She's Coming to Korea

Just bought a ticket to the Celine Dion concert in March 2008! It feels weird to have something planned that far in advance.

Merry Christmas!

It's already Christmas Eve in Korea. I don't have any big plans for today and tomorrow -- just getting together with a few friends tonight for dinner and some wine (although I'm still kind of hungover from Saturday night) and then a fancy dinner with the family at a French restaurant on the 25th. I was able to pick out good presents for my parents and Saejun this year and am very excited to have them open them at dinner. I dropped about $350 in total but it feels good to be able to buy what they really need without worrying about my budget too much.

Treated myself to a cup of
Starbucks peppermint mocha
(freaking $4 for the "short" size -- wtf)

And I have some other presents for myself as well ;)

A Busy Week

Last week was insane. To prepare for the IPC (International Program Committee) Meeting that was held on Thursday and Friday, I stayed at work until 11pm on Tuesday and Wednesday. For the meetings, I had to get there by 8am (meaning I had to get up at 6am), and after the meetings, we went out to nice dinners that ran until 11pm. I was pretty much working for most of the time I was awake!

Nonetheless, it was the most fun I've had at work since my first day, besides the five different types of wine I got to try. And now I have connections in Milan, Tokyo, Taipei, and ... Ohio.

Bleh!

I've got cold sore on both sides of my lips (yuck), my skin's breaking out, and my stomach is upset. I seriously need to rest up.

But I had a great night with three ladies and some Korean tea at a cafe in Insadong. Getting home was a little bit of a hassle, but I took a nice long bubble bath and read a magazine. Mmm.

Happy December by the way!

Relationships

The theme of last night's "Dream Team" get-together was relationships. All of us there except one girl have been through a few serious relationships and are currently seeing someone as well. The one girl started to seriously question herself and the night turned into a long discussion about relationships and guys & girls. It was really interesting to share the different experiences and own know-how's -- we could probably write a book now.

Working on a Saturday now. Almost there!

Chicken for Thanksgiving

Yummy!

But I feel like I had a stick of butter today :P

Thanksgiving in Korea

I love Thanksgiving! Since no one celebrates in Korea, I plan cooking a simple Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. I plan on roasting a whole chicken since there are no turkeys here. I grabbed a bag of stuffing mix when I was visiting Matt last week so that should be wonderful. Then I'll do a quick dish of starch + veggies. And of course, a pumpkin pie! We'll see if I actually get around them all, hehe.

Yum.

What I Need to Keep Up

• Faith
• Long-Term Perspective
• Love
• Being less sensitive
• My social circle of down-to-earth people
• Optimism
• Persistence
• Taking it easy
  

Understanding

Breathe, smile, and actually act on your understanding if you insist that you actually understand.

Love AND Trust

I am lucky to have found a few people I can love and trust completely. But sometimes the relationship changes and brings a big disappointment, especially when it is a close one.
MK, RL, IL, LL, SA, ...

Favorite Things

As of today:

Sweet potato anything, duk (Korean rice cakes), a small cup of black coffee at 8:30 am, homemade kimchi, mom's pots and pans, cooking anything from scratch, writing letters, learning Mandarin, 30 minutes of guitar playing every night, pretty trees and hills on the way to work, walking, Adobe, free papers (Metro) in the morning, Mr. Sushi Champion (cartoon), petting Juni, GTalk, egg muffins (a popular street food item in Seoul), red bean anything, my pair of A|X jeans, getting a funny txt from Mom, sending Smilebox cards (www.hallmark.com/smilebox), looking through new pics of friends on the facebook, a glass of red wine or Guinness, electric blankets, going to sleep with nothing on, and no chicken skin.

:D

Ugh.

Some people are just so f' difficult to deal with! What's worse is that they make a point of being such a pain in the butt.

Perks

There was a workshop at COEX today for event/convention planners, for international events in particular. It was a pretty interesting event with the coordinators and directors for a few major events that were held at COEX in the past few years talking about their experiences and giving advices. All participants got a bag of goodies, and there was also a raffle of free dinners and 1 night stay coupons at some of Seoul's fanciest hotels (I didn't win any though). After the workshop, there was a really fancy reception with live jazz music, over 20 different types of hors d'oeuvre, and free drinks. I got a nice glass of zinfandel ... nice.

