I'll just start out today by letting everybody know that I am workin it. Let's see... I'm sportin some sparkly black flip-flops, and some cute jean shorts, a black leather belt, and black and white plaid cap, and... a Puma tee. haha. Oh, and my hair is curled. Details are coming.
Yesterday I learned a very important lesson. I made a big fuss about the fact that I looked good. I mean real good. Like Ron Burgundy good. Well, on the way home, I discovered that expensive shoes + monsoon season = no good. Apparently, a light drizzle can immediately evolve into a five-inch-deep-twelve-foot-wide-puddle-producing deluge, which it did. My shoes are still drying out (bear in mind, this occurred 24 hours ago) and I don't suppose I'll know the extent of the damage until they're completely dry. As I was walking I considered the idea that I should have waterproofed them, but I know it wouldn't have made a bit of difference. They were soaked inside out. Like soggy shoeprints in the hallway soaked. Like soggy shoeprints in the hallway squishy water noise every time you step soaked.
But today I had an even better experience.
I'll start out by saying that this story doesn't quite reach the height of propriety. In fact, my Korean side is encouraging me to not record this story, while my American side thinks it's really funny and is egging me on. I grew up in the American culture, so you know which side trumps.
One of the perks about living alone is that when I'm home by myself, I can wear -- or not wear -- whatever I want. I've never experienced this before, and I really like it. The courtyard is a couple of hundred feet, so I know that if I leave my lights off, people cannot see into my apartment, and I have a great deal of freedom. This morning I took advantage of this freedom again. Those who have had Korean food before know that it's extremely smelly and I wisely took off my shirt so it wouldn't smell like food.
It has rained nonstop today. Around noon I decided to make some kimchi chiggae, since it was one of those wet, cool, drizzly kimchi chiggae type days. I put some oil in the pot and started the gas burner. I've had trouble adjusting to gas, and still haven't figured out how to reach a certain temperature. So a lot of times I manage to burn my food. Today was no different. I could tell the oil was getting hot, so I put in some kimchi and pivoted to get my diced garlic. When I turned back around flames were leaping out of the pot.
I've heard of studies that found that women react better in emergency situations than men. I'll let you be the judge of that.
The first thought that went through my mind was "water." I quickly decided against that, because the last thing I wanted was flaming oil flying through the kitchen. So the next idea was "air." I removed the pot from the burner and began furiously blowing the flames out, and within five seconds they were gone. No singed eyebrows.
Despite the quick response, I was enveloped in smoke. Let me try my own stream of consciousness approach here. I'll even use the italics. smoke detector-sprinkler system...water-logged tv's and computers exploding... the furious neighbors "개똥아" "바보멍청이?" millions of dollars worth of damage. I leapt into action. A lot of people use that phrase figuratively, but I use it with all of the physical literality it can possibly manifest. I did leap. Then I sprinted to the windows and threw them open and drew the curtains to allow for the maximum amount of smoke movement. Bear in mind that all of the lights in my apartment are on, and I'm parading in front of the window, shirtless. Bear that in mind, because trust me, I was definitely bearing it in mind every nanosecond I was there.
I ran back to the kitchen and turned on the fan. Then I ran back into my bedroom, past the open windows, and grabbed the first shirt I could find, which was my Puma tee, which explains why I'm coordinated so well today.
I had a rack of clothes drying (now a very smelly rack of clothes) and grabbed a towel off of it to fan the smoke towards the windows.
Turns out the smoke detector did not go off. Turns out the sprinkler system didn't activate.
I gathered up my courage and proceeded to make my kimchi chiggae. Turns out that the dish was pretty good; while one would never recognize it as kimchi chiggae, one would acknowledge it as a very tasty watery kimchi bokkeum.
Turns out I should invest in an apron.
08 August 2007
07 August 2007
who's a rockstar now?
