Lost Wallet – Almost

For 15 minutes tonight, I thought I had lost my wallet for the 2nd time in 6 months.  Normally, I don’t worry about things like losing a wallet, assuming that ‘it will show up’ and rationalizing that the outcome of truly losing the wallet is not a major catastrophe.  Tonight though, I was having trouble rationalizing the loss of my wallet being a low-stress incident.  Tomorrow, I shoot off to Korea for another stint of living, working and traveling abroad; my wallet would have been pretty essential in the coming days while I travel throughout Asia.  Fortunately, I only dropped the wallet in my car, wedging it between the center console and my seat.  Major catastrophe avoided.

Noraebong Woes

Reasons why I am still a little in between on my feelings on Noraebong:

1)  My voice normally gets so raspy after drinking that there is nothing left for the singing. 

2)  My voice gets drowned up by anyone with a higher voice, so I end up just singing louder and losing more voice.

Super Junior – Sorry Sorry

More Korean Pop.  Again, catchy as hell.  If the “Sorry, Sorry,
Sorry, Sorry”’s don’t get stuck in your head then the perhaps the “Nekkid,
Nekkid, Nekkid”’s just might.  Also, the boy band performing this song,
Super Junior, has approximately 22 members.

Roh Moo-Hyun

Since I have received a few emails from family and friends with concern after news of former South Korean President Roh Moo-Ryun’s suicide, I feel compelled to blog on this topic.  Especially since his suicide was to have been reported internationally as having occurred in my Korean hometown, Busan (it is the closest large city to the cliff President Roh jumped off of). 

I am in no position to comment on his politics or his successes/failures as a leader, but in conversations I have had with Korean people, President Roh was certainly a person that seemed to spark people.  He was known as a clean politician as well, a reputation that certainly took a knock when allegations of he and his wife receiving roughly $6 million in bribes from a business man in Korea. 

Things I Miss Right Now

Yeah, I love my time in Korea to this point, but I am human and there’s definite stuff I miss about NY (do or die M-Fers, lol).  Also, no mention of friends or family on this list because, obviously I miss those close to me from back in the states.   

-Deli’s, Pizza Joints, basically anyplace where you can walk in and then walk out with really good food (besides fast food places). 

-Being able to buy clothes pretty hassle free (6-4, 220 is not who Koreans make clothes for).

-NBA Playoffs, MLB (its not that I can’t follow it here, its just that a 13 hour time difference makes it real hard to ever see a game live). 

-Real Hip-Hop (too many people here either dislike hip-hop or think that Soulja Boy is the best rap act going.  No further comment needed). 

-Miller High Life

-American Country Breakfasts

-non-Korean food (I love Korean food, but the non-Korean options in Korea just don’t match up in my opinion)

-Calling in sick for work (not really something you do here)

-American National Holidays (Korea has national holidays, but they have not yet figured out the benefits a firmly scheduled 3-day weekends.  I will be very ornery on Memorial Day). 

-All that stuff you can do in NY. 

Ok, I’m done. 

Wonder Girls- So Hot

more about “Wonder Girls- So hot“, posted with vodpod

More Korean Pop Music. Enjoy.

Girls’ Generation – Gee

First post on Korean Pop Music.  I don’t think I actually like this music, but its still gets stuck in my head.

This is my favorite pop song I have heard here thus far.  I like bubble-gummy type stuff in general and the song is good and peppy.  I am still uncertain how a girl group works when their are NINE MEMBERS.  Destiny’s Child had much drama with first with 5 members and then with just 3 members.  This is Girls’ Generation with “Gee”.

Girls’ Generation (SNSD) – Gee Music Video

Kenny Rogers Noraebong

I have been sitting on this story for too long.  Its not as though the tale surrounding my White Day (March 14, analogous to our Valetine’s Day) was real salacious, but it took me sometime to get the picture I needed to tell the story. 

Also, this beginning with this post, I am going to try and get more posts up, with many more little things about life here as, I have find myself out of the house way more than I ever planned during my stay in Korea.  I guess the primary reason for this is that I have been very, very active in pursuing a busy social life and as a result, I am out most every night.  However, the reason for my aggressive social pursuits is directly related to my work life over the past few weeks.  Things at my school have been less than ideal and as a result, I have found myself working harder and being more stressed at the job and my aggressive social pursuits serve adequately as a solid diversion. 

Bbundaegee

Bbundaegee – Boiled Silk Worm Larvae.  Popular street food in Korea.

When I made my first trip to Seoul, I saw many interesting things, sampled the crazy nightlife, met up with some great old friends and new friends and got a nice taste for one of the largest cities in the world.  But people enjoy hearing about the truly bizarre things, so here is a video of me trying Bbundaegee. 

Special thanks to my friend Clara and June for being their to take this video and support me while eating larvae. 

Dong Chim or: Get Your Index Fingers Out of My Anus

“The Korean children I have worked with are generally pretty well behaved, but beware of the occasional dong chim.” 

I didn’t realize at the time, but the above advice was among the more sage tidbits I received from older, wiser veterans of the Korean Classroom. 

Dong chim (adapted from wikipedia’s entry of Kancho, the Japanese equivalent of Dong-chim) – roughly translated as poop needle, dong chim is act where the performing party claspes his or her hands together so that the index fingers are pointing outwards and then sharply attempts to insert them in the anal region of an unsuspecting receiving party.