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Raised on promises She couldn't help thinkin' that there Was a little more to life Somewhere else After all it was a great big world With lots of places to run to Email me: lao.ocean @ gmail.com December Photos Now Playing: Sorak-san The Windmill Salmon Festival Soccer Goal   Where do visitors come from? (Since 20-Dec-04) Fave flowesr: Plumeria Birthday: DEC 31st
Dance like no one can see Love like you've never been hurt Live like it's heaven on earth 
 Let's set it straight - Is the country Laos or Lao?Here's the answer This week... Things that make me happy
Movies I've seen this month
What they're saying about me
"She's a nut! Not too sure how else to describe an "at-first-glance" seemingly quiet girl who dances like a chicken when she thinks no one else is looking, who likes to pass off her "made up" answer for fact, until you look at her and see her hopelessly trying not to crack a smile, who WITHOUT FAIL remembers to put a line of dental floss in her purse before she goes out (and isn't afraid to use it after dinner, thankfully NOT at the table!!). I can always count on her to know the hottest hollywood gossip, and to dance till all hours of the morning with me." "My co-worker just told me that there was a premiere for Bridget Jones 2 last night, just blocks from my work, and we missed it! Hugh Grant, my beloved and the framework upon which my future husband is based, was just blocks away, breathing the same oxygen, and I missed it! If I had a friend here who was as savvy with E-news as you are, this catastrophe would never have occurred!" Guess what I heard... Oh my god!! This donut is so good! - Ras about a Krispy Kreme donut "I want to do! But what is paintball? There is no such word in dictionary." - Suwa, Japanese teacher "I am now skipping church to see if I am going to win my bids!!!" "YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYA.....I won the felt tip pens!!!!!!!! Yippeee...."who let the dogs out...arf, arf, arf, arf"...."let me hear you say Y..M..C..A"....oh yah, who's your daddy!!!" - Renee Other favorite quotes:
A gift is an offering. A selfless act that adds something to someone's life. Something that they need. Have you ever walked by something and you just had this feeling that someone you knew would absolutely love it? Faith is believing when there is no rational reason to believe. Homer: "We Americans are England's children... I know we don't call as much as we should, or aren't as well behaved as our goody two shoes brother, Canada... who I should mention has never had a girlfriend... I'm just sayin'..." Anything less than mad, passionate, extraordinary love is a waste of time. There are too many mediocre things in life, and love should not be one of them. The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it. When your heart speaks, take good notes. Travel has a way of stretching the mind. The stretch comes not from travel's immediate rewards, the inevitable myriad new sights, smells and sounds, but with experiencing firsthand how others do differently what we believed to be the right and only way. It's the possibility of having a dream come true that makes life interesting. Sometimes to see the light, you have to risk the dark. |
Last Weekend
9/22/2004
This past Saturday, Kiran, Christa, Tom, and I took a trip to Samcheok to see the Hwanseononggul Cave, which is one of the largest caves in Asia. I've been to a cave in Jeju-do, and although that cave had better stalactites and stalagmites, this one was much bigger. There were huge caverns lit with yellow and green ropes of light, which took an hour and ten minutes to navigate. It's worth a trip out to see, but the bus schedule to the caves was not the most convenient. From the Samcheok bus terminal, the bus to the cave leaves at 6:10, 8:20, 10:20, 2:40, and 5:20. We arrived at 11:45, waited around for an hour, until we were informed of the correct schedule. So, instead of taking the 2000 won bus, we split the cost of a 30 minute, 24,000 won ($18.50) taxi ride.
See the rest of the Hwanseondonggul Cave Pictures After making a half-hearted attempt to hitchhike a ride back to Samcheok, we admitted defeat and took another 24,000 won taxi back to Samcheok. We had to get back to Kangneung as soon as we could to meet others for dinner at 8:30. On the ride back, Tom and I sat next to each other, talking about different things, including my website. From visiting my site, he said it was strange that he knew details about the kind of person I am, when we really don't know each other. Later that night, Glyn said something along the same lines. I gave him a hug goodbye because we wouldn't be seeing each other again before he left Korea. He then went on to say that he felt that we're better friends, than we actually are, due to the fact he regularly visits my site and reads about what I'm up to. I think it's great, but I'm also surprised by it sometimes. On my birthdayy, Kiran bought me a drink, handing me a Pocari Sweat. "It's your favorite drink, isn't it?" "Yes, how did you....?" "I read it on your website." "Oh." I also write that I madly want an ipod, but nobody's given me that, yet. To quote the great hair band of Guns N' Roses, "Need a little patience... yeah."So, we made it back at 7:30, with not much time to relax before meeting others for dakalbi at "The Cave" restaurant. Afterwards, we went to Absolut for a drink and to blow out Christa's birthday candles.