I think I officially love my job now =P

Relationships

I went to see the Cannes International Advertising Festival and then went out to dinner with Jungsuk (JS) and another girl (JH) from work. In the middle of the dinner, I realized I have been slowly but surely building a friendship with JS over the past three months or so. I felt comfortable enough to call her unnie: In Korea, unnie literally means an older sister, but if you have female friends who are older than you, you also call them unnie. I hadn't felt comfortable enough to call JS unnie up until last night, when it just came out naturally.

It had been a while since I made a new friend I could actually connect intellectually and emotionally, especially in Korea. I cherish that feeling of having established a solid connection over time, and it was really exciting. There still are a lot of differences in our backgrounds and experiences that hold me back from sharing a lot more with her, but the fact that we have become close has been a good surprise to me.


Life back in Seoul hasn't been too bad ;)

Starting to love my job

Slowly, but I am starting to love my job.

One great thing about my job is the environment. I've often thought I wanted to work at a university and am realizing the benefits of it--libraries, affordable dining halls with great options ($3 lunches), beautiful scenery as SNU's campus is right at the bottom of a huge mountain, people of my age, free classes (haven't gotten around this yet), etc.

I'm also getting to know the people better. In the past crazy week with the submission deadline and all, I got to know a couple of the younger professors pretty well, who I went out to a bar together on Friday after a meeting. I also definitely feel more like friends with Jungsuk. We are a pretty good team.

This morning I got out of the house early so I could take a 20-minute walk to my office instead of taking the bus all the way. It's getting cold now, in low 50s, but it was a great walk with crisp air, lush trees (I can't wail 'til they turn color) , and clear blue sky .. it was gorgeous.

Okay, time to get working now :)

Steady as We Go

I'll walk halfway around the world
Just to sit down by your side
And I would do most anything, girl
To be the apple of your eye
Well troubles, they may come and go
But good times, they're the gold
And if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

Any place you wanna go
Know I'll be next to you
If it's treasure, baby, you're looking for
I'll search the whole world through
I know troubles, they may come and go
But good times, they're the gold
So if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

When the storm comes down you shelter me
When I don't say a word and you know exactly what i mean
In the darkest times, oh, you shine on me
You set me free and keep me steady as we go

So if your heart wrings dry, my love
I will fill your cup
And if your load gets heavy, girl
I will lift you up
Well troubles, they may come and go
But good times be the gold
So if the road gets rocky, girl
Just steady as we go

A perfect song ..

Cooking

It's been too long since I spent more than half an hour in the kitchen cooking. I finally picked out a recipe and made some broccoli soup. The recipe is from one of the Moosewood cookbooks and this soup has no cheese or heavy cream. Just milk and oatmeal for the creamy texture. Tastes just as good, and I actually like it more less greasy anyway -- a great cookbook, heh.

Burrenchilada

Two friends of mine in Korea and I went out to Panchos for the first Mexican dinner in Seoul. I got their "Super Burrito" with beans, which turned out to be something more like a huge enchilada with rice in it. It was good nonetheless -- they had great chips and salsa, and even decent guacamole. Can't complain.

Also had a glass of great red wine at this bar called "The Bungalow," with sand on the floor and beach chairs everywhere. With my tolerance possibly at its lowest point, I was pretty happy coming home last night after finishing the entire glass. It was also the first night I had a lot of fun just hanging out and chatting over drinks, without going crazy and coming home at 3am. I think I was singing pretty loud on the way home? Oops :$

Inconvenience!

Nothing opens before 9am!

Can't get cash without charging myself an extra dollar before 9am (yes, I'm still not over the fact that my own bank charges me money for taking out my own money from their ATM).

Can't get a cup of decent coffee at a cafe (if I want some, I have to get one from Starbucks and practice the master act of balancing with the coffee in my hand, carrying a purse, and trying to find a bar or a handle to hold on on the crazy bus ride.

Can't even get a can of crappy coffee from a "convenience" store because they open at 10am.

Ugh.

Finally!

I've finally found a loaf of good multigrain bread in Seoul! It smells great, has a very chewy texture (amaizing when toasted too), and most importantly has 9 different grains, extra fiber from apples, walnuts and sunflower seeds! It's called "Energy Bread," LOL.

From Iris's email earlier today:

I Wish I Could Go Back to College (Avenue Q)

I wish I could go back to college.
Life was so simple back then.
What would I give to go back and live in a dorm with a meal plan again!
I wish I could go back to college.
In college you know who you are.
You sit in the quad, and think, "Oh my God!
I am totally gonna go far!"

