Getting Ready on a Sunday

And listening to Daft Punk. This song makes me wish I was going clubbing on a Sunday afternoon.

Only in Asia

Jess: So the Aland in garosugil was amazing.
Me: Right?!
Jess: Except I feel like it's more expenive than the other Alands
Me: Really?
Jess: Yeah, I saw a man's clutch for 200.

OK messenger bag or even shoulder tote bag is one thing. I know guys love the murse here, but a man's clutch is too much.

My Last Class Ever is Today

So I am teaching my last class ever today!

Feb I am only tutoring 4 hours a day. Almost back to my old life in NY.

My favorite cafe

This is my favorite cafe/bistro in Seoul. Fifty Cafe in Apgujeong. I actually legit like their western food. Their salads and fries are yum. The decor is super hip and cute too.

Koreans Like these Toast Things

So Koreans like toast as a sweet or savory snack. The cafes all have these thick toast breads with either fake cheese or ice cream on them.

This one was from Cafe T, kinda bouji, and it was amazing. The inside is gooey with cinnamon and honey. nom nom nom.

I never got it before because at places like Cafe Bene and Tom n Tom's, the toast looks gross in the display. Also, you go to Cafe Bene to smoke cigarettes and eat waffles. Nothing else.

Cafe Bene toast below, do Koreans realize cheese shouldn't hang like that?

Walmart Sells Caskets Now

So, I was told that walmart sells caskets now. No joke.

http://www.walmart.com/cp/Funeral/1058564

I know how expensive caskets are, and now it's really set in since I see the ones from Walmart are $3K.

What a waste and so brilliant when people are at their most vulnerable. Whoever is responsible for doing my funeral arrangements, bury me in a pine box and buy yourself a cartier. I won't mind in heaven, I promise.

Or buy a coffin from a wholesale Ghana dealer. Because being buried in a huge fish or a coke bottle sounds kinda awesome too.

http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/photo.day.php?ID=52081

My Guilty Pleasure

God, why do I love every single Black Eyed Peas song? I'm such an embarrassment to myself sometimes.

I love this song, almost as much as I love I Gotta Feeling.

Frozen Han River at Sunset

I never get sick of driving over the Hannam Bridge. It is my favorite bridge is Seoul mainly because it's the one that took me straight from my Gangnam crib to Itaewon to party with Brian.

It's been freezing temperatures for 3 weeks now so the river is frozen, so pretty.

Museum with my JY

This is the girl I tutor. I took her to Leeum Samsung Museum for her social studies project.

Ugh, this girl was so much shorter than me when I first met her. She has grown before my very eyes.

Winter Blues

I am fortunate enough to be in Korea during the coldest winter in 30 years. Hooray me!

Wish I was still in Bali right now.

One More Month

I always thought this song was really pretty.

I wanna hurry home to you
put on a slow, dumb show for you
and crack you up

A few observations on Korean things

Bus > Subway

Black Sesame Soy Milk > Plain Soy Milk

Kiwi Flavored Denmark Drinking Yogurt > Any other yogurt ever

Tuna Kimbap > Beef Kimbap > Vegetable Kimbap

Cheese ramen > ramen without cheese

Garosugil Aland> Myeongdong Aland > Apgujeong Aland (Aland is an amazing store here that sells everything from local Korean brands to APC, all very hip.)

Tous Les Jours > Paris Baguette > Bread & Co

Any other alcohol in the world > Soju

Nude Peppero > Almond Peppero > Regular Peppero

Also, speaking of peppero which is Korean pocky (or rather Pocky is Japapnese Peppero), Das Racist has the funniest line. They say a black guy on the outside who is a cracker on the inside is a pocky. I thought that was clever.

I suppose a white guy on the outside who is black on the inside would be nude peppero. So basically eminem is nude peppero.

My Friends are Weird

So my best friends from HS went on a trip to DC. They told Peter but no one told me till like 3 days before they left because they thought I would get jealous. They were right.

