the beginnings of adventure

After a relatively painless hour-and-a-half flight, I arrived at the Kansai International Airport. Immigration took a while, but I met another student studying in the same program as I am in line, so we chatted as we waited, and it wasn't so bad. After I got my luggage, which was waiting for me by the time I got out of immigration, I struggled out the door and managed to find my shuttle. Speaking of luggage, I'm so glad my dad flies a lot. Because he was with me when I was checking in, I got to skip the line, and I didn't have to pay any overweight fees. Thank goodness for frequent flier! I had to split up with my newly-made friend because we reserved different shuttles, but since all the students studying at the Kyoto Consortium for Japanese Studies (KCJS) were staying at the same hotel, it wasn't too much of a problem.

The shuttle ride took longer than I expected; I think from the airport to the hotel took roughly an hour and a half, but I wasn't paying close attention. I sat next to another person going to KCJS in the shuttle. It was so exciting to semi-coincidentally meet people who I'll be spending the next three months with! After checking into the hotel, I met a bunch more people who were just chilling in the lobby and talking. I dropped off my bags in my room and came back down to introduce myself and be introduced to some more study abroad students.

We went for a walk around the area, and we stopped into various departments stores and oogled at the cool stuff. Before we went anywhere, however, I requested that we all find me an authentic Japanese Calpico/Calpis in Japan. We all went to the convenience store, and I bought a bottle. I hadn't had one since the day I left the states, since Korea, for some bizarre reason, doesn't have Calpico, so I was extremely satisfied.

Earlier, another student had taken the initiative to email everyone about perhaps grabbing dinner together, so we returned to the lobby before six and met yet another group of people. More self-introductions occurred, this time in Japanese, and then we went to dinner. Since our group was so large, we split up into different parties. My group of seven went to a restaurant called Janome, which the shopkeeper translated to "snake eye" for us. Although I had ramen in mind, when I saw kitsune udon on the menu, I couldn't resist! I sure love kitsune udon. The shopkeeper answered all of our foreigner questions quite patiently and thoroughly, and he taught us some phrases in Kansai dialect, as well as a tongue twister, at our request. Because one member of our group was very outgoing and unabashed at asking questions, we got to learn all this neat stuff. It makes me think that I should try to interact with others more freely as well. I'll definitely learn Japanese much better if I do so.

I carry around a small notebook so I can jot down things I learn or ask someone I don't understand to write down what he or she said so that I can look it up later. My great aunt gave me the advice to carry a notebook in a foreign country, and I figured it wouldn't hurt. On my very first day, it's proved useful. While someone else asked all the questions, I recorded all the answers for future reference. I felt slightly inadequate writing, however, because I really couldn't distinguish what the man at the restaurant was saying. Even after asking multiple times, I still couldn't quite figure out if the vowel made a long sound or short sound, and I had to rely on everyone else, who managed to get it quite quickly, to dictate the phrase to me. I hope that I'll get used to hearing fluent speech by the time my time here is up.

I read through half of my pocket guide to Japanese grammar on the flight here, and I realized how rusty my Japanese has gotten. I could barely remember all the characters of the alphabet. I'm worried about my kanji (chinese character) recognition, but I'll deal with that later. I was stressing earlier about the placement test, but since I should be going into level three, and level three is the lowest level they offer, I'll be put into the right class even if I fail the test, so I'm less stressed out. That's sort of a pessimistic way to look at it, but hey, I don't want to be stressed out and studying to death while I'm in Japan. That's not what I came here to do. I'm here to breath in the culture, and that's what I plan on doing. Sure, my main point is to become fluent in Japanese, but that will definitely be accomplished much better by relaxing and interacting with native people, rather than shutting myself up all day with a bunch of textbooks.

the clock counts down

This will be my last post from Korea! In roughly twelve hours, I will be landing at the Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan. There is very little I can say to describe my excitement, but I'll try.