We then headed to The Warehouse for some dancing. Unfortunately, there are hardly any times I go there, with people already dancing. Most of the people there wanted to dance, but the hardest part is getting people to start. At midnight, the hip hop started playing, which gets more people up, than techno. The party then got started.
The rest of Club Night pictures I love nights like this, because there's so much happening! Unfortunately, with all the dancing and excitement, I didn't take too many good pictures. Once the dancing started, it was intense. There were dance-offs left and right! The "Circle" formed, and the members of the Clon dance school were more than willing to show off their moves. Christa's friends Kate and Carly also go in on the excitement (see above left picture). There was more grinding going on than at a Starbucks! The dance floor is a perfect place to check out what's going on in the room, without staring. Hightlights from the night inlcude:
I finally leave around 4:00am, making a mental note to watch more MTV videos, so I'll be prepared for the next time I'm at a dance-off. The next day is sunny and beautiful. Rachael, Allison, and Chena don't want to go to the beach, because they have to get back. I go downtown with them to McDonald's(!). I only have a burger, no fries or drink. They continue their shopping downtown, while I wait for Melvin and Na-kyung to pick me up, so we can go to the beach. I'm then informed that there'll be 3 university students filming Melvin throughout the day, as part of a documentary on a foreigner.
Of course, any sunny day at the beach involves drinking, talking, swimming. I do all, except the latter - just too cold. Dylan got interviewed by the film crew, and made up stories about Melvin. His best line of the day was, "My Korean name's Dylan, but you can call me Heather." Tom loved that line so much, I wonder when the first edition of the "I love Heather" newsletter comes out.
We end the day with dinner of "ahn chun saal". Delicious.
Construction of Seaweed Forest
9/16/2004
It poured this morning, then... bue skies and warm temperatures. This is the view from the hill that I walk up, to get to work.
Girl's Night
9/14/2004
This past Friday, I went downtown to make an appointment at the dentist. One of my molars was really sensitive to cold, two weeks ago. It had since stopped, but I figured I should get it checked, just in case. I was expecting the office to be booked, like every dentist I've ever gone to. I would have been happy to get an appointment the following week. I came in and the receptionist remembered me. Before leaving my house, I looked up the Korean word for "appointment", but didn't get a chance to use it before the staff ushered me to the back. I was a little uncomfortable because I wasn't expecting to sit down for an evaluation, but I had no say in the matter. Within five minutes of walking in the door, I had a bib on me, had talked to the dentist, had an x-ray, and was injected with novicane. I had a small cavity, which she cleaned out, and told me to come back on Monday. If there was no pain by then, I'd just need a filling. She nonchalantly continued, that if there was pain, I would need a root canal! Luckily, it was just a cavity that I got filled. The first visit was only 16,000 won, and the filling was 11,000 won! I remembered getting a cavity filled in California for $100. There are pros and cons, because this is the same office where I had the most painful teeth cleaning of me life.
On Saturday, I went to Christa's place in Yang Yang and had a girl's night. Yolanda was supposed to come too, but she was sick, so it was just the four of us: Christa, Noreen, Megan, and myself. There was a lot of food there. It was a little strange at first, because I can't remember the last time I had vegetables and dip. Noreen also made a delicious chocolate pudding cake, which we ate with ice cream. We talked a lot and managed to put on some facial masks. It was weird, because the mask was pre-treated, and all you had to do was put this fabric-like material on your face. we were beautiful, as you can see.
I
One last thing...
The Warehouse's Club Night
9/11/2004
I haven't posted for days, but have quite a bit to say... just been busy and lazy. I'm heading to Yang Yang tonight, but wanted to do a quick post for The Warehouse's first "Club Night" - Saturday, September 18th. Tickets are 7000 won at the door, and 5000 won advance, which also incudes a bottle of Amstel. Doors open at 7:30pm and DJ Fusion (Ryan) will be playing House/Techno from 10-midnight, then DJ BMF (Ras) will play hip-hop until 4am. There'll be contests and drawings for bottles of liquor. Tables and chairs will be removed, so that people can't sit down, and pretend to be too cool to dance, while munching on their mixed fruit platter. That's what I know about it so far... it should be fun. I might be stepping out in the pink hair, that night. hehehe...
