My favorite KPop song right now

If you can, just listen and don't watch the video because it's one of the worst videos I have ever seen.

However, if you do watch the video, riddle me this. Why is this girl blueballing all the boys? She really needs to stop. I do like that they picked an average cutesy girl instead of a hot girl. That's nice.

More Gems from my 12 Year Old

Me: Give me an example of someone or something that is gaudy (our classroom definition was showy or colorful)
JY: A flamingo

JY: Teacher, have you gotten any plastic surgery?
Me: No
JY: Maybe you should

Upon seeing my outfit
JY: Teacher, what is your look today?!?

JY: Teacher, did you go to church yesterday?
Me: No, I told you I don't go to church
JY: But I told you to go to church, God told me to tell you to go to Church.*

I love her (besides the whole 'trying to convert me every Monday afternoon') and I love teaching more than I thought I would. It makes me sad that I would never pursue it as an actual career due to the lack of money.

*I am much more tolerant of people getting preachy on me when it comes from a 12 year old. I remember when I believed when I was younger, life was so innocent back then.

2AM > 2PM

I really really like 2AM. Video will be posted later.

Taxi Cab Confessions

It has been confirmed recently that I love to converse with cab drivers all over the world (besides Paris, long story). The most Korean practice I get is when I am drunk taking a cab home (every Friday and Saturday). Sadly, my job requires me to speak only English 7 hours a day and my roommate is fluent in English so my Korean hasn't improve that much since coming here.

I am notoriously chatty with NYC cab drivers and have the ability to learn a driver's entire life story from anywhere below 34th street to Bushwick. They love to chat back since they probably deal with a lot of angry NYC assholes all day its refreshing to get someone....I guess I wouldn't call myself normal..but friendly? But I always wondered if they are humoring me for a tip. Since coming here it is confirmed that cab drivers adore me, Korean cabs don't get tips.

When I tell a Korean cab driver where I am going, he can tell from my accent that I am not a native Korean. He always proceeds to ask me where I am from. We get into the obligatory NYC vs Seoul conversation. Then after he gets comfortable with me, he inevitably starts whipping out his English. The English is always surprisingly good. They can carry conversations with me in English and it's amazing. He then asks me to say certain phrases in English using me as a free English tutor. I ask him to translate things I don't know in Korean. It's always a nice, informal language exchange. Finally, he drops me off at home and always asks if this is my apartment in which I reply, "No, I am poor it's my relatives place." This exact scenario has taken place the last 4 times I have taken a cab.

I should take more cabs just for the cheap Korean lessons.

The life of Korean Kids

So I private tutor a 12 year old in addition to my SAT classes. It is good depending on whether or not she is having a good or bad day. On a good day I want to take her home with me and love her and buy her stuffed animals. On bad day I want to wring her neck.

I don't blame her for her bad days though. The girl is worked like a piece of dough as many kids here are. She is the typical korean student with 18 hours of studying and activities a day. This girl is more productive in a week than I have ever been in my life.

Her summer is as follows:
4 hours of tutoring by me in math and english from Monday-Friday, then depending on the day and time of day she has one of the following...
Squash lessons
ballet lessons
regular dance lessons (I don't quite know what this means but its non-ballet dance)
violin lessons
swimming lessons
golf lessons
pilates (why a 12 year old girl needs to go Pilates when she already swims, golfs, and plays squash is beyond me)
church

Before she came to my class she had already golfed and done pilates. Immediately after my class she had a violin lesson.

She is surprisingly upbeat despite all this half the time. A kid is still a kid though and towards the end of the week she can get really restless.

I couldn't even sit in a chair for 3 hours straight in the summer of all seasons when I was 12, let alone learn the meaning of the word coalesce. It's weird, I know she should respect me because I am the teacher but in many ways I am in awe of her.

Some gems from the mouth of my 12 year old:

When she found out I do not attend church:
"If you go to Church teacher I will study really really hard. I promise"

When asked about the difference between advanced civilizations and primitive civilizations
"People in Seoul are advanced and people in Busan are primitive"
(Busan is the 2nd largest city in Korea by the way for those who are unaware, Seoulites are so the New Yorkers of Korea)

Missing my Family

I am really missing my family right now. It's strange because I saw them a month ago in Cali which is one of the shortest time periods I have gone without seeing them since moving out of their home 8 years ago. I think just being here reminds me of my family. I can't look at an old Korean man with big ears without thinking of my grandfather. I can't look at a poorly dressed yet adorable woman without thinking of my mom. I see a drunk man I think Daddy?! I could have sworn I saw my grandfather's brother at the bank the other day (very well could have been because my grandfather is 1 of 10 children). My family moved to California a few months ago after living in NY for 25 years and it just really hit me how much I miss them. I guess living in NY has made me too preoccupied and busy to realize. Sad.

