Floating

Wow. The year is almost over!

It seriously seems like a lifetime ago that I was abroad.

My friend Carly called from England yesterday, and it felt so weird to be continents away, not just a cab-ride away. It's nice to know she's still only a phone call away though.

I'm happy that this year went by without any major disasters, and I'm excited to see what 2010 has in store for me.

May it be a crazy, good year. :)

My walls are the color of green tea latte - swamp juice.

I still have trouble falling asleep and staying asleep in my "new" room. It's been exactly 3 months since I've been back. I wish for a peaceful night's rest. 

I brought these fairy lights from Korea, purchased from E-mart. Oh how I miss E-mart and all the cute things they have and the mocha bun samples. 

This light doesn't help with my sleep either. I bought this cushion at E-mart too. It is now covered with lint from my red snuggie. boo. 

A late celebration of my lovely Jennifer's 21st. 

The pictures are a bit grainy - weird. 

So cute. The French owner sang her the birthday anthem.

I love birthdays!

Squeal

I Crave a Burger.

Ah. I'm constantly hungry.

I wish for this quarter to be over soon. 

The September Issue

I saw The September Issue with Jennifer yesterday. It was so much fun. I want to see it again.

They only showed a glimpse of Karl.

It was funny to watch Grace and Anna's power struggles. 

I couldn't believe Grace used to look like this!

This was one of my favorite parts. 

Jennifer and I laughed about him being a B.F.double G. (Big Friendly Gay Giant).

I love looking into the magical world of fashion. 

Back to School

I can't stop myself from groaning and muttering to myself about all the things I dislike about being back in Amerrrca.

One big dislike is being back at Cal Poly. It sucks.

My aunt, Roseanne, and my uncle, Jeff, asked my friend Jennifer and I why we don't have boyfriends the other night. The only answer we could think of was, "boys at our schools are gross."

Seriously though, it's difficult enough befriending people, dating is out of my world. 

Anyway, my mind is working so slowly right now. I can't do my homework!!!

I'm supposed to sketch a natural object for my comp. as a medium class. It's not going so well. I don't have any pencils. 

I have to make 26 characters (the alphabet) in a creative typographic way. I'm finding no inspiration. I'm just writing words that start with the letters. I sound really dumb. 

Boy, I'm looking forward to going to school in 105 degree weather. 

The Hungry Cat

Yummm... being a foodie, I'm obsessed with watching "food porn" as Monica calls it. Today I discovered The Burger Register and I've been looking and drooling at burgers all day!

This one from The Hungry Cat called the Pug Burger looks especially delicious.

“THE PUG BURGER”
MEAT BLEND: 80/20 Ground Chuck
MEAT SOURCE: Niman Ranch
TOPPINGS: Avocado, uncured pork belly, bacon, blue cheese, lettuce, red onion, aioli
PATTY WEIGHT: 8 Oz.
COOKING METHOD: Grilled
TYPE OF ROLL: Toasted, sliced rustic roll from LaBrea Bakery
PRICE: $16
ACCOLADES: “The pug’s salty burst of flavor fusion is almost like a sense memory of what beef should taste like.” - Matt Diehl, L.A. Citybeat

Taken from The Burger Register. 

Ah! Packing's such a biotch!

The End of My Time as a Lecturer

I gave my final lecture in my time in Korea today. I feel good and relieved. No more stressing and over-night planning. YAY!

I ended up wearing the same outfit I wore to my last lecture, down to my shoes. Shhh! It's a secret. 

Today was, in a way, very eventful. 

I went on my first 소개팅 "group date(???)" today.

My friend Ryan introduced Jane and I to his friends. 

There's not much to say about the event because I don't see a future and it wasn't too memorable. Just the fact that I went to this event is memorable. 

Anyway, I wish I were friends with Vintage Victuals. Then, she could make me some blueberry streusel muffins. 

Don't they look delicious? Ah... my sweet tooth craves this. 