Sorak-san
9/6/2004
The rest of the pictures from that day can be seen here.
Russell's pictures
9/2/2004
I received an email from Russell yesterday, which included some new pictures he took. I don't regularly keep in contact with Russell, but I love viewing his photos. It inspires me to be more stylistic when snapping shots.
As for me, I took my camera and walked to school today, taking pictures of all the red peppers drying in the sun. It's not the most sanitary of ways to dry peppers, so I wonder what they do with it after it dries. Do they wipe off the car exhaust dirt first, before they use it for cooking? It's one of those unsolved mysteries that I'll probably never know, but can live with... like the question of why Janet Jackson is with Jermaine Dupris?
Man alive! Kate's in Vienna!
8/31/2004
I got an email from Kate last night. She's fine, and has arrived in Vienna, where she'll be for the next 6 months.
At the end of the message, she provided her telephone number, with hope of "illiciting an immediate response". So, within 5 minutes of her sending out an email, I called her cell phone. She was surprised, but happy to receive the phone call. We talked for about 15 minutes before she had to go give a mini presentation about herself to the program director, who had just come back from a trip to see the Dali Lama... no pressure!
I thought this was pretty funny... I remember a couple years ago, when Renee decided to adopt the phrase "man alive". She wanted to consciously use it in her every day speech. (i.e. "I went to the bank, but man alive, was the line long!") Other than from her, I've probably heard the phrase less than ten times in my life. So, it reminded me of her when I read it used in a blog by a reporter covering the Republican National Convention. [Unconventional]
Chuncheon
8/30/2004
This past weekend, I was in Chuncheon - famous for dakalbi and makguksu. My trip started out early - 6am to be exact. I was supposed to meet Kiran and Christa at the bus terminal, but they arrived a little late and we missed the bus by 5 minutes. The next one was an hour away, so we sat and talked to Stephen, who was there to take an early bus to Donghae to see the caves. We were to meet Glyn and his girlfriend Rafael in Chuncheon.
We looked at a map and went on our way to find the Information building. We got a little lost and found an information booth, but it was pretty far from where we had intended to go. While trying to find out what to do in Chuncheon, we ran into some Frenchmen, who said they were travelling around Korea for a month. It's rare you find foreigners that come to Korea for the sake of only visitng Korea. With a little more probing, we found out they were actually here for a brother's wedding, and took the opportunity to also travel. As we walked towards downtown, a military helicopter passed overheard, and Kiran practically dove for the ground. If Christa and I weren't there to reassure him that it was only there because of the local U.S. military base (Camp Page), he probably would have curled up into a fetal position and called out for his mommy. :-) After finding a yeogwan, we put our stuff away, had lunch, and met up with Glyn and Rafael downtown. We decided to make a trip to the little lake island of Jungdo. After taking the 5 minute ferry ride over, Kiran, Christa, and I rented bikes for 3000 won/hour. Glyn and Rafael decided to have lunch and walk around for the next hour while the three of us rode around. I hadn't been on a bike in so long. I'm not an avid bike rider, only for the fact that I hadn't owned one after the 5th grade. When choosing a bike to rent, my only criteria were that it be pretty and have a basket. I love baskets!
We took a taxi to the base of the waterfall, and walked 15 minutes to the actual falls itself. Along the way, there was an area with tons of rocks stacked on top of each other. It was the biggest collection I've seen in Korea. I'm sure there's a Korean name for this, but I don't know what it is.
The three of us go and get a drink and wait for the local bus to take us back downtown, where we're supposed to meet up with Glyn. Before dinner, we decide to have a drink at Family Mart. We walk around most of the dakalbi street/Myeong-dong/downtown area and can't find a single convenience store. After about 20 minutes of searching, we finally found one in a relatively obscure area. They didn't have any alcoholic beverages that I wanted, so instead, I bought a bottle of "Confidence." Glyn then met us for dakalbi, minus Rafael, because she was sick.