How do I go back to college?
I don't know who I am anymore!

I wanna go back to my room and find a message in dry-erase pen on the door!
Ohhh...
I wish I could just drop a class...
Or get into a play...
Or change my major...
Or fuck my T.A.

I need an academic advisor to point the way!
We could be...
Sitting in the computer lab,
4 A.M. before the final paper is due,
Cursing the world 'cause I didn't start sooner,
And seeing the rest of the class there, too!

I wish I could go back to college!

How do I go back to college?!
AHHHH...

Good Things Come When Unexpected

Close to 4pm, I was getting very excited to go have dinner and maybe out to a bar after work. But it started pouring around then and people didn't want to come out anymore. I was just gonna go home and chill, play some guitar and watch a DVD.

I was on the bus to the subway station with Jung Sook, who's my partner on the World Congress project. She's three years older than I am, has four older siblings and has a masters in German Literature. We've been working for two months now. Anyway, all of sudden I had this craving for some fried chicken (believe or not). There's a KFC right next to the station, and I had walked by it enough that their marketing made me want to eat their chicken, yikes. So we ordered a couple of pieces each plus their BISCUITS and diet coke. The dinner was great, but what was completely unexpected was the conversation! We talked mostly about my observations and experiences back in Seoul, and her thoughts on Korean culture, ideologies, Europe, the U.S., etc. Overall, it was a really good time. Totally unexpected =]

New (?) Teeth

Mom didn't notice .... lol

Cornell-Sick

Magic of Ten Minutes

It's amazing what leaving the house ten minutes early does. The air is crisp without the sun completely up, neither kyodae or Seoul Univ. subway stations are crowded, there is no line for the bus, and I arrvie at my desk half an hour early! How sweet this extra time is in the morning -- I can check my gmail, play a game or two of scrabble (Ben is beating me badly), get a cup of coffee, do a little stretching ... niiiiiice.

Mom's Birthday (belated post)

It was my mom's 49th birthday on the first of September. She goes by the lunar calendar, so I almost forgot. Usually I have it calculated about 2 weeks in advance .. blame on my full time job?

Anyway, some pictures. Love Dad's look in both of them. Hahaha.

Sleep

Happy September!

Ever since Pysch 101 (Oh I miss Cornell!), one of my top priorities has been getting 8 hours of sleep every night, which, needless to say, is difficult to keep up. I usually get 6.5 - 7, but I notice huge difference when I do get 8 hours. Like this morning :D

Writing Letters

I love writing letters. Not just because it puts a smile on the receiver's face but also because it's a very pleasant ritual to me. While writing one to someone, I usually go through some of our best memories together, what the person means to me, and what I like our relationship to be in the future. Obviously the letter usually turns out very honest, nostalgic, and almost always cheesy, but it is a good exercise for me to become more appreciative and loving, especially when I am feeling upset or disappointed by the person.

I've written more letters this summer than I have in the past ten years .. mostly because I want to keep in touch with the important people in my life in more meaningful, caring ways, and also because I've been nostalgic often looking back on college days, which puts me in a letter-writing mood. If you haven't gotten one, it should be on the way, heh.

Fall Is Coming

It has cooled down quite a bit since Monday. It was almost chilly walking to work this morning. Can't wait to see leaves turn color! Beautiful fall in Korea - maybe someone should visit me again then ;)

Reminders of Love

Matt visited me in Seoul for a week - it was a great time. Got to know each other and bonded even more (more updates and pictures later on this week).

Now I'm back to my regular routine - up at 7am, breakfast at 7:40am, out of the house by 8am, work from 9am to 6pm (lunch at noon, haha), back home by 7pm, Chinese, web browsing, in bed by midnight .. It always takes me a few days to get back in the full swing after such a fun week.

This morning wasn't easy either. I still felt somewhat empty and wanted to snuggle up with Juni in bed all morning. But mom fixed up some breakfast for me (very unusual) since she knew I was feeling a little down, and I got a nice large cup of coffee on the way to work. Besides its usual job of waking me up, the warm cup of coffee in my hands really comforted me. I suppose it was a perfect reminder of holding hands with someone who loves coffee in the morning.

