Korean Couple Behavior

Couples like to take walks. Not because it’s particularly fun, but there are only a handful of things couples can do together. Every park is infested in couples doing nothing but walking.

isn't that cute and pretty? i dont know them. creeptastic!

Other generalized things I have noticed about couples in Korea:

• It’s common to meet people who have been going out with their significant other for over 5 years. Sometimes for 10 years.

•    CC = college couple, or company couple

•  If you are over 35 and unmarried – especially a female, there is something wrong with you.

•  When you meet a Korean for the first time usually the first thing they ask you is if you have a bf/gf, why you don’t have a bf/gf, and then they tell you that they know someone they can set you up with

•  It’s generally easier to get a bf/gf here in Korea because people are more down to be in a relationship, whereas in the states, people run away from commitment. 

•   You don’t have to announce things. You know how in the movies boys take girls to some beautiful cliff on the beach to ask them to prom/be their gf/get married? That doesn’t really happen here. People automatically become a pair and then celebrate their 100 days, or couples talk about getting married and then get married (leaving out the whole proposal part)

Hong Kong

I signed up to host couch surfers. I kind of hope that my one apt (out of a possible 2500 in Seoul) is not chosen. But I guess its all a part of karma. I will be couch surfing one day. The main thing that keeps me going is the thought of me couch surfing and traveling around the world before I go back home to the states.

Hong Kong in a few weeks with a pair of gfs. SCREAM!!

Any tips??


i'm not kidding. the thought of traveling is the only thing that keeps me going. 

Couchsurfing destinations within asia:

Japan

Thailand - September 

Philippines - October

Malaysia

Singapore

Indonesia

Places I want to stay in for an extended period of time:

NYC – with my sister

Paris – relive old memories

Other travel goals:

Cross country roadtrip in the states

South America

Be a nomad
Go to every continent

Pervert

Maybe this only applies to me, but I think office life tends to turn people into perverts. The mundane life of seeing the same faces M-F, the scarcity of females around you, and the never-ending routine of  wake up, work, eat, sleep, repeat eats up all of the good qualities in you. You just turn into a machine. A perverted machine.

Suddenly, (mind you, im a straight female) whenever someone is walking in front of me, I catch myself staring at their butt. This is regardless of age, size, sex etc. (gosh I really hope my coworkers don’t read this now HAHA) and whenever I see a hot office lady walk by downstairs by the escalators I think, “thank you for dressing up cute and showing some leg”… and then I start feeling perverted all over again. 

WISDOM TOOTH EXTRACTION... FROM HELL *dramatic music*

Friday was the worst day of my life. In terms of physical pain at least.

As much as I was dreading and fearing the dentist office, contemplating whether or not to cancel my appointment, I finally got the guts to get my wisdom tooth extracted at 3pm Friday afternoon. Beforehand I was trying to reason with the dentist, convincing him that I no longer needed to get the tooth removed and that the pain from the tooth had gone away. He responded telling me that the pain went away because he had prescribed me pain killers a few days before. Maybe he’s right.

He put a cloth on my face with a hole in the middle for my mouth. I didn’t feel anything and it took around 20 minutes. Getting the tooth out should have been the least of my fears. Oh, how silly I way back then…  It wasn’t until around 5:30 when the pain started to really settle in. My dentist didn’t give me directions on how to take care of myself and ended up oozing out blood from my mouth. Even for my standards, it was pretty gross.

I’m rolling around in pain and I got that depressed feeling that I get every time I’m sick in korea; that I don’t want to die alone and take care of my 60 year old self when im sick with lung cancer and all other old people diseases. But in all seriousness, its always a bit sad when youre nursing yourself back to health when your mommy is across the world from you and your roommate is an unreliable ghost that occasionally haunts you.

I get my coworker to call the dentist and demand more drugs, they said to come by the next morning. NOT GOOD ENOUGH. So I start chowing down ibuprophen

So let me paint this picture for you.

1.     I walk into my apt and I had left my boiler on all day. The apt is sauna-hot (when the floor is heated or hot, it takes forever for the apt to cool) I’m laying in my underwear on my bed sweating and unhappy

2.     I got my moles on my face removed and had not washed my face for two days already. I wasn’t allowed to wash my face for one more day.

