers were had in the norebang. around 1:30am we decided to call it quits. it's a good thing too, cuz i have plans to go out with my friends on saturday. not sure how i'm going to manage that now. oh what a crazy birthday weekend it will prove to be.
my set list from the noraebang [at least what i can remember]
1. love hurts
2. white room
3. 500 miles
4. shout
5. hazey shade of winter
6. piggy [duet with horace]
be well…birthday adventure part II coming soon!
snaps from the batcave…
Links
last friday [april 8] my work took me out for some eats and drinks to celebrate my birthday. at first we were going to hit the wa bar until i remembered my new fav bar in jungang-dong: the batcave. that's what i call it anyway. i'm pretty sure i mentioned this place before. needless to say there was lots of drinking to be had. at one pont anna teacher tried to convince me that i had to chug a beer for each person. there were five of us and there was no way i was about to chug 5 beers. what am i in high school all of a sudden. i told her i'd do two at the most. what i didn't know was that i had to chug a beer with a shot of soju in it. let the party begin… they brought out a cake and everyone sang while holding sparklers. yes there were sparklers inside. i've always had a fear of being burned by sparklers and tonight was no different. my eyes followed the sparklers until i knew that each one was safely burnt out. during the singing i got to wear a monkey birthday hat which i ended of losing at some point in the evening. sadness. however there is a picture of the monkey hat on the barrel of beer. we ate cake. jk refused at first but i told him that in america its bad luck if you don't eat any. so he did. hee-hee. there's nothing better then sugar and beer on an empty stomach. soon afterwards our table was filled with fried chicken and snails. yummy!!! i truly got caught up in the birthday moment cuz the beers were doing down like water. i'm not sure what happened. we stayed there for a bit drinking, drinking, and drinking. i think 3 of my beers were spiked with the evil soju. from there we moved on to the luxury noraebang. we weren't able to get the room that overlooked the street. instead ours had a winter wonderland scene in the floor. F.U.N! little santa village. of course more beers were had in the norebang. around 1:30am we decided to call it quits. it's a good thing too, cuz i have plans to go out with my friends on saturday. not sure how i'm going to manage that now. oh what a crazy birthday weekend it will prove to be.
my set list from the noraebang [at least what i can remember]
1. love hurts
2. white room
3. 500 miles
4. shout
5. hazey shade of winter
6. piggy [duet with horace]
be well…birthday adventure part II coming soon!
snaps from the batcave…
Sunday, April 10, 2005
clubbing at aura
dear diary–
the weekend before last jenny and i went into hongdae to do a little bit of shopping, eating, and band watching. it always seems that every time i venture out there's some little mini-adventure waiting to be had and of course this outing was no different. we started off the day shopping at the ewha womans university stop. it was mostly girl shops but there were a couple of guys stores that are worth checking out again. i tried on a shirt at one of them and it barely fit my upper arms. i seem to have a problem here with buttondown shirts being a bit tight. i'm a little more broader than most of the korean guys here i guess. but never fail, i'll find a shirt one of these days. i also tried on this silver chain belt which was way rad. again it barely fit. sadly i had to put that back too. i also stumbled upon a little punk rock shop. it was great to see that. then i wanted to buy a bandana from this little market store and she wanted 8,000 won [us $8] for it. i wasn't in the mood for bargining so i left. in our journey we stumbled upon this store that has a lot of japanese pop band imports. a whole store devoted to pop stars who all look twelve. you gotta love this country sometimes.i did find a barbapapa notepad. unfortunately it was a bit expensive for me. i still can't believe i actually saw some barbapapa merchandise. barbapapa was my favorite childhood book. for the last couple of years i've been asking people, bookstore clerks, etc. if they ever heard of it and most of the time i got a blank stare. i couldn't remember how to spell it either so that didn't help. then oneday while talking with my friend magali the barbapapa subject came up and knew actually had heard of them. that made me so happy. for awhile there i look i had made the whole thing up. anyway…back to the now. i manage to leave the japanese pop import store empty handed. as we continued on our way we found this giant anime store. HELLO!! how happy was i. the store had lots of great stuff. i bought a little figure. hee-hee. jenny disappeared while i was in the store and returned moments later barring gifts: waffles with creme. i love these things especially when the waffle is nice and warm. during our stroll i noticed little mini-pizza vendors. "what's this new magic", i thought. i haven't seen mini-pizzas before. i didn't get one cuz i had just ate the waffle but next time i'm so going for the "mp". by now it was 6pm and we figured we should start finding our way to the club. jenny forgot the directions and all i had was a map that was in korean. we saw this girl infront of another club and stopped and asked her. we found the club which was kind of the beaten track. we figured we should get some dinner so we started to scout out the area. all we wanted was a pub to drink some beer and something fried. all we kept finding was bbq places. most of these places too were all korean. both of us sucked at speaking or reading korean. as we continued on we saw this cool guitar bar and down an alley i saaw an open door taht said "HELL". not really sure what it is. just as we were about to give up we found a friend chicken place that also had pitchers of beer. score! of course as we order 6 pieces of chicken and a pitcher we realized we had no idea how much it was going to cost. oh well. the chicken was excellent. i love how you can stumble into a place and ending up with a great meal. after dinner we made our way back to club aura. with our admission price was a free drink. we had a choice between welch's grape or strawberry. i went for the strawberry. when we got down to the club everyone was sitting down around the perimeter of the stage. no one was sitting in the middle or up front. odd. we found some seats along the floor and planted our asses down. the first band was a korean band called marijuana. the lead singer of marijuana is so cute. he's going to be my new bf. the music reminded me of a mixture of sonic youth and my bloody valentine. they're my new favorite band. the next and last band to perform was limited express [has gone?]. they're a trio from japan. and how much did i love her and i know misty would too. they were way indie rock with a slight popness to them. during their performance i went over to the merchandise table. marijuana didn't have any goods but limited express [has gone?] did. when i walked over the guy working the merch table gave me a big thumbs up to my smiths shirt. its great to know folk are still listening to the smiths. they didn't have a large tee so all i ended up with was a cd. i chatted with the merch guy for a bit. he was way cool. when i walked back over to jenny the guy from marijuana was standing behind us. after limited express was over i had jenny ask him if they had a cd out. not yet but it will be out in july. yeah!! we hung out a little while longer drinking beer. afterall it was only 2,000 won. jenny's friend who happened to show up wanted his picture taken with the singer from limited express so jenny went over and asked her. the next thing i knew all three of us were having our picture taken with her. hee-hee. overall the crowd was very cool. there were a few annoying wayguks, and during marijuana's set a lot of people with giant cameras kept getting in the way. the one thing i do know is that i will definitely be checking out marijuana again. its been so long since i've seen a gig and i felt so alive after it. it was like i've been rejuvenated. what a great feeling it was. now all we had to do was catch the last train. on our way out i got stopped by one of the girls who work there to make sure i added my email to the list. i told her i did then she asked if she could take my picture with the singer of limited express. after my picture with her she said "thanks for coming". how cute is that. luv her. the trip back home was uneventful except for the fact that i had to pee. be well…
snaps from club aura…
Links