I also got a few emails this morning that put me at a great start of the day. Billy sent me a link to Staple's new stapler that doesn't use staples which supposedly make it environmentally friendly, saying that it reminded him of me. As I've said to someone before, I love getting such emails that show that someone thought of me when I wasn't around (maybe I secretly crave attention). I finally got the Rubik's cube gift on the facebook as well.

It's been hard to have no close friends around to take a walk, grab a quick dinner, sip wine and get snobby, or laugh over nothing, but the past two months in Seoul have helped me realize how fortunate I am to have friends who still make me feel loved from 6,000 miles away. I have also established closer relationships with my parents that feel more like a friendship. And Juni makes me happy too - Matt can attest how much I love him, haha.

Focusing on good things in life ..

<3

Walking Home at 6AM

A bunch of us went out on Saturday night. There's this bar called "What's Sub" that has bottled beers and mixed drinks at $4-4.50! Almost impossible to find that price in downtown Seoul. Then we went to check out this currently the hottest club in Seoul called "The Circle". I had "too" much fun and walked home at 6am .. watching the sunrise. The contrast between brightly lit buildings and neon signs with people in dress shirts and heels sobering up on the streets and the beautiful--almost holy--sky filled with orange and pink clouds felt very surreal. It was actually the most memorable moment of the night out.

Still hungover at work though.....Ugh.

(no subject)

I just felt obliged to keep this up. Don't have too much on my mind right now. Just a full day at work ahead! I've been meeting a lot of new people, not working out as much as I had planned, eating very well, dealing with this crazy rainy season (it was pouring half an hour ago; now it's blazing sunny), etc. Currently I'm working as a staff at the English cafe, but starting on Sept. 3, I'll be teaching AP Psychology (what?) to high school students studying in the States. The institute is asking if I could cover everything in 4-5 weeks. Um ... time to steal materials from Dr. Maas ;)

My Cubicle

A Quick Note on the Taliban Situation

After two deaths, there has been a great emotional response among a number of Koreans here. It is really heartbreaking to grab a paper every morning and find no hopeful news. I can't even imagine what the families must be going through at this moment.

But it's also frustrating to hear all these comments around me that we should send our troops, rescue the hostages, and wipe them out. Wipe them out?! Taliban? In Afghanistan? Give me a break. We have absolutely no information or necessary equipment. The U.S. doesn't seem like they plan on helping out Korea much either.

It is definitely an extremely tricky situation - I do realize that Korean government feels like they cannot just sit there and watch their citizens getting killed. Who sent them over there though? They went ahead, in spite of all the warnings. Korea is stuck in this situation because some people were ignorant of the extent of the risk they were putting themselves in, and sending troops is only going to end up in far more casualties than "just" 22.

Korea has nothing to prove by sending its army over. It is only going to kill more people, and perhaps create very unnecessary motivation for them to do anything further.

인연설

- 한용운

함께 영원히 있을 수 없음을 슬퍼 말고
잠시라도 함께 있을 수 있음을 기뻐하고

더 좋아해 주지 않음을 노여워 말고
이만큼 좋아해 주는 것에 만족하고

나만 애태운다 원망치 말고
애처롭기까지 한 사랑을 할 수 있음을 감사하고

주기만 하는 사랑이라 지치지말고
더 많이 줄 수 없음을 아파하고

남과 함께 즐거워한다고 질투하지 말고
그의 기쁨이라 여겨 함께 기뻐할 줄 알고

이룰 수 없는 사랑이라 일찍 포기하지 말고
깨끗한 사랑으로 오래 간직할 수 있는
나는 당신을 그렇게 사랑하렵니다.

First Night of Partying in Korea

The cafe I work as a staff member (www.culcom.co.kr) had a big party last night. Supposed to be a singles mixer, but I don't think it really mattered. Anyway, I met a bunch of pretty cool people, but some lunatic/sketchy ones as well. It was good to get out and mingle with people (and dance a little) though. It really reminded me of those nights back in Ithaca, starting out with lots of beer, learning 40-50 names, a few games, then just hanging out, moving onto more serious, real-life topics.

Even though I knew of it a little bit, it struck me hard last night how desperate or immature some of the Korean girls could be. Just because someone's a decent-looking English-speaking foreigner, these girls flock to them and try to get their numbers with their broken English. There's a huge difference between socializing/(classy) flirting and ridiculous, self-degrading forwardness. I couldn't help but feel sorry for them. Also how lame and sketchy some of the old guys could be! They think they can win over a girl or at least get their attention by bragging about their career, connections, money, etc. It is the lamest and most ineffective way ... ugh.

