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 ..