November Daze

Dang, so November has come and gone in a blur. I pay attention to the calendar and still can't believe how fast the time goes by. In the last week, there have been a few instances of forgetting I'm in Korea. It's pretty awesome. The whole living-in-a-foreign-country thing is starting to feel not so foreign all the time.

So what have I been up to in November? Well, 2 weekends ago Michael and I took the bullet train to Seoul.
Riding the train is simply one of my favorite things. My nostalgia for it runs deep after my summer spent in Europa --and it reminded me of fulfilling a promise to myself that it would be a regular transportation option again sometime in life i.e. I need to move to Spain. Or Italy. Or France. Wherever. Taking the bullet train is the fancy way to Seoul: tickets cost around 100,000 won round trip but the ride only takes two and a half hours. Super plush, high class style. You know how we do.

Forgot to mention the reason for our over-nighter was to see Los Flaming Lips. Whaddya want from me? My life rules. We got in Saturday afternoon and hooked up with Michael's old pal Lazar. As in Jeff. As in Laser-Beam. He's awesome and hosted us well. He's been living in Korea going on 4 years and can actually speak/write/read Korean AND has Korean friends. That doesn't happen nearly as much as you'd expect so he's basically a celebrity. 

So happy to finally see fall colors!

Laser-beam and I walking to his casa. 

Roof-top of Laser's house in central Seoul. Lil hazy but still rad. 

So after grabbing some dinner, Jop-face and I headed to the show. Do I really need to say much here? It obviously ruled. Small cannon-things firing confetti. Huge balloons being hit around, eventually bursting and showering more confetti. Background video projection with  naked dancing women. Webcam on the mic so you could get a sweet view of Wayne Coyne's sweaty teeth. Giant gong. Koreans dressed up in matching orange outfits dancing on the side stage. Yuuuuuuge hands shooting green laser beams from the palms. We took some video but the sound quality is so abysmal I can't subject you to it.

What a sweet vibe they had. Wayne was really full of the love. Highly recommended. 

After the show, we met up with Laser-beam and his friend Laurie to go to a "hippy" bar. Here are a few other notable drinking spots we passed on the way. Oh, the humor of English in a foreign land. 

Mom, please note Michael took this photo. 

One of 7 locations in Seoul if you's a picky ho. 

I'd rather eat a sexy pig. 

We eventually made it to our destination in spite of the all the tempting spots along the way. I wasn't exactly sure what to expect when Laurie said it was a "hippy" bar but I was more than pleasantly surprised when we got there. It was underground and we had to takes our shoes off and put them in a miniature pillow-case type of bag at the door. The place was like some kind of hippy cave with lots of world beat playing. And it was super sweet actually. Something about dancing with your shoes off makes you feel like you're at home in your living room. We sat in this awesomely cozy cavernous floor space with lots of pillows and candles for light. Again, super sweet. The place was pretty chill when we arrived but was quite bumpin' by the time we left. I was in hardcore dance mode even though Michael could spin better deaf than the dj and there was a random drunk opportunist on the floor taking advantage of any girl unfortunate enough to accidentally bump into him. Thankfully I was sober and too quick for his inebriated groping attempts. My only gripe of the night was not taking better pictures of the place and only spending one night in Seoul! It's an awesome, yuuuuuuge city and I can't wait to go back. 

Sweet Korean interpretative dancer on the left, Laser-beam being weird with his nipple, Laurie and me. Photo courtesy of Jop-face.

Needless to say, Sunday came too soon and we were back on the train. At the station, we stopped to dig the sound of some sweet Peruvians playing magical tunes. It was awesome and really interesting for me to ponder their life over here. Michael gave them a "Que buena!" with his Spanish-speaking style and you could tell they really appreciated hearing it. Pretty cool. Take a soothing listen below. 

Until next time, Seoul.....

Daily T-shirt: MONEY IS BLOOD

"I keep looking forward to the day when music is a liquid they pour into your head." --Wayne Coyne

AMURRIKN BUFFET....Korea Style

So today, Michael and I went out to eat at a recommended spot from our Canadian coworkers. May I proudly present our dining experience at....Ashley American Grill and Salad!!!

Now now now, before the judging commences. Let me esssplain to you, this was not your standard American buffet. Sure, it had its similarities: classic salad, meat, pasta, and ice cream bars with your side of 3 pizzas to choose from. Okay, so it was basically the same. Although the experience was oddly comforting/reminiscent of an afternoon of stuffing my face after church with my family and then falling asleep to the classic rock samplings of The Drive in the conversion van ride home, it had its differences okay? I swear. In fact, let me document them visually for you here. 

Tea. But not your average sweet/unsweetened. 

The black vinegar is actually quite tasty! 

Okay, it's an unflattering photo but we're not all as photogenic as me. It's a pumpkin dessert with cherries and cherry sauce. And actually, really damn good. 

Fruit bar included apples, pineapples, lychee (on the left) and rambutan. Uhhhhh-mazing. 