Korean Wedding

I have no idea who got married but I went to a Korean wedding today. It is wedding season here in Korea. Apparently you can bring anyone you want as long as you pay for their meal. So that is how I found myself in a wedding of 2 people I have never met.

So Korean weddings are very boring. For a culture that loves to drink, weddings are a very sober affair. You go, they start in the morning. The couple bows to the mother's parents, then the father's parents while guests talk the whole time. My cousin kept chatting with me and I found it very bizarre, like shouldn't we be paying attention? Then the couple stands in the front while various groups of people stand next to them to get their pictures taken.

The guests go eat their meal (giving the wedding hall people a ticket to show you have paid). The couple comes into the dining hall while you eat, they cut the cake (but no one eats the cake so I was curious where this cake goes after they cut it, do they take it home? No sharing?!) and then they pour champagne into a champagne fountain (none of the champagne glasses are shared either $#@&Y*&^&$!). No dancing, no open bar, no DJ, no live band singing Journey songs, I got the sads.*

My family was talking shit because it wasn't buffet style which is funny because in the States we would prefer non-buffet style. My aunt then made my cousin steal the rice cakes in her purse to take home. My aunt is not poor by any means. She carried a Tod's purse to the affair, but stealing from restaurants crosses all socio-economic levels for Koreans. I remember my mom making me sneak food in my purses in high school and this mortified me. Now, I feel very normal about it all.

So that was my Korean wedding experience. The highlight was def when my cousin and I walked in late to the ceremony and a guy who was a very very mediocre singer was serenading the couple standing right next to them. I felt so awkward. While we may not drink like fishes like we normally do, I guess we still need to throw in a little karaoke.

*My cousin did state that sometimes the couple and their close friends will party the night before the wedding however I can't imagine looking great in your wedding pictures with a wicked hangover.

Cheese Kimchi Bokkum bab

This is Cheese Kimchi fried rice. Two of my favorite foods in one.

mmm mmm good

Went to an amazing authentic Korean restaurant the other day. We had bossam (steamed pork belly wrapped with kimchi and salted napa cabbage), homemade tofu, and chung guk jjang (which is really really stinky miso stew) with barley rice.

If you think Korean food is stinky, chung guk jjang is probably our stinkiest food. I remember when I was 11 and my family moved into our first home from the apartments we lived in, the first meal we made was chung guk jjang. It is so smelly that you need at least half an American acre in order to make it. So smelly yet so tasty once it hits your lips.

Yuksam Station

The area around Yuksam station (in Gangnam) is pretty corporate. I got off the subway randomly to explore and I was the only one in the hood not wearing a suit. It felt semi-financial districtish.

Can you spot the image on the black building? Hint: it has to do with soccer (shocker)

Japanese Food

The japanese food is bomb here. We may hate the Japanese but we still gotta eat right?

Monsoon Season

Monsoon month is upon us and I love it because it's either bloody hot here or raining. I will take raining over the former.

Yesterday we got blessed with a glorious sunshower. In NY, a sunshower means slight drizzle and usually partly cloudy. Here it was bright and pouring. A sight to behold.

Korean bbq/I am a fatass

I went to Korean bbq by myself last night and it's more of a shared/group meal. So many BBQ restaurants require a min of 2 orders for a table. I of course, sat there and ate enough meat for 2 people down to the last morsel of meat.

I frequently find myself having an inner turmoil with one side saying "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels" (words of her holiness Kate Moss) and the other side "But you will never get Korean food like this in NY"

I usually go with the latter.

We train them young

I am unsure if we get trained on the asian squat when we are very young or if we are innately born with this skill.

Exhibit A:

World Cup vs. Argentina

1 word: Amazing

It's weird living in a country full of immigrants bc we are never united for sport's sake. Yes I root for America during the Olympics but all immigrants have a side team to root for as well. All Americans watch the Superbowl, but we root for different teams, for me that usually means rooting against the Patriots.

This is what other countries look like after a victory at the World Cup.

Girls on Homemade Float things.

So Ridiculous

I had an experience on the subway. This guy sitting in front of me was wasted. Very common story here. So he is on the phone with his friend and starts screaming, cursing his friend out. Saying the most vile things in the Korean language on the top of his lungs. The entire car goes dead silent. This was the most obscene thing I have personally witness in Seoul thus far.

