I got my hair straightened today whoop whoop!!
I've been wanting to do it since about the second week here, when I realized that in fact it's not humid at all, we just live underwater. That and the fact that stuff here in Korea is cheap man -- beauty stuff, electronics, clothes, food; it's really not hard to find ridiculously low prices.
So I was convinced I wanted to do it, but I was waiting 'til I had time to go with my little sister Soojin. It turns out she went on Saturday while I was at the movies (curssseeesss), but now I think it was a good idea to wait until today for me, since it took so freakin' long.
So anyway, apparently my little curls were stronger than they looked, and it took two rounds of chemicals to straighten them out. After the first round my hair was a poofy mess, and I was mentally cursing that hairdresser out. The second round though, just beautiful. I thank the mother of that man, and I need to name my babies after him. I love my hair!! If you guys wanna see pictures, just watch out on facebook -- someone should tag me by next week...*too lazy to take her own pics*
Monday, August 3, 2009
The Deadly Fan (and other theories)
Koreans seem to have a taste for the outrageous. The running theories assure that the only way to overcome the summer heat is to eat tongue-scorching chicken soup, that every stomachache emanates from one of three causes (eating too fast, too much, or too cold), or that digging your nail into mosquito bites will help (what it actually helps with is unclear). Hula hoops equipped with belly-bruising nobs are all the rage for weight loss, and so-called magic “beauty drinks” abound. But of all the things, nothing I’ve heard has been able to match the Deadly Fan theory.
The innocent little electric fan, designed to keep you cool from inhospitable summer temperatures like these. It turns and turns, working all through the night to combat the beads of sweat that inevitably line your crown. But in its efforts, it suddenly begins to suck out the air in the room – swoosh, swoosh, it can’t be helped! In a few tragic moments that can only be described by the most reasonable phenomena of electric fan use, an airless vacuum forms and suffocates the unconscious user! No, why must life be so cruel?!
Now, while I’m not saying that everyone believes this, it’s enough to know that fans are sold equipped with timers...yeah, you’d think the timers were to save electricity, but I swear I ain’t making this up!
The innocent little electric fan, designed to keep you cool from inhospitable summer temperatures like these. It turns and turns, working all through the night to combat the beads of sweat that inevitably line your crown. But in its efforts, it suddenly begins to suck out the air in the room – swoosh, swoosh, it can’t be helped! In a few tragic moments that can only be described by the most reasonable phenomena of electric fan use, an airless vacuum forms and suffocates the unconscious user! No, why must life be so cruel?!
Now, while I’m not saying that everyone believes this, it’s enough to know that fans are sold equipped with timers...yeah, you’d think the timers were to save electricity, but I swear I ain’t making this up!
Honey Bread
Honey bread is what happiness should taste like.
They make it in the café above building 63’s cafeteria. Four walls of toast about 3 or 4 inches high encase a soft layered interior of buttered bread. If the title isn’t some misnomer, they drip it all with honey, and after baking it’s topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Really, we only went to eat one, but just that afternoon we downed three. The next day we ate two more, and now I’m just two stamps away from getting a free one. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m addicted.
But…the charm of the Honey Bread is not actually eating it after all. It’s a quaint little place, with stationery in one corner to write anonymous love letters. There’s a bookshelf, and cute little notebooks at all the tables let you enjoy some self expression. It’s a place where you go with friends, sit on mismatched chairs, and chat away for the 20 or so minutes it takes for the honey bread to be ready, all the while forgetting it’s the first time you’ve had bread in weeks. The actual food disappears within minutes, but the conversations last for hours.
They make it in the café above building 63’s cafeteria. Four walls of toast about 3 or 4 inches high encase a soft layered interior of buttered bread. If the title isn’t some misnomer, they drip it all with honey, and after baking it’s topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. Really, we only went to eat one, but just that afternoon we downed three. The next day we ate two more, and now I’m just two stamps away from getting a free one. Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m addicted.
But…the charm of the Honey Bread is not actually eating it after all. It’s a quaint little place, with stationery in one corner to write anonymous love letters. There’s a bookshelf, and cute little notebooks at all the tables let you enjoy some self expression. It’s a place where you go with friends, sit on mismatched chairs, and chat away for the 20 or so minutes it takes for the honey bread to be ready, all the while forgetting it’s the first time you’ve had bread in weeks. The actual food disappears within minutes, but the conversations last for hours.
