On my birthday, April 07, I did the following:
I waited until the clock ticked midnight before I let my mother leave Skype; I listened to my husband as he told me about the empty circle that was growing on his head, and I went to sleep because I had to work later on.
I woke up at around 10 AM, smiled at what could have been considered impossible years before---that at 25, I would be celebrating my birthday as a wife. I wanted to stay in some more, but the piling tasks forced me to rise; laziness soon embraced me once more and I felt the bed calling out to me. Temptation won; I ended up rising again another hour later to the disappointment(?) of my husband, the boy who was, before he married, always on time.
I had a wonderful lunch with my in-laws. They're such wonderful folks.
I went to work, and one of my kids gave me her homework. "Happy birthday! Here's your gift," she laughed. I laughed too. "Thank you for remembering." I waited as she looked up, bright and wide-eyed, her surprise emphasized the Chinese-like ends of her eyes; "really teacher? Is it your birthday?" And as expected, the children began whispering "really? is it true" then looking back at me.
They left saying, "We'll give you a gift on Friday! Happy birthday!"
Later on, my boss forgot about my birthday and gave me lots of homework. Soon as the class was done she asked me to read a book (with I don't know how many children's stories) and also to give her a grammar syllabus by tomorrow, neither of them accomplished because I'm cramming a book that we'll be talking about at our book club meeting on Sunday.
I arrived home at around 9PM and had dinner with movie with my husband. Soon afterwards we just talked, and then I began reading my book and checking my fb for any updates. Then, a movie was played again, and I headed once more to the living room. When I returned to my computer my birthday was almost over, and it just made me miss my happiest birthday of all, in 2008 with my China friends, when I still ruled my world.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Random Thoughts in a Friend's Cafe
I'm currently in a friend's cafe, spending seconds typing on my laptop, seconds that are better off used preparing for my class tomorrow or finish reading the book (Let the Great World Spin by Colum McCann) for our Book Club meeting this Sunday.
I've decided to read the book the way literary geniuses read the books they read, and that's by analyzing the book from page to page. The problem with this is that I have absolutely no idea how to do it properly; it's my fault, actually. Even though I was a literature student some years ago during a period when I considered myself quite young, I never actually paid that much attention in class and so now I'm beginning from scratch.
Hours after I began, I'm still on page 6.
This is beginning to suck, and my head is spinning so fast that I'm beginning to feel that the title of the book is referring to my brain.
Now, back to the book. It's a great read though; too much analyzing is what's killing it for me.
I've decided to read the book the way literary geniuses read the books they read, and that's by analyzing the book from page to page. The problem with this is that I have absolutely no idea how to do it properly; it's my fault, actually. Even though I was a literature student some years ago during a period when I considered myself quite young, I never actually paid that much attention in class and so now I'm beginning from scratch.
Hours after I began, I'm still on page 6.
This is beginning to suck, and my head is spinning so fast that I'm beginning to feel that the title of the book is referring to my brain.
Now, back to the book. It's a great read though; too much analyzing is what's killing it for me.
Sunday, April 4, 2010
[---]
The Third of April:
In a bar, she is half-drunk; the beer has almost taken over, and before she allows herself to be completely drunk she decides to focus her remaining strength on enlarging her eyes and focus on one particular thing; she refuses to be drunk, and so long as she had the power to do something, she would not be seen as a drunk.
Her eyes fall on the different shades of redness on the faces of her companions from chapped lips to soft lips; from dry lips to wet lips, she observes the speed with which they move. She observes the white divides that appear on those whose laughs were loudest; she observes the gloss over puckered lips. Once in a while she would observe a new set of lips and discover that she was not the only one trying to keep sober; other pairs of lips would flap non-stop like the hated pigeons on the street.
She was not drunk; otherwise she would not have been able to observe so intelligently.
Drunks, after all, fall to the ground and barf their insides out. She, on the other hand, was not drunk, but not quite sober, either. Fortunately though she believed that alcohol in itself is a godsend; with alcohol men are taught to focus, because all other emotions are either recognized are pushed away entirely.
She stares some more, and her eyes fall upon the most beautiful pair of red in the crowd.
Seconds after hearing quick muttering, a slap wakes her, and she realizes that someone is laughing at her. She blinks and jumps up; she had fallen asleep with eyes wide open. Embarrassed, she excuses her drunken self to go home. Everyone agrees, and they greet her a happy birthday.
She smiles. Thank you, she answers them. As she leaves the bar and heads for home, she realizes that she doesn't even know their names.
In a bar, she is half-drunk; the beer has almost taken over, and before she allows herself to be completely drunk she decides to focus her remaining strength on enlarging her eyes and focus on one particular thing; she refuses to be drunk, and so long as she had the power to do something, she would not be seen as a drunk.
Her eyes fall on the different shades of redness on the faces of her companions from chapped lips to soft lips; from dry lips to wet lips, she observes the speed with which they move. She observes the white divides that appear on those whose laughs were loudest; she observes the gloss over puckered lips. Once in a while she would observe a new set of lips and discover that she was not the only one trying to keep sober; other pairs of lips would flap non-stop like the hated pigeons on the street.
She was not drunk; otherwise she would not have been able to observe so intelligently.
Drunks, after all, fall to the ground and barf their insides out. She, on the other hand, was not drunk, but not quite sober, either. Fortunately though she believed that alcohol in itself is a godsend; with alcohol men are taught to focus, because all other emotions are either recognized are pushed away entirely.
She stares some more, and her eyes fall upon the most beautiful pair of red in the crowd.
Seconds after hearing quick muttering, a slap wakes her, and she realizes that someone is laughing at her. She blinks and jumps up; she had fallen asleep with eyes wide open. Embarrassed, she excuses her drunken self to go home. Everyone agrees, and they greet her a happy birthday.
She smiles. Thank you, she answers them. As she leaves the bar and heads for home, she realizes that she doesn't even know their names.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
So-called Chinese Restaurants in Seoul
I haven't been to that many Chinese restaurants in Seoul, but because of my craving for Chinese food my husband has been taking me to several places that serve both authentic and (Koreanized-)Chinese food. I've noticed though a huge difference between these two kinds of places that I've been to that some may find helpful one day. The price ranges for these authentic Chinese restaurants are affordable or freakin' absolutely expensive. On the other hand, the price range of (Koreanized-)Chinese restaurants are in the middle. So more often than not, my husband and I (often with a friend or two of his) head to the nearest affordable authentic Chinese restaurant that we know of.
I haven't seen any expensive authentic Chinese restaurants. So far, the only Chinese restaurants we've actually visited are those within the middle and low price range. When you visit these kinds of restaurants though you'll be surprised at the huge difference. The cheaper Chinese restaurants don't look Chinese at all---the thing that's so Chinese about them is their food, usually nothing else. (Koreanized-)Chinese restaurants, on the other hand, looks Chinese inside-out. One example is China Factory, a restaurant we had just gone to for lunch today. Guarding its entrance were two huge terra-cotta warriors made of gray stone and the theme was white and red. There were wines displayed everywhere and a huge bottle made of stone displayed in the middle of another section of the restaurant. There was a dimsum area (it's been months since I've had dimsum in a restaurant!) and many of the dishes seemed Chinese, too. But as soon as the food arrived it was easy to see how un-chinese these chinese food had become. The taste made it even more obvious, some of the sauces so Korean. I couldn't help but miss Chinese food afterwards.
It's not a bad thing, though. These kinds of restaurants are already expected to have these kinds of food simply because the market demands it. The mention of Chinese food triggers oily, unhealthy dishes. Of course not all Chinese dishes are like this, but it's very hard to convince people of that. So in order to maintain their businesses medium-sized restaurants have transformed their supposedly-Chinese dishes into a more local flavor.
Arrr, Chinese. It makes me miss my mother's cooking.. a lot.
I haven't seen any expensive authentic Chinese restaurants. So far, the only Chinese restaurants we've actually visited are those within the middle and low price range. When you visit these kinds of restaurants though you'll be surprised at the huge difference. The cheaper Chinese restaurants don't look Chinese at all---the thing that's so Chinese about them is their food, usually nothing else. (Koreanized-)Chinese restaurants, on the other hand, looks Chinese inside-out. One example is China Factory, a restaurant we had just gone to for lunch today. Guarding its entrance were two huge terra-cotta warriors made of gray stone and the theme was white and red. There were wines displayed everywhere and a huge bottle made of stone displayed in the middle of another section of the restaurant. There was a dimsum area (it's been months since I've had dimsum in a restaurant!) and many of the dishes seemed Chinese, too. But as soon as the food arrived it was easy to see how un-chinese these chinese food had become. The taste made it even more obvious, some of the sauces so Korean. I couldn't help but miss Chinese food afterwards.
It's not a bad thing, though. These kinds of restaurants are already expected to have these kinds of food simply because the market demands it. The mention of Chinese food triggers oily, unhealthy dishes. Of course not all Chinese dishes are like this, but it's very hard to convince people of that. So in order to maintain their businesses medium-sized restaurants have transformed their supposedly-Chinese dishes into a more local flavor.
Arrr, Chinese. It makes me miss my mother's cooking.. a lot.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Practicing my Korean
안녕하십니다.
저는 채크리 입니다.
저는 25생이 입니다.
저는 선생 학생 부인입니다.
남편이 한국 사람 습니다.
매월 요일에 수요일에 금요일에, 저는 학원에 갑니다.
학원에서 영어를 가르칩니다.
매 토요일에 학원에 갑니다.
학원에서 한국말 공부합니다.
hahaha! My first e-mail to my Korean teacher. Let's see what my grade is. :)
My First Opera in Korea...or Anywhere for that matter!
We knew that there were going to be a lot of people at the theater because of the crowded subway. As soon as we exited the station we just followed the long line of people headed for only one place: Sumi Jo's concert.
As usual, I knew nothing about this lady. My husband was astounded and patiently informed me that Sumi Jo happened to be one of the most famous opera singers in the world. The following day I did some research and wikipedia says this about her: "Sumi Jo is a Grammy award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire." I read on and felt like such a dumb ass for thinking that Kim Yona (the world's figure skating champ) was Korea's most famous superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some more that I, the ignorant, just didn't know of.
Anyway, back to the program. We finally reached the concert hall and BOOOOY was it packed. The seats in the middle are (I'm just guessing) those who 1. paid quite a lot of money for their seats 2. VIP's and 3. sponsors (although maybe I should count those sponsors as VIP's as well.) The group of seats directly after the seats in the middle are the seats for people like my husband and myself, who only got the tickets for free (from Youngbae's friend, Seungbum, who got the tickets because he's a VIP at Hyundai Department Store, the show's main sponsor) as well. Sadly though, the best seats were already taken and we simply retired ourselves to the seats at the side of the stadium. It was really hard to see the stage, something I discovered after several failed attempts at seeing at least the face of the conductor using our camera's zoom-in function.Often frustration would take over and during those seconds when the futility of my actions were dancing in front of my eyes I'd just aim the camera at the huge tarpaulin on the left side of the stage where videos or pictures would be shown---sometimes of the singers, sometimes of the orchestra, at other times of videos shown to accompany the music.
I've attached some videos here for you to see. Sumi Jo is really amazing, so I hope you guys enjoy. :D
Here's a video of the opening that the orchestra did for the concert:
As usual, I knew nothing about this lady. My husband was astounded and patiently informed me that Sumi Jo happened to be one of the most famous opera singers in the world. The following day I did some research and wikipedia says this about her: "Sumi Jo is a Grammy award winning South Korean lyric coloratura soprano known for her interpretations of the bel canto repertoire." I read on and felt like such a dumb ass for thinking that Kim Yona (the world's figure skating champ) was Korea's most famous superstar. I wouldn't be surprised if they had some more that I, the ignorant, just didn't know of.
Anyway, back to the program. We finally reached the concert hall and BOOOOY was it packed. The seats in the middle are (I'm just guessing) those who 1. paid quite a lot of money for their seats 2. VIP's and 3. sponsors (although maybe I should count those sponsors as VIP's as well.) The group of seats directly after the seats in the middle are the seats for people like my husband and myself, who only got the tickets for free (from Youngbae's friend, Seungbum, who got the tickets because he's a VIP at Hyundai Department Store, the show's main sponsor) as well. Sadly though, the best seats were already taken and we simply retired ourselves to the seats at the side of the stadium. It was really hard to see the stage, something I discovered after several failed attempts at seeing at least the face of the conductor using our camera's zoom-in function.Often frustration would take over and during those seconds when the futility of my actions were dancing in front of my eyes I'd just aim the camera at the huge tarpaulin on the left side of the stage where videos or pictures would be shown---sometimes of the singers, sometimes of the orchestra, at other times of videos shown to accompany the music.
I've attached some videos here for you to see. Sumi Jo is really amazing, so I hope you guys enjoy. :D
Here's a video of the opening that the orchestra did for the concert:
Below is a video of one of Sumi Jo's performances. Pardon the clarity (or the lack of it), but listen to the voice. Forget watching. All you need to do is hear that voice!
I LOVE THIS GUY. It's when I listened to him that I KNEW I was listening to an OPERA. Amazing! He brings pictures of fat women singing to mind, but it's not a bad image! It's just that little Miss Ignorant doesn't know much, except stories of how those large women are some of the best opera singers before! :0 Enjoy!
My second to the last video, because I think I've posted one too many videos already. This video is of Miss Sumi Jo singing the "Ave Maria :-)
This last video is of Sumi Jo singing "Champions", the song she sang for the World Cup in Seoul in 2002. :-) It's not very clear, but still I hope you enjoy. :D
The night ended with me and Youngbae crossing the street to get something to eat then heading home for our needed sleep. The next day was going to be another adventure, after all. :-)
Sunday, March 28, 2010
The i-touch is such a blessing
Ever since I discovered that the OS of my i-touch could actually be converted into English (it was originally in Korean) I've discovered why people have been crazy about it. I used to see it as just a higher version of an i-pod, its main use as an audio book or as a music player that you can easily carry around. Yet now I've discovered its many, beauuuutifuuuul! uses, and I'm currently using it to read through books, learn Korean faster, and surf the internet whenever I'm bored.
It's a gift from God. I love it! :-D
It's a gift from God. I love it! :-D
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