I don't think Chuncheon dakalbi tastes "that much" better than other places I tried, but the spices were good and the duk was fresh and soft. The dakalbi restaurant near Kwangdong University in Kangneung, is just as good, plus they have the seaweed soup I like, and free ice cream. We stuffed ourselves, then made plans to go to the Kangwon University area for drinks. Glyn had to go back to Rafael, who was at their hotel. So the three of us went looking for a bar I heard about on Dave's ESL - Hard Rock. The cartoon map we had didn't make the University area look too far from where we were, so we were going to walk it. As we started our trek, we asked a Korean man on the street if we were going the right way. He told us that the University was really far away, and that he'd give us a ride. Far? I think a Korean' s perspective of far is different from a Westerner's, but we decided to accept his offer. It turns out, the University was prety far away, and would have taken us a good 45 minutes to get there. As he drops us off, we gratefully thank him, and make our way to Hard Rock. The story's quite long already, but this is where it gets interesting.
We found out that the bar is only around the corner from where we were, so I suggested sitting down at the convenience store, "Buy The Way" and have some drinks first. We all bought an alcoholic drink of some kind - drinking and relaxing as we people watched. 15 minutes into it, a guy at the next table gets up quickly to run over to his friend across the street. I noticed that he drops his camera case and I scurry across the street to give it back to him. He looks really grateful as I hand it back to him. Later, he buys us 3 cans of Welches for the good deed.
Once they did stop, we went back to our table to tell Kiran what we saw. We hadn't sat down long before 3 of the guys from the crowd came over to our table and told me that he wanted me to delete my pictures. I was surprised and didn't know what was going on, so I instinctly grabbed my bag from the table and put it in my lap. They tried to tell us that it was their friend's birthday, and it was Korean culture, and that they were having fun. (I understand the Korean birthday culture, but in 3 years, I had never seen anyone pelted with eggs and kicked by their "friends" as they were cowering to block the blows.)
"I understand it's your friend's birthday, but why do you have to hurt him?"
I'm glad he was ok, and the group finally left our area. We were still left with the 3 cans of Welches, so we buy some soju to mix with it. We have a lot of fun drinking and making new friends in front of our table. We even played a game in which Christa lost twice and had to accost strangers and dance in front of them. There were a lot of people about, including soldiers. We had a good time hanging out there, and longed for a good university scene in Kangneung. Finally we decided we were starting to get too drunk, and need to go to the bar we had talked about earlier.
We arrive at Hard Rock and Kiran accidently orders beers for all of us. Christa was too drunk to drink anymore, and I can't stand beer. We left after 10 mintues and headed to Johnny's Bar (if I can recall). Christa and I order coctails this time, and just rested in the seats. My eagle eye spotted the Frenchmen we ran into earlier that day, so we ask them to join us. Kiran was enjoying speaking French, as Christa and I started to get really drunk and tired. It was the most drunk I had been this year, without throwing up. We call it a night.
The next day, we slept in, had lunch, watched Hell Boy, and took the bus back home. Overall, a nice trip - quite memorable.
Laos in the news
8/29/2004
With Laos being such a small country, it's not often there are stories about it in large news sites like MSNBC. Therefore, it was interesting to read this article about Luang Prabang, declared by UNESCO as “the best preserved city of Southeast Asia”. The city is dealing with the eternal problem of whether to preserve the old ways, or embrace change. [MSNBC]
Super Size Me! or not
8/27/2004
When I got home tonight, I was up in the air about going downtown to Absolut's official opening. I wasn't tired, but I have to be at the bus station at 6am tomorrow to catch a bus to Chuncheon. Dukcalbi, here I come!!! Instead, I decided to watch a movie Ras had given me a copy of - Super Size Me. I'm sure most people have heard about it. It's a documentary about a guy that eats nothing but McDonald's for 30 straight days - 3 meals a day. He couldn't eat anything outside of McDonald's. Bottled water also had to be bought there. He gained 10 pounds in the first week, and 24.5 pounds by the end of the month. After the experiment, it took him 5 months to lose twenty pounds.
It was really eye-opening, and made me motivated to work out. Even before coming to Korea, I never understood how people could eat and drink so much in one sitting. It would be torture for me to try and finish a Big Gulp. I don't eat fast food often - maybe once a month, and when I do I can't finish a full meal set. Actually, I never could. An appropriate sized meal for me is a Happy Meal, or a regular burger, small fries, and usually a small drink, or none at all.
Some of my favorites quotes from the movie:
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