Life back in Seoul

칡과 커피

2009-10-13T01:46:00.001+09:00

아버지의 전근을 따라 입학했던 초등학교는 산속 작은 학교였다. 조그마한 학생들이 걸어서 등교했다. 비포장도로를 따라 오기도 했고, 산속에 나 있는 작은 길들을 헤치고 오기도 했다. 엄청나게 먼 길을 걸어서 오는 친구도 있었다. 소풍날 오전 내내 걸었다고 생각했는데, 저기가 우리 동네라고 누군가 말해 깜짝 놀랐다.

감성은 지성과 대립하지 않는다

한번은 친구들한테서 학교 뒷산에 가는데 따라오라는 ‘초대’를 받았다. 예닐곱 명쯤 익숙한 자세로 나뭇잎을 살피면서 산속으로 올랐다. 그러다가 멈춰서서, 들고 온 곡괭이로 뭔가 캐내기 시작했다. 땅속에도 씹을 만한 게 자란다는 사실을 그때 처음 알았다. 칡이었다. 어떤 칡은 그냥 버렸다. 칡에도 종류가 있는데, 씹으면 정말 밥맛이 나는 밥칡이 있고, 딱딱하기만 한 나무칡이 있다는 것이었다. 신기한 것은, 친구들은 겉모양만 보고도 단번에 그것들을 구분해내는 것이었다. 몇 번을 더 따라다니면서, 나도 그걸 구분해보려고 했지만 결국 성공하지 못했다. 그것은 쉽게 얻어지는 능력이 아니었다. 그 능력 덕택에 친구들은 나뭇잎에서 땅 밑으로 이어지는 선을 감각하고 있었다.

감각은 우주를 구성하는 많은 선들을 따라가게 하는 능력이다. 그 점에서 감성은 지성과 대립하지 않는다. 오히려 서로를 필요로 하며, 서로의 도움을 받아 그 선을 추적하게 한다. 감성이 멈춘 곳에서 지성은 감성을 실어나른다. 예를 들어 선물받은 초콜릿은 그저 달콤할 뿐이지만, 그 맛이 실제로 어떻게 얻어지는지는 ‘초콜릿은 천국의 맛이겠죠’와 같은 기사 덕분에 알게 된다(745호 표지이야기 참조). 초콜릿이 이제 마냥 달콤하지 않다면, 그것은 그것에 연결돼 있는 선들을 타고 새로운 진동이 전해지기 때문이다. 새로운 맛의 이름은 이제 ‘달콤하기도 하고 쓰기도 하고’쯤 될까. 그 맛을 느낀다면 뭔가 하지 않을 수 없게 된다.

협력 안에서 감성이 지성보다 우월한 것은, 그것이 ‘지금 바로 여기’의 경험에 와닿는 선을 제공하기 때문이다. 우리는 감각만으로 그 선을 충분히 추적할 수는 없지만, 감각이 없다면 시작조차 할 수 없다. 감성에는 취향의 정교화와 다양화가 필요하다. 하지만 그것이 그 자체로 좋다기보다는, 끊임없이 변화하는 세계 안에서 좋은 출발점을 제공하기 때문이다. 예민한 감성을 갖지 않는다면, 20년 전에 읽은 책으로 여전히 세계를 설명하는 지성의 나태함에 빠지기 쉽다. 결국 문제는 감성과 지성 사이의 대립에 있는 것이 아니라, 좋은 감성과 좋은 지성을 함께 갖는 데 있다.

커피는 브라질·콜롬비아 어느 고장의 것이다. 뛰어난 감성은 그곳에 가닿아야 한다. 그런데 그것이 쉽지 않은 것은 상품화 때문이다. 상품화는 이익을 내기 위해 선을 분절한다. 재배와 소비는 직접 연결되지 않고, 농장·하청·착취·수입·유통·광고·판매·할인 등으로 조각난 단계를 거쳐 연결된다. 원두커피를 매장 테이블에 늘어놓고 원주민들의 사진을 원용하면서 조각난 선을 상상적으로 연결하기도 하지만, 그것은 실제가 아니다. 분절된 연쇄의 끝에 대도시가 있고, 도시는 상품의 출력 단자로 포위된다. 그에 맞춰 소비자의 감각은 입력에 반응하는 단말기에 가까워진다. 이런 경우 단말기가 아무리 정교해지고 복잡해지더라도, 그것은 감성의 수련과는 아무런 상관이 없다.

상품화의 조각, 산속의 등굣길

감성은 지성만큼이나 개체에서 세계로 뻗어나가는 능력이다. 좋은 감성은 입 안에서 커피의 열두 가지 맛을 식별하는 데 있는 것이 아니라, 나뭇잎을 뒤지며 칡의 종류를 구분했던 친구들의 능력 속에 있다. 산속으로 나 있는 기나긴 등굣길이 그것을 가능하게 했던 것처럼, 좋은 감성은 지성의 도움을 통해 분절된 세계의 선을 복원해나가는 데 있다. 오늘날 그것은 특별히 어렵다.

이찬웅 프랑스 리옹고등사범학교 철학박사과정

Dough success!

2009-06-28T22:28:00.002+09:00

It finally happened! I got that very elastic, soft, and yeasty dough which rose beautifully in the oven. Although baking pizzas in the 90 degree weather probably wasn't the best idea, it was definitely worth it. More salt and olive oil for the dough next time.

Die, Mosquitoes, DIE

2009-06-18T01:06:00.005+09:00

God, one of the worst parts of Seoul summers is the mosquitoes. They somehow only come out when you turn off the lights and snuggle up with your blanket. Once I switch on the light to catch them, they disappeaer. Then after lying there with the light on for ten minutes, I go back to bed, and as soon as I turn off the light, they come out again and buzz around my ears. UGH.

