reflections

the stair railing at the training office:

greg, victor & me, in gangnam train station:

next to the yes & yes convenient store:

physical exam

follow the arrows:

this way to x-ray:

potato sack x-ray smock:

this morning, i went to the seoul medical center to get a physical exam. it's part of the job, you know, they want to make sure i'm not cracked out on anything or about to croak any time soon. i checked in and was instructed, in korean, to go upstairs--that much i understood--then the rest of his words blurred into incomprehension. so i followed what i knew. i went upstairs. to floor number 2. fortunately, there was an "information" booth at the entrance of the second floor, and i asked the nice lady, in korean, "excuse me, can you please tell me where to go?" and pointed to my sheet, where the room's name was written. she told me, "go straight and turn left." i thanked her and repeated the directions in my head. go straight. turn left. go straight. turn left. hmm? turn left where? i'd decided that i'd keep going straight until the only option remaining was to turn left. luckily, that stream of logic proved to be right! (ha, get it? right, left, right?) while walking down the hall, i noticed the floor was decorated with different colored lines, blue, white, yellow and red. what was up with those lines?

in room number 1, my height was measured by an automatic machine. i stepped onto the device and after about 5 seconds, a level touched my head and disappeared. my blood pressure was measured, as was the health of my eyes, hears and color-blindness. then, my chest was measured. i don't know the reason why a chest measurement was part of the exam--do they prefer instructors with bigger or smaller chests?--and was told to go to the x-ray room, just down the hall to my left. i looked down the hall to my left and in bold letters, it said X-RAY. sweet. so i changed into this funny looking shirt, sort of like a potato sack shirt, only heavy cotton and not itchy burlap, thank goodness. i held my breath, the x-ray was taken, presto, change-o. next, on the checklist: blood work. "where do i go?" i asked the technician. guess what he said! "follow the red line!" so what did i do? i followed the red line, which pointed exactly to the place i needed to be. such smart koreans!

my blood was drawn, i peed into a cup, and i was done. nice work, chong.

job prospects

in 2 weeks time, i've interviewed at 3 different companies. i've been given an offer at place a, waiting to hear back from place b and place c, while they are highly likely to hire me, is only part time, and girlfriend here, she needs to work the full time. why? full time provides benefits: a housing deposit allowance, and most importantly, stability: consistent work. shoot, i'm going to live here, for a year, maybe more--to be decided at the year anniversary--and there's some essentials that a woman needs: food, water, shelter. and then of course, some non-essentials that help make life more pleasurable: korean language lessons and shiny new camera on the top of the list.

i've been to day one of training at place a. (you go through an intense training week at the end of which you're tested on how well you know the teaching materials. if you know them well, you pass and sign the official contract and begin work promptly. if you don't do so well, you best start looking for another job.) and it is pretty gosh darn overwhelming. the serenity and flow i've luxuriously eased into here at chateau song, is being interrupted, albeit welcoming-ly, by mr. nervous and miss. anxious and ms. oh you know you got this girl sassy sassypants.

i'm going to prep and review my materials again so that i can be on top of my game for the mock evaluation this afternoon. wish me luck!

curious monkey

monkey befriends froggies:

monkey enjoys ramen:

monkey cruises an owl-ship:

monkey digs big money:

too much plastic--prlastic

when i was younger i used to wonder about my mother's fascination with plastic. she always packaged every fruit or vegetable in it's own crinkly, noisy plastic bag, compartmentalizing each grocery item in its place in the shopping cart. i think she in turn used to wonder why i didn't care for the plastic bags. she found them useful, and enjoyed their purpose in life, whereas i didn't want to use them unless there was an absolute need. i do admire the multitude of functions plastic provides, especially the invention of tupperware, but, in terms of bags, if i can reuse my canvas bags in place of using a brand new plastic one, that is my preference. and it's not a problem for me if my apples come into contact with the lettuce or broccoli. whatever. it's not that big of a deal. let them be merry together.

too often, plastic accumulates as waste (shoot! walk down the street and count how much plastic you see!) and i am trying to be very conscious about wasting little. now, i'm not up to date on the policies regarding the environment in korea, but the grocery store is a plastic reducer's worst nightmare. nearly every item--as in every individual vegetable and fruit--is packaged or shrink-wrapped. while it may make the stocking of shelves easier, it disheartens me. i really dislike coming home to unwrapping my onions or peppers or cucumbers and filling the wastebasket with clear plastic. what a waste! but this has shed light on my mother's propensity for plastic! it's such a korean thing to do. i did, however, learn something from theresa that gives me hope: for each new plastic bag you use, you have to pay for it. so, in that respect at least, korea is becoming more plastic smart.

a thought just occured to me: is it worse or the same, to purchase produce that is already shrink-wrapped in plastic or to wrap the produce yourself in a plastic bag? aha! it's worse to buy the shrink-wrapped version because at least with the bag, you can rinse it out and reuse it--which, my mom does, because she knows the beauty of the re-use. now it would really really awful is someone put a shrink-wrapped vegetable in a plastic bag. plastic in plastic? ridonkulous. please don't do that. ever. thank you.

