Institutions

Another day, another café. I know it must seem like I do this a lot but it’s mostly because I’ve found that the way for me to actually write blog entries is to do it longhand and outside of my apartment. So right now I’m sitting in Hands Coffee, with its bright yellow walls and Franco-African background music. The female barista seems to be really excited about something and is celebrating by flailing her arms and covering her mouth in a hilarious manner.

So in case you are worried about chronology (you’re almost definitely not) the entries I posted on Sunday were actually written during the week; I just posted them then because I had time. In the spirit of the last entry, I wanted to mention another one of my weirdo characteristics. It’s one I’ve been noticing more recently for reasons that I will explain. I notice that when someone tells me about their problems and/or various life situations, I start throwing out advice and commentary right from the get go, regardless of how well I know the person. Now, one of the things about living in a country where you know that most of the population can’t understand you is that you (and by “you” I mean all of the foreigners I’ve met so far) will have conversations in public that you absolutely wouldn’t at home. So, over food and drink, I have been treated to some very personal tales (rest assured I am not complaining; you know I love knowing people’s business) and have been more than ready to state my perspective on such tales to people I’ve known for less than a month.

On Saturday I finally made it to the jimjilbang. I met up with Bryan and some of his martial arts peeps. Only one other woman decided to come along, J, a cool South African from Durban, so she and I got to do some good hanging out while in the ladies’ section. The jimjilbang is divided into ladies’, men’s and coed sections because in the hot tubs and saunas you have to be naked but in the heated floor section, you wear a gym class-esque outfit so you can hang out with the other gender. J told me about the tough time she’s had in Korea because of her accent. I think it’s ridiculous to expect everyone to talk like Americans when they make up only one, admittedly loud, section of the English speaking world. Plus it’s just douchy to hire someone knowing what their accent sounds like and then punish them for it. Anyway, the jimjilbang was delightful and refreshing. That evening, I went out to celebrate Nakia’s birthday, which was tons of fun. Despite the late night, my body woke me up early (by my standards) on Sunday morning. Nakia, sweetheart that she is, took me to Costco that afternoon. Now I don’t go to Costco back home so this was my first experience with Costco in any context, so all I can say is that Costco in Daegu on a Sunday afternoon is C-R-A-Z-Y-T-O-W-N. As Nakia would say, everyone and their granny was there. The place is huge and still it was packed. First thing we did was eat their straight up delicious food. I had my first slice of pizza in like a month and a half and it tasted like cheesy heaven. They also serve these things called “chicken bake” and “bulgogi bake” which are bread stuffed with cheese and either chicken or bulgogi. I got the chicken one and it was sooooo good. Next time, bulgogi. Of course, next time won’t be for a long time because bulk shopping means I won’t be needing a lot of things for at least a couple of months. I bought a humungous apple pie that I’m very pleased with. Tomorrow I’m going to cook some of my haul. Gone are the days when all my freezer held was ice cream and don-kas (pork cutlet or don katsu); now, it houses a ton of ground beef, half a blog of cheese and a big bag of ravioli.

Since I’ve been writing, I received “service” (re: free) coffee and watch a girl come in and spend several minutes combing her bangs while eating cake (I suppose I am West Indian enough to think that playing with hair while eating is disgusting). Her friend just arrived and looks like she is apologizing for being late. I can’t evesdrop in my usual fashion because my Korean isn’t good enough, though I can always tell when people are talking about me because I can hear them say “weiguk” which means foreigner.

This coffee is making me too sleepy to keep writing so I’ll have to wrap this up so I can walk home. As for today’s musical recommendation, I give you Clazziquai, one of the first Korean groups I ever got into. I found out about them because they contributed to the soundtrack of “My Lovely Kim Sam Soon,” one of the first kdramas I ever watched and an all time favourite. Clazziquai’s delightful mix of electronica, jazz and pop (and even bossanova on a number of tracks) really pleases me. Also I’m entertained by their sometimes nonsensical use of English. They have a good mix of tempos so I’m offering one high energy, one mid tempo and one mellow track.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jj6roS5q2QI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uy7gaLP08Mw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4xsv7hcqBM

Love,
AAA