things to do in korea when yer dead

"MONSTER LOCATION" scouting (nostalgia and fear follow)

2008-07-30T13:51:00.006+09:00

for some reason i am compelled to make something of an update if any of you still even happen upon this thing- i really hope you do(see title) and i am even more compelled to make this succinct so no one gets bored but my brain is literally being inundated by information right now....HERE GOES:

first off- there are ants coming out of my keyboard all the sudden. it's like some fucking German expressionism film in here but it somehow makes sense. it's been damn hot in this city and i finally got this AC window unit thing outta my sisters car and up here in queens so my room is...literally freezing and i love it so much....yet all this scary shit the past few days...i've been feeling literally scared(referring to title of post)....so i delay going into my room cause i know ill be in here alone with the door closed to keep the cold air from escaping...why???
i attribute it to recent episodes with bugs (e.g. before-mentioned ants in keyboard) and literally burying myself in research on some of the most horrendous crimes the world has ever seen SPECIFICALLY unlawful and extended incarcerations (e.g. silvia likens of Indiana and this woman in AUSTRIA who was kept in a cellar for 24 years by her father who was also having kids with her...? katerina...thoughts?!?!?!?!)
so thinking about people being locked in basements plus the bugs (i also woke up and saw what i thought were silkworms burrowing holes in my arm a few weeks ago. i ran outta my room and saw pete and was like DO YOU SEE ALL THESE MARKS ON MY ARM DO YOU SEE ALL OF THIS???.....residual dreaming i suppose) makes me wary of coming in here no matter how cool and refreshing it is.
also-i'm home alone tonight WTF. so i'm writing a blog...which is already too long. dammit. well here's the wrap-up.

we were location scouting in INWOOD PARK today, which is at the very northern tip of manhattan...in theory...but when you get there it's unreal. as michael warned us, "YER GONNA FUCKING SHIT!!!" while we were driving up there.
And strangely enough we're like hiking up these huge rocks and things once we get there and all i can think of is KOREAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA:
honestly, new york city...and manhattan of all the boroughs...looks like fuckin korea man. and of course i get all nostalgic(again, title) and freaked out when i realize it's been almost a year since i first arrived there and met all of you and now my life has changed literally hundreds of times over since that day as well. even when i think of january now it's like i was some other person living some other life.
things are exponentially better than they were this winter, yet for some reason standing on a stupid rock throws that all out of balance. i'm suddenly involved in this huge endeavor-and by 'huge' i can only refer to the immense amounts of planning and work that lie ahead...oh, and i have literally no clue what i'm doing. so i'm like....should i really be doing this? was this meant to happen or something? i dont fuckin know. if i think about it too much i freak out.

to conclude i miss you all a lot and i get reminded of it all sometimes...especially today. despite how i may sound in this post, i am indeed excited about what's happening now, regarding the projects and whatnot. it's just that i'm in completely uncharted waters right now and everythings' only in its most fetal of stages......

including what i hope is gonna be an actual screenplay, which i'm supposedly starting this week.....which the real reason i keep reading about criminals. so rest easy. and call/contact me...like right now.....please?

love yous.

QUEENS OR BUST

2008-03-01T12:48:00.004+09:00

i'm moving queens tomorrow. it feels good saying that cause i'm like...actually living there...for a year...and no more air mattress, but like with a legit bed. bnnngggggg

all i gotta say is, after all this crap-east village then no more east village, brooklyn? nope. brooklyn again? NOPE. friends.jersey city- is THANK YOU PETE for making this all possible. my nomadic days are over. cut to me living "the family life" in the lovely neighborhood that is Astoria, Queens. fuddy-duddy me? perhaps, cause it sure beats the hell out of "my life's a mess" thing.

that being said, this photo is all i've seen of my new digs. brick, big window, virgin mary statue standing proudly in a patch of ACTUAL EARTH?!?! (this is so kickass btw cause we can like...grow tomatoes)....oh yea and my roommates pete n' james (left to right) respectively. so i guess this will be all the more exciting when i get there tomorrow. yeaaaa

as far as being a culturally-curious person- i need to see some serious movies. like...i mean all of them. i'm way behind in that respect. i just keep watching freaks n' geeks at home and night of the living dead.
speaking of which- i started reading World War Z and it is....i mean i hate to sound like the blurbs on the cover of the book but in 2 words: gripping. reading. although i should emphasize "gripping" in the way a cold, dead hand would grip with rigamortis in full swing. there is actually a scene where this is described early on in the book...i dunno it's terrifying in its descriptions and even more so in the whole "first hand account" style that it employs. It's so much more effective this way cause you're just reading these passages and getting totally tricked into thinking its real. (cough house of leaves).
reading this waiting for the subway/path train really added to it cause its totally like...one of those places where in the event of a zombie outbreak would either be a sanctuary or a total death trap. i walked all the way down to the end of the station platform to distance myself from the people...and this guy was totally peeing wtf.
i'm not too far into the book though beacauuusseeee........