Regardless of those people, I had a really good time with 민수, 수아언니, Brian, Rizwan, and a couple of other people I met last night. I hope to eventually get some sort of a group together to hang out, go watch a movie, etc. on a regular basis.

Cornell within SNU

I've been exploring the campus of Seoul (National) University a little bit during my lunch breaks, and there is so much resemblence of Cornell here. I really do think that one of the truestees for this school is a Cornell alum.

This is their main library. May I say ... OLIN?!

Some of their college names - identical to Cornell's CALS and CHE!

Birthday Flowers!

Thank you :) <3

Family Time! (Birthday 2)

Grandpa and grandma :)

Had a late lunch with my mom's side family. I always come home feeling very relaxed and warm after family gatherings with them. My grandparents are both in their 80s now. I really hope they stay around for a long time. By the way, we made a unanimous decision on Matt's Korean nickname. lol.

Birthday 1

Met up with the 5th grade group for my birthday. Kwan's birthday was the 11th, so it was more like a joint bday celebration. Of course, ton of catching up, good food, cake, presents, cards, and laughter as usual. Some pictures from tonight (click on them to zoom in):

Yay birthday cake!










Serious discussion on life, haha. Love 동령's face and genuine smile in these pictures.

On another note, I can't take more than two drinks now! I could take more, but I stop enjoying it after a couple of them. This is a big loss for our winos group. I think that night before the spring break will probably be the first and last night we'd ever kill more than one bottle of wine per person (or not?). How sad.

Back and Forth

People always want something they don't have, even if they had it before and chose to let it go.

A Relaxing Day

Today was a national holiday - constitution day, haha. I slept in until noon, made some french toast, went running with Sae Jun, had a good dinner, studied some more Mandarin, wrote a letter, and watched The Illusionist with Edward Norton. I had waited to see this movie for over half a year and was somewhat disappointed, but overall, it wasn't too bad.

A fantastic view from our 19th floor apartment!

Transformers

Amazing graphics. Hot girl and men. Super
corny lines. Autobots. Bernie Mac. Late summer
night with cool breeze. A great movie night!

Real Work Life

I started working this Monday and it has been a very eventful, stimulating week. I'm doing a lot of work that I like, and from today and on, I'll also be maintaining the website and take responsibility for all the print/design materials. I'm always busy creating various organization systems for all different parts of the conference. Creative organization is far more exciting and motivating for me than the process of pure creation. I like playing with some given parts, adding a system to it and organizing things so they work better together.

But there also have been some upsetting or frustrating moments. Because I'm working with a bunch of professors, most of who have never had to compromise or collaborate while working with others, I have to be the liaison for these noncooperative, stubborn men :P I also had a small argument over email with one of the professors because of his extreme sarcasm and ego :P

Overall, I've been having a lot of fun. I cannot say I love it yet because I'm still getting used to the fact that I don't really have a lot of authority and need to wait or chase down the professors for the final decisions on projects. For Senior Week, I pretty much made all the decisions, haha. I miss that a little bit, but I do feel a slight relief since I wouldn't be responsible for most mistakes ;)

Anyway, just an update on my first real job in the real world.

Long Distance Relationship

The most difficult parts of a long distance relationship (to me) are:

• to try to sleep off the heartache from separation pangs at late nights;


• to suppress the desire to share all of today's details and wait until next time when the other person is less busy;


• and to realize that it's taking ten hours to feel better instead of ten minutes because thousand words aren't as effective as one hug.

But when the other person actively follows up and reminds me of his feelings and that he was thinking of me while I was asleep (even though I already know that in my head), it is incredibly heartwarming and gives me so much faith and hope.

Some Culinary Action

Everybody knows how much I love cooking, but I hadn't stepped into the kitchen until today since I got home about two weeks ago. I made some mochi stir fry in spicy sauce - called Duk Boki (떡볶이). Also can be made in a soy based sauce (kind of like teriyaki). A very simple snack dish popular in Korea. The mochi here is just plain chewy sticky rice paste sticks.











First, Duk and flat fish cakes (same thing as fish balls at Asian Noodle House in Collegetown - fish, flour, seasonings, etc.). Cut up veggies - carrots, cabbage, thick scallions and onions.

Then prepare the sauce - red pepper paste (4 Tbsp), red pepper flakes (1), sugar (1), and a little salt. Add in four cups of water and mix well.
