I'm excited!

they dance around your head then suck your blood

Mosquitoes can bite me. Ha, that'd be a really cute and punny expression of annoyance if my arms hadn't been completely owned by mosquitoes. The multiple itchy points that are driving me insane are anything but cute. Here's how, in the course of an hour, I went from having zero bug bites to over fifteen:

My dad bought a property in Cheongpyeong, which is a town about an hour outside of Seoul (more like two hours if you factor in traffic), and we went to go check it out yesterday. I was expecting an inhabitable vacation house or something like that, but when we got there, I was greeted with the external walls of a house and not much more. The floor was all rocks and gravel, there were no windows, and the entire place was falling apart. I then understood why my dad needed to "fix up" the place. We went hiking up the hill behind the house, which is when the mosquitoes decided to attack. I think that if I wasn't continually swatting at the air around me, I probably would have received way more bites. Anyway, the house is situated near a lake with boats and stuff, and I'll be happy to return when there's a nice indoor area, where I can go to escape from the blood-hungry horrors.

I went to my cousin's house afterwards, and from there my cousin, his girlfriend, and I went to Dongdaemun at around midnight. Dongdaemun is one of the historic gates that used to guard the entrance to Seoul, or something like that, but it's also a famous shopping area. There are so many clothing stores. My head was spinning about five minutes after we entered the area. My cousin bought some clothes and kept asking me if I wanted anything, but I was in no mood nor energy level to go shopping. I did, however, mention that I wanted a hat, which we proceeded to search for, but to no avail. Since I'm super picky, it's really hard to find something that I really like. Oh well, I'll keep searching.

On our way to Dongdaemun, we got caught up in some protest or something, and the traffic was completely stopped. There were police everywhere, and my cousin said that in all his life in Korea, he's never seen such a large-scale protesting event happen. I guess I got to witness something extremely unusual! We returned from shopping at 3 in the morning (it's amazing that so many places never close in Korea), and I crawled into bed and slept like a log.

Compared to yesterday, today has been relatively uneventful.

the warm fuzzy feeling that comes from friends

Two days ago, I finally went to visit my friend Clyde in Daejeon. I took the express bus from Seoul to Daejeon, and it took just a little over an hour and a half to get there. I expected a bunch of accidentally going to the wrong place and having to call each other repeatedly, but the arrival couldn't have gone any more smoothly. My bus arrived, and there he was. We walked around for a while, grabbed a bite to eat, walked around some more, and then headed to his uncle's apartment. There...really isn't that much to do in Daejeon. The highlight, however, was finding this really cute cafe, where I had my first decent latte since coming to Korea. For some reason, coffee is really water-down in Korea, and every time I get a latte, it tastes more like milk than espresso. But this cafe had the proportions just right! I was very satisfied.

The other highlight of Daejeon was getting hooked on Braid, a computer game that Clyde really loves. With lack of anything better to do, I started playing it on Clyde's computer, and I got addicted. Deciding that I had to have the game for myself, I went ahead and made an account, but when I went to buy the game, my credit card kept getting denied. Since I was in Korea, my current location and the card's billing address didn't match up, and the order wouldn't go through. Frantically, I asked a friend to ask a friend to sign onto Skype so I could ask him to buy it for me. I finally got the game, but at the expense of accidentally waking someone up to get it for me. (I'm really sorry Matthew!!) I've been pretty obsessed with Braid for the past two days. I figured it was about time to do something aside from make my head hurt from thinking about the puzzle-platformer, so here I am writing.

So that was the extent of my day in Daejeon.

Yesterday I met up with Gina again, and we went to Insadong, which is another really touristy part of Seoul. There's a large palace, which we didn't go to, and a bunch of stores selling traditional Korean crafts. There were a ton of things that I really wanted to buy, but I decided to go with saving my wallet. And I don't have enough luggage space.

We went into this traditional Korean tea house to cool off since it was extremely hot outside. It was so nifty on the inside! It sort of resembled an adobe house or something like that, and there were little crevices with wooden benches and tables for customers to sit at. I ordered pine needle tea, and Gina ordered pomegranate tea--both iced. My tea was extremely fragrant. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but the tea really did taste like how pine needles smell. The tea was slightly sweetened, which caught me off guard, but it wasn't overly sweet, so I still enjoyed it.