the weekend before last jenny and i went into hongdae to do a little bit of shopping, eating, and band watching. it always seems that every time i venture out there's some little mini-adventure waiting to be had and of course this outing was no different. we started off the day shopping at the ewha womans university stop. it was mostly girl shops but there were a couple of guys stores that are worth checking out again. i tried on a shirt at one of them and it barely fit my upper arms. i seem to have a problem here with buttondown shirts being a bit tight. i'm a little more broader than most of the korean guys here i guess. but never fail, i'll find a shirt one of these days. i also tried on this silver chain belt which was way rad. again it barely fit. sadly i had to put that back too. i also stumbled upon a little punk rock shop. it was great to see that. then i wanted to buy a bandana from this little market store and she wanted 8,000 won [us $8] for it. i wasn't in the mood for bargining so i left. in our journey we stumbled upon this store that has a lot of japanese pop band imports. a whole store devoted to pop stars who all look twelve. you gotta love this country sometimes.i did find a barbapapa notepad. unfortunately it was a bit expensive for me. i still can't believe i actually saw some barbapapa merchandise. barbapapa was my favorite childhood book. for the last couple of years i've been asking people, bookstore clerks, etc. if they ever heard of it and most of the time i got a blank stare. i couldn't remember how to spell it either so that didn't help. then oneday while talking with my friend magali the barbapapa subject came up and knew actually had heard of them. that made me so happy. for awhile there i look i had made the whole thing up. anyway…back to the now. i manage to leave the japanese pop import store empty handed. as we continued on our way we found this giant anime store. HELLO!! how happy was i. the store had lots of great stuff. i bought a little figure. hee-hee. jenny disappeared while i was in the store and returned moments later barring gifts: waffles with creme. i love these things especially when the waffle is nice and warm. during our stroll i noticed little mini-pizza vendors. "what's this new magic", i thought. i haven't seen mini-pizzas before. i didn't get one cuz i had just ate the waffle but next time i'm so going for the "mp". by now it was 6pm and we figured we should start finding our way to the club. jenny forgot the directions and all i had was a map that was in korean. we saw this girl infront of another club and stopped and asked her. we found the club which was kind of the beaten track. we figured we should get some dinner so we started to scout out the area. all we wanted was a pub to drink some beer and something fried. all we kept finding was bbq places. most of these places too were all korean. both of us sucked at speaking or reading korean. as we continued on we saw this cool guitar bar and down an alley i saaw an open door taht said "HELL". not really sure what it is. just as we were about to give up we found a friend chicken place that also had pitchers of beer. score! of course as we order 6 pieces of chicken and a pitcher we realized we had no idea how much it was going to cost. oh well. the chicken was excellent. i love how you can stumble into a place and ending up with a great meal. after dinner we made our way back to club aura. with our admission price was a free drink. we had a choice between welch's grape or strawberry. i went for the strawberry. when we got down to the club everyone was sitting down around the perimeter of the stage. no one was sitting in the middle or up front. odd. we found some seats along the floor and planted our asses down. the first band was a korean band called marijuana. the lead singer of marijuana is so cute. he's going to be my new bf. the music reminded me of a mixture of sonic youth and my bloody valentine. they're my new favorite band. the next and last band to perform was limited express [has gone?]. they're a trio from japan. and how much did i love her and i know misty would too. they were way indie rock with a slight popness to them. during their performance i went over to the merchandise table. marijuana didn't have any goods but limited express [has gone?] did. when i walked over the guy working the merch table gave me a big thumbs up to my smiths shirt. its great to know folk are still listening to the smiths. they didn't have a large tee so all i ended up with was a cd. i chatted with the merch guy for a bit. he was way cool. when i walked back over to jenny the guy from marijuana was standing behind us. after limited express was over i had jenny ask him if they had a cd out. not yet but it will be out in july. yeah!! we hung out a little while longer drinking beer. afterall it was only 2,000 won. jenny's friend who happened to show up wanted his picture taken with the singer from limited express so jenny went over and asked her. the next thing i knew all three of us were having our picture taken with her. hee-hee. overall the crowd was very cool. there were a few annoying wayguks, and during marijuana's set a lot of people with giant cameras kept getting in the way. the one thing i do know is that i will definitely be checking out marijuana again. its been so long since i've seen a gig and i felt so alive after it. it was like i've been rejuvenated. what a great feeling it was. now all we had to do was catch the last train. on our way out i got stopped by one of the girls who work there to make sure i added my email to the list. i told her i did then she asked if she could take my picture with the singer of limited express. after my picture with her she said "thanks for coming". how cute is that. luv her. the trip back home was uneventful except for the fact that i had to pee. be well…
snaps from club aura…
a k-wedding
dear diary–
at last i'm getting around to posting the wedding photos. its amazing how taking meds can effect your whole week. i've been lazy, lazy, lazy. now i'm completely back logged with posts but promise to get them up this week. after going through these photos i realized that the beginning ones are quite grainy and fuzzy. oops. anyway i hope you enjoy this little bit of culture i got to experience. be well…
snaps from the korean wedding i attended two weeks ago…
Links
at last i'm getting around to posting the wedding photos. its amazing how taking meds can effect your whole week. i've been lazy, lazy, lazy. now i'm completely back logged with posts but promise to get them up this week. after going through these photos i realized that the beginning ones are quite grainy and fuzzy. oops. anyway i hope you enjoy this little bit of culture i got to experience. be well…
snaps from the korean wedding i attended two weeks ago…
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
is it a sign from above…
dear diary–
i'm am in complete and utter pain. monday night during taekwondo i took a wicked fall while doing a freestanding handstand. apparently i fell to the side, my chin jammed into my chest and now everything hurts. hurts bad. as i crashed down and heard a sound come from my body and immediately look i snapped my neck. fortunately that wasn't the case. tuesday we had a national holiday and instead of being able to enjoy my free day i spent the entire day in bed unable to move. it feels like someone threw a brick into my chest and its still there. it hurts to bend down, take deep breaths, rolling over in bed, etc. i'm being to wonder if these are signs from above telling me that taekwondo is not for me. i mean how many times can one person injure themselves. in the 7 months i've been takening this this so far i've: 1). hurt my ankle 2). bruised my tailbone 3). broke my pinky toe and 4). did something to my chest. i realize that its been forever since i ever participated in any active sport on a regular basis but come on. it looks like i'm be sitting out this week. i decided that if the pain doesn't go away soon its back to the acupuncturist for me. on another note the master has kicked out two of my friends "j" and "r". still not sure why that happened but it did and it really sucks. the thing that really gets be mad is that i was trying a new approach to class this week too. especially since "r" and "j" are gone i have no friends in there so i was going to concentrate really hard on what we are doing. and by doing so look what happens. i get hurt. its crazy how things seem to work out. it looks as if i'm going to be spending the rest of this week in bed after school. so much for having a fun birthday weekend. i did manage to get some kind of muscle relaxant from the pharmacy which seems to be working. hopefully its nothing really serious. now i just feel so doped up from the relaxants and the xanax i'm taking. it will definitely be an interesting day at school today. hopefully i won't fall asleep on these little munchkins. be well…