So people have created an electric mosquito swatter ... I actually use this all the time.

연애에 대한 어드바이스

2009-06-13T22:14:00.003+09:00

캣우먼이라는 닉으로 알려져 있는 임경선씨의 사이트를 훑어보다 다음 글귀를 읽고 한참 생각했다.

"싱글의 감성을 잊지 마라"

연애에 관련해 여자들에 주어지는 어드바이스는 거의 이 한마디로 요약되지 싶다.

New Vision

2009-06-06T20:55:00.003+09:00

Wow, I skipped an entire month of blogging :(

I recently got LASEK, one of two major types of corrective eye surgery. It was quite a new experience, obviously getting my eyes sliced and lasered. The operation itself was completely painless, but the couple of days after were pretty painful -- just imagine chopping onions all day long. It's been a full week now since the operation and I can mostly see clearly, with no pain but some fluctuation in the clarity throughout the day. Apparently it can take up to a month for the vision to stabilize. I'm hoping for 20/20 here ;)

No more glasses or contacts for me!

Amazing Google Search

2009-04-30T00:40:00.003+09:00

While watching some of the recaps from Chuck's Season 2 finale, I was wondering what the background song for the beach wedding scene. I just typed in a few words, "just come on home", and look what Google returned as the first result:

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090427204148AAyQaGW

The happiest five minutes of the day

2009-04-26T00:11:00.003+09:00

... are the "rest period" at the end of each yoga class. After an hour of pilates, the instructor shuts down all the lights and puts on one of those new age, meditation CD's, and I lie down on the mat, with every muscle relaxed. In the first minute or so, my head is still busy with all the thoughts from the day, but soon after I get into the most peaceful stage and sometimes even fall asleep. When I do, it is the sweetest, deepest sleep I experience -- I really wish I could sleep like that at night. I feel incredibly relaxed and refreshed afterwards.

A fun Saturday

2009-04-19T22:28:00.006+09:00

I had a full Saturday this weekend: 45 minutes running, 1 hour of yoga, 4 hours of watching baseball, and 6 hours of partying (notice the time distribution here). I was pretty much out all day long and had a blast! It felt great to sit outside under the sun, chatting with people and drinking beer. Keith and I started reminiscing about Slope Day (BTW, Pussycat Dolls at this year's SD). After a depressing game of our team losing by 2-7, we went to check out a wine party at a bar in Apgujung. During the several hours of dancing and too many glasses of Chardonnay, I met a bunch of new people from all over the places, doing all sorts of different things in Seoul. I even met someone who is a commentator for Starcraft tournaments, haha.

Resting up my sore legs at home now ;)

Juni's learning to talk

2009-04-11T21:48:00.002+09:00

On weekends, when I don't get up early enough to feed Juni on time, his empty stomach would make him nauseated and puke. Every time it happened, mom and I wished that Juni could wake us up when he got hungry. One day, I woke up to Juni barking and moaning around 7 in the morning. Initially confused, I soon realized he was asking for food. (I said "Food?" and he started jumping around and panting). Now he does this every time he gets really hungry. Be careful what you wish for.

And this weekend, I had been spending a lot of time on my laptop working my resume, and apparently Juni got bored. He came up to me on bed and started howling and hitting my laptop with his paw. It was hilarious. Then when I got up, he led me to his toy basket so I could play with him.

Wonder what he's gonna do next.

Thoughts on Fate

2009-04-10T00:16:00.002+09:00

How much control can one actually have over the "decisions" in life?

Chuck is awesome

2009-04-08T01:39:00.002+09:00

I love this show. When Matt first told me about it, I was pretty skeptical, but I'm very, very addicted now. I'll be adding it to my list of favorite shows on Facebook (just so it's official) as well as the list of DVDs to get, in addition to the Planet Earth series.

Back from Hawai'i

2009-04-02T06:57:00.005+09:00

Had wonderful four days with Matt in Honlulu. Lots of hiking, beach time and booze. Some of the highlights:

Got a Humu humu nuku nuku āpuaʻa crossing sign!
Dinners at Roy's. Delicious food and impeccable service. Literally. I felt like giving them a 30% tip.
Spectacular views of O'ahu from the top of Diamond Head.
And the staircase I had to climb to get there.
A free upgrade to a partial ocean view room.
Ended up having the worst fruit plate in life in Hawai'i. Shame. The honeydew looked and tasted like a jicama.
Making a pair of sand Crocs at the beach.
Crazy plants along the trail to Manoa Falls
This one homeless guy's sign: "Why lie -- need booze".
The hotel's fire alarm accidentally went off more than few times at 7:30 in the morning!
Navigating with Matt's BlackBerry and getting lost amidst Honululu's streets that make no sense.
Took a very long to meet up with Matt at the Honolulu airport. Once again, the map made no sense either.

A busy week ahead!

2009-03-23T00:38:00.003+09:00

It's already the last week of March, which means I'll be trying to check off all the things on my to-do list for this quarter. I have accomplished quite a bit this quarter, but there is still a lot to wrap up. On top of all the usual workload, two new people are joininig my 3-month project team, and I'll have to spend a full day to train them. And of course, there's the bi-annual performance review cycle that overlaps with everything else.

Just in time, Liwei and Kevin are visiting Korea, which is super exciting, but I don't have the time to take off to show them around the city :-\ Plus, I gotta get ready for my vacation in Hawaii that starts on Friday. Whee @_@.

Yeah, yeah, I shouldn't be complaining.

Random thoughts

2009-03-17T08:14:00.002+09:00

Getting in at 8am makes a huge difference in how productive and alert I stay during the day.
My new facial lotion smells like plumeria :D
I'm a manager of a team of five now. At least for the new three months.
Hawai'i in 10 days ... I'm gonna swim, sleep and eat all day every day.