I just went to the Samsung website (had a heck of a time trying to find it in English) and downloaded everything that had to do with the YP-K5, so I had better be able to charge my mp3 player on my notebook now. Which is a relief, because life without music is just... well, it just kinda sucks.
not doing much now, waiting for my mp3 player to charge, again. I think I've written everybody back that I'm supposed to write back. In addition, asked my mother for some recipes. Oh, made some 멸치 (myulchee) last night. One was 고추장 멸치 (kkochujang myulchee), and the other was "김모니카" 멸치 ("Monica" myulchee... i.e. I didn't know what I was doing but made up my own recipe). Both turned out surprisingly tasty.
Oh yes, I did my hair this morning. I've about mastered my hairdryer (I can attach different extensions on it, like a brush, a few roller brushes, etc.). But today it wasn't 8000 degrees, so I did my hair, dressed up, wore heels (again!) and am en route to the store to do some shopping. Which is why I have to charge my mp3 player. Which is why I'm sitting here blogging right now even though I don't have anything to blog about. Check that. I did have some things to write about, but I've forgotten them.
So, I could just sit here and try to remember what they were, or I could do something productive. Like browsing some online clothes stores. I'm opting for the latter.
not doing much now, waiting for my mp3 player to charge, again. I think I've written everybody back that I'm supposed to write back. In addition, asked my mother for some recipes. Oh, made some 멸치 (myulchee) last night. One was 고추장 멸치 (kkochujang myulchee), and the other was "김모니카" 멸치 ("Monica" myulchee... i.e. I didn't know what I was doing but made up my own recipe). Both turned out surprisingly tasty.
Oh yes, I did my hair this morning. I've about mastered my hairdryer (I can attach different extensions on it, like a brush, a few roller brushes, etc.). But today it wasn't 8000 degrees, so I did my hair, dressed up, wore heels (again!) and am en route to the store to do some shopping. Which is why I have to charge my mp3 player. Which is why I'm sitting here blogging right now even though I don't have anything to blog about. Check that. I did have some things to write about, but I've forgotten them.
So, I could just sit here and try to remember what they were, or I could do something productive. Like browsing some online clothes stores. I'm opting for the latter.
05 August 2007
Random Thoughts
I'm just hanging out in the PC bang right now, waiting for my mp3 player to charge. As soon as school starts again I'm going to download the right program onto my computer so I can charge my mp3 on my notebook, instead of heading over to the PC bang every day. So, I thought I'd blog a few thoughts.
So far during my vacation I haven't accomplished much. I've gone through my Korean-English dictionary to find choice phrases for ajashis who push me on the subway, as well as some general statements and questions that I may need to know in emergency situations: "where did you get those shoes? and what about the earrings?" or "No, thank you, I'm not interested; you're ugly." I've looked through my guidebook and found some places to visit (Namhan sanseong is just minutes away from me, on the outskirts of Seongnamsi! Score!). I do kinda miss some of the kids. Just a few. And I miss hearing "teacha!" (think Short Round in Temple of Doom). They sound so cute when they say that.
Today I fully realized my 한국여자-hood and wore heels to run my errands. yup. In addition, I actually looked like everybody else by texting people on the subway. uh-huh. All I have to do now is fix my hair and I'll be in business.
I've always kind of wondered how I appear to Koreans. I know that Americans think of me as non-white (I actually had somebody ask if I'm Mexican -- weird), and apparently Koreans think of me as non-Korean. Most of my coworkers didn't recognize me as part-Korean. Wow. Even though everybody's so nice (except subway ajashi!), I still feel like an outsider. Can't be helped. I guess I belong in the U.S. just as well as anywhere else. Just stick with the coasts.
