i've really been quite busy lately, and i can't remember when it happened. i like it mostly, tho it has interrupted a typing project i began. i am very close to a routine, it is basically this:
monday: work, gym, home
tuesday: work, huh?
wednesday: work, gym, home
thursday: work, huh?
friday: work, gym, home, out
saturday/sunday: mystery guests

here is an overview of the last few weeks


some of the 1000s of korean students that were at seoul land on 16.11.08
went to seoul land with my school and about 50 other schools from around seoul. it is not korea's biggest theme park, but it is seoul's theme park.



the ones looking right at the camera, with the V-sign are with me.

she dressed up in heels and wore make-up etc. she suddenly looked like a little adult. funny outfit for a theme park, tho. on tuesday, it took me a moment to recognize her.

when we left, i bought a cup full of bugs for about .50 cents from an old woman on the way to the subway. my co-teachers said, 'first dog, now bugs, you are really becoming a korean!' they were okay. bugs in liquid. they tasted like unwashed mushrooms, essentially. extremely earthy. my co-teachers kept laughing that i was calling them bugs. 'they are...larva.' and indeed they are, but my counter point was 'what would you call this if you saw it in your apartment?' we then, collectively, ate my bugs. larvae.


i had what turned out to be all you can eat sushi, and it was marvelous. i turned into a fish, was placed in the han river, and swam home.


the post below has two lil vids from the seoul contemporary art museum. that was saturday. they are illegal videos. we went to a tapas restaurant in hongdae. it was good and not completely unreasonable. it was the first time i had used a fork in over 2 months, it felt clumsy. afterwards, we met up with some people, who were drunk, so we left to my bar.

we got drunk, had a hard time asking for two-more drinks when we handed over the card and the bill, and convinced two koreans whom we didnt know to join us at a norae-bang*. it was alot of fun. especially singing 'bohemian rhapsody' with them.


sunday i was invited by a professor from a local university to go to a concert. in the backyard of the 3rd president of korea's house. i have a knack for stumbling into this type of thing anyway, but in korea it has been amplified. while there, i met dean moss. he is a choreographer from nyc and now on saturday i am going to see the premier of a piece he has collaborated on with kim yoon-jin (the korea times is by no means an exceptional paper, but you at least get an idea). leafing through the brochure he gave me, i have decided to go see a production of electra called 'electra perpetrator'. the photos i have seen look beautiful. i had my co-teacher call for tickets and my fortune continues as they are half-price for foreigners. koreans can stare at me all they want if i get half-price tickets. but back to the 3rd president of korea's backyard. its nice. very nice. and in the middle of seoul. it doesnt feel like it. the rich always have a way of making it seem like they don't live in your surroundings. i then had dinner with a class of people i shouldn't know: an architect who lived in paris for 10 years, a gallery owner, a man designing the future of digital tv programming, etc. thankfully i have read some books in my life.


monday was a grateful day: to work then gym.


tuesday met zach and ross (ross is linked at the upper right) and, as it always seems to turn out, 10 other people, for mexican. it was actual mexican food. not even the 'not quite' that is korea's take on everything. it was pricey, which wasn't actual mexican food (unless your are close to the mci center in dc) but worth it.


last night, after working out, marta and i went to get our grill on. then she told me she hasn't been to rolling stone, so we went there and ended upstaying too late. i will be back there on friday, which made the whole staying there late thing all the more silly. i do like that bar. a lot.


so, there you have it. tired thursday, got a haircut, and had to save my beard from being completely scrapped when the korean guy accidentally hit one side of it with the clippers (they wont touch my beard below my ear lobe), looking forward to sleeping early (tho i want to chat with people back on the other side of earth), and transfering money to my US account since tomorrow is the monthly pay-day, then hanging out with jin-woo. saturday is world premier dance, and sunday is open as of now.

* from the web
Norae-bong

Norae literally means singing or song. So, yes, you guessed it, this is your own personal karaeoke room. Koreans love to sing and took Japan’s karaeoke and made it all their own. You rent a room by the hour and it includes funky lighting, a disco ball, several televisions, a huge song book (English songs too), comfy seating, and even tambourines.
If you had qualms about karaeoke before, it is suddenly erased with this added privacy, the accompaniment of friends and, for most Koreans, a bit of alcohol.