Talk about planning ahead

2009-03-14T01:53:00.001+09:00

I have a hocky game to attend on Saturday, November 28, 2009!

The decision I had to make at midnight for my Happy Meal order

2009-03-02T01:31:00.006+09:00

While working on a presentation for tomorrow at midnight, I got really hungry and started looking for delivery places. The only place that seemed reliable and open at the time was 24-hour McDonalds, and I decided to order a Happy Meal. Here's how the conversation went:

Me: Hello, could I get one McNugget Happy Meal delivered please?

MD: Yes, what would you like for your drink?

Me: Coke please.

MD: Sure, what would you like for your toy?

Me: Umm ... what do you have?

MD: (In a very serious voice) We have Spiderman toys available, including the villains.

Me: Uh ... I'll take Spiderman.

MD: Which Spiderman toy would you like?

Me: Um, there's more than one kind?

MD: (Again, in a very seirous voice) Yes, we have one shooting web and one crawling up the buliding.

Me: (laughing hysterically inside) ... I'll take the one climbing.

MD: Thank you Ma'am. You've ordered a McNugget Happy Meal with Coke and a Spiderman toy climbing the building. Anything else you'd like?

Man, that was hilarious.

J. Crew sweaters

2009-03-01T19:09:00.002+09:00

When I was visiting Matt's family in NJ, I got my first J. Crew cashmere sweater on sale. A part of me had always thought they were definitely a hype and overpriced, but I finally gave in and succumbed to their branding power ... and I have to say I love it. It is so soft, doesn't itchy at all, and has a great fit. I want more.

Skiing!

2009-02-22T19:04:00.002+09:00

I just got back from our company ski trip to Highone Resort in Gangwon-do. The last time I skiied was at Whistler, all the way back in 2002, so I was a bit nervous. Having to ditch work for two full days in the middle of the busiest time period wasn't helping me get more excited about skiing either. Once I got to the resort though, I started to get more excited, and by the time we were on the lift with skiis, I was really enjoying the familiar ride through snowy hills. For the rest of the two days, I had a great time skiing, drinking coffee on the mountain top, and partying with other Googlers at night. Gangwon-do has been suffering a severe drought, which meant bare hills and not much water to shower with, but it snowed a lot overnight and made the second day of skiing super fun (and less guilty about showering). I'd love to try out Tahoe at some point :)

Rrrrrrrrr

2009-02-09T22:35:00.001+09:00

Learning Spanish through the Rosetta program and can't get the RR sound! I've tried all the various tips I could find on Google but nothing has worked its magic yet. Does anyone have a tip?

New activities taking up my time

2009-02-06T00:01:00.002+09:00

Salsa (On 2), pilates, learning new languages with Rosetta Stone, reading in the bookstore about buddhism and self-reflection, organizing photos, and trying out more challenging recipes.

Taxes

2009-02-02T01:03:00.002+09:00

I went out to a club at the Seoul Hyatt on Saturday, and their drinks were ridiculously expensive. 25,000 KRW for a mixed drink. Even at the currnet exchange rate, that's almost 20 dollars. Anyway, I got a bottle of water for 5,000 won (ugh), and on the recipet, there were three different types of taxes -- Service Charge, SP-TAX, and VAT. Oh hotels.

Happy Lunar New Year!

2009-01-25T00:50:00.002+09:00

Happy Ox's year!

One of the major Korean customs for Lunar New Year is to mail/bring gifts to family and friends, as well as clients and partners from work in some cases. In order to make the most out of this gift buying frenzy, all the grocery stores and department stores put together gift packages, mostly food, ranging from local gourmet beef to bottles of fancy olive oil to ... cans of SPAM (it says For Your Smile above the SPAM logo).

Changing it up a bit

2009-01-19T01:39:00.002+09:00

I rearranged my room and did a whole lot of cleaning and organizing over the weekend. One of the reasons I wasn't very happy about the living situation was that I moved into a tiny room that was being used as a storage room, and I never really got to organize it or make it completely my own. So for the new year, I promised myself to do a major make over ;) Since I have a tiny room and a huge bed, there wasn't much I could play with, but the new arrangement makes it much cozier and private. Moving that king size bed was ridiculously painful though, at 2 in the morning. At one point, I was stuck trying to move the bed frame around with the super heavy mattress resting on my back.

While cleaning, I found a lot of old letters from friends and pictures, as well as old papers from 8th grade and on. I also found my AP Art portfolio, which I had been looking for ages!

Now I just have to put up some pictures and posters ... and maybe get new sheets for my bed to complete the make over :-P

A puzzle analogy to my life

2009-01-13T15:58:00.005+09:00

I was walking home with Nikki and came up with this brilliant analogy to my current situation -- a more half-way complete Soma Cube. I've been putting pieces together to build up the cube, i.e. a happy life, but there are a couple of important pieces, i.e. location and boyfriend, that don't fit into what I have accomplished so far. I want to work it out to fit all the desired pieces and make a perfect cube, which means I have to diassemble the puzzle and start over. I've been avoiding to make major decisions to move any other pieces and waiting for them to somehow all fit together nicely (or just trying to figure it out in my head), but seems like I'll have to start playing with the cube again if I want a perfect cube.

Going back to school?

2009-01-12T23:31:00.002+09:00

For some time, I've been thinking about the wide range of interests of mine, trying to figure out what would be suitable for my long-term career and what would work better as serious hobbies -- cooking, design, communications, and sustainability. One thing I know is that I need the following for my job: a continuous flow of learning opportunities and intellectual challenges, interactions with down-to-earth, social and smart people, and lastly, visual, hands-on creativity. To bring more creativity into my daily job, I considered going to a culinary school but wasn't sure what I'd do with the degree since being a full time chef wasn't the most appealing idea to me.