Bring the sauce and Duk to boil and simmer for 15 minutes at med. heat. Add in veggies and cook until the veggies are cooked and the sauce simmers down to thick consistency.

It's typical to "garnish" the dish with hard boiled eggs to add some protein.












On a site note, I got all my furniture delivered today (got here in one day). I'll take some pics after I finish unpacking.

Snail Mail

Whoever reads this and is not in Seoul, please leave me your mailing address or email it to me at ja257@cornell.edu as I'm trying to make me being in Korea a good excuse to write more letters.

Post-College Life - Pretty Exciting

I met up with a friend of mine to catch up after not seeing each other for about four years. We had really good dumplings (mandoo) and also found this small, cozy cafe that sells brewed quality coffee and has WiFi (my new hangout place)! While I was talking to my friend, I realized how blessed my life was and how happy I felt for a number of reasons.

First and most importantly, my family is really together, with a lot of respect and appreciation for one another. After my dad regained his health, there's no more tension between my parents that used to bring intense arguments and slamming doors every other night. My dad and I get along very well, him actually listening to what I have to say and me actually respecting his opinions. And Juni always makes us happy, haha.

Another reason is that I'm full of enthusiasm and optimism to do things: exploring more wine, keeping up graphic design, learning Spanish (then French) and Chinese as well as brushing up my Japanese, doing more advanced cooking and baking, keeping up my blog, participating in tons of different programs relevant to social responsibility (more specifically fair trade, environment etc.), educating myself on economics, and anything else that engages my interest and pushes the boundaries of my comfort zone.

And the last major reason is that I've found someone who I love and trust but also motivates me to be someone I strive to be in the long run. It took me a while to realize and admit that someone like him is a great fit for me, but now that I have, I am very content and happy. The distance overwhelms me at times, but I'm reminding myself that, last semester, I thought I'd be grateful even if we just got to share ourselves a few times before graduating.


:D

Wine makes me sleepy

Having my first glass of wine in Seoul!

I was feeling all ambitious to write a good entry on relationships, love, trust, etc. but I'm falling asleep after a glass of this nice, smooth ordinary red wine from Spain.

Maybe tomorrow ...

Yuck!

One thing I hate about summers in Korea: f' mosquitoes. Nasty.

Feeling somewhat lost and defeated

During the past week of job hunting, I had to face and embrace certain perspectives I had dreaded before coming back to Korea. Most people, except my parents, questioned why I even came back and didn't find a job in the U.S. While looking through job postings and relevant articles and blog entries, I also ran into a bunch of comments that really offended me. Someone even wrote that those who couldn't find a job in the States and "had to" go back to Korea should all be embarrassed of themselves. Another person even categorized and ranked students who have studied abroad into three categories, first being those settling in America, second being those like me who have come back, and third category of being unemployed.

Well, was this my choice or did I "have to" come back? Have I ruined my potentials by coming back to Korea? The connection between DEA (my major) and Event Planning seemed too far fetched and I certainly did not want to risk any potential penalties from INS later on. But now that I'm actually back, I've been dealing with all these negative perspectives and crappy salary in Seoul and can't help but feel a little discouraged.

I obviously know that my life is really what I make of. As Sam, my urban semester professor, wrote me, you never know where life takes you. I also do believe that, if I'm hard working and smart, I will get what I deserve.

Just feeling a little low today :(

Employeed

This is where I will be working for the next year: Research center for automatic controls at Seoul (National) University. The school is considered as the "Harvard" of Korea (or should I say Cornell?) and the campus is pretty nice. I will be working on the international conference for the International Federation of Automatic Controls, held in July 2008. Out of the total five job offers, this seemed like the best bet for a number of reasons:

1) Absolute hands on experience.
2) 9am - 6pm, no overtime, a lot of days off, flexible schedule compare to other companies.
3) No suit required.
4) Nice environment as the university is adjacent to a number of parks.
5) The professor I'll be working under is apparently very big in and out of this field.
6) I'll be working for 2,000 and more engineers - what could beat that? :P
7) One year long project - this could be both good and bad. No job security in the long term but gives me an option to take a break or look for something new without the commitment pressure.
8) I may get to travel a few times to Europe/U.S. at some point during the year.