i'm am in complete and utter pain. monday night during taekwondo i took a wicked fall while doing a freestanding handstand. apparently i fell to the side, my chin jammed into my chest and now everything hurts. hurts bad. as i crashed down and heard a sound come from my body and immediately look i snapped my neck. fortunately that wasn't the case. tuesday we had a national holiday and instead of being able to enjoy my free day i spent the entire day in bed unable to move. it feels like someone threw a brick into my chest and its still there. it hurts to bend down, take deep breaths, rolling over in bed, etc. i'm being to wonder if these are signs from above telling me that taekwondo is not for me. i mean how many times can one person injure themselves. in the 7 months i've been takening this this so far i've: 1). hurt my ankle 2). bruised my tailbone 3). broke my pinky toe and 4). did something to my chest. i realize that its been forever since i ever participated in any active sport on a regular basis but come on. it looks like i'm be sitting out this week. i decided that if the pain doesn't go away soon its back to the acupuncturist for me. on another note the master has kicked out two of my friends "j" and "r". still not sure why that happened but it did and it really sucks. the thing that really gets be mad is that i was trying a new approach to class this week too. especially since "r" and "j" are gone i have no friends in there so i was going to concentrate really hard on what we are doing. and by doing so look what happens. i get hurt. its crazy how things seem to work out. it looks as if i'm going to be spending the rest of this week in bed after school. so much for having a fun birthday weekend. i did manage to get some kind of muscle relaxant from the pharmacy which seems to be working. hopefully its nothing really serious. now i just feel so doped up from the relaxants and the xanax i'm taking. it will definitely be an interesting day at school today. hopefully i won't fall asleep on these little munchkins. be well…
Saturday, April 02, 2005
a korean wedding
dear diary–
today i attended my first korean wedding. and no it wasn't mine…it was by boss's brother-in-law's. mr. oh, jane's father, invited us. the wedding was held in a banquet hall. by the time we got there the room was completely packed so we stood along the wall with jk. first to walk down the aisle was con, jane's brother who was getting married. when he got to the front the lights dimmed and then the dry ice started. yes they had dry ice at the wedding. as the bride made her way down the aisle a giant spotlight was on her. it was pretty amazing. she had on a western style dress and he wore a tux. they were having two ceremonies. the first a western style one and then after they change into traditional korean wedding attire and going into a separate room for the korean ceremony. of course horace and i were the only foreigners there. it wa great seeing the woman dressed in hambaks [sp?]. we stood there for a bit until jk motioned for us to follow him. he lead us into another group that was completely packed with people sitting at tables eating. i wasn't sure where we were going. at first i thought we were cutting through to get to the other side until he sat us at a table. apparently this room was filled with guests too. instead of being in the actual ceremony room they sat at tables eating and watched the ceremony via a video. it was very lynchian. we started off our meal with an appetizers of raw fish, shrimp, and scallops. we also had clam chowder. i'm quite surprised that i actually ate the tuna and salmon. i guess being in korea has completely changed my eating habits. after the appetizer they brought out a salad. for the main course we had steak, rice, a giant shrimp [and i mean giant], and some spicy cucumber. it was all very delicious. jk kept leaving us every once in awhile to take care of wedding duties: pictures, pictures, and more pictures. so there we sat at a table we a bunch of people we didn't know and either in jk and in a room filled with hungry koreans. it was actually quite comical. literally 30 minutes later the room was vacant. it was basically horace and i and some people at another table. it appears that they come to the wedding, watch, eat and then leave. i think there were over 200 people there. feeling uncomfortable sitting in this almost empty room watching them clean up we went into the hallway where we saw jk. we went into the main room where they were they had the ceremony and said hello to mr. and mrs. oh. it's unbelievable how amazing these people. they kept making sure we had enough to eat and asked us to stay to watch the korean ceremony which we did. it was such a great experience. they wedding clothes were amazing. during this part of the ceremony the couple pour tea and bow to their family. then the parents of the groom throw nuts into a piece of fabric that the bride and groom are holding. this represents good fortune and family. mr. oh made a comment about how he wishes for lots and lots of grandchildren. this part of the ceremony lasted for 30 minutes and that was jsut for the grooms family. after they were done the oh family left so that they could do the same for the brides family. i can't even explain how wonderful it all was. this is exactly the kind of experience i wanted to see here. i'm completely lucky to be working for people who have taken us in and treat us a family. the best part of the whole day was watching everyone get a kick out of us saying hello in korean. i took a few photos and will post them soon. be well…
today i attended my first korean wedding. and no it wasn't mine…it was by boss's brother-in-law's. mr. oh, jane's father, invited us. the wedding was held in a banquet hall. by the time we got there the room was completely packed so we stood along the wall with jk. first to walk down the aisle was con, jane's brother who was getting married. when he got to the front the lights dimmed and then the dry ice started. yes they had dry ice at the wedding. as the bride made her way down the aisle a giant spotlight was on her. it was pretty amazing. she had on a western style dress and he wore a tux. they were having two ceremonies. the first a western style one and then after they change into traditional korean wedding attire and going into a separate room for the korean ceremony. of course horace and i were the only foreigners there. it wa great seeing the woman dressed in hambaks [sp?]. we stood there for a bit until jk motioned for us to follow him. he lead us into another group that was completely packed with people sitting at tables eating. i wasn't sure where we were going. at first i thought we were cutting through to get to the other side until he sat us at a table. apparently this room was filled with guests too. instead of being in the actual ceremony room they sat at tables eating and watched the ceremony via a video. it was very lynchian. we started off our meal with an appetizers of raw fish, shrimp, and scallops. we also had clam chowder. i'm quite surprised that i actually ate the tuna and salmon. i guess being in korea has completely changed my eating habits. after the appetizer they brought out a salad. for the main course we had steak, rice, a giant shrimp [and i mean giant], and some spicy cucumber. it was all very delicious. jk kept leaving us every once in awhile to take care of wedding duties: pictures, pictures, and more pictures. so there we sat at a table we a bunch of people we didn't know and either in jk and in a room filled with hungry koreans. it was actually quite comical. literally 30 minutes later the room was vacant. it was basically horace and i and some people at another table. it appears that they come to the wedding, watch, eat and then leave. i think there were over 200 people there. feeling uncomfortable sitting in this almost empty room watching them clean up we went into the hallway where we saw jk. we went into the main room where they were they had the ceremony and said hello to mr. and mrs. oh. it's unbelievable how amazing these people. they kept making sure we had enough to eat and asked us to stay to watch the korean ceremony which we did. it was such a great experience. they wedding clothes were amazing. during this part of the ceremony the couple pour tea and bow to their family. then the parents of the groom throw nuts into a piece of fabric that the bride and groom are holding. this represents good fortune and family. mr. oh made a comment about how he wishes for lots and lots of grandchildren. this part of the ceremony lasted for 30 minutes and that was jsut for the grooms family. after they were done the oh family left so that they could do the same for the brides family. i can't even explain how wonderful it all was. this is exactly the kind of experience i wanted to see here. i'm completely lucky to be working for people who have taken us in and treat us a family. the best part of the whole day was watching everyone get a kick out of us saying hello in korean. i took a few photos and will post them soon. be well…
Friday, April 01, 2005
a princess story
dear diary–
this week in one of my classes i was teaching point of view. i had my students write two stories. one from the first person point of view the other from the third person point of view. it amazes me with what these students come up with. sally's stories were so cute and bizarre that i want to share them with you know. granted i made some corrections to them but you'll get the general idea.