50 cent treats

man making the best thing since sliced bread:

i've fallen in love. and it only it cost me 50 cents. it's the perfect mouth watering combination of warm, sweet, savory, and fried. oh yes. you don't even know, that is, unless you know. these damn fine treats are called hohndduk and you can buy them off the streets one at a time or by the half dozen.

on sunday, we met up with theresa's friend, don--who is one of the most easy to like and get along with people i've had the grace to meet--who is leaving korea after two years on tuesday. we took the train from seolleung to sinchon, about an hour's ride, and waited for him by the subway exit. i was taking photos of passersby while we waited in front of the 24 hours open mcdonald's, when theresa began explaining to me the greatness of them, the korean version of fresh, made before your eyes, donuts. i spotted a girl holding and eating (i was already getting food envy) what i thought was a hohndduk. theresa confirmed my suspicion and wondered, out loud, "ooh i wonder where she got that?..."

we soon discovered the stand where the girl bought her snack and soon thereafter, i feasted on my own. yum!!!! it's like a flattened doughnut, only better, because it's far chewier--i like chewy snacks!--and even while fried, it seems (of course, i say seems) healthy. hey! it's made from green tea! in addition to the chewiness, there's a sweet brown sugar and maple like filling that isn't at all overbearing, but a wonderful party in your mouth. man. i want another 5 of those. right now.

don, theresa and i ate lunch at a mexican restaurant called on the border, which is actually a funny name if you think about it, did they mean south of the border? when we entered the restaurant, we were greeted by lots of hello's and welcome's, i was surprised by everyone's gusto! theresa told me that that's common, but, shoot if i didn't just feel like i was greeted by 7x that annoying dude with lots of flair from office space, only, not annoying and more cutesy. it's also really adorable to hear koreans say, adios and gracias. ha! and, guess what? the food was good! not el rinconcito or el tamarindo, washington dc good (i'd name some restaurants in sud america if i'd been to any...that continent is next on the ever expanding list of places to visit!) but still very good.

don has bestowed upon us goodies that he's not taking back with him to the states. goodies like books in english, nyquil (2 bottles--sheesh don, 2 makes it seem a bit suspect!), highlighters, which koreans called under liners, speakers, sumo-wrester playing cards, and a raven's basketball hoop (MD, holla!), among other sundry items. theresa will definitely miss you don, and though we've only just met, i'll miss you too! you are good peoples! start planning your visit back to korea, now, homie!




theresa clowning around, get it? clown-ing, around? wah!

don and monkey share a moment:

from scratch

humpty dumpty had a great fall:

cocoa & butter, yummers!

batter, batter, batter up!

brownies ala mode:



theresa and i have a lot in common and one of the funnest similarities is our undying love and appreciation of good food. not just good food, but goooooooooooooooood food, say it with me now, goooooooooooooooood food! mmmmmhmmm! we've recently shared some highly delectable feasts: spinach, onion, garlic and potato frittata with a mixed green salad tossed with a zesty balsamic vinaigrette; spinach, onion, garlic and potato pancakes--hey! you gotta use the ingredients you have on hand, waste not want not!--with another delicious salad; and tonight! we even made brownies from scratch, yep, that's right. from scriggity, scraggity, scratch! it was divine. now, i love most things chocolate, but warm, fudgy brownies served a la mode with sliced bananas. hot damn. i say, HOT DAMN!

i've been sleeping a lot these past couple of nights and it's doing my body wonders. it is kicking this cold of mine to the curb. sayonara sucka! apparently the air quality in korea, along with the water quality, particularly in seoul, is not so nice. perhaps that is the culprit of my sickness. probably that coupled with the fact that before my arrival to korea, i had been on the most irregular sleeping schedule, which usually puts one's body out of whack! wiggity wiggity whack!

speaking of wiggity wiggity whack, unfortunately my camera, my well-loved and amazing adventure-documenting companion has seen better days. i don't know why, but it's been on the fritz. getting all kinds of warped image on me, like it's suffering from nausea and making my photos tinted green or worse, producing images that don't look anything like the real thing. bah! stick with me, camera powershot, hold on, baby. i wonder if it can sense that i'll be upgrading soon, to a camera that will provide me with more than 3.2 megapixels. to (gasp!) a camera that is semi-professional? it would most likely be a canon, i've become a bit of a canon snob, and so, if any of you have camera recommendations, do send em my way. this is korea, afterall, what better place to stock up on electronic goodies?