i started reading james' scott pilgrims and like...just forgot about everything else. so i read 2 outta the 4 and i was gonna go straight into 3 but was like..."waaiiit....save these!" cause i really can't explain much more than the fact that they just like...i dunno cheered me up? cant explain it. so yea i'm thinking there will be a time, probably during a queens commute where i'm gonna just feel like...well i dunno but i'm not gonna want to be thinking about zombies. so then i'll be like "ok time to break it out".

it'll be good to read 'em especially cause i havent listened to like anything new in a WHILE. i need some new music in my life. help?

LOVE YOUS

maximum city

2008-01-24T00:17:00.000+09:00

my blog's gotten real boring upon my return. i too am jealous of hannah, pat and peters entries on their trip of a lifetime to Southeast Asia as well as james' shiny, happy life (the book reviews are great though, man). i would document my complete undoing, although, like i said, camera's broken. i'm living the nomadic life right now. usually i'd be like "SOUNDS COOL!" but in this city, it's just inconvenient as fuck. my situation, however, has yeilded an assload of rekindled friendships/concerns/new friends and things of that nature so i guess that's pretty neat.

amy, ryo, crystal, james-thanks for chattin with me on the phone when you can. yer all like little rays of sunshine, ya know...which is amazing cause new york has gotten....frigid.
yeaaaaaaaa

so it's like 10:30am and i'm at my friend lisa's place and she's already left for work/class cause she's one of those wonderwoman types. i mean literally like...saving the world. she's a social worker and was kind enough to put up with my antics last night; i went completely batshit after emerging from my bathroom phonecalls with ames and james. (i was in there a while, which actually worked out though...for her boyfriend at least).

but ZOINKS her dorm's in the financial district so check out this view:

this is what gives you vertigo. we're something like 23 floors up i dont even know...

so that's all i got, i'm a creep who takes pictures in people's rooms when they aren't there. this is my life, i guess. oh, there's class too....which only started yesterday. i got korean in a little bit so i should get going....emerge from hiding and join the rest of 'em out there....ya know the living?!?

what am i talking about.

i love yous.

"got killed by 10million pounds of sludge from new york and new jersey..."

2008-01-03T00:07:00.000+09:00

the pixies. yes, good. and relevant.

so HERE I AM IN JERSEY...how happy do i look?!??! went to new york to ring in the new year hagoh ALEX (here he is at 'the apartment') and later SETH SSI (not pictured) i had to use my old camera since mine broke and i hate it cause then it eventually broke later rendering all new years 2008 memories unseen...except this one of course: so yea no real shots of new york cause as i was walking down the street in daylight all i wanted to do was ya know...not be walking on the street and shut myself in the apartment and never come out until nighttime. we have a complicated relationship. and my building has rusty fire escapes: and the apartment has no/limited space (not pictured: ROOMMATES garrett, lucy i'm such a creepster, im sorry) fire hazard, definition of: this is where i used to sleep, sorta. bahhhhh so yea good to start 2008 with alex,seth and others although i crapped out early due to the most MASSIVE HEADACHE OF MY LIFE (12 hours duration, wet-paint fumes induced). but good nonetheless....

i've probably disclosed this to all of you at some point multiple times, but being back is really, really fucking weird...dont know what to make of each day im here and im sleeping a lot. pretty much i miss you all a fucking lot.

taking this further MISCELANEOUS CLOSE-UPS:

adorable-rediculous...yet all the while pensive: ryo-nocerous

wide-eyed and awesome: jake ssi

pretty as always: peter

equally pretty, extremely focused and/or neon: james

though previously used cute and pretty are applicable here, but so as to emphasize how much you wanna hug her when she makes this face: amy dela

also wide-eyed, also cute...curious silvia

"yea i used to be a child actor but behind these eyes i'm deep, fuckers." not an actual quote from pat but it should be.

badass. crystal...who i'm seeing in new york like...TOMORROW?!?!? fuck yea....we talked on the phone it was awesome.

not pictured: hannah-no close ups of you? guess i never thought to bring my camera to all our naps. which i miss like the dickens like i do YOU...love

also not pictured: me homeless in new york hahahahahahaha....no, seriously.