sally's first person point of view story
I was a small girl. all of the people liked me. It was a good feeling. I always had happy days. But one day my father died and we were sad.
The End
footnote: there was also a little picture to go along with this story.
sally's third person point of view story
Once there were three princesses who lived in a castle. Two of the princess were good. One was bad. Two of the princesses were pretty. One was ugly. They went to a party and they saw a big dog. It was the biggest dog they have ever seen. And then they all died.
Granted now these are stories coming from an 8 year old. cute and innocent and yet they both center around death. i love the imagination that children have. perhaps that why i surround myself with childish things like pez, action figures, and comics. sometimes i yearn for the days when i was in my room with my star wars toys scattered on the floor building a styrofoam hoth ice fortress waiting for the big showdown between good and evil. i use to steal my sisters finger nail polish and paint my action figures so it look like blood. what is our big fascination with death and blood when we are young. perhaps its because it seems so mysterious to us. who really knows. be well…
this week in one of my classes i was teaching point of view. i had my students write two stories. one from the first person point of view the other from the third person point of view. it amazes me with what these students come up with. sally's stories were so cute and bizarre that i want to share them with you know. granted i made some corrections to them but you'll get the general idea.
sally's first person point of view story
I was a small girl. all of the people liked me. It was a good feeling. I always had happy days. But one day my father died and we were sad.
The End
footnote: there was also a little picture to go along with this story.
sally's third person point of view story
Once there were three princesses who lived in a castle. Two of the princess were good. One was bad. Two of the princesses were pretty. One was ugly. They went to a party and they saw a big dog. It was the biggest dog they have ever seen. And then they all died.
Granted now these are stories coming from an 8 year old. cute and innocent and yet they both center around death. i love the imagination that children have. perhaps that why i surround myself with childish things like pez, action figures, and comics. sometimes i yearn for the days when i was in my room with my star wars toys scattered on the floor building a styrofoam hoth ice fortress waiting for the big showdown between good and evil. i use to steal my sisters finger nail polish and paint my action figures so it look like blood. what is our big fascination with death and blood when we are young. perhaps its because it seems so mysterious to us. who really knows. be well…
Wednesday, March 30, 2005
God is LOVE
easter parade in ansan
Originally uploaded by nightwing.
dear diary–
on sunday i was enjoying a nice relaxing day of watching tv. i was in bed watching "medium" when i heard what sounded like a marching band. at first i thought it was music coming from one of the many stores. usually when a store is having a grand opening they play music and have dancing girls. not thinking much about it i turned back to the tv. the music got louder and louder. i decided to go downstairs and look out the window. a couple of blocks away i saw people walking down the street in a parade formation. i was tempted to put on shoes and ran down but it didn't look that interesting. i watched for a few minutes and then returned back upstairs. about an hour or so later i was into the second episode of "medium" when i heard the music again. curiousity always getting the best of me i ran downstairs to see where they were now. the parade was only a block from my house. as i watched i noticed someone dressed as jesus carrying a cross walk down the street. that alone should have been a clue that perhaps this was an easter parade. to be honest i didn't realize it was easter. where were all the easter bunny pictures? the chocolate bunnies? the colored eggs? the peeps for christ sakes [forgive but i had to throw that in]? it wasn't until the bus with the "god is love" slogan passed by that it all came together. it was such a bizarre little parade. very haphazard and no one stopped to watch it pass by. i did manage to take a few pictures but seeing that i was so far away they're all slightly grainy at best. i'm adding a link at the bottom so you can view them if you like. its definitely the little things like this which i love about being here. you never know whats around the corner. i hope you all had a great easter. i was always a bigger fan of the white chocolate bunnies. not sure why. i always had to one. the chocolate bunnies jsut wouldn't do the trick. how i miss having an easter egg hunt too. weren't those the days. you'd get up. look at your easter basket. stuff some candy into your mouth and then get ready to tear your house apart in search of eggs. of course the plastic eggs with toys, candy, and money were much better than finding real eggs. what about the malted chocolate eggs. they came in several different colors and if you licked the candy coating enough you could then apply it to your lips as lipstick. the things you come up with as children. although i must say everytime i have one of the malted eggs i still put on the candy lipstick. somethings will never change. anyway…i hope somewhere out there a little child bit the ears off their white chocolate bunny for me. be well…
snaps from the little easter parade that could…
Monday, March 28, 2005
open studio exhibition
dear diary–
while i was out and about on saturday i took some photos of the exhibits. overall they came out all right. some are a little blurry. especially since i was in a low light area and quite a distance away. i didn't want to use a flash. the ones where you see the guy filming the artist were taken in the loop. as you can see i got a little carried away taking pictures of the filmmaker. oh well. my favorite thing i saw that day were the walls. they were in the middle of a walkway. not really sure why i was drawn to them but i was. especially the one that looks like an elephant. anyway…enjoy. be well…
snaps from the open studio exhibition in hongik unviersity area
Links
while i was out and about on saturday i took some photos of the exhibits. overall they came out all right. some are a little blurry. especially since i was in a low light area and quite a distance away. i didn't want to use a flash. the ones where you see the guy filming the artist were taken in the loop. as you can see i got a little carried away taking pictures of the filmmaker. oh well. my favorite thing i saw that day were the walls. they were in the middle of a walkway. not really sure why i was drawn to them but i was. especially the one that looks like an elephant. anyway…enjoy. be well…
snaps from the open studio exhibition in hongik unviersity area
Sunday, March 27, 2005
one of those weeks
dear diary–
wow. i can't believe it's been an entire week since i last wrote. this week seemed to really fly by. i'm not even sure what i actually did. after speaking with my sister today i learned that my father was scheduled to go home on saturday. i have yet to speak with him since it was too late to call. if i'm up tonight i'll try to reach him in the morning, otherwise i'll wait until morning to call when it will be sunday evening. it sounds like he's doing all right though. thats a big relief. my sister has been quite busy too with relocating to fort lauderdale. they are actually there now waiting to move into their home. i'm not sure how she mangaged the move especially with three little ones. hopefully things will settle down and they'll be able to enjoy their new life in florida.