I've got more to write, but life calls. take it chill,
mo
So far during my vacation I haven't accomplished much. I've gone through my Korean-English dictionary to find choice phrases for ajashis who push me on the subway, as well as some general statements and questions that I may need to know in emergency situations: "where did you get those shoes? and what about the earrings?" or "No, thank you, I'm not interested; you're ugly." I've looked through my guidebook and found some places to visit (Namhan sanseong is just minutes away from me, on the outskirts of Seongnamsi! Score!). I do kinda miss some of the kids. Just a few. And I miss hearing "teacha!" (think Short Round in Temple of Doom). They sound so cute when they say that.
Today I fully realized my 한국여자-hood and wore heels to run my errands. yup. In addition, I actually looked like everybody else by texting people on the subway. uh-huh. All I have to do now is fix my hair and I'll be in business.
I've always kind of wondered how I appear to Koreans. I know that Americans think of me as non-white (I actually had somebody ask if I'm Mexican -- weird), and apparently Koreans think of me as non-Korean. Most of my coworkers didn't recognize me as part-Korean. Wow. Even though everybody's so nice (except subway ajashi!), I still feel like an outsider. Can't be helped. I guess I belong in the U.S. just as well as anywhere else. Just stick with the coasts.
I've got more to write, but life calls. take it chill,
mo
04 August 2007
Innocence lost
This story is not for the faint-hearted.
So far, Korea has been all glitz and glamour. It's one of the most cosmopolitan places I've been to. Nearly everybody is in shape and dresses great (clothes are so cute here!). Stores belt out K-pop or Top 40, and K-dramas rock. Bright lights of every color make midnight look like noon. I've never felt unsafe (except when crossing the street). But yesterday, I had a shocking reality check.
Despite the fact that I'm half-Korean, despite the stories my mom told me, I, in all of my western whiteness, could not have been more ill-prepared for what I experienced if I had grown up in a hermitage.
Thursday we headed out to Moran station to get my mobile. We went to three different vendors. The second vendor had a really great deal, but...the salesman at the third vendor was cute. So let's guess which one I went with. Actually, my Korean side (built-in love of money) also played a part: although more expensive initially, the third vendor offered more security in case I go over my minutes, which I'm prone to do. nuff said. I got my phone and noticed an outdoors shop, but didn't go in because I really wanted to go home and take a nap.
Yesterday I headed back out to Moran station to check out the store. Yeah, I got the usual ajashi push at the subway, but I wasn't in a bad mood so I didn't shove him back. But one of these days... About ten feet from the store door, the sunny sky suddenly began to pelt down rain, and I hurried in (curse me for taking sunglasses instead of an umbrella! I actually looked at my umbrella before leaving home, and decided I wouldn't need it). As usual, the salesman was smothering, and I really wish I knew enough Korean to say "Do you want to leave me alone, or do you want me to walk out?" Instead I just stopped and stared at him and he got the message. They didn't have what I wanted, but I didn't want to venture back out in the rain (curse me again for leaving my umbrella!), so I just hung out for a bit longer. I finally got sick of waiting and left, and luckily the rain began to die down just as I walked out the door.
The rain stopped just as suddenly as it had started, so I looked around some more. Moran has a "five day" market, which means that every five days (on days that end in "4" and "9"), the markets open up. This is reminiscent of the olden golden days when markets only opened periodically since transportation and communication were slow. Although I didn't know where the market was, I saw some open air shops that looked like a market, so I headed there to check it out.
I expected something like Namdaemun shijang, where I can find clothes, household items, and cheap fruits and veggies. Turns out, I didn't walk into a shijang, I walked into a live meat market. Basically a butcher shop. The first 10 feet were ok. Roosters, goats. Not gonna stop me from eating chicken. But then came the dogs.
I know that some Koreans eat dog. I know that Korea has been rural, and for the first 60 years of the century, desperately destitute. I know that when all the options are gone, people have to do some things that they may not do under normal conditions. I also know that often, "undesirable parts," when a country achieves prosperity, suddenly transform into "delicacies." Think escargot in France: people could not have possibly eaten that because they wanted to, but now it's high-dollar, or franc or euro or whatever.