LOVE YOUS

싸움패

2007-12-25T17:23:00.000+09:00

happy xmas my loves- my stocking from last year:
aannnnddd some happy pictures from happy times. LOVE YOUS

"it is the season of farewells" quoth alex

2007-12-23T04:09:00.000+09:00

and i've cried like 5 times already today. it's currently 4am in korea...leaving for flight in like 2 hours...stuffs almost packed. gotta vacuum. got some chingoos in the air right now already. pat n' peter are passed out in my room snoring quite loudly. i gotta go fetch amy, hannah, ryo n' jake-having only snoring people in my room is not good for me right now. just kidding ryo's back. i wish i could find nina. she literally saved my life today helping me pack/throw all this shit out...shes amazing. so is everyone. aaahh losin it(see below)

for some reason i can't rotate this picture. maybe its more effective this way. i'm done. more coherence/photos to come. after im on a plane for like 18 hours of course.

i love you all.

DETHRATTLE

2007-12-12T00:31:00.000+09:00

...or the "final throws" if you will. i dont like that it's already come to this...but i spose we've been here a while...i'm reminded of that everyday as it gets colder and the chingoos and i constantly deconstruct our relationships(how they've grown/changed et.al) complications aside i love you all.

everyday i wake up in my disgusting i-house room, i'm sooo glad i'm still here because i know i wont be able to say that for much longer. i was explaining this to alex last night in a state of near-delerium(sleeps been lacking) and he was all "what makes you like this place so much?" and my answer is pretty simple, i mean i've loved everything that's happened here.

i dont want to get prematurely emotional...there will be plenty of time for that(or no time at all) later...i should be studying or at least not hermiting it up in my nasty room. i feel like im in need of some sort of catharsis; everything seems so uncertain around finals in general cause its like your entire semester reflected in the actions and decisions made in just a few days. there's even more uncertainty about getting back to new york...my living situation etc. doesn't help to get e-mails like these:

Sent
Wednesday, December 5, 2007 1:41 am
To: Angelica G Jannone agj211@nyu.edu
Subject: it's official
Ok so I feel like I have been in new york long enough say this. I hate downtown and fuck the F line. Today I wasted 1 hour. 1 hour waiting for the fucking F. Not to mention that downtown is a complete shit hole. Nothing makes sense down there. Nothing. Anything past 14th is officially dead to me. How are things with you?
Andrew Edmund
my notoriously/endearingly demi-psychotic former manager at the movie theatre....ugh, new york promises to be a challange...perhaps more than seoul ever was. i'm trying to think positively and look forward to how i'm going to change my life in so many small, yet significant ways. i want new york to have a new connotation for me.
most importantly i want VISITORS...you know who you are. make it happen. you'll know where ill be.
dammit enough bummin for now. in the meantime, CHE-IL CHINGOOS! (see above).

LOVE YOUS

108 postulations etc.

2007-12-11T03:22:00.000+09:00

buddhism is more about practice than theory, action and reaction if you will...very newton's third law of motion. with emphasis on the "action" side of things we did stuff like wake up at 3:30am for prayer and bowed 108 times (like to the floor, on yr knees bowing).....good times. this was temple stay (props to katerina and hannah for these pictures)

sylvia, james, hannah n' me washing our dishes after eating awesome korean-buddhist food...which is all rice and awesome kimchi/vegetables(no meat). they gave us these comfy outfits to wear the whole time.