I, being a bitch, wanted to email them being like HOW DARE YOU, YOU COULDN'T HAVE WAITED?!

Instead, I thought this is what high school Lia would do and being almost 27 now, this wold be unacceptable. So I emailed them very nicely "have a great time, wish I was going..gratuitious pleasantry, gratuitious pleasanty etc etc"

Little did I know my friends already planned to bring a cardboard cutout of me and took me everywhere with them.

Yes, my friends are weird and bizarre but I was so touched. This was one of the sweetest things ever. So to my besties at home, love ya bitches. Can't wait for the next DC trip!

They know I'm a huge fan of the arts.

The bus ride wasn't so bad.

Meeting locals:

Partying with the girls!

4 More Days of my Hell Class

I have a hell class right now. It is teaching SSAT test taking skills to 2 13 years who SUCK AT ENGLISH.

For an analogies question, I kid you not, this is one of the questions they couldn't get:

Student is to School
a) beef is to cow
b) book is to library
c) jar is to glass
d) pain is to sane
e) girl is to women

I point out that the sentence should be "There are students IN A school." They couldn't get that the answer is book and library.

So like I understand if they haven't studied in America and that is why their english sucks, but no they have studied in America.

So then I think to myself to try to justify their idoiocy in my mind, well they're trying to take a test in a foreign language and that is hard. And then I think well I sucked in French in HS, what if I tried to take a weird French entrance exam.

But you know what? My french sucked but if the answer was 'livre and biblioteque,' um, best believe I would know that.

And not only are these kids dumb as rocks but they also have no personalities. They just suck and I hate them and I only have 3 more hell classes. It's unfortunate I had to end on such a sour note because all my other students were amazing and such a joy.

Pirates of the Somalia

So SK did a badass thing this past week. Instead of paying off Somalian pirates when they hijacked yet another SK commercial ship, the SK gov't pulled off a stealth raid and killed 8 pirates and overtook the hijacked ship.

So badass.

So now the pirates say, "We never planned to kill but now we shall seek revenge," a pirate who identified himself as Mohamed told Reuters by phone.

"We shall never take a ransom from Korean ships, we shall burn them and kill their crew. We shall redouble our efforts. Korea has put itself in trouble by killing my colleagues," he said from the pirate haven of Garad."

Oh boy. Seriously F these pirates. OK your 'colleagues' put themselves at risk by hijacking ships from countries ALL THE TIME and asking for IDK...$10 million to let the boat go. We've paid them off multiple times, $10 millon goes a long way in Somalia where 72% of the citizens live off of $2 a day. So you do the math.

Also, maybe SK shouldn't have killed them. We should have taken their asses back to Korea and not let them go. Just put them in jail. I also get that Somalia is a really poor country so they don't really have anything else to do but it still doesn't justify taking over other peoples boats.

Honestly, let's just take these pirates out once and for all.

Also, I miss South Park.

Yay for Real Music

So my first real music show in NYC is planned when I return! Cut Copy show at Terminal 5, I loveee terminal 5!!

Yay for music with real instruments. This isn't my favorite song off the album but the video made me laugh.

Yup We're Going to Hell

Me: So do you know ______ and _______ and a million other girls from HS are procreating before us? ugh i never want kids, its seems so...cliche now.

Kristen: their kids are going to totally be ugly though

hahahaha I die.

Proud Korean

This makes me feel so blessed to be Korean.

http://www.city-journal.org/2011/21_1_nyc-koreans.html

The good news is:
"A survey that Min conducted in 1992 found Korean merchants far more likely than blacks or whites to agree strongly that “in this country, anyone, regardless of race, sex, or national origin, can make it if he or she works hard.”"

I totes believe in the American dream.

The horrible news is:
In 1992, Min found that 61 percent of Korean merchants in black neighborhoods believed that “black people are generally less intelligent than white people,” while nearly 70 percent believed that “black people are more criminally oriented than white people.”

