To celebrate the Fourth of July, some of us got together to act American (i.e., be really loud) by shooting fireworks off the roof. We also ate hamburgers, chicken, potato salad, and beer! And to make it even more American, I was able to squeeze in a fantasy baseball trade! But the Americanization was short [...]
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When I first saw this video by DBSK (동방신기) I was mortified. I didn’t understand the mittens, the headbands, the ties, or the penguin back-up dancers. I still don’t understand it, but after several hundred viewings, I have completely succumbed to their saccharin smiles and cheesy dance moves. Similar to a Picasso or Liza Minelli [...]
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I’ve been wanting to write about my fat-ness for a long time, but to be honest, there’s too much to write about and I get overwhelmed… When I came to Korea I was fat, I’ll admit it. My last couple of years in America were not a vision of health. But in the last 11 [...]
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My Friend from the Philippines visited this weekend. So, after a day at temple, we decided to walk through downtown Daegu. Of course, something fun happened… I got to see Cabaret performed in Korean, which is probably the next best thing to seeing Liza. It made me miss my good friend Tom, who never lets [...]
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It’s a good day to be on Facebook… and it’s a good day to be one of the 16 allied nations that helped South Korea in their war with the North in 1950. If you are like me and from one of the allied nations of Turkey, Ethiopia, Thailand, Philippines, Belgium, New Zealand, Colombia, Luxembourg, [...]
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As usual, I got out of work at 11pm on Friday. I went straight to bed because I had to wake up at 5am to catch the bus to Seoul. But I was nervous; I couldn’t sleep. I woke up late and missed the 6am bus. After three hours, I arrived in East Soul and, [...]
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As you may or may not know, I LOVE the Wonder Girls. In Korea there’s no shortage of girl groups (or boy groups), but in my opinion, the Wonder Girls are a step ahead of everyone else. I still think So Hot and Nobody are the best pop songs (and videos) to come out of [...]
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After two long days in Seoul walking more than I have ever walked in my entire life, I pulled it together enough to wait it out for the Lotus Lantern Festival Parade. I’m glad I did, because I loved it. In my former life working in politics, I attended many (MANY) parades. As a rule, [...]
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This weekend I spent some time in Seoul to check out the Lotus Lantern Festival. Buddha’s birthday is this month and there are a lot of things going on. It was very interesting in comparison to American festivals… by that I mean it was A LOT less annoying. Of course, I can never figure out [...]
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I had two weeks to plan for vacation and one of my biggest concerns was finding vacation clothes. Mainly, I needed a swimsuit and shorts. And while this isn’t a concern in many places in the world, in Korea, they just don’t carry my size. So, I buckled down and went online to use what [...]
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Enough has been written about Kim Yu-Na’s performance today, so I’ll keep it brief. It was amazing. On Tuesday, she broke the world record for the short program (she held the previous record) and today she broke the world record for the free skate (she held the previous record). But she didn’t just break records, [...]
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The New York Times had a great article yesterday on Kim Yu-Na and the enormous expectations that are on her to win the gold medal in Vancouver. Given that Kim is a national hero in South Korea, “her loss or her winning will be perceived as a national loss or a national winning,” said Kyung-ae [...]
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Let me just start by saying that the best part of my Korean gym is that they have those fat jiggling machines from the mid-20th century. I love them! I don’t use them (because they are almost always occupied), but I love that they are there. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the [...]
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Now I don’t know a lot about figure skating, but when I watch Kim Yu-na, I know I’m seeing something incredible. And since the ladies figure skating starts this week in Vancouver, I had to give a preview. She currently holds the world record in the short program, long program, and combined score. I don’t [...]
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When I walked in to eat lunch today, I saw a “pretty” girl across the restaurant, but I didn’t pay much attention. There are a lot of “pretty” people in Korea (in my opinion) and I never talk to any of them. But as I was eating I noticed her talking to the owners of [...]
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Well, it’s officially been six months since I moved to Korea. I know it’s trite, but it really has gone by fast. There were several moments I didn’t think I would make it, but that was mostly due to some work issues and receiving “anonymous” hate mail from someone who accessed my Facebook account. Those [...]
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This is one of my younger classes — 제우스 (translated Jeuseu, which means “Zeus”). Last Friday we played a few games and and I brought in some dduk filled with bean paste (dduk is a kind of dumpling made with rice flour). They really liked it and were quite cute about it. What confused me [...]
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When I moved to Korea, one thing that stood out for me was the fact that there were a very large number of lingerie/underwear stores. There are more small businesses everywhere given that they don’t purchase everything at Wal-Mart and Target… but there are A LOT of lingerie shops ranging from the simple to the [...]
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I went hiking this weekend. Well, hiking is not a good word to use… it was more like a long walk. However, the lack of hills and strenuous terrain did not stop everyone else from donning their Gore-Tex jump suits and trekking poles. I also love the, quite large, amount of pink and red jackets
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Ever since I turned 16, I’ve been looking forward to my 30th birthday. I just wanted to be grown up. I wanted to skip dating. I wanted to skip first days of jobs. I wanted to skip high school and college and land in a time when I would be old enough to like people [...]
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