After that, we walked around some and acted like hyper kids in the stores, pointing and exclaiming at all the cool stuff. We went into this REALLY REALLY COOL mall-type place full of handcrafted things. The mall was built on a spiral, so we just keep walking and walking and going up; no stairs necessary! We passed by some jewelry stores, some clothing stores, an etched stone-craft store, a miniature food models store...etc. The top level was full of food places, and we dropped into this adorable cafe (first photo). I ordered a papaya tea, which sounded really intriguing, but it was actually kind of disappointing. It was basically hot water plus a syrupy solution of dried, shredded papaya. If nothing else, we paid for the ambiance. We killed about two hours there just chatting about random stuff. After that, we parted ways. (I'll miss you Gina!! Have fun studying abroad in France!!)

OH, ALSO, when we were in Insadong, we ran into these people making this really cool snack. It's made by stretching out a piece of solid honey into a rope and then doubling the rope over, stretching again, and repeating. They constantly dip it in cornstarch to keep it from sticking to itself. Finally, when it becomes a bunch of super thin strands of corn flour-coated honey, they wrap it around various fillings. When I saw them, I almost started cracking up because they were the same people that I saw on this youtube video that my brother showed we a while ago. They were just as super enthusiastic as in the video. We bought a box because they were just so showy and enthusiastic, and we felt obligated to buy one after they demonstrated the whole process specifically for us. Sadly...they weren't all that tasty. But oh well, it was worth the watch!

Today, after doing a bunch of nothing, I ate dinner with my dad, his associate, and his associate's son. We had a set menu at some fusion Korean food place. I've never seen any food like what they brought out, and I really wish I had brought my camera along to document. Honestly, my favorite part was just the rice and soup, but at least it was an interesting experience.

Afterwards, my dad and I went to the Hongdae area, which is a really bustling place near a famous art school. There's a ton of stores and cute cafes and clubs that are open late into the night, as well as street performers and whatnot. It was a little too crowded for my liking, and maybe it would have been a tad more fun if I were with friends and not my dad... Regardless, I now know where I'd go if I ever had to entertain young-ish people at night in Seoul.

elephants must travel to find water risking their lives

I met up with my friend Gina in Myeongdong today. I hadn't been in the same place at the same time as her in over a year, so it was really nice to finally see her in person again. Myeongdong is a bustling, shop-filled, extremely touristy place. There are all kinds of clothing stores, accessory stores, and random-other-stuff stores all over the place. I have a hunch that there were more non-Koreans than Koreans there. The workers standing outside were switching languages left and right, saying a message in Korean and then following it up with a translation in Japanese, Chinese, English, etc. Sadly--well, is it sad?--I felt quite at home there. I guess I'm most definitely way more of a tourist in Korea than any type of native. Since there were a lot of Japanese people there, I probably could have gotten by better using Japanese rather than my extremely faulty Korean.

Because Gina and I are both fans of fluffy, furry creatures, we went to a cat cafe. When she mentioned it, I really thought it'd be cat-themed, as in cat decor and cat-costumed waiters and waitresses, but I was incorrect. Cat cafe meant, in this case, a cafe filled with live cats. THEY WERE SO CUTE. There must have been around twenty cats just chilling everywhere, and customers were free to pet and play with them. The place really cared about the cats' well-being though. As soon as we entered, we were given a rule guide that included stuff like "don't lift, hug, or hold cats" and "do not touch the cats when they are eating." The cats looked like they were living pretty good lives. I think a cat cafe is a really good idea. I might try something like that since it's a nice way to give cats a home while making enough income to sustain their care. Cats are great. We saw a sign for a dog cafe when we were walking around, and I wondered what that would be like. But I love dogs too, so I'm sure it would have been an equally pleasurable experience.