3.     I was told not to brush my teeth for 24 hours

4.     I was also told not to shower for 24 hours

5.     My irregular period decided not to show up for 3 months, but last week it decided to pay me a really heavy visit. So im bleeding out of both ends (TMI? Maybe.)

6.     Letting blood ooze out of my mouth and I look like a vampire. On Saturday morning I woke up to heavily red crusted teeth.

7.     Let’s not forget the blood that had oozed out on my shoulder and pillow (I slept sitting up) blood stain on my bra. Currently it is Monday afternoon, and I just realized that I’m wearing that exact bra. And it had not been washed. Whatever. At least im still alive.

So basically Saturday, after the worst night ever, I wake up feeling gross. Saturday afternoon the blood did not clot properly and I’m looking up symptoms of side effects from wisdom tooth extraction and at the bottom of the list it says “death”. I’m not trying to scare anyone but wisdom tooth extraction can and has caused death! At that moment I convinced myself that I was getting an infection in my mouth and that I was going to die (I actually still think that).

This morning I went to the dentist again and like Oliver Twist I came back asking for more drugs, “I want some more!” let’s just hope it helps. All of my agony derives from ONE wisdom tooth. Now I am more than terrified of getting my other 3 wisdom teeth out.

i guess the main point is that i'm alive and well... and i hope that my fear of the dentist and pain has not scared or scarred anyone. humans are such pansies. think about all those buffalo that are attacked by alligators on the discovery channel. theyre attacked, dragged into the water, but somehow get away and get on with their day. you dont see that buffalo go behind a bush and cry and think emo thoughts! Aliens spying on us humans must think that we're the biggest pansy shits. "WAHHH i got one tooth taken out and now im going to blog about it!!" boohoo-hoo.

Human Pride. i just blogged about it. you just read about it. we all lose/win.


THE END!

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Picture update later. And just fyi, my face did not swell up like jigglypuff

Desert my dessert

TGIF. it's been a really rough week.
wisdom tooth out today @ 3pm = must finish all of my work before then
also meaning, no going out all weekend. donkey fart.

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Desserts in korea always look so good, but usually taste so bad.

It makes me miss dessert buffets in vegas

Buffets in korea are considered nice

In the states it makes me think of hometown buffet

why i cant rotate this picture is a mystery to me. 

Korean Music Video Parody

I got this emailed to me from a friend this morning, hilarious~
probably funnier to those who can understand korean

Damn you Plucky

The previous entry made me think about how my childhood was greatly influenced by TV.  Now im snickering in my cube thinking about one particular childhood memory...

When I was around 5 or 6 my sisters and were avid viewers of Tiny Tunes. One day my sisters and I watched an episode where plucky somehow ends up in a magical diamond studded, gold world. The streets were paved with gold and in a greed and excitement, plucky got on his knees and started kissing the street. His lips turned into gold. My sisters and I were amazed.

After watching that episode my mom took my sisters and I to a newly opened Sears. As my sisters, mom and I were walking toward the entrance, in pure coincidence and to our amazement, the sidewalk was paved in a sparkly, glittery gold (maybe it was silver). If anything, I am under-exaggerating. It was extremely sparkly.

My middle sister and I stared at each other and yelled out “GOLD!!!!!!!!!!!!!” and got on our hands and knees and with a vigorous passion, began kissing the sidewalk of Sears. I don’t think my oldest sister joined, im sure by then she was too mature to kiss the sidewalk…

In horror, my mom is probably thinking WTF WTF… THOSE ARE NOT MY KIDS!! She forces us to get up. She’s in total confusion and has no idea why her daughters do nothing but constantly act like retarded monkeys.  

Dentista

Dating back to this one episode of the tv show Perfect Strangers (does ANYONE remember this episode,,,, or even the show??) basically larry is trying to scare balki and tells him about the horrors of going to the dentist. he describes how the drill is loud and painful… as a very young impressionable child, that episode scarred me FO LIFE! the drill is still the most terrifying part of the dentist. After that episode, every time I went to the dentist til I was in the second grade, I would cry and scream and try to run away. I distinctly remember this one time when my dentist (bless that guy) was so fed up with me squirming and probably calling for my mommy, he held me down for a good few seconds to calm me down. I have had the same dentist for most of my life. He really has watched me grow up.

The first time I didn’t cry the office ladies showered me with dentist toys and my mom bought me a purple treasure troll! Though I don’t cry anymore, I still get a lot of anxiety when I’m sitting in the dentist chair. 