While taking a break today, I realized that I could do much more with my passion for cooking and food by combining it with other intersts of mine, e.g. industrial design focusing on the kitchen and its components to make them easier to use and more sustainable.

If I were pursue the goal, I'd need to spend 2-3 years in school ... time to save up $?

Happy New Year!

2009-01-02T14:37:00.001+09:00

Having a great vacation in NY and CA! Happy New Year everyone -- it's the year of Ox!

California to Snowy East Coast

2008-12-21T22:08:00.004+09:00

The amount of traveling I've been doing in the past few days is ridiculous. Only about 36 hours after I landed in SF, Matt and I flew out to Newark together. After a day in Manhattan, now I'm off to Boston for two days. What's been making the trips a little more painful than usual is the snow storm. Our flight to Newark was delayed by almost five hours, and we got more than ten notifications throughout the day with the new departure time. Getting to the bus station this morning was tough, with this nasty rain/snow mixture.

But of course there are many more great things happening on this trip. I went to see The Black Crowes's concert in SF on the night I got it, and they were incredible! Now I'm enjoying the free wifi offered on Bolt Bus (they even have electricity outlets for every seat). And I'm eating a NY bagel. NNN. It's great to see that the travel industry is working hard to provide services that make traveling easier, but it also means I no longer get enough sleep on my flights or bus rides :-P

One more week

2008-12-11T22:49:00.002+09:00

Only a week left before my vacation starts! I have a ton of things to wrap up both at work and home before I start traveling. Trying to make sure I finish everything that I've planned for December.

Looking forward to the trip to SF and NY very much. Will get to actually spend time and hang out with Iris and many of my close friends from college. Also planning a Cornell reunion as well. And spending NYE in SF with Matt!

So many acronyms

2008-12-03T07:06:00.001+09:00

If you want to work for Google, learn your acronyms first. Acronym of the day: AFAICT (seriously?).

Thanksgiving in Korea

2008-11-30T21:58:00.004+09:00

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite American holidays. Lots of delicious food (including yams) and corniness. Last year, I missed it so much that I cooked a stuffed chicken myself and tried to celebrate with my family here. This year, I had two great celebrations. For the actual Thanksgiving day, one of the parents I met at the Cate reception invited me to dinner. To be honest, I wasn't expecting much, but, besides all the amazing side dishes, there was a whole TURKEY! TURKEY IN KOREA! And of course, many bottles of wine and pumpkin pies. I wish I got a picture of myself biting into that gigantic turkey leg. For the Saturday after, I got together with some friends and friends of friends for a pseudo Thanksgiving potluck. I baked a pecan pie and a pumpkin cheesecake for the dinner and they both turned out very tasty. It was a fun night with lots of food (again), corky wine (blame the bottle opener), and discussing random topics from politics to criminology to Korean laundry machines.

I'm thankful for the obvious things in my life: Family, both old and new friends, Mattdol, Juni, opportunities, colleagues, my new blanket, and gchat.

Internet access everywhere

2008-11-27T19:47:00.000+09:00

I'm writing this while I'm sitting in a cab. Seoul is indeed a wired a city.

Pod cars for Ithaca?

2008-11-23T16:54:00.003+09:00

http://tinyurl.com/684gh8

Just hope they don't put the track across the gorges ;)

Cold in Seoul!

2008-11-18T01:37:00.003+09:00

The temperature just dropped 10 degrees or more over a time span of less than 24 hours. It was so warm two days ago that I didn't have to wear a jacket, and last night, I was shivering in my new thick winter jacket. Today, on the way home, my ears and hands were freezing and it's supposed to snow tomorrow. Reminds me of Cornell :)

An exciting month!

2008-11-09T00:36:00.002+09:00

November has been a very exciting month so far and the rest of it looks like it will be the same. This past week, on top of the regular baking and yoga classes, I had a really fun potluck farewell dinner at Tae's, went to a Cate reception to say hello and meet some parents, and went to Han-na Chang's concert. For the rest of the month, I have:

- 1 vs. 100: a popular trivia quiz TV show in Korea (Yes I'll be on TV)
- My cousin's wedding
- Thanksgiving cook-off
- Theresa and Zach's joint birthday party
- Raghu visiting from Hyderabad for two weeks
- And perhaps another concert

:)

Election

2008-11-05T03:08:00.004+09:00

Today's the Big Day for America. It is the most exciting election ever in my memory and, for the first time, including the elections in Korea, I actually took some time to read about the candidates and watch the debates. Even all the Korean newspapers are covering the election in depth. And when I was on Facebook earlier, literally 99.9% of my friends' status messages were about voting (or supporting Obama).

Hope to see results that make sense. I'd like to believe that elections are not all about image marketing and people can actually set that aspect aside when making their voting decisions. But I already saw someone wrote "Voted for McCain and Sexy Palin". Yes, the person prefers a sexy VP over someone who can actually do the job. Heartbreaking, I would say.

Update: So it is Obama! :)

Random Topics

2008-11-02T22:38:00.002+09:00

OK, two posts a night. I just have so much to ramble about my day-to-day experiences. I may officially give up writing about the Singapore/Hyderabad trip at this point :-P

YOGA I absolutely love it! I'm only doing weekly classes now but thinking of doing it at least twice a week next year. I had always thought yoga was overrated and a bit pretentious, with all the fancy mats and "yoga-wear" that cost a fortune. But after my third class, I became a fan. When I work out at the gym, I'm going really fast and hard, isolating the muscles I want to work out. But in yoga, you pace your breathing and movements, focus on balancing and staying still, and pay attention to how your muscles connect and work together when you work them out. I'm greatly enjoying this reverse perspective and the positive effects on my physical strength and flexibility, as well as my mood. I feel very stable and positive after every class.