We went to this store with a bunch of cute stuff and went crazy over the notebooks, stuffed animals, and random other things. I still am at a loss as to why Asian people find the need to use broken English as decoration. I sure get a kick out of it though. I'd like to believe that the decorator's main point isn't to give me a good laugh every time I read the grammatically incorrect sentences, but that's what always happens. I am, however, always impressed when I find one that's got perfect English. But that doesn't happen too often.

For the rest of the time, we basically walked around looking for shoes and earrings for Gina and a backpack for me. We didn't accomplish either of the above. I did, however, manage to get a new pair of Vans to replace my "ghetto ones," dubbed so by my mother. Now I can finally go skating again! My longboard has been mighty lonely this week. This pair of shoes is quite a bit more conservative; they're just an ordinary blue. I figured it wouldn't be a good idea to stand out too much while I'm in Japan. My shoe quota is filled, but I must continue questing for a spunky backpack.

I came home and then did some ironing. I had a bit of an iron fail at one point when I unknowingly unplugged the iron and then ironed half a shirt before realizing that the wrinkles were only semi-disappearing. I plugged the iron back in and then resumed without any additional issues. After that, I had dinner with my dad at some random home-cooked-feeling restaurant. We were originally looking for my dad's favorite tofu restaurant, but since the last time he'd been there, it went out of business. So we stopped at the only place that wasn't a grill-your-own-meat place. It was pretty ridiculous how many grill restaurants there were on that one stretch of street. The lady working there was super nice. Since I really didn't feel like eating anything excessively spicy, she had the spice level toned down in the food, and she brought out additional stuff to kill the spice with, like lettuce.

After that, my dad and I got back in our car and drove off, but we had to wait a bit at the end of the street since there were a lot of cars at the intersection. As we were waiting there, we heard a thump on our car, and when we looked over, the same lady from the restaurant was catching her breath next to our car. She then handed my dad his less-than-a-month-old cellphone, which he had left at the table. I was amazed that she managed to catch us in time; we were pretty far from the restaurant by then.

From this experience, I have gathered that a little bit of inconvenience is not necessarily a bad thing. Although my dad and I were stuck in a bit of traffic, we were saved the stress from the sudden realization that he was missing his phone, and the subsequent frenzied retracing of our steps. Next time I'm stuck waiting for something in an unexpected line or traffic jam, I'll think, even if I'm not directly benefiting from the wait, at least someone around could possibly be recovering a forgotten item. Finding the silver lining always makes everything better.

why being smelly is completely acceptable

I probably reek worse than dead people right now. I just ate a meal composed entirely of pickled radish, scallions, onions, garlic, cabbage, fermented beans, and grilled beef. And I enjoyed every bite. If smelly people smell because they've been eating such delicious stuff, they are totally excused in my book. Well, as long as they don't come too close to me.

During my meal with my aunt and uncle, I realized that I really like them. They take me to good food. And my aunt said when she first saw me after a long time--unlike the rest of my relatives who often begin by commenting that I look like a boy, or that I look chubby, or that my face is crooked--that I look pretty with my hair cut the way it is. Bless her soul. Also, I thought I was going to die on my way back home because my uncle polished off a bottle of soju by himself, and I feared death by a relative who was DUI. But like responsible human beings, my aunt and uncle switched off at the wheel, and my extremely sober aunt drove us back. Props to sensible people.

I clearly have too much time. This is the second time today that I'm updating this blog. At least it's keeping me entertained. Random memory from earlier this afternoon: I was asked by a chef today what I planned on doing for a living. I answered that I plan on being a lawyer. She then promptly asked why I was doing kitchen work. I responded "just in case I want to be a chef." After staring at me like I might be crazy, she told me that her friend is a lawyer. And that he makes four times as much per hour as she does. But she trailed off with...well, everyone should do what makes them happy. I spent over an hour slicing chestnuts, to the point that carpel tunnel was probably developing in both my wrists, and honestly, being a lawyer is beginning to look much more appealing. Sort of. Okay, not really. My prospective career choices have pretty much remained in the same places, but that seemed like a good place to add a snarky sentence.