So this guy is shouting obscenities at the top of his lungs. The entire car is looking on horrified. Another older gentleman is getting fed up and says "Ya!" (like hey or yo) def getting pissed. I was vacillating between walking to a different car in horror and staying there laughing in his face. I know what my reaction would be in NY, I wouldn't even bat an eye.

In NYC, people would continue on as if nothing happened because stuff like this happens every 45 seconds. I mean I have seen people urinate. I have seen men openly masturbate, not once but on three occasions (the best was when I was in high school going clubbing with my friends and this guy was masturbating into a tire in an open car repair garage, we bugged out). I have personally been fondled on 7th Street (one of the worst experiences of my life but I do realize I am one of 60% of women who get violated in nyc). I have also heard of women stripping down naked in subway cars for the sake of performance art. So yes, you live in NY longer than 6 years, you have seen it all.

I was surprised at how shocked I was by the situation. I think because vulgarness is relative. In Korea, people, to quote my friend Dan "keep it classy". Yes, we get wasted, yes I have seen women fall out of their chair drunk and slide underneath tables, yes I have seen numerous men not able to walk on their own and need the assistance of 3 friends to drag him into a cab. But the aforementioned suspects are harmless, they never really cause a scene or impose their belligerence on other people. Because for a large city, Koreans, for the most part, act right. I have never even overheard a cellphone conversation because people are so polite (besides the usual shoving because this isn't actually considered that rude here).

So this goes on and on for minutes that felt like hours. Awkwardness ensues. And the cherry on the sundae was when after being hung up on by his friend three times, recalling him 3 times just to curse him out again, the guy gets so mad he spits on his own phone! I don't know if this guy is living in a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory world where things can travel through air in waves and land on the other side (who can forget Mikey and the TV incident). But the guy actually spit a huge loogey on his own phone thinking it would land on his friends face. I almost died.

Finally he calls back his friend (that he imaginary spit on) to ask him where they should meet up and he ever so politely tugs on a woman's shirt to ask her how to get to Samsung (not on our subway line by the way). She obviously does not talk back to this guy and he got off the next stop so nonchalantly to terrorize another subway. So yes, I realize this isn't so ludicrous if it happened in the States but in Seoul, he was the most outrageous person I have seen thus far.

Dduk

Dduk means rice cakes. Don't these look divine?

My View

Children's Grand Park

I stopped by the Children's Grand Park today. Its a vast park dedicated to children. It is a beautiful park and many people sans children were also there hanging out. It has a zoo, concert hall, character world museum, amusement park, and a few other things I didn't get to because it felt like 97 degrees today.

What I have learned after coming to Korea is that I don't hate kids. I thought I hated kids because the only time I interact with them in NYC is when they are interrupting my brunch (I do still believe that there are certain trendy brunch places one has no business taking a baby to). New York is not a kids town. OK, Upper East and Upper West yes. But I would say the vast majority of New Yorkers ship out of Manhattan after they pop one out to either another borough or a suburb.

What I love about Seoul is that children are everywhere, the subways, the streets, restaurants. My bike rack outside my apartment is mostly tricycles and it melts my black New Yorker heart when I leave my apartment for work. Half the population of South Korea lives in this city so it is an inclusive town and children are welcome. Not only are they welcome, but truly they run this city. My theory is, kids are spoiled rotten until a certain age here because once you hit studying age, your life is basically over until you finish university. Students work nearly 18 hours a day between attending regular school, hakwon (supplementary school), private tutoring, and homework.

Before the dreaded student phase of their life, kids under the age of 7 are absolutely doted on. It doesn't matter if it's your kid or not, strangers can talk to them, wave to them, and fawn over them and it's fine. If a guy tried to talk to my imaginary kid in NY I would automatically think pedophile (too much SVU will do that to you) and run to the next block.

Viyott Chocoling

Viyott is yogurt with mixable things in it. Chocoling meaning choco ring (since we have no R's in our alphabet) is chocolate coated cheerios.

We do have YoCrunch in the states but Chocolings>Granola. I do realize YoCrunch also has a variety with oreo topping, but oreos and yogurt to me is weird.

This is amazing!

We're so vain

It's perfectly acceptable to check yourself out in public. In fact, the city encourages this with full length mirrors throughout every subway stop. At first I found it odd when I'd see everyone from 14 year old girls to 65 year old men stop dead in their tracks to check themselves or fix their hair. They also do this in front of the glass partitions on the subway tracks to look at their reflection. I hate to admit it but I am starting to do it also.