THE MONKS! frome left to right- sri lankan monk, vietnamese monk, korean monk, russian monk. they were really awesome, funny, mild-tempered guys who did their best to explain everything they could to us (only the last two spoke english). this was during one of the prayer sessions. chanting is really cool.
katerina getting ready to meditate. this was intense because recently being still and quiet for a period of time has been really difficult for me for some reason. i thought it was would last forever but eventually my thoughts turned to nothing and i kinda felt like i was sleeping only i wasnt?...pretty sure we were all swaying a little though...
we got to do some calligraphy with ink n' brushes which was cool...chinese and korean. we all got pretty into it...especially hannah who churned out like 5 of these scrolls in the time it took me to do one (chollima movement much?)
needless to say we were tuckered out by the end....when we got back to sinchon i went over to hannahs and slept from like 4 in the afternoon till around 7:30 the next morning...but it was totally worth it to get out of seoul and experience life as a monk for a hot minute (emphasis on hot since they cranked up the undulbang(heated floor) to like charred-steak mode). i should post more of the pictures that showed outside..it was really pretty with all these lanterns, not to mention the tempe was a sight to see as well.....but its almost 4am and i told myself i'd sleep more since i'm not doing that so much these days.....MORE TO COME

LOVE YOUS

bacchus,bacchus everywhere not a drop to drink

2007-12-03T10:57:00.000+09:00

let us, for a moment, contemplate the nature of my existence right now....
NOTE the BOTTLES....bottles everywhere...this picture doesn't even do it justice...theres bottles all over my desk....around it....WTF is with all the bottles?!?!?!
enter bacchus-D...korean energy drink tastes like concentrated red bull and it actually WORKS....i plan on continuing to consume this...especially in the coming weeks because shit's gonna hit the fan school-wise...not to mention we're leaving?!?!?! dont wanna go there right now.....
on a lighter note-my PARENTS WERE IN KOREA!!!!!!!!!!!! CHECK EM OUT!

i got some pictures in at the DMZ before my camera died....here's joel looking pensive by some pro-unification themed art:

the "train station" between pyeonyang and seoul...note:no trains actually run....yet...??

joel and some guards....you know...chilling.....

i'm glad it turned out to be a good trip for them...we had some good foods and they loved dr. fish...plus i sent them home with a bunch of peppero and goh-chu-chang...i'll be seeing guys soooon...thats directed to you as well GINA...career woman mcgee.....wish you coulda came too i totally miss yer ass........aahhhh

in meantime shits gonna get serious....i have a project due tomorrow wtf...i'm going to the gym. pretty much this picture of jake says it all:

i just noticed the graffiti behind him kinda makes him into some bizzare mini-mouse type thing hahahahaha

more to come: we did templestay this weekend...where you stay at a temple with monks and you do what they do...totally wish i had my camera but as i mentioned earlier...it died...charger went missing im not too happy about it.

LOVE YOUS

#$@*^##$(((((((SHITSTORM) or "slushfunz" cause shakespeare sometimes gave you two titles n' shit....i dunno the option's nice SUCKIT

2007-11-21T04:35:00.000+09:00

days are blurring together at an even more furious pace than before-it's like im in a fucking VORTEX...i love vorticices....and vorticism...like a lot but its pretty crazy how i can only get a grip of my days here(and there arent much left?!?!?!) through punctuated moments of awesomeness....thus-SHITSTORM:

new cafe by hannah's place, really cool looking inside, guy's real nice and gives us markers and crayons and COOKIES while playing chill music
drawing has become a new hobby of ours-i'm pretty sure james is mid-epiphany here as he begins his crayon series about that guy..."i go fucking fast on my hog" et. al. brilliance ensues.

seth and jake mad chilling as usual...they really like coffee shops...perhaps more than we...??cut to next coffee shop...the one in hongdae with the STRONGFUCKINGCOFFEE...emphasis on strong-honestly you won't be the same all day...it was good though since it got super cold on this day...and pat was totally plugging away on his paper...here he is looking pensive and ethnic(canadian) as per usual: there is a fine line between productive and strung out-best illustrated here by james:
more caffeine propelled drawing: ryo just whips out these rediculous skills outta nowhere...godamn ryo..... (not pictured:pat,ryo,james n' myself watch "sympathy for mr. vengance, are fucking traumatized et.al.)

back to the cheongyucheong river/stream...this giant man-made oasis right in the middle of seoul that i am a pretty big fan of...going back in the cold gives it a whole new perspective
....seriously not too long ago we were putting our feet in this thing and now were under the bridge hiding from a spontanious SLEET/SNOW STORM?!?!(not pictured: we get freezing-fucking-soaked...fun nonetheless...figures our chaotic mental state would manifest itself via freezing precipitation)warmed up, got some sleep, went to class and emerged to find alex beginning his awesome art project in front of i-house, i help him.."open is free" its a giant balloon and then we laid on the ground and outlined eachother to make a human chain all the way down the driveway....alex is a fucking mastermind

i remember posing for this one...