Hopefully I will be able to add more to the list as I start working on July 2! I didn't expect to start working so soon, but this seems like a great choice as of now. New opportunity is always exciting :)

Old Favorite, New Favorite

Well, I don't mean that Juni's
no longer my favorite, but I love
my new pair of running shoes.

Being Environmentally Friendly in Korea

One thing I was concerned about coming back to Korea was the anticipated lack of resources and support for sustainable life style. Lack of awareness for fair trade coffee and chocolate, biodegradable products, more wholesome and natural products. Not to discredit Korea's efforts, there have already been tons of products and resources from before. Buses operating on natural gas, compost and recycling throughout the entire city, very high support for local food (also because the cost of importing from other countries besides China is very high), no plastic bags at grocery stores, and more.

During the past couple of days, I was proven wrong and relieved. When I looked closer, I discovered a wide range of additional achievements Korea has made. One example is this dish sponge. I was browsing through the web this morning and read an article on this popular sponge made of acrylic yarn. Apparently acrylic fiber breaks down lipids and maintains to be germ-free, so this sponge doesn't require dish soap to do dishes - just some light scrubbing and water even for tough grease stains. And I realized that we had one at home! Of course I was very doubtful that this worked and had to give it a try. And ... Voila! I couldn't believe it worked! The dishes looked and felt incredibly clean. One could argue that acrylic is not very sustainable (I've yet to do more research on this), but the usual dish sponges are polyesters and other plastic materials as well anyway, so as this one eliminates soap and lots of hot water, it is a winner.

I also read this short opinion article in the paper this morning: How Korea is becoming to reject non-fair trade coffee and conflict diamonds (recently learned issue: watch Blood Diamond). I browsed through the internet for more fun products and other relevant news afterwards, and seems like my ideal lifestyle might be supported here better than in the U.S.

One More Reason to Visit Me

I'm home! It's almost 9am here, and I'm playing with Juni (my dog) and eating breakfast (no more buttered toast with eggs but good soymilk and mochis).

So the reason to visit me in Seoul is to experience the ultimate entertainment system of Korean Air and also to see how not bored you can be for 14 hours. I flew on Korean Air yesterday, and they apparently installed this amazing program on the individual screen (that's right, every single person on the plane gets one). It had over 40 movies, including Blood Diamond, Pursuit of Happyness, Miss Potter, Children of Men, Little Children, Notes on a Scandal, Alpha Dog, and more. It had over 200 something CD's, including classical, pop, Korean pop, 80's and 90's, and other good music, and I was even able to create my own list of music. It also had games! I had loaded up my nano with over 2G of music, but I barely used it. When there were 5 hours left, I was seriously sad that I couldn't watch all the movies I wanted to see. Never knew 13 hours and 20 minutes could fly by so quickly. And of course you don't pay for the headphones.

You also get unlimited supply of bananas and muffins, free table wine for meals, water bottles, toothbrush/paste, etc. Awesome hospitality :)

Big City Life

When I was applying to colleges more than four years ago, I was completely convinced that I wanted to go to school in a big city. But after two years in Hawaii, three years in a beautiful little town of Southern California, and four years in rural town of Ithaca (also four years in suburbs of Germany), it seems like I don't really care for certain benefits of big city life. NYC is always fun to visit, but doesn't do much more than that. After the four months in Manhattan during the spring semester of my junior year, I was feeling pretty exhausted. This time I've only been here for a day and a half, but I already miss the relaxed atmosphere and green/blue backgrounds of Ithaca.


Painting: Acrylic, Times Square by my brother SaeJun.

Last few days in Ithaca

It's 8am on Sunday - two days before I take off. Obviously the fact that I'm leaving for good has not hit me at all and I'm all oblivious to how hard it will be once I go back. Last few days in Ithaca have been "ideal," as the current lack of responsiblities and obligations has completely filtered everything else out and only left me with those activities that I truly enjoy and would devote all my free time to. I've been pretty much looking up things online, taking photos and adjusting them in Photoshop, running outdoors, cooking, staying in bed as long as I want, going to Just a Taste, Ithaca Farmer's Market, walking around campus, thinking, and watching Matt and Neil play God of War on PS2. One reviewer from a games magazine wrote "... my wife would not let me play without her presence." Haha, that's exactly what happened for the past thirty-something hours.

Favorite photo of the week: Matt at Rulloff's with sweet potato french fries.

KE 82 Flight, arriving at 5:30pm on June 20th in Incheon. Got an iPod to keep me company for fifteen hours this time.