Ice Skating at City Hall

Today I went ice skating with my friend Yunhee and this cute boy I met on Christmas day. The ice rink was pretty cool. It is outside and costs 1,000 won (less than a dollar). You can skate for an hour and get your rental skates, as well. Yunhee doesn't know how to skate, but I might make her practice. Yong was very sweet and skated around with me. The ice was too pitted and the skates weren't sharp, so it was very hard to skate. I'll go back earlier in the day.

Yunhee putting on her skates.

Yong and I on the rink.


Yunhee decided that Yong and I should have a date and she left early. Yong bought me 삼겹살, my favorite Korean food. It's like bacon that we barbecue at the table. I eat it like a veggie wrap with lettuce and other stuff, but it's also good just dipped in this oil/salt combo. Super 맛있었어요. Yong wanted to take me home, but I didn't think that would be comfortable for me. Instead, we walked around holding hands and hugged goodbye. He smelled 맛있었어요.

Just another wonderful day in Seoul.

The lovely scene.

Okay, and story one: Arrival In Korea

I arrived in Korea on August 17. I left Greenville, SC on August 16. I cried as I hugged my parents and brother. I didn't think I would have cried, but I did. I turned and went into my terminal.

Then a short flight to Atlanta and I quickly grabbed two glasses of red wine before my flight to Seoul left. It was going to a long ride.

Seventeen hours later, I arrived in Seoul. Feeling sick because the big P started on the plane and I wasn't very well to begin with. But I lived and got through customs. I did have trouble finding the EPIK people who where going to take me to orientation, but eventually I found them and a Coke Zero.

I slept on the bus ride to the University we were staying at. My room was strangely arranged. Two twin beds, headboard to headboard. I would have not liked that as my dorm at all. My roommate was very nice, though.

It was almost two weeks of making friends and getting a crash course in Korean life. The best thing was getting soju the next day in the afternoon as soon as we were released. Every night was a party at the local convenience store (and I mean party. I'm sure the locals hated us.).

At the end of our time together, I found out that I was nowhere near any of my new friends and sadly waved goodbye to them, sure I would never see them again. This was not the case.

My coteacher picked me up on a rainy day. She took me to my new apartment and helped me buy stuff and bought me a delicious dinner. It was a good start.

Welcome to Seoul

Actually, I've been here for almost five months. I've stayed out all night, I've eaten food I didn't know existed, I ran away from a security guard, I dressed up as a zombie, sang at a norebang, and I even did some cultural stuff.

I want to try to actually keep track of what I do in Seoul. It's a wonderful place. But sometimes, too much soju might rot your memories away.

New York, I love you

But sometimes you do bring down. Especially when I'm trying to get home and my L train is running screwy. I just finished up with karaoke practice for my league (yes, we did dominate) and wanted to get home. I know, shocking. I didn't want to spend a hour hanging out at various subway stops. I waited at one stop for 30 minutes and some train personnel told us to get in the Manhattan-bound train to get to Brooklyn. A little odd, but I trust them and hop on. Train does travel in correct direction, but goes very slow. We get to the first stop in Brooklyn and they tell us to get off and we wait another 30 minutes for a train to show up on the correct track. I had thought about getting a cab or calling my roommate to get me, but the train did show up.

And that's not that unusual an occurrence. The trains are only strange at night and on weekends, so the regular working folk aren't inconvenienced. Just us party-people.

On a more pleasant note, I got to met a blogger I've been following since I was 18 or so. She's a doll-baby from Russia who created her own makeup line. It's fun stuff, though I will say the lipstick is not very moisturizing. Her makeup line is called LimeCrime, and her blog is Doe Deere Blogazine. She was very sweet and didn't make me feel creepy for knowing a lot about her. I guess she's used to it because she has a lot of fans.

I was talking about internet celebrity with a friend. (Actually a new friend, one of my competitors in the karaoke league). It's an interesting idea that among a small group of people someone can be really famous, well-known and respected and the rest of the world has no idea that person exists. I, myself, am merely a legend in my own mind, but that could change.