jake was in charge of publicity/sex-appeal as per usual.
in seoul there's this place called dongdaemun(dohng-day-moon) that's famous for its shopping cause its a massive nexus/fuckload of vendors and shopping complexes thats pretty indescribable...oh, also yr supposed to go at night...here's hannah, amy and her sister shannon gettin weary around midnight:

goddam get her outta here...(not pictured:a much needed trip to dvd bang and we emerge rejuvinated)

CAUSE IT FUCKING SNOWED(sorta)...here's ryo in a ghost cloud:

snowsnowSNOOWWWWW-circa 4am....like not too long ago...im still awake right now wtf??

partially-pictured-ryo wrote 'fuck' in the snow cause he's real mature like that...goddamm i need to sleep...also FUCK how'd so much time go by in korea already? how'd we get here HONESTLY

mom&dads are gonna be here tomorrow...they're on the plane right now AAHHHHHH

going to sleep LOVE YOUS

noisenoiseNOISE is for heroes

2007-11-13T20:45:00.000+09:00

come on feel the noise...
stuff got pretty damn cool once we all started jumpin' off things:
bungeeeeeee. this day was seriously great; lots of hugs, screaming, some falling LOVED IT.some more new things to do- cuddling on the steps outside of i-house.
jake and alex-LOVE THEM

um...and more trips to hongdae as illustrated..er rather performed by ryo. CHECK OUT THE COLORFUL MINI....hongdae's so cool but you gotta be careful with the coffee. all im gonna say.ambiguous heaping fuckload photo 1: tons of customized converse being sold at the sunday craft fair in hongdae...once again, hongdae's cool

ambiguous heaping fuckload photo 2: PEPERO DAY. in korea on 11/11, you celebrate pepero day since they're this stick biscuit things(get it? cause its 11/11,,,,sticks....) you're supposed to give em to people you like....as you can see in the picture we all have some pretty big crushes on eachother...this holiday's awesome.

peter at sohm(one of our new favorite places) enjoying some pepero with his existential contemplation

more awesome additions- ANNA YI(not pictured....yet.....) and the most amazing hangouts imaginable at her place...don't know where she came from but she gets everyone to do awesomely productive things like cooking korean food, making fondue, drawing, haircuts and craft projects. seriously where has she been all this time????

james and ryo with his sickass multimedia diarama...i tried to photograph everything like as i was leaving so you can't see shit...but people made cool stuff FOR REALS

don't know how i managed to meet a whole bunch of super-talented, super-smart and super-halarious people (as lovingly pointed out by pat) all at once...dayummmmm

but let us not forget perhaps once of the most prevalant themes of this trip thus far: FRUIT LOOPS a.k.a. losing our damn minds and loving it....hence i had to take a picture of this street art in hongdae(damn why's it so cool??) INSANITY IS GIFT.....absolutely.

LOVE YOUS

brains for dinner, brains for lunch, brains for breakfast, brains for brunch

2007-11-01T12:41:00.000+09:00

i was a little worried about halloween in korea since they don't really celebrate it...i guess that made us more zealous about it and the results were the most amazing zombie army ever...the pictures(which i stole) are pretty funny in contrast to last year...

.....me n' lucy- crazy bird n' beeeee

took things up a notch...we worked real hard on our costumes and pat, james n' me went to korean class looking like this.....SICK AS HELL
amy n' me chowin down on anna

ZOMBIE ARMY....we looked pretty brutal and walking in a hoard through sinchon freaked everyone out....i love us.

creepycreepycreep.....i got class right now though LOVE YOUS

LOOK AT THE 단풍! IT'S SO BEAUTIFULLLLLL

2007-10-29T01:35:00.000+09:00

what it is-for katerina's birthday we went to chonju which is like 3 hours south i think...we hiked and chilled and took in the AUTUMNAL TINTS. pretty rediculous...leaves turned bright yellow and red pretty abruptly. yeaa we were standing on the tops of mountains and i pretty much loved it. trips out of seoul are coooolll.....damn i sound dumb PICTURESS!!!!!!

hannah n' ryo soo happy
ryo, james, amy n' me bein creeps outside our hotel...we slept on the floor
maisan...this is lull so you cant see the hoards of people hiking up with us...koreans live for this shit apparently........
james and some 단풍(autumnal tints)....as you can see they're competing for brightness
mountainsssss
pat taking it all in a maisan...transcendental and whatnot you knowwwww

i like when walking shots make my friends look like they're in a gang...in the background the two mountains in the distance are called "horse ears" for obvious reasons we found this amandoned amusement park on the way...introspective-suburban-kid's photographic DREAM COME TRUE....isnt it?

this was at maisan too....and its magic
jake's transcendentializing as well

(not pictured)-our hike to the summit with pagoda, hoards of korean hikers wearing the same thing and walking sticks and being super pushy....us, near death....