Yesterday my wisdom tooth started to hurt, so I went downstairs to the nearest dentist and got it checked out. While sitting in the dentist chair, without any sort of explanation, the dentist raises a shot toward me and I lifted up my hands and asked “what are you doing??!” the nurse next to him pulled down my hands and shoulder as if I were some crazy person in an insane asylum, unpredictably about to pounce and the dentist and nurse laughed at me.

I’m getting one wisdom tooth pulled tomorrow and I.am.terrified. I get anxiety just thinking about it.  

Table Manners - Part 2

By request and to follow up to an old post
Table Manners [post from January 25, 2010]

that's not juice. 

Yeouido Cherry blossom festival

it's the time of the year again. the Yeouido cherry blossom festival. it only lasts for a few weeks so many feel compelled to travel over and take a look. however, there isnt much to do there. i would suggest mid-day drinking and drunk walking in order to have fun. 

according to my friend, the cherry blossoms were planted at Yeouido and other locations around korea during the japanese rule over korea. Thanks japan! theyre very pretty. 

i went last year, i went again this year and have come to the conclusion that after about 10 minutes of walking among thousands of pretty, pink cherry blossom trees, it's quite boring. theres nothing to do except walk aimlessly and dodge couples. be sure to go with a boy. a boy that you like... unlike what i did last year... i brought a friend who was new to seoul and after realizing that it was 99% couples, things got semi awkward. toward the end i told my friend "uhm, i didnt bring you here to hit on you." resulting in making the moment even more awkward. 

the highlight of the festival was taking a tour in the national assembly building... a place i never had on my list of things to do, but was glad i did it. 

did you know that korea won the baseball olympics? yeah, i didnt know either. 

koreans have a facination with pooing/farting (my kind of country). i didnt get this at first but this is a scene of a young wife farting - looks like a wild fart.

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Dear Spring, 

It's already mid april and i'm still waiting for you. 

i refuse to believe that this shitty weather is what you claim to be spring. 

im starting to lose my patience. 

i dont want to sound threatening, but you better step it up and start playing nice. 

also, you better not last for just 2 days and then flip to summer.,. 

or else i am going to be pissed. 

i'm from california, i'm not used to 80% year round bad weather. 

you got it?


-jihae

Goodbye World... as we know it

A little late to the party but i watched The Blind Side  last night and it was awesome! there were so many moments during the movie that made me feel like i was in the states again. 

---

After reading about the quarterlife crisis again, i decided to write my 5 year plan again... but i keep getting stuck at 2012. because i'm semi convinced that the world is crumbling to its end soon. my only note is "the world ends." before i moved to korea, i had such a different life plan panned out for me but now i seem to have nothing great planned, time to reevalueate my life for the nth time.

digging into my paranoia problems... after the haiti earthquake i watched a segment on CNN about a guy who survived for 14 days because he was in a bathroom with access to water, then the next day they found a girl who survived because she had access to two gallons of water. 

now, i know korea is relatively safe of most natural disasters and people say that if anything happens to korea, japan will get hit first.. haha.. but i'm still paranoid about earthquakes. i live and work in tall buildings and i spend most of my time indoors. im pretty convinced that if an earthquake hit, the coex buildings will topple down like dominoes and in the midst of the earthquake i will run to the fridge and grab as many drinks possible and huddle by my desk (where the rest of my drink stash and snacks are) and hope that somehow i will survive. 

my desk stash...

side note: ice cream cones at mcdonalds are less than 40 cents! chocolate dipped cones are less than 70! ive gotten ice cream here at least twice this week. 

speaking of drinks, havent drank for 2 weeks......................... thirsty

Ronery for Ryan

*fyi - the whole convo is me talking

Do you have one of those friends... the kind that is so elusive but something inside of you keeps begging for their attention no matter how much they ignore you?? and then you dont care how desperate and pathetic you look when begging for their attention??

Ryan is that friend to me. he does such a good job with not trying, responding at a minumum (or not responding at all) and always leaving me unsatisfied, but still begging for more. i definitey do not beg for anyone else's attention. there is just something about Ryan. 