as for me my week was busy with preparing for friday night's dinner party. i spent most of my week running back and forth to carrefour for last minute things i forget. if i don't see the inside of that place for a couple of days it'll be great. on tuesday i started round one of preperations. let's just say that it was quite interesting trying to make food for this party especially since my kitchen is uber small. the first task i tried to conquer was the potato salad. it was fairly easy except that i couldn't fit all the potatoes in the pot so i had to boil them in two batches. it was a good thing that i hard boiled the eggs on sunday. i added two sweet potatoes in with the other potatoes and i must say it turned out fairly well. the only bad thing was that i added too much onion. oh well. on thursday after another run to carrefour i attempted to made this sweet potato noodle dish, which i've had a some korean restaurants. a couple of months ago while out with work people i my a comment about how i was going to make it. since then they kept asking me when so i finally decided to make it for friday. i figured might as well kill two birds with one stone. can i just tell you what a pain in the ass it is to wash and cut fresh spinach. i'll admit i have no patience for chopping vegetables. i think it took a good hour and half to prepare the vegetables. while i was trying to drain the noodles, which without a strainer is quite interesting, the lid of my pot popped off and all the noodles end up in teh sink. luckily enough i had the stopper in the sick so none of the noodles vanished down the drain. it was like my own bad sitcom. once the noodle dish was done which took a total of two hours i made hamburger patties. finally around midnight i was done. everything was ready to go for friday. all i had to do was cook the hotdogs and hamburgers. friday morning after thinking i wasn't going to make the deviled eggs i found myself in the kitchen once again.
after school i literally ran home to start cooking. i had the hotdogs and burgers going at the same time. the pot and frying pan barely fit on the stove together. when i thought the hotdogs were done i pulled one out of the pot to taste it. as i chewed on it i thought something tastes very weird. thats was i realized that each hotdog was individually wrapped in plastic. yes i had just cooked 14 hotdogs in their wrapping. so now i found myself peeling the plastic off the damn hotdogs. the best though is when i grabbed a hotdog bun and discovered it was filled with creme. yes, thats right it had freakin creme in it. i should have known being in korea that the bread was filled with sweet creme. in the long run it didn't really matter if i had buns or not because they ate all the dogs. all in all the evening went off without a hitch. it was actually quite nice and everyone seemed to enjoy all the food i prepared. needless to say i was glad it was over.
to top off my week during mini-soccer on wednesday in taekwondo i broke my pinky toe. at least i think its broke. on thursday the toe was twice its size and black and blue. damn mini-soccer. during our class we also had two little kids in there. everytime they got hit with the soccer ball you'd hear this little voice go "ouch!". it was actually quite funny watching them play mini-soccer with us. it was also quite interesting to watch them during class. they are quite good at taekwondo. i'm sure they got a good laugh at watching us try to kick. the swelling of my toe has gone down quite a bit since then and it's only slightly black and blue now. i'm going to have to be careful on monday. perhaps i'll skip the mini-soccer.
on saturday horace and i went to hongik univeristy area since the ssamzieSpace was having their "the 6th open studio exhibition". the ssamzie space is somehow related to the dalki space [i think they were created by the same guy] and was created to promote cutting edge art in korea. there were definitely some interesting pieces there. there are three different gallery and then some studio spaces. there's also a gift shop were i found the best action figure ever and it was only 1,000 won [$1 us]. i'm sure you can imagine how excited i was about that. we also stopped in two other gallerys in the area. one the loop we got to see teh artist work on his piece. there we lots of people there video taping him and taking photos. it was actually quite cool to witness. would have be evn better if we knew what they were saying. we stayed for a ffew minutes sitting on the stairs watching the whole process. i have some photos that i'll upload later this week. the last gallery we went into was by far my favorite. its called team-preview and had artwork from several artists. there were a lot of interesting pieces. as we walked around the hongik area i also managed to snag several posters. i'm now decorating my apartment in street posters. knowing that there was a subway in the area we headed over there to grab some food. subway has never tasted so good. i thought i had died and gone to heaven. there was also a free market happening in teh park which consited of artists selling their stuff. there were lots of good finds. i bought this really cool punk-rock tie that was in two pieces. it kind of reminded me of the tie i bought in thailand and lost. except this one is 100% better. there was also a stuffed bunny i was going to buy but decided not too. its really great to see artist out selling their stuff. that why i love this area. it kind of feels like being in san francisco. while walking around i saw a group of korean mods. art school kids. theres nothing cuter than that. be well…
wow. i can't believe it's been an entire week since i last wrote. this week seemed to really fly by. i'm not even sure what i actually did. after speaking with my sister today i learned that my father was scheduled to go home on saturday. i have yet to speak with him since it was too late to call. if i'm up tonight i'll try to reach him in the morning, otherwise i'll wait until morning to call when it will be sunday evening. it sounds like he's doing all right though. thats a big relief. my sister has been quite busy too with relocating to fort lauderdale. they are actually there now waiting to move into their home. i'm not sure how she mangaged the move especially with three little ones. hopefully things will settle down and they'll be able to enjoy their new life in florida.