...i can't even explain to you the sheer number of asians on this mountain today....unreal.

great trip though and i heart my chingu's something fierce...meanwhile im really tired and sore so im goin to bed

LOVE YOUS

CHAINSAW! RUNNIN ALL THROUGH MY HEAD

2007-10-22T22:19:00.000+09:00

hobo choe (10:08:13 PM): like if you told me to punch myself in the face
hobo choe (10:08:18 PM): even though i bruise easily, i'd do it
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
i'm into feeling contradictory emotions simultaniously-i've never made a happy music mix without also making a crazy/sinister sounding one. being scared and happy is MY FAVORITE...so is tired/crazy....and quick-witted incoherence...love it when that happens.
right now im feeling kinda shitty about things (MIDTERMS) and also super-psyched/appreciative.....its an interesting dichotomy...i've been listening to a lot of lightening bolt these days.....

evelyn gets it.....
pat-kwak!!!!

despite mid-insanity, i LOVE ME SOME HANNAH CHOE

LOVE YOUS

dead but RESTLESS

2007-10-16T14:53:00.001+09:00

it's around that time of year...ka-uhl(fall)....we're getting the uge to roam about...look at these CREEPSTERS

seoul fireworks show on the han river???

SNOOZEFEST....bright, flashing things can only keep one entertained for so long (attn: sinchon)

SOLUTION: INSADONG. (via our new morning/afternoon exploration program...i'd say attempt one was strong to very strong)dammit insadong is so cool...look at this place...who wouldn't love it THERES MAGIC AT EVERY CORNER

ideal for all your ethnic curositites as well

too awesome can't handle ittttttttttt

pretty rooftops YESS-BONUS FEATURE:at night these become the perfect means of transport

mom&dad i know how you love seeing pictures of me...sorry its all dark...its ryo's fault..............hahahaha

love yous.

super smash bros

2007-10-09T20:06:00.000+09:00

after a long day of alien registering, hannah and i agreed we'd do a new brog post. i love hannah and i do what she says. i'm also a big creepster. all of this aside, i really should document some of the korean school spirit that happened this weekend. it's called hyeongudong(spellinggg??). bunch of sports games against Korea U. apparently rivals of yonsei.oh, and when i say sports i really mean massive cheer fests of the same yonsei songs played consecutively without rest just PUNCTUATED by an actual game. yonsei lost everything but the crowd morale is the same...i guess there is some beauty in that....although a little twisted.

roberto, james, jake, ryo n' me at the hockey game....we're smiling because we dont know the games about to be cancelled...yeaa.....
some neo-fascism going on at the soccer game....it doesn't ever stop either..... the red guys are korea U...and the guys in the weird costumes are the cheer "masters" i spose

the whole thing really climaxed...not the game of course; there was no score, but shit looked like disneyworld anyways....the game was at the olympic statium P.S.

perhaps the part that made the most sense was post-game....uh...shitshow? the students from both schools took over sinchon and you have to line up and make trains of people and you cheer for FREE STUFF from all the resturants and bars and they have to give it to you...they really don't stand much of a chance.....this is a blurry picture of amy, pat and myself MID-TRAIN/CHAOS....although i dont know if 'chaos begins to describe it....

HA CHECK ME OUT, i am so ELOQUENT tonight........

oh man we loved it...