Hot Pink...

This girl, Anni J., caught my eye today on Lookbook. 

I'm going to wear my sailor cardigan tomorrow. :)

Lecture

Ah! Tomorrow, I'm giving a lecture to 50 teachers on how to incorporate English drama/role-play into the national English curriculum. Not only am I too young and under qualified to be giving a lecture to teachers, especially on drama which I have no business doing, but I am also well under stock in the professional-lecture-clothes area. 

Summertime in Korea means really hot and humid weather. This, for clothes, means taking a long time to dry after washing. This leads to infrequent laundering of the clothes which also means no clean clothes that are wrinkle-free and ready to wear for a 3 hour lecture in front of educators who depend on you to give a spectacular lesson on how to use drama in an English lesson and how to make your students, who do not speak English, perform an award-winning play. Wow that was a long sentence. It reminds me of Korean graduate students whose writing I cannot understand due to run-ons and lack of punctuation marks. 

Errrkkkk....

Hope I don't look like an idiot tomorrow. 

On a lighter, brighter note, I sent home a few boxes worth of fall and winter clothes. This action has made packing a bit easier and lighter for me. Yay!

G'damn! Packing: Where to Start?

Completely lost right now on my packing situation. Two suitcases are packed, but they're not the ones that I'm taking home. They are filled with clothes I'm sending and they all need to be dry-cleaned, but I don't have time!!!

I was supposed to start packing today and I began, but I just didn't know where to start first, so instead I laid in bed all day.

Now I'm about to go out to see Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince with my friend Shane Summers. Got a breezy ring to it ay? Sigh... I'm just cursing to and at myself for not knowing the techniques of packing up an apartment where I've lived the past year of my life. 

My room is a mess, but not because I've been productive. The suitcases that I am taking are open but empty. Sigh.

Anyone is free to help me!!!

Visiting My Homie Kim Jong Il at the DMZ

Back in May, Carly and I went to visit my good friend (jk) Kim Jong Il at the DMZ. 

We risked our lives by going underground N.Kr and climbing hills to spy on our Northern friends. We went with a big 외국인 (foreigner) group with which we toured, home-stayed, and planted rice. 

A bunker

Under N.Kr. They never even suspected.

The million stairs we climbed back up to safety.

The border.

What used to be a train is now only a skeleton.

This is where South Koreans were kept prisoners and tortured and killed.

We were unsuccessful at searching for mines, so we gave up.

Then we went to go plant rice. Some sexy boots ey?

Some friend I made. We were excited to plant rice and do some manual slave labor for North Korea. jay kay

After standing in the hot sun and mud for a few minutes, I decided planting rice was not as fun as I had originally thought.

Working hard.

Then, the man in the blue decided to release some fish into the mud water for us to catch. Can you tell I'm really excited and concentrated? It's my Amazonian heritage coming out.

This girl was a fan of sashimi and another Amazonian sista.

I was absolutely ecstatic. 

Then I realized I had just caught a disgusting, slimy fish with my bare hands. Not so ladylike. 

Time to wash up.

We had some yummy watermelon and matgurli (rice alcohol that's sour and kind of really gross). 

We hitched a ride on the back of a truck while others decided to walk a mile. I felt like I was in Mexico. 

We've become so Korea, shielding ourselves from the sun.

All my hard work in edible form. 

Our tour guide said this is the Niagara Falls of Korea. ermmmm...

Carly and I had planned to go bungee jumping with the rest of our group, but then we were attacked by stomach issues.

Instead, we decided to watch this speedle in complete fascination. It could fly too!

We climbed a lot of stairs that weekend. These lead us to a waterfall.

Not much of a waterfall... Carly doesn't look to0 happy about that. 

KJI brought me some North Korean alcohol. 

The main man himself!

What a fine looking gentleman. :)

Although it was fun to play spy for a couple days, I'm happy to be back in the South away from danger and nuclear bombs.