jet laggin'

last night i met with theresa and her coworkers for what felt like the korean version of the american happy hour, only this hour lasted until the early hours of the morning and was much more elaborate and on the company's tab. hellllllsyeah! i ate pork for the first time in a while and it was quite tasty...if i was more diligent, i could certainly fore go meat eating while i'm here, but, i think fully experiencing the depth of korean culture is to do so by the belly. mmmmhmmmm!

theresa's coworkers and friends are a great and rowdy bunch, very friendly, easily laughable! today, her friend, greg, was very kind to accompany me on my errands. i successfully opened up a bank account and discovered that i have to get my korean identification card in order to purchase a cell phone. i spoke in korean during these transactions and embarrassed myself for forgetting my manners on occasion by not using the proper and polite form. whoopsa!!!! tonight, if my jet lag doesn't get the better of me, i want to brush up on my korean skiiiiillls. i need to refresh my grammar!

i am seriously jet laggin' right now. LAGGIN!' i want very much to go to bed, to take a nap. but i'm going to try to powerhouse through my exhaustion and stay awake until i call it a night. my eyelids feel droopy...and i see lucy, theresa's cat, curled up and napping peacefully...well, she's also been napping pretty much all day. oh to be a cat!

day 1:

monkey meets lucy:


lucy greets monkey with a friendly smackdown:


wires on a street pole:


street scene:


seoul trees:


i ate pork for the first time in a long while and it was good:


chow time:


theresa and me:

and monkey, too

to make my adventures in korea even more entertaining, i've brought along my friend, monkey, to serve as my sidekick and yes, also as my model. i'm shameless. and he loves it. i realized this morning that monkey doesn't have a proper name. i've simply called him monkey, well, because he is simply a monkey. if you have any fun and fitting name ideas, by all means, please share your suggestions.

during the layover from japan to korea, i met another traveler. her name is andrea who is from columbus, ohio. she's in korea visiting her friend from college too. lots of that happening 'roud these parts. we meandered through the airport, discussed our travel plans, and shared laughs about the toilets in the ladies room. i love japanese inventions. the tiolet--you'll see by the photo--has buttons on the side that can spray water for your specific parts and then, get this, a flushing sound which can be increased or decreased in volume! so for those who are uncomfortable during bm's or, are feeling particularly self conscious, just play the flushing sound, LOUD! and you'll be alright. everyone will know exactly what you are doing, but, hey, that's okay!




andrea mentioned how much she loves sushi so when we saw a sushi restaurant, literally seconds after her declaration, we treated ourselves to a fresh roll. the staff at the restaurant were such a friendly bunch! i ordered a cali cali roll which was divine. a yummy party in my mouth after eating blah blah airplane food. the chef even gave me more pickled ginger after i devoured my plate clean. so nice. so thoughtful. we chatted with our waiter, who showed us in japanese, the words: love, heart and friend. andrea has a tattoo of "love" on her back and she wanted verification from a respectful source that her tattoo does in fact say, love. it does. our waiter, has "heart" tattooed on his back. man. i was the odd one out. i apparently did not get that memo.

the world really is small, folks. check it: turns out that andrea's friend, cory, lives in the same part of seoul as theresa! say, like 5 blocks away. what?!?! once we claimed our baggage and went through customs, we found cory (i had to deflect the men who kept asking us where we were going and if we needed cabs. my korean was, i'm sure, very american-accented but i was happy that it was understood!) and all rode the bus to coex--a humungous shopping/convention center which i'm sure i'll see soon--where theresa met us. it is soooooo wonderful to see theresa!!! the last time we saw each other was during her whirlwind usa tour about 6 months ago. we were in baltimore with her friend, annie, and we went to a great dive bar--shoot! the name of that escapes me now.--and drank beer with peanuts and sang karaoke. hmm, perhaps that was a sign of things to come?! i do look forward to belting out tunes in noh-reh bangs (singing rooms) here. koreans take their karaoke very seriously and so will i!

theresa lives with her older sister (she has two, she lives with clara, coec lives in nyc) in a lovely apt that is definitely urban and very ikea meets korea=korikea. yes. clean lines and smooth surfaces. i already like it here. clara is away for work, so, i'm very lucky to use her space in her absence. i slept like a champ last night but woke up in the middle of my sleep, disorientated. i thought i was back home, and was confused when i didn't recognize the wall. oh yes! i'm not in baltimore, i'm in korea! i shifted, and fell back asleep, comforted that my confusion was sorted out.

**a call for help!** i'm not terribly computer savvy, but i do know the basic functions. unfortunately, my computer is not recognizing the dsl/ethernet cord and so i get no internet. wtf?! (i'm using theresa's for now, but, i'd like to get my own internet access up and running--and i know korea is all about it so i'm a bit puzzled to this inability.) anyone have any ideas or projections about this issue? let me know if you discover any clues that may help me solve this mystery. much appreciated.

i'm going to keep it local today and meander around theresa's neighborhood. i'm also going to hop into a coffee shop and see if i can connect to the net, via wireless. ooh i hope so!

south korea's got seoul

on the third and final leg of my itinerary from narita to incheon, i woke up from a sluggish sleep and looked out the window. i felt like i was in the middle of a dream. imagine 50 or so lightning bugs, stationary in the air, with their bright orbs of warm light reflected by the water. magnify the size of their lights by 100 or maybe more realistically by 5000--this is afterall being observed from thousands of feet above!--and you can visualize what i saw: dark sky, warm magical lights. welcome to korea.

i am writing from my friend theresa's apt in gangnam, a neighborhood of seoul. during our 10 minute walk from the bus station to her home, i observed wide sidewalks and tall buildings some with neon lights, others closed for the day. my head feels loose, like it's slightly separated from my body. that must be the effect of being in transit for nearly 24 hours. i look forward to exploring her neighborhood tomorrow and letting my feet and intuition serve as my compass.

my flights were fine. the take offs and landings were all smooth and lucky for me, i was asleep before nearly every take off and woke up from my slumber just as we were about to land. i didn't sleep the whole way, just lots of little naps. and now, i'm ready to drift into a deep and long sleep.

and so it goes...

it seems that no matter what, i'm a slow poke when it comes to packing. and sheesh, packing for a year+ is a volley of back and forth hesitation. will i wear this? do i really need that? and, don't even get me started on the shoes! whoever invents a convertible, multi-functional shoe that is comfortable and fashionable would definitely help travelers save some serious space in their suitcases.

i'm nearly finished with the packing! yay! phew, i am more than ready for sleep. this week has been an entertaining and super one, meeting up with friends for good chats, tasty eats and belly aching laughs. tomorrow is here. tomorrow is today. i fly in approximately 7 hours. and so it goes...

organization

trying to organize multiple things simultaneously is very confusing...i've probably created and recreated piles of things: clothes to wash, clothes to pack, clothes to wash and then to pack, lists of things to do, list of things to really remember to do (see what i mean, lists within lists!) and whatnot. here is something that i've been working on for the past few nights. sifting through over a thousand photos to create my new zealand favorites albums was time consuming, but very cleansing. i love remembering what i was feeling or thinking at the exact moment the photo was taken. feast your eyes on all the blue and green!

new zealand, i:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=16417&l=018bc&id=802312505

new zealand, ii:
www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=17333&l=e9ed3&id=802312505

my muse, my love

ella. ella morgan pumpkin monkey butt haynes is the most darling baby i have ever met. seriously, it almost hurts so good, she's just that STINKIN CUTE! she's been my muse (i've knit her five hats...with more forthcoming, i'm sure) and my love, my roommate, my soul sister. here are a few choice photos of her loveliness.