Anyway, time to return to Seoul!!

when the taste of ripe fruit is not so sweet

Today concludes my days in the Best Western Premier Songdo Park Hotel kitchens. It was a fun weekend. I have to say my favorite day was definitely the second. Although I was in the upstairs kitchen today, which is where interesting stuff for the sky buffet happens, rather than the main kitchen, I definitely prefer the downstairs. The people are nicer.

That isn't to say the people upstairs weren't nice. Although there was a bit of confusion when I first showed up, and I was feeling extremely uncomfortable, eventually another girl chef, who vaguely resembled my friend's sister, appeared and showed me around. I learned how to form rice and place wasabi on fish for nigiri sushi, how to stuff inari sushi, and how to roll cut rolls. It's hard. I don't know how sushi chefs make it look so easy because it really isn't. Or maybe I'm just sushi-making impaired, but I'd rather not think that. The girl chef then handed me off to a really nice chef, who proceeded to give me me all kinds of tasks to do, and I happily continued learning various kitchen things.

I learned how to cut acorn jelly with a squiggly knife, which actually takes some technique. If you try to just cut normally, the knife slides at a 45-degree angle, and you don't get straight cuts. The trick is to tilt the knife just a little to the left when cutting to compensate for the sliding angle, and by doing so, you get a good-ol' perpendicular cut. (If you cut normally, the cut looks like /, so you should tilt the knife like \, and you'll get a cut like |.) I then proceeded to slice enough chestnuts for Santa, his mother, his entire elf factory, and all nine of his reindeer to roast by an open fire. About half an hour into my chestnut slicing, the chef who charged me with the task came by to bring me water, and I was eternally grateful. Another ten minutes later, he brought me a plate of super juicy-looking pineapples and orange slices. Just when I began thinking, "hey, the upstairs people aren't so bad," the so-called nice chef made explicitly sure that I got his name, and to tell me that I should tell my uncle that we're best friends.

Sigh. And all that niceness was just sucking up to the manager's niece. Honestly, I don't mind suck-ups. I'm flattered if someone thinks they can get something from me, or in other words, that I have something to offer. I'm naive enough to think that people are being genuinely nice when they're just trying to make a favorable impression. My advice to anyone that wants something from me in the future: at least don't make it painfully obvious that you're sucking up. I'll believe in you until you do something that alerts my not-so-sharp censors that you're not being true.

Sucking up aside, the guy was really good to me, so I can't judge him too harshly. Thanks to him, I got to partake in jelly-cutting, chestnut-slicing, chestnut salad-mixing, beef tartar-making, bulgogi-marinating, soba noodle-portioning, and dessert-arranging. I'd say that's a pretty good day's worth of work. And he brought me fruit and water. How could I dislike a guy who brought me fruit and water, regardless of his motive for doing so? So I'll just be thankful that he was friendly and talked to me all day, which is more than I can say for the rest of the kitchen, aside from Miss Resembling-friend's-sibling chef. However, would I take the hot and cold pair downstairs, as well as their entire friendly kitchen staff, over him and the upstairs kitchen any day? You bet. Sure, maybe they were also just being nice to me because of my connections, but I'd rather have faith in them. They gave off such a golden aura that I can't believe they'd be people like that. Behold my supreme naivety.

sympathetic thoughts will be the death of us all

I am bursting. I have gotten as close to eating until I puke as I ever will without actually vomiting. Why? I had a buffet-style dinner with my dad, aunt, and uncle--the one who manages the hotel I am currently at. I was really excited to see stuff at the buffet that I had been working on in the kitchen. I wasn't all too hungry, but since it was a buffet, I sampled a bit of everything anyway. Since there was a fruit section, I stuffed my face with fruits because that's what I do. Right as I finished my plate of fruits and was feeling rather full, one of the servers brought a pretty, and huge, plate of fruits, carefully arranged and decorated, from the kitchen downstairs. My family members were also quite full, and I don't even know if they actually like fruit, so no one was particularly keen on making a huge dent in the platter. I contemplated just leaving it there...and then the image of the kind chef who was working hard downstairs, probably diligently placing the fruits in an aesthetic way, the same way he was when I was watching him do the same thing earlier, popped into mind. So I ate the fruits. And then I almost vomited. I didn't even know it was possible to feel that way after eating fruits, but it is. Very possible. I didn't manage to eat everything either; I left some pieces behind, but had I eaten more, I definitely would have ventured from nearly throwing up to actually throwing up.