Tomatillos Yeoksam - Puke in mouth

Last night I went out for dinner with Kyu at Tomatillos (the only thing kyu and I do is meet up for Mexican food). We decided to mix things up and skip out on Dos Tacos and hit up Tomatillos In Yeoksam. I read some mixed reviews about this place and actually ate at the coex tomatillos stand at least 3 times, and thought it was decent  (the coex tomatillos is closed btw). We ordered a burrito, two tacos, chili nachos and tortilla soup and afterwards we were completely stuffed… on mediocre fillers.

The burrito was dry, there was barley any meat on the tacos/burritos, the fish on my taco was beyond dry – it was straight up crunchy. The tortilla soup wasn’t as thick as I liked, and the chili nachos tasted like they would be better suited for a burger joint. Dos Tacos still wins. I’m really craving some Mexicali… or jack in the box tacos (last time I was in the states I at 9 jack tacos in one day!)

Enough with the restaurant review. Let's get to the good stuff. The mushy stuff. the smelly, discolored stuff. 


After tomatillos kyu and went  upstairs to a café to chat (btw, im jealous of his current freelance lifestyle) and mid-conversation I threw up soup in my mouth and kyu instantly asked me “DID YOU JUST THROW UP IN YOUR MOUTH?!” I thought he could tell based on the smell and the small squirts of liquid that spewed out. But he said he could tell by the sound my throat made. Heh... I repeatedly did these mini throw ups in my mouth and felt sick for the rest of the night.

This morning I felt the normal boil rumble in my stomach, and as I was walking toward the bathroom I let out one ball of fart and it came out like one loud clap. I figured that nobody would actually suspect that I had farted and Koreans don’t care about farting that much anyway.. at least that’s how I reason with things in my head. So I head into the stall and my ass threw up tomatillos. I could smell the jumble of mediocre in the stall.

So things to note: throw up repeatedly in mouth right after the meal, diarrhea the morning after.

Consensus: Never again. Sorry Tomatillos.

Other things to note:

Tomatillos is located at 역삼/yoeksam station (exit 2, B2 of the Gangnam finance center – im not sure if you’ll want to eat there but try it for yourself if you dont want to take my word for it.  

free wifi in the gangnam finance center, and the café on the first floor is a pretty nice place to get some work done.  

They are having a cinco de mayo event this year - cant say no to cheap tacos, unless they make you puke in your mouth!

skin care part 2!!!!

Guten morgen!

So i thought i'd add to the previous skin care entry. 

I’m sharing these things because I think everyone should have beautiful skin (even the guys!)

Skin care part 1 [click for entry]

Skin care part 2

1.     If you can afford it, please get facials and professional advice!!

2.     Stop popping your pimples!! I know it’s fun but if you’re like me, you probably pop them wrong and now have a bunch of scars here and there and they tend to glow bright red through your make up after a few shots of vodka. Or maybe that’s just me. But really, when I was young I had a bunch of zits on my forehead region and I had this chronic face picking, pimple popping problem and then one day I decided I was going to stop touching my face and all of my zits magically disappeared. I’m no professional, but I see a strong correlation here.

3.     Now this was the main point of my post: A friend of mine told me about how her mom massages her face with olive oil for 10-15 minutes per day and now has skin of a baby at the age of 50+.

Not too long ago a variety Korean program featured a 100 year old grandma who could not only move around with ease, but did not have any face wrinkles!! Zero face wrinkles at 100?? Doesn’t that sound.. UNREAL?!? Her secret? Every morning before she gets out of bed she pumps her arms, then her legs and starts doing vigourous exercises… and then she starts to massage her face for 15 minutes PER DAY!! (SEE A PATTERN YET?!?) then she gets up and looks beautiful. The grandma didn’t share any massage patterns but it looked like she just massaged the entire face.  

Everyday in the shower, after I put in leave-in conditioner (hair care is another post), I massage my face with olive oil. Sometimes I’ll sit down in the shower and massage away. Massage in the opposite direction of your wrinkles and then in circular motions around your face (open hand circular motions and circular motions with a closed fist) then do up, down and side to side massaging. Don’t forget to massage your neck, back of the neck and chest. This will take roughly 10-15 minutes. Repeat everyday for the rest of your life for beautiful skin.