(postscriptum-i stole all these pictures from friends....THANKS CHINGOOS)

love you's

INVERTABRATES AND BRAINDEADNESS

2007-10-04T20:28:00.000+09:00

squids are weird when they are swimmin around....so are shrimp(as demonstrated in figure 2)...freaks me out a little. so does korean class. ryo and i are suffering from some brain fatigue so i'm not making a whole lotta sense...but until then i'll keep it classy in hanguhk....AKA chosun(as they call it in the north)....of course i'm talking about KOREA.

some crazy newsmaking stuff is going on with the North...i cant believe i'm here while its happening.
love yous.

leaving seoul

2007-09-27T01:47:00.000+09:00

the koreans have a thanksgiving-type holiday in september called Chusok...you get a few days off and people tend to travel to see family and such...we took the oppurtunity to leave seoul and it was a really amazing trip...i wish i could write down everything but theres too much...instead here are some pictures

gyeong-ju not exactly a city but it's known for having a ton of historical landmarks particularly buddhist relics....we stayed a hostel for 3 nights...ate good food, saw lots of temples and buddhas...we also went on the best hike...like ever...

we travelled in a group of 11 and then when we got to our hostel there were even more people from yonsei there...as well as some more exchange students at other universities and some women who were english teachers...naturally we all had a party on the roofamy "downtown"-gyeong-ju isnt much of a city...but it was quiet which was goodpanchan(small side dishes).....they're really goodyummy resturant-sitting on the floor of course pond at namsanhannah taking a picture of the countryside near namsam(before hiking up it)the BUDDHAS...after nearly 2 hours up rocks we were pretty relieved to see them the trails we hiked up were more or less like this....some were quite steep katerina and amy at the top with the buddhas
when we reached the top, two monks welcomed us...which i guess was there home...they gave us coffee and hot potatoes...we love them

the buddha shrinebusan-coastal city and second biggest in korea(to seoul of course), lots of fish, fresh air...perfect weather and a BEACH (yeaa we went swimmin) FRESH squid at the fish market the austrians-sylvia&katerina at the harbor

hannah, james and ryo at the beach after we got out of the water..we were cold

amy in front of the harbor

soh-ohb duhl!?!?

2007-09-13T19:20:00.000+09:00

i don't quite feel like i'm "in school" yet...people in my korean class speak fluently and make jokes i don't understand and i've got a terrible cold. BUT we're going 'camping' this weekend which i think means some sort of lodge situation...should be good!

on another note-it seems like its rediculously hard to get a cell phone in this country if you are a foreigner...everyone i know who has one got some sort of hook up i.e. they have family here...or a host family....something. i'm out of the loop and pretty confused but i reallly need one.

flesh-eating fish and noh-mu soju masheeyooh

2007-09-07T13:37:00.000+09:00

dr. fish cafe- you get beer and cake and fish eat the dead skin off yr feet in a wonderous display of symbiosis. a lot is happening and korean class is hard-what else is new? met some people with awesome taste in music- including a korean who doesn't speak much english but likes MF Doom.

KOREAN COSTCO?!?!

2007-09-03T00:46:00.000+09:00

jenn's got some amazing extended family here...they took us to costco and dinner and told us how to be more korean....quieter part of the city and car trips...makes you forget you're in asia

i said sinchon is prettier at night

2007-09-01T18:36:00.000+09:00

however, i have yet to take any good pictures of it myself. i stole this one from my friend. ill get some of my own sometime i'm sure...and of hongdae...which is the area around another college (hongik taehakk).
as for the korean drinking games, "ming, mang, mohng" is really fun when you get the hang of it...although it only gets harder the more soju you drink. speaking of soju, it's not that tasty but im determined to drink it for the following reasons: 1. its CHEAP-i got a 500 ml bottle for like 1,200 won...which is around $1.20 and its gonna last a while. 2. it's more korean.

speaking of which my korean needs lots of work. i can get around fine but i feel like i use the same phrases over and over.

BUT(kuh-loh-chee-mahn)!! my blogger isn't even in english-its a miracle i can even navigate and get postings up on this site!!!! aaahhh! miss yous!

sinchon: a photographic odyssey

2007-08-29T19:05:00.000+09:00

obviously this doesnt even scratch the surface of what sinchon is really like...today was a gloomy rainy day that turned into a wonderfully glowing night....but my camera died by then unfortunately....these are merely of the daily walk leaving yonsei university and heading into sinchon...and the grocery store...in all its asian glory.
a topic to cover at a later juncture: korean drinking games.....

shmehhhhh

2007-08-29T05:39:00.000+09:00

it's not even 6 am yet and i'm on my computer much to the dismay of my sleeping roommate....gotta make this quick.
topic: geography
this country is 70% mountains which is beautiful. walking around the city and campus is hilly.
there are huge pointy trees outside our window...very korean....?!

a real post is promised...so are pictures.