If I hadn't met the cold-foods chef, and if he weren't such a nice guy, and if he didn't thoroughly and kindly make sure I had something to do all day yesterday, I wouldn't have tried so hard to eat the damn fruits. Those kinds of things can't be undone, however.

Speaking of work in the kitchen, I moved from the cold foods section to the hot foods section today. The chef presiding over me was this awesome, super nice, super cool lady. Her English was alright, but she spoke to me in mostly Korean. Most of the kitchen staff was under the belief that I spoke absolutely zero Korean, and basically didn't talk to me period, so it was nice that someone believed in me enough to think I could understand her if she spoke in Korean and attempted to make conversation. I did actually understand most of what she said too.

I helped make a vat of mushroom soup today. Seriously, it was a vat. Picture a pot large enough to fit a human, and that's how much soup I dealt with. After I had washed so many mushrooms, and was in the midst of feeding them through a slicing machine (what is up with this kitchen and mushrooms??), I saw another cart of some four hundred eggs, and I prayed that I would not be the one doing the cracking today. My prayers were answered, and another chef, the high-pitched dude, picked up the eggs and started cracking away. He was ridiculously quick; I think he finished them in less than half the time it took me to do the same job yesterday. I have much respect for chefs.

On top of washing and machine-slicing the mushrooms, I got to wield a gigantic immersion blender and blend the mushrooms in the cauldron thing for soup. The blender was huge and heavy, and by the end of the stirring/blending I thought my arms were going to fall off. Chefs are buff; I don't know how they do that kind of stuff all day. I also got to slice potatoes for potato gratin and shred orange peels to season some fish. These jobs were assigned to me by the aforementioned female chef who was awesome. I was happy to do something that required a little bit of skill, and that she thought I was actually capable of doing the work she assigned me. I think my motto for the day, and maybe for many future moments in my life, is "if there exists a person who believes you can do something, you can surely do it." I know it's cheesy, but I was really touched. I didn't even know I could slice potatoes or peel oranges that well. Or understand that much Korean, for the matter.

Anyway, today's kitchen experience was fantastic. I swear, kitchen-folk are angels. I look forward to what I'll be doing tomorrow. Ooh also, I got to eat shaved ice, which I have been craving since I watched Mr. Cool-cold-chef-nice-guy-dude make one yesterday. Really, I think if I were to become a chef, I might want to specialize in cold stuff because pretty much everything I want to eat is what this dude makes. I love shaved ice, and he's in charge of that stuff, I had been lusting after some pineapple/fruit, which is what he was slicing earlier, and I was ecstatic to devour a cheese platter at dinner, which is what I was watching him arrange yesterday. Yeah. But shaved ice, fruits, and cheese...who wouldn't crave that stuff after seeing it made? I think my favorite people in the kitchen, coincidentally the people who talk to me the most, whether in broken English or grade school-level Korean, are the lady chef and the cold chef dude. Oh, and the head chef, since he pops in to check on me every so often too. They're super nice people.

As for my day outside the kitchen, I went for a walk with my dad in this casually gigantic park just outside of the hotel. It looks like nothing from the outside, but once you go up the stairs, there are all these trees and plants and a canal with boats. You can't see any of this from street level. I had a field day with my camera. There was this area with a ton of HUGE spiders on their webs, suspended between trees, and they looked really cool. I think I might actually really like spiders.

Somewhere in the park was this huge setup of reenactments from the Bible. I'm not gonna lie; it was really spooky. The props must have been really old because they were peeling and rusting, and some things were slightly graffiti-ed. I think there must be some message to take away from the scene, but I haven't quite placed what. I somehow found it really hard to leave the area, and my camera kept hovering back. Maybe I'm in for some crazy religious ride soon, who knows?