4.     After you shower, lotion your body. EVERYDAY.


5. STOP MAKING WRINKLE FACES! i have a problem with this one- but i'm still a work in progress.

6.     At night before going to bed, over moisturize your face with maybe a night crème, eye crème, and maybe a night moisture pack. I personally use toner, lotion, eye crème, retinol, this ginseng crème from the Face Shop, then kehils ultra face moisturizer, and sometimes I’ll use a night spot remover.

7.     Every morning I prance into work, put on my eyeliner/mascara (yeah, I do this at work most of the time haha) then I pump lotion on my hands and massage on and around my palms and fingers. Hands show age… and this probably helps avoid carpel tunnel syndrome.

8.     I should work for a lotion company haha

Getting a facial this friday woohoo! I still have a long ways to go, but my skin has not looked and felt this good in a long, long time. 

Your face is the ultimate first impression tool. Wrinkle prevention should start early – before you actually get wrinkles.

Please keep in mind I’m not a skin care guru! These are just my suggestions. 

Please treat your skin well!

Korean Baseball Experience

On Saturday I went to my first baseball game in korea (Doosan vs. LG… Doosan won – I was sitting on the LG side, boo) My friend and I got really good seats – maybe they were TOO good because we ended up at the very first row. Later we moved up for a better view of the field and the cheerleaders/morale-ers. I’ll admit, I was more into the cheering and doing the routines with my blow-up noise makers, than actually watching the game.

At one point my friend asked me “!!!! DID YOU SEE THAT??! “and I responded in excitement “YEAH!” but then I realized that my friend was talking about the game, and not the cheerleaders.

From what I remember, US baseball games consist of a bunch of people watching the game, gasping at the same time, cheering etc… but Korean baseball games are (at least in my perspective) 40% game 60% cheering and doing routines in unison. Haha. This makes it fun for both the sport lovers and the cheering lovers (fyi, I love clapping and giving high fives) 

our original seats

view from the seats we found later

one of the cheerleaders... they were so cute, they did wonder girls and kara dance routines! 

afterward we walked to a restaurant (there were wayyy too many ppl to ride the subway) and went to this fish place. you see the fish head? it's saying "HELPP"

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I didnt consume alcohol over the weekend - which means that this weekend will be pretty ridiculous. 

Medusa's Head

I wasn’t going to post this originally, but why not.

It’s been a while since my last poo post.

Two nights ago, 30 minutes before I went to bed, I drank a sample bottle of prune juice that I got from Etude House (a makeup store.) Without a second thought I flipped through the TV and went to bed. The next morning i got to work, made myself oatmeal and then not too long later, the prune juice concoction hit me all at once. I did a fast skip and a hop to the bathroom and laid what felt like Medusa’s head. It was the kind of slimy, stinky and satisfying poo that chronically constipated people can only dream about.

I crouched over the toilet to get a looksie (cmon, everyone looks at their own poo every once in a while) and was very satisfied with the possible 9 inch-er plus droplets here and there. With a grin on my face I sat back down… but I felt something slimy on the side of my upper thigh… and I instantly knew that the worst thing had just happened. Some poo had slid down my ass, onto the toilet seat and I had sat on it and smeared it on my bare skin. 

In panic I wiped the seat first and then started to frantically wipe myself. It was not only stinky but I knew I got some stuck in my middle finger nail. GROSS. Flushed and sat back down (I wasn’t done with my deed yet) and reflected on what just happened. That could be one of he grossest poo moments of 2010 so far… maybe part of my ultimate personal top 5 list.  

Maybe one day I’ll share my grossest poo story of 2009… that was pretttttttty gross. And maybe other time I’ll share my funny poo picture that I posted on ratemypoo.com a few years back. Hahah

Pictures

I have some time, and nobody is peeping over my shoulder at work today, so i'm going to post some pictures. all of these pictures were taken at work, from my cube throughout the year.  Enjoy~



Awesome day in Feb 2009

random day in April 2009

Beautiful day in December 2009

The heaviest snow in January 2010

Snowy day in February 2010

Black day in late March 2010

Clear day in April 2010

Sorry the pics arent more exciting.. this is what office life does to you. 

Pills pills pills

Last night I was sitting at work at 7:30pm and had taken my 3^rd dose of medicine and fell asleep almost instantly. I woke up and started to work again but fell asleep again. So I packed up my things and went home. I got into my bed and planned on taking my last dose of meds and washing up, but before i knew it, I PTFO. I think I went to be around 8:15 last night, and I woke up at 7 30 this morning (thanks to my internal alarm clock). Wow. Though I still feel sick, at least i'm very refreshed.  