COOKING I'm realizing more and more how much I love the creative, hands-on experience. Because I knew that, I did consider a design career but for the reasons that are worth a whole another post, I took a break from it. But I'm planning to pursue a more creative career path in a few years, and a culinary school has become a serious consideration, just because I, simply, want to learn everything about cooking. Learning the theories behind the reasons you choose a certain type of a pot or slice different veggies in different ways has always fascinated me, and coupled with the desire to be professional at what I love doing, I'm seriously looking into this. Matt suggested me to start trying things out now rather than waiting to make the big jump later, and I plan on spending more time in the kitchen and taking short-term classes. I've already started to cook more, and my two next major projects are the team dinner next week and Thanksgiving Extragavanza, which I'm planning with Theresa to bring Thanksgiving spirit to the lonely expats spending the holiday away from home.

JAMLEGEND.COM This game has become my addiction of the season. It's a fantastic, very well-made online version of Guitar Hero! It keeps your statistics in a range of categories and does a really good job to motivate you to compete. You can also duel your friends -- you play a song first and send the duel challenge message for the other person to try to beat your score. I hope they come out with real-time dueling and take away that Roxanne girl.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-02T21:12:00.002+09:00

It's already November 2 in Korea, but since I had a pretty good Halloween this year, I still wanted to write a quick post about it.

Just the night before Halloween, I got this urge to make something for the office. I quickly looked up some ideas online and decided to make evil pumpkin faces. The cookie recipe turned out fabulous, except it would've turned out tastier if I had better butter. The only available butter in the store downstairs was Seoul Dairy's butter (not that I would've spent 22 dollars on The Organic Valley's sweet cream -- taxes suck) and it smelled nothing like butter. The most fun part was "carving" the pumpkins. Just a quick baker's tip here: after you cut out the cookies, stick them in the freezer for a few minutes before sending them into the oven to prevent them from melting too quickly and losing the shape. It was a big hit at work! I baked a few dozens and they were gone in less than ten minutes :D

Our team dressed up for the costume contest on Friday. We just bought those Scream masks and a few other weapons, like axes and scythes, and won the best group costume. For the evening, I didn't do anything Halloweeny but went out to see Bank Job and had a few beers afterwards. The place was all fancily decorated with pumpkins and cobwebs, so that took care a bit of my craving for America-style, overboard festivities.

Then there was a big party on Saturday. In general, no Korean-Korean people dress up for Halloween but there are an increasing number of these costume parties as more foreigners are traveling to Korea to live and teach. I had a lot of fun with hanging out with Keith, Theresa, and Zach, seeing some crazy costumes, and meeting new people. I actually met some software engineers working in Korea/Singapore, which was great because all the foreigners I've met have been English-ee teachers. The night didn't end on the best note as we were all too tired to get ourselves into partying in Itaewon, but it felt good to celebrate Halloween. Oh, what was my costume? Just a plain, boring witch :-P

More pictures here!

Back from another trip

2008-10-19T21:31:00.002+09:00

I just got back from a week in the Bay Area. Other than the quick cruise ride on Thursday, I spent the whole week in Mt. View. Will have to get better at planning and executing. Anyway, I was mostly exhausted during the trip as it always takes about a week to get over the jet lag when I travel in the direction of Asia to America. On the plane back to Seoul, I slept for almost the entire ride which usually never happens.

Still planning on writing about my trip to Singapore and Hyderabad ... the next big trip will be the holiday trip to CA/NY in December!

A new haircut and a new friend

2008-10-03T23:11:00.007+09:00

I got a hair cut today. Chopped off more than half of my hair -- all the curls I had! I'm back to a normal Asian girl with straight hair, hehe.

On my way home, I stopped by one of the earring stands on the streets of Gangnam. The vendor lady didn't look Korean/East Asian and I started wondering where she was from. While I was looking through hundreds of beautiful exotic earrings, I overheard her talking on the phone in Spanish. I ended up getting more than five pairs and bargained a bit (a habit picked up in India, haha). When she finally agreed to my first price, I said "Gracias" and she almost fell off of her stool. When she asked if I were good at "Español", I laughed and gave her all of the only five phrases I knew in Spanish, which really amused her. Turns out "Iliana" is from Peru and speaks fairly fluent English. After a short chat, she wrapped up an extra small pair of earrings with the ones I bought and thanked me for making her laugh so much. Incredible what my tinsy bit of Spanish could do!

100th Post: Back in Korea

2008-09-25T21:44:00.003+09:00

I'm finally back from India. It was such great two weeks and I already miss it! I'm gonna give it a try and write several posts about the major events of my trip. Meanwhile, enjoy some pictures!

http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/joowon.ahn/BangaloreMysore
http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/joowon.ahn/Thali
http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/joowon.ahn/Hyd
http://picasaweb.google.co.kr/joowon.ahn/Singapore

Time has its own way

2008-09-08T23:36:00.003+09:00

On my way home tonight, after a 12-hour work day, I realized how much more stable I had gotten over the past few weeks. I started to feel this way when I was hanging out with Lingyi a few weeks ago, although I'm not sure if the conversation I had with her was a wake up call or just a timely coincidence. I am truly enjoying the benefits of living in Seoul -- to the extent that I'd feel conflicted to give them up if I were to move to a different city. They include new friends, places to take yoga or cooking classes that are ten minutes away from work or home, being able to meet up with my oldest group of friends (sixteen years and counting) regularly, Juni/family, etc. There are certainly things I don't have here that I love -- lawns and trees, places to freely bike around, good cheese at reasonable prices, and some of the people I care for very much -- but I've finally come to truly appreciate the positive sides.

Another big shift in the past few weeks is that I'm able to think about the different challenges in life separately and work on them individually with a more confident, positive, and realistic mindset. What a change from a few months ago, or even a few weeks ago, when I felt depressed and helpless. It felt like a ball of yarn all tangled up and I couldn't figure out how to get out of the mess.