as for me my week was busy with preparing for friday night's dinner party. i spent most of my week running back and forth to carrefour for last minute things i forget. if i don't see the inside of that place for a couple of days it'll be great. on tuesday i started round one of preperations. let's just say that it was quite interesting trying to make food for this party especially since my kitchen is uber small. the first task i tried to conquer was the potato salad. it was fairly easy except that i couldn't fit all the potatoes in the pot so i had to boil them in two batches. it was a good thing that i hard boiled the eggs on sunday. i added two sweet potatoes in with the other potatoes and i must say it turned out fairly well. the only bad thing was that i added too much onion. oh well. on thursday after another run to carrefour i attempted to made this sweet potato noodle dish, which i've had a some korean restaurants. a couple of months ago while out with work people i my a comment about how i was going to make it. since then they kept asking me when so i finally decided to make it for friday. i figured might as well kill two birds with one stone. can i just tell you what a pain in the ass it is to wash and cut fresh spinach. i'll admit i have no patience for chopping vegetables. i think it took a good hour and half to prepare the vegetables. while i was trying to drain the noodles, which without a strainer is quite interesting, the lid of my pot popped off and all the noodles end up in teh sink. luckily enough i had the stopper in the sick so none of the noodles vanished down the drain. it was like my own bad sitcom. once the noodle dish was done which took a total of two hours i made hamburger patties. finally around midnight i was done. everything was ready to go for friday. all i had to do was cook the hotdogs and hamburgers. friday morning after thinking i wasn't going to make the deviled eggs i found myself in the kitchen once again.
after school i literally ran home to start cooking. i had the hotdogs and burgers going at the same time. the pot and frying pan barely fit on the stove together. when i thought the hotdogs were done i pulled one out of the pot to taste it. as i chewed on it i thought something tastes very weird. thats was i realized that each hotdog was individually wrapped in plastic. yes i had just cooked 14 hotdogs in their wrapping. so now i found myself peeling the plastic off the damn hotdogs. the best though is when i grabbed a hotdog bun and discovered it was filled with creme. yes, thats right it had freakin creme in it. i should have known being in korea that the bread was filled with sweet creme. in the long run it didn't really matter if i had buns or not because they ate all the dogs. all in all the evening went off without a hitch. it was actually quite nice and everyone seemed to enjoy all the food i prepared. needless to say i was glad it was over.
to top off my week during mini-soccer on wednesday in taekwondo i broke my pinky toe. at least i think its broke. on thursday the toe was twice its size and black and blue. damn mini-soccer. during our class we also had two little kids in there. everytime they got hit with the soccer ball you'd hear this little voice go "ouch!". it was actually quite funny watching them play mini-soccer with us. it was also quite interesting to watch them during class. they are quite good at taekwondo. i'm sure they got a good laugh at watching us try to kick. the swelling of my toe has gone down quite a bit since then and it's only slightly black and blue now. i'm going to have to be careful on monday. perhaps i'll skip the mini-soccer.
on saturday horace and i went to hongik univeristy area since the ssamzieSpace was having their "the 6th open studio exhibition". the ssamzie space is somehow related to the dalki space [i think they were created by the same guy] and was created to promote cutting edge art in korea. there were definitely some interesting pieces there. there are three different gallery and then some studio spaces. there's also a gift shop were i found the best action figure ever and it was only 1,000 won [$1 us]. i'm sure you can imagine how excited i was about that. we also stopped in two other gallerys in the area. one the loop we got to see teh artist work on his piece. there we lots of people there video taping him and taking photos. it was actually quite cool to witness. would have be evn better if we knew what they were saying. we stayed for a ffew minutes sitting on the stairs watching the whole process. i have some photos that i'll upload later this week. the last gallery we went into was by far my favorite. its called team-preview and had artwork from several artists. there were a lot of interesting pieces. as we walked around the hongik area i also managed to snag several posters. i'm now decorating my apartment in street posters. knowing that there was a subway in the area we headed over there to grab some food. subway has never tasted so good. i thought i had died and gone to heaven. there was also a free market happening in teh park which consited of artists selling their stuff. there were lots of good finds. i bought this really cool punk-rock tie that was in two pieces. it kind of reminded me of the tie i bought in thailand and lost. except this one is 100% better. there was also a stuffed bunny i was going to buy but decided not too. its really great to see artist out selling their stuff. that why i love this area. it kind of feels like being in san francisco. while walking around i saw a group of korean mods. art school kids. theres nothing cuter than that. be well…
Sunday, March 20, 2005
drunken tiger
dear diary–
my weekend is officially coming to an end. what a jam packed weekend it was. saturday night i met heather and jenny for dinner at our favorite madame galbi's. she a new side that was cold brocoli with a strawberry dressing over it. so good! i don't think i've ever had a bad meal there. love her. afterwards we headed over to jungang-dong to meet ryan. we had plans to go to the b+b hip-hop club to see drunken tiger. ryan was running late so the three of us thought we'd go up to the club to find out what time they were going on and if we could get tickets now. dt was going on at 1am. it was only 8pm. none of us wanted to spend that much time in the hip-hop club so we asked the guy if we could buy tickets and then get stamped to come back out. it took awhile for him to figure out what we wanted to do but he got. we paid, got a free drink ticket, a glow bracelet then left. we told ryan we'd meet him at the wa bar. before meeting us ryan went and did the same thing we did. we stayed at the wa bar until midnight drinking beer. we figured we should head over just incase we misunderstood what the guy said. wouldn't that have sucked. once inside we checked our stuff into the "rockerroom" not lockerroom but "rockerroom". the club was all dark with lots of blue lights. it kind of remindered my time at electric avenue in orlando. it acutally had the late 80's feel to it. there was even a cage going around the dancing area. for a second there i felt like i went through a time warp. i couldn't even tell you the last time i was even in a club. surprisingly though there weren't that many there. i'd said maybe 75 if that. these korean hip-hop kids, they're crazy. there was one other foreigner there besides us. it quite interesting to say the least. when we got there some dj was on. we did a little dancing, drank some more beers, watched all the people. every once in awhile i felt like i was in a zoo because so many people were staring at us. finally around 1:15 ish drunken tiger came out. everyone went crazy. i've never really heard them before but was interested in checking something different out. i watched one of their videos beforehand so i kind of new what to expect. it was actually quite good. and this is coming from a person who's not a huge hip-hop fan. everyone was getting into it. they had great engery. it was all around fun. after the third song they left the stage. of course he said something before they left but it was in korean and none of us new what he said. jenny thought they had to use the restroom. a little odd to leave but all right. we waited around a bit. heather and ryan wanted to go and jenny and i were up in the air. i told jenny we should find out if they are coming back on. we walked over to the "rockerroom" girl and asked. she replied by saying "go home. bye. bye." which meant the show was over. i think that has to be the shortest set i've ever seen in my life. perhaps that had a "real" show somewhere else earlier and where just doing a stop buy. who knows for sure. at this point we all decided to head for home. here's drunken tigers site is any of you are interested www.drunkencamp.com. they are actually based in the states so check around they might be coming to your city soon. here's a link to a video i took while at the show drunken tiger video.