My pills. korean meds come in this packaging. theyre labeled breakfast, lunch, dinner, or have no label at all (ie the pack on the right). the two packets on the left are for lunch and dinner. the "dinner" pack has a circle around it because it contains 1 extra pill that can cause drowsiness, which i experienced last night, and the pack on the right is for consumption before bed. its supposed to knock me out and stop me from coughing through the night. 

what are these pills? i'm not sure. 

my doctor's visit was $3, 3 days of meds $4. crazy. 

Friends

Every so often I’m reminded that the rules of friendship are different here in korea. I’m the type of person to easily call a person either an acquaintance, friend, or occasionally a good friend of mine. The rules here are a bit different. If you are born in the same year, then you’re allowed to be friends. If you are friends with someone even a year younger than you then they suddenly become your hubei, and to them you are their sunbae. They don’t call each other friends.

Girls and boys typically don’t consider each other friends, because for some reason girls and boys aren’t meant to be friends… or something. Though I do believe that nowadays girls and boys are friends.

Earlier I told my coworker that my friend had visited me for a few days and he asked me how old she was, I said she was a year younger and then he said, “You always call people your friend. I bet you think I’m your friend!”

Another time someone at work was emailing with a long lost colleague and asked me why the guy signed off with “we will talk again soon, my friend” and my coworker asked me, “why did he call me his friend? He is 10 years younger than me!”

It's true. To me, everyone is my friend.

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 The cherry blossom festival starts this week! The days are longer, the sky is prettier. Please don’t ruin things with rain.  

Nostalgia at work

I used to sing this song when i was a kid. sang it at work today


원숭이 똥구멍은 빨개. 
빨개면 사과, 
사과는 맛있어, 
맛있으면 바나나, 
바나나는 길어, 
길으면 기차, 
기차는 빨라,
빠르면 비행기,
 비행기는 높아, 
높으면 백두산. *start signing the 백두산 song* 


Translation


A monkey's butthole is red
red like an apple
apples are delicious
delicious like a banana
bananas are long
long like a train
trains are fast
fast like a plane
planes are up high
high like the baek doo san (the highest mountain in korea)




what a classic. some girl group should make a remix of this song haha

Bronchitis - get a 6-pack in 3 days guaranteed!

Today I went to the doctor for this chronic cough and sore throat problem that I have had for the past few days. I honestly thought that I was suffering from over-karaokeing linkin park and Kelly Clarkson from the other night, but instead it turns out that I have bronchitis and pharyngitis! So far I have gotten much better after starting my antibiotics, so im not too worried. I read online that the antibiotics can cause a yeast infection though – geez I hope I don’t get one of those.

Although I was not feeling well this morning, I’m not into taking sick days. Even when I was a kid and had the flu and threw up during recess I still went to stayed at school, which is probably not safe, but that just shows my dedication. In addition, I’m already at -3 vacation days since I spent all of mine last year.

Apparently first years are technically allowed 0 vacation days despite the fact that they supposedly offer one day off per month. Second years are allowed 15 vacation days, but im not sure if people actually utilize their vacation days. Last year I took 18. 18 because when my office would send me to the US I would take at least a week to go home, and things just… added up! I’m def planning a few vacations for this year, so looks like my 3^rd year (if im still in korea) will probably start out with -20. haha 

The 6 Day Seoul, Korea Tour

if i werent at work, i'd make a montage of eveyone who has visited me in korea, but for now here is a pic of my most recent guest esther! (shes on her way to the airport right now) @ Platoon for the fleamarket event

Now that I have played host for several people, I’m starting to notice that:

1. I have done the same activities one too many times (not that its completely a bad thing)

2. I should be a professional tour guide for seoul, im sure someone out there would be down too pay for my services… and by services i’m talking PG.  

I reposted a post I made a few month ago about how to be a good guest just for reference, see below. 