So that was my day. I think the amount I write is directly proportional to how bored I am/how much free time I have. I have a feeling that when I actually have something to do besides sit at my computer, my blog will get very lonely, but for now, sit at my computer is all I do, so update my blog I shall.

there's a chef in you and a chef in me

I cracked 421 eggs today. Four hundred and twenty-one eggs. That's thirty-five dozen plus one eggs. If you're curious what a person with zero formal cooking training can do in a hotel kitchen, crack eggs is the answer. To put my egg cracking adventure into even more perspective, I have a visual exercise. Occasionally when you crack an egg, a small piece of the eggshell falls in, and you quickly snatch it out because you really don't want to chew your eggs and feel that random particle of hard crunchy thing. My hand slipped, and a piece of shell, the size of half an egg, fell into the pot into which I was cracking eggs. It disappeared completely. I stuck my hand into the pot to fish it out, and my hand was completely submerged in raw egg. By the time I found the half-egg-size shell at the bottom, the egg liquid had reached above my wrist. At least they say eggs are good for your skin? Oh! And I learned how to crack eggs with both hands!

After I finished with my vat of egg, I cut enough mushrooms to feed Africa. Okay, that's a huge overstatement, but it was a lot of mushrooms. Imagine the largest salad-serving bowl in your house, triple that capacity, and then triple that again. That's how many mushrooms I cut. What's really funny is that even after all that egg-plus-mushroom action, I could still really go for a mushroom omelette.

Despite the whining, my kitchen experience was quite interesting, and I look forward to the next two days in there. The head chef actually speaks English pretty well; everyone else communicates with gestures and super broken English, and I communicate with gestures and super broken Korean. The kitchen staff are all really nice, and they bear with my pathetic Korean-speaking ability like champions. I think anyone who becomes a chef has got to love food, and anyone who loves food has got to be a good person. Anyway, I'm glad I conveniently have an uncle who manages a hotel, and who can tell people to make space for me in the kitchen. Who knows, maybe I'll end up being a chef after all?

and the roar of cicadas was beautiful

I ventured outdoors today. The sun decided to make a surprise appearance, and it didn't rain at all today! After gathering up my courage, I hopped on the subway to City Hall station and went to the Doksoogung palace museum. And by hopped on the subway, I mean struggled to find the right station on the map, called my dad to ask how to get there, bought a ticket for the wrong amount, and then panicked for the entire ride there, wondering if I'd be allowed to exit the station. It turns out that stations take these things into consideration, and there was a fare adjustment machine at the exit, where I could cough up the extra money.

Inside the palace walls was surprisingly pretty and calm. I was extremely hungry, but there wasn't actually any real food places inside, so I sat down at the little cafe inside and had some shaved ice. It may not have been a particularly nutritious lunch, but it was nice and cool, a perfect contrast to the sweaty, gross me. After finishing my pile of shaved, frozen water with sweet stuff on top, I walked around for a while before entering the special exhibit in the palace dedicated to American art. It was sort of strange seeing American stuff at a museum in Korea, but I guess it's the same as when they have Korean/another other country's art on display at museums at home. The exhibit was mostly Pop art, and though I am not a huge fan of Modern stuff, I thought the curator did a really good job. Or maybe I was just relieved to be somewhere that felt somewhat familiar. I was almost at home when wandering around the paintings and sculptures.

After that, I wandered around the palace some more and then sat down to sketch one of the internal structures. A girl and her mother sat down on the bench next to me and commented on my shoes, my almost obnoxiously-loud, hand-painted TOMS, which made me pretty happy. I feel like, for the most part, at least here in Korea, those shoes just garner me weird stares as the Korean population contemplates why a freak walks among them. It was nice to hear some positive feedback. I mean, excuse me for having short hair and being more comfortable in pants and slightly baggy clothing. Is it always necessary to wear frilly skirts and strap-y sandals at all moments of the day? Apparently the answer here is yes.