And of course, what Korean/American fusion buffet wouldn't be complete without a WAFFLE BAR!

My waffle: raspberry jam with some sort of honey/syrup/almond/pecan/macadamia nut concontion. Muy bien. 

Michael's taste explosion waffle: chocolate, caramel, whipped cream, oatmeal raisin cookies, annnnd the grayish stuff to the left is actually Black Sesame Ice Cream. Interesssttting flavor. 

I opted for the apple sherbet. It was a wise choice. 

Lastly, I'll leave you with an image of what every Ponderosa, Shaky's, and Golden Corral sorely lack. Exquisite interior decorating. 

  

I've always thought fake chandeliers and flowers add a nice touch. 

Daily T-shirt: OLD BLACK BISCUIT

"The belly rules the mind."  ~Spanish Proverb

Big Foot

The days have been moving quickly here and I've been Lame-o Blogger Numero Uno for a few weeks running  now. I'm sure you've all been waiting with baited breath for my next post, right? Unfortunately, all that's happened is me punishing the Harry Potter series into completion.

The end. 

Bye. 

Kidding! As in kiiiiinnnd of kidding...but not really??? I did finish all 7 Harry Potter books in something like a month's time (embarrassing?) AND won half of a two-part bet concerning big reveals about Severus Snape and Albus Dumbeldore. Also, my knowledge of the following terms has potentially solidified my nerd status forever: muggle, horcrux, patronus, hippogriff, animagi, quidditch, snitch, dungbomb, etc. You can cross reference me here if you're a nerd too.

Oh well. It's been refreshing to vacate the non-fiction world for the last 2 months. I've read over ten awesome books since I've been here. However, I am missing the self growth/spiritual/unschooling/sustainability/industrial food system/occasionally political fiction web I had woven via my UT Courtesy Borrower and Austin Public Library cards. Me thinks a financially painful but necessary Amazon order is in the near future.

So the weather has finally made up it's mind and it seems the briskness of fall and impending winter is here to stay. We bought a small space heater and a thick comforter a la Gupo Market last weekend in submission to the change. Also, I've heard the heating bill can get atrocious so I'm reliving my senior year of college by keeping the heat off, wearing layers to bed under 3 blankets and blasting the space heater instead of lighting 40 candles this time around. Am I a cheap-ass or an energy-saver? Hmmm....difficult question.

The change in temperature has also pushed me into my first Korean shopping experiences (of the girly kind), which were instantly thwarted by an already somewhat-foreseen-but-nevertheless-embarrassing blow:

I have big feet. 

It's true. My sisters and Mom are laughing right now and if they were here I'd tell them to "shut up and leave me alone!" My Mom would then gawk at the bone that juts out at the back of my heel as a nonverbal sympathetic gesture of "it's not your fault, you were born that way!" as I storm off to my room to sulk in my heated waterbed and listen to Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness for the tenth time in 2 days. Specifically tracks 5, 7, 11 , 12, and 13 of Dawn to Dusk if you must know. 

However it is no longer 1996 and in my formative years I have experienced the occasional awkwardness of seeing non-family people's faces when they notice my giant tootsies. Before coming to Korea, it was most recently witnessed doing roller derby, where I would surreptitiously put on my skates in a group of 30+ loud-mouth girls hoping no one would notice. It didn't happen til I became a Hellcat and the odds were against me: 10 or 11 girls around the track were more likely to notice than several. My favorite part of this experience is the almost always accompanying question of "How tall are you?"...."5'2"...I KNOW I have big feet, okay?"

Anyway, these moments don't occur that often and I'd like to think I'm on the mend with my big-foot issues. However, living in Korea has revealed my "situation" to me yet again and it wasn't something I was looking forward to. Koreans are tiny, you know? And with their tininess comes tiny feet. Tiny feet to match their tiny selves. 

Now, as you've had a proper trip down my big-footed memory lane, we can return to the original subject of my shopping experiences here. The change of weather has put me in recent need of a decent coat and a few more durable pairs of shoes. It's my misfortune that shoes here are friggin' cute to the max and uber-cheap. To boot (accidental pun, Margaret Smoller!), shoes are my favorite thing to shop for. It's depressing and as the weeks go by, I'm a bit more self-pitying about my shoe situation. I did happen to find a Zara, which I haven't shopped at since I was in Paris. My feeling-sorry-for-myself extended to purchasing a pair of boots at a price I've NEVER paid for a pair of shoes. And I ain't gonna tell you how much here. Oddly enough, they're closer to a cowboy boot than I ever got after 4 years in Texas and I freakin' love 'em...so to hell with it, right? They look pretty okay if you ask me.

At least I've found ONE place to buy a non-sneaker pair of shoes to get my lady-fill, even if they are a bit costly. Ain't no tiny Koreans gon' keep me from buying shoes for a whole year. 

As always, the ever-faithful Depeche Mode sums my angst up. Listen hard.

And for the record, I'm ONLY a size 9 people! i.e. MOM.

Daily T-shirt: QUITE GIRLISH