Until yesterday, I was also open to eating dog meat. That sounds really gross, but you have to understand where I'm coming from. The dogs that people eat are not pets. They are specifically bred to be food. They actually look more like coyotes than dogs. So people aren't taking German shepherds and terriers and throwing them into the crockpot. ...Although I wouldn't mind so much chihuahuas and poodles. haha, make the world a better place... But also, growing up in the U.S., I've always been subjected to "eeew, how can you eat that?" when I describe Korean food (squid, seaweed, etc.). To which I've always wanted to reply (but wisely held my tongue) "shut up you uncultured pedantic cracker." Because of this response I've always gotten, I've made it a point to be open to other foods, no matter how much the idea grosses me out. Worst-case scenario about food: something gross goes into your body, and it comes out as something equally as gross. capisce?
Yesterday changed my mind. My mind immediately registered why I was seeing dogs penned up in a meat market. They just laid there, as if they knew their fate. Only one was sitting up and moving around, like it refused to give in. The worst part was glancing down at the ground and meeting three dead dogs lying in a pool of blood. I was in shock. I was numb. I couldn't stand to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the sight. I just kept walking and staring.
Until a vendor approached me and motioned me to check out his wares. Reflecting on the situation, it now occurs to me that I gave him a very shocked and disgusted look, and I know that for a fleeting tenth-of-a-second the half-formed thought (think Faulkner stream of consciousness) that I can only translate into, "what? are you going to kill and eat me, too?" sped through my mind. Totally illogical, to jump from eating dogs to cannibalism, but my trite justifications: one, my mind was responding in shock, and two, in my western mind it's not a far jump from eating a "pet" to eating a human. I'm ashamed of my lack of reason and my response, but culture is culture and I can only do so much to reeducate myself.
In a split second after that, I realized that I was either going to get sick or start crying if I didn't escape, pronto. I hurried into an alley and found my way back to the main street, and to the station. I felt dirty and disgusted, and tired and down.
Which only offers two solutions: 1) drinks with friends or 2) shopping. It was only 4 p.m., so I opted for the latter. Headed to Migeum station to check out 2001 Outlet, which is an oasis of affordability in Korea's high-cost society. *sigh of relief* It's also an oasis of bright lights and sterility and modernity, after what I had experienced just minutes before. *sigh of relief* People my age, sporting Lacoste and Converses...it was a welcome sight.
Back at home, it was both ironic and healing to hear pet dogs playing and barking in the courtyard below my apartment.
So far, Korea has been all glitz and glamour. It's one of the most cosmopolitan places I've been to. Nearly everybody is in shape and dresses great (clothes are so cute here!). Stores belt out K-pop or Top 40, and K-dramas rock. Bright lights of every color make midnight look like noon. I've never felt unsafe (except when crossing the street). But yesterday, I had a shocking reality check.
Despite the fact that I'm half-Korean, despite the stories my mom told me, I, in all of my western whiteness, could not have been more ill-prepared for what I experienced if I had grown up in a hermitage.
Thursday we headed out to Moran station to get my mobile. We went to three different vendors. The second vendor had a really great deal, but...the salesman at the third vendor was cute. So let's guess which one I went with. Actually, my Korean side (built-in love of money) also played a part: although more expensive initially, the third vendor offered more security in case I go over my minutes, which I'm prone to do. nuff said. I got my phone and noticed an outdoors shop, but didn't go in because I really wanted to go home and take a nap.
Yesterday I headed back out to Moran station to check out the store. Yeah, I got the usual ajashi push at the subway, but I wasn't in a bad mood so I didn't shove him back. But one of these days... About ten feet from the store door, the sunny sky suddenly began to pelt down rain, and I hurried in (curse me for taking sunglasses instead of an umbrella! I actually looked at my umbrella before leaving home, and decided I wouldn't need it). As usual, the salesman was smothering, and I really wish I knew enough Korean to say "Do you want to leave me alone, or do you want me to walk out?" Instead I just stopped and stared at him and he got the message. They didn't have what I wanted, but I didn't want to venture back out in the rain (curse me again for leaving my umbrella!), so I just hung out for a bit longer. I finally got sick of waiting and left, and luckily the rain began to die down just as I walked out the door.