on sunday morning i awoke at what i thought was at least 10am. it wasn't. it was 8am. why am i up so early during the weekend and all i want to do during the week is sleep in. i stayed in bed until 10am. got a call from my sister, then p, and then damion. it was marathon talking. while talking to damion, the land of the morning calm was struck with an earthquake. yes, i kid you not. we had an earthquake. my whole apartment was shaking. it felt like i was on a boat or something. it was very surreal and quite unexpected. still feeling semi-lazy and not wanting to cook i went to mcdonalds where i ran into two of my students. they happen to be brother and sister. they ran over and said hi. it was cute. around three i met heather and jenny at oido to head to a little market. it was actually nice being outside. its was still cool but not as cold as it has been. while walking through the market i heard this chirp-chrip sound. when i looked over there was a cardboard box with yellow, green, and orange baby chicks [see photo album link below for okgu park]. yes they were real. and they were only 1,000 won [$1 u.s.]. i came so close to getting on. how cute would it be to have a little orange baby chick running around my apartment. he'd be chirping all morning. you'd be amazed at all the people buying them. as we walked along the market i'd hear a chirp-chirp every once in awhile and a person would walk by with a chick in a plastic bag or in their hand. the more i think about i should have gotten one. oh well. after the market we walked over to okgu park to walk up the hill. there were a lot of people out. there was a soccer game going on too. at the park they have a rock/stone foot massage path. of course we did it. some of the rocks really hurt. there was a little boy there you just stared at me the whole time. even as i went past him he could stop looking. it was cute. it took about 10 minutes to get to the top of the hill. the park is really nice. there's a great view from the top although it was a little hazy. it was also very windy. we finished off our day with some grub. jenny wanted to go to this train car restaurant she went to a month ago. however, when we got to where it was it had been torn down. thats the thing about here. one day it here and the next its gone. that pretty much sums up my weekend. i'm now ready to lay in bed and watch some tv. be well…
snaps from the drunken tiger mini-concert
Links
snaps from okgu park
Links
my weekend is officially coming to an end. what a jam packed weekend it was. saturday night i met heather and jenny for dinner at our favorite madame galbi's. she a new side that was cold brocoli with a strawberry dressing over it. so good! i don't think i've ever had a bad meal there. love her. afterwards we headed over to jungang-dong to meet ryan. we had plans to go to the b+b hip-hop club to see drunken tiger. ryan was running late so the three of us thought we'd go up to the club to find out what time they were going on and if we could get tickets now. dt was going on at 1am. it was only 8pm. none of us wanted to spend that much time in the hip-hop club so we asked the guy if we could buy tickets and then get stamped to come back out. it took awhile for him to figure out what we wanted to do but he got. we paid, got a free drink ticket, a glow bracelet then left. we told ryan we'd meet him at the wa bar. before meeting us ryan went and did the same thing we did. we stayed at the wa bar until midnight drinking beer. we figured we should head over just incase we misunderstood what the guy said. wouldn't that have sucked. once inside we checked our stuff into the "rockerroom" not lockerroom but "rockerroom". the club was all dark with lots of blue lights. it kind of remindered my time at electric avenue in orlando. it acutally had the late 80's feel to it. there was even a cage going around the dancing area. for a second there i felt like i went through a time warp. i couldn't even tell you the last time i was even in a club. surprisingly though there weren't that many there. i'd said maybe 75 if that. these korean hip-hop kids, they're crazy. there was one other foreigner there besides us. it quite interesting to say the least. when we got there some dj was on. we did a little dancing, drank some more beers, watched all the people. every once in awhile i felt like i was in a zoo because so many people were staring at us. finally around 1:15 ish drunken tiger came out. everyone went crazy. i've never really heard them before but was interested in checking something different out. i watched one of their videos beforehand so i kind of new what to expect. it was actually quite good. and this is coming from a person who's not a huge hip-hop fan. everyone was getting into it. they had great engery. it was all around fun. after the third song they left the stage. of course he said something before they left but it was in korean and none of us new what he said. jenny thought they had to use the restroom. a little odd to leave but all right. we waited around a bit. heather and ryan wanted to go and jenny and i were up in the air. i told jenny we should find out if they are coming back on. we walked over to the "rockerroom" girl and asked. she replied by saying "go home. bye. bye." which meant the show was over. i think that has to be the shortest set i've ever seen in my life. perhaps that had a "real" show somewhere else earlier and where just doing a stop buy. who knows for sure. at this point we all decided to head for home. here's drunken tigers site is any of you are interested www.drunkencamp.com. they are actually based in the states so check around they might be coming to your city soon. here's a link to a video i took while at the show drunken tiger video.
