American Dreamin

It's funny, I've always been proud of the fact that I don't really get homesick. However, recently I've had this twinge of longin for some good ol Americana... basically we went to this Australian-owned bar and I was surrounded by more white people than I've seen for months. So I've been thinking lately about what I want to do once I finish here in Korea, and of course I want to travel more, but also I have this enchanting image of me and the American road.
First of all, I have this very embarrassing dream about Ford pick-up trucks. I know they're gas-guzzlers and in reality I would never own one, but they seem so...poetic. An old, beat-up one, and I would be in overalls and a straw cowboy hat with a volume of Walt Whitman in the passenger seat. Any of these...

I didn't notice my color preference when I was searching for these pictures, ha. So I'm sitting here in Asia, dreaming of my all-American car on an all-American road:

Yes, two of these are from AZ, and one is from Montana. First of all, driving through AZ is breathtakingly gorgeous and one of the big things I miss about it (besides actually hiking those mountains). And also for whatever reason I have a very romantic idea of Montana, although I have driven through it and it wasn't all that great. Somehow in my mind though that open sky and plains as far as the eye can see seem like heaven. And on my radio (I will magically be able to pick what songs are on the radio, bc this is my fantasy after all) is this song:

A southern gal's dream... and not to be realized for another year at least, if at all. But something to drive away the last remnants of a frigid Korean winter!

tokyo

For Christmas I went with some friends to tokyo . . . which was amazing. photos:

 Kenneth Yang, roommate extraordinaire

 roadside books!

 where you order your food. yummyyyy

 a couple of very attractive ladies strolling the streets of tokyo

 cool building. + sneak shot of kenneth!

 tokyo was so sunnyyyy after korea

 imperial gardens

 street our hostel was on

 an attractive lady

 hilarious shot when our friend mike is trying to communicate with subway people

Some random impressions, which is basically what the whole trip was like--three days is noooot enough I feel to see Tokyo. Ramen was good, anime was disturbing, lots of people, LOTS of amazing fashion which i was not savvy enough to take photos of but was very inspired by . . . very little sleep.

In Pursuit of Some Frenchness

So my friends and I have this kind of nebulous goal every weekend to check one more thing off the Seoul to-do list that's in the inestimable guidebook "100 Best Things to Do In Seoul." Actually there aren't any touristy things that I've done in Seoul that haven't come out of this book. But anyway, being the Europhile that I am I saw this French quarter in the book and decided to check it out. It wasn't really a quarter, a corner is more apt, but anyway we got lost on the way and stumbled upon some really beautiful things. There was this kind of river with a park along it that we wandered along. The fall here is gorgeous, there's a slight nip to the air but it's warm enough to enjoy and the leaves have been amazing. Anyway I love finding nature spots in the city like this:

You can see my friend Sean here with a book on his head. I told him to bring it in case we did some reading at a French cafe, but all it ended up doing was helping him with his posture.

I always have to get close to the water, so this is me being very happy.

A couple of pictures of my friend Dane looking dreamy near foliage. Incidentally, that sweater he's wearing is like the softest thing I've ever touched, which basically means that I was cuddling him constantly.

The French quarter whatever wasn't extremely French except for the French people walking around, but there were a couple of things that were really hilarious French-Korean combinations, like this bakery:

And also we went to a burger place while we were there, where I got this delicioso tofu burger (first in Korea!) and where they had these highly pixelated photos of France to French the place up a bit:

And finally, at this bar in Abgujeong last night the bartender gave me this drink which was beautiful and also tasty. A good example of advantages you get in Korea just for being white haha. This guy kept kind of staring at me, then told my friend that I was very beautiful before he very sheepishly walked away quickly. Then he gave me this drink and Pepero! (Korean cookie that celebrates 11/11/11)

All in all another amazing day in Seoul!

Korean Coffee

So one of the things I love the most about Korea I've decided are the coffee shops. Koreans aren't so much into brewing their own coffee*, so they have made up for it by having tons of super cute coffee shops all over the place. Behind my house there are at least five (photos to come), but here is a place near my subway stop that we went to for my friend Jae's birthday. My friend Katie was ecstatic because they have china, and while I am not a china aficionado per se, I do love a good tea set (hence the photo of the cup). 

Bahhhhhhhhhhh cute cup!! The saucer came as the lid. So preeeetty.

Some friends and I enjoying tea/coffee (you get your very own little teapot here, which I love). (love the painting in the background as well!! The decor here was amazing)

My other favorite place about the coffee shops around my place is the clientele. Usually my friends and I go midday before we have to go to work, so the other people there are a bunch of ajumas (korean middle-aged women famed for upholding social propriety and giving you tons of clementines (yes both of these are personal experience)). I know they don't appreciate me as much as I do them because I laugh very . . . very loudly and get a lot of stares. However, I like to see middle-aged ladies sitting around enjoying their coffee because it gives me hope for the future. Or the present, if you would believe my students.

*My friend Katie and I went on a mission on one of our first weeks here to a Korean supermarket to get coffee for her. So after an entire aisle devoted to instant coffee we finally find a tiny corner of grounds. I, being the college-educated coffee snob that I am, of course recommend to her that she should get whole beans and grind it there (they did in fact have a grinder). However, it takes us literally twenty minutes of teeth-gnawing to break into the plastic/military-enforced container of this coffee package, which then promptly splits, spilling beans everywhere. The opening is jagged, so attempts to pour the ground coffee into the bag result in a small powdered puddle all over our immediate vicinity and leading, Hansel- and Gretel-like, back home with us. She now goes to Starbucks for her coffee.

Arriving in Korea

Yes, I arrived in Korea a while ago, but I lost my camera the first weekend so I couldn't take any photos until now. These are from a week ago, when my friends Kate and Dane and I took a trip to Andong, where they have a mask festival every year. We also visited the traditional village close by to see some beautiful houses and countryside: 

We also visited a Buddhist temple, where some of the oldest standing wooden buildings in Korea are. The land around there was gorgeous, it was on a mountain covered in forest and we wandered for a while in the greenery feeling very zen.

The cutest little bathroom in the middle of the woods!

And finally, to Busan, a seaside town where we met up with some friends and smoked a lot of cigarettes apparently. I think we look very arty: