A Twofer

(Friday last week)
So tonight I’m at a cafe that I think Ambreen and Ausma would love (hey guys!). It’s called Café in the Garden and it’s set up to look like, well, a garden. I’m by myself, which naturally means I chose a romantic little table on a raised platform that is surrounded by foliage and has a little mailbox beside the 2 stairs you have to climb to reach the table. Doing stuff alone in Korea is seen as pretty weird, even more so than at home. There are actually a lot of restaurants in Korea that you just can’t go to alone; they’ll turn you away because its eating food and it would just be wrong for you to do it alone, even if you want to. You all know I like to do stuff alone so it’s funny adjusting to this new business of considering not just what I want to eat, but what I can eat when I’m by myself. I think it’s probably part of why Korea is so dang couple-y. People require people to do stuff with all the time and even best friends don’t want to hang out all day every day. Couples will do that though. Also, people don’t move out til they get married, which is incentive for lots of people (especially for women who are more likely to chafe under parental authority) to get coupled up so they can get out and set up a house of their own.
I’m drinking some nice loose leaf peppermint tea. Something I hadn’t seen before Korea is liquid sugar. It’s clear and sticky and I had to pump it out of one of those bottles they use for snow cone flavouring.
The last couple of nights I stayed up pretty late socializing, which included some quality virtual time with the nerd squad (re: my brothers), some last chance Boggle playing with Bryan and Kelly, and some entertainment by various other fine folks of Daegu. I’m going to Seoul tomorrow afternoon where I will see Brittany, the delightful former Guelphite who I lived across the hall from in first year and spent many an hour playing Dr. Mario (best game ever) with. She’s a star. She lives in another city closer to Seoul that’s about the size of Hamilton and she too will be making the trip this weekend so we will have some reuniting to do. Also, Rasheeda organized a film screening for “Brother and Sisters of South Korea” (re: black people in Korea social group) and I shall be attending. Twill be cool.
There are books at this cafe and you know where there are books I have to examine them, even if I can’t read them. I found one called “36 Celebrities Say...” which is actually excerpts from works by historians, cultural theorists and scientists. There is even a bit of Sartre and de Beauvoir in there.

(Tonight)
Well folks, it’s Wednesday and I am again on the third floor of Angel-in-Us drinking hot chocolate and taking some time to reflect.
Lately other people’s school goings on have been coming up on my newsfeed and I’ve started to feel very slight pangs of academic withdrawal. Yet considering how I’ve been having to work really hard to make myself study every day for the GRE EST, I know I’m not ready to be fully back on the academia train just yet. At least I don’t have to worry about losing my academic inclinations.
This past weekend I went up to Seoul and had a wonderful time reuniting with Brittany. I meet her, her boyfriend, and their very cool buddies (including a delightful Australian couple who have the honour of being the first Australians I’ve ever liked – which sounds bad, but whatever, it’s true) at a wonderful Indian restaurant in the Hongdae area called Yeti where I had biryani, a mango lassi and a couple of chai – heaven. They were there celebrating the going away of their coworker/friend. Post-dinner, we went to a couple of bars and did some delightful dancing (including a glorious I Wanna Dance With Somebody dance explosion from the ladies) before rounding the night off with a noraebang session. I actually hadn’t been to a noraebang (private karaoke room) since my arrival (shameful) so it was sweet getting to do some of my classic (re: horrendously sung) renditions of various songs. Brittany and her super kind boyfriend rescued me when my place to stay fell threw and let me sleep in their hotel room, which was really awesome of them. The next morning we had breakfast and roamed around Insadong for a bit before we parted ways and I headed to Itaewon for the screening of “Africa Unite.” The documentary – which is about the festival in Ethiopian (posthumously) celebrating Bob Marley’s 60th birthday – was quite interesting. There was jerk chicken, which I consumed despite its hotness. I also got to see Adom’s friend Lola and Joy who you may remember from the Basement Jaxx entry, as well as getting to see / meet lots of other Seoul- based black folks. It was quite a thing seeing so many non-military black people in one place in Korea. The screening was followed by a little bit of discussion that R had wrangled me into semi-facilitating. By the time this was all done, I had to head back to Daegu since it was Sunday night and work was a acomin’ the next morning.
On Tuesday, I had my first work organized Korean class. They are during the day so I have to make up the time I miss from work but it’s totally worth it because it is 1) free 2) a nice way to break up the day 3) good for meeting some more / seeing more of some teacher-folk, which I usually only get to do on weekends.
Bryan moved out of his place on Sunday and now doing it up in Thailand, a place where everyone seems to love. Jasmin is already there along with another of new friend, who is there while crazy visa business gets worked out. She’s had a hard time of it since her (now former) school blows like crazy, but she has since quit that wretched place and will start teaching for our company when she returns. I haven’t heard too many horror stories but the ones that I have heard are just nuts. Crazy hours without overtime pay, yelling non-English speaking bosses who steal passports and degrees. Shear madness.
I was really in the mood for some Asha time tonight. It feels really good. I could have stayed at home and watched comedy clips and episodes of Futurama like usual but I think it’s important not to spend too much time in the house during the week because it is bad for morale. A little time in the world helps one think less about work and more about life, which is the best way to do things. There are times that living in Korea feels very strange – just looking down at the street and seeing so much similarity is still so very strange to me.
At any rate, the week is half over and me and my limited funds will be staying in Daegu this weekend. back to the pleasure/pain of hip hop class and the hilariousness of Daegu nightlife.
This entry’s music recommendation isn’t actually k-pop. M-Flo is a Japanese hip hop / dj duo, one of whom is in fact ethnically Korean and this song features Korean singer Alex (who is a part of Clazziquai, who I’ve previously talked about) so the Korean connection is enough for me. I love this song.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWV-JDbRWCI
Bam!

Love,
AAA