on sunday morning i awoke at what i thought was at least 10am. it wasn't. it was 8am. why am i up so early during the weekend and all i want to do during the week is sleep in. i stayed in bed until 10am. got a call from my sister, then p, and then damion. it was marathon talking. while talking to damion, the land of the morning calm was struck with an earthquake. yes, i kid you not. we had an earthquake. my whole apartment was shaking. it felt like i was on a boat or something. it was very surreal and quite unexpected. still feeling semi-lazy and not wanting to cook i went to mcdonalds where i ran into two of my students. they happen to be brother and sister. they ran over and said hi. it was cute. around three i met heather and jenny at oido to head to a little market. it was actually nice being outside. its was still cool but not as cold as it has been. while walking through the market i heard this chirp-chrip sound. when i looked over there was a cardboard box with yellow, green, and orange baby chicks [see photo album link below for okgu park]. yes they were real. and they were only 1,000 won [$1 u.s.]. i came so close to getting on. how cute would it be to have a little orange baby chick running around my apartment. he'd be chirping all morning. you'd be amazed at all the people buying them. as we walked along the market i'd hear a chirp-chirp every once in awhile and a person would walk by with a chick in a plastic bag or in their hand. the more i think about i should have gotten one. oh well. after the market we walked over to okgu park to walk up the hill. there were a lot of people out. there was a soccer game going on too. at the park they have a rock/stone foot massage path. of course we did it. some of the rocks really hurt. there was a little boy there you just stared at me the whole time. even as i went past him he could stop looking. it was cute. it took about 10 minutes to get to the top of the hill. the park is really nice. there's a great view from the top although it was a little hazy. it was also very windy. we finished off our day with some grub. jenny wanted to go to this train car restaurant she went to a month ago. however, when we got to where it was it had been torn down. thats the thing about here. one day it here and the next its gone. that pretty much sums up my weekend. i'm now ready to lay in bed and watch some tv. be well…
snaps from the drunken tiger mini-concert
snaps from okgu park
Friday, March 18, 2005
lounge (closing time)
dear diary–
i have the most amazing friends ever! i want to thank all of you that sent emails and phoned. i really appreciated it. you guys don't know how much that meant. after i wrote my last entry i felt a little better. its amazing how simply writing out your thoughts can help you get a better understanding of things. especially when you know that other people are going to be reading them. this whole process of writing and opening up has been great for me. it something that i needed to do for awhile now. i kind of have the tendency to keep things to myself. i'm not really good at expressing myself to others but i think by writing my thoughts and not holding back i'm coming out of that shell. i will admit that i'm still not truly expressing everything but that will come in time. there are a few things i need to do before i reach that point but i have a feeling that will happen soon. especially in light of what happened to my dad i don't want to be a stranger anymore. as for my dad he's progressing slowly. i had a long talk with my mom and sister last night. although to be honest when i saw that they both called at 11pm i thought for sure something bad happened. thankfully that wasn't the case. not sure i could handle more bad news in this week. anyway, my dad is off the ventilator but he still has an oxygen tube in his mouth. his heart still needs some assistance in the breathing department. apparently due to all the medication he's on he has no idea of what happened. even though the doctors told him my mom had to tell him again yesterday. he's also getting quite frustrated since he can't really communicate with anyone quite yet. the doctors had him sitting the other day and they think that in a couple of days he might be able to walk. i'm sure the recovery process is going to be a long one. i really do admire my mom though. she has prven to be a lot stronger than i imagined her to be. it goes to show that in situations like this you have to do what you have to do. and right now she has alot to deal with. because she's got not other my dad to look after but also my grandmother. i'm hoping that my mom's brothers will come through and take my grandmother for a little while. my mom could definitely use the break. plus then she can just concrete on helping my dad.
while talking to my mom last night she told me that my bank/credit cards statements were still being forwarded to their house. two months ago through online banking i reguested them to stop sending paper statements. so much for online banking. needless to say i spent the next hour or so speaking to every department until i got it straightened out. thanks for sucking up all my minutes bofa. i think i had two coctails and let 8 smokes while dealing with them. everytime someone said goodmorning i replied "morning its 2am here, can we get this settled". i'm sure they loved talking to me. i can be such a bitch sometimes. which most of you probably know.
today i took a journey to emart to try to find hotdogs, hamburger buns, and hotdog buns. who would have thought finding that crap would be so difficult. this friday is the school dinner and i decided on burgers and dogs. to my complete amazement emart had everything i was looking for. i love emart. of course while i was there i kept throwing more shit into my cart. like i needs strawberry milk mix. am 8 years old? and then i got suckered into buying the pizza baguette. it looked so good. when i got home i torn into that thing. as you can imagine, being in korea and all, nothing is ever what it seems. my pizza baguette was anyting but pizza. no pizza sauce, no cheese. instead it was some sort of salad thing: crab meat, ham, peppers, corn, onions, some other mystery thing, and a ton of mayo on a baguette. i must say though it was actually quite tastey. i'd have another. this week there was also a high number of crazy apartment intercom speaker. at least 8 times. no lie. and its always in the morning. before they speak there a little "ding.ding.ding" which is now forever stuck in my head. i only wish i knew what they were saying. be well…
i have the most amazing friends ever! i want to thank all of you that sent emails and phoned. i really appreciated it. you guys don't know how much that meant. after i wrote my last entry i felt a little better. its amazing how simply writing out your thoughts can help you get a better understanding of things. especially when you know that other people are going to be reading them. this whole process of writing and opening up has been great for me. it something that i needed to do for awhile now. i kind of have the tendency to keep things to myself. i'm not really good at expressing myself to others but i think by writing my thoughts and not holding back i'm coming out of that shell. i will admit that i'm still not truly expressing everything but that will come in time. there are a few things i need to do before i reach that point but i have a feeling that will happen soon. especially in light of what happened to my dad i don't want to be a stranger anymore. as for my dad he's progressing slowly. i had a long talk with my mom and sister last night. although to be honest when i saw that they both called at 11pm i thought for sure something bad happened. thankfully that wasn't the case. not sure i could handle more bad news in this week. anyway, my dad is off the ventilator but he still has an oxygen tube in his mouth. his heart still needs some assistance in the breathing department. apparently due to all the medication he's on he has no idea of what happened. even though the doctors told him my mom had to tell him again yesterday. he's also getting quite frustrated since he can't really communicate with anyone quite yet. the doctors had him sitting the other day and they think that in a couple of days he might be able to walk. i'm sure the recovery process is going to be a long one. i really do admire my mom though. she has prven to be a lot stronger than i imagined her to be. it goes to show that in situations like this you have to do what you have to do. and right now she has alot to deal with. because she's got not other my dad to look after but also my grandmother. i'm hoping that my mom's brothers will come through and take my grandmother for a little while. my mom could definitely use the break. plus then she can just concrete on helping my dad.
while talking to my mom last night she told me that my bank/credit cards statements were still being forwarded to their house. two months ago through online banking i reguested them to stop sending paper statements. so much for online banking. needless to say i spent the next hour or so speaking to every department until i got it straightened out. thanks for sucking up all my minutes bofa. i think i had two coctails and let 8 smokes while dealing with them. everytime someone said goodmorning i replied "morning its 2am here, can we get this settled". i'm sure they loved talking to me. i can be such a bitch sometimes. which most of you probably know.
today i took a journey to emart to try to find hotdogs, hamburger buns, and hotdog buns. who would have thought finding that crap would be so difficult. this friday is the school dinner and i decided on burgers and dogs. to my complete amazement emart had everything i was looking for. i love emart. of course while i was there i kept throwing more shit into my cart. like i needs strawberry milk mix. am 8 years old? and then i got suckered into buying the pizza baguette. it looked so good. when i got home i torn into that thing. as you can imagine, being in korea and all, nothing is ever what it seems. my pizza baguette was anyting but pizza. no pizza sauce, no cheese. instead it was some sort of salad thing: crab meat, ham, peppers, corn, onions, some other mystery thing, and a ton of mayo on a baguette. i must say though it was actually quite tastey. i'd have another. this week there was also a high number of crazy apartment intercom speaker. at least 8 times. no lie. and its always in the morning. before they speak there a little "ding.ding.ding" which is now forever stuck in my head. i only wish i knew what they were saying. be well…
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