Kong Guksu

The most beautiful, creamy, and delicious bowl of kong guksu. Does it not look like simple perfection in a bowl?

Kong Guksu is noodles in soy bean soup. The soy soup was freshly blended and incredibly frothy. I will insist on taking all those who visit me to this place. Buy your plane tickets now, for serious.

Nice Package

Plastic, Plastic Everywhere

The plastic surgery ads are too graphic for my taste and they bombard you with grotesque images (I really do not need to see someone's rogue toes at 8 Am). As mentioned before, plastic surgery is huge here. Mostly to get westernized eyes or a bigger bridge in the nose. However, breast implants are also growing in popularity.

Sometimes, when I leave my Kindle or IPod at home, I play a game in the subway that I like to call "Guess the Surgery", it can potentially be played the whole duration of the ride. After all, 50% of Korean women have the eye surgery, including my dear mother. My father's mother actually insisted my mother get the surgery before he married her. Now you know where I get the bitchiness from.

To me it is unfortunate because everyone is starting to look like the same person when they don't need to. What I love about NY (as opposed to La La Land or Seoul) is that a girl can make it with subpar looks as long as she has great style. I suppose Korea is a very looks oriented culture, what developed nation isn't? If it makes a woman feel better about herself then who I am to judge. I just have a problem with a society that places THAT much emphasis on an eye wrinkle and force their kids as young as 12 to get the surgery (true story, happened in my friend's middle school class).

Korean standard of beauty below. As I walked past this ad I overheard a girl say to her friend "Who wants to see this girl, she got her eyes, nose, and lips done. Is that pretty?" My thoughts exactly. I suppose I have to hand it to her, her surgeon def knew what he was doing.

My View Walking to the Subway

I have a great view depending on the pollution level of the day. Some days you can't see the mountains at all. I actually did not realize there were mountains beyond these buildings until my 4th day here because the smog is overwhelming. This morning I got lucky, pretty don't you think?

Tutoring

So I guess I haven't talked about my job at all so here goes. After 2 weeks of intense training (literally got 6 hrs of sleep a night), the teaching has finally begun. I am teaching reading and writing and I enjoy it. My hours are great, I work 6:30 PM-10 PM week days and 2:30-7 PM on Saturdays. I have one kid in each class so it's not overwhelming. I have one guy who is chill on the weekdays and one really sweet 9th grader girl on Saturdays.

A sample essay from a student will come soon because it was the best piece of work I have ever read and it needs to be shared. The previous statement is said with total sarcasm since it was a 3 page rant against the Japanese and how they screwed Korea. Propaganda, gotta love it.

Subway Floors you can eat off of

The subways here glisten. I see women mop every evening. They even wipe down the walls everyday! Not just a cursory wipe either, like women sitting on the stairs scrubbing with brillo pad and actual soapy water. I have never seen a NYC platform be cleaned in my 8 years of living in the city. Why can't New Yorkers be as civilized?

I was with my friend waiting for the subway and I told her how amazing I thought Korean subways are because they're so concerned with the safety of their passengers. The glass partitions prevented people from accidentally falling on the tracks like what happens to Nyers all the time.
My friend looked at me dead pan, "Um no Lia, it's because everyone tries to kill themselves here"

Oh....yeah. You win some you lose some.

P.S. My friend wasn't trying to be cute nor funny, suicide is a big problem here. That may need to be another blog post.

I heart quail eggs

I love how quail eggs are ubiquitous here. I love all eggs, always have-chicken, duck, quail, fish. If you gave me a lizard egg I probably would try it since I've liked the potential unborn offspring of all the animals I have tried.

It was such a treat to me in my younger days when my mom got quail eggs from Flushing to throw into various banchans (apps). I noticed recently my mom rarely does anymore and I now realize why. It is a such pain to sit there and shell them all. You have to shell about 4 to get the equivalent of 1 large egg and the shells are much tougher to peel. Doing it under water helps them slip off more easily. I suppose in my mother's later years she stopped having the energy!

I didn't really know what to do with them so I just boiled them and ate them with toast, American breakfast style. Still so good. I find their yolk richer than regular chicken eggs.

So Hot right now

Mismatched shoes are kinda trendy here. I liked this dude's color combo.

Notice the cushioney subway seats. If we had cushioney subway seats in NYC...no it's just unfathomable what would happen. I won't even try to get into those possibilities.