Yesterday I was struck by how rude the Korean population is, and today I found more instances of such behavior. Maybe it's unusual for anyone to hesitate slightly here, but every time I search my pockets for change in front of a vending machine or ticket dispenser, some person finds the chance to gently shove me out of the way and proceed to jam their money in before I have the chance. Also, no one gives anyone a chance to take photos. Right as I found the perfect composition in my viewfinder, a lady stepped right in front of my camera and then sat down on the bench closest to my camera, blocking my entire shot. This happened on many more counts. But then I thought, instead of getting frustrated, maybe I'll just make a project out of this. I'll see how frequently people invade my photos and then just focus on the people instead. It could be fun. Maybe.

After I got back, I went on a bike ride along the river near my dad's apartment. I borrowed my dad's bike since it's the only bicycle in the vicinity, but OH MY GOODNESS, it's got the world's most uncomfortable seat. I can see why my dad never bikes. The river was really pretty and green, and I thought that Seoul must be a great place if it can be a booming city yet simultaneously have lush greenery on its outskirts. Then again, it could just be the humid weather here; I mean, what can't grow in this kind of moisture?

Tomorrow I begin some random hotel chef's assistant mini job that my dad hooked up. Woohoo, I'm looking forward to not being able to communicate with even more people.

Day Two in Korea

I'm in Seoul, Korea right now. It's raining. Actually, it isn't raining at this very moment, but it was about an hour ago, and it probably will be again in yet another hour. I had some grand plans to muster up my courage and go to the museum today, but I think I need another day to brace myself. It's hard navigating in a country where you only kind of understand the language and can't speak it at all. It'd be one thing if I were in somewhere like Italy or France where I definitely don't look like I belong, but since I am Korean by blood, people around here just look at me like I'm a moron when I do something strange. Since I spent my day so far eating and ironing clothes, while yesterday was not much better, I'd like to do something fun soon, but today is just a little too soon to venture outside and attempt to find the museum to which my cousin gave me tickets. Maybe tomorrow.

I arrived here two days ago, and I'll be here until August 31, which is when I fly to Japan to begin my semester abroad! For the first time, I was awake longer than asleep on my flight to Korea. I watched five movies during the flight, none of which were particularly amazing. In order of how fun I thought they were: Just Go with It, Beastly, Red Riding Hood, Sucker Punch, Toast. I guess my ranking shows what kind of person I am. Go ahead, judge me.

My dad's apartment is right above the subway station, a supermarket, and various shops and restaurants. I love the location. If I'm hungry, there's a bunch of stuff to eat below, and if I'm bored, I can just plop myself down at a coffee shop and study or browse on my computer...not that I can't do that in the apartment room itself. Speaking of coffee shops, I am shocked and offended that there is a Coffee Bean, my favorite chain coffee shop in existence, in Seoul, Korea, and not a single one in Philadelphia. Why? I don't understand. But whatever, I won't be in Philadelphia until January anyway, so there's no point in complaining.

I can't wait until I can see my friends, who are actually in the same country at the same time, which never happens. Well, except in the USA, but that doesn't count. One *COUGH COUGH I HOPE YOU READ THIS* is incapacitated due to the LASIK surgery that she got yesterday, but hopefully will be free in some days to hang out. The other *COUGH COUGH I HOPE YOU READ THIS TOO* is in the middle-of-nowhere countryside, a few hours away from Seoul, and I am not quite sure how the hanging out with each other is going to work.

Anyway, this is my life so far for anyone who cares. I hope I'll have some more interesting stuff to write about later, but until then, welcome to my relatively tame thoughts.

New Directions

After contemplating for a while, I have decided to open this blog up to more than just food. My reasons are many. Firstly, I am far too lazy to write about my eating experiences on a consistent basis. I have tons of photos backed up of all kinds of restaurants and cooking, but because the pile just grows, I keep getting stressed about the writing part, and I end up just not doing anything. Secondly, I am studying abroad this semester, and I would like to keep a log of my adventures in Japan. Sure, I could start yet another blog, but I'd rather avoid my bad habit of creating site after site, all of which eventually get abandoned. Thirdly, I can do whatever I want; this is my blog anyway.