Seems like I just needed some time to get stronger.

Pshaw

2008-09-06T14:42:00.001+09:00

I turned a Google hater into a Google lover after four emails.

;)

A Month of Traveling

2008-09-03T03:03:00.006+09:00

I just got back from 홍도 (Red Island) and 흑산도 (Black Mt. Island) and will be traveling to India in a week! The day after I get back, I'm going on a hot springs offsite with my team. :D

Inspiration

2008-08-30T01:02:00.004+09:00

There was an all-day offsite today for career development events. Most of the agenda was listening to some of our executives and managers about their previous experiences and future plans. It really got me thinking about my own experience and goals, and as I filled out the exercise sheets, I made significant progress on career development in just one day. Thinking about my long term goals has always been one of those things that are difficult to make into a habit, like exercising regularly or walking Juni, and today was a great start.

Listening to people with 10 to 20-year careers with ups and downs was very comforting as well. One of my recent challenges has been trying my best in my current position without feeling impatient or anxious about the future, and all the talks today reminded me of that I have so many years ahead of me and you learn the most during the tough times.

It was one of the most inspiring experience in a very long time, followed by an amazing duck/pork BBQ dinner with four different types of drinks (soju, beer, dongdongju, and raspberry wine).

Plane tix confuse me

2008-08-26T00:53:00.004+09:00

About a week ago, I bought a round trip ticket from CA to NY for December. I got a reservation confirmation email from Expedia, and while on the site, I decided to run a quick search to see how much the prices have gone up (and feel good that I booked mine this early). And guess what! The prices have gone down for the exact same set of flights as mine! I ran the same search on Continental's site and apparently I have wasted $70. So confused ...

:)!

2008-08-21T13:02:00.001+09:00

Got an anonymous note on my desk this morning that said "Have a nice day :)"

:)

No options

2008-08-18T00:09:00.002+09:00

I've been noticing that these four main food chain stores are spreading all over Seoul, at a very scary speed -- Paris Croissant & Baguette, Dunkin, Baskin-Robbins 31, and Coffee Bean. Almost every new "coming soon" stores downtown have been one of these four, except a Burger King (great). It had never creeped me out though, until I went to the Incheon Airport to drop off Matt about a week ago: I really wanted a smoothie from this cute smoothie place they had, but it as gone; in fact, most of the places that offered a huge range of food choices had been replaced by one of those four. It reminded me of those arguments you hear everywhere -- such as losing diversity in nature by breeding only certain types of grains or animal stocks for maximum profits, or conglomerates putting small startups out of business -- and for the first time, it really got to me.

Addictions

2008-07-25T00:09:00.003+09:00

The three hings I'm addicted to at the moment:

Foosball
Piano
Jigsaw puzzle

Another good weekend

2008-07-06T01:58:00.001+09:00

So far my weekend has been exactly what I needed. Restful with lots of piano playing, playing with Juni, reading, etc. and going out at night to try out cool bars and other places to hang out. On Friday night, I found this amazing place in Kangnam called Sky Bar, Chang. I had the best pina colada ever. And of course I stopped by WA Bar tonight -- I love sitting at the "bar" table with over a hundred types of beer placed in the center, in a huge ice tray. I picked out this drink called DNA, from Australia, wiht a huge green thumbprint on the bottle. The highlight of my weekend was winning a piggy cell phone stand from a shooting game. I got 36 out of 40 shots! Watch out, people ;)

How does one come to love another?

2008-06-29T00:32:00.015+09:00

..and how does one feel loved by or communicate love to another?

I just watched the movie Rain Man, which stars Tom Cruise (Charlie) and Dustin Hoffman (Raymond). After twenty-something years, Charlie finds out that he has an older brother, Raymond, who's autistic. For the chance of getting some of the 3 million dollars inherited to his brother, Charlie takes Raymond to LA with him; they drive across the country, from Cincinnati to LA because Raymond is afraid of flying. During the six days of driving, they go through an endless series of incidents that drive Charlie crazy, but in the end, the movies shows that they have bonded throughout it all and that Charlie really cares for his brother.

I've always been a firm believer in that a strong, close relationship cannot be maintained without good verbal communication, especially when it comes down to romantic relationships. But the movie has reminded me of that there are so many other factors to a strong caring relationship. And of course, there are so many different ways to communicate the feelings for the other person other than words. The two most touching parts were when Charlie was eating cheeseballs with a tooth pick (Raymond's main utensil is toothpicks) and when Raymond called him his "main man" (whom he can trust and rely on).

The movie shows a number of the other examples of two very different people growing more acquainted with each other in their relationship and how they communicate that they care in non-verbal ways. Because of his autism, Raymond must stick to a routine: must go to bed by 11pm; must have his bed by the window; must watch a certain TV show; must eat pancakes on Tuesdays with maple syrup on the table before the pancakes come. Obviously all of this drives Charlie absolutely nuts, thinking it is all BS, but as they spend more time together, he happily does everything to keep his brother calm and happy. Raymond learns to actually stop talking when Charlies tells him so and also not be afraid of his hugs (touching can be extremely upsetting to autistic people).

This is why I find relationships fascinating. I love observing and analyzing relationships because it reveals so much of the subtle, sophisticated dimensions of interpersonal communication and I find it beautiful.

A quick look back

2008-06-28T17:41:00.002+09:00

Highlights of the past few weeks:

working hard to finish strong for my first quarter at Google
thinking about where my destination should be
meeting more people and staying up 'til 6 in the morning on weekends
playing on my piano and violin
our team offsite to Lotte World! followed by a crazy dinner/karaoke night
lots of classical music at work
ran into a stationary taxi and hurt my knee
read through possibly every single IT related article in Korean for one of my projects
wine and cheese at my place; made my own bruschetta (they have fresh basil in Seoul!)