Here is a typical sample itinerary for someone who has never been to korea before

6 day stay:

Thursday – Day 1

Arrive

Dinner

Karaoke

Sticker pictures

Eat street food

Take the subway – teach them how to use it

Home

Sleep by 1:00 am

Friday – Day 2

Half day tour bus to the DMZ

Dinner

Hongdae – bar + club = sloppy night

Somehow get home by 6 am

Saturday – Day 3

MyeongDong

Namdaemun

Namsan Tower – at sunset

Chung Ge Chun

Insadong – dinner at a traditional krn place, tea at a café

Home – drop off all of the stuff you bought

Gangnam – club by midnight

Sloppy sloppy party party

Sunday - Day 4

Yeouido park (biking + cherry blossom festival etc)

Play at the han river

Yongsan – Dragon hill sauna

Home. do work, bed by 1 am

Monday - Day 5

Lunch @ coex with me and coworkers

Shop around coex

Gwanghamun/and or DDM shopping

Bbq dinner

Tues – Day 6

Depart

Other optional activities:

-       Lotte world (korea’s Disneyland)

-       Dog café

-       Dr fish

-       Hang out with a native

obviously there are many more awesome places that should be added to the daytime and night time activities, but this is a very typical schedule for me. Also, as a fan of making over ambitious itineraries, everything is not usually achieved. 

very busy at work this week. 

toodles!

Corporate ranking structure

As I was zoning in and out during our weekly Monday morning meeting I started to think about the employees who had just gotten promotions last week.

Every koreanized company uses the same ranking structure.

Something along the lines of:

사원 sa-won /company noob(level 1,2,3)

대리 daeri/assistant manager (level 1,2,3~4)

과장 gwa-jang/manager (1,2,3~4)

차장 cha-jang/senior manager (1,2,3~4)

부장 Bu-jang/senior-er manager (1,2,3~4)

이사 lee-sa/director

상무 sang-mu/director-er director

전문 jun-mun/some type of vp

부사장 bu sajang/executive vp
전문 Jun mun/another executive vp 

사장님 sa-jang nim/ceo

One level typically represents 3 years depending on your performance. It’s annoying that the titles are all the same across the board for all companies. I don’t believe that all positions are comparable at all business types.

Today I had a meeting in the executive vp’s office with a lee-sa and a daeri. The director stepped out for a haircut and around 15 minutes after he had left, I got up from the mini stool I was sitting on and sat on his big chair. The daeri said that I’m too “American style” and that he would never sit on the chair. I mean, I can see how it can be a little strange, but when it comes down to it who the hell cares? Long meeting in a cramped room, 3 chairs and a small stool… cmon.

Maybe im just too casual. 

A Sandwich Story

the three of us (some of us from the global team) are sitting in the same position! haha


To compensate for showing up late for work yesterday, I showed up first to work today! Almost 45 minutes before the next person showed up haha. 


In a nutshell:
Last night I scooped up esther, met up with kyu, ate Mexican, sober karaoked, went home, taught esther about the importance of skin care, chatted with her til 3 am, listened to her sleep, dozed off, woke up, made paninis, dropped her off at the DMZ tour-bus by 7:20, pranced into work. And here I am - TGIF! Amen to that!

So the other night I ate a sandwich (HIMYM reference…) with doysy and started thinking about my favorite sandwich moments…

2007, San Diego

This one time jenn and I ate a really big sandwich and headed over to Ralphs for some snacks and tampons. Because I was very full from the sandwich I was in a rather silly mood. I walked over to the diaper aisle looking for tampons because that seemed to make the most logical sense to me (feminine napkins are usually in the toiletries aisle, fyi) and looked all around for tampons or pads but found nada. I walked over to a stock guy and asked him, “Excuse me, can you tell me where I can find… tam…ta…t…..” *laughs hysterically with my mouth wide open for at least 30 seconds*

I saw from the corner of my eye – jenn bolting toward me and she apologized to the stock guy and took me away as I was still laughing my nars off, mouth wide open, but no sound except for the occasional wheeze and gasp for air.

Time to time I think about that moment… maybe it’s more of a you-had-to-be-there moment but its still funny. It always reminds me of the time when my aunt went to the pet store to buy rat poison and rat traps LOL.  She was one funny lady – even without eating sandwiches.  

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Hyori's new video - very mellow but cool vid
she's still hot after all these years. shes been famous for what... 12 years now??

Lee Hyori ft. LeeSsang - Swing MV

HAPPY FIRDAY. HAPPY APRIL FOOLS (us time) HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO SONIA MY FUNNY FRIEND SINCE THE 3^RD GRADE!  HAPPY EASTER!!