The rain stopped just as suddenly as it had started, so I looked around some more. Moran has a "five day" market, which means that every five days (on days that end in "4" and "9"), the markets open up. This is reminiscent of the olden golden days when markets only opened periodically since transportation and communication were slow. Although I didn't know where the market was, I saw some open air shops that looked like a market, so I headed there to check it out.
I expected something like Namdaemun shijang, where I can find clothes, household items, and cheap fruits and veggies. Turns out, I didn't walk into a shijang, I walked into a live meat market. Basically a butcher shop. The first 10 feet were ok. Roosters, goats. Not gonna stop me from eating chicken. But then came the dogs.
I know that some Koreans eat dog. I know that Korea has been rural, and for the first 60 years of the century, desperately destitute. I know that when all the options are gone, people have to do some things that they may not do under normal conditions. I also know that often, "undesirable parts," when a country achieves prosperity, suddenly transform into "delicacies." Think escargot in France: people could not have possibly eaten that because they wanted to, but now it's high-dollar, or franc or euro or whatever.
Until yesterday, I was also open to eating dog meat. That sounds really gross, but you have to understand where I'm coming from. The dogs that people eat are not pets. They are specifically bred to be food. They actually look more like coyotes than dogs. So people aren't taking German shepherds and terriers and throwing them into the crockpot. ...Although I wouldn't mind so much chihuahuas and poodles. haha, make the world a better place... But also, growing up in the U.S., I've always been subjected to "eeew, how can you eat that?" when I describe Korean food (squid, seaweed, etc.). To which I've always wanted to reply (but wisely held my tongue) "shut up you uncultured pedantic cracker." Because of this response I've always gotten, I've made it a point to be open to other foods, no matter how much the idea grosses me out. Worst-case scenario about food: something gross goes into your body, and it comes out as something equally as gross. capisce?
Yesterday changed my mind. My mind immediately registered why I was seeing dogs penned up in a meat market. They just laid there, as if they knew their fate. Only one was sitting up and moving around, like it refused to give in. The worst part was glancing down at the ground and meeting three dead dogs lying in a pool of blood. I was in shock. I was numb. I couldn't stand to watch, but I couldn't tear my eyes away from the sight. I just kept walking and staring.
Until a vendor approached me and motioned me to check out his wares. Reflecting on the situation, it now occurs to me that I gave him a very shocked and disgusted look, and I know that for a fleeting tenth-of-a-second the half-formed thought (think Faulkner stream of consciousness) that I can only translate into, "what? are you going to kill and eat me, too?" sped through my mind. Totally illogical, to jump from eating dogs to cannibalism, but my trite justifications: one, my mind was responding in shock, and two, in my western mind it's not a far jump from eating a "pet" to eating a human. I'm ashamed of my lack of reason and my response, but culture is culture and I can only do so much to reeducate myself.
In a split second after that, I realized that I was either going to get sick or start crying if I didn't escape, pronto. I hurried into an alley and found my way back to the main street, and to the station. I felt dirty and disgusted, and tired and down.
Which only offers two solutions: 1) drinks with friends or 2) shopping. It was only 4 p.m., so I opted for the latter. Headed to Migeum station to check out 2001 Outlet, which is an oasis of affordability in Korea's high-cost society. *sigh of relief* It's also an oasis of bright lights and sterility and modernity, after what I had experienced just minutes before. *sigh of relief* People my age, sporting Lacoste and Converses...it was a welcome sight.
Back at home, it was both ironic and healing to hear pet dogs playing and barking in the courtyard below my apartment.
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