Oh wine

2008-06-18T00:14:00.003+09:00

Two of my favorite wines have been secured for my birthday party!

*for Nelson's Question:
- Banfi Chianti Classico Riserva 2004
- Marques de Riscal Rioja 2003

:)

Progress

2008-06-02T23:32:00.002+09:00

Feeling lonely less frequently and the loneliness is far more tolerable than before. Feeling a little bored though.

Growing up is ...

2008-05-28T12:13:00.002+09:00

no fun. I miss the fun times with no responsibilities or reality checks!

What's Wrong with Mark Z.?

2008-05-25T03:44:00.002+09:00

Why can I no longer collapse the stupid minifeed box on my profile? I hate having to scroll to read people's profiles!

Broken in

2008-05-23T08:16:00.001+09:00

mmm

Balance in Life

2008-05-19T17:43:00.002+09:00

So the last time I wrote here was three weeks into my job. Now I'm almost two months into, and life's been exciting and challenging. The biggest challenge for me is still finding the right balance in life to keep learning and be happy. I take baby steps forward, sometimes significantly bigger steps, but also back step sometimes. Overall, though, I do feel that I've grown just enough to feel stronger to not just feel like crawling up against my pillow in bed, trying to face away from the challenges.

Probably the most challenging time in my life of almost twenty-four years I remember -- but I'm definitely starting to enjoy the challenges.

Still Lovin' It

2008-04-24T00:19:00.003+09:00

It's been three weeks since my last entry. Every day, I find something about my job, Google, and the field that I really appreciate and/or find fascinating. Aw!

Working at Google

2008-04-02T11:10:00.003+09:00

I'm well into my second week at Google Korea, and it's been awesome so far. More updates this weekend!

Bleeding Money

2008-03-31T00:30:00.002+09:00

Not looking forward to my credit card bill for March.

Piano, new glasses, hair, new clothes, dentist appointment, high cell phone bill, plane tickets, and I still owe money. Yikes.

A New Piano

2008-03-20T01:33:00.006+09:00

I've been waiting for this moment. My own portable digital piano! After watching Once, I got sheet music for Falling Slowly, one of the movie's soundtracks and the piano part looked really pretty. Then I decided to actually get a piano, after not having played for about 5 years. I did some research online, checked out a few different ones at several shops yesterday, and picked out Casio's PX-110 DK. It got delivered earlier today and I played for over five hours!

Before buying the piano, I stopped by Goguma, absolutely the most unorganized and awesome used book store I had ever been to. I had so much fun looking around and actually got some really great music scores. One of my new favorites spots in Seoul.

Spring is Here!

2008-03-17T17:45:00.003+09:00

I was out today for about 3 hours running errands, and spring is finally here! It felt like one of those days at Cornell in late March, when the air starts to feel breezy and warm against your face. On the way home, I picked up some greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, and sliced almonds to make a nice light salad for dinner. Now that reminded me of those summer nights in Ithaca. (Awwwwwwwwwww I miss Cornell :D)

Distance and Mind

2008-03-10T22:35:00.000+09:00

마음이 지척이면 천리라도 지척이오
마음이 천리오면 지척도 천리로다

우리는 각재천리(各在千里)오나
지척인가 하노라.

A Question

2008-03-08T23:08:00.000+09:00

To you, what is fun and what is important?

MSN Messenger -- Terrible

2008-03-04T23:47:00.003+09:00

I don't like how it displays IMs.
I can't even share a folder with more than two people. That is lame.
I can't even find the Add button.
The stored conversations are not integrated into my Hotmail account. Why would I need to search my buddy list? If they want to add an useful search function, make my IM logs more easily searchable! Right now they are stored as .xml files in "My Received Files" folder. Wow.
Has graphic ads!
Horrible menu design. I can never find what I want. The icons are too small. Do they even have a user experience team or just design things for kids / teenagers?

Ugh. Google needs to add video chat to GTalk ASAP so I can ditch this thing.

Life in a Big City

2008-03-02T23:02:00.006+09:00

Matt has been talking about his weekend trips to Rasputin, one of the biggest used music stores in the Bay Area, and it intrigued me to see if there were any in Seoul. There were a number of online stores, but I much prefer going through old CDs (or books) one by one, not having any particular artists in mind.

I kept googling but only found a few LP stores, which seemed to have a bad reputation for being overpriced and unfriendly staff. Then I started looking up used book stores and ended up finding this big thrift store chain called "A Beautiful Store". There were over 20 stores listed, with some of them being just regular thrift stores and some carrying mostly CDs and books. I can't wait to check them out next weekend!

Oh, I also found an used book store called "Goguma", which means yam in Korean. I will have to stop by :-P

Taking Care of Myself

2008-02-28T20:07:00.001+09:00

I've started to take care of myself, and it feels good :)

꽃이 진다 슬퍼하지 말라
영근 열매다

No .EXE

2008-02-21T22:42:00.002+09:00

My laptop is broken, so I've been using my mom's computer at home for the past couple of days. She just had it formatted a month ago, so there were barely any applications installed. I logged into Gmail and it just hit me that I didn't have to download AIM to talk to people on my buddylist .. and I realized, wow, this is so great.

So if I could do everything online, maybe I will get a MacBook Air :P

Random Thoughts

2008-02-21T00:25:00.004+09:00

Today was my parents' 26th anniversary. I knew they weren't planning anything, so I got a small cake and candles on the way home. They were really touched :)
Breaking up is difficult. So difficult when the decision is not mutual.
Let's be thankful for what I have now instead of what I do not.
It is silly not to take the risk when there are also a million things that give me hope and one thing I'm afraid of. But that biggest fear is getting my heart broken and it seems unbearable.
Am I taking everything too seriously?
I need tea time with my girls. I need to relax about life and its uncertainties.

