temple hike

nice ass

forever 21 opened up a store in myeongdong. good to know that the forever 21 "quality" is the same here as it is in the states! check out this mannequin flaunting her ASSets.





now that the weather has gotten colder, fried green tea cakes with sugary sweet filling has made a return and boy! am i glad they are back!

my friend, fearless shopper and foodie:

in the recording studio...

first korean tv, and now, audio!
these past few mornings, i went to soundworks studios and recorded passages (some short and some long, verrrry long!) for toefl test prep materials. i spoke very clearly and professor-like into the very sensitive mike. professor chong. the chong professor. yes, indeedy, i do like the sound of that!

lotte's favorite day

11.11, aka, pepero day is an excuse to buy pepero snacks. the chocolate covered thin stick-like cookie snacks, known in japan as pocky, are given (lotte, pepero's manufacturer created this day to boost their sales, and what a gimmick! everyone or nearly everyone has fallen for it, suckas!) to your friends, family, significant others, wannabe significant others...sha-la, sha-la.

i had forgotten about pepero day until my sweet korean language classmates presented me with my very own pepero package of yumminess!

happy pepero day!
xo.

then and now

awww, look at me a year ago. i remember exactly when i took this photo. it was in amber's home, in the hallway, outside of ella's/guest aka, my extended stay, room. (thanks so much again amber and ella for adopting me into your lives that blissful summer!) i was beginning my korean job search then and it's commonplace for korean companies to request your photo as part of the job application. now that i'm in korea, i realize that they were probably expecting a more "professional" sort of photograph, something similar to the passport variety, but i preferred my more organic approach.

happy one year anniversary!

i've officially been living and working in korea for a full 365 day cycle. hard to believe that that amount of time can seemingly pass in a blink or drag unnecessarily. it's been just over 2 months since i've changed jobs and while i know that the new gig is a better fit than the former, i know that still, there must be an even better place for me to work. i don't mind teaching adults, especially since i have a few returning students who are delightful. i don't mind the hours, i love that i have time in the mornings to attend korean language classes and to do so conveniently is an added bonus. now...what i do mind, is the typical korean office business culture. the strained, reactive, slightly chauvinistic, resistant to change and time-wasting attitudes unnerve me. and might i find this anywhere? not unlikely. do you ever get that feeling that sometimes you are just very very different from those who surround you?

lately, i've been thinking that perhaps my fierce independence is better suited to freelance private tutorship. i'm gathering information and don't doubt that there will soon be an exhaustive advantages/disadvantages tug of war. until then, i'm definitely relaxing, studying korean and remaining present.



missing you tremendously.
xo.

OBAMA-RAMA!

YES WE CAN! (and we did and we will!)

big mouth

i know that i can be a big mouth. really. i literally do have a big mouth. but my jovially laughing big mouth is not something that really needs to be quieted. okay. if i'm laughing very loudly while a very serious moment is occuring, then that's just plain fucked up. but i'm not socially inept or awkward. i know these things. i know when it's appropriate and not. and laughing loudly at a bar with other drinking laughing big mouth fools is a socially acceptable place to be laughing. so when a native korean man told me that i laugh too loudly and that i should laugh quietly, (dude, i'm not a silent laugher!) i wanted to bitchslap his sorry ass. but i didn't. instead, i drunkenly silently vented to myself. until we moved to the norehbang, where i sang my heart out. cultural differences are fucked up, man. fucked up.

face to face

the world can sometimes be suprising smaller than one might anticipate, much smaller. two weekends ago, i went to a friend's birthday celebration where i met another korean-american, who not suprisingly, is an english teacher. we exchanged numbers and since i'm not particularly picky when it comes to giving out my number--sometimes, unfortunately to my displeasure--i didn't think it an especially unique instance. i was a bit startled then, when he did call me! i found him attractive and of course briefly entertained dating possibilities but knew (gut feelings are usually right) that it--WHATEVER THAT "IT" IS--was not present. (sometimes, i want to say, fuck "it!") he called to invite me to appear on a tv show. SAY WHAT?!? not so secretly, i've entertained thoughts of well, entertainment, of being on tv (little know fact: i was on mtv--on a psa! and also on an aclu commercial.) and while this was entertaining, it more serious than any commercials.

i went on the arirang channel's face to face program where teams of english speakers are given a topic to debate. ours: we were in the proposition to the argument that genetically modified foods should be developed. my teammates, julius, victor, whom i just met that day, and i were probably the most ill-prepared debaters for that show. when i think of wingin' it, a mental picture of that show's set comes to mind. we didn't go cold turkey, but it was pretty damn close. the night before, julius gave me the impression that it was a very relaxed show and that i wouldn't have to prep. luckily, i did some research beforehand and was able to convince the judges (yes, there were judges!) that our team wasn't bonkers. i'm either a really good actress or i'm much more capable of bullshitting than ever before. it was a hellavulot of fun!

i gave our team's opening speech and spoke assertively and perhaps a bit smugly. pausing between choice words for dramatic effect. (you gotta start out strong motherfuckers!) apparently this strategy worked well. when the cameras stopped rolling (we lost by one point, not bad!) we met our opposition and one of their team members admitted that he was scared of me. poor dude. smartypants university students. they won, because unlike us, they researched and cited evidence and facts. numbers, statistics, ladies and gentlemen are very convincing.

so this is where the small world part comes in. just when i was about to sit in the the make-up chair (mmmhmmm, they did our hair and makeup! i've not worn that much make-up since...lordy, i don't even remember.) i see someone who i know i know. turns out its my friend of a friend's girlfriend. and gf is very very cool. we've gotten together several times before and everytime we hang out, it's great fun but those times are few and far between. i think it's the universe saying we need to hang out more often. how random or perhaps not so random. she was one of the judges! and if you think she was biased because she knew me, think again. very objective is she.

just as we were about to leave the studio, one of the audience members came up to me and thanked me for being such a good speaker! now THAT was delightful. that's the sort of compliment i would rarely tire of.