My Days in Seoul
Clearly, I haven’t been of the most diligent mindset with this blog. I’m going into my fourth week in Seoul already, and though it doesn’t feel nearly as long as it should, I still feel the everyday details slipping away with my lack of journaling. So, to accommodate my betraying memory, I’ve decided to throw any semblance of chronological order out the window [except in cases where it’s absolutely necessary]. Hopefully it’s not too confusing.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Orientation
So we're all already in D.C., and American University is beautiful. Everything is in bloom, totally different from the other times I've been here (which were very cold and gray and overall flower-barren). I guess I can't get used to different seasons, things should look the same all year!! Oh Florida... : P
The dorms we're staying in are so cold!!! They have a nice size though, bigger than the ones at UF (but our room smells kind of moldy). My roommate is Ya Ting and she's the sweetest thing ever <33 She's from Chinatown. heheh. (okay not really..."staaten island" lol). The food is okay, but some of it gives me stomachaches, so I'm reduced to eating watermelon lol. Maybe I should try the vegetarian line.
Orientation today was a little long but mostly informative. I really liked hearing Ed speak -- he went to Korea as an exchange student back in '68, and he told us all these funny stories about his time there. We also got to see his yearbook and scrapbook from the trip, which were very vintagy : P
But apparently we're all gonna suffer culture shock. Hopefully it's not too bad ~
Tomorrow we wake up at 3 a.m. and off to Korea it is! The kids from Tajikistan left today (they were at part of the orientation, and amazingly all 10 or so of them were girls) and they showed us pictures of the kids in China who got there yesterday. I'm so excited! Yay!
The dorms we're staying in are so cold!!! They have a nice size though, bigger than the ones at UF (but our room smells kind of moldy). My roommate is Ya Ting and she's the sweetest thing ever <33 She's from Chinatown. heheh. (okay not really..."staaten island" lol). The food is okay, but some of it gives me stomachaches, so I'm reduced to eating watermelon lol. Maybe I should try the vegetarian line.
Orientation today was a little long but mostly informative. I really liked hearing Ed speak -- he went to Korea as an exchange student back in '68, and he told us all these funny stories about his time there. We also got to see his yearbook and scrapbook from the trip, which were very vintagy : P
But apparently we're all gonna suffer culture shock. Hopefully it's not too bad ~
Tomorrow we wake up at 3 a.m. and off to Korea it is! The kids from Tajikistan left today (they were at part of the orientation, and amazingly all 10 or so of them were girls) and they showed us pictures of the kids in China who got there yesterday. I'm so excited! Yay!
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
First!
post.post.post. :D
Soo, I'm going to Korea, and it's going to be a-w-e-s-o-m-e! <3
The first six weeks I'm gonna be in beautiful Seoul, and after that I'll be sent off to boarding school in the "City of Love," Namwon. They call it that 'cuz it's supposedly where the Chunhyangga took place -- a love legend of traditional Korean storytelling (it's also called the "Legend of Chun Hyang"). They even have a theme park for it! ridiculoussss :P
Boarding school is going to be the Korean Horseman School (http://www.horseman.hs.kr/). I think it might be interesting ~ ~ I'll definitely learn something new lol. What if I fall off a horse though?!?!! @_@
...well, it's good to know I'll have health insurance.
hm.
Oh oh! I know about my host family for the summer already ^_^
My host sister is super cute and nice. We're the same age, and I can tell we're going to get along fantabulously! She's been an exchange student a bunch of times and even lived over here in Clermont for over a year (:O). I can't wait to meet her and the rest of the family <333
The next few weeks I'll be hard at work getting ready for everything, so wish me luck! :D
Soo, I'm going to Korea, and it's going to be a-w-e-s-o-m-e! <3
The first six weeks I'm gonna be in beautiful Seoul, and after that I'll be sent off to boarding school in the "City of Love," Namwon. They call it that 'cuz it's supposedly where the Chunhyangga took place -- a love legend of traditional Korean storytelling (it's also called the "Legend of Chun Hyang"). They even have a theme park for it! ridiculoussss :P
Boarding school is going to be the Korean Horseman School (http://www.horseman.hs.kr/). I think it might be interesting ~ ~ I'll definitely learn something new lol. What if I fall off a horse though?!?!! @_@
...well, it's good to know I'll have health insurance.
hm.
Oh oh! I know about my host family for the summer already ^_^
My host sister is super cute and nice. We're the same age, and I can tell we're going to get along fantabulously! She's been an exchange student a bunch of times and even lived over here in Clermont for over a year (:O). I can't wait to meet her and the rest of the family <333
The next few weeks I'll be hard at work getting ready for everything, so wish me luck! :D
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