Self-Reflection

2008-02-18T10:21:00.005+09:00

I did a lot of self-reflection last night. And it seems to me that, over the past year, some of my best qualities had waned a little -- independence (emotional independence, in particular), confidence, and appreciation of little things in life. I think those were at their peak from Spring 2005 - early Fall 2006. Between now and then, I worked on Senior Week, started dating Matt, graduated, moved to Korea, have been working at SNU and living with my family. I'm not sure how exactly all these things have influenced who I am, but looking back, trying to figure it all out:

I had always dreaded moving back to Korea, and when I did, I was so determined to minimize re-adjusting to Korean culture and therefore minimized my social activities here. Obviously I started to feel very lonely, relying on talking to Matt and other friends in the US to feel connected. Very unhealthy, needless to say. I'm still not 100% comfortable with letting myself go and immersing in my life back in Seoul. I tried so hard to assimilate during my years in the US, and I'm afraid of losing my connections to the culture and people there by changing again. And not having a "big" job brought the feeling of inferiority. All my close friends were working at "big" companies, and I kept drawing the comparison. I wanted to feel responsible and challenged without having to trying so hard to on my own;

Then my relationship. I dreaded losing my "American" qualities because I felt the connection we had was based none of my Korean sides, and as soon as I became even slightly more “Korean”, our connection would weaken. Matt was also in a pretty intense program at Google, meeting a lot of people and going through various new experiences. I was alarmed that we weren't sharing as many experiences as we did at Cornell. Again, I was afraid that our connection would weaken from it as people bond over going through similar experiences. And the fear of drifting apart from not seeing each other often made me obsess over making sure that we talk every other day and for a longer period of time every weekend and also setting up definitive dates for visiting each other as soon as possible. I put all my efforts and time toward talking to him and visiting him. For example, if I got vacation days, I wouldn’t even consider visiting other places other than Mt. View. It makes sense to keep up the communication and visits, but what if I’m so caught up with it that the rest of my life is not growing? I think I’ve been overly paranoid and refused to take any risks. Now that I’ve decided to stay in Korea longer, I will have to figure out a way to get over my fear of drifting apart so I can be comfortable with exploring different opportunities and experiences. I think I’ve been making a progress here already, mostly due to the visits and all the other things we’ve shared over the past ten months that showed me our connection has only grown in spite of the distance.

In conclusion, I will have to be okay with immersing myself in my life here, be confident that I will only grow and not lose anything, and be excited about the positive changes.

A Dreamy Week in California

2008-02-14T00:27:00.002+09:00

Walking down the trail and across the bridge
With the sun shining through the trees

The breeze blowing through my hair

Feeling the warmth of his fingers around mine

It all feels like a long, peaceful dream
I can still feel and see every moment
So dreamy and delicate
Afraid it will all fade away slowly
Until I can no longer feel
His hand in mine
His lips against mine

So I reminisce
Over and
Over again
So I remember
What it all feels like

Till next time.

What I miss

2008-02-04T23:45:00.000+09:00

I miss working with professional people with intelligence, modesty, and creativity.

The One and Only

2008-02-03T09:58:00.000+09:00

Out of 3,324,047,000.

Thanks to Technology

2008-01-26T17:46:00.000+09:00

I had a really good time today catching up with Heahter, Emily, and Elizabeth on Live Messenger today! It just felt like one of those Friday nights hanging out at 803 Seneca, sipping tea and having a girl talk. What would I do without messengers, webcams and the Internet?

The Perfect Song

2008-01-18T00:32:00.000+09:00

"Sometimes a love song's got a little bit of death in it, sometimes a death song's got a little love in it sometimes a song about being friends, sometimes .. this is just, just a looove song." - Dave Matthews

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

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LYkljoL7PYA
I could never get over how amazing this song is.
It makes me teary every time I listen to it.

Feeling Better

2008-01-10T23:45:00.001+09:00

Since early this week, I've been feeling more relaxed and confident than I ever had in the past half a year or so. I was feeling anxious mostly about finding out where I'd be in a few months, but now I'm actually kind of enjoying the process. It reminds me of those months before hearing back from all the colleges.

First Entry in 2008

2008-01-02T09:43:00.000+09:00

A Happy New Year!

Last night, I wrote down my new year's resolutions and wishes. It's something I do every year and my resolutions and wishes are pretty much what they have been for the past few months. But it still was a good ritual that helped me feel more hopeful and optimistic.

I wish for security, certainty, and love.
And my resolution is to plan and pave my way. It is the year of the rat after all ;)

She's Coming to Korea

2007-12-28T09:47:00.000+09:00

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!

2007-12-24T06:12:00.000+09:00

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

2007-12-10T11:11:00.000+09:00

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!

2007-12-02T02:57:00.001+09:00

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

2007-12-01T14:35:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-26T00:30:00.000+09:00

Yummy!

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

Thanksgiving in Korea

2007-11-19T22:29:00.000+09:00

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

2007-11-19T15:42:00.000+09:00

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

Understanding

2007-11-15T18:12:00.003+09:00

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

Love AND Trust

2007-10-30T11:27:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-28T02:32:00.000+09:00

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.

2007-10-19T00:50:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-16T18:13:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-15T00:31:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-08T08:54:00.000+09:00

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

2007-10-02T16:56:00.000+09:00

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

2007-09-24T01:20:00.000+09:00

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

2007-09-22T19:27:00.000+09:00

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!

2007-09-20T08:55:00.000+09:00

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!

2007-09-18T19:16:00.000+09:00

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.

2007-09-17T16:01:00.000+09:00

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

2007-09-15T00:02:00.000+09:00

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

2007-09-09T18:02:00.000+09:00

Mom didn't notice .... lol