There's a million things that have happened between now and February, but it's so hard to live your life and document. Please forgive me, my gentle readers. You are beautiful and I love you.

Peking Duck and the Brooklyn Bridge

I had a wonderful date in a lovely city. Too bad the man was not to my taste. We've been on five dates, I believe, and he treats me like a princess. Which I am, so I guess it's just my due.

We met in Brooklyn and walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, which gives you a beautiful view of the city. Have I mentioned that I love this city?

Then he suggested a restaurant in Chinatown that he believed was a must-see of NYC. It was called Peking Duck, so you can guess what we ate. The dinner special was soup, and appetizer, duck, entree and fruit. Quite a lovely meal in theory. But I don't care for duck or sea bass, which is what F wanted to have for the entree. I made a half-hearted offer to pay, but he said not worry about it. The meal was $80, plus tip. I spend less than that for two weeks of food.

We kissed goodbye on the train, as I was switching to the L train and he lives in midtown Manhattan.

It never seems like it's that hard for me to meet a man that will treat me like something precious. The problem is I've always been more interested in the ones that play games with me and break my heart. I'm trying to change, to date the right type of man, but I find it so boring after the drama of the heartache. No one who knows me wonders why I'm single.

Man, when will my feet stop hurting? I think a little bone that I broke in my foot years ago never healed properly.

I thought I lost this

Uh, I just found out where drafts get saved. This is the first draft of the blog post "Peking Duck and the Brooklyn Bridge", from February. Read it if you want. Or skip it. It's not that necessary.

Ah, another wonderful date in a fabulous city. I just wish the boy were a bit more handsome. I guess I'm just too ethnocentric to get into those Portuguese boys who descend from Moorish people.

I looked great, just so you know. Just a touch of goth. I had on a very Victorian-influenced plum skirt and black puff-sleeved shirt. We met in Brooklyn and walked across the bridge. Such a lovely view of the city. I heart NYC.

It's just one of those things. I'm actually used to men treating me like something to be treasured, so I guess I just don't really appreciate it. As everyone knows, I tend to spend more time obsessing about the ones that cause drama in my life, than the one's that buy me dinner.

I know no one wonders why I'm single.

The Highs and Lows of Living in a Hipster Commune

I am really starting to like where I live. It took a little while to get used to the environment, but this bougie girl is getting used to living like a starving artist.

I got home from a lukewarm date (and if you're familiar with your Bible, you'll know how Jesus feels about lukewarm stuff), and heard a party going on down that hallway. It wasn't so loud I couldn't go to sleep, but I wasn't ready to go to sleep and I wanted to get the bad taste of a lukewarm date out of my mouth. My roommate told me to crash it.

The High

So I crash the party with a mug full of Jack. I've been watching too much of the Pick-Up Artist and I decide I should quickly approach a "set" because I look like a weirdo hanging out against the wall. The first set of boys not that interested in talking to me. The second set had a guy who was all into me, but he was just into anything not a boy. Then I started chatting to a cool girl and the party started. I talked to everyone, made friends with the DJ, a boy wrote his name on my arm...

And then this hottie started talking to me, the usual happened, he liked my hair and thought my conservative viewpoints were interesting and different. I got some very warm and lovely kisses, so I brought him home and dumped him on the couch.

The Low

Around 8 in the morning, a boy crawls into bed with me. I don't really mind. It's almost time to get up and I can always kick him out if he gets annoying. He does start to get annoying, so I tell him he has to go home. Only he doesn't have blond hair like hottie did. Also, he's ugly. I wasn't sober the night before, but I was pretty sure I've never kissed an ugly man before. I was very confused until I realized that the hottie was still asleep on the couch.

Okay, so maybe I had too much Jack and was distracted by hottie. I forgot to lock the door. I guess living in some alternative universe means there will be nights you meet random cute 22 years old, but wake up the next day with ugly ducklings in your bed.