Ouch. I totes don't believe that but I will say this is a survey of people who work in the hood. I'm not racist but I am socio-economically biased. Whether it's West Virginia whites or hood cats, poor people are scary (unless they are first generation immigrants, bc most first generation immigrants are sort of poor at first). I am going to hell, I know.

I want real Cheese

Which means I have to haul my ass to a department store to get some. sigh.

So Pretty

I don't really like red cars but damn.

I Must Have Been Real Mean in Class Today

I must have upset the karma gods today because my night was all sorts of FML.

As I was walking on the bus I fell, like down-on-all-fours fell, the bus driver laughed at me. Thank god there were only 4 passengers to witness this.

Then I get home and realize I lost my keys somewhere. My door is locked but my keys are mysteriously missing. This is the second time I've called a locksmith in Korea. The first time was when I got locked out, not of my apartment mind you, my bedroom.

Sigh.

Wow

Lesson on brainstorming ideas for essay.

Me: Do you know who Malcolm X is?
Student: Is he the one that killed JFK?

Por Favor

Can someone pls fly to Korea so you can take some of my bags and I can avoid a million dollars in baggage fees?

I am freaking out because I paid almost $400 on the way here in baggage fees and I can only imagine after the ridiculous amount of shopping I did how much it will be when I leave.

Maybe I'll try the good old bribing technique to the guy checking my bags? Ideas are welcome.

I'm Intrigued

Kimchee taco truck opening in Brooklyn. The Korean taco craze continues.

http://newyork.grubstreet.com/2011/01/first_look_at_the_kimchi_taco.html

I am intrigued because they have rice cake skewars which look like the deep fried rice cake skewars here in Korea, but sprinkled with cheese. Everything is better with cheese.

Avoiding FB to not know outcome to Jets/Pats game

This is very hard. Im watching the Jets game tonight and the game has already happened as of now.

The anticipation!!

The Most Important Question

Why do Koreans think that bagels should be microwaved?

Has an actual Korean eaten one of these and think hmmm this has the consistancy of a tire? Maybe I dont know...I should try toasting it?!

Someone have a fucking bagel and lox for me ready when I get back. Thanks.

Sometimes War is OK

Not that I'm an advocate for violence by any means.

When NK attacked Sk I wrote a FB status saying:
but NK wouldn't be so dumb to attack SK right? right?!

I had a friend write back:
NK wouldn't attack with the full force of the US military glaring down it's throat. This is all propaganda to gear up for a US/SK attack on the North IMO. I've developed a keen nose for war propaganda since 2003

He's one of the conspiracy theorist type people who believe the US is evil and all war is bad. Yeah, one of those.

Yes I agree that NK is just doing it for attention.

But I categorically disagree with every other word in his statement. This is why:

A) Yes, SK owes A LOT to the US. We aren't under the rule of crazy Kim Jong Il because the US helped us in the Korean war. This doesn't mean we're eternally sucking the US' diz. The failed g-20 summit talks is an example of how SK is forging its own independence and standing up to US demands, at least economically.

B) South Koreans don't want war with NK. I don't know why anyone would think this. We have so much more to lose than NK. Um hello have you seen the Louis Vuitton store in Apgujeong? The average South Korean just wants NK to leave us alone.

C) We don't want to take over NK either. Why would South Korea want to be reunited with a country where most of the people are either malnourished, undereducated, brainwashed, or all of the above?

I was discussing this with Peter and told him it would be like the US and Mexico uniting. He said, yeah well then Koreans wouldn't have to import South Asians to do all the dirty work, you can make the North Koreans do the construction and dishwashing jobs. LOL, maybe he has a point there.

D) As much as I am against war and I wish we lived in a world where we all sing kumbaya together, I acknowledge the fact that bad people exist in this world. Kim Jong Il is one of them.

I was against the Iraqi war because Bush was framing Saddam with the WMD thing but was I against taking Saddam out? Not really. Did we forget that Saddam killed an estimated 50-100 thousand Kurds? He committed genocide. It is unfortunate that America only plays the world's police when we have oil to compensate us. Sadly we didn't care about Sudan because there was no incentive for us. I don't agree with how Bush framed the war, but Saddam was an asshole and honestly I'm glad we took him out.

People argue that it is not the US' job to be the world's police. Do you suggest that the UN be the world's police? Because anyone with a pulse knows that the UN is a joke.

I would love for anyone to take NK out. Human rights are violated everyday and as a fellow human being, someone should help them. It is unfortunate that we find too many logistics problems with this. Politics as usual.

E) Also, to people who are ALWAYS against war, as a South Korean, I am thankful that America stepped in against the Chinese in the Korean War. Yes. we were a pawn in their dumb ideologically battle but turns out that idealogical battle was a big deal. When North Korea invaded South Korea, the SK president made so many fatal mistakes (i.e. resisting America's idea to kill Kim Il Sung during the war because he wanted a 'united' korean, dude he just invaded your country, like why do you think you guys will be friends?) its a wonder we are not a part of China right now. I shudder to think what would have happened if the US did not fight on our side. We would have been demolished by the Chinese (not because they are better than us, but because hello, they have a billion people to send to fight).

So to all those 'against' war, sometimes war is necessary because otherwise there are some crazy bad guys out there.

F) Also, as I end this one more note.

I want to end this rant with a big fuck you to the Chinese government. It is because of your support of the North Korean government that they continue to have a leg to stand on. You deport North Korean defectors back to North Korea to be killed. You support NK because you are too prideful to admit that this whole communism thing isn't working out. You baffle me because you gain nothing by supporting the North Koreans and yet you do just to annoy every other country.

If all else fails, just blame the Chinese. Speaking like a true American.

How to Pick a Book for a Korean Middle Schooler

Me: What about The Sun Also Rises?
E: Too racy
Me; What about Sula?
E: We already do Morrison
Me: What about Siddhartha? Too hippie dippy?
E: hmmm
Me:Oh what about Hiroshima?
e: It's about the Japanese, we can't pick a book about the Japanese in Korea
me: Yeah, but it's about the Japanese being nuked, they'll LOVE it

Tucson

So I've been keeping up with all the Tucson news.

I saw the Gawker post where Sarah Palin's employees scrub her page of negative comments. Apparently they don't do it fast enough because when I checked there were a ton of negative comments. She has 2 million Fb fans, Obama has 17 million. Phew, goodness prevails...on FB at least

I watched the memorial speech today at work. Teared at my desk (I really need to stop crying at work watching youtube videos).

Obama just won himself another reelection methinks.

Ny Cab shortage between 4 and 5 PM

So this times article talks about how there truly are no cabs between 4-5 PM because that is when cabbies change their shifts. They say its a 'real' problem because thats when people getting off need cabs.

I need to ask, What NYer in their right mind gets off earlier than 5 PM? If this is you, you aint working hard enough.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/12/nyregion/12taxi.html?src=me&ref=nyregion

Army Base Stew

I had a wicked hangover Sunday and finally decided to get budae jjigae. I have never had budae jjigae in my life but I knew it would be the perfect hangover cure because basically all disgusting unhealthy food are good hangover cures.

Budae Jjigae is a dish that started after the Korean War when we were mad ghetto. They would throw whatever scraps from leftover canned army food and throw it into this stew.

My stew had the following:
cheese
baked beans
spam
ham
bacon
ground pork
pepperoni
sausages
ramen noodles
and of course kimchi for that Korean flavor

They add a white beef soup to the goodness and boil away.

It was everything I wished for and more. I am making this at home but adding vienna sausages. I secretly love vienna sausages. I am Korean, artifical meat is in my DNA.

**The photo is not accurate, there are no greens in this stew. Those greens are garnish for photo purposes only.

I'm so 4 months ago

I JUST heard this song for the first time. I know it was really big months ago, or so I hear. Ugh this makes me miss listening to real rap music in NY.

I can't wait to cruise on the FDR blasting this song. Yeah, sure the car will be a rented Scion from Zipcar or something but still.

Yeah, I know

JY: Where did you get your scarf?
Me: From a street stand on Garosugil
JY: Why?
Me: Because they're cheap
JY: Oh really? I only buy brand name things

Lil Wayne

So fb knows I'm a little wayne fan and this question popped up on my feed:

"Can someone explain to me how Lil Wayne is considered a great artist?
He doesn't stay on topic, has no classics, did an alternative rap album(Rebirth) Lollipop & Bedrock were very bad songs..."

My personal thoughts:
Since when do rappers ever stay on topic really? and seriously you are judging him by Lollipop and Bedrock? Everyone knows his best songs are on unofficial mixtapes. Clearly this guy has never heard "Ride 4 My niggas" on Da Drought 3, "Bandana on the Right Side" from the Dwayne Michael Carter Diaries, "Cannon" from Dedication 2, and "Duffle Bag Boy" from The Best Rapper Alive Vol. 3.

After many may commenters listing the virtues of Lil Wayne, I see this gem:
"Whilst I agree with most everything the others have said above, mainly landon, I must add to the fact that the individual who posed this question just clearly doesn't know a thing about music... Making this thread irrelevant. Would you want to share personal feelings of a painting with a blind person? I didn't think so."

Top so cool

I usually hate when Asians dye their hair blond, but TOP suree can pull it off.



Although, this song is so an American hip hop song like 10 years ago.

Is Korean too hot right now?

So Korean things are so hot right now.

Perez blogs about 2ne1.
NYTimes figured out that they have many, many Korean American readers and write a disproportionate number of articles about Korean things (korean fried chicken, korean cuisine, seoul).
David Chang has been one of the best chefs in NYC for a few years now.
Korean LA rappers (!) had the number one single on Billboard.
Korean BBQ is the new sushi.
Everyone wants a Korean LCD TV, Sony is shit now.

Which is really cool for Korean Americans. I think about the endless times as a kid being asked if I was Chinese (Um, fuck no). Now, I've noticed in NY that people ask me if I am Korean, on the first try! (Although oddly enough, in Korea people ask me if I'm mixed or Japanese, sigh)

We've certainly come a long way in mainstream America.

But this also makes me worry that Koreans are a little too hot right now. Are we to the aughts as the Japanese were to the 80s? Are we just a trend?

Yes i know im really black

JY: So are you going to go to NY to get married?
Me: Yes, I think I will get married in NY
JY: Are you going to marry a Korean or an American?
Me: Prob an American
JY: Why not Korean?
Me: It would be nice also to marry a Korean, but my boyfriend in NY is American
JY: So if it's nice to marry a Korean why are you going to marry an American?
Me: Because I love him and you should marry who you love
JY thinks about this for moment
JY: I think you will have really pretty kids!
Me: Why do you say that?
JY: Because mixed kids are always really pretty
Me: Well not all mixed kids are pretty, sometimes they come out really awkward looking. My boyfriend is really pale so maybe they will look like an albino Asian.
JY: What's an albino?
Me: It's a person with no skin pigment or coloring so they're really white
JY: Well, he's really pale but you are really really black so you will be OK

Huh?

Teacher, I am being a lubricant today!!!
Huh?
You know, a crazy person...Wait is it lunatic?

Far East Movement

I finally listened to Like a G6 for the first time today. I realize this song came out 3 months ago, I am so out of the loop!

Their sound is dope. It made me wish I was an LA Korean. My parents live there, can I claim to be bicoastal now?